I regained consciousness only to feel an unexpected softness and warmth surrounding me. Pleasantly surprised, I cuddled deeper into sheets of the wonderful comfort that was a real bed. Unlike the beds that I had slept in at the Resistance Base or even the one that I had to use during my captivity, this was a king size bed that seemed specifically crafted to bring the greatest comfort possible. Indulging myself in the many pillows that laid beneath my head, it took me some time before the questions that burned at the back of my mind became to hard to ignore.

"Where am I?" Sitting up I scanned the rest of the room I had awoken in. Several shelves filled with reading material stood directly to the left of me. Spotting several of my favorite manga series forced me to avert my gaze, I could not let myself get distracted now. The rest of the wall was taken up by a massive window that was currently letting in small amounts of gentle sunlight despite the curtains being drawn. Right next to the window on the wall opposite of me, I spotted a wooden door and I resolved myself to try it as soon as I could.

Gazing even further right, I saw something that caused my jaw to drop in disbelief. "Are those... gaming consoles?" A generous amount of the room had been reserved for a recreational area. Two comfortable looking armchairs as well as a sofa that was pushed up to a big table, were all turned towards a massive flat-screen television that was seemingly hooked up to every gaming console ever made. The shelves filled with rows upon rows of games took up almost half of the right wall.

Furthermore I made out yet another door, followed by a big dressing table that was flanked by two cupboards that I presumed to be full of clothing. Lastly, directly to the right side of my bed was a night stand that was covered with a couple of handheld gaming consoles,a lamp, as well as several bottles of water and a pile of...granola bars? "What is this place?"

Musing about the nature of the room, I brought myself to the edge of the bed. It was then, that I noticed that I was wearing silky soft pajamas, that were hugging my curves a little more closely than I would usually be comfortable with. Beneath my sleepwear I could feel that my injured ribs had been neatly dressed in bandages. The thought of someone undressing me, seeing me naked, and bathing me while I was unconscious, caused me to turn bright red in embarrassment. Only the thought that it had been necessary, considering the state I had been, comforted me a little. After all the treatment seemed to have worked, as I could move without causing me any pain now.

Wait...I was injured?

"What is going on? What happened?" Still somewhat confused I tried to think back. I did my best to remember the events that had led me to this unfamiliar room. The memories however, came to me with an odd feeling of disconnect. As if everything had happened to someone else, rather than me, I saw my confrontation with Monaca and then Big Bang Monokuma play out in front of me. At first I felt rather proud of myself for fighting as well as I did, however as I remembered the last parts of the fight, a shadow of that empty feeling crept up inside of me as well. Immediately I tried to stop the flow of memories by focusing on the room around me with clenched fists.

"Wow, I was really messed up, wasn't I?" While I had felt fine a moment ago, now waves of terror shot though my body and I had to suppress the urge to vomit when a sea of red flashed before my eyes. Desperate to escape the spreading numbness in my heart, I stood up and hastily made my way towards the door that was closer to the bed. I needed a distraction. After a deep breath I took hold of the handle.

"What are the odds of you being unlocked?" The situation reminded me of my imprisonment and so I was pleasantly surprised when door opened without even a creak of protest. The sight of the room however caused me to gasp in wonder at it's splendor. It was clearly a bathroom, however I had never even dreamed that such luxurious bathrooms even existed.

The tiled floor was immaculate and it's white color was heavily accented with gold. In the corners opposite of me, I spotted a toilet and a big shower respectively. To my left side a full length mirror and a shelf filled with various toiletries occupied another corner, while to my right I spotted a little chute that was simply labeled "Laundry", next to an opening in the wall that reminded me of a kitchen elevator. The most striking feature however was a regal bath in the center of the room. It was so big that I was actually tempted to call it a pool. A myriad of different bath additives and settings for the bathwater itself seemed to be available as well. Stunned by all this unfamiliar luxury, I simply stood in the doorway unable to bring myself to go inside.

"Wow...who lives in this place, some sort of princess?" Still uncomfortable, I decided that I should finish exploring before setting foot into this room."Well, at least not until I need to go in there anyway." Talking to myself seemed to help in focusing my thoughts on the present. The dreaded memories had finally faded into the back of my mind.

Closing the door, I stepped away from the bathroom and made my way towards the door I had yet to examine. Looking pointedly away from the shelves of distracting games to my right, my gaze landed on the curtain covering the window. "Hmm...maybe I should at least find out where I am first."

I altered my path and stepped up to the curtain. The red color of the curtain, threatened to overwhelm me with unwelcome memories once again, so I quickly grabbed the overlapping edges in the middle and took a deep calming breath. With closed eyes, I steeled myself against the bubbling nausea as best I could. "Okay...okay...you just need to look outside and look for anything familiar. Stay calm Komaru! You can do this!" Despite my heavily beating heart, I managed to throw my arms to my sides. I opened my eyes.

Disaster. That was the word that first made it's way into my mind, as my eyes took in the outside world. The window allowed me to look at Towa City in it's entirety, and after spending so much time seeing all the damage up close, I was now able to take in everything at once. Destroyed buildings and infrastructure could be seen throughout the entire city. Several fires were still visible in some parts of the town. As I could barely make out the defunct cars blocking the streets, I was fortunately spared from seeing any of the corpses that I knew to litter the street.

Neither the corpses of adults that had been slain in my name, nor the corpses of the children that I had killed.

But I knew they were there.

My heartbeat increased as I kept scanning the city without actually seeing anything. Ignoring the rubble, I searched for anything unusual, desperate for anything that would give me a clue about what exactly was going on inside the city now, anything that would show that things turned out all right in the end. For the longest time I didn't see anything of note and my panic continued to grow. Then I saw HIM!

Some of the wreckage of Big Bang Monokuma was visible behind a building. I recognized it as the very same building I had scaled together with Toko before my showdown with Monaca. "Toko...I'm sorry." Not quite knowing what exactly I was apologizing for, my gaze drifted towards the ground. I didn't want to look. I didn't want to see them...did I?

I need to. I...want to...right? I killed them, now I want to see them...that...that's the least I can do for them now.

"I...can't see them." Suddenly, the spell was broken and I collapsed to the ground crying. Heavy sobs rattled me as I hugged myself against the wall. "What...what is wrong with me?" Had I really wanted to see that again? Why? WHY? "WHY?"

A strange mixture of both relief and disappointment permeated every cell in my body. I kept crying for minutes, but the question of "why?" went unanswered.

After I regained some composure, all I was left with was a numbness in my heart. An unnatural calmness that had come over me allowed me to stand up and face the window again. After one last glance at the city, I grabbed the red curtains without flinching and sealed the view outside once more. As I stepped away from the window, I finally snapped back into reality. "Huh? How did I..." I felt disoriented. Why was I standing next to the bed? "When did I get back here?" Looking back and forth between the bed and the door that I had originally wanted to check, my gaze stopped on the mattress. I could check the door whenever I wanted to. But now I felt tired.

So very tired.

I crawled into the bed and cuddled into the blanket. For now I just wanted to rest. Just for a little while.