Chapter 2: Part 14

Mikan had watched over Rantaro carefully as they returned to his Ultimate Lab. Spending more time with the lime-haired man revealed to her how poorly the man took care of himself. His constant skipping of meals and staying up late to continue reading Tsumugi's journal and comparing it with the Danganronpa book left him constantly tired and lightheaded. She wished to have lectured him about the appropriate amount of sleep and why meals are so important, but it seemed that even after spending more time with Rantaro, Mikan was still too timid to talk out of turn.

Still, the nurse surveyed over Rantaro as often as she could while organizing Rantaro's notes. That was another problem Rantaro had. He would take notes on just about anything he'd read. One sentence in Tsumugi's journal would result in a full page of theories and questions before tossing haphazardly. After what felt like hours, Rantaro wrote down one final page of notes before shutting the journal and tossing it onto the table.

Mikan walked over to Rantaro. "A-are you finally done?"

Rantaro rubbed his eyes. "That's about all the notes I could make on it. Tsumugi wrote a lot, but she still was only here for a few days."

"Th-that's good," Mikan said with a light smile. "D-did you find out that this was all real?"

Rantaro yawned as he leaned back in his seat. "Mikan…what would you do if this really all was fake?"

Mikan's eyes widened. "I-it really is fake?!" She began to pant heavily.

"I didn't say that," Rantaro said calmly. "I'm just asking hypothetically."

"H-h-hypothetically?" Mikan asked.

"Yes. Hypothetically."

Mikan looked down as she thought over the possibilities. "I…I-I-I don't know…. I-it would be nice to know that I wasn't an Ultimate Despair and that I n-never… Maybe, I'd be h-happy."

Rantaro tilted his head to the side. "You'd be happy?"

Mikan nodded sheepishly. "I just… I've never had friends, I've always been too nervous… If this is really just a c—character like Tsumugi said… maybe I'd be someone more confident in real life."

Rantaro leaned forward. "So, you aren't happy with yourself?"

"N-not after I read that secret."

Ranntaro placed his hand on Mikan's shoulder. "Mikan…that wasn't your fault. And you shouldn't be ashamed for being who you are. Just work to better yourself instead."

Mikan looked down again to think over what Rantaro said. "O-ok. I'll t-try to have more faith in myself… but can you promise me something too?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"Y-you need to take better care of yourself. You keep skipping meals and losing sleep. I-it's bad for your health."

Rantaro laughed. "Yeah…yeah, I do need to get back on track with my life."

Mikan nodded. "A-and you should start with that now."

"Right now?"

"Y-yes. Right now."

Rantaro chuckled and rose from his seat. "Ok, ok. I will."

Mikan smiled as she took a hold of his hand before leading Rantaro out of the lab. However, just before Rantaro crossed over into his dorm room, Rantaro looked back at the desk and especially at the final note he made.

'Rantaro had to die otherwise he would've killed everyone again,' the note read.

Mikan tugging slightly on his arm to gain his attention. Rantaro looked back at the nurse and smiled. He then entered his dorm room and passed out on his bed.

After around an hour-long break from planning, Sayaka, Kaede, and Ibuki returned to the auditorium to plan out their big show. All three girls brought several stacks of CDs and played them on boom boxes, checking off which ones would be good picks for all of their styles.

"It is a good song, but it ain't rocking enough," Ibuki commented.

Kaede frowned. "Really? But I thought it had a good swing to it."

"It could be a good slow song to play when we all need a break from dancing," Sayaka said.

"That's a good point," Ibuki said. "OK, Ibuki says that should be the fourth song on the list."

'Huh, that was easy to convince her,' Kaede thought.

"Is it ok to play this song afterwards?" Sayaka pointed to a song listed on the back of a CD case. "I had listened to it during our break and it's just beautiful. It uses a piano and has this great violin bit in it."

"Well, lucky for you Ibuki happens to be an expert violin player!" Ibuki said with a confident smile.

"Wow, how many instruments can you play, Ibuki?" Kaede asked with wide-eyed excitement.

"Oh, just about any," Ibuki said. "Guitar, drums, trombone, xylophone, can't get the triangle to work though, that's weird, but Ibuki's got it all covered. Just need more people when Ibuki's doing something else."

"Oh, yeah," Sayaka spoke up. "Did either of you talk to Peko or Ryoma about playing with us? I tried to talk Mondo about it, but he seemed to be in the middle of talking to Taka about something."

"I actually talked to Ryoma," Kaede said. "He'd said he would consider it, but he wanted to focus on painting today."

"Ibuki saw Peko, but she was hanging out with Celestia," Ibuki explained. "Celeste said Peko would be busy guarding her most of the day, but Ibuki can play with her between 10pm and 12am."

"That's literally when all of us are asleep," Sayaka gasped.

"Ibuki can squeeze in a few more hours before sleep," Ibuki said.

Kaede frowned. "I'm starting to worry about what she's doing with all of them."

"Well, we can worry about her after the party," Ibuki responded. "We're all supposed to be celebrating, that includes her too."

"That's a positive way to look at it," Sayaka said with a smile. "Although, I doubt she's interested in pop or rock music."

Before the rest of the conversation could continue, the door to the auditorium burst open and Tenko entered. Sweating bullets and dry heaving, Tenko dashed down to the stage and leapt onto it before holding Sayaka's hands. Tenko took several deep breaths before speaking.

"S-sayaka, I need your help!" Tenko begged.

"Um, are you ok, Tenko?" Sayaka asked.

"Oooooh!" Ibuki jumped up to her feet. "We could totally have Tenko and Sakura do some kung fu on stage!"

"Ibuki, not now," Kaede said. "Tenko, take some deep breaths."

"But I am taking deep breaths!" Tenko shouted.

"Ok, Tenko," Sayaka tightened her grip on Tenko's hands, "what's wrong?"

Tenko sighed. "It's…it's Chihiro."

"Tenko," Kaede said with a disappointed tone.

"I just, I just, I don't know what to do!" Tenko panicked. "How can someone so cute be a guy?! Is he a guy?! I need him to be a girl!"

"Tenko, calm down," Sayaka said. "We've talked about treating guys better, remember?"

"But that was for guys that were guys! Chihiro is a guy that should be a girl!"

"That's Chihiro's decision to make," Kaede said.

"Yep, yep!" Ibuki said. "Whatever Chihiro wants to be, we gotta support."

"But, why would she want to be a degenerate?" Tenko asked.

Sayaka sighed. "Tenko…think of this as your test."

"My test?" Tenko repeated.

"Say Chihiro decides to be a guy," Sayaka explained, "well, what's the difference from before? Chihiro is still smart, still helpful, and still kind. Chirhiro never tried to peep on you, did he?"

"Well…no. She actually didn't like to change with us," Tenko said.

"So, what's changed?" Sayaka asked. "Chihiro will be the exact same person she was before except she'll be a he…Does that make sense?"

Tenko paused to think it over.

"Look, Tenko," Kaede spoke up, "you are able to talk to Gonta, Ryoma, Taka, and Shuichi just fine, right?"

"Sort of," Tenko said. "I mean, they are degenerates, but they can behave."

Tenko paused again. "But what if I can't change?"

"You just have to try," Sayaka said.

Tenko paused one final time. She then nodded. "Ok. I'll try."

Sayaka smiled and patted Tenko on the shoulder. "Great. Now, was there anything you needed?"

"Uh," Tenko shrugged. "No, I don't think so. You can all go back to planning out the party."

"Ok, we'll talk to you later, Tenko," Kaede said with a smile.

Tenko waved the three musicians goodbye before heading out of the room and leaving them to plan out the rest of their show.

Nekomaru crossed his arms as he watched over Chihiro. Chihiro was sat upon a bench and curling a 10-pound dumbbell. Even with one of the lightest weights in Nekomaru's set, it was a lot for Chihiro to lift. Her arm shook violent with each rep, and lifting it took more and more time as her arm got weaker and weaker. After 10 reps, Chihiro let her arm flop to her side and dropped the dumbbell onto the matted floor. Chihiro took several deep breathes before picking up the dumbbell with her other arm.

"Just do the same as last time," Nekomaru said. "10 reps."

"O-ok then," Chihiro said before getting to work. Immediately, Chihiro was struggling. It was as if her other arm was even weaker. Just as she did her first rep, her arm immediately began to struggle with another rep. She had the use her other arm to help lift up the dumbbell. Two, three, four. Her arms struggled more. Five, six, seven, eight. She could barely even keep her grip on the dumbbell. N-nine…Chihiro's arm gave out and she dropped the dumbbell to the floor. Chihiro frowned as she wiped some sweat away from her forehead.

"That's still better than last time," Nekomaru said with a proud smile. "Remember to have some water."

Chihiro's arms were still sore, but thankfully picking up a water bottle isn't nowhere near as hefty as a dumbbell. She took a sip of her water and let the icy liquid sooth her body and reenergize her.

Nekomaru sat down on the bench next to Chihiro's. "Today's been a lot for you," he said.

Chihiro nodded. "I'm glad that…more people were willing to understand me than I thought. They aren't afraid of who I chose to be."

"And who do you want to be?" Nekomaru asked.

Chihiro paused for a moment. "I…I've actually had some time to think it over. It was hard. I have gotten used to…well, everyone thinking I'm a girl. I've gotten used to wearing dresses and I still like all the stuff people made fun of me for…but…I-I know that I've always just been pretending. I'm not trans. At least not in the way that everyone thought I was. I-I want to be me again."

Nekomaru nodded as he listened to Chihiro's tale and then clapped. "HAHAHA! Now that's a speech! You're already gotten way stronger than we you started!"

"R-really? But I can't even lift 10 pounds."

"Your mentality is one of the most important parts of when training," Nekomaru explained. "If you're in the right state of mind, you'll be able to push past your limits with much greater ease. Now that you're no longer doubting who you are, you won't have as much trouble pushing yourself."

Chihiro slowly smiled at Nekomaru's speech. "Y-yeah."

"Now, let's get back to it! I want to see how far you can push yourself now!"

"R-right!"

With that, Nekomaru handed Chihiro back the dumbbell and she…he got back to exercising.

Teruteru had locked himself away in his Ultimate Lab, finally using it to cook a meal. Actually, several meals. He was prepping for the party that Ibuki had spoken about, but since Ibuki hadn't really ordered him to make anything specific. Thankfully, he always thrived as a culinary artist when he had complete freedom. And with Togami/Shinji no longer taking in his "tyrannical paranoia" state, he didn't have to be sparse with the use of silverware. Turning on all of his stove tops, microwaves, ovens, and crockpots, Teruteru began to work on green beans, turkeys, chopped onions, peppers, spaghetti, rice, anything and everything he could think of that would be perfect for a party of thirty-plus people. Of course, he also knew simply junk food was important to a party, so he did have plenty of chips and candy bags too.

The timer for the oven rang off, Teruteru dashed over to it, smelling the sweet aroma seeping through as he made his way over. Upon opening it, Teruteru paused. He knew he was looking at the perfectly cooked turkey, but it wasn't what he saw at first. Instead, his mind decided at that moment to play a cruel prank on him. What he saw in the oven was the rotting head of his mother. Teruteru fell back on to his rear and rubbed his eyes. Looking back inside, it was no longer his mother, but the turkey at a nice, crispy shade of orange and brown. Teruteru quickly turned off the oven, but he didn't pull out the main course. He dropped to his knees and used a handkerchief to wipe away some sweat and tears.

"Mama…" Teruteru sniffed up some snot.

At that moment, the doorbell to his dorm rang out. Curious, Teruteru pulled out the turkey and placed it on the counter before leaving his lab and opening the door. To his surprise, he saw that it was Angie, Hiyoko, and Hifumi who all stood outside his door. Seeing that quite the lovely lady stood before him, Teruteru threw on his best "suave" face he could.

"Ah, why if it isn't the lovely Angie," Teruteru said. "What can I do you- Do for you?"

Angie smiled brightly. "Oh no, no, no, Teruteru," Angie said. "I'm actually here to help you."

"Oh, really now?" Teruteru said as he bit his lip. "Am I about to see how an artist uses her hands?"

Hiyoko leaned towards Angie's ear. "Do we really have to talk to him?" she whispered.

Angie patted Hiyoko on the head before looking back at Teruteru. "Actually, I wished to speak to you about your secret."

Teruteru's flirty smirk faded away. He took a step back. "I-I'd rather not…"

Angie stepped inside Teruteru's room, Teruteru noticed just how much taller she was when compared to him. Her sudden blank facial expression while charging towards him actually made him uncomfortable. He stopped when he tripped on the edge of his bed and fell onto the floor. Angie stopped just beside him and knelt down next to the cook.

"This is no reason to be afraid, Teruteru," Angie said in a calm whisper. "Your pain, your fear, it doesn't have to consume you."

Angie took a hold of Teruteru's hand. "What happened to your mother wasn't your fault. You can't let it control you."

Tears began to pour down Teruteru's face. "H-how am I supposed to just let that go?! It was me that killed her!"

Angie smiled down at the chef. "Allow me to teach you.

"BANG! GO TO SLEEP, PRICKS!" Monokuma screamed into the intercom.

This was a bit shorter than I hoped it would be longer, but I got it done anyway. I hope you enjoyed the dialogue since that's really what this part was. I might have rushed it with Teruteru's section.

To just outright say it. Yes, my plan was for Chihiro to always accept that he's a boy, I just felt like the fandom is actually super split on that judging from some other fanfics. I just wanted to try and explain why, at least my version of Chihiro, would be a boy. It seemed like that I might have ended up rustling some feathers with it, so I apologize if I came across as disrespectful or forcing in a topic in a half-baked way.

Anyways, thank you for reading and keep commenting your thoughts.