Chapter 7 One spark of Hope

Wednesday was the worst day of my life. First during school I had to deal with missing a day of both classwork and homework from all five of my main classes not to mention electives. I doubted I would get any sleep that night for that reason alone but then I had work to add to the already gargantuan pile. However the worst thing was when I didn't see Ryoma among the students.

During the morning hours I had assumed we had just missed each other in the hallway but when lunch arrived and he was nowhere to be found I could only conclude that he hadn't come to school today. His hesitation to leave yesterday sprang to the forefront of my mind but I shook it off. I was probably just worrying too much again. I barely made it through school without a nervous breakdown and when the final bell rang I headed straight home. Ryoma wouldn't be there anyway so practicing would just waste energy I needed for the rest of the day. I did homework for a few hours before forcing myself to leave the apartment for work.

The minute I walked in the door the manager was on top of me and giving me a speech about how I couldn't just skip work. When at last he sent me to the kitchen I was near tears.

He kept a close eye on me for the rest of my shift and the other waiter was having a field day watching me suffer. Luckily I didn't get fired, I was too good of an employee to simply let go because I missed one day of work.


Thursday was slightly better than Wednesday with one exception; Ryoma still didn't come to school. At this point I knew worrying was warranted. My calls went straight to voice mail and no one had seen or heard from him before Wednesday. Something was horribly wrong and I had to find out what.

The minute school ended I headed straight for his house. We had walked to his house enough times to where I knew the way by heart. When I strode across the front lawn I became uneasy. The familiar creek of the wood underneath my feet did little to alleviate the feeling as I stood on the porch and worked up my courage. Taking a breath I knocked loudly on the door. No answer.

Several more raps and still no response. At this point I was nearing full scale panic and took hold of the doorknob. Turning it my heart stopped when I was met with no resistance. It wasn't locked. I opened the door halfway to find the hallway dark. In a frenzy I felt for the light switch and flicked it on.

The sight before me chilled me to my core. The furniture was thrown around in disarray with some pieces even being turned over completely and others torn to shreds. Anything of remote value was strewn across the floor and smashed beyond repair. Windows were shattered with shards littering the floor and doors were kicked off their hinges to lie uselessly on the ground. Nothing was left where it had once been originally.

Whoever had done this was clearly not here to steal anything, and I was so distraught that I completely forgot about everything else as I walked through the mess. It was only when I heard a muffled cry that I remembered that Ryoma wasn't the only one who lived here.

"King!" I dropped my bag and began to frantically search the house for the feline. I threw aside anything that could have been big enough to cover a cat and dug through rubble. In the midst of my searching I heard a faint scratching sound and stopped dead silent. It was coming from a back room and I scrambled up from where I was searching.

"Meow." I did my best impression to get the cat to keep responding. I looked around the study and heard another cry as well as some scratching from the small closet. I quickly pulled the door aside and King eagerly bounded out of the cramped space. For a second he was overjoyed until he too seemed to realize something was terribly wrong and came to sit at my feet. He looked up at me and meowed in distress. I couldn't blame him the house was practically a wrecking zone now. I picked up the tabby and that seemed to calm him somewhat as he stopped his meowing. I made my way back through the debris and picked up my discarded belongings. One thing was clear as I left the house, Ryoma was in deep trouble.


I took King to my apartment from there. Technically I wasn't allowed to keep a pet but right now finding Ryoma was my biggest concern. Everything else could wait.

I set the cat down on the carpet and immediately reached into my pocket for my cellphone. I dialed his number and held my breath. I mentally counted each time it rang until it went to voice mail. My heart fell. No matter how many times I called there was never a response. I knew it was fruitless to hope but I still did anyway; only to have it dashed each and every time.

Three days with no response of any kind.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket and removed my shoes. I couldn't even bother to remove my coat as I set my shoes to the side only out of habit. I didn't know how to feel right now. I was torn between so many different emotions. Anger, worry, sadness, they were all fighting for control and it left me ….tired. I was just tired of this, whatever this was.

I dragged myself to the bedroom and spread myself across the bed. I closed my heavy eyelids. I desperately craved the relief of slumber but my turbulent thoughts made it impossible. My stomach let loose a grumble but I ignored it. Time itself seemed to vanish from existence until I heard the steady pitter patter of rain against my window. The beating of my heart echoed in my ears and I breathed in time with its consistent rhythm of beats. If it stopped right now I would die and in all honesty I wouldn't have cared.

I just wanted to fall asleep and never wake up.

Slowly but surely I was falling into despair. Nothing mattered anymore. Sure I could get up, go to school, and work hard but what did it amount to? Nobody cared that I did my best, nobody cared that I had to work late into the night to afford my apartment. Nobody cared that I existed at all. So why bother? I opened my eyes and stared up at the dimly lit ceiling.

"Why should I try at all?" I didn't expect an answer ...but one came anyway.

My phone rang on the nightstand and I turned my head slightly to look in its direction. The will to move was gone and I blankly stared at it.

"Saiyuri." My pupils dilated. I was up in seconds and holding the phone to my ear.

"Ryoma?" I was in disbelief. I was more likely to believe this was a dream then that after three days of silence that he had called me.

"I don't have much time and I need you to listen." Whatever question I had died on my tongue; his tone of voice left no room for argument.

"You have to get out of the country tonight but don't go to the airport that will be the first place they will look for you."

"Who-"I tried to ask.

"There is no time to explain Saiyuri." I clamped a hand over my treacherous mouth.

"Go somewhere far and not anyplace you have friends or family. Also leave your phone they can trace it to your location. I'll try to get in contact again as soon as I can but until then you can't contact anyone, and I mean it Saiyuri." He stopped for a moment and I held my breath. Was something wrong, did whoever they were find him?

"I love you Saiyuri-click" The line went dead. My arm holding the phone fell to my side and I blinked several times. What was happening? For all my questions I had no answers and no way of getting answers.

The half hour I spent packing went by in a blur. I crammed as much as I could into my biggest suitcase but it still only held about a third of my wardrobe. I leaned all my weight on it as I struggled to zip it until I finally brought the top down enough to where it could close properly. Heaving it from my bed to the floor I left it there to go search my desk. I opened the bottom drawer on the right and removed some of its contents to reveal the hidden compartment underneath. I placed the wad of bills gingerly inside my coat pocket. I always had a few hundred dollars set aside for emergencies.

Rolling my suitcase to the doorway I grabbed my purse and slung it over one shoulder before I went to find King. I found him curled up into a ball sleeping soundly on the Livingroom floor. I hated to wake him but I didn't have a choice and picked him up. What was I going to do with him? If I was going on an extended trip overseas it would be hard to take him with me. In a flash of inspiration I ran outside and knocked on the next door over. An elderly woman opened the door and I prayed she was a cat lover.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you but I'm going on a trip overseas and I was wondering if you could look after my cat while I was gone." I bowed as deeply as I could with a cat in my arms. She looked torn for a second but finally she nodded and I transferred the bundle in my arms. King purred deeply and she looked sweetly at the tabby and scratched him on the head. I thanked her once again and took one last look at the cat she held before I returned to my apartment.

Checking my watch I felt for the keys in my pocket to lock the door. I hit a rectangular object and remembered Ryoma's warning from earlier. Right...no phone.

I removed it from my pocket and headed back into the bedroom. Setting the phone face down on the nightstand I stared at the picture next to it. Gently I picked up the frame to take closer look at my parents. I would miss them. Removing the back I folded the picture into fourths and put it in my pocket. At least I would still have a picture of my family even if I couldn't speak to them.

For all I knew I might never see them again.

I tried my best not to let the thought consume me but I still found myself writing a note anyways.

To Mom and Dad

If you're reading this then I guess something terrible happened to me and I haven't come back to my apartment. I just wanted to say that I love you guys and that you shouldn't be sad. These last few months have made me feel that I actually have a purpose in my life. You see I found somebody and I truly love him. I only now found out that he loves me in return and I haven't been this happy in years. He makes me feel that I'm worth something so no matter what happens I'm just glad I got to be part of his life because he gave me mine.

I love both of you,

Saiyuri

I read the note over again and was amazed at what I had written. I had meant every word and now I could only hope that I could tell those same words to Ryoma. I quickly folded the note and wrote- Mr. and Mrs. Sato- on the top. I prayed that it would never come to the point where they would receive it.

I left the letter next to my phone and grabbed the handle of my suitcase as I headed out the door. After locking it I looked from the stairs to my overstuffed suitcase and wondered how in the world I was going to get it down those stairs without breaking my neck.


Sadly all we have left is the epilogue. Its been fun writing this little short story and I hope the journey has been worth it. I'll post the epilogue either today or tomorrow depending when I finish editing. One last note is I was thinking of writing an accompanying fic where Ryoma finds Saiyuri's note, but it isn't essential to the story. If you're interested in seeing it PM me. Alas all stories must come to an end and we have reached the end of this one, oh and if you're interested I am currently writing another short Danganronpa V3 story. Anyway I'm done rambling now so have a great day and Adieu.

-MidnightMarchioness