A/N: The time has come at last, for our new mutual killing game to be begin. Boy oh boy, are the inmates in for a nasty surprise awaiting them upon their escape. Let's see what happens shall we?
Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.
Prologue, Part 4: No escape
STORY PLAY
(ELIZA'S VERSION)
Alright, now where did I leave off? Oh right. Unbeknownst to us the boys were about to escape their cell. Good for them, right? Well unfortunately for us, we were about to have a little problem on our end. A problem in the form our lovable, cuddly cannibal, Kaori.
Kaori started to breathe heavily. Softly at first, but with each passing moment her breathing grew louder, and louder, and louder still, until her manic breathing patterns echoed off the cell walls. Her eyes became completely blood shot, and she started to frantically grind her fang-like teeth. Then she began to visibly shake. We could all tell immediately that she was losing it. All the girls that were still on her side of the cell quickly made their way over to my side of the cell.
"What the hell is wrong with her?! Is she having a panic attack?!" Mirai exclaimed.
I was terribly frightened. I knew what this meant. "Worse. Much worse. It must be 5:00 P.M. now."
"What's so bad about that?" Airi said in an equally frightened tone.
"It's her dinner time. If what she said about not being fed all day is really true, then that means she's already skipped two meals. Her doctors told me that in order to keep her diet under control they fed her three times every day at extremely specific times for years. It's gotten to the point where her body automatically knows when she needs to eat. 5:00 P.M. means that it's dinner time now," I replied. "And if that's the case than that means she must be really hungry."
"I…I can't take it much more…" Kaori muttered as she took in deep breaths.
"But I gave her a strip of beef jerky just a few minutes ago," Opal reassured us.
"That wasn't nearly enough. The doctors told me that the amount of meat she must be fed in a day can be no less than 11.4 kg, that's the equivalent of a large predatory cat's daily diet. Any less than that, and things get really ugly," I explained.
"Why the hell would you put such a freaking psychopath in here with us?!" Mirai shouted at me.
"I never thought I would be in the same room with her when she hasn't eaten!" I shouted back.
"No more…so hungry…so hungry…" Kaori desperately tried to keep her cool. But soon her stomach began to roar in hunger pains. "So hungry…so hungry…so hungry…" she repeated over and over again.
"But we're safe as long as she's in that jacket and wearing that muzzle, right?" Opal replied.
"…" I didn't respond.
"Right?!" Opal exclaimed.
"I…I don't know. She's never been off her diet before. Considering her animalistic nature, maybe not," I replied in horror. I was visibly sweating bullets at that point.
"Nice going, Ms. Warden. You've killed us all," said Yoko.
Mirai bumped into something as she tried to sit back on the bench and grip the wall. Hinageshi was still peacefully sleeping away. "Zzzzzzz...Zzzzzzzz…"she softly snored.
"How are you still seriously sleeping?!" Mirai shouted.
"No more…no more…I can't take it anymore…" Kaori muttered. Then suddenly she began smacking the back of her head against the cold, hard prison cell wall. "I…need…meat! Give…me…meat!"
"I wanted this new experience to be interesting, but I didn't think there would a risk involved of becoming a meal for a cannibalistic serial killer," Mana said in a frightened tone.
"Is this truly what it means to be afraid?" Mireille asked. "If so, I don't like it!"
Fuyu, showing a bit of emotion for once, replied, "We're so dead."
Then suddenly, Kaori stopped smacking the back of her head against the wall. She went all quiet and then stood up on her feet. "…" she said nothing. For what felt like an eternity, she just stared at us with blood-shot eyes. And then she just snapped. "GIVE ME SOME MEAT! I'M FUCKING FAMISHED!" she shouted at us at the top of her lungs.
And then we all screamed all at once. "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
STORY PAUSE
(ELIZA'S VERSION)
(Eliza): Okay, I think that about does it on my end. I'll let you take over from here, Akechi-kun.
(Kogoro): Finally, that seemed like it went on for a whole week. Okay, now where was I? Oh right, me and the guys were in the middle of making our escape.
STORY PLAY
(KOGORO'S VERSION)
And one by one we filed out of the cell, Koro being the last one to exit. Damion took note of the staircase ahead of us. "To the stairs, they should get us out of here." Then we all started to make a break for the staircase. But before we could climb the stairs, I heard someone shout…well actually roar might've been a better fit for their volume.
"GIVE ME SOME MEAT! I'M FUCKING FAMISHED!" The booming voice was followed by a chorus of loud screams. "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I turned back to look behind me, and the others turned back as well. We waited a few moments before saying or doing anything, to see if another sound would carry.
Then when we were sure it was quiet again, Damion broke the silence. "Well that was loud," he said as he stuck one of his fingers in his right ear. "I think I went deaf for a second there." Then he turned back to face the stairs. "Well then, shall we gentlemen?"
"Wait, where do you think you're going?" I asked.
"I'm escaping. Haven't we established that's what we're doing already?" he replied in a condescending tone.
"There's someone else here, we can't just leave them," I said.
"No time, every man for himself," said Damion. "You don't want out for yourself, then go help whoever you want," he said curtly. "And anybody who agrees with me, follow me to freedom," he said before running up the staircase. A few of the others gave quick glances in the direction of the other voices before following after Damion. And before I knew it Taichi, Ginrou, Noriaki, Adam, and Victor were gone. All that remained were Yosuke, Lucius, Koro, and myself.
"You guys aren't going to make a run for it?" I asked.
"I didn't want to escape in the first place, but if I must then I'm going to be sure that everyone escapes as well," said Yosuke.
"It's against my code to leave anyone behind," said Lucius.
"And we're friends now Kogoro-chan, so I go wherever you go," said Koro.
I smiled. "Well whatever the reason, thanks. Now come on, the others must be behind that door back there." The three boys nodded and then we all ran to the old wooden door. I pulled on the rusty, metal door handle and the door swung open with a loud creak. In response to the noise, the voice I heard before called out again.
I heard a gasp. "Someone's here! Quick you've got to help us, I don't think we can hold her back much longer!" a girl shouted. Seeing that I was right, I entered the area behind the doorway in search of the other captives.
It was pretty much an exact replica of the previous room, down to the many holding cells and dimly lit torches. I check a nearby corner of the room and found yet another hidden security camera. 'They could see us exit the cell and yet no alarm went off, maybe there isn't anyone behind these cameras at all,' I thought to myself. Then me and the other guys continued to walk down the hallway until we found the source of the voice we heard a few moments earlier. And we were surprised to see that instead of just one girl being imprisoned here, there were nine in total. And from the looks of it, they were in the midst of a very hostile situation. Eight of them were cowering in a corner while another was doing her best to get to them. She growled menacingly while shaking her body relentlessly. If not for the fact that her one arm was tied tight into a strait jacket I would say she was trying to grab one of them. Luckily, three of the girls who were cowering in the corner had bags that they were using as makeshift shields to keep the girl in the strait jacket at bay.
I ran to the front of the cell and then grasped the bars tightly. "What's going on?! Who are you guys?!" I exclaimed.
"Akechi-kun!" I heard a familiar voice exclaim. I scanned the group of girls who were cowering in the corner and saw Eliza.
"Abbott-san! So you were here!" I exclaimed. The other boys came to the front of the cell to join me, and they saw how the girl in the strait jacket was about to attack them.
"What the hell is with her?! She looks as blood thirsty as a shark!" Lucius exclaimed.
"She's a cannibal, she's been holding back her hunger all this time but she just reached her tipping point!" Eliza shouted in explanation.
"A c-cannibal!" Yosuke exclaimed.
"Don't just stand there you idiots, do something!" Eliza shouted.
"Stupid Goro! If I die because of this, I'll never forgive you!" one of the other girls shouted.
"Help us, Kogoro-kun!" another girl shouted.
"Okay hang on, let me think!" I shouted back. I desperately scanned the area for something I could use. Then I found medium-sized rock I could use to my advantage in a nearby corner. I banged the rock against the cell bars with all my might. "Hey! Over here! Fresh meat!" I shouted at the girl in the strait jacket.
The girl in the strait jacket saw us behind the bars, and in a flash she lunged at us like a tiger and grabbed the cell bars, hanging a few centimeters off the ground. Lucius, Yosuke, and I backed away from her, while Koro decided to get closer. I saw that in addition to the strait jacket she wore a muzzle that was too big to fit through the cell bars, but that didn't stop her from senselessly banging it against the bars, all while she was furiously snapping her jaws. She was dying to sink her teeth into our flesh.
"Hello my name's Koro, what's your name?" Koro asked the cannibal girl innocently.
He was met with a series of nonsensical growls and grunts.
Koro chuckled. "You're funny. I like you, do you want to be friends?"
"That guy is seriously messed up in the head!" Yosuke exclaimed.
"Okay I lured her over to us!" I shouted at the other girls. "What now?!"
"I've got this!" a white haired-girl who wore a nice looking dress outfit shouted in reply. She stood up off the floor and readied herself.
"Opal, don't do anything stupid!" a girl with dark brown pigtails shouted.
"I warned her, Mirai! She tried to hurt you and me! She has to die!" the white-haired girl replied. Then she shouted, "Hyaaaaaaaaa!" and lunged at the cannibal girl. The white-haired girl grabbed ahold of the cannibal girl's neck and then wrapped her legs around her torso. Then she began to squeeze her neck and torso tightly, so tight that the cannibal girl's face soon turned blue. Then the cannibal girl's growls and grunts grew softer and softer, her movements became sluggish, and then finally her grip on the bars weakened and she fell to the floor, which the white-haired girl still attached to her back. Though the fall didn't so much as faze the white-haired girl as she pulled herself out from under the cannibal girl in no time at all. Then she dusted off her clothes and cricked her neck.
The room became quiet as we all silently stared at the cannibal girl's body. "Is she…is she…?" Yosuke struggled getting out the words.
The white-haired girl shook her head and replied, "Not yet." Then she raised her foot over the cannibal girl's windpipe, getting ready to crush it.
"No! Stop!" Eliza exclaimed. "It's not her fault!"
"The hell it isn't! She tried to fucking eat us!" the white-haired girl replied.
"She can't help it, it's learned behavior! She's spent years acting like this because she thinks she can't survive otherwise! The doctors told me that when she's in this state, she's not in control of any of her actions!" Eliza argued.
"And yet you still chose to put us in here with this monster!" the white-haired girl shouted. "Mirai was right about you! After I'm finished with her, you're next!" She lowered her foot onto the cannibal girl's windpipe. But before she could finish the deed, the girl with dark brown pigtails stopped her.
"Opal, don't," she said.
The white-haired girl looked back at the girl with dark brown pigtails. "She tried to eat you, Mirai. I can't forgive her." Then she turned back to continue her work.
Then the girl with dark brown pigtails grabbed her from behind and pulled her into a hug. "Please, you don't have to kill anymore. I'm fine, you're fine. You stopped her. You don't have to do it."
"…" The white-haired girl remained silent for a few moments before sighing and taking her foot off the cannibal girl's windpipe. "Fine, she lives…for now." I took advantage of the moment to try and free the girls, only to be met with the sight of another rusty, ancient-looking lock.
"Of course. Hey Lucius, do you think you can handle another one?" I asked.
"Sorry, I broke my only paperclip picking the last one," Lucius replied.
"Wouldn't do you any good any way, someone sabotaged that lock. Even if you had the key it wouldn't open," a girl who wore a bunny-eared deerstalker hat explained.
"Then our only option is to break it off," Lucius replied. He eyed the rock that I used to distract the cannibal girl. "That rock doesn't look sturdy enough for the job. If only we had a hammer or something."
"How about a pair of bolt cutters?" a girl who wore a big, puffy turtleneck sweater asked.
"That would be ideal, but I doubt there's anything like that around here," Lucius replied.
The girl reached into her messenger bag and then pulled out a gadget. "I have one on my multi-tool you can use." She pulled up the bolt cutter section of her multi-tool and then handed it to Lucius.
He accepted it while sweatdropping. "Umm, thanks."
"If you had that the whole time then why didn't you tell me?! We've been trapped in here for hours!" the girl who wore the bunny-eared deerstalker hat shouted.
The girl who wore the big, puffy sweater just smiled and cocked her head. "You didn't ask."
"…" We all went silent. Koro was the only one who seemed amused as he chuckled hysterically.
"What?" the girl who wore the big, puffy sweater innocently asked.
"Opal, her you can kill," said the girl with the dark brown pigtails.
"I want to so bad," said the white-haired girl.
"Where did you even get that?" Eliza asked.
"I had it on me when I was arrested," the girl who wore the big, puffy sweater replied.
"I kind of hate you right now," said a girl who wore an artist's baret.
"So do I, that was not amusing at all," said a girl who wore a flashy mask.
"Sorry, but at least you have it now," the girl who wore the big, puffy sweater replied.
"Yeah, at least we can get out of here now," said a girl who wore a lot of makeup.
Then all of a sudden we heard the sound of a yawn. A girl, who I had not even noticed until now suddenly awoke from a nap she was taking on one of the benches on the far end of the cell. "You know, you're right Eliza-chan. Once you get a good sleeping position those benches are actually pretty comfy."
"Wow, I completely forgot you were even there. You have no staying power at all," said the girl with the dark brown pigtails in a rude manner.
"Sorry, did I forget to mention that I have narcolepsy? Sometimes I just can't help myself from falling asleep," the drowsy girl innocently replied.
"No staying power, and you fall asleep at random times? Jeez, you are one boring criminal," the girl with the dark brown pigtails continued her taunting rant.
"…" The drowsy girl frowned.
"What I don't get is why Kaori-chan didn't go after Hinageshi-chan instead? She was completely defenseless the whole time," the girl with a lot of makeup on replied.
"Looks like even blood-thirsty cannibals can't sense people who blend into the background," the girl with dark brown pigtails teased.
"Mirai, that's enough for one day," said the white-haired girl.
"What? I'm just saying what we're all thinking," the girl with dark brown pigtails replied. I kind of hate to admit it, but even I didn't notice she was there until she woke up. Ten. There were ten girls.
"Anyway, I'm glad you're not hurt Otsuka-chan," said Eliza.
The drowsy girl smiled. "Thank you for your concern."
Meanwhile, Lucius was working on cutting the lock of the cell door. He seemed to be struggling a bit, but not nearly as bad as when he was using a paperclip to pick it. He groaned. "Sorry it's taking so long, I'm good at making tools, not using them." He wasn't kidding though, in the short time that he had the multi-tool he had flipped through every single one of the tools. "I just can't seem to find the bolt cutters." He had overlooked the fact that the girl with the big, puffy sweater had already brought up the bolt cutter tool before handing over the multi-tool. After a few more moments, Yosuke couldn't take the awkwardness anymore.
"Oh for Pete's sake! Give me that!" Yosuke exclaimed as he snatched the multi-tool and used the bolt cutters to quickly cut off the lock.
"Oh, it was that one? I thought those were wire cutters. Well, I could've done that," he replied, trying to spare himself some shame.
"I'm sure you could have," Yosuke replied in a sarcastic tone as he opened the cell door for the girls to escape. Guess the rumors about Lucius were true, he really did have a bad handle of weapons and tools. The girls immediately filed out of the prison cell, and the girl who had a lot of makeup on ran over to me and pulled me into a vice-like hug.
"Kogoro-kun! It's so good to see you again!" she exclaimed.
I was surprised at her reaction at first, but then I realized that I did indeed know this girl. Airi Shimizu, the one I tried to save. "Airi?"
She pulled away from me and smiled in delight. "You do remember. Thank goodness." Then she puffed up her cheeks. "Now explain, why did you never respond to any of my letters?"
"Well…I…uh…I," I honestly didn't know how to respond. Truth be told, I never expected to see her again. The last time I met with her, I was a total jerk. I remember even calling her stupid five times in the same sentence. And I remember her crying her eyes out after I was done. I knew immediately that I had treated her badly but I was too much of a coward to face her again. After a while she started writing letters to me, and I didn't know what to do. So I ended up just ignoring them. I don't think I ever got around to reading a single one. I know, I'm a horrible person, aren't I? But like I said before, I'm not good around other people. I never have been, and I never will be.
"You know this girl, Kogoro?" Lucius asked
"Sort of," I replied.
That made Airi even more upset. "Sort of? What kind of reply is that? You saved my life, I'm eternally grateful!"
I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment. "If I really saved your life, you wouldn't have wound up in prison."
Airi shook her head. "You didn't do anything wrong, I made the mistake of not trusting you completely. And now I'm paying the price for it."
I sighed. "I'm really sorry for how I left things between us. I was a total jerk."
Airi giggled. "Yeah, you kind of were. But I think I needed a jerk like you to make me come to my senses. I'm turning over a new leaf, when I get out of prison I'm going to follow my dreams and do what I want to do. I'm not going to live my life for anyone else."
I smiled. "That's good to hear. I'll be rooting for you."
"Wait, back up for a second? How did you save her life?" Lucius asked.
"We met through my line of work, and I helped her out of a jam," I said, trying to be as intentionally vague as possible.
"Why are you being so vague?" Lucius replied. Crap, guess my vagueness was too noticeable.
"You don't know?" Airi suddenly asked. "Kogoro-kun is a de…kyaaaaa!" She was cut off when she suddenly yelped. She looked behind her and saw the girl who wore the bunny-eared deerstalker hat. "How many more times are you going to do that, Yoko-chan?"
"Till your ass stops looking appealing. If you want to blame anyone, blame your body. I wouldn't grab you if there wasn't anything to grab," the girl who wore the bunny-eared deerstalker hat replied.
"I see you haven't changed either, bun-bun," I replied.
"Neither have you, Goro. I must say, I didn't expect for us to meet again under these circumstances," she replied. Yoko Ketsukari, one of my former colleagues in the detective game. She was actually pretty good, at least she was until she started helping the criminals she was supposed to be catching. Her fashion sense was as ridiculous as always.
"Don't tell me you're up to your old tricks again. Since we got here things have been really fishy, someone's clearly playing a game with us. And I know how much you love to play the role of a criminal mastermind."
"You suspect moi of this elaborate setup? Perish the thought, you know for a fact that I'm much craftier than this. No, my keen detective instincts tell me this is the work of a third party, a third party with great power and resources. Enough to take over an entire prison and drug and kidnap all of us," Yoko replied. "But of course, that's just a theory, a Yoko theory bun-bun."
"You know this little rabbit too I assume?" Yosuke asked.
"It's a long story," I replied.
"Nice to meet you, any friend of Kogoro-chan's is a friend of mine," Koro stretched his right hand out, motioning for Yoko to take it. She of course did not. Then he extended the same curtesy to Airi. She of course did. "Let's all be the best of friends from here on out." Then he unclenched his left hand and showed off his pet pigeon corpse. "Kiwi wants to be friends with you too."
Airi screamed at the horrid sight of Koro's pet, and the rest of the girls showed their shock as well. However, Yoko seemed curious about Koro's connection to the pigeon corpse. "You do realize that bird is dead, right?"
"Dead? Oh no Kiwi's not dead, he's just shy around new people. Kiwi don't be rude, say hi to our new friends," Koro replied.
"…" Kiwi of course did not respond.
Koro chuckled. "Oh Kiwi, you're too funny. For a pigeon you're quite the charmer."
"What did Kiwi say to you this time, Kiriko-kun?" Eliza asked out of concern.
"He said he's flappy to tweet coo, and hopes that coo dove him as much as he doves all of coo," Koro replied.
I could see in the back that the girl with dark brown pigtails, named Mirai Reveuse, nudged the white-haired girl next to her, Opal Kaido, and made the cuckoo-bird motion while pointing at Koro. Opal covered her mouth with her hand to soften a snicker.
"Kiriko-kun, I know that Kiwi is your best friend and all, but remember you told me that when you came here you would try and get out of your shell a bit more?" Eliza asked.
Koro smiled. "Yes, I remember that Eliza-chan but Kiwi didn't like that idea. He was even talking about pecking your eyes out if you tried to keep us apart." Koro gently stroked Kiwi's decaying skull. "It's okay Kiwi, you don't have to get so upset. Eliza-chan's nice, remember? She promised that if we came here we would get lots and lots of friends. And she was right."
"Interesting, it's like he really doesn't know that bird is dead," said the girl who wore the big, puffy sweater named Mana Aiso. "He's a really good actor."
"Are you sure he's just faking? It sounds real to me," said the girl who wore the artist baret, whose name was Fuyu Tachibana.
"I think it's kind of cute…in a creepy and gory sort of way," said the drowsy girl, whose name was Hinageshi Otsuka.
"He's been like this all day, every word that comes out of the guy's mouth is pure nonsense," Yosuke replied. Then he noticed Eliza. "You're that girl who asked if I wanted to come here, right? Can I assume you asked him to come too?"
"Ms. Warden here asked us all to come here," Yoko clarified. "Technically speaking she should be the one in charge of the prison. And yet we were all captured by an unknown third party. Something strange is afoot here at Icarus and I shall find out just what that is."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, bun-bun. What we should do right now is go meet up with the others, as soon as Lucius picked the lock to our cell they headed up to the floor above. They're trying to escape right now, so I say we go ahead and escape as well," I replied.
"Hang on, Akechi-kun. I agree that there is something strange going on here, but you're forgetting that this is still a prison. Inmates can't just try to escape, there should be countermeasures in place to prevent such a thing from happening," Eliza explained.
"Alright then, you lead the way Abbott-san. You should know better than anyone how to avoid those countermeasures," I replied.
Eliza nodded. "I vow to find out what's going on here and put an end to it. When that's over, this place can go back to the way it's supposed to be. Trust me things will be better from here on out."
"I'll believe it when I see it," said Mirai.
"I say we give the girl a chance to prove herself," said the girl who wore the mask, whose name was Mireille DuMonte.
"Wait a second," said Lucius. "What do we do about her?" He asked as he pointed to the cannibal girl, named Kaori Takenaka.
I sighed before heading inside the prison cell and collecting Kaori's unconscious body. "Lucius, give me a hand with her will you?" He nodded and came over to assist me. We picked up Kaori's unconscious body and slung her over both of our shoulders. "Alright, we're all ready to go."
Eliza nodded. "Follow me, and don't fall behind. This place can be a maze if you don't know your way around."
We did as we were told and then the fourteen of us, an unconscious Kaori included, escaped from the dungeon-like holding cells. Little did I know what was waiting for us up above.
Upon reentering the original Icarus building, an overhead announcement played for us on the prison PA system. It sounded like the classical bell that would play at an academy to dismiss classes. Then a voice came onto the PA system. It was an odd voice, it sounded whimsical and child-like, yet something about it set me on edge. And the message that came from the owner of that voice pushed me completely off of it.
"It appears that we have some more escapees on the first floor. What's the matter? You can't handle it on the inside? Well if you want to leave that bad, no one's stopping you. In fact, go ahead make a run for it. See if I care. It's not going to make a difference. There is no escape. You will be stuck in this prison for the rest of your natural lives. Have a nice day." Then the PA system went offline and we were left wondering what the announcer's message was all about.
"I-Ignore it, let's just make a break for it," said Eliza. "Once we get outside we'll figure out what to do next."
"…" But the others had appeared to have lost their nerve.
"Trust me, everything will be alright," she reassured us. Although she didn't look to sure of that herself. "Come on, follow me. The fastest way to the outside from here is going through the main entrance. It's just beyond the lobby over this way." She ran on ahead of us, and we all begrudgingly followed her.
Then when we got to the lobby we were greeted with another surprise. The six guys that had left before us, Damion, Ginrou, Taichi, Adam, Noriaki, and Victor were all sitting in the lobby. Their faces were what shocked me at first. All of them looked unbelievably scared. Even Damion, the suave kingpin, seemed to be fazed. "You guys haven't left yet?" I asked them.
"…" None of them said a word.
"Come on, what are you all so down in the dumps for? The exit is right beyond that door," said Eliza.
Noriaki shook his head. "There is no exit."
"What? What are you talking about?" I replied.
"We're completely stranded," Victor added.
"See for yourselves," said Damion as he pointed his cane in the direction of the lobby's double doors. We knew it wasn't a good idea to look at what lie ahead. But we couldn't resist, because we still thought that the world we lived in made sense. But we were wrong, we were very wrong. We exited through the double doors and were shocked to see the what lie before us. Or more accurately what didn't lie before us. It was gone, the bridge was completely gone. Almost like it was never there in the first place. Even though I was sure that I had been driven across it just this morning. All that remained of it was a slab of concrete that jutted off the edge of the island. It was true there was no escape. We were stranded. We were completely stranded in international waters.
The other boys soon came and joined us. "We told you, chums. There's no escape," said Adam.
"You, blonde girl!" Damion exclaimed as he pointed his cane at Eliza. "Your family designed this place, right?! There's got to be another exit! Where is it?!"
"I…I…" Eliza was flabbergasted.
"Answer the demon! Where is the road to salvation?!" Ginrou exclaimed. "Surely you would not build Heaven without a path back to Earth."
"There is no other exit. There's one road that goes to and from the prison," said Eliza. Her knees buckled beneath her weight and she fell to the ground in despair. "It took us years to build a bridge all the way to this island. And now it's just gone. How? How can this be happening?"
"Then that's it?! There's really no way to escape?!" Mirai exclaimed.
"You've got to be joking!" Opal exclaimed.
"It would appear that our third party has prevented us from using our escape route. They obviously want to keep us here, but for what purpose?" Yoko asked herself.
"Oh I can answer that." And then we heard it again, the cute, whimsical voice that makes your hairs stand up every time you hear it. A voice that we would soon associate it with one individual. We turned around to see where exactly the voice came from and were surprised to see a walking talking teddy bear dressed up in a prison guard's uniform. "You're stuck here because you're being punished. After all, each and every one of you has committed a very naughty crime. Damion-kun, you've been selling illegal goods and killing anyone who stands in the way of your business for years, Fuyu-chan you forged false documents that shut down major corporations and made thousands of people lose their jobs, Noriaki-kun tried to bring about a civil uprising that would have caused God knows how many hundreds of thousands of people to die, and Yoko-chan helped criminals and psychopaths alike carry out abductions, robberies, and murders. And each and every one of you is no different. You've all done something that deserves the harshest punishment imaginable. Especially you, Eliza-chan."
"Me?" Eliza replied.
"You've committed what I believe to be the greatest crime of all. Hope. For years you've had your hopes up about this place. This was going to be your legacy to the world. A prison where the goal is 100% rehabilitation. Any criminal who gets sentenced here becomes pure once again. That is what you hoped for. Your hope and faith in criminals and scum, it makes me sick. How anyone can place such blind trust into horrible menaces of society is beyond me. I mean look at your first round of inmates for crying out loud. They're all horrible lying, cheating, psychotic, sociopathic, murdering monsters. And your bodyguard is no better."
"What?" I replied.
"Anyway, you all might as well direct your complaints to Eliza-chan, because thanks to that annoying hope that she's put into her "ideal prison", I've got to smash that hope into a million fucking smithereens. So as punishment for the crime of hope I sentence you, Eliza-chan, and your flunkies to life in prison. No possibility of parole!" The teddy bear exclaimed in an uproar of laughter.
Then he stopped laughing. "But it's not like there isn't some way you can get your sentence revoked and truly escape from prison."
"There's a way we can get out of here? Seriously? Tell us, what is it?" Lucius asked.
"Well since your crimes are linked to that of hope, I think the only clear way to accomplish that goal is to commit an equal act of despair. Despair so chilling, and heartless that your soul will never feel clean again. Your rehabilitation is murder. If you want to escape, all you need to do is kill one of your fellow inmates. Simple enough, right? Do that, and as far as I'm concerned your rehabilitation is complete. It's a game I like to call, the Death Row of Mutual Killing." He cackled madly again, and then once he calmed down he continued. "My name is Monokuma, and I am your new prison warden. If you want out you must play the game, so do I have any willing participants?"
A/N: Let the Death Row of Mutual Killing begin at last! Who will give into despair and commit the evil deed of murder in exchange for freedom? Especially when known killers are involved in the game? One thing is for sure, this is going to get really interesting.