It was over. The execution was finally over, and no one dared to say anything. The only one who even could talk right away was the damn bear who started all of this. "Wh-What!? To think…my cute child…would kill his two last siblings…" Monokuma muttered as sweat poured out of his body, but it soon didn't last long as he gave his rebellious child a big smile. Ahhhh… It's so cute! It's so freakin' cute that you killed your remaining siblings both out of hatred that they left you and out of a feeling of wanting to help the surviving students. It's so cute I could destroy you right now! Puhuhuhuhuhuhuhu!"
"..." Monodam didn't say anything in response. He just stared at Monokuma with his usual blank look, showing no emotions at all. However, it was clear that one thing was being shown through this gesture. Hatred. Pure hatred towards his father. But there was also remorse, and sorrow directed towards those who had survived the trial. That was the best description of Monodam's actions at that moment as he left the trial grounds without a word. No one said anything as he left. They just kept staring at the monitors with varying degrees of reactions that all could be described as tragic sadness.
"Well, looks like another class trial has wrapped up without incident, so… I guess I'll take my leave now. At least you all used the Necronomicon before this. With Miss Tojo back with you, your numbers aren't as bad. It's like only two of you have died since last time, so take pride in that! Take pride knowing that each of you is easily replaceable, just like the ones who have died this time around! Bwahahahaha!" And with that mocking remark, Monokuma left the remaining students alone to finally grieve in peace. Three people. Three innocent, good people were taken from them. Manipulated to kill…and tragically murdered in unfair ways. Just…what was this? Could anyone truly explain why this was happening? No one dared to anymore, and no one dared to try to use logic to explain it. Certainly not Tenko, who was on the verge of completely shutting down.
"...Why did this have to happen to us?" Kaede eventually voiced the question everyone had on their mind, tears no longer being kept in check as she softly sobbed. "Why…do we have to go through this, over and over and over?"
"...I wish I knew." Rin muttered in a broken tone, never raising his downtrodden face as he kept his eyes on the ground.
"...I suppose there is only one thing to take away from this." Keebo sighed with a sad face. "In this place, no God, whether real or not, can help anyone, no matter how devoted one is."
"That…really is the case, isn't it?" Rantaro grimaced.
"Of course not. No God could ever reside inside a place like this." Maki spat out in a venomous tone, hatred towards what they just witnessed clearly visible to anyone.
"Yeah…you right." Gonta gave a slow and sad nod.
"But…I truly hope that there is at least an afterlife, like what Angie kept saying. If there is…then there is at least peace in death… Having hope in that at least…might be enough to dull the pain for now." Rin quietly whispered as he held his arm tightly.
"Rin…" Kirumi said softly as she looked to the ground as well. "So…this is the class trial. This is what you all have experienced after I passed the first time. It is…hell. That is the only way to describe it."
"Yeah… Hell. If there is a heaven, this place is certainly what Hell is." Kaito grumbled angrily.
"Well…that's why we have to work together, right? To face it together." Shuichi then said. "Our Ultimate talents, and own skills and experiences, and who we are as people…those are the only weapons we have."
"Then Gonta do his best to keep everyone safe! Gonta wanna protect everyone!"
"Of course you will, Gonta. Entomologist you may be, you have the biggest heart out of any of us." Rantaro gave him a small smile in response.
"I don't want Shuichi to use his Ultimate talent anymore. I'm getting sick of class trials." Maki added.
"Ah, yeah…you're right." Shuichi gave a weak nod.
"Hey! Your talent as an assassin is way more trouble! When are you gonna use that, huh?" Kokichi asked with a big taunting smile. However, unlike what everyone was expecting, Maki stayed silent for a bit without even glaring at Kokichi before sighing.
"...I'll work hard, until everyone trusts my Ultimate talent." She told him.
"Huh?"
"It may not be possible now, but I'll put in the effort so everyone can trust me." Maki said as she softly scratched her cheek. "I…I won't run away anymore… I want to survive and escape this place with everyone."
"I seeee… I wonder how long that'll last. What if your true calling as a killer shows?" Kokichi asked with a childish grin.
"Kokichi…can you just…not right now?" Rin asked in a tired voice. "Can we just…go back to the dorms and rest? Try to forget what happened here and move on without fighting?"
"But that'd be boring, Rinny! Besides, even if she tries to play nice, she's still the Ultimate Assassin. You can't tell me to not be on guard around her." Kokichi told me with a pout.
"Don't underestimate her! Maki Roll's one of my sidekicks!" Kaito proudly proclaimed with his iconic thumbs up pose and smile.
"I still don't remember becoming your sidekick. You've just called me that ever since we began training. Also, didn't I tell you to stop calling me Maki Roll?" Maki growled at the astronaut.
"Ooohhh, you guys are so close now. This must be the powerful bond of friendship." Kokichi stated in a mocking tone as he looked at his hand with a bored expression. "But I would've preferred it to happen sooner. Especially not after losing six people. Seven if you include Kirumi before we brought her back."
"Please, Kokichi. Have a little tact." Kirumi chided him.
"B-But Kokichi right…only 11 people left now." Gonta stated.
"It would be 10 if we didn't bring Kirumi back." Rantaro added as he shut his eyes sadly.
"17 people at the start…and now we're just 11…it's a tough pill to swallow." Kaede cried softly.
"Just…11 of us." Keebo repeated with his own look of sorrow.
"Humans are like weeds-too numerous to count. Six of us dead doesn't mean much in the end." Kokichi told us before looking at Keebo with a frown. "That's totally what the heartless robot is thinking! Right, riiiight!?"
"No, I'm not thinking that! Your blatant robophobia is simply inexcusable!" Keebo shouted back at the little gremlin.
"Can we seriously not do this right now!?" Rin yelled with a glare aimed at the both of them.
"But hey… None of us gave up, right?" Kaito asked. "Even after everything that's happened, none of us have given up. I know we're all gonna escape! I'm not gonna rely on a god, spirits, or anything else. Just you guys! I believe in all of you!"
"Kaito…" Shuichi gave a smile at Kaito.
"You're right. All we can do as the ones left is keep moving forward, for everyone who isn't here." Kaede nodded with confidence as she wiped away her tears, with most everyone giving a nod at that. And with that, it seemed like everything had been settled for now, even though many people…many friends were lost along the way. And yet still, one person remained unusually quiet.
"..." Tenko's eyes never left the now black monitor screen. She replayed the execution in her head over and over and over. She counted how many times she failed to do anything in this case. How many times has everyone failed Himiko, Angie, and Ryoma during this case? And she slowly started getting more and more angry. Why did this have to happen to her? Himiko? Why couldn't Tenko do anything about it? Why was she always so pathetically weak when it mattered? Why was she never in the right place at the right time to protect anyone? What good was being the Ultimate Aikido Master if she never could use her skills to help the people she loved and cared about? Her friends? And yet, with this spiral of anger, hatred, and self doubt of the worst kind, Tenko stayed silent. Unusually so. She had always been quick to show her emotions. She 'wore it on her sleeve', as people tended to say.
And yet…for the first time in her life…she was left completely speechless. Shell shocked as to how to even begin to unpack the raging emotional storm that was wreaking havoc inside of her mind. Yet she knew she didn't want to react to them. For once in her life, she didn't want to completely breakdown. Himiko asked her to smile, after all. Breaking down, crying right after she had…died…that would be the exact opposite of what Himiko wanted. She couldn't react for Himiko's sake. She couldn't break down and cry. For Himiko's sake.
"Tenko… You okay? Anything Gonta can do to help? You can tell Gonta." Gonta asked as he and the others finally started to realize Tenko hadn't talked at all after she finally stopped struggling and Gonta was able to put her down. Tenko didn't respond to him…that…degenerate! All of them, even the girls! They were awful! How could they just…move on from this!? How could they still force a smile and think about tomorrow after what they saw!? After what just happened!? They were all horrible, and Tenko was the worst of all, because she couldn't even do that much for Himiko. Those were her immediate thoughts, but she never showed them. She never reacted. All she did was push those thoughts away. Stop blaming the others. Those kinds of thoughts aren't right, and she shouldn't feel like that. Those thoughts are absolutely ridiculous! Why was she even feeling such stupid things?
"I think…we should let her have some space for now. That might be best for her." Shuichi stated.
"That…might be true." Rin nodded slowly, not showing his face as he bit his lip slightly. "I…remember how hard it was for me after the first trial. This can't be much better for her."
"Oh…Gonta understand." Gonta said as he gave a deep frown, sympathizing with Tenko's struggles. But how could he possibly know how she felt? More intrusive thoughts appeared that invaded Tenko's mind after the boy's show of kindness and understanding. How dare these filthy males try to understand how she felt! No one could understand! Anyone who would try is just insulting her and how she felt right now! No one, especially not a degenerate male could understand! That's what the thoughts in her mind told her, but Tenko kept ignoring them. She knew it made no sense, so she kept pushing their words out of her head. She kept building walls to try to keep things inside her heart under control and the ugly thoughts out. It was a natural reaction. Any normal person would do things like this when they lose someone or multiple people extremely close to them. They deny reality. They make excuses. They delude themselves that no one could understand. That it's others who failed to react properly to this situation. That it's their fault she felt this way. That they couldn't do anything to help her. That it's their fault. That it's her fault.
It happens to everyone, and it was happening to Tenko for what was probably the first time in her life so far. She's never felt like this before. She'd never have to deal with such raw emotions that threatened to take such vicious control of her before. The extreme loss and sadness, the anger, the pain, the confusion, the guilt, and the desire to blame someone. Anyone. And due to how she was raised and taught by her master, the easiest targets were the males. But of course, she had already begun to realize this way of thinking was completely flawed. She's seen it many times, over and over. Kaito's constant encouragement, Shuichi's helpful deductions, Gonta's genuine kindness, Rantaro's older sibling concern and care, and Rin's sense of responsibility. Even Kokichi, the troublemaker of the group, had times where he seemed like the only one who tried to tell the group the reality of their situation admiss the hopeless delusions they would try to force on themselves, even if he did it in a really degenerate way that made Tenko hate him more.
Still, the heart and soul demanded that there be someone to blame, but males were just the easy, obvious scapegoat for her feelings. The real person she wanted to blame…to hate with all her might…was herself and her complete incompetence. Her heart screamed for that vengeance against her weakness and for the chance to cry her eyes out, but Tenko refused to listen. To make sense of any of it. To even react like how she would normally without completely breaking. It was just…too much for her to handle. So she tried to ignore it. It wasn't a big deal. She was doing this for Himiko's sake, after all! She needed to be happy for her since that's what she wanted. She couldn't be feeling these awful, horrible emotions! She couldn't let herself hate herself or anyone else for this! That would be spitting in Himiko's face! And that's when someone said something absurd.
"God, Tenko is such a liar! I never knew!" Kokichi laughed loudly.
"Huh?" Almost everyone gasped at the sudden accusation before they all glared at Kokichi. But before they could start yelling at him, Kokichi began to explain himself.
"Personally, I don't think lies are exactly a bad thing…" He began. "Let's face it, you wouldn't have any free will if the world was composed of just the truth. But even then…I don't think it's good to lie to yourself, y'know?"
"..." Tenko finally reacted as she turned to Kokichi with a dark glare, warning him to stop talking before she made him stop. Forcibly.
"Kokichi, what are you saying!? Think about Tenko's feelings a little bit-"
"I only said this because I thought about it." Kokichi interrupted Kaede. "Tenko is lying to herself about her own feelings, so she's been trying to hold back." Kokichi then pointed at Tenko with a slightly upset expression. "Hey, what are you repressing? Why are you trying so hard to hold back when you're usually the first person to scream about not doing that? Isn't this exactly what you tried to get Himiko to stop doing?"
That was the deepest cut Kokichi could have made against Tenko, and it pulled a memory out of her head. The moment Rin gave her to finally talk to Himiko, one on one. She still remembered the words she told her. "Expressing your feelings is perfectly natural. You shouldn't feel ashamed at all. So…if you feel like crying when you're upset, go ahead and cry your eyes out. You'll feel better when you do. And if you're happy, then laugh until your sides hurt! That'll make you feel even better! And venting your anger onto something works just as well too! Train your heart by crying, laughing, and venting your anger, Himiko. That'll be how your beautiful heart grows big enough for everyone to see it, not just me!" That was the moment where they truly became friends. The moment Himiko gave her a real smile. A moment precious to Tenko. The memory was still fresh in her mind…and it completely shattered the weak defenses Tenko tried to hold up to prevent her usual reaction.
And so…she began to cry. "Uuuu…Uuuuu…" And then she completely fell on her knees and began bawling like a child. "Uuuuuuuuuuuuwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Himiko…Why did you have to leave me! Why couldn't I protect you! Why couldn't I help you or Angie! Why am I so useless! I'm so… I'M SO LONELY! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME ALONE HERE!" It was ugly. It was raw. It was like looking at a fresh wound. But it was natural. It was nothing to be ashamed of. As sad as it was, it's a necessary part of life. A natural part of growth. A natural and needed part of healing and moving on. "But even so…! I gotta survive! I…can't follow you to where you are now! But I'm so lonely! I'm so lonely without you, and Angie too! You both…were my closest friends! I'm so sorry!" She shouted her pleas without caring that the others were around her. She had completely forgotten about everything other than what she needed to get out of her system. She cried and cried and cried, screaming loudly what her heart needed to say but was too afraid to at first. The pain. The guilt. The pain that makes you want to die, as well as the sounds that make you want to cry. So then she kept crying, more and more, until the pain could finally disappear. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
"T-Tenko…" Kaede began as she tried to approach Tenko, but that's when they all heard something else.
"Hic… sniffle…" And just like that, all eyes went to the source of the muffled cries, and everyone's gaze landed on Rin who was still looking at the ground to prevent anyone from seeing his face.
"R-Rin…what's-" Kaito began, but when he walked up to Rin, he noticed little droplets of water falling from his friend's face. Silent, barely noticeable tears. Kaito was immediately taken aback by how surprising it was. Not ever, not a single time in this killing game, had Rin actually cried in front of the others. There were only two people who saw the rare sight: Angie and Kirumi. But even so, everyone was both shocked and confused as to why Rin, the oldest person in the group and the one who usually tried to be the reassuring one in these terrible situations, was finally crying as well. And immediately, upon being found out, Rin quickly pulled his hood over his face to hide, shivering more and more as more of his tears began to fall from his face, now faster than before.
"D-Don't look at me…please." He gave a soft plea. "I-I…didn't want to fall apart in front of you guys again. But…now that Tenko's crying…I…I can't…" And just like Tenko, it was like hidden emotions were leaking out of Rin's body as he hunched over and held his shoulders tightly. "Why… Why did any of this happen? Why… Why did Angie try to kill me!? I thought we…that we were friends!" He asked in a soft, broken tone that was never heard before by anyone. "I trusted her so much! So why did she try to kill me!? Why did she have to die before I found out why!? Did none of our interactions matter to her!? Did the moment she helped me the most meant nothing to her!? Did she really not see that I liked her because of who she was, not Atua or her talent or anything like that? Why… Why did she have to die and drag Ryoma and Himiko with her!? And why Ryoma…? He was finally going to live! He was going to…live…!"
He couldn't stop himself from asking the pointless, meaningless questions that were eating away at his heart and mind. He hated feeling like this. This feeling of helplessness. Like a child lost in a park, unsure of where his mother is. The persistent, ever present feeling of loneliness. That constant, gnawing thought of guilt and doubt. And a painful reminder of how powerless he really was. It hurt so much every time he had to confront it, and the first two times at this academy, he was able to hold it back just enough to not show it to the others this weak, pathetic, useless side of him, at least not completely. But this time, with Tenko releasing all of her sorrow in front of him, it was like his own dam broke, and he couldn't do anything to stop it as he began crying helplessly like he once did as a child. A child who was all alone, unsure of what he was supposed to do.
That's when he felt someone pull him into a hug. He didn't even look to see that it was Kirumi, who was now softly and silently crying as well. He didn't care. As soon as he felt the embrace, he stopped holding back. He pressed his face deeper into her hug as he choked out sobs without a care in the world. The only thing that mattered was trying to get the painful sorrow of Angie's betrayal of his trust and friendship out of his mind. He desperately needed to release that emotion, and he didn't care who saw him at this state that he thought of as childish and pointless. Rin wept. He cried and cried and cried, all while Tenko did the same, and soon, it spread to the others.
"D-Damn it!" Kaito muttered as he put a hand on his now teary face as he, along with the others, began to cry. It was as if Tenko's crying had lured all of them into sobbing as well. For the first time, for all of them, every single one of them, it was as if they were finally releasing all the emotions they kept hidden so far, even if none of them were paying attention to one another. They were finally allowed to mourn. All of the students there in the trial grounds at that moment cried, in one way or another. Be it full on sobs like Tenko, Rin, and Kaede, or stifled tears that couldn't be held back any longer, like Kirumi, Shuichi, and Kaito. All of them cried, and none of them cared. The tears that were shed in that moment…not a single soul could even begin to try and describe it. They were tears that reflected how they felt about what they had gone through so far, and what they feared would come. Tears that reflected all that they lost, and all that they suffered. Sadness, hatred, frustration, discord, anger, love…tears filled with emotion.
But…at the very least…they weren't tears of submission. They were tears to push them all forward into the darkness. And so they cried and wept, and no one could tell them to stop, even if they wanted to.
After finally getting it out of their system, the group left the trial grounds, not saying a word about what had transpired, as if it was a secret none of them were willing to share even with each other. The vulnerable sides of each other they had unwillingly shown were fragile, and no one really wanted to test how far they could go with those cracked reflections of themselves before they broke again. And more than any of that, they were now extremely tired. But as they were heading back, one of them started to slow down, until he was at a complete stop.
"Hmm? Kaito, what's wrong?" Rin said in a tired and soft voice.
"Hm? Oh… Nothing." Kaito said as he waved at Rin dismissively. "I just wanted to get some night air. Don't worry about me. Go on ahead."
"Ah, you sure?" Shuichi asked as he looked back at Kaito as well.
"Anyway…don't do something anything stupid. You'll make everyone worry." Maki told him.
"What? You worried about me?" Kaito said with a joking smile.
"Yeah…worried about your stupidity." Maki replied while shaking her head in a disappointed manner.
"That's a little mean, Maki." Kaede giggled at the cold assassin.
"It's true, isn't it?" Maki asked her as she walked away.
"Hah! She still hasn't warmed up to me, huh?" Kaito laughed.
"Maybe not…but I feel like the walls we had up are coming down a little, you know?" Shuichi told him.
"That is true. She's a lot more sociable now than before, though that's a difference between not being sociable at all and now giving people a little small talk." Rin laughed. "I suppose…those walls were her enemies, huh?"
"Yeah. It seems like she doesn't want to wait anymore." Kaede nodded.
"Yeah! Cuz of me!" Kaito shouted proudly.
"...Yeah, maybe, but you sound like you're bragging, Kaito!" Shuichi gave a dry laugh.
"Bragging about it makes you sound really shallow, Kaito." Rin warned the astronaut with a smirk.
"Heh… But like I said, I'm…gonna get some air before I go back. You can go on ahead." He told them.
"Sure…got it. See you tomorrow." Shuichi said as he, Rin, and Kaede waved goodbye to Kaito.
"Yeah, see ya tomorrow!" Kaito called back as his friends left him alone in the courtyard. And the moment he saw he was alone… "...cough. Cough COUGH!" He coughed into his hand. Roughly. The moment he retracted it, there was a pink stain on his palm that had come out of his mouth. Blood. It was trailing out of his mouth onto his chin, and was now in a puddle in his palm. Kaito could only grit his teeth angrily as he saw it. He wasn't getting better, and he didn't even know what the hell was happening in the first place. "D-Damn it… I…don't have time to be dying… I still haven't gone into space yet." Kaito muttered. Thoughts of his friends began to replay themselves in his head as he stared at the blood he coughed up. Shuichi…Kaede…Maki Roll…Rin…and all the others… "Damn it… No way am I gonna die here! No way…Not before I get them out first!" And so, Kaito wiped his hand against the inside of his coat before walking back to his room. He couldn't let anyone see him in this state. If they did…things would only get worse. He couldn't let that happen, not after what just happened. Not after what they've already been through. He wasn't going to die on them because of some stupid cough! He was going to get them out. He was Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! He could make the impossible possible! All he had to do…
Was make it so.
3rd Arc: Revived Hope That's Crushed by Forced Regret
END
Remaining Students: 11
