Danganronpa – A Story of Growth and Love
Chapter 8 – New Friends, New Feelings
(Shuichi's POV)
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!
I opened my eyes and reached over to turn off my alarm, still feeling a bit sleepy. After shaking off my drowsiness, I took a quick glance at my clock and saw that it was 7:30 am. Classes started at 9:00 am, so I had plenty of time to get ready for today. After a quick shower, I got my stuff ready and left my room. I knew that I should've been nervous about my first day, but the thought of having someone I knew in my class gave me a bit of comfort. Speaking of which, that same person I was thinking of just so happened to be waiting for me by the dining hall, with a smile of her face.
"Ah, good morning Shuichi!" Kaede said happily.
"Good morning to you to Kaede. How are you doing?" I asked.
"Oh, I'm alright, just a bit sleepy is all," she yawned, "So are you ready for our first class?"
"I'm definitely ready, or at least I think I am," I said, "Are you still available to hang out after class?"
"Actually," she started, "I got invited to hang out with a group of people who are in class. I told them that I had plans to hang out with someone else, but they said I could bring them along. Is that alright with you Shuichi?" she asked.
I suddenly became a bit nervous. While I was happy that Kaede wasn't forgetting our plans, I get insanely nervous around large groups of people. The last time I tried that was during my second year of middle school, and that didn't end well. Since then, I tended to avoid large gatherings, but maybe things will be better this time?
I looked up to see Kaede looking at me with a look of wonder on her face. She seemed to be waiting for my response, especially since she I told her about my whole nervousness situation. Looking into her eyes, I felt a small surge of courage within me. Maybe as long as Kaede was with me, I might be okay. After another minute, I said, "I guess that would be okay. What time are we meeting at?"
As soon as I responded, Kaede's face lit up with joyful smile. She told me that we would be meeting with the group of students as soon as class was over. Before we could discus any farther though, I looked at one the nearby clocks and saw that we had about 15 minutes before class started. So, with that, we quickly headed over to our classroom, both ready to start the day.
After classes…
For a first day of classes, this one moved by insanely fast. We started with introductions and for the most part, that went pretty well. I read the class list beforehand, but all I got were names and Ultimate's, so even though I knew some things, I didn't know anything else. Some of them were pretty obvious, like Kirumi Tojo being the Ultimate Maid and K1-B0 the Ultimate Robot. The only one that surprised was Gonta Gokuharu, since he looked more like the Adventurer then the Ultimate Entomologist. Then again, you should never judge a book by it's cover. The rest of the class was pretty simple, a side from a few students being disruptive from time to time.
Once the bell rang, I met with Kaede who guided us to were we hanging out with some of the other students. Upon our arrival, I noticed that there were six students from our class waiting for us. Noticing our arrival, the tallest student out the group of six walked over to greet us.
"How's it going you two," he asked, "The name's Kaito, Kaito Momota. Nice meet you!"
"You do realize we introduced ourselves this morning right," said a girl who walked up next to Kaito."
Kaito just chuckled and threw his arm around the girl next to him. "C'mon Maki-roll, no need to be all gloomy," Kaito said.
"Whatever," Maki responded before turning to us, "You two made it here right on time."
"Of course," Kaede said, "I was worried that we may have been a bit late."
"Don't worry about it," a girl yawned from the nearby table, "we weren't even waiting that long."
"C'mon Himiko, you need an energy boost," said the purple haired boy next to her, "it'll be no fun if you're all sleepy!"
Upon hearing that, the girl across Himiko yelled, "Quiet Kokichi! If Himiko doesn't have the energy, then don't try and force anything out her!"
I recognized that voice from this morning's introductions. It belonged to Tenko Chabashira, the Ultimate Neo-Aikido Master. She seemed nice enough, but as soon as the purple haired boy started bugging Himiko, she went from nice to scary in literally no time at all. The purple haired boy in question was Kokichi Oma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader. He tried to cause mischief all day and he was the last person I was expecting to see here.
Before Tenko could flip Kokichi, a green haired boy standing next to Tenko pulled her away and said, "You know he just does this for a reaction Tenko. Just take a deep breath and calm down okay?"
After a quick breath, Tenko regained her composure and turned around to face the green haired boy. "Thank you Rantaro," she said, "As usual, you have a good point. Thanks for the help."
"Any time Tenko," he said, "any time."
After some brief re-introductions, Kaito decided to bring us over to the Rec-Room. There we started up a few games ranging from darts to pool. Everyone seemed to be having fun, but I was still nervous. Even though everyone seemed friendly, and they were friendly, I was still nervous that something bad would happen.
I was still thinking of what to do when I heard Kaito call me over.
"Hey Shuichi, get over here!" he said.
I walked over and asked, "What is it Kaito?"
"Let's play a game of darts," he said, "You know what they say, the best way to get know someone is to interact with them right?"
"I don't think I heard that one," I responded, "But a game does sound fun. How do we play?"
"Here's what we do," Kaito said, "We both take turns throwing darts at the board. We start at whatever number start with, and with each round of throwing, were trying to get the score to zero. Pretty easy right?"
It sounded very easy, but I had never thrown a drat before, let alone played a full game of darts. Then again, this would be a learning experience. Gathering up some courage I looked up at Kaito and said, "Yeah, let's play a round."
"Alright," Kaito said, "Let's go for 501 then."
After that, we started our game. I was throwing first, and for my first time, I did pretty well, scoring a double 20, a 15, and a 6, adding up to 61. Kaito obviously did better, scoring a bullseye, a double 15, and a triple 5, adding up to 95. After my third round and Kaito's last round, we still needed 63 points to win. At this point, everyone was watching our game, which added to my nervousness. I took a breath and threw my first dart, but I narrowly missed the board. My second throw hit the 3, but it still left us with 60. The only way I saw us wining this was by hitting the triple 20, but could I really hit it?
I took a quick glance around and everyone seemed to be watching to see if I could win, which didn't help my nerves. That is, until I saw Kaede, who was looking at me with a determined look on her face. That alone helped me calm down enough to face the dart board. With a deep breath, I threw the dart at the board, and saw land directly on the triple 20.
"Great work Shuichi," Kaito said happily as he threw his arm around me, "I had a feeling you would clutch this for us!"
"Is that why you threw so badly on your final round?" Maki asked.
"Of course not," Kaito defended, "I just had a bit of bad luck is all."
"Sheesh Kaito, just admit you threw bad on purpose," Kokichi snickered, "I know a bad lie when I see one after all, and that one was horrible!"
"Why you little," Kaito said before Maki held him back while Kokichi hid behind Himiko. Once Kaito calmed down, Rantaro asked me to play a round of darts with him next. After that it was Tenko, and after that it was Maki, and finally I finished with playing a round with Kaede. With each game, I won every time with my teammate, which felt really good to be honest. Just as we were about to start something else, Himiko said, "It's getting pretty late everyone. Maybe we can pick this up another time?"
Looking at the clock, I saw that it was 8:00 pm. We've been here since 3:00 pm, yet if felt so much shorter than that. After quickly cleaning up, we all headed for the dining hall for a quick bite to eat before we disbanded and headed off to our respective dorm rooms. While we ate, we all made plans to meet up at least once a week after class to hang out like today. As long as everyone was free, we all agreed to that idea.
As I was walking back to my room, Kaede called out from behind me. I turned around and she greeted me with one of her signature smiles.
"So how was everything today Shuichi?" she asked.
"I'll be honest, I had a lot of fun today Kaede," I said, "Thanks for inviting me along."
"No problem Shuichi! I'm just glad I was able to help."
"Help?" I asked.
"Well," she started, "Do you remember how you were telling me about your nervousness problem yesterday?"
I nodded my head as she continued, "Well I wanted help you get better at being around large groups of people, so when Kaito asked me to hang out with him and the others, I thought that it would help you out as well."
I was a bit shocked, but Kaede did this with me solely in mind. All I could do was smile at that. I then said, "Thank you for being so considerate Kaede. I definitely feel a bit better about my nerves now thanks to this."
"No problem Shuichi," she said, "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."
As she walked away, I walked up to my dorm room to head inside and get ready for bed. Before I could enter though, Kaede ran up to me. "Oh, did you need something Kaede?" I asked.
"I was just wondering, but would you like to hang out tomorrow? You know, to make up for the sudden change of plans today." she said.
"I'd like that Kaede," I said, "would after class be good for you?"
"Yeah!" she said, "It's a da-, I mean, yeah I'll see you then. Have a good night!"
Before I could elaborate on what she was about to say at first, she quickly made her way to her dorm room. I decided that I would ask her another time on what she was going to say, but for right now, I was happy with the fact that we grew closer today. As I walked in my room and closed the door behind me, all could think about was Kaede's kindness. We only just met, yet she helped me so much despite that. I really am lucky to have met her here at Hope's Peak.
Notes:
No this is not an April Fools joke. The next chapter in the story is here and I hope you enjoy it! I'm so sorry for the long period of time with no updates. Between writer's block and finishing final projects for college, I just haven't found the time to write. I'll try to get back to updating this a bit more frequently, so don't worry about another long wait time. The next chapter we'll see Kaede talking the girls of her group about crushes and such, with Shuichi doing something similar with his group.
By the way, for any of those interested, I'm planning on writing a book full of one-shots involving some of my favorite pairs from the Persona series. if your interested, then please give it a read when it eventually comes out (Again, this is not a joke).