Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. Apologies for the taking longer than usual to write the chapter. Storm hit the wifi on the week before August, and was a bit stuck on the morning scene. Had to rewrite a couple of times until I was satisfied with the results. Hopefully, the quality is still good like the rest of the chapters. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.
Chapter 24: Watching Ch 2: Boys' Life of Despair
"Is that a buffet in the living room?" Was the first question that was asked when the ultimate students entered the living room. True to Hina's question, there was a breakfast buffet completely set up with dishes ranging from japanese cuisine to western classics.
"I assume Spirit was the one to set it up." Byakuya responded, walking into the room. He didn't bother to answer Hina's question, when the answer is obvious. "The question should be why, though?"
"To save you all the hassle of having to go to the break room to eat, then having to come back here." Speaking of their host, he came out from the break room, wearing the same suit as yesterday with several pitchers of different drinks floating around him.
Everyone expressed their own shock and incredibility when they saw the floating pitchers around him, even the more stoic ones were both clearly impressed and surprised.
"Wha-Whaaaaat?!" Hifumi screamed in shock. "How?! How is that possible?!"
"Mass teleportation isn't the only skill I possess." Spirit stated with an amused smirk. "I got more than a few tricks up my sleeves."
"Yeah, I bet." Junko stated, mouth agape. While this isn't as shocking as being warped from one point to another in an instant, it was still pretty surprising to see. 'Okay, if I send Mukuro after this guy, she might need the element of surprise on her side….'
The group continued staring at Spirit as he began to set up the drinks right behind the food and placed a stack of cups in front of them. Feeling the gaze of everyone behind him, he turned to the group. "You can stop staring now." He dryly said. "Go ahead and start eating. Once everyone gets down here, we'll start the next chapter of Danganronpa."
His words drew everyone back to reality, though a bit of dread filled them all. Well, all except for Junko. To get their minds off of it for now, they went to the couches and started eating. Hina squealed at the sight of donuts and immediately made her way over, quickly filling her plate with them.
As Byakuya got his plate, he spoke up. "So, we're waiting for Kyoko, Sayaka, Leon, Makoto, Toko, and Mukuro. Is that correct?"
"Yes, that would be correct." Celeste confirmed, sipping a cup of tea. "I would prefer it if they didn't take too long."
Meanwhile, Kyoko was standing in front of Sayaka's room. Last night in her own room, she decided to confront Sayaka about what her future self did to Makoto. Even if Makoto decided to forgive her, and it's most likely that he did, Kyoko wasn't as forgiving. She wanted to make it clear to Sayaka that she will be watching her from now on.
Before she could even knock, however, the door swung open. But instead of the expected Sayaka, it was Makoto. "K-Kyoko?!" The boy's eyes widened in shock at seeing the detective.
Kyoko, while a little surprised, maintained her usual composure. "Good morning, Makoto." Kyoko greeted. "May I speak with Sayaka?"
Her request snapped Makoto out of his initial shock. "Um, y-yeah, sure." The luckster quickly walked out of the room, but not before turning back towards Sayaka. "Do you want me to wait for you?"
"No, it's okay. I'll catch up with you." Sayaka reassured. "Go on ahead." Makoto smiled and nodded before heading his way. As he walked past Kyoko with a nod as well, she took the opportunity to come in and close the door.
"I assume that Makoto has forgiven you then?" It was more of a statement than a question.
Sayaka laughed slightly at that. "He really is predictable, huh?" She said softly. "Still, I'm kinda surprised he actually did, considering his reaction yesterday."
"You underestimate his naive and forgiving nature." Kyoko responded. She walked to the empty chair at the desk. "Even when hurt badly by his friends, he would forgive them. Remember the time his luck forced him to stumble into a sparring session between Mukuro and Sakura, and Mukuro landed a solid kick into his stomach?"
That got another bout of light laughter from Sayaka. "Mukuro tried to stop it last second but he still flew right into Sakura. Poor Mukuro couldn't stop apologizing after that, even when Makoto already forgiven her countless times." Sayaka sighed. "He's a very sweet guy, that's for sure. I don't think he's ever able to hold grudges."
"Indeed." Kyoko turned the chair around to the side before sitting down. "While it's endearing, it could put him in danger of getting hurt again."
Sayaka looked down, her smile fading. "No arguing against that." She said. "Is that why you're here?"
Kyoko nodded, her ice cold mask on. "I'll be frank. After what we've seen, you clearly can't be trusted." She stated bluntly "While I do understand that the situation you were put in, betraying someone else's trust is something I absolutely cannot tolerate. Especially when that person is someone as innocent as Makoto."
Sayaka winced at her words. "But since it was only your future self that committed it and not you yourself, I'll only give you a warning." Kyoko's eyes narrowed a bit further, and she spoke with a more firm tone. "If it happens again, don't expect to be let off so lightly."
Sayaka knew that it wasn't a threat. Whenever Kyoko puts her mind to something, she's going to do it. But, surprisingly, she wasn't scared or intimidated by Kyoko's cold stare. "I don't blame you for not trusting me." She said softly, staring at her clasped hands that rested on her lap. "To be fair, I'm having trouble trusting myself too."
Then she raised her head. "But despite him having all rights to distrust me, he decided to give me a second chance. And I intend to honour that because I learned something from all this. It's a promise I made to myself. Nothing will ever be as important as the people who stand beside me. Not even my career. I don't know how I could have been blind to something so simple before, but you can have my word for that."
The two girls maintained a silent standoff for a moment; determined ocean blue eyes stared into their cold purple counterparts, neither yielding to the other.
After assessing Sayaka for a bit, Kyoko finally responded. "We'll see if your words holds true." With that, Kyoko got up and left the room.
(With Makoto)
After getting a fresh pair of clothes and freshening up a bit, Makoto went on his way downstairs for breakfast. He managed to met up with Mukuro during his detour and the two of them made their way to the living room.
As they walked side by side, Mukuro frequently looked over at Makoto with conflict in her eyes. She still doesn't know if she should reveal everything to him yet, reveal herself as a traitor. After all, she doesn't know how he would react to it. He reacted badly when he found out Sayaka attempted to frame him in the future. How would he do if he finds out she's a spy for the mastermind? Not to mention that the mastermind was Junko.
Would he be angry or afraid of her? What would happen between them after that? Would he even accept what she tells him, if she decides to tell him, to be true? There were so many questions outside her expertise as a soldier, and her lack of knowledge in socializing only made her feel worse.
In the end, she decided to keep silent on it. The decision isn't something she could make overnight, and patience often had its rewards. Maybe opportunity will present itself sometime later.
When the two walked into the living room, Makoto nearly jumped in surprise while Mukuro merely raised a brow in slight admiration at seeing the breakfast buffet. "Good morning, Makoto, Muku~." Junko waved at the two of them. "Spirit decided to set up breakfast here today, isn't it amazing?"
"Oh." Makoto looked towards Spirit. "Well, thank you Spirit."
The host shrugged. "It's pretty simple for me. No big deal, really." He pointed to the couches and recliners. "Go take a seat and eat. Once everybody's down here and eating, we'll be continuing from where we left off."
Makoto nodded. "Right." Makoto then went to the couch he was at before. Without thinking, Mukuro followed him and sat right beside him. Junko noticed her change of seats right away.
"Hey Muku~, aren't you in the wrong seat?" Junko asked her curiously. Mukuro blinked as she slowly registered her sister's question, and after having realized where she's actually at, she blushed and quickly went back to the recliner she sat in the day before. Makoto sweatdropped as he watched the soldier scuffle away.
"Um, you didn't have to move Mukuro. I didn't mind you sitting here." Makoto said. The soldier, still blushing, shook her head.
"N-No, it's alright. I'm fine here." Mukuro insisted. "Besides, Kyoko, Sayaka, and Leon were sitting there, right? I wouldn't want to force them to find another seat."
"Okay then. If you insist." Makoto then went over the table to get some food. As he did, Celeste and Hina looked at the couch with temptation in their eyes.
The empty couch that Makoto sat on was practically inviting them to move over. But for Celeste, she didn't want to give up a seat she got all for herself while Hina didn't want to leave Sakura alone. In the end, they both stayed where they were.
A moment later, Kyoko came down the stairs and silently sat beside Makoto once again, at the edge of the couch. Her face didn't betray any sign of shock or surprise as she walked past the magically set up breakfast buffet. Toko was the one who came next, her arms wrapped around herself defensively and her body shaking.
It drew some curious looks. "What's the matter Toko? Bad dream?" Chihiro asked in concern.
"N-No. The bathing is still f-fresh in my m-mind." Toko stuttered out, sitting down on her recliner. "I-I can't get the m-memories o-out of my head."
Hina sighed in exasperation. "Come on Toko, the bath wasn't that bad."
"Sh-Shut it, you p-perverted swimmer."
Hina blushed. "I-I'm not perverted!"
"You r-rubbed your hands a-all over m-me."
"You refused to take a proper bath! You had to get bathed somehow!"
Makoto couldn't help but blush in embarrassment from what he's hearing. Chihiro had the same reaction whille Celeste and Junko giggled in amusement. Sakura simply sighed in exasperation, and Hifumi looks a bit too interested.
"Toko, Hina, this is not something you should be talking about in front of us!" Taka scolded. "Spare us the details of what happened in the bathroom!"
"Don't say it like that!" Hina protested, her face burning red.
Hifumi then spoke up. "Um, actually, could you give us more details?" A perverted look entered his eyes. "Such as, how and where you bathe her?"
Hina and Toko felt their spines crawl at the perverted look. But before anyone could say anything, a baseball smashed into the side of Hifumi's head. "Ow!"
"Seriously, dude? It's too early in the day to start being perverted." Everyone turned to see Leon walking down the stairs. He waved weakly at them. "Yo."
"Morning, Leon." Makoto waved at him from his seat. "How are you feeling?"
"Somewhat better. Still kinda shitty, though." Leon sighed, which then turned into a yawn. "Could feel worse. Might actually even qualify for being dead from lack of sleep." He then took notice of the breakfast buffet in the living room. "Um, why is breakfast over here?" He asked as he pointed his finger accusingly at the tables.
"Spirit set it up." Kyoko answered. "Once everyone is here, we'll be continuing from where we left off while we eat."
"Oh. Cool. Don't mind if I do." Leon went to the other side of the couch and grabbed some food. "So, the last person we're waiting for is Sayaka?"
Makoto nodded. "Yeah. She should be here soon."
Sure enough, Sayaka got here under a minute later. "Good morning." Sayaka greeted softly. She looked around to see breakfast on the table. "We're going to be eating here?"
"Hey, Sayaka. And yeah. We'll be watching our future while eating breakfast." He looked at her curiously. "What took you so long?"
"Sorry. Took a shower since I didn't take one yesterday." Sayaka moved towards the couch Kyoko, Makoto, and Leon sat at before hesitantly sitting down. She glanced at Leon nervously, wondering what he's thinking right now.
Once Spirit saw that everyone has gathered, he produced the remote control out of nowhere and pointed it at the large tv. "Alright, then. Everyone ready to start?" His question was met with silence. Honestly, most of them didn't think they could handle another chapter or didn't want to keep going, especially after what they've already seen.
Kyoko noticed the hesitancy and dread from her classmates and sighed. "We can't delay it any longer. And we definitely can't stop. Otherwise, the killing game will be almost certain to happen." Kyoko looked towards Spirit. "So go ahead and play it."
Spirit nodded and turned on the TV.
When the TV turned on, Makoto was standing in front of the bathroom, seemingly hesitant to open the door. As he slowly turned the knob and opened it, he was bewildered to find that any trace of what has happened has disappeared. "It's gone…." He whispered.
Sayaka, who tensed up when Makoto entered into the bathroom, was surprised along with everyone else, to see any trace of her future self gone. "Um, what happened to Sayaka's body?" Hiro asked.
"Monokuma must have cleaned up the body either during or after the trial." Kyoko easily deduced. "Considering there's several more Monokumas on stand by, it wouldn't be a difficult task."
He walked inside the bathroom, realizing everything was exactly like it was before Sayaka's murder. He placed his hand on the spot where she wrote her last message, looking for something, anything to prove that she was here. 'She….she really is gone. Almost like….there was never anything there to begin with. Every last sign of Sayaka's existence has disappeared without a trace….'
That last line shook Sayaka a little. To disappear, to have no trace of her existence….it was the main part of her fear when her idol career skyrocketed.
By instinct, Makoto squeezed her hand and squeezed it in reassurance. She held on tightly, taking some deep breaths.
"It's just like he said…." Makoto mumbled out loud. Right after he said that, a flashback of the remaining students going to the elevator was shown.
Before they could go in, however, Monokuma popped up once again. "Oh, I almost forgot!" The bear got the students' attention. "Since the class trial is over, I'll go ahead and dispose of all the corpses!" Several eyes widened at that. "It's okay, no need to thank me! Just seeing your delighted, smiling faces is thanks enough for me! After all, nobody wants to look at a rotting corpse every day! That can't be good for your health…." He ended with his usual laughter before disappearing once more.
His words, as usual, angered most of them. "He doesn't have the decency to treat the dead with respect and let us mourn properly?" Taka exclaimed in anger.
"Oh come on! I get that we can't get out, but we could at least have some sort of ceremony!" Hiro whined, holding his head. "Otherwise, Sayaka's, Mukuro's, and Leon's ghosts might haunt us all!"
"I do agree that they need a proper ceremony for the dead." Sakura stated, her face clearly stating that she's angry.
Makoto looked down and bawled up his free fist. The bear was purposely making sure that they had no time to mourn any of their friends. Beside him, Sayaka felt a bit dehumanized. While being an idol does get you treated like a doll from time to time, she was still a human being. No one deserves something like that.
Mukuro, however, looked a bit conflicted. She understood that mourning the dead was a custom to most societies, even Fenrir had certain practices and ceremonies after battles to honour the dead. But they never meant anything to her, it was just another set of rules she followed for the sake of following rules. Was she supposed to feel something?
"Unfortunately, they don't even have the time to mourn the dead." Byakuya said crisply. "There still trapped inside the building, and the killing game is still happening. The only way to have time to mourn the dead is if they get out of here." None of the more spiritual and/or moral classmates looked happy to hear that, but they didn't say anything else for now.
The scene went back to the present, with Makoto still looking around. 'The sick bastard didn't even give us time to mourn our dead.' Makoto thought to himself. 'I keep pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming….but unfortunately, this is all real.'
Makoto's thoughts brought them all back to the situation they're all facing. Their future gave them no chance to grieve for their friends, to mourn them, to move on properly. It was a short scene, but surely enough, everyone understood the weight behind it.
"This type of thing is common in mangas." Hifumi said softly. "The main character not getting the chance to mourn their friends, having to continue on."
"I-It's the same in books, too. Horror, suspense, and tragedy mostly." Toko stated, momentarily losing her stuttering for now. Whenever she's talking about her talent and hobby, she feels more comfortable. "There's little to no time for the characters to grieve for the ones that died. But they usually manage to move on."
"It's exactly what Makoto needs to do right now." Celeste stated. "Like Byakuya said, they don't have time to mourn. They need to take time to find a way out of the school."
"As well as find out the mysteries that surrounds Hope's Peak." Kyoko added in.
Makoto took a deep breath before nodding in agreement. "Yeah. Hopefully, future me will have the strength to move on for now. And then he and the rest can grieve when they all get out of the school." Sayaka, momentarily forgetting the feeling of dehumanization, hoped future Makoto gets over her death as well. She doesn't want to become a burden to him, especially since he's still stuck in the school.
Slowly, the scene faded to black and faded back as it transitioned to Makoto entering the dining hall, where everyone else is at. "Sorry I'm late…."
"Hey….are you okay, Makoto?" Hina asked him in concern.
"You sure took your sweet time!" Taka scolded him. "I was just about to go get you and drag you back here!"
"Holy smokes! You could at least show some concern for him Taka." Hina remarked with a small scowl. "He just lost Sayaka and found out she tried to frame him! Of course he wouldn't move around fast."
Taka ducked his head down in shame. "Yes, you're right. I really should consider someone else's feelings more." Honestly, he could see now that there should be a time where he should re-evaluate his….strict nature.
"S-Sorry…."
"So? What happened?" Taka inquired. "Was your room fixed up and like he said? I imagine it would be pretty hard to sleep with a rotting corpse in your bathroom!"
That got more than a few disbelieving looks, with Sayaka feeling especially offended. "Bro, that's a fucked up thing to say." Mondo said incredulously. "Why would your future self ever say that?"
Once again, Taka hung his head in shame. "I-It logically makes sense though..."
"Well, to be fair, he is right in some sense." Leon remarked.
Mondo looked at him with disbelief, as did a few others. "Jesus, that's still fucked up, man." The biker stated. "There's more to this world than just black and white dude."
Mondo looked at him in disbelief, as did a few others. "Jesus, that's fucked up, man." Mondo stated. "Why would you say something like that?"
Slowly, Makoto spoke up. "My room was….spotless. There wasn't anything left. Like the whole thing….never happened."
"It must be tough staying there, knowing what happened." Sakura said sympathetically. "Why don't you just stay in Sayaka's room?"
Makoto shook his head. "Her scent in the room would be just as big of a reminder, if not more so."
"Well," Makoto began, looking down. "Staying there, with her scent still hanging in the air….that would hurt just as much. Plus," The luckster took a deep breath before continuing. "I've decided I can't turn away from her death."
"M-Makoto…." Hina said hesitantly. "Hey, cheer up! Getting depressed isn't gonna help anything, right? If we all work together, I'm sure we'll find a way out of here! So everyone just….try and cheer up and get back on track!"
Makoto smiled. "Even after what happened, you try hard to stay positive Hina."
"Well, she's right after all. No use mopping around." Hina stated, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"Glad to see you trying to cheer Makoto up." Sayaka said softly. "I don't want him being depressed over future me."
'Though I don't think it will work on everyone.' Byakuya thought to himself. He himself knew that he'll probably feel cynical about their odds of surviving and escaping together.
Right after, Byakuya spoke up. "Is that honestly supposed to make us feel better?" The heir questioned.
"Huh?" Was Hina's response.
"We were already 'working' together and yet someone was still murdered." Byakuya pointed out cynically. "Anyone could betray us at this point. Now that it's happened once, it's a question of when, not if, the next one will take place."
"Yeah, because S-Sayaka made the first move…." Toko supported Byakuya's words causing Makoto to become more depressed.
Sayaka flinched a little at that while several others frowned at Byakuya's and/or Toko's words. "What makes you think that's going to happen?" Hina asked angrily.
"Because, now that the first murder has happened, several of us will become paranoid, wondering if they'll be next." Byakuya pointed out with a sigh. "And if that's not enough, I'm sure Monokuma will come up with more motives to give us that desire to escape."
"Whether or not that statement is true, there's no need to voice such a pessimistic view." Sakura stated with a frown. "And was it necessary for Toko to point out what Sayaka did?"
"Yeah, that's really pouring salt on the wound." Hiro agreed. Toko merely looked away from all of them.
"B-But," Hina protested. "If we work together against the mastermind, nobody'll have any reason to do something like that!"
Byakuya scoffed. "Keep telling yourself that. I'll be over here in the real world." He remarked coldly. "Working together, fighting a common enemy….like it or not, it's not that simple."
"What does he mean by that?" Hina asked in confusion and anger. "Why can't it be that simple?"
"I'm fairly sure someone will ask that question." Celeste said. "And that someone will explain."
"...What do you mean?" Hifumi asked hesitantly.
Celeste was the one to answer that. "The mastermind seems to be much more powerful than we ever suspected." She stated. "They took over Hope's Peak, which was supposed to be well defended, then modified it to fit their desires. In addition to that, they created Monokuma, which seems to be an incredibly advanced bot, as well as having the resources to provide for our every need."
"And the cherry on top is the execution we witnessed." Celeste continued on. "Everything has been planned down to the last excruciating detail. This is not the work of your everyday psychopath. Defying them may be too smart of a choice…."
"Celeste brings up a good case." Kyoko stated with a small frown. "The mastermind does seem more powerful than we had previously thought. All the things she mentioned are solid points."
"So we'll have to ask ourselves this: What are we going to do once we find out who the mastermind is? What will we be facing?" Celeste stated. "Stopping the future doesn't really sound so simple now compared to when we first started."
"Still, we can't give up!" Hina stated stubbornly. "Neither will our future selves! What else could they suppose to do?"
"If there were other good options, I would've mentioned them by now." Byakuya scoffed.
"Then….what are we supposed to do?" Sakura asked.
"Anyone who truly does want to escape….will just have to follow the rules." Byakuya answered. "In which case, the only option is to deceive those around you, and win the game."
"Byakuya!" Makoto gasped in shock. The others were surprised as well. "Why would you say something like that?"
"I agree. It's unlike you to give up like that." Kyoko stated. "You're not the type to bend towards the enemies' rules."
Byakuya narrowed his eyes at the screen. "Yes. That's what I'm trying to figure out." Why is his future self blatantly accepting this? There must be a reason behind it. He'd never simply comply to some twisted game like that. Perhaps he might be planning something next? Or, could it be that he's simply bored and that we wanted to try to make things interesting? Byakuya mentally shook his head at that last thought. Being bored should be the last thing on his mind, there was so much more happening right now.
Someone spoke against that. "N-No…." Everyone turned to Chihiro, who had been silently crying at the table she's sitting at.
"No what?" Byakuya questioned harshly.
"I don't want to live….if it means killing someone else." Chihiro stated tearfully. "I don't want kill anyone else….!"
"Huh? Anyone else?" Leon asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Yeah, in case I'm missing something, Leon was the only one that killed somebody." Hiro said, also confused. Chihiro merely stayed silent, knowing her future self will explain.
"Anyone….else?" Hiro slowly repeated in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Leon died because we voted for him, right?" Chihiro asked them, guilt clearly evident in her voice. "It's no different from us killing him ourselves!"
The group was a bit startled to hear Chihiro saying that, though not much. Makoto turned to the programmer. "Chihiro, do you feel the same way?"
Chihiro nodded, tears building up in her eyes. "We sent him to his death. We gave Monokuma our approval to kill him by voting for him." The programmer said guiltily. "We are as responsible for his death as Leon himself is for Sayaka's."
"B-But….if we didn't do it, Monokuma would've killed us all!" Hiro protested.
"B-But…." Was all Hiro could say at the moment, a bit pale.
"If we hadn't voted for him, then we all woulda died instead, right….?" Hina pointed out. "That isn't what you wanted, is it….?"
"See? Hina agrees with me!"
"And Chihiro, like Hina asked, would you really want to everyone else to die while Leon himself lives?" Sakura asked her softly. The programmer couldn't say anything to that, tears slowly going down her cheek as a conflicted expression dawn on her face.
Chihiro stayed silent, the tears still running down her face. "She's right." Hifumi spoke up. "If you heap that kind of blame on yourself, you'll turn into a full-fledged masochist."
"Seriously, Hifumi?" Leon deadpanned. "You have to say the last part?"
"Well, I'm just making sure we don't have another masochist?"
"Chihiro is not a Toko, fatty. Don't compare anyone to her."
That earned a venomous glare from the writer. "A-And no one wants to be a-an indecisive b-baseball player." Toko hissed. She briefly thought calling him a murderer, but decided against it. She isn't THAT mean.
Again, Chihiro stayed silent. This time, Makoto brought it upon himself to speak to the programmer. "Chihiro, listen…." The luckster said softly, gaining her attention. "You're not to blame. Not you, not Leon, and not Sayaka. The mastermind is responsible for everything that's happened."
"We had no choice but to vote. I can't even imagine what would've happened to us if we'd refused." Makoto continued. "And in the end, it was Monokuma who ultimately killed Leon! So don't waste your anger on yourself….instead, direct it at the mastermind!"
"Yet another empowering speech!" Taka stated in admiration. "Makoto sure has a talent for it!"
"I have to agree. He seems to have an born talent for inspirational speeches." Celeste agreed with the moral compass.
Chihiro looked at Makoto hesitantly. "Do….Do you really think that's true?" Chihiro asked him.
The luckster took a deep breath before speaking. "Yes, Chihiro. But I don't just think it. I know it." He stated. "I won't hold blame on anyone, except for the one hosting this sick game in the first place."
Tears formed in Sayaka eyes once again, but she manage to keep them at bay. Despite what they've seen, despite knowing that her decision was a conscious one….Makoto still didn't blame her, not even a little.
Still, she can't help but feel somewhat responsible for this. For starting this conflict in the first place. She hopes that this won't snowball into a blood bath.
Chihiro silently assessed Makoto's words. Is he right? Is the mastermind ultimately to blame? Should they not feel responsible at all for Leon's death?
Chihiro looked to be pondering Makoto's speech a little. But before she could do so for long, the school bell rung around the school. "Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited."
"Oh, and one other thing…." Monokuma added. "It as totally obvious before that you were trying to make yourselves feel better and justify what you did. See you, see you, don't see you, see you! That's about how much I can see you, even when you try to hide! Now pay attention and remember this well!"
"The burden of judging others is a heavy one to bear. So be well aware of your actions!" The bear stated. "Order and stability relies on the sacrifice and responsibility of everyone! Okay then….sweet dreams everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite…." With that, the announcement ended.
Mondo was the first to speak. "Is he fucking with us? He's seriously fucking blaming us for Leon's goddamn murder?"
"Wow. That's just plain on mean." Hiro sighed.
"Um, it's more than mean!" Hina remarked with a scowl. "How could he blame us for something he did?!" Chihiro looked down, the guilt latching itself back on.
'Junko loves to put the blame on other people. Not keeping any of the liability to herself.' Mukuro thought to herself. Junko would find some way, any way to make people feel like it's their fault for anything that happens, even when she ultimately forced them to do so or pushed them towards that decision.
Makoto looked down, clenching his fist. "He doesn't have a right to judge us!" He said angrily. "Not when he forcing us into this!"
When it ended, Toko was the first to speak. "What w-was that just n-now….?" She cried out in distress.
"Was he saying it's our fault what happened? That's pretty cruel, man…." Hiro sighed.
"That piece of shit! Who does he think he is?!" Mondo growled. Makoto, along with the others, stayed silent.
"But isn't he right?" Chihiro asked them. "Shouldn't we take responsibility for what happened to Leon?"
"I might have to agree with Chihiro here." Junko sighed. "Pushing the blame onto the psycho bear seems like the easy way out to me. None of you guys feel guilty about what to Leon?" She asked nonchalantly.
Makoto looked down, visible anguish in his eyes. "I do." Makoto said, a little guilt seeping in his voice. "I do feel guilty for killing him. But if we keep blaming ourselves for something that's out of our control, then we'll eventually get consumed in our despair."
"Still sounds like an excuse to me."
"Then tell us, what else could we have done?" That question came from Kyoko. "Tell us, what other options was there for us to do at that time? We would very like to hear it."
That got Junko silent. Kyoko nodded. "Nothing. I thought so." She narrowed her eyes at Junko. "And don't take this personally Junko, but your future self isn't there. You don't have a right to judge our actions right now."
"Okay, okay. Sorry. Jeez." Junko apologized, rubbing her head sheepishly. "Just thought I would point something out, that's all." She mentally giggled at getting on Kyoko's nerves for a second there.
"Well it ain't helping." Mondo growled before turning to the guilty programmer. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey Chihiro, listen to Makoto. Don't eat yourself up about this. Otherwise, you're might end up in that deep fucking pit."
Chihiro looked up at Mondo for a moment before nodding. "I-I'll try." She smiled. "Thank you, Mondo. You too, Makoto." The luckster and biker nodded.
The scene switched to everyone going back into their rooms. "And so, the day drew to a close," Narrator Makoto began. "A tense, maddening day that saw the deaths of three classmates. Sayaka, Junko, and Leon…." Pictures of each one of them was shown, all smiling happily.
"But….this is just the beginning," The narrator continued. "Our despair has only just begun….!"
That send chills down everyone's back. The haunting tone in Makoto's voice, the weariness, it made their spines shake. "O-Only the b-beginning?" Toko said fearfully. "H-How much w-worse could it get?"
"We're going to have to see." Celeste stated. "Hopefully, it isn't as bad as we think."
"Knowing how bad it is right now, I don't think it's gonna get any better." Hifumi moaned.
Guilt seeped through Sayaka once more. This is her fault. She started this. Her future self's choice is leading everyone to despair. How many of her friends are going to die because of her?
Makoto could see the guilt in her eyes. Not wanting her to keep blame herself, he squeezed her hand again, causing Sayaka to look at him. He gave her a smile, silently telling her to not blame herself. Sayaka silently smiled in response. While her future self caused this, she will make sure that will she stay loyal to her friends. Loyal to Makoto.
Chihiro clenched her hands on top of her knees, her mind racing at all the possibilities. How many more are going to die? How many will commit murder and get executed because of it? How many will she have to vote to kill?
How long will it last? How many chapters do they have? How many people will survive? The questions kept piling in her head, and there's nothing she could do to stop them. But one question rang through her head the most: How much worse will it get?
And that's the end. I hope you guys liked this chapter. Again, sorry for the longer wait than usual. And again, I hope the quality makes up for it. It's hard to think what's too much, what's too little, and if this is how they would react. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you later.
A Lucky Soldier: Also partly my fault too! Just finished a final this morning and started editing this as soon as I finished lunch.
Questions and inQuiries:
Q: Do you upload on a schedule?
S: No, I don't have a schedule, though I do try to update this as daily as I could.
L: There's no set schedule, but knowing Spirit, he's pretty consistent at sending me the docs to edit. I'd say a fair time frame would be around a week and a half per chapter, and then it depends on when I receive it. If I receive it on a work day (mostly weekends), I usually lay off of it since I'm too brain-dead to effectively work so if that happens, it'll delay the release of a chapter by one or two days. Otherwise, I pretty much am able to get them done the same day Spirit sends it to me.
Q: Does this take place before the student council game?
L: Generally, this happens before Junko makes any moves to enact the tragedy. If you want a more specific time point, FredFuchs86 made a point in one of his earlier reviews: "the Tragedy happened a year after class 78 started attending Hope's Peak. So, I should say this fic takes place near the first half of the first year. DR1 spans from 22 to 23 days. That's less than a month, and Naegi was able to grow a strong enough connection with the other survivors. That was because of the despair being used as a catalyst, but nevertheless Naegi would've needed a few months to bring everyone together. And I bet Enoshima's plans for despair would've been carried out in the second half."
Q: Will there be more interactions between the students aside from Makoto interacting with everyone?
S: The interaction between Kyoko and Sayaka should answer that.
L: I think there will be, so stay tuned!
Q: Will those who are dead have a stronger reaction to future murders?
S: We'll see as the story progresses.
L: Stay tuned!
Q: Will someone point out that they wear the exact same thing every day?
S: Maybe, maybe not.
L: If memory serves me right, at one point either in the game or the anime, someone mentions that the drawers in their room has multiples of the same outfit, hence why they wear the same thing every day.
Q: Will you show the alternate ending to CH5?
L: To be fair, even I don't know this but stay tuned!
Q: Will you be doing _? And will _ and _ be in that?
L: Alright guys, Spirit and I really appreciate the amount of support we have from you guys and we're really grateful that you're excited for the future. But Spirit has a lot on his hands right now with this current story and he's only mentioned doing Class 77 so far himself. Anything beyond DR:2 is uncertain to both myself and Spirit. Don't get me wrong though, seeing all this excitement makes us, or at least me, excited as well but it's a long road until we get there so let's keep things related to the current story for now :)