Addendum: I forgot to mention this before, but here it goes, the timeline for this story takes place eight years after the events of the DR3 anime, so I hope that clears things up. I've received a lot of questions regarding that one, so hopefully this addresses that issue. Also, the new deadline is November 1st with an extension of November 7th if needed. Other than that, I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
"I don't believe this killing game nonsense one bit!" a guy's confident smirk beamed across his face, "We just gotta stick together, go at it day by day and who knows? Maybe help'll get here faster than you know it….It has to…right?"
Stop it.
"I'm sorry….I'm so s-sorry!" a girl cried out, her face welling up with tears "I didn't want a-any of this to happen….I didn't w-want to kill him! I swear….I just…..I didn't want to die…."
Stop. I don't want to remember this….
"I don't have much hope for anything nowadays….people come and go…life keeps going on and even if your star falls…..will people remember you or me if not for our talents?" A girl's inquisitive, soft-spoken words danced across her lips, "I want to be seen for me…..not for some fleeting passion…..but for my soul….do you think people would remember me, even after I'm gone?"
Please just stop…
"I was so angry…..I couldn't help myself," a guy's voice, tinged with denial and regret echoed loudly, "I had no other option….it was me or her…..she took away the one thing I've always wanted…"
I said stop it! Get out of my head!
"Agh!" I awoke from the dream, huffing and puffing as I clutched on a book that was placed on my chest while I slept, "Oh…..just a bad dream," I looked around the room frantically, alone with my thoughts, "Although I wish it were a dream….."
How long has it been since we've been stuck in this hellhole? I lost count of how many days, maybe even weeks, have passed since we've been kidnapped and held captive in this abandoned orphanage like wild animals. We had no idea what our captors had in store for us, nor did we know what we were in for when that damn mascot would rear his stupid little head.
To be honest, most of it felt like a blur, a heat of the moment type of rush that you'd miss if you blinked too fast. For what reason were we captured and who is going to fall prey to Monokuma's wicked motives next? Even though it's my duty to help others, that powerless feeling ensnared me like a rabbit caught inside a bear trap, there was nothing I could do to help my fellow captees and no matter how much I tried to put on a brave face, it was all for naught as more blood lined the walls of this run-down facility.
"Is my anxiety playing twisted mind games on me?" I rubbed the side of my head, "Did I lose my sanity already? Am I starting to hear the voices of the dead?"
"Well, that's not like you at all, Yusuke," a familiar voice snapped me out of my daze. "Sulking about and waiting for the inevitable, I didn't peg you for a downer, haha." A girl had entered the library and closed the door behind her.
"H-Huh? Oh..it's just you, Chiharu," I relaxed a little, readjusting myself on the surprisingly comfortable yet old sofa, "I was just….resting, yeah that's it. No need to worry about me."
"Heh, you're such an obvious liar, Yuu," her perky smile was warm, a welcome sight in this godforsaken nightmare, "I can tell that the last trial bothered you…..I know it did for me, so please..just talk to me. I promise I won't bite."
"I have no idea what you mean," I continued playing coy, flitting my fingers over the pages of the nature survival guidebook resting in my lap, "I just- I just zoned off….nothing more."
"Frankly, I'm getting tired of your pseudo savior complex bravado, Mr. Forest Ranger," she took a seat next to me, fixing her skirt to sit properly, "I saw how upsetting that last trial was for you….everyone was nervous, but you always kept our morale going. I just…I'm worried about you is all."
I sighed, placing the book on the side table and rubbing my flushed cheeks, "You know for a mangaka, you're a lot more perceptive than I gave you credit for."
"Heh, you doubt moi?" she took slight offense to that, smirking in protest, "I'll have you know that I spend a lot of time playing dating sims and watching K-dramas, so I'm an expert in noticing stuff like that! You don't just become a famous shojo storyteller overnight, dummy. Honestly I'm insulted, but I'll let this slide because I consider you a good friend."
"Haha, I guess," I let out a wry chuckle, "How are the others doing? I really should have checked up on them earlier…I know I usually do it…I'm such a lousy leader."
"No, you're not, we all have our bad days, don't let it get to you," she immediately shut down that negative comment, "And don't worry about them, I did it earlier. It seems that most of them are….coping as much as they can," her cheeks puffed up a little, "Hiroko has not been handling things well, poor thing. She refuses to leave her room for anything other than food or to use the bathroom."
"Well….she is kind of a scaredy cat," I admitted which earned me a rough nudge on the shoulder, "Oww, what was that for?!"
"You should know that not everyone handles death the same way you do, Yuu, especially a murder at that," she crossed her arms, "For a forest ranger, that was a bit callous of you…but you're not wrong there. She's been a hot mess ever since last night."
"I do worry about her sometimes. Anyway, what about the others?" I was eager to know more.
"Well aside from her, Naofumi, Junichiro and Kasumi all are starting to doubt your leadership and think this current group morale is a load of crap," this notion did not surprise me, those three were quite skeptical of our plan since the very beginning and I can't be mad at them for thinking that either, "Miho and Arisa are both getting by decently. Funny enough, Katsuhiko and Tetsuya are both using the old kids' playroom as a makeshift gym, let me tell you I saw them using a bunch of toy swords to re-enact some anime battles, it was hilarious!"
"Heh, I'll bet," she's such good company, a woman of words at that, probably the reason why she's been so successful in such an oversaturated creative medium, "I'd pay to see them duke it out to the death….oh shit too soon?"
"You're good, silly," she giggled at my lame joke, "Though Masaru has offered to help comfort the others, he's not doing a good job at it as you'd expect. And Eiri she…I can't get a good read on her to be honest with you."
She mentioned her name and I got her sentiment. Something about Eiri has always put me on guard, maybe it's the way she carries herself, but she's been very helpful these past few trials. She's attentive, listens to every piece of testimony given, she doesn't pick favorites and above all else, she seems to know a lot more than she lets on, in an almost cool and frightening way.
What is it that has me drawn to her so much?
"Yuu, you're daydreaming again," the mangaka snapped her fingers, "I swear every time you think about that weird girl, you're always in a trance. If you ask me, she's freaky as heck and why does she dress like she's some social outcast from a cheesy sitcom?! Ugh, she's so strange, it bothers me to no end!"
"I mean….weird or not, she has been the most helpful to us in these trials so far," even if I wanted to agree with Chiharu, I still had my doubts, "Let's be honest here, would you have figured out in the first trial that Yurika had used a bunch of marbles and a bird feeder to create a domino system, somehow managed to time that perfectly to when Ryuji had opened the door to the greenhouse to activate it and that she used a makeshift rubber band catapult to launch a pair of sharpened hedge trimmers straight at his face, all the while she was inside the office and used you to secure her alibi?"
This short summary left her tongue tied, her face contorted and shifted to something that was a mixture of disbelief, worry, annoyance and dumbfounded, "Yeah….you got me there. Just you recapping everything, makes me feel partially guilty….If only I had noticed something was off with Yuri before, she's usually not very skittish like that. Though she did frequent the greenhouse a lot, so I should have seen it coming..."
"Chiharu, you've only known her for a few days at best," I looked at her with a concerned stare, putting a hand on her shoulder, "None of us have really gotten to know each other that well. If anything, I'm surprised that some of us try to keep up a strong front, despite what happened."
"Oh, you're one to talk," she laughed incredulously, "Mr. If we push forward, we can solve anything and beat the mastermind together! What happened to that guy? Is he on vacation?"
"Shut up," her teasing had gotten to me, "Still, that was one wild trial…I just…I couldn't watch as we sentenced her to death like that. I mean it was us or her, I just….I feel like I participated in killing someone to save my own skin….I feel dirty…almost like I have her and the others blood on my hands."
The mangaka patted me on the back, "I know, but you're not the one at fault, it's whoever's controlling that psychotic bear and hiding behind the curtain who's to blame," her attempt to console me did kind of work, "Besides, if we didn't have those creepy motives, I'm sure we would have all gotten along at least for the most part."
"I suppose you're right," that nagging feeling still tugged on my mind, "Ryuji was a cool guy, why did he have to die to begin with…"
"In a way, Yurika was forced to do it," Chiharu continued the conversation, "While she did go through all this insanely precise preparation, I still can't help but sympathize with her….is that wrong to think?"
I didn't really have an answer to her question, though I don't think I'd like to know the answer myself either. In a game of lethal survival, anything goes and humans in general have always had a natural instinct to live, be it a ferocious or necessary way of life. I've never been a philosophical guy myself, but I've had an abnormal amount of free time to think, normally I'd be distracted with my ranger duties.
"I can't really answer that right now," a deep sigh escaped my lips, my shoulders pressed against the sofa, "But I can say th-"
Before I could finish my sentence, a bell-like sound rang over the intercom. Hearing that noise always chilled me to my core, the thought of waiting for that bear to deliberate what he's going to do with us was a sickening thought, as if we were his personal playthings used to entertain him when he's bored of waiting for something to happen.
"Attention to all killing game participants, please report to the cafeteria for an important announcement. Attendance is mandatory and if no one shows up, you'll get a scolding from yours truly. That is all."
Chiharu and I looked at each other with a worried glance, the two of us standing up and leaving the library. The long but slightly cramped hallways of the abandoned orphanage was probably one of the creepiest things I've ever seen in my life, like something out of an eerie children's fairytale, and I worked with wildlife at night which said a lot.
The orphanage walls had this dull cream-colored wallpaper that was peeling off at a disturbing rate, multicolored painted hands of the children who once lived here made me feel even more uneasy as old toys were scattered on the floor. The broken memories of this once childlike innocence were still omnipresent, but why here? Was this some sick joke to the mastermind? Do they think of us like children who don't have their own autonomy?
"Hey g-guys…" a voice came from behind us, belonging to a nervous Masaru, "C-Can I walk with you?"
"Sure thing!" I gave him a hearty grin, "The more the merrier I say, don't you agree, Chiharu?"
"Y-Yeah…." she had an uneasy smile on her face, noting my sudden change in expression almost immediately, "How have you been doing, Masa?"
"Terribly…." even if shy, the honesty shone through the librarian's statement, "I'm just worried I might be next, I mean….is this going to be another motive drop? And so soon after the last trial? It's making me anxious just thinking about it."
"I feel the same way," Chiharu rubbed her left shoulder, "All we can do is hope for the best…"
Seeing the two of them so dejected made me grit my teeth so hard you could hear the gnashing coming from two blocks away. I was doing an awful job at cheering them up and it's showing tenfold with my silence, this was truly aggravating.
As we walked along in silence, I happened to notice the others walking ahead of us. Miho and Arisa were close to each other, the twin sisters both frightened with Arisa looking worse for wear as opposed to her more composed but tense older sister Miho. Katsuhiko and Tetsuya also walked side by side with each other, the construction worker and gaffer were talking about how great that battle reenactment was, but the details of what they were talking about flew over my head completely.
Right behind us, I noticed a scared Hiroko keeping close to the walls, trailing close by to the doorways in the event someone tried something funny. The hospice caregiver looked like she'd seen a ghost, her sickly pale skin was sheet white and I could tell from the bags under her eyes that she didn't get any sleep at all.
As we swung open the doors to the orphanage's cafeteria, Monokuma was already standing atop one of the tables, yawning and probably bored of waiting for us.
Kasumi was already inside, currently staring down the bear mascot, her arms akimbo as she seemed fed up with him and ready to give him a good talking to, probably another long sermon courtesy of being a former debater. Naofumi and Junichiro were also the first ones there, the gourmet and business consultant both looked like they had better things to do than listen to the bear moan about something, Junichiro in particular seemed the most affronted, as if his "time is money" work mindset deemed this meeting a complete waste of his precious minutes.
I looked around the room and couldn't find Eiri anywhere. Normally she'd be farthest from the group, sitting in the corner of the room with her own thoughts and observing the room with a hawk's vision, but maybe I was too distracted to fully canvas the cafeteria to see if she was arriving late or not.
"Ahem! Took you brats long enough to get here," the bear looked at his right paw as if filing his own nails, "I was about to go hog wild if you all didn't show up, or would it be "bear" wild? Hahaha, semantics, who needs 'em!"
"Enough with the frivolous banter, Monokuma," Kasumi didn't hesitate to chide the bear for his cringey puns, "I want an explanation now! Why have you summoned us here?"
"Jeez, what crawled up your panties this morning, honey," the bear scoffed at the debater, "Oh I'm sooooo sorry, was that too offensive to say. I'm so deeply apologetic for my behavior, your highness!"
The reddened cheeks and furrowed brows on her face indicated she had wanted to say more, but Naofumi stepped in, nodding to her to let him handle it.
"Enough, what do you want Monokuma?" The gourmet's fatherly strict tone of voice started to seep in, "We're all very exhausted from yesterday and this isn't the best time for you to be taunting us like this."
"Well then, no wonder you guys are such sticks in the mud," the bear cackled, "I for one got a lovely beauty rest last night, cucumber face mask included with my favorite serial killer melodies on the side from my white noise machine!"
"Wait? Do you have a white noise machine?" Tetsuya always focused on the wrong things, "No fair, I have trouble sleeping as is, where can I get one? Do you mind if I borrow yours?"
"Fucking idiot…." Miho snorted.
"What? I have insomnia," the gaffer felt the need to clarify that for some reason.
"Hey! Don't insult my bro like that!" Katsuhiko seemed ready to square up to defend his friend's honor, "These muscles ain't for show you know! I'll pile drive you into next week if I have to!"
"You two are a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned," Miho's comment irked the construction worker, taking pleasure in egging him on.
"Miho…." Arisa tugged at her sister's basketball jersey, the ballerina already anxious as is, "Don't pick a fight, please."
"If you losers are done with your dick measuring contest," Junichiro put in his two cents, earning angry looks from both Katsuhiko and Miho, "I have better things to do than listen to two squabbling children fight over nonsense, speak now Monokuma."
"Hmph, you're such a buzzkill, Junie," the bear mascot knew that nickname peeved the business consultant, but he continued, "Now that we've gotten the pleasantries out of the way, my announcement is….this killing game is officially over. I'm not overseeing it anymore."
Silence enveloped the entire room, mixed looks of surprise, disbelief and shock stuck on everyone's faces as the bear stood there like he was expecting a completely different reaction.
"Huh? What's with the long faces?" the bear tilted his head, more confused than we were, "I just said-"
"Yes, we heard you," I stepped forward to address the bear, "Are you seriously going to end this killing game? Does this mean you're letting us go free?"
"When you put it like that, I guess so," the bear looked just as baffled as I was, "To be honest, this wasn't the original plan I had in mind, but life can be a bitch sometimes, so what are you gonna do?" he shrugged as if what he was saying was so run of the mill.
"W-We're free to go?" Hiroko emerged from the crowd, chiming in, "T-This isn't a dream….we- we survived…"
"You for real?" Katsuhiko's eyes almost bulged out of the sockets, "Fucking sweet! I didn't think I could take any more of this for much longer. You hear that Tetsuya, we're free men!"
"I know right! How awesome is that!" The two men did some fist bump ritual that had too many steps for me to remember.
"Wait a minute," Chiharu halted the celebratory moment, "This isn't a trick, is it? Are you really letting us go even after what you put us through?"
"Yes, that is what I just said," if Monokuma had regular eyes, he would have probably rolled them given his tone of voice, "Do you twerps need some Q-tips to get the wax out of your ears or something? Oi vey, the future generation is screwed."
"While you say that, frankly I don't believe you for a moment," Junichiro also questioned this sudden about face turn of events, "You've forced us into this mess in the first place, terrorized us for the better part of a few weeks, made us solve these ridiculous murder mysteries, put us through hell and back with these trials, forced us to watch as our peers perished in the most insane ways possible and in total four people have died so far," he was summarizing it so well and quite succinctly too, "So what brought about this sudden change of heart, Monokuma?"
"Is whoever is controlling you from behind the scenes suddenly getting cold feet or something?" Kasumi tag teamed with the business consultant, "Did it have something to do with the last trial perhaps?"
"Ugh! You annoying fucking kids and your dumbass questions," the bear's sharp claws emerged from his paw as an angry look plastered his face, "You've all been bitching about trying to escape, wanting to figure out a way out of this mess and wanting to save as many people as you can," he continued his diatribe, "Now you want to bite the hand that's offering you a golden opportunity for an escape? Are you all secretly a bunch of Stockholm suppressed masochists or some shit?"
"I uh….I don't think that's what it is," Masaru felt the need to question the clearly agitated mascot, "Nevermind…..I'll shut up now."
"Forgive us if we're not the least bit skeptical of your oh so sudden announcement," Miho approached the forefront, crossing her arms as her sister begged her to stop, "Who's to say this isn't another one of your traps? One to rob us of our freedom and sink us further into despair as you put it?"
"M-M-Miho, please don't make him mad," Arisa tugged at the basketball player's jersey, "I'm just tired….I want to go home. I don't want to see anyone else die or be killed either..."
I couldn't agree more with the ballerina's pleas, even if this was some genuine scheme of Monokuma's, it wouldn't surprise us in the least bit if this was a ploy to make us lose morale even more. While I still wanted to believe in that promise, the underlying hint of malice still lingered in this foul bear's words.
"Alright! I've heard enough of your whining!" Monokuma yelled out, "While I do love the idea of teasing you all and pushing you further into despair with that brilliant concept, that I may or may not use for future games, that's not the case here."
"And may I ask why not?" Naofumi said with a cautious tone of voice.
"As I said numerous times, plans have changed," the bear grew more and more cross with us, "Now please, exit out from where you came from, the front exit is past a few doors from the hallway you entered through, take a left and you'll see a pair of double doors leading to the outside."
"Does that also mean the phone lines are working again?" Chiharu asked.
"Yep, bear's honor!" His words didn't mean much if you ask me, "I repaired the telephone lines myself, earned a couple of shock burns in the process, but they're up and running like normal! Feel free to call the emergency services, the police, whoever gives a fuck. I'll probably be long gone from this dump before you know it."
"I see…" the mangaka was not persuaded but didn't push it further.
"One more question before we take you up on this offer," Kasumi always had to have the last word in, "What did you do with the corpses of the recently deceased?"
"What? Do you have some secret necrophilia kink we don't know about Ms. Know It All?" Once again, the bear managed to leave the debater in another flustered state, "The bodies have all been taken care of and hidden away, there's no need for you to be concerned with those lifeless meat sacks," the bear sighed deeply, "Now I've said my piece, please keep all of your remaining questions to yourself and kindly leave this place before I force you all out of here!"
As soon as he said that, Hiroko bolted out of the cafeteria through where we entered and Naofumi ran after her to make sure she was alright. Arisa had to coerce Miho to leave with her and soon Masaru, Katsuhiko, Tetsuya and Kasumi followed right after.
"Wait a minute…." I had to process this, but something I had overlooked came back to me, "Where's Eiri?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it…where is she?" Chiharu looked around as well, noticing that the criminal psychologist was nowhere to be found, "Monokuma before you go, have you seen Eiri? Why didn't you make note of her not being here before?"
"Oh, that shady freakazoid?" Monokuma was about to vanish, but we had caught him before he left, "She was here, she just slipped out before any of you noticed. Seriously you should get your eyes and ears checked out, I hope it's not a serious condition."
I had a hard time believing that, even if she did leave before us, we would have seen her walk up out of here or heard the doors open up early due to them being creaky as hell. Something fishy was going on here and this bear knew more than he let on.
"I mean…sure Eiri has been distant, if not a bit mysterious and rude at times," Chiharu tried wrapping her head around the logic of this psychotic bear, "But we would have noticed if she had left or gone missing. Did you…..did you do something to her!? Did she break a rule without us knowing and you disposed of her body like the rest!?"
"For. The. Last. Fucking. Time!" the annunciation became more demeaning and pronounced, "She. Has. Already. Left!"
The more and more this bear continued to speak, he was getting on my nerves. He continued to speak in riddles even if it was the last time we might ever see him and it still managed to be as insufferable as usual.
"You said that, but you haven't told us where to," Junichiro was still with the rest of us, "You only just made this announcement a few minutes ago and we haven't seen hide nor hair of her the entire day. You told us she left earlier, but why did you say that as if you already knew that information beforehand?"
Monokuma looked on edge now and started to sweat bullets, it seemed the business consultant's questions were the straw that broke the camel's back as he didn't answer his question, but just said this, "I've said everything I was programmed to say, now if you'll excuse me, I have other things to do! Sayonara brats, see you all never!"
"Wait a damn minute!" The bear was gone before I could interrogate him further.
"He's gone…..he's really gone," the mangaka blinked, as if she were in a trance, "We're free….free from this nightmare, Yuu!"
"Yeah…." I half heartedly agreed with her, "But what about Eiri?"
"If you ask me, who the hell cares about that weirdo," Junichiro made his thoughts plain, "She got out before us, now all of us are free from this awful hellhole. Now if you two will excuse me, I'm going to embrace my freedom, give my statement to law enforcement and get back to my work schedule. I'm awfully behind as it is."
With his blunt commentary said and done, he left the cafeteria. Chiharu and I didn't say much else and both left too, looking back at the desolate cafeteria where all of us had breakfast, lunch and dinner. The place where we all planned to get out of this nightmare together and now….it feels almost unreal. It was like a cliffhanger ending to a highly anticipated book series that ends without proper closure, it was….almost disheartening in a way.
"I can hear the police and ambulance sirens in the distance Yuu," Chiharu pointed out to me while I was pondering over everything that just happened, "Are you still having doubts?"
"Of course!" I couldn't have said that faster than I thought it would, "There are so many questions in my head right now! For starters, why were we put here to begin with? Why did this game end in such an abrupt manner? What happened to the other remains? Where's Eiri?" Though the most burning question on the tip of my tongue, "And who was the mastermind behind all of this?"
"Hmm…" she put a finger to her chin, "I don't really know myself. I guess that's part of the mystery I suppose. But if you ask me, Yusuke, I'd rather not solve this one myself and leave it at that."
I don't blame her for thinking that, I'd probably be in the same boat as well if I didn't have such insecurities plaguing my mind. I guess you could call it an insatiable need to set everything right, but a part of me just didn't buy any of this, nor did I want to think that the four people whose lives were taken meant nothing in the long run.
I know in my heart that something was not right….I had to know why we were trapped here in the first place…..
A/N: Hi everyone! I know this update came earlier than expected, but I decided to put this prologue chapter out as soon as possible, so that I can get my thoughts out there in one go.
I have no idea what possessed me to write this chapter so quickly, but if I had this mentality for my schoolwork and other personal projects, I'd be freaking unstoppable! But I digress.
I had a lot of fun making this chapter and writing it in general, ever since I put my other stories on hiatus and committed to a outline for this one narrative, I feel like my creativity isn't stifled and stretched thin, so I know that this is the right alley to go down for my future fanfics. I just want to say that I love how eager you all are to create an OC for this story, and it means the world to me that you all share the same interest in it as I do!
I never expected this concept to take off the way it did and I'm happy that you all loved it so much and now that I'm getting the chance to do it, I can finally say that I'm proud of what I've done and that's a big thing for me.
I have another prologue chapter for this in the works, but I probably won't release it right away, maybe in October, but for now I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I can't wait to hear your theories about what it means for the larger context as a whole. Do you think these characters will play a role in the story going forward? What is their relation to the main narrative and how will the outside perspective tie into this?
Other than that, I don't have much else to report. I will be busy with classes as I have an exam coming up and a few projects in the work, but I hope this chapter suffices for now. Have a lovely day, night, holiday or whatever it is you are celebrating everyone, I don't think I'll be doing weekly updates like this, because it feels like a fluke, but I'll take it where I can!
Happy reading my fellow readers, authors and otaku alike, I will see you all in the next update or whenever I decide to post next! Bye.