Disclaimer: I don't own Dangan Ronpa.

Chapter 8: Mikan Tsumiki

The next day was a rather somber one. Both Byakuya and Fuyuhiko were understandably downtrodden. Hajime looked over to the two of them. "Hey Byakuya..." "It's Mayuri," the man said. "Huh?," Hajime said in confusion. "Mayuri Oshida," the man explained, "The Ultimate Actor." The man now known as Mayuri looked at the rest of them. "Don't look so surprised. Do you any of you really know the real Byakuya Togami personally?" He closed his eyes. "I specialize in impersonations, which comes off as comedic since my weight is usually greater than the person I'm pretending to be. One day just for a joke I spoofed Byakuya just to see what would happen."

"And what did happen?," Nekomaru asked. Mayuri smiled. "To my great surprise, the Togami family became my theater group's personal patron. Seemed Byakuya was in attendance that day and was genuinely amused at my portrayal of him. Since then this outfit has become something of a lucky charm. When we found ourselves in this situation, it made so little sense my first instinct was to get into character and pretend to be Byakuya. I figured no one would think twice of it since someone like him would easily make it into Hope's Peak Academy. And when that blasted Monokuma showed up, I did what I thought the real Byakuya would do in a situation like this... Take command of the group and try to protect everyone."

Chiaki gave a sad smile. "You clearly didn't know Byakuya that well..." Mayuri returned the smile. "You're right... Maybe he would have done a better job or something." Just then, his stomach started growling. "Well, can't stew in my own juices forever." He suddenly became a lot more cheerful. "Come on guys. Let's get some breakfast." He seemed so cheerful in spite of everything, even Fuyuhiko found himself smiling. "Guess we have no choice but to move forward." Even with Mayuri's change in personality, somehow the others couldn't help but feel he was genuine in his intentions. With the third island opened up, the group found a hospital, music venue, and motel all ready for use. The rest of the day seemed to fill the group with a sense of hope.

But of course Monokuma wouldn't let it last. The very next day a bizarre sight befell the group. Not only did Mayuri's personality do a total one-eighty, turning him into a condescending individual, but Akane and Gundham were also affected. Gundham suddenly became a lot more timid, and Akane was reduced to a blubbering crybaby. "What the heck is all this?," Kazuichi asked in shock. Mikan sighed. "I'm afraid all of them have come down with a dangerous fever." Hajime checked their temperatures and confirmed they were indeed feverish. "I see you guys have discovered my latest motive," Monokuma said as he popped out.

"You did this?," Mahiru asked, "But why?" "Happy as I was to finally get some information on Mayuri," Monokuma said, "His sudden change in personality inspired me. So I let loose an interesting disease you can only find on this island. It's called the Despair Disease, and as you can see, it completely alters a person's personality. That should make this little mystery game refreshing. The fever will not stop until a murder occurs. Good luck dealing with this, guys." The inflicted were quickly transported to the hospital, where a quarantine system was set up.

Tsumiki would stay with the afflicted, and Hajime would stay with her since he directly touched each of them. Fuyuhiko also decided to stay behind, deciding he had to make up for not being useful to the group up until now. "Maybe if I had actually stuck with the rest of you, Peko would still be here with us." Kazuichi set up a camera system using his mechanical expertise, which would allow communication between the hospital and the music venue, and he and the rest of the students set themselves up in the motel. This was necessary since it was likely the hotel they were staying in up until that point was contaminated.

What with everything happening during the day Hajime was exhausted. He found some beds in an upstairs room and decided to rest on one. However, he wound up falling asleep. When he awoke, he felt surprisingly heavy, like something was pressing against him. And for some reason the temperature was much greater than it should be. He opened his eyes and was shocked to see Mikan sleeping on top of him. She seemed to be mostly asleep herself, but was still sleep-talking. Giggling, she said, "Stop it... That tickles..." Finding it hard to breathe, Hajime carefully tapped Mikan on the arm to get her attention.

It had an immediate effect as she opened her eyes. When she saw Hajime struggling to breath, she screamed. "Hajime! You're coming down with cyanosis! Hold on!" Immediately she started performing mouth-to-mouth, and before long Hajime found himself breathing normally again. "Sorry about that," Mikan said, "I didn't realize until I woke up that I was sleeping on top of you. I've been working so hard with three patients I grew tired and came up here to rest. You were so still I couldn't tell you were in the bed already." At that moment Fuyuhiko, alerted by Mikan's scream, burst into the room.

When he saw Mikan and Hajime on the bed together, he smirked. "Sheesh Hajime. First Hiyoko, then Mahiru, now Mikan? I never took you for a player." "He's not a player!," Mikan said, "He's never done anything to hurt Hiyoko or Mahiru emotionally! And I know he'd never do that to me!" She then realized she was almost admitting she had slept with Hajime. "Uh... Not that we've actually done it together... It's just that..." "Relax," Fuyuhiko said, "I was joking. Anyway, either of you seen Akane? I just peeked into everyone's rooms and I can't find her."

Mikan started to freak. "She shouldn't be walking about in her condition! Fever aside, with her personality altered so drastically it could lead her mind towards suicidal thoughts!" Fuyuhiko sighed. "I'll go find her. At the very least I hope she hasn't wandered near the motel. Maybe I should try there first, since Nekomaru is there." Once he left the room, Hajime put a hand to his chin. "I hope she isn't keeping to her word that she plans on fighting Monokuma. Mahiru was able to talk her out of it last time, but now..." Mikan moved to leave. "I should check on the other patients to make sure they haven't wandered off as well."

With nothing else to do, Hajime decided to head back to his cottage. "What I wouldn't give for some of Nagito's luck right now," he muttered to himself, "That way I might bump into Akane on the way there." Unfortunately, he didn't. Once he was in his cottage, he didn't bother locking the door since he was still exhausted. Slumping onto his bed, he fell asleep again. When he stirred again, he looked to see Mikan was once again in bed with her. Luckily, this time she wasn't right on top of him. However, it did seem like she had been crying for some time.

"Hajime...," she muttered, "Please... Don't be mad at me?" Hajime was confused. "Why would I be mad?" "I thought you were someone else," Mikan said, "Someone else replaced you in my memories... I nearly... Killed for that person..." At that moment Hajime realized Mikan was simply sleep-talking again. Sighing, he placed his hand on her forehead to reassure her. He quickly pulled it back in horror. "She's... Feverish..." Mikan must have noticed his touch, because she opened her eyes. Seeing the look of horror he had, she realized what was going on. Immediately, she averted her eyes in sham.

"I'm sorry," Mikan said, "I got sick too. That disease... And it's horrible symptoms... It made me someone I'm not... Yet I knew it was someone I was..." She buried her face in her hands and continued to sob. "So then...," Hajime said in realization, "You really tried...?" Mikan kept sobbing. "I'm sorry! Some of my memories, or what I thought were my memories, played tricks on me! I began to remember some of the time I spent in Hope's Peak Academy. And you were there with me. But up until a few moments ago, I thought it was someone else... Someone else who showed me kindness. But it was you all along."

She rubbed her eyes. "Anyway, I'd rather not elaborate further. It's too horrible to talk about. But when I returned to the hospital I checked on the patients. Seems Fuyuhiko managed to find Akane. But I didn't actually see Fuyuhiko in the hospital." "Then he must have gone back to his cottage," Hajime said, "We'll check on him in the morning." "Um," Mikan said, "It's almost morning now." Sure enough, the sun was starting to rise. However, Fuyuhiko didn't answer when Hajime knocked on his cottage door. "He must have returned to the hospital already," Mikan suggested.

However, he wasn't at the hospital either. The morning announcement came on and still no sign of him. Soon enough the call from the camera set up in the hospital came on. Kazuichi was on screen when Hajime turned on the monitor, and he was flipping out. "Guys! You need to get to the music venue! We've lost another one!" Mikan and Hajime gasped and hurried over to the music venue. Sure enough, to their horror, Fuyuhiko was strung up and crucified by some rope. Mikan fell to her knees in shock. "How? Who could have...? I had already left and the place was empty..."

The announcement blaring over the speakers proved Fuyuhiko was in fact dead. Hajime couldn't help but tear up in anger at the sight, but a small measure of hope did prevent it from overwhelming him. "Well... At least he can be with Peko again." All of the non-feverish students hurried to the music venue, having been alerted by the announcement. "Oh boy," Nekomaru said, "When Mayuri lays his eyes on this..." Sure enough, Monokuma soon entered the room with Akane, Gundham, and Mayuri in tow. All of them had apparently been cured now that the fever had done its job. When Mayuri saw Fuyuhiko dead, he punched the wall in frustration. "Damn it all... Maybe I should have stuck to my character."

Mahiru seemed to look at Mikan suspiciously. Hajime, just to be safe, checked Mikan's temperature again and confirmed her fever had died. Gundham closed his eyes solemnly. "He had tried to change in the wake of his beloved's death, only to be forced to join her side in the afterlife. And three of us, out of commission the entire time. We have no choice in this matter. If we do not find vengeance for Fuyuhiko's demise, all of us will be seeing him in Hell." "I really don't like the idea of vengeance," Mahiru said, "But I agree we have no choice but to find the killer, or else we all die in their place."

Mikan, in order to establish an alibi, explained what she had been doing prior to joining Hajime in his cottage. She had managed to lure Gundham, an easy enough task in his timid state, into the music venue with the intent to kill him. "At that point I still thought the first person who was ever nice to me was someone other than Hajime," she explained, "And thought killing someone would be please them. But before I could pull it off, Mahiru and Hiyoko came out of the storage room." "That explains the voices I heard," Gundham said, "And I could have sworn I felt a rope around my neck prior to hearing them. Luckily it was not tight enough to stop my breathing."

"Why were you two in the storage room?," Chiaki asked. "Hiyoko needed help dressing herself," Mahiru explained, "I thought it would be best if she practiced in front of a mirror, so I brought her to the one found in the storage room of the music venue." "You were in a real dangerous situation," Nekomaru said, "What was stopping Mikan from killing all three of you?" "Monokuma's rules," Mayuri offered, "One of them states a student can only kill up to two other students. This is likely put in place to ensure at least someone can be left to discover the body and perform the investigation. And there were four people in the music venue at that time, including Mikan. No matter which two she killed, she would have left a witness. And killing all three would have gotten her executed on the spot."

The rope that was used to crucify Fuyuhiko was the same one Mikan had attempted to use to strangle Gundham. However, Mikan's usual autopsy found something interesting. "He wasn't strangled with the rope. Someone was able to suffocate him with their bare hands. The bruising on his neck is proof of this, and it's under the rope marks. In addition, both those marks and the ones on his wrists are postmortem." Hajime looked over the entire scene. "Who could have come into this place so soon after you, Gundham, Mahiru, and Hiyoko left it?"

As the trial got underway, Monomi was doing her usual crying routine. "Poor Fuyuhiko... But at least he can rest in peace knowing Peko is waiting for him." "Can we can it with that running gag?," Monokuma said, "After all, if these guys don't figure out who killed Fuyuhiko, they'll all be joining him. Well, except for the murderer that is. Could be tricky though." "Huh?," Akane said, "Wasn't it Mikan? She confessed to attempting to kill Gundham after all." "I thought so at first too," Mahiru said, "But don't forget she was one of the people who triggered the body discovery announcement. That puts her, Hajime, and Kazuichi in the clear by default."

"Kazuichi has a good alibi anyway," Chiaki said, "After that little scare Mikan put Hiyoko and Mahiru through, those of us in the motel stayed up the remainder of the night playing a board game Nekomaru found. I'll bring it to the hotel later should we survive the trial, it's very interesting." "After returning Gundham to the hospital," Mikan said, "I spent the rest of the night with Hajime." Everyone else was surprised at that statement. "Too much info...," Chiaki muttered. "It wasn't like that!," Hajime said, "But it was at that point that I discovered Mikan had contracted the Despair Disease just like Mayuri, Gundham, and Akane."

"Speaking of that," Nekomaru said, "I understand it was the two-victim limit that prevented Mikan from killing anyone in the music venue, but what was to prevent her from killing Gundham back at the hospital? With Mayuri and Akane tucked away in their rooms, there would be no witnesses." "Actually," Mahiru said, "Me and Hiyoko stayed with Mikan until she returned Gundham to the hospital. Along the way she suddenly broke down, as if she realized she was about to do something horrible." "It was at that moment when my reemerging memories were filled with Hajime," Mikan explained. "That makes sense," Hiyoko said, "After that point, we realized she wouldn't be a threat anymore and headed off to the motel."

"Besides," Gundham said, "If anything had happened to me in the hospital, Mikan would surely be the first person suspected, leading to a swift trial. Mahiru and Hiyoko's intervention may not have been necessary." "But what about the music venue itself?," Sonia asked, "Mikan mentioned she had a bag over Gundham's head. If she had killed Mahiru and Hiyoko, Gundham might not have been able to tell what was going on." Mayuri shook his head. "Even under the thrall of the Despair Disease, Gundham and I were still ourselves mentally. I can still remember everything regarding the time I was sick."

"It is the same with I," Gundham said, "Mikan, being a nurse, would have understood this, and no doubt realized I could still name her as being in the music venue. In short, it did not matter which victims she claimed. There would still be a single witness due to the rules set forth." "Great," Kazuichi said, "Everyone has an alibi." "Not really," Mikan said, "Just before I lured Gundham to the music venue, I noted Akane was still missing from the hospital. In fact, she had been missing until Gundham and I returned. Fuyuhiko even went to look for her." That got everyone looking at Akane. "Is this gonna happen everytime we get down to one suspect?," she asked.

"We aren't down to one yet," Nekomaru said, "We still need to account for Mayuri's actions." "I highly doubt he's the killer," Mikan said, "Whoever killed Fuyuhiko did so by strangling him with their bare hands. As in both hands. With the size difference between Mayuri and Fuyuhiko, he'd only need one. Besides, the size of the bruises just don't match his hands." Once again, everyone's eyes turned back to Akane. "Now this is a running gag," she said with an exasperated sigh. As she moved her hand, Mikan noticed something. "Akane, where did you get that rope burn...? Oh boy..." Akane was confused until she looked at her hand. Then she became flabbergasted.

"That's right," Gundham said, "After the killer strangled Fuyuhiko, they took the rope meant for me and used it to crucify him from the baton lighting." "I knew I should have made sure I brought it with me!," Mikan said, "I wound up dropping it when Mahiru and Hiyoko surprised me, and forgot about it when we were heading back to the hospital!" Chiaki frowned. "It wouldn't have prevented Fuyuhiko's death. And to honest, I don't think it would have made it any harder to find out the killer." "Then you've made your decision," Monokuma said, "Go ahead and make your vote. Remember that everyone must vote on this."

The votes were tallied, and the usual fanfare was heard across the room. "Three for three!," Monokuma said, "You guys got it right! Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu was killed by Akane Owari. Oh, and Nekomaru. We've already had a case of someone voting for themselves. I really tend to frown on that, you know." Akane gave a weak smile as a tear slid down her cheek. "You didn't really need to do that. Hell, I deserve it for how selfish I was. I was reduced to a whimpering crybaby because of that damn disease, and it made me suffer more than I could contemplate. So I thought, maybe I should just kill myself. So when no one was looking, I left the hospital and wandered, thinking I could find something to end it all."

"That's why you were missing!," Mikan said, "We were really worried about you! Even me, and in my own feverish state I was the opposite to how I normally am." Akane raised her head, and more tears could be seen. "I stumbled into the music venue by accident. Guess I missed Mikan and the others, 'cause all I found was the rope Mikan had left behind. I thought about maybe hanging myself until Fuyuhiko came into the room. He saw me with the rope in his hands and started talking about how I have so much more to live for than him and all that. I realized two things. One, he was still thinking about Peko. And two, the perfect alternative had just waltzed right into my lap."

Mayuri closed his eyes. "I see." Akane chuckled. "The last thing I said to him before wrapping my hands around his neck was, 'Maybe it's time you stop whining and go see her.' Sounds harsh, but with everything else I was dealing with..." "But why crucify him?," Hajime said, "That seems a little unnecessary." Akane shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe I thought it would make it easier for him and Peko to get reunited. It's not usually in my nature to be religious or anything. Then again, maybe that was another side effect of the fever."

"In a moment it won't matter," Monokuma said, "Because it's time for the execution! I have the perfect one set up for the Ultimate Gymnast!" He hit his big red button, and Akane was dragged into a separate chamber where she was quickly locked into a body cast strapped to a set of parallel bars. A motor started getting the cast twisted until it wound up going so fast it was launched into a nearby wall of spikes, which quickly impaled the weak cast multiple times. As the remaining students were ushered into the elevator, Nekomaru slammed his fist into the side of it. "Calm down," Mayuri said, "You'll only be playing into Monokuma's schemes by going into a rage."

For the third time so far, Hajime found himself in the same bed as Mikan, this time in her cottage. However, he had a feeling this time around they would be winding up having sex. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?," Hajime asked, "You don't have to put yourself out just to get me to like you." Mikan nodded. "This is... More for me personally. You see..." She kissed Hajime as she removed her apron. "I've loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you. And when you started standing up for me when other students started bullying me, that just sealed it."

Hajime blushed. "So you're basically in love with me for something I don't even remember, but you do. Maybe Monokuma was on to something when he said our memories were erased. Not that it really matters." He gently unbuttoned Mikan blouse, and drank in the sight of her beautiful breasts. "I'm always so embarrassed by these," Mikan said, "But at the same time I'm proud of them, because they're my main attention getters." She gently pressed them up against Hajime's face, who actually enjoyed it this time. "And tonight they're yours to enjoy."

Hajime gently licked one of Mikan's nipples, and started massaging the opposite breast. The sensation started getting Mikan hot and bothered. "Oh no... This is supposed to be for your enjoyment, but I'm the one feeling good here." Hajime smiled. "If you're feeling good, that is my enjoyment." "Hajime...," Mikan said blissfully. She unzipped Hajime's pants and blushed at the sight of his member. "Incredible. I've seen quite a few genitalia in my role as a nurse. Strictly for medical purposes of course. But this has to be the biggest I've ever seen from a man." "So," Hajime said, "This is your first time."

Mikan gave a playful grin. "Want proof?" She stood up, removed her skirt and panties, which Hajime noted were incredibly wet, and then lowered herself onto Hajime's cock. Sure enough, Hajime felt the telltale signs of a hymen giving way. "So, you really were..." Mikan smiled even through her pained tears. "There's a lot I've done just to get people to accept me. But I've always sworn to protect my virginity until I found someone who truly loved me. Now I can finally give myself away." "Mikan...," Hajime said, and he kissed Mikan gently. The two of them began moving together. Mikan's voice started to get louder and louder as she came closer.

"Incredible," Mikan said, "You're matching my rhythm perfectly... Like you can feel my every being." She embraced Hajime and kissed him again. "Go ahead and release it inside," Mikan said, "I don't mind having a child, if it's yours." Hajime nodded, and their movements started to increase. Mikan let loose a loud scream of enjoyment as Hajime burst inside of her. Hajime, now spent collapsed on the bed, with Mikan collapsing on top of her. "Thank you... Hajime..." Hajime smiled and embraced Mikan. "Your welcome. And... I love you as well." Mikan smiled as she drifted to sleep.

To be continued...

Anyone else notice I've been using the whole to be continued thing a lot. Oh well, read and review.