Dangan Ronpa:Lock Down Prologue IV:The Jester and the Royalty

As Nai and I exit the Decoration Enhancement Room I start to look around the hallway a bit more. I notice there are three more doors in the hallway,and at the very end of the hallway is another set of iron bars,just like the ones in the stairwell. I turn to Nai,planning to ask her about the bars. That's when I notice she is already entering the next room. I swiftly walk after her,catching a slight glimpse of the plaque as I enter.

DENTESTRY ENHANCEMENT

I look around the room for a second,seeing no one but Nai and I are in here. It looks like any normal dentist's office. One of those chairs you have to lean back in next to some tanks of what I assume to be laughing gas. There are many other strange looking tools on the counter next to the sink. I look through some of the cabinets, finding a lot more tools and cleaning supplies. I can hear Nai sighing behind me, so I close up the cabinet I was looking in and turn to her. She looks at me coldly.

"You do know rummaging though other people's things are considered attempted burglary right?"

I gulp slightly, I just though we where exploring the rooms...I thought it was ok to look though cabinets. I awkwardly rub the back of my neck, a bit ashamed in my own actions.

"Oh..Uhh I'm sorry then."

I look up at Nai,expecting another judging remark from her, instead I see her with a small smile on her face. She walks over to me, slightly patting me on the back.

"I'm kidding, I did the exact same thing when I first saw this place. No need to feel bad."

I let out a sigh of relief, judging by her attitude I didn't really take her for someone who can casually joke around like that. I guess I judged a book by its cover. I smile at her and give a slight chuckle.

"You really had me going there, I didn't think you where so good on your feet."

Nai twirls a strand of her hair slightly, looking at the door*

"Well a joke once and a while helps with your mood. It takes your mind off of our troubles,even If its only for a second or so."

Shes right in a way, I almost forgot where in a jail somewhere with no idea how we got here. I still don't know what could be the purpose of this anyway. There are to many things that can be the right answer. As I think to myself I hear the door to the room open again. I turn to the doorway,expecting to see Nai leaving me in the dust, that's when I see another person has entered the room, a very small girl. She looks like she isn't even out of grade school yet shes that short. She wears a short sleeved,pure white dress with pink polka dots on it. Her belt is a light pink as well, mixing nice with the rest of her outfit. Her shoes have little blue wings on the backs of them, matching the ones in her hair holding up her long, blond twin tails. She looks up at us with her silver looking eyes.

"Oh..I didn't know this was occupied, I can leave if you want."

I look over to Nai, hoping she can handle this so I wont have to. She looks to the girl with a small smile on her face.

"No no, its ok. You weren't bothering us."

The girl smiles a bit fiddling around with a pair of binoculars she has around her neck like a necklace.

"Oh thank you Nai and...uhm...I don't actually know your name."

She points directly at me, I guess I have to give her my introduction. I tip my hat to her and give her a small wink.

"My name is Shiza Faria. The SHSL Socialite. It's nice to meet you little one."

The girl blinks a few times before tugging on one of her twin tails slightly.

"N-Nice to meet you too,Shiza. My name is Iruna Sonuba...SHSL Birdwatcher..."

Iruna Sonuba

SHSL Birdwatcher

A birdwatcher? That must be a really peaceful thing to do, I don't think I would like it that much. I smile slightly and form up something to say.

"That sounds amazing, I guess I can see how much you like them."

Iruna laughs nervously for a second, she looks off to the side.

"Yep...Birds flying free in the wild are truly beautiful."

Nai glares down the girl for no reason, at least that's what I think anyway. Sh seams really nice, I don't know why Nai feels so coldly to her. Nai grabs my arm and quickly starts walking to the door Iruna backs out of our way slightly, I turn to her and awkwardly smile.

"I guess we can talk later then...bye Iruna!"

Before I can hear her response Nai shuts the door behind us. She lets go of my arm and starts walking off. I rub my arm where she grabbed me.

"Nai what was that all about? She seems perfectly fine."

Nai turns around with her arms crossed. She looks at me dead in the eye.

"She felt to shifty to me. I guess you didn't notice."

"Nai, are you sure you just aren't being paranoid?"

She glares at me with the force of at least 4 large buses. I keep my mouth shut, scared to say anything else to her. We start to walk down the hall again when we hear someone coming.

"Shiza! I'm glad we found you again."

We turn around to see Chariona waving at us from entrance of the hallway. She stands with Myuroko and...a towering male made of nothing but the purest of muscle. He has bleached blond hair made into a perfectly made buzz cut and piercing red eyes. He looks angry for some reason, but I don't even Know why. He wears a Light orange track suit that's unzipped to show of his white undershirt. Chariona walks up to us with the other two with the largest smile on her face.

"Shiza look! It's The Ripped Ranger!"

She points to the large tower of a man and jumps up and down with glee. I however have no idea what she just said...I haven't heard of anyone like that before. The man looks down at me and...smiles. He pats Chariona on the head and turns to me and Nai.

"Shes a big fan of mine...but that isn't my real name. It's Ariki Nobira, SHSL Wrestler."

Ariki Nobria

SHSL Wrestler

It finally dongs on me when he mentions his talent. He's a world famous wrestler who has never been beaten in his 5 years of his career. I look up at him and give him a slight wave.

"Well, its good to know we have someone like you here. We may be able to beat whoever captured us now."

Ariki gives a slight nod to me as Chariona finishes her fan-girling. She looks to me and smiles.

"This might not be so bad after all. I'm sure we have nothing to worry about with Ariki here. "

Myuroko chips in as well.

"We might not want to say that just yet pal. Whoever our captor is may be stronger then him. We doing exactly know who it is yet."

Nai walks up to the rest of us, looking like she's thinking to herself. She speaks up to the rest of us.

"Myuroko has a point, we still have no clue who we are dealing with. For all we know one of the people trapped in here could have done this."

Suddenly the mood of our little group shifts a bit. We all start looking at each other nervously. Nai could be right, but she still could be wrong, I try to keep as much of a level head as possible, not sure what to believe. I look around at everyone else here as they try to think about what Nai said. Eventually Myuroko speaks up.

"I'm going to go look around some more...anyone want to join me?"

Ariki nods at him, I expect Chariona to agree aswell but she looks to the other two and just smiles

"I'm going to stay here with Shiza, you two can go on ahead."

Myuroko gives a slight nod as he and Ariki walk out of the hallway. Chariona turns back to me and Nai with a grin on her face.

"So, where to next guys?"

Nai looks at the two of us and then points to a door at the far end of the hallway. I turn to where she is pointing at to see that Iruna girl talking with what I can assume is a human variation of a candy cane. He wears a full tuxedo all in red and white stripes, he also has a matching,full sized top hat,and one red shoe and one white shoe. His hair is even white, slicked back with what I'm guessing took a large amount of hair gel. His eyes look to be a pale shade of yellow aswell. Iruna notices us three looking at her and waves to us, the other male just stands there with a spaced out smile on his face. Chariona happily walks up to them while me and Nai hang back, waiting to see what happens. Chariona looks to be in a conversation with the two, shake shakes both of their hands and wave us over. Nai again hangs back, leaving this up to me. I slowly make my way over to the trio.

"Hello again Iruna. I'm glad we got to talk again so soon."

Iruna giggles a bit as the other male looks at me with his spaced out smile. He pulls out what look to be a miniature version of himself, right down to the smallest detail,he then starts to control the mini version of himself like a puppet. The puppet points at me

"You there, what is your name?"

The man looks to be talking in a high pitched voice, I guess he is speaking through his...doll thing. I try my hardest not to visually seem creeped out. I look at the puppet, tipping my hat and smiling awkwardly.

"H-Hello there puppet man. My name is Shiza Faria...SHSL Socialite."

The puppet crosses his arms in annoyance and turns his nose up at me.

"You are not allowed to speak with the great puppeteer! I deem you unworthy!"

I blink a few time just to make sure I got that right. I was just told off...by a puppet. I sigh a bit, rubbing my head a bit.

"Allright then. I 'm gonna get goi-."

"Now now Xini,I shall grant him approval. He looks interesting enough."

The man starts speaking in a normal voice now, it sounds really soothing and calm. He looks at me and gives a slight bow.

"It is I, the bringer of life to normalized dolls. Xenocratus, the SHSL Puppet Master!"

Xenocratus

SHSL Puppet Master

I look at him with concern, his attitude is really making me uncomfortable. He's so enthusiastic about everything...I know I have no room to talk about that however. I look at him and rub the back of my neck.

"Uhh two things,wouldn't it just be puppeteer and not puppet master, and how exactly did you get here,we where blocking the hallway."

Xenocratus switches back to his high pitched voice, the puppet must be in control now.

"He prefers the term 'master' because that is what he is. As for your other question, we where in the Puppeteer Enhancement Room."

I look past the two to see a another door with what looks to be short, red, curtains hanging down over it as well as a painted on stand, most likely to mimic a puppet show. I look at the plaque and sure enough...

PUPPETEER ENHANCEMENT

I look back to Xenocratus and try to speak, only to be cut of by Iruna.

"I love puppet shows. They are always so fun and interesting."

Chariona chimes in as well.

"Ya, I have been to a few back at home. It was the same show every time...but it was still awesome."

Xenoctatus switches back to his normal voice giving a sly grin to the two girls.

"Well I'm glad you feel that way, but I assure you my shows are like nothing you have seen."

Both Chariona and Iruna's eyes light up with pure joy. As I just simply turn around and walk away, not really up for any more of him. Chariona turns around and runs to catch back up with me, waving goodbye to the other two as she leaves. We both catch up with Nai, who is already on her way out of the hallway. I look at her confused.

"There was one more room back there...why are we leaving now?"

She looks over her shoulder, still walking.

"There isn't any need to, it's just the Investigation Enhancement Room, and I won't allow

anyone else in there until I can get a grasp on what is going on."

I look over to Chariona, who looks to be more confused then I am. I get what Nai is saying though, she just is being cautious of everyone's actions. She is a investigator after all. We walk back out into the main area of the prison looking to see there is one more hallway to our left as well as a set of large doors. As I start my way over to the large doors I am halted by someone calling out to us from the entrance to one of the hallways.

"Oh excuse me, you three over there!"

The three of us turn around to see a girl standing there waving at us. She looks so...proper. She wears a poofy dress with a collar that goes all the way up her neck. The dress itself goes to just above her ankles and is a deep shade of purple, the skirt of the dress sparkling in the light. She wears some very formal looking dress shoes as well as pure white gloves that go all the way up her arm and a sparkling tiara on top of her black hair. Her hair itself is tied in a fishtail braid that is over her shoulder, going down to her forearm, held together by a white ribbon tied in a fancy bow. She walks over to us with a smile on her face. She looks at us with her deep brown eyes.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I wanted to know if the stairwell was locked this whole time...do you happen to know?"

It takes me a moment to register anything she is trying to say. I'm to interested in how well put together she looks. Everything about her just feels polite and proper. I look over to Chariona who is staring at the sparkling dress with her eyes full of joy. Nai however looks unimpressed and simply responds to the girl when she notices we are to busy in our own minds.

"I was one of the first ones to wake up, and It was locked when I looked at it. So I would assume that it has been locked the whole time."

The girl frowns a bit tugging at her braid slightly

"I see, thank you for answering that for me. With that out of the way, would you be ok if I introduced myself?"

I nod as quickly as I can, awestruck by her still. Chariona still is locked onto her dress. Nai just sighs and pushes past us both, holding out her hand to the girl.

"Nai Horoka, SHSL Investigator. Who might you be."

The girl bows to us all before shaking Nai's hand with grace.

"Ayanaki Kato, known as the SHSL Princess. I am glad to have your acquaintance."

Ayanaki Kato

SHSL Princess

A princess?! She's an actual princess?! I push past Nai as quickly as I can bowing to her, trying to impress her as best as I can.

"Hello there madame, my name is Shiza Faria the SHSL Socialite."

Nai gives me a absolute wicked side glare as she just huffs her breath at me. Chariona tries to wedge herself in-between us now.

"And I'm Chariona Worika! SHSL Wind Surfer, your dress is very...very sparkly."

Nai grabs both me and Chariona by the collar and pulls us back a bit away from Ayanaki.

"You two need to settle down, your acting like children."

Ayanaki laughs a bit and just smiles back at us.

"It's quite alright Nai, I don't exactly mind that much. You would be surprised how many people are like that. I just take it as a complement."

I tip my hat to her and give a sly little wink in her direction.

"Well I'm glad you feel that way. I guess most people don't understand that."

Nai looks me directly in the eye and my heart drops a bit. I awkwardly giggle backing up away from her a bit. Chariona smiles and plays with her hair a bit.

"Hey, what are you a princess of?"

Ayanaki adjusts her tiara and looks down at Chariona, gracefully crouching down to get on eye level with her.

"Well I rule over a country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, its quite a small section of land but I don't complain that much. It's called Ranaka."

I think for a moment, never actually having heard of any place called Ranaka...but she did say it was small, so maybe its just not documented on any maps. Chariona's eyes are still lit up with joy.

"This day has been so awesome! I met a Pilot, my favorite wrestler and a real life princess. This is the best day ever."

Nai looks at Chariona with a pitiful gaze

"We are trapped inside of a prison with no way to actually escape. Are you really sure this is a good day?"

Chariona's expression drops, she picks at the bracelets on her arm a bit, frowning at what Nai just brought up.

"Ya...you do have a point..."

Ayanaki smiles and pats Chariona on the head, comforting her.

"Try not to worry about that, there still might be a way out somewhere. Try and keep your hopes up."

Chariona lightly smiles and looks up at Ayanaki.

"Ya...Ya I'm sure your right."

I think about it for a second, from what we have looked at so far...there really isn't a place we have found yet that leads to an exit...but there still might be the slightest bit of hope that there is a way out, and we just haven't found it yet. I try and put on a smile but something prevents me from doing so, a deep feeling that has been trying to claw its way to the front of my brain. The feeling that there was no exit to begin with...and that we may be more then just trapped here. We may be lined up for an inevitable slaughter. I don't know why but I just can't shake the feeling, no matter how hard I try to. I look over to the three other people with me, and I think back to the others we have met so far. My gut feeling getting worse and worse. I give myself a light slap in the face, getting my mind off that before I go into a really...really dark place.

CONTINUED IN PROLUGE V:SICK AND TWISTED WAY OF LIFE