#monobird
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Danganronpa: Away
Chapter 4: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Part 7b)
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Pierce: Alright, let’s go over it from the top.
Duke: So, we know the killer took the gun from the weapons room.
Duke: And upon getting there, they shot Annabelle.
Tammy: But we’re not entirely sure how they got up there.
Andy: They faked using a grappling hook for some reason.
Andy: But we don’t know why that is.
Sophie: They also took the time to edit the recording Annabelle was doing to lure the rest of us up there.
May: Not only that, but in doing so gave themselves a hard time limit to cover up the murder.
Jay: Well, I know I’m fast.
Jay: But I think anyone can move fast when they’re worrying for their life.
CCOA:
Duke: So, we know the killer took the gun from the weapons room.
Truth Bullet: The Knife
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: What if we had that wrong from the beginning?
Justin: What if Annabelle took the gun, and not the knife?
Cassy: Huh?!
Justin: While it’s true that Annabelle was shot, and it’s true we found a gun at the scene, we also found a knife.
Duke: So?
Justin: Why would Annabelle take the knife?
Tammy: You think she was going to kill someone?
Pierce: Whether or not that’s true is irrelevant for the time being.
Pierce: Although I’m certain it’ll come up later.
Jay: What if you were to grab the weapons for self defense?
Justin: Sure, but a gun might be more efficient.
Pierce: Alright. So far, so good…
Cassy: That doesn’t make much sense though.
Pierce: True, but nothing about this case seems to.
Pierce: If we reverse our thinking, maybe we’ll come to a solution.
Tammy: Yeah, but Annabelle got shot!
Tammy: There’s no way that she would give the gun to her killer!
Andy: Well, we don’t know what happened at the scene.
Andy: Perhaps the gun was wrestled away from her.
Jay: In a life or death situation like that?
Jay: I doubt it.
Sophie: But how else would you explain it?
May: We haven’t explained much really.
May: Besides, you called me out for jumping the gun earlier.
Duke: Well, here we are trying to discuss things, and yet you’re trying to stop something before it starts.
Duke: You also tried to throw the blame on someone else.
May: Are you suggesting that I’m the murderer?
Duke: The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.
Duke: Thanks Andy.
Andy: Um, no problem…
Monokuma: HOLD ON EVERYONE!
Monokuma: I guess it can’t be a trial without some form of debate.
Monokuma: So let’s get rolling!
Monokuma: A new addition to this old school’s courtroom: DEBATE ARENA!
Monokuma flipped over an ignition and put a key in. Suddenly, the places everyone was standing had guardrails pop up. Everyone was given two buttons to push; one for if you think the killer took the gun, and one for if you think Annabelle took the gun. Once all the buttons were pushed, everyone started to move. It ended up that everyone who said that he was on one side, and everyone who said he wasn’t was on the other. The portraits were divided among the two sides.
Side The Killer Took the Gun:
Maria’s Portrait
Roman’s Portrait
Buck’s Portrait
Elliot’s Portrait
Tammy
May
Jay
Cassy
Side Annabelle Took the Gun:
Troy’s Portrait
Rachel’s Portrait
Annabelle’s Portrait
Pierce
Sophie
Duke
Andy
Justin
May: There’s still too much about this case we don’t know.
Justin: DUKE!
Duke: We’re trying to figure out what we don’t know; starting with this discrepancy.
Tammy: Annabelle was the one who got shot. It makes no sense that she’d bring the gun initially!
Justin: ANDY!
Andy: We know there was a struggle at the scene. Perhaps the killer took the gun then.
Cassy: That doesn’t change the fact that it makes no sense for Annabelle to have a gun.
Justin: Pierce!
Pierce: Why would Annabelle have a knife then? Either weapon is a mystery at this point.
Jay: Everyone’s a little high strung at this point. Having a weapon on you might not be a bad idea.
Justin: SOPHIE!
Sophie: We know the weapon was taken today. They couldn’t have had either beforehand.
May: Why would the killer take the knife if they knew that Annabelle had the gun?
Justin: ANDY!
Andy: We know whoever took the gun made it look pristine. Perhaps the killer didn’t notice.
Jay: If the killer took the knife, why was Annabelle shot?
Justin: PIERCE!
Pierce: As was stated before, there was a struggle. Annabelle could have deflected the knife before she was shot.
Tammy: The killer had to use the recording of the gunshots to lure us!
Justin: DUKE!
Duke: Remember! Annabelle was recording, not the killer.
Cassy: Face it! It doesn’t make sense that Annbelle took the gun!
Justin: I GOT THIS!
Justin: The truth is Annabelle HAD to take the gun for anything to make sense!
FULL COUNTER
Pierce, Sophie, Duke, Andy, and Justin: THIS IS OUR ANSWER!
Justin: It makes sense that Annabelle took the gun.
Justin: Any questions?
Tammy: I have one.
Tammy: What does that tell us?
Justin: Hm?
Tammy: I mean, in the grand scheme of the case, what does it mean?
Pierce: That’s a good question from someone on the losing side.
Tammy: Quiet! Or I’ll clean your clock!
Pierce: Oooo. Scary.
Justin: To answer your question, it changes the dynamics of the crime scene.
Justin: If the killer came in with the gun, they would have just shot Annabelle.
Justin: But the fact that there was a struggle disproves that.
Cassy: But then wouldn’t the inverse be true?
Cassy: If someone were to come in, Annabelle would just shoot them.
Justin: Perhaps that did happen.
Justin: But she missed, and that would account for the missing bullet.
May: But we didn’t find the missing bullet.
May: Hence “missing”.
Andy: I’m sure if we find it, it’ll answer a few questions.
Duke: But we can’t go out and look for it now!
Sophie: Well, if it missed, maybe the killer took it.
Jay: But how would they hide it?
Cassy: !!
Cassy: Perhaps that’s the secret of the second purchase.
Cassy: To hide the bullet retrieval.
Pierce: That makes sense.
Justin: Alright, so let’s take what we know now, and string it together to figure out something.
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Andy: When the killer entered the recording booth, Annbelle shot and missed the killer.
Tammy: The killer then wrestled the gun from her and shot her.
Sophie: They then noticed the recording, and decided to alter it to give them an hour to clean up.
Jay: They then found the bullet and took it with them.
Duke: And then bought something to cover their tracks, as well as a grappling hook to confuse us.
May: But then they would have the bullet, and then we’re back to not knowing anything.
CCOA
May: But then they would have the bullet, and then we’re back to not knowing anything.
Truth Bullet: Small Metal Object.
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: Hm hm hm.
Justin: It’s all coming together now.
Cassy: What do you mean?
Justin: Remember this?
Cassy: That metal thing we found in the washing machine?
Cassy: What about it?
Justin: I believe that THIS is the “missing” fourth bullet.
!!!
Justin: Meaning that the killer then used the washing machine.
Duke: OK let me get this straight.
Duke: The killer had time to wash the blood off of them, set up the grappling hook, find and cover up the bullet, and not get seen.
Duke: I don’t even think at Jay’s speed that makes sense.
Jay: Normally, I’d say “don’t sell me short”, but for once I’m glad not to be the fastest thing alive.
Pierce: But the killer would have had the bullet on them, and by extension have used the washing machine.
Pierce: Otherwise that piece of metal makes no sense.
Cassy: Didn’t you say nothing about this case makes sense?
Pierce: True, but our job is to make things make sense, not complicate things further.
Sophie: But where does that leave us?
Justin: It leaves us with an interesting idea.
Justin: Why not reverse a few of our other assumptions?
Justin: We managed to identify a mysterious piece of evidence, AND prove that the killer used the washing machine just by theorizing that Annabelle had the gun to begin with.
Justin: So let’s see what else doesn’t make sense, and see if we can flip it.
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Pierce: Alright. What else doesn’t make sense about this case?
Jay: Well, the knife not being used is a bit confusing.
May: The recording is a little suspicious too.
May: Not to mention finding no trace of the fourth bullet up until now.
Tammy: I think the most suspicious thing is the grappling hook!
Duke: I agree.
Duke: It showed no signs of being used, even to crawl down.
Andy: Yeah, it seems weird that it would just hang through the open window and mean nothing.
Sophie: There’s…a lot that doesn’t make sense about this case, huh.
Cassy: You’re telling me.
CCOA:
Andy: Yeah, it seems weird that it would just hang through the open window and mean nothing.
Truth Bullet: Window
Justin: I agree!
Justin: It IS weird that the grappling hook would be there.
Justin: If the killer had used it, they may have wanted to take it with them afterward.
Justin: But that’s not the case.
Pierce: Do you have something else in mind?
Justin: Of course!
Justin: The fact that it’s there is meant to hide another question.
Justin: Namely “Why is the window open in the first place?”
Sophie: Huh?!
Justin: If the window was closed, we could have safely ruled out its use.
Justin: But the fact that it’s open tells us it was used somehow.
Duke: But they didn’t use the grappling hook.
Justin: Correct.
Justin: And if they didn’t, then they would have had to either climb up on their own, or go down on their own.
Tammy: But how?
Tammy: That doesn’t seem possible!
Pierce: We didn’t find anything else that could be helpful in either of those ventures either.
Justin: Exactly.
Justin: All of that combined not only undoes a lot of our confusion, but also tells us who the killer is for certain!
!!!
PICK SOMEONE
Question: Who killed Annabelle Winchell?
Answer: Jay Lafayette
Justin: It could only have been you!
Justin: I believe Jay is the one who killed Annabelle!
!!!
Jay: !!
Jay: interesting.
Jay: But how does the open window explain that?
Justin: Well, let’s go over it.
Justin: The wall to get up here doesn’t seem very climbable.
Jay: Right. Even I couldn’t run up a 90 degree wall.
Jay: Believe me, I tried.
Justin: So that leaves only one possibility.
Justin: You used the window to get out.
Jay: How so?
Justin: Easy.
Justin: You jumped.
Tammy: Wait wait wait!
Tammy: I don’t think you COULD jump from that height without damaging yourself.
Justin: Normally, you’d be correct,
Justin: But remember: Jay has a unique physiology to him.
Justin: We’ve seen it a few times before.
Justin: It wouldn’t be hard to assume that he could take a fall from three stories up like a champion.
Jay: You’re probably right.
Cassy: Does that mean you’re confessing?
Jay: Of course not!
Cassy: *sighs
Cassy: Why can’t you make this easy for us?
Jay: You think this is meant to be easy?
Jay: You’re forgetting that we’re fighting for our lives.
Jay: If I was the killer, I’d try to escape this by simply proving your assumption wrong to save my life.
Jay: And since I’m not the killer, I’m steering you back in the right direction to save my life.
Jay: As per the rules of the trial.
Monokuma: I’m glad someone’s paying attention.
Jay: Fuck you, you piece of shit!
Monokuma: *gulps
Jay: And that’s another thing.
Jay: You think this bear and his puppet master would just give in?
Jay: Of course not!
Jay: We have to give it our all to stop him!
Jay: So if our goal is to defeat The Ultimate Killer, then you need to put everything into proving who the killer is!
Jay: Which is not me, by the way.
Pierce: Spoken like an innocent person.
Jay: You really think I’m guilty?
Jay: Well then, prove it.
Justin: (This energy seems similar to Elliot, but different.)
Justin: (They’re both taunting, but I suspect that Jay actually wants to get caught.)
Justin: (But he’s going to make us work for it. So let’s meet his expectations!)
Justin: Very well.
Justin: Tell us why you’re not the killer.
Jay: Gladly.
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Jay: Alright, where to begin?
Cassy: Why not just confess?
Jay: Sorry, but no.
Jay: How about this?
Jay: I probably could survive a jump down to the ground from the third floor.
Jay: But how do you prove that the killer was outside in the first place?
Andy: What?!
Jay: You heard me.
Cassy: …
CCOA:
Jay: But how do you prove that the killer was outside in the first place?
Truth Bullet: Grappling Hook
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: The killer obviously placed the grappling hook there.
Jay: Is it obvious?
Justin: !!
Jay: Maybe that grappling hook is unrelated.
Jay: Maybe someone else was setting it up when the gunshots played over the speakers.
Justin: Are you saying you did that?
Jay: Maybe I did, and maybe I didn’t.
Jay: I go out there a lot to run, you know.
Cassy: That’s preposterous!
Pierce: Actually, that’s plausible.
Pierce: As much as I hate to admit it.
Jay: So, you still think the killer went in that direction?
Justin: Of course I do.
Justin: And when I prove it, you’ll be backed into a corner.
Jay: Oooo.
Jay: I’d like to see you try.
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Jay: As I said, the grappling hook could be coincidental in all of this.
Sophie: Why didn’t you mention that before?
Jay: I couldn’t be certain either way.
Jay: So just saying that would confuse people.
Duke: Hold on.
Duke: You’ve been doing a lot of confusing through this entire trial!
Jay: You say “confusing”, I say “considering all options.”
Jay: Besides, you still can’t prove the killer went outside at all.
Cassy: You…
Jay: Don’t be upset.
Jay: After all, I’m not the killer!
CCOA:
Jay: Besides, you still can’t prove the killer went outside at all.
Truth Bullet: Beaten Up Fourth Bullet
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: Remember this?
Cassy: !!
May: That’s the fourth bullet, right?
Tammy: Hold on.
Tammy: I bet Jay’s going to say “that can be ANYTHING!”
Jay: You know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Jay: But no.
Jay: We searched all around this school, and there’s no other place the bullet could be hiding.
Pierce: I can confirm that it is as well.
Pierce: As a Weapons Expert, it matches the other bullets.
Pierce: I just had a hard time identifying it because, well, you know…
Cassy: Pierce…
Justin: You remember where we found this?
Cassy: Of course.
Cassy: It was in…
Cassy: !!
Cassy: IT WAS IN THE WASHING MACHINE OUTSIDE!
Justin: Well, there you go.
Justin: The killer took the bullet with them outside, and it was left in the washing machine after the blood came off.
Justin: And since you could have gotten there no problem, that only leaves you!
Justin: Hm.
Justin: And just like you said Jay, you spend a lot of time outside.
Justin: AND you’d want to fight for your life!
Justin: If you noticed someone you would have said so right away.
Justin: So it MUST be you!
Jay: I’m one step ahead!
Justin: What?!
Jay: Heh heh heh.
Jay: You think that’s it then?
Jay: That that puts a big ribbon on everything?
Jay: FAT CHANCE!
Justin: What do you mean?
Jay: Let’s go over your logic.
Jay: I kill Annabelle, jump out the window, wash my clothes, and then get the grappling hook and whatever I used to retrieve the bullet from when Annabelle missed me.
Justin: !!
Jay: I see you’ve figured it out.
Jay: How could the bullet end up there if I got the necessary item to get it afterwards?
Justin: I know there’s a way.
Jay: Prove it then.
REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN
BEGIN!
Jay: Your logic is flawed on the outset.
Jay: I had the bullet when I went outside.
Jay: But I retrieved and covered up the bullet hole after I went outside.
Jay: That just contradicts your own theory!
Justin: Well, we’ve been wrong this trial so far.
Justin: So I just need to find out what’s wrong here.
Jay: I’ll tell you: Everything!
Jay: Face it: There’s no object the bullet could hit that wouldn’t leave a mark.
Jay: And to clean that up in less than an HOUR?!
Jay: On TOP of everything else?!
Jay: I think it’s back to the drawing board!
CCOA:
Jay: Face it: There’s no object the bullet could hit that wouldn’t leave a mark.
Truth Blade: Jay’s Physiology
Justin: I’ll cut through your lies!
Justin: I think you’re right.
Jay: Huh?!
Justin: There’s no object that wouldn’t leave a mark.
Jay: …?
Justin: But that does mean the object isn’t easy to clean up.
Justin: Or at least hide in some way.
Cassy: What do you mean?
Justin: The current working theory hinges on Jay’s super-human resilience.
Justin: I think we need to extrapolate that more.
Cassy: Are you suggesting that Annabelle actually HIT him?!
Pierce: And he’s still standing.
Justin: Precisely.
Justin You didn’t need to go anywhere to clean up the mark.
Justin: Because the mark was with you the entire time!
Duke: So, how did he cover it?
May: Probably some kind of skin cream.
Sophie: That’s what I was thinking too.
Jay: …
Jay: Hm.
Jay: I have to admit, that’s plausible.
Tammy: Give it up!
Tammy: We’re so close!
Tammy: We practically have you dead to rights!
Jay: Close only counts in horseshoes and handgrenades.
Monokuma: Two of my favorite murder weapons.
Duke: Really?
Tammy: But everything Justin said!
Jay: There’s still two more things that I need answers to.
Duke: Oh COME ON!
Sophie: Hold on.
Sophie: I think it’s only fair.
May: What?!
Sophie: Well…
Justin: It’s OK.
Justin: I get it.
Justin: Let’s tackle your questions one at a time.
Jay: With pleasure.
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Sophie: So what’s your first question?
Jay: I guess that’s a fair place to start.
Jay: Put simply: If I took the knife, how did I shoot her?
Sophie: That is a good question.
Jay: I know.
Sophie: If she was killed when she was shot, then it’s hard to say when you got the gun.
Andy: Why are you arguing for him?!
Sophie: It’s only fair!
Sophie: If we get this wrong, then everyone else would have died for nothing!
Andy: Oh…
Andy: Sorry.
CCOA:
Sophie: If she was killed when she was shot, then it’s hard to say when you got the gun.
Truth Bullet: Monokuma File #4
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: I have to say Sophie, your luck’s come in quite clutch.
Sophie: R-Really?
Justin: Of course.
Justin: You said “if she was killed when she was shot…”
Justin: But let’s look at the Monokuma File.
Justin: The file never specifies a cause of death.
Justin: We just assumed it was the gun from the jump.
Pierce: So you’re saying we jumped the gun?
Cassy: Pierce, shut up.
Justin: As you can note, there was a bruise on the sternum, and a wound on the back of her head.
Justin: The wound is a result of when she hit the table.
Justin: And working backwards from there, we can assume that she hit the table when she was hit in the sternum.
Andy: So, you’re saying that she was killed when she hit the table?
Justin: Yes.
May: But hit how?
Cassy: The wound didn’t look like it came from a human fist.
Justin: You mentioned that.
Justin: And for that, I have two answers, although both point back to Jay.
Jay: ??
Justin: Either Jay used his fist, and because of his strength it left a bigger impact.
Justin: Or Jay just used the blunt end of the knife to strike.
Cassy: I see.
Jay: Well done.
Jay: Well done indeed.
Jay: But there’s still one big question that needs answering.
Cassy: Well tell us.
Pierce: We’re all ears.
Jay: No.
!!!
Jay: I want to do this mano e mano!
Jay: Me versus Justin.
Jay: No one interfering!
Cassy: (sighs)
Pierce: You think you got this?
Justin: Who do you think I am?
Justin: Alright, let’s do this!
Justin: Mano e mano!
PERSONA PUMMELING
Jay Lafayette-Persona Forming:
Jay gets demon horns wearing big athletic shoes, leaving behind a trail of smoke, fire, and lightning.
Justin Arbil-Persona Forming:
Justin’s armband forms into a trench coat that is white on the left side and black on the right side, combs his messy hair back in one motion, reaches into his trench coat and pulls out two guns, his left hand holding a black one, his right hand holding a white one.
Jay starts trying to psyche Justin out about how he can’t win on his own, and that he won’t have a chance at defeating Monobear and The Ultimate Killer if he can’t even beat him. His words begin to attack, but Justin shoots them back, and they return to slow Jay down. First, the fire goes away. Then the smoke, then the lightning, then the horns.
Jay: If the killer only used the washing machine, why are my clothes dry?
Bits of Truth Bullet: Like Wind The Ran
Correct Formation: Ran like the wind!
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Jay’s shoes are destroyed, and he’s left sitting still.
Justin: Now, do you have any more questions?
Justin: Or are we through?
…
Jay: …
Jay: Hm hm hm.
Jay: Well done.
Jay: I do have a question though.
Justin: ??
Jay: Wanna put it all together for us?
Justin: Certainly.
CLOSING ARGUMENT
BEGIN!
Act 1: For reasons unknown, Annabelle grabbed a gun from the weapons room before heading to the recording booth. By coincidence, the killer went in there as well, grabbed a knife, and also went that way.
Act 2: Upon arrival, Annbelle shot the killer, but because the killer is so resilient, it didn’t do much damage to them. Afterwhich, there was a bit of a struggle, wherein the killer used either their fist or the butt of the knife to strike Annabelle, which bumped her into the table, killing her.
Act 3: The killer realized that Annabelle had been recording. So the killer shot her three times, and then cleared the remaining audio before hooking it up to the speaker system to draw the rest of us in an hour.
Act 4: The killer, now having blood on them, knew they’d get noticed. They decided to take a bit of a risk and jump out of the window and outside the building.
Act 5: The killer washed their clothes, but the bullet that hit them was lost in the machine. The killer didn’t notice this, and decided to dry their clothes by running.
Act 6: The killer then went to Monokuma’s shop to buy a grappling hook and some skin cream to cover their trail. They applied the cream first, since that was more of a dead giveaway.
Act 7: They then went to set up the grappling hook, but by that time, the bullets came through on the speakers, so they couldn’t lollygag, as that would seem suspicious on its own.
Act 8: They met with the rest of us, as we found Annabelle’s body, pretended to be shocked, and guarded the body while we investigated.
Justin: Is that proof enough for you? Jay Lafayette, the Ultimate Track Member!
Jay: Hm hm hm hm.
Jay: It is.
Jay: And now that that’s all said and done, let’s get this over with.
Monokuma: Well, it looks like it’s time for a vote.
Monokuma: Remember, if you guess right, only the killer is punished.
Monokuma: But if you guess wrong, then then everyone besides the killer is punished.
Monokuma: So, who do you think did it?
VOTE
Question: Who killed Annabelle Winchell?
Answer: Jay Lafayette
Monokuma: Alright, let’s check the results.
Results: 9 votes for Jay Lafayette.
Monokuma: The votes are in! Let’s see if you got it right.
A giant slot machine came rolling down and began spinning. Each slot had an image of one of us on it. Finally, it landed on three pictures of Jay. It declared us the winner and spat out Monocoins and flowers.
TRAIL COMPLETE!
“You know, three in a row is impressive, “Monokuma said, “but if you’re going to win EVERY time, it gets a little boring. So spice it up.”
“It’s either we keep winning, or everyone but one of us dies!” Andy pointed out.
“I know what I said,” Monokuma replied.
“So, what happened?” Duke asked. “Why DID you kill Annabelle?”
“Oh yeah,” Pierce remembered. “That didn’t quite come up.”
“Was it the motive?” Sophie asked.
“Do you really think Annabelle and Jay would have the same person?!” Tammy chastised.
“Actually, we do,” Jay said. He showed his monopod with a picture of me on it. I was slightly embarrassed.
Tammy was surprised. “Oh…”
“But that’s not the reason,” Jay said.
“Well then, what is it?!” May demanded.
Jay sighed. “I guess it’s only fair. I had noticed Annabelle going into the weapons room. I went in there and grabbed a knife to give chase.”
“Why not go without one?” Cassy wondered.
“I didn’t want to be completely defenseless,” Jay replied. “And like you said, when I entered, she was recording, and then shot me.” He wiped some cream off his arm to show the bullet wound. “But because of who I am, I didn’t get hurt too much.”
“What happened then?” I asked.
“Well…” Jay continued.
In the recording room before the murder. “Wha- WHAT?!” Annabelle said.
“Ugh,” Jay said. “That stung.”
“What are you doing here?!” Annabelle demanded.
“I noticed you grabbing a weapon,” Jay answered. “I wanted to stop something before it started.”
Annabelle frowned. “Don’t worry. I’m not killing anyone else. Just myself.”
“WHAT?!” Andy said.
“Yeah, I was just as shocked,” present Jay said.
“What do you mean?” Jay asked Annabelle.
“I just can't hack it!” Annabelle said.
“I know this situation is dire, but…” Jay replied.
Annabelle sighed. “It's not just that. It’s this motive.” She showed Jay her Monopad. “Truth is, I like Justin. But I know he’s out of my reach. He’s interested in someone else. And that compounded on everything else, I just…”
Jay’s face grew stern. “Let me show you something.” Jay took out his Monopad and also revealed that he would invite Justin. “I like Justin too.” Annabelle was a little surprised. Jay sighed. “The truth is, I’m gay.”
“Why didn’t you say so before?” Annabelle asked.
“It’s a bit of a sore spot for me,” Jay said. “I was bullied relentlessly in school for it.”
“Was it that bad?” Annabelle said.
“How do you think I got a body that can stop bullets?” Responded. Annabelle was shook. “I was beaten until I could stand. But I was determined to stand again. So I did. And I kept standing until I could no longer be knocked down. Was it easy? No. But I knew that I’d be able to escape someday. And THAT kept me going. We’ll escape this too. Not just this school-like torture chamber, but also the heartbreak of losing Justin. We just have to pick ourselves up and try again.”
Annabelle smiled. “Thanks.”
Jay smiled back. “Glad I could help.”
“You know,” Annabelle said, “I was recording a suicide note when you came in here. It would have been a murder-sucide note had it not been for your monster strength.”
Jay went pale. “...’Monster’?”
“Uh, Jay?” Annabelle said.
Jay’s memories flowed in like a floodgate. All the kids calling him a “monster” for being gay and fighting back against their abuse. He spiraled into a blind rage“I AM NOT A MONSTER! I AM A HUMAN!”
Back in the present, Jay hung his head in shame. “The next thing I knew, Annabelle was dead. I had to act fast.”
“Why did you want to get away with it?” Sophie asked.
“I don’t think he did,” I said. “He kept talking in the trial about how we need to give it our all to beat The Ultimate Killer. I think he just wanted to prepare us.”
“Heh heh, you got me,” Jay said. “You all are up against a dangerous foe. There’s no room for weakness. So I needed to see if your weakness was stronger than mine. And by Jove, you did it!”
“I see…” Cassy said.
“So, what now?” Pierce said.
“Well, you guys have to continue the fight,” Jay said. “As for me, well, you know what’s about to happen. Fourth verse, same as the first. But a little bit louder, and a whole lot worse.”
“Indeed!” Monokuma said. “I can’t wait!”
“Wait!” I said. “Um, well, uh, do you want a kiss Jay? Like Rachel did for Sophie?”
Jay was stunned. He then smirked and said. “Nah. I appreciate the gesture, but I know it’s not sincere. Thanks anyway. Now, where were we?”
“Right!” Monokuma said. “For you, Jay Lafayette, the Ultimate Tack Member, IT’S PUNISHMENT TIME!”Monokuma took out his gavel and hit a buzzer that appeared in front of him.
A screen came up and it read “Game Over. Jay Lafayette has been found Guilty. Time for the PUNISHMENT!” A pixel Monokuma came after a pixel Jay. Jay stood still, and got carried off. Jay was standing on a treadmill suspended above a pit of spikes. Monokuma came down on a bungeecord and started the treadmill.
A title card popped up. It read “Jay Lafayette’s Execution: The Pit and The Peloton. Jay started running on the treadmill, while Monokuma bungeed away.
Monokuma reappeared in his chair to watch. Jay kept going. Monokuma took out a remote and upped the speed. Jay kept going. Monokuma pushed another button, and hurdles started appearing on the treadmill. Jay kept jumping them and keeping up the pace. He was exhausted, but he kept going.
After a bit, Monokuma pressed another button. Instead of a hurdle, a brick wall appeared, knocking Jay back into the wall, leaving a huge impact. Cassy took a picture. The treadmill raced to crush Jay in some more, but before it reached Jay, he picked himself up and dodged the treadmill and landed on it.
Monokuma was stunned. “HEY!” Monokuma said. “You should have been crushed by that treadmill! Quit ruining my execution!”
“Heh,” Jay laughed, coughing up blood. “I don’t know what was in that wall, but crashing into it cleared my head a little. I have to say, you’re good. This thing could kill me.”
“Of course!” Monokuma responded, indignantly. “That’s the whole point.
“But right now,” Jay said, “I’m not in a mood to just let that happen. I bet you have more treadmills to crush me with, so let’s make this interesting.” He pointed to the spikes. “If I can make it to the spikes before you hit me again, then I win. If you crush me, you win.”
Monokuma huffed. “As if I’d LET YOU!” He started pressing buttons.
“I’m not the Ultimate Track Member for nothing,” Jay said, as he prepared to sprint down the wall headfirst into spikes.
The Title Card appeared again, but a little sign that said “Part Two” on it appeared alongside it. Jay started running, while Monokuma threw treadmill after treadmill after him. Monokuma kept missing though. Sure enough, Jay was able to reach the spikes and impale himself before Monokuma could finish the job. Despite Jay dying before our eyes, in the end he won his little challenge. Monokuma threw the remote in a fit.
It took us a bit to take in what just happened. I took the reins and said “Well, if that was weakness, then let’s show Monokuma our strength. We know what we’re doing, right?”
“Right…” Everyone murmured. I could hardly blame them. They were still in shock over everything. Despite Jay going on about strength, I think we all needed some time to recuperate after today’s trial.
“Let’s…go to our rooms,” Cassy instructed. We all nodded. We headed over to the elevator one less than when we came here, and rode up in silence before heading to our rooms.
Later that night, Monokuma was pacing in his secret command room. “That Jay! Couldn’t just die like the others! And now it seems everyone is STRONGER!”
“Fret not,” the Ultimate Killer’s voice came in. “I just found the thread to tear them apart.”
“Really?” Monokuma asked.
“Of course,” the Ultimate Killer said. “You thought you could fool me, but I know your secret now, Pierce Legna!”
Chapter 4: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me: END
Student Remaining: 8
#danganronpa fanfiction#danganronpa fanfic#danganronpa#danganronpa away#justin#Cassy#pierce#andy#tammy#May#sophie#duke#jay#maria#roman#Troy#Rachel#Buck#elliot#annabelle#monokuma#monobird
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Herr Wade - Weihnachten... Willkommen zurück! (2022)
Herr Wade – Weihnachten... Willkommen zurück! (2022)
Platiruma!!!Buy: Bandcamp (CD/Digital) | Apple Music | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3
Jørn Åleskjær (The Loch Ness Mouse, Monobird, Sapphire & Steel) and Sebastian Voss (Nah…, The Fisherman and his Soul, Cinema Engines) have teamed up for some cross-cultural, Google-translatable Christmas tunes. I speak ein bisschen Deutsch, and no Norweigain, but I do speak indiepop and this is some lovely…
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#2022#Germany#Herr Wade#indiepop#Jørn Åleskjær#Norway#Platiruma#Sebastian Voss#The Fisherman and his Soul
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“Hoo... It’s a nice to see you again Lady Rei.” Where did that come from? It sounded awfully familiar. Mikado was out along with any females as it was more- “Sad thing was you never got to participate in the game...” Okay that’s Monocrow, but where is his voice coming from. “...I’m above your head.” Turns out there’s a next on Rei’s head now. If that doesn’t wake you up quicker than coffee than I don’t know what will.
"You have five seconds to get off my head"
#SDRA2#Super danganronpa Another 2#Rei Mekaru#Interaction:Monocrow..?#Character Blog#Character Askblog#(Oh hey it's Monobird)
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Welcome!
Hello, and welcome to the Monobird tumblr! Sadly, the monobird URL was already taken, so we'll have to use this one for now. if you are not familiar with us, we are a brother and a "brother" who make music together. I, the poster, go under the name Mawile, while my brother goes as Girdle. This blog is still under construction, but there's going to be lots here soon.
My main tumblr is here if you would like to talk to me or anything. I serve as the graphic designer, artist, and author. I occasionally will make music, but I'm not the one who's good at it here. I will also be making most of the posts for this blog.
Girdle is the main musical artist, and he sometimes designs backgrounds and pixels and such. Needless to say, he does much more work than me.
Destructo66 also works with us and makes a few songs and helps with lots of the programming for websites and such.
Well, this is pretty much all I have to say! We hope you enjoy the blog!
~Mawile
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Danganronpa: Away
Chapter 4: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Part 7a)
For the fourth time, we were all gathered in Monokuma’s little circus of Hell. We were both confused and on edge. As common as these incidents were becoming, it’s not easier. “Well, fourth verse, same as the first!” Monokuma said. “Now then, let’s go over the rules for the Class Trial. Students will take turns discussing who they think is the killer. This will continue until an agreement has been reached. Afterwards, a vote will take place to determine who the blackened is. If you guess right, then only the blackened will be punished. However, if you guess wrong… then everyone BESIDES the blackened will be punished. Now let the Class Trial BEGIN!”
Cassy: Let’s just get this over with as soon as possible.
Pierce: Agreed.
Pierce: Does the killer want to come out and confess everything?
…
Pierce: Sounds like a “no.”
Andy: Well, what do we know about the case?
May: I guess that’s as good a place to start as any.
Jay: Of course.
Monobird: So then, let’s take things from the top.
NON-STOP DEBATE!
BEGIN!
Duke: From what we can gather so far,
Duke: it appears that Annabelle was shot and hit her head up in the broadcasting studio.
Cassy: Plus she had a bruise on her sternum.
Cassy: And a big one at that.
Tammy: Well yeah. We all heard her get shot, right?
Tammy: That’s when we came up.
Tammy: And the killer blended themselves in with the rest of us.
Jay: Sounds reasonable.
CCOA:
Tammy: Well yeah. We all heard her get shot, right?
Truth Bullet: Recording.
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: You probably don’t know this, since you left,
Justin: But we found a recording that was an hour of silence and then the sounds of the gunshots.
Justin: And that’s what we heard.
Tammy: Really?
Jay: Of course, you could be the killer, and just be feigning ignorance on this front.
Tammy: Shut it, Jay!
Sophie: So, if we didn’t hear her getting shot, what were those noises then?
Cassy: I have a guess, but I’m not entirely sure.
Pierce: Well then, let’s hear it.
NON-STOP DEBATE!
BEGIN!
Cassy: So, this is just a guess,
Cassy: But I do imagine that the murder was recorded.
Cassy: And the gunshots on the recording are what’s left after the killer edited everything else out.
Pierce: Well, that makes sense, I guess.
Andy: Yeah. She was shot three times, and we heard three gunshots.
Sophie: Looks like that adds up.
CCOA:
Andy: Yeah. She was shot three times, and we heard three gunshots.
Truth Bullet: Gun
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: It’s true that we heard three shots,
Justin: And that Annabelle was shot three times,
Justin: But the gun is missing four bullets.
Justin: So where did the other one go?
Justin: And why did we only hear three?
Andy: Huh!
Andy: That’s a good question.
Cassy: True.
Cassy: And it’s one that I think needs discussing.
NON-STOP DEBATE!
BEGIN!
Andy: So, what happened to the fourth bullet?
Sophie: Perhaps it was used earlier?
Duke: How?
Sophie: Well, we’re discussing that now.
May: Did the gun even have a fourth bullet?
May: Maybe it was brought to the crime scene not fully loaded to begin with.
Pierce: If that’s the case, that puts us in a real pickle.
May: I don’t think so.
May: if anything, it clears up an oddity.
CCOA:
May: Maybe it was brought to the crime scene not fully loaded to begin with.
Truth Bullet: Tammy’s Report
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: According to Tammy, when she and Monobird searched the weapons room,
Justin: she found the guns to be fairly organized.
Tammy: That’s right!
May: Ummmm.
May: What does that mean?
Justin: It means whoever took it was thorough.
Justin: I doubt they’d leave without noticing a missing bullet.
May: Oh.
Tammy: Not only that, but there was a knife missing too!
Duke: I do find that to be a bit odd.
Jay: Well, there was a knife at the crime scene.
Andy: But why a knife and a gun?
Pierce: I don’t know.
Pierce: You’d think one would be sufficient.
Cassy: *sighs
Cassy: I suppose we should discuss that now then.
NON-STOP DEBATE!
BEGIN!
Duke: Why were there two weapons at the crime scene?
May: You’d only need one to kill, presumably.
Tammy: Maybe it’s to add to the confusion.
Andy: I imagine Annabelle’s body would be stabbed if that was the case.
Cassy: Maybe they were brought in separately.
Sophie: Oh, that makes sense!
Andy: But who would do that?
Pierce: It’s not like the other person would just admit to it.
CCOA:
Cassy: Maybe they were brought in separately.
Truth Bullet: Knife
Justin: I agree!
Justin: Based on where we found it, I think it had to have been brought in by another party.
Tammy: But who could that be?
Justin: Maybe Annabelle herself?
May: Yeah, we were thinking that.
Pierce: But that also means that Annbelle went into the weapons room.
Jay: And why is that an issue?
Pierce: Simple.
Pierce: I think Annabelle would have noticed the missing gun.
Pierce: So why bring a knife to a gunfight?
Jay: Hmmmmm.
Cassy: She could have missed it.
Pierce: It is possible.
Pierce: But Annbelle is a journalist.
Pierce: I think she’s the kind of person who would notice something like that.
Andy: Well, we can’t ask her now.
Andy: So either way, the point is moot.
Tammy: Well hold on.
Tammy: What if she got the knife before the killer got the gun?
May: I guess that would make sense.
Cassy: Well, we’ll consider that a “maybe.”
Cassy: Regardless, we can’t spend time thinking about that now.
Cassy: It’s conjecture at best.
Cassy: And we have a lot of other things to look at.
Justin: She’s right.
Justin: But that is curious.
May: So now what?
Jay: Well…
Jay: Should we talk about the motive?
Duke: Perhaps.
Duke: It might narrow the suspect pool.
Pierce: Well then, let’s get into it.
NON-STOP DEBATE!
BEGIN!
Pierce: So, this weird dance thing.
Pierce: After a while, that bastard would send out invites on our behalf.
Duke: But we don’t know when that was.
May: It seems a little silly that someone would kill over that.
Tammy: Well, we are all wound up tighter than a toy soldier.
Sophie: But it is peculiar that someone would kill Annabelle for having Justin as her invite.
Cassy: That is interesting.
Pierce: Because if someone wanted to eliminate competition, you’d be the obvious target?
Cassy: Shut up, Pierce.
Pierce: Heh heh.
CCOA:
Sophie: But it is peculiar that someone would kill Annabelle for having Justin as her invite.
Truth Bullet: Annabelle’s Monopad.
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: Hold on.
Sophie: Eh?
Justin: While it is true that Annabelle had me,
Justin: There's no way for anyone to know that.
Justin: So maybe the motive doesn’t have anything.
Justin: At least on that front.
Tammy: What do you mean?
Justin: The other aspect of the motive is the fact we don’t know what day it is.
Justin: I can imagine someone wanting to kill over that more than this silly dance.
Sophie: Um, wouldn’t we know once the time is up though?
Jay: I dunno.
Jay: “If we waited” seems like a weak defense of things.
Jay: The fact of the matter is someone didn’t.
Jay: So this motive has to be stronger than we imagine.
Andy: But like Sophie said, if you were interested in Justin, why make Annabelle your target?
May: Well…
May: I can think of one reason.
May: And everything makes sense if it’s true.
Pierce: Oh? Do tell.
Cassy: I’d be interested in hearing this as well.
May: Would you now?
May: Miss Murderer?
Cassy: Excuse me?!
Pierce: Oh this is getting good.
Justin: Are you saying that Cassy killed Annabelle?
May: Well, it’s the only thing that makes sense.
Cassy: How could it make any possible sense?
May: You wanna go?
May: Bring it!
FALSE CLOSER
Act 1: When we got the motive Cassy obviously got you. However, in her paranoia, she worried she wasn’t the only one.
Act 2: She began investigating, and sure enough, she found out that Annabelle also had you. Scared, she panicked.
Act 3: Cassy figured if she couldn’t have you, no one could, and so she began planning her devious plan.
Act 4: She grabbed a gun and a knife from the weapons room, took out a bullet from the gun, and went up to the recording studio.
Act 5: It was there where she found Annabelle, turned on the recording software, and killed her. She planted the knife and the gun to confuse us.
Act 6: She then edited the recording to bring us all up in an hour, and then went out to plant fake evidence elsewhere to further confuse us.
May: It’s a devious plan, but I saw through it. Isn’t that right, Ultimate Detective: Cassy Williams?
Cassy: I don’t know where you get off-
May: Can you refute it?!
Justin: I can!
Pierce: Of course you would.
Andy: Maybe now’s not the best time for that Pierce.
CCOA:
Act 2: she found out that Annabelle also had you. Scared, she panicked.
Truth Panel: Pierce’s Monopad.
Question: Would it be just Cassy and Annabelle?
Justin: You can’t rewrite the truth!
Justin: According to Pierce’s Monopad, he was also set to invite me.
Pierce: Oh yeah.
Pierce: If this was a case of jealousy on Cassy’s part, she’d more likely go after me.
Tammy: Maybe she didn’t know?
Sophie: It seems odd that the Ultimate Detective wouldn’t know.
Sophie: I mean, we were talking about Annabelle’s sense of observation.
May: Hmmmm.
May: Well, only one would have to do.
May: If she was willing to end it all.
Cassy: Clearly, you don’t know me that well.
May: Under normal circumstances, I’d imagine no one would do this.
May: But this is far beyond normal.
Justin: Well hold on, cause there’s another course of contradiction coming up.
CCOA:
Act 6: went out to plant fake evidence elsewhere to further confuse us.
Truth Panel: Monokuma’s Receipt.
Question: Would Cassy only buy two things?
Justin: You can’t rewrite the truth!
Justin: We had a little chat with Monokuma earlier.
Justin: He told us that the killer only bought two things.
May: …
May: I’m sorry, why does that contradict what I said.
Justin: If Cassy wanted to plant fake evidence everywhere, why only stop at two things?
Duke: Now that you mention it, things do seem a bit sparse in the evidence department.
Pierce: Furthermore, Cassy is used to the lap of luxury.
Pierce: Only using two things would seem light for her.
Andy: Again, I don’t think this is the right place.
Cassy: Well…Pierce has a point…
Pierce: See?
Andy: Still.
Justin: I just don’t see this being Cassy.
Justin: I know a lot of things don’t line up, but I think it’s too early to jump to conclusions.
May: OF COURSE YOU’D SAY THAT!
Justin: Come again?
May: Look, even if we don’t want to discuss romance,
May: You can’t deny you and Cassy are fairly close.
May: I know you’re trying to defend her, but you need to let go!
Justin: I think you’re the one who needs to let go.
May: OK, so we’re doing this!
REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN
BEGIN!
May: So what if she only got two things?
May: That’s two more things than was at the crime scene initially.
May: This is the only way things add up.
May: I’m sorry, but you have to know this too.
ADVANCE
Justin: I don’t “know” anything.
Justin: It just seems unlikely to arrive at a conclusion now.
May: Face it, this is the only way this makes sense!
May: She took the weapons!
May: She altered the recording!
May: She killed May!
CCOA:
May: She altered the recording!
Truth Blade: Recording Software
Justin: I’ll cut through your lies!
Justin: While it may be true that the killer altered the recording,
Justin: the recording software itself was on the other side of the room of the body.
May: So?
Duke: Hold on!
Duke: I think I get it.
Duke: Annabelle didn’t turn it on because she’d be under duress.
May: Yeah, but maybe Cassy turned on the recording and shot Annabelle from there.
Andy: The position of the body would be weird though.
Andy: Especially if Annabelle was already in there to begin with.
Tammy: Not only that, but between you and me, I think Cassy got the least out of your lesson on how to work that.
Cassy: Hey! I understand it just fine!
Justin: My point is that while Cassy may very well be it, I think it’s too early to jump to conclusions.
Justin: There’s still too many unknowns.
Pierce: Yeah, and unless you like dying, I think we should see if we can’t find any other answers.
Cassy: If we really can’t, then suspect me all you want.
Cassy: But until then, let’s work on figuring this puzzle out.
May: …
May: …Fine!
May: But I’ll be keeping an eye on you.
Jay: I really thought we had something there.
Jay: Guess not.
Sophie: Well, we kind of do.
Sophie: I mean, the recording itself is strange, don’t you think?
Pierce: How so?
Sophie: Think about it.
Sophie: Why record at all?
Sophie: You’re in a soundproof room. Why leave evidence of your crime?
Duke: I see.
Jay: That is something worth figuring out.
Jay: Everyone ready?
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Jay: If you’re in a soundproof room, why record at all?
May: Well, typically, it’s good for recording normally.
Tammy: But here, it recorded a crime.
Jay: Furthermore, why give yourself only an hour to do your cleanup?
Jay: If I were the killer, I’d have given myself more time.
Pierce: That is a fair point.
Duke: Well, whoever they are, they only needed one hour.
Duke: So maybe they timed it right.
CCOA:
Jay: Furthermore, why give yourself only an hour to do your cleanup?
Truth Bullet: Recording.
Justin: I agree!
Justin: Heh heh heh.
Tammy: What are you laughing about?
Justin: I think I’ve solved one of the problems.
Pierce: Oh?
Cassy: Do tell.
Justin: Why was there an hour long silence before the gun going off?
Andy: Is it not to give the killer time to clean up?
Justin: That’s what we thought.
Justin: But as Jay pointed out, why only give yourself one hour?
Justin: And there’s also another issue here.
May: Oh?
May: What is it?
Justin: Why had it been recording for an hour?
Justin: I think this person answers that question.
Duke: Well, spit it out!
PICK SOMEONE:
Question: Who could help solve the recording conundrum?
Answer: Annbelle Winchell
Justin: It could only have been you!
Duke: Annabelle?
Justin: Yes.
Justin: I believe that Annabelle started the recording herself.
Justin: That’s why it went on for an hour.
Cassy: I get it.
Cassy: It would be difficult to get that recording in a short amount of time.
Cassy: But if Annabelle had been recording for an hour, all the killer had to do was mute the sound.
Justin: Precisely.
Justin: Not only that, this also explains why there was no signs of struggle at the microphone itself.
Pierce: Alright.
Pierce: But do you know why Annabelle was recording for an hour?
Tammy: Maybe it had something to do with her class.
Pierce: Perhaps.
Andy: Well, regardless, we can’t figure that out now.
Andy: I think if we keep thinking about the case, things will come to light.
Jay: I think that’s a smart idea.
Jay: It’s not like we can ask the dead what they think.
Sophie: And it’s not like the killer will just say what transpired.
Jay: Right.
Duke: So, where does that leave us?
Justin: Well, maybe we should focus on what the killer did afterward.
Justin: After all, they only had an hour to do what they could to muddy the water.
Justin: Perhaps we’ll find some clear water in there.
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Andy: So, after the killer killed Annabelle, they left the gun and the knife behind.
May: They went to the computer to mute the recording, and set themselves up to play the sound over the PA system to draw us all in.
Jay: And then they seemingly escaped through the window.
Duke: And then what?
Cassy: Well, I know that they visited Monokuma’s shop at some point.
Pierce: But that could have been before the murder.
Cassy: True…
Cassy: But they did also go to the laundry room.
CCOA:
Jay: And then they seemingly escaped through the window.
Truth Bullet: Upper Wall
Justin: You’ve got that wrong!
Justin: You’re referring to the grappling hook, right?
Jay: Yeah?
Justin: I’m not sure you know this,
Justin: But there doesn’t appear to be signs that the grappling hook actually grappled the wall.
Jay: Huh.
Jay: Maybe they used it to get in then?
Justin: Even then, it still would have left an imprint of some kind.
Jay: Hmmmm.
Jay: So what does that mean?
Cassy: Perhaps that the grappling hook was a red herring.
Duke: But why go through the trouble?
May: To further confuse us.
Duke: But that seems like such an easy thing to fake.
Duke: Just tug on it slightly.
Duke: It makes no sense to add it if you’re going to follow through.
Justin: !!
Justin: Unless…
Duke: Unless what?
Justin: Unless that was the last thing the killer did.
Justin: If that grappling hook was placed when the gunshots rang out over the announcements system,
Justin: then the killer would have had no time to make it look like it was used.
Duke: Oh.
Duke: Interesting!
Cassy: So the killer went to Monokuma’s store after killing Annabelle?
Justin: That’s my hypothesis.
Tammy: Hold on.
Tammy: How was the window open then?
Tammy: That had to have been done beforehand.
Justin: It probably was.
Sophie: So did the killer know that the store had a grappling hook?
Pierce: I don’t think we can answer that concisely.
Pierce: Whether or not they did, proving it would be herculean.
Sophie: I guess that’s true.
Andy: Hold on. Something doesn’t make sense.
Tammy: What is it?
Andy: If the killer planned to murder Annabelle,
Andy: Why did they wait until after she was dead to buy the grappling hook?
Andy: That just doesn’t add up.
Pierce: Huh. Nice catch.
Andy: Thanks.
Justin: Well, I’m sure we’ll figure it out if we keep talking it through.
Andy: Then let’s do it!
Justin: Huh?
Andy: Let’s talk!
Andy: Do you have the answer, answer guy?
Justin: What’s gotten into you?
Andy: Don’t worry about that now!
Andy: Just answer my question!
Justin: OoooooooooK…
REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN
BEGIN!
Andy: The grappling hook was the last thing used
Andy: That’s your idea, right?
Andy: But then if the killer had planned all of this,
Andy: why not set it up beforehand?!
Andy: Why wait until the last possible second?!
Justin: Calm down Andy.
Justin: I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.
Andy: Well, what is it?
Andy: I’m waiting!
Andy: How do you not take this into account when you’re planning a murder?
Andy: It just seems so weird to me!
CCOA:
Andy: How do you not take this into account when you’re planning a murder?
Truth Blade: The Recording
Justin: I’ll cut through your lies!
Justin: While at first glance, it seems like this was planned,
Justin: We already found proof that it wasn’t.
Andy: We do?
Justin: The recording.
Justin: It was Annabelle who set up the recording, not the killer.
Pierce: But what does that prove?
Justin: I think it proves that this murder wasn’t as premeditated as it seems.
Justin: I think the killer had to react, instead of act.
Andy: Oh.
Andy: Interesting.
Tammy: Why’d you go off the handle like that?
Andy: Oh, uh, well, Pierce did it last time, and it yielded a good result.
Andy: I’d thought I’d give it a try.
Tammy: Really?!
Sophie: Well, it worked.
Sophie: I think we’re piecing together some of the inconsistencies better.
May: But then where does that leave us?
Jay: No idea.
Cassy: The only way out is through.
Cassy: So let’s keep going.
NON-STOP DEBATE
BEGIN!
Cassy: Let’s review what we know so far.
Andy: Well, the killer came in, killed Annabelle,
Andy: Then noticed that she was recording something.
Tammy: From there, the killer edited the recording to draw us all to the scene.
Duke: From there, the killer opened the window, and went down to get a grappling hook.
May: That wouldn’t take an hour though.
Jay: So what would?
Cassy: That’s the million dollar question now, isn’t it?
CCOA:
May: That wouldn’t take an hour though.
Truth Bullet: Washing Machine
Justin: I agree!
Justin: Maybe getting a grappling hook and setting it up might not take an hour,
Justin: But I think some laundry would.
May: Huh?
Sophie: What would need washing off though?
Duke: If I had to guess, blood.
Justin: I agree.
Cassy: So, the killer went to clean their clothes.
Jay: Seems like it.
Pierce: But why not go to the shop beforehand?
Sophie: I’m assuming they didn’t want to be seen.
Sophie: Sticking around in the hall would be pretty obvious.
May: I guess that’s also true.
Andy: But going through the halls is dangerous itself.
Jay: Maybe, but that’s the only washing machine we have access to.
Jay: So it has to be worth it in some way.
Jay: Assuming the killer used it.
Justin: Huh?
Jay: I mean, let’s face it, there’s no hard proof that the washing machine was used by the killer.
Jay: It could have been anyone.
Jay: I know I go out there a lot.
Jay: And I’ve seen plenty of people coming through.
Jay: It could have been anyone.
Justin: Hmmmmmmm.
Andy: But what else could it be?
Tammy: Yeah, given what we know, it seems like the only viable option.
Jay: You may be right, but there’s no proof.
Justin: He’s right.
Cassy: Pardon?
Justin: No matter where we go in explaining this, we’re always coming up short.
Pierce: So does that make this impossible?
Justin: No.
Justin: What this is telling me is that there’s something about the basics of the case that we are just getting wrong.
Sophie: What would that be?
Justin: Again, we don’t know until we explore.
May: So, we just have to review the facts on a more granular level?
Duke: I don’t mind that, if it means we can make it out of this.
Justin: Let’s keep going on what we know.
#danganronpa#danganronpa fanfic#danganronpa fanfiction#Danganronpa away#justin#Cassy#pierce#May#andy#sophie#tammy#duke#jay#roman#maria#Troy#Rachel#Buck#elliot#annabelle#monokuma#monobird
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Danganronpa: Away Chapter 4: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Part 6)
Annabelle’s body stared back at us. We were all in disbelief. Another murder had just occurred. And as much as I’d like to say this would be the lowlight of our day, we knew what would come next, and it was the furthest thing from pleasant.
Sure enough, Monokuma himself appeared. “Ah, I see you’re all here. How convenient. It means I won’t have to mess with the crime scene.”
“So, does that mean you don’t need to do your whole spiel?” May asked.
“Well, I don’t NEED to,” Monokuma said, “but it IS fun. So, ahem. Attention Students! A body has been found! After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will begin. And seeing as you’re already in the broadcasting studio, I don’t need to tell you to come here.”
“Thanks,” Duke said sarcastically.
“You’re welcome! Monokuma said.
“Can we just get the information?” Pierce asked. “The sooner we do, the sooner you go away.”
‘You don’t have to be rude,” Monokuma said. “I will upload the information, but only because it’s part of the game.”
“I didn’t know you were petty too,” Jay said.
“Upupupupu!” Monokuma laughed. “I’m just a reflection of you. You pretend to be righteous, but in reality, you’re nothing but power-hungry, murderous, heathens.”
“Methinks the bear doth project too much,” Tammy said.
“Um, I know it’s not the best time,” Andy interjected, “but the original line is ‘the lady doth protest too much methinks.’”
“Well, one of you did this,” Monokuma said. “So one of you is at least murderous. But can you figure out who? Well then, I’ll be off. If you need anything, you just have to call.” Monokuma disappeared.
“Hold it!” I called.
“Yes?” Monokuma said, reappearing.
“Is Monobrd allowed to investigate with us?”
“Oh. Right,” Monokuma said. “Yeah, the bird’s allowed to help.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“You know, maybe I should stay,” Monokuma said. “At least a little bit longer. I feel like things will only get more confusing from here on. So, allow me to guide you as well.”
Cassy sighed. “I don’t suppose we have much of a choice.”
“Nope!” Monokuma said.
“Figures,” Cassy replied.
“Let’s just check the file,” Sophie said. We all nodded and looked.
Monokuma File #4
Victim: Annablle Winchell
Notes:
-The victim was found in the broadcasting studio.
-The time of death was sometime before 3 pm.
-The victim has three bullet wounds in the stomach, as well as a wound on the back of her head, and a bruise on her sternum.
-A gun was found by the body
Hmmm. The time of death is very vague. I wonder why. “Well…let’s do this.” I begin by picking up Annabelle’s Monopad. On it, I saw something that I thought blew the case wide open immediately. “Huh.”
“What is it?” Cassy asked.
“I think I know who did it,” I replied.
“Really?” Cassy said. “That seems fast.”
“Indeed,” Monobird said, joining us. “Why, if it were true, this would be the fastest solve this city ever had.”
“Well then, call Guinness, because I think I’ve got it,” I said.
“Well then, who is it?” Cassy said.
“Tammy!” I pointed out.
“Huh?!’ Tammy said. “Hold on! What makes you think I did it?!”
“Take a look at Annabelle’s Monopad,” I said, presenting it to everyone. “It says right here that I was the person Monokuma would send an invitation to his dance under Annabelle’s name!”
Everyone seemed confused. “Um, what?!” Tammy said. “You really think I’d kill someone because they sent an invitation to YOU?!”
“Of course not,” I replied. “But you are the only one who could hack the Monopads.”
“WHAT?!” Tammy said. “That’s absurd!”
“Yeah!” Monokuma said. “If you even tried hacking my Monopad, you’d die in an instant.”
“Well, someone must have,” I replied.
Everyone was confused again. “Alright,” Pierce said, “just so we’re all on the same page here, why do you think the Monopad WAS hacked to begin with?”
“Simple,” I replied. “Because no one, and I MEAN no one, would want to invite me to a dance!” Everyone was silent. “So, whoever Annabelle WANTED to ask to the dance was covered up somehow. And since Tammy is the most technically savvy, this makes the most sense.”
Everyone stared at me blankly for a bit. I was wondering why, since my deduction was perfect. Pierce then burst out laughing. “Sorry…” he said. “I know this is a murder scene, but… MAN this explains a lot.”
“Of course,” I said. “That was my intent.”
“No,” Pierce replied. “Trust me, it wasn’t.”
I was confused now. “What do you mean?”
“Well, let’s just continue this line of questioning,” Pierce said. “What makes you think Annabelle wouldn’t ask you to the dance?”
I was even more confused now. “Because no one would ask me.”
“And why do you think no one would ask you?” Pierre asked.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Just indulge me,” Pierce went on.
I sighed. “Because I’m nothing special,” I replied. “No one wants to date me or anything because I’m just some guy. I’m kind of smart, but I don’t have the looks or personality otherwise to charm anyone. There! Are you happy?”
Pierce laughed again. I was unimpressed. “I’m sorry…” He said. “I thought you were just blind. I didn’t know you had self-esteem issues.” I was confused again. “Alright, let me just quell the confusion right now.” He took out his Monopad and showed it off. To my surprise, my profile was there. “If no one asked anyone out, you would automatically receive an invitation from me.”
I was even more confused. “Really…?” Pierce nodded. “Huh…”
“To quell the confusion further,” Monokuma interjected, “you were actually the most popular choice.”
“Really?” I asked.
Monokuma nodded. “100%.”
“...Huh,” I responded.
“As much as I love seeing you squirm,” Monokuma said, “I think it’s better to keep the investigation going.”
“Don’t you want to see us lose?” Cassy asked.
“Well, win or lose, you end up in despair,” Monokuma said. “So it’s a win-win for me.”
“How cruel,” Sophie said.
“Upupu,” Monokuma laughed. “Be that as it may, it’s your time you're wasting here.”
I sighed. “I get it. Let’s investigate this for real.” I looked at Annabelle’s Monopad again. It’s weird to think that people want to ask me out. “Soooooo, this is going to be kind of awkward, but do you think we could reveal who we got?”
“WHAT?!” Duke said.
“I mean…” I said “It IS the motive. Maybe we could limit our suspect list if we can figure out who else got me.”
“I mean, that’s true…” May said. “But in that case, the only people who would need to reveal themselves are the ones who also had Justin.”
I gave her a look. “Are you…embarrassed?”
“Well,” Andy interjected, “arguably, that’s the whole point of this motive.”
“Hold on,” Cassy said. “I think if we are to do this, all of us would have to reveal our potential dates.”
“Oh?” May said. “What do you mean?”
“Well, what if someone lies and says they don’t have Justin when they do?” Cassy asked.
“Oh?” May said. “Who’s embarrassed now?”
“ENOUGH!” Jay shouted. “This is clearly getting us nowhere!”
I felt a little relieved. “Jay’s right. We’re not even fully sure if the motive had anything to do with the killing. Let’s just put a pin in it for now, and carry on.”
“Hmmm,” Duke said. “I’m gonna see what else I can find.” He left. Some of the other students filed out as well.
“I think I’ll go too,” Monokuma said.
“Didn’t you make a big deal about staying?” Cassy asked.
“Meh,” Monokuma replied. “People change. Besides, I like seeing you suffer.” He dsappeared.
Cassy sighed. “That stupid bear.”
“Well, I’m staying here to make sure nothing’s tampered with,” May said.
“Same,” Jay said.
I nodded. “Very well.” I continued looking around the area. I picked up the gun off the floor. I turned the safety on, and then checked the chamber. I was surprised.
Cassy noticed this. “What’s the matter?”
“Look at this,” I said. “The file said Annabelle was shot three times. But this gun is missing four bullets.”
Cassy was stunned. “That is odd…”
“Maybe it was fired before?” May proposed.
“I doubt it,” I said. “We probably would have heard it.”
“You’d think so, but look,” Cassy pointed out. “This room is covered in soundproofing.”
“I don’t think that stuff completely deafens a sound,” I retorted
“True,” Cassy said. “But this is on the third floor. If we were on the first or second floor, it might be enough to where we couldn’t hear it.”
“Hold on,” Jay said. “We heard the gunshots.”
“Well, yes,” I admitted, “but that was over the speakers.” Cassy and I turned to the desk. “Hold on… How did we hear it over the speakers?”
Cassy looked over the microphone. “Nothing that indicates that Annabelle pressed it as she was getting shot.”
“Yeah, it looks undisturbed,” I added. “For the most part.”
“Do you think the killer did this?” May asked.
“But why would the killer do this?” Cassy asked.
“And how?” I added. “I mean, aiming a gun at someone takes precision, and having a finger on the microphone would be an issue.”
“Hmmmm,” Cassy pondered. “That’s a good point too.”
“Ahem” Monobird said. “It looks like it’s connected to the computer. Maybe they used that somehow.”
“Good thinking,” Cassy said. “Let’s investigate.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” Monobird replied.
We looked at the computer. It was open to the audio mixing program May taught us about. However, the file on hand was muted, at least the bit we could see. “Hmmmm,” Cassy pondered.
I zoomed out on the program, and saw that the recording went on for an hour, but it was mostly muted except for the end. I checked the output, and sure enough it was going to the PA system. I changed the output, and then I clicked to the end and played the sound. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” We were shocked. “Was that the gunshots that alerted us?” I asked.
“I…believe so,” Cassy replied.
“So, it was recorded?” May asked. “And then played over the speakers?”
“Seems like it,” Jay answered.
“It was probably edited too,” Cassy said. “I mean, why else would you have an hour of silence playing?”
“Is there a way to get the actual recording?” I pondered.
“Well…” Cassy said, “I don’t think so. I’m assuming the killer did the editing, so we won’t find it.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to check,” I replied.
“We only have three hours,” Cassy replied.
“It won’t take too long,” I told her.
“Besides,” Monobird interjected, “it’s better to check and be sure. We don’t want to show up to the trial without a crucial piece of evidence.”
“...Fine,” Cassy relented. We searched the computer, but this was the only recently saved audio file. “Told you.”
“We still have time,” I said.
“I know…” Cassy replied. She sighed. “I’m just…worried…”
I placed my hand on her back. She looked at me. I told her “Who wouldn’t be?” We sat there for a moment, before we realized how close we were, and then we panicked and put some distance between us again.
We turned back around to Annabelle’s body. We looked up at the table behind her with the blood stain. “...I think it’s safe to say that this was the cause of the head injury…” Cassy said.
“Seems like it,” I replied.
“But isn’t it odd?” Cassy wondered.
“How do you figure?” May asked.
“Well, how did it happen?” Cassy asked.
“Perhaps she bumped her head after she got shot?” Monobird offered.
“Maybe…” Cassy said. “But perhaps she was knocked down before being shot?”
“What makes you say that?” Jay asked.
“Well…” Cassy said. “It would explain the bruise on her sternum…”
“So, you’re saying she was knocked down, hit her head, and then shot?” I surmised.
“It’s just a theory…” Cassy admitted. She knelt to the body and investigated Annabelle’s sternum. “Hmmm…” Cassy pondered.
“Something the matter?” I asked.
“This bruise… Cassy said. “It seems a little big for it to have been made by a punch, or a kick of some kind.”
“So, you think that it was caused by an object?” I wondered.
“Perhaps,” Cassy said. “But I wouldn’t know what to look for.”
“And given that the killer had at least an hour, they probably hid it fairly well, whatever it was,” Monobird said.
“Well, we still have time,” I said. “Maybe we’ll find it somewhere.”
“I suppose,” Cassy relented. She glanced under the table. She reached for something she apparently found.
I was curious. “What do you have there?”
“A knife,” Cassy said, brandishing it.
Everyone was surprised. “Why is that here?” I asked.
Cassy shrugged. “Someone brought it here I guess.”
“You think Annabelle brought it here?” May asked. “To protect herself? Like she knew someone was coming after her?”
“That’s a possibility,” Monobird stated.
“No matter what, it is strange,” I said.
“True,” Jay said. “A weapon at a crime scene that doesn’t appear to have been used? Who WOULDN’T find that suspicious?”
“Well…unless it was meant to be there in the first place,,” I pointed out.
“What do you mean?” Cassy asked, standing up.
“Like, if someone was murdered in a kitchen,” I explained, “you’d expect to find a bunch of different knives there that weren’t used in the murder.”
“Ah,” Cassy said. We looked over the room, but we couldn’t find anything else of interest. “Is this all we have to go off?”
“Maybe in here,” I said. “But the killer has to be one of us, so maybe they left a trace elsewhere.”
“Good point,” Cassy said. We left the room.
“Hold on!” Monobird said. “I’ll follow you.” He followed us out into the hall.
We looked to the end of the hall, and saw that the window was open. We ventured down there and met up with Sophie and Duke. Duke was observing the area around the window. “What’s up?” I asked.
“Hi,” Cassy followed up awkwardly.
“Oh, hey there,” Sophie replied. “We were checking for some stuff outside, and we found a grappling hook. I noticed the window was open, so Duke asked me to accompany him to see if there were any marks up here.”
“So, what’s the prognosis?” I asked.
“I’m not seeing anything,” Duke said. “No hook-marks on the floor, or on the wall.”
“How odd,” Monobird said.
“This case is getting weirder and weirder,” Cassy added.
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” I said.
“I hope you’re right…” Cassy said.
“Hmmm,” Duke groaned.
I looked at him. “Something on your mind?”
Duke sighed. “It’s just… Win or lose, not a lot changes. It’s just…a lot.”
Sophie slapped him in the face. She had tears in her eyes. “Maybe you feel hopeless, but I’m not about to let Rachel’s sacrifice go to waste!”
Duke smiled. “I needed that.” He sighed again. “I’ve just been feeling off recently.”
“Hmmmm,” Cassy pondered.
“Woah!” Duke responded, alerted. “You don’t think it’s got anything to do with this case, do ya?! Cause I didn’t do it!”
Cassy paused for a moment “...No.”
Duke sighed, this time relieved. “Good. Cause again, I didn’t do it.”
“We’ll see about that,” Cassy said.
“The window was open though?” I asked.
Sophie nodded. “That’s right.”
I looked out to see Andy and Pierce outside. Andy looked up and waved at me. “Hi!”
I waved back. “We’ll be down shortly!” I told him.
“OK!” Andy shouted back.
I slipped back in, looked at Cassy, and told her “Let’s go.” She nodded, and together with Monobird we headed downstairs.
On our way to the back door, we ran into Tammy examining the weapons room. “Oh, hey there!’ she greeted us.
“Hey,” I replied.
“Guess what?” Tammy asked. “I was looking through this room, and I noticed that a gun was missing.”
“Oh,” I said.
“I think we could have pieced that together,” Cassy said.
“Well, it never hurts to be thorough!” Tammy pat back. Cassy was stunned, and didn’t have a response.
“Um, anything else that seems to be missing?” I asked.
“Hmmmm,” Tammy thought. “Well, now that you mention it, I think there’s a knife missing as well.”
“You don’t say,” Monobird said.
“So be on the lookout!” Tammy instructed.
“We…found it already,” I told her.
“Oh!” Tammy said. “Well we’re just this much closer to figuring this out.”
Cassy was still a little unsure. Nevertheless, she said “...right.”
“Have you noticed anything else?” I asked.
“Hmmmm,” Tammy said. “I’m not sure.”
“Why don’t I search with you,” Monobird offered.
“You sure?”
Monobird said. “Many hands make light work. Besides, I think Justin and Cassy can handle going outside.”
“OK!” Tammy said. She went back into the room.
Monobird looked at us. “We’ll report any new findings we find.
I nodded. “Very well.” Monobird nodded back and then followed Tammy into the room. I turned to Cassy. “Let’s go.” She nodded at me, and the two of us headed out the back door.
Once outside, we met up with And and Pierce. “So, how’s the investigation coming along?” Pierce answered.
“We’re finding a lot,” Cassy told him, “but none of it seems to be adding up.”
“Business as usual, I see,” Pierce teased. Cassy glared at him. “Easy there. Just trying to lighten the mood.” Cassy continued glaring at him.
“So, you found a grappling hook?” I said, trying to change the conversation.
“Um, yeah,” Andy said. “Over here, in the bushes.” Andy showed us the grappling hook. “We think the killer used this to enter.”
“Duke didn’t find anything that suggested it was used though,” Cassy said, turning to face him.
“Huh,” Andy replied. “Odd.”
“Perhaps the killer found something that was sturdy enough to grapple onto without leaving a mark and placed it up there,” Pierce suggested.
“That seems like a lot of trouble,” Cassy told him.
“Maybe,”PIerce said. “But when you don’t want to get caught for murder, you want to be as careful as possible.”
“Mmmmm,” Cassy groaned, knowing he had a point.
“What I find strange,” I interjected, “is that they went through the window at all.”
“How come?” Andy said.
“Well, it’s on the third floor,” I explained. “Coming in through the window would be difficult.”
“Well that’s why they had the grappling hook,” Andy retorted.
“Maybe,” I said. “But the window was open to begin with.”
“Why’s that odd?” Andy asked.
“Because,” Cassy interjected, “that means someone would have had to open it. If it was the killer, why not just go to the announcements room to begin with.”
“Maybe they did it earlier in the day,” Pierce said.
“All that not to be seen doing so?” Cassy wondered.
“Again, if you want to get away with murder…” Pierce said.
Cassy sighed. “I guess.” She frazzled her hair. “This is so confusing.”
“Well,” I said, “we know the killer had to be out here at some point. Why don’t we look around?”
Cassy regained her composure. “Good idea.” The two of us began looking around. After a bit, Cassy said “I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary so far.”
I looked at the shed. “Why don’t we have a look inside?” Cassy nodded at me, and the two of us ventured in. Sure enough, we noticed something. There was a bottle of detergent on top of the washing machine.
“Huh?” Cassy said. “Did someone do laundry? Why?”
I thought about it. “Maybe to get the blood off their clothes?”
“Oh,” Cassy replied. “Wait, so the killer came back here after killing Annabelle?”
“Hm,”I said. “Well, maybe they climbed down, and that’s what the grappling hook was for?”
“But that would still leave marks,” Cassy pointed out.
“I mean…I don’t know what to tell you that you didn’t hear from Pierce,” I replied. Cassy huffed. I went to investigate closer. Upon touching the washer, I could tell it was used recently. However, when I touched the dry, it was cold. “Interesting…”
“What is it?” Cassy asked.
“It appears that whoever did it used the washing machine, but not the dryer,” I informed her.
“Ugh,” she sighed. “When will the confusion end?”
“Once we put everything together,” I told her. She sighed. “Yeah, I know…”
After a moment, she rallied and said “Let’s see if we can’t find anything else in here.” I nodded. We continued looking. I opened up the washing machine. I saw something shimmering. “Huh?” I reached for it and took it.
As I was resurfacing, Cassy asked “What did you find?”
I looked at it. It was a metal object of some kind, but it was smooshed to the point where I could not identify it. “I don’t know.”
Cassy was curious and took a look at it herself. “I…I think I’ve seen something like this before…but I can’t quite tell what it is either.”
“Hm,” I huffed in frustration. “Well, it’s something at least.” I pocketed it.
“I think we should check in with Tammy and Monobird now,” Cassy said.
“Yeah, I’m not sure what else we’re going to find here,” I said. We both left the shed, and went inside.
We met up with Monobird and Tammy in the weapons room. “Did you find anything?” Monobird asked.
“Just a lot of questions,” Cassy said.
“Well, I’m sure the answers will come to us in due time,” Monobird assured us.
“How’s your investigation coming in here?” Cassy asked.
“Well, as we were looking,” Tammy answered, “we found something interesting.”
“Go on,” Cassy instructed.
“Well, look at this,” Tammy said. She pointed to where the guns were stored. “Looking at this, doesn’t it seem odd?”
“Not…really…” I answered.
“EXACTLY!” Tammy pointed out. “Someone took the gun and the ammo for it and then cleaned up, not wanting to leave a trace.”
“Huh,” I said.
“And what does that prove?” Cassy said.
“I have no idea,” Tammy replied.
“WHAT?!” Cassy shouted.
“Well…I mean…” I said, trying to calm her down. “I think it is important.”
“How?!” Cassy asked.
“Maybe this too will be answered in due time,” Monobird told her.
“Ughhhhhhhhh,” Cassy sighed.
“Um,” I said awkwardly. “Is there any other place you want to check?”
Cassy sighed. “Yeah. Just one.”
“Oh?” I said. “Well, lead the way.” Cassy looked up at me and left the room. I followed her. We got to the end of the hall. I looked at the shop. “I think I get your angle.”
Monokuma popped up behind the desk. “Well well well,” he said. “Didjya miss me?!”
“Not really,” I told him.
“But I’m adorable,” Monokuma said.
“So are sharks,” I replied. “But if they’re trying to kill me, that's not the first thing I’m thinking of.”
“Well, we can at least agree on sharks being adorable,” Monokuma said. “I’ll take that.” I paused wondering if he ruined sharks for me. I shook it off.
Cassy sighed. “This is going to be a long shot, but did the killer stop by here?”
“I get a lot of customers,” Monokuma said. “You need to be more specific.”
“I should have known,” Cassy said. She started to leave.
“Wait!” Monokuma said. “I think I have something for you.”
“I’ll buy it later,” Cassy told him, exhausted.
“No no,” Monokuma said. “About the case.”
We looked at him, confused. “You’re willing to tell us something about the case?”
“Well, normally, I wouldn’t,” Monokuma said. “But I was told to tell you one piece of information by the killer.”
“Well, it’s better than nothing,” I said.
“Good. Good,” Monokuma said. “Ahem. I was told to tell you that the killer bought two items.”
“...That’s it?” Cassy asked.
“Well, I mean the killer doesn’t want to get caught out of the gate, do they?” Monokuma said.
“UGH!” Cassy screamed. “I swear, whoever this killer is…”
“Well, you’ll have to decide that soon,” Monokuma said.
“Huh?” Cassy replied.
“Remember: There’s a time limit,” Monokuma explained. He held up a comically large pocket watch “And it’s almost up.” Cassy glared at him. “Them’s the rules! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a trial to prepare for.” Monokuma slipped away.
I sighed. “I guess we should prepare as well.”
“Yeah…” Cassy begrudgingly agreed.
We made our way to the dining area. Everyone else had gathered there as well. Monokuma, as usual, had prepared a feast for us. And as usual, it would be someone’s last meal. Whoever it is, I hope they enjoy it.
Once we finished, Monokuma met up with us. “Are you getting used to it yet?” Silence. “Well, I suggest you get used to it soon. After this, there'll only be eight of you left. Not many more chances for you to build up your resolve.”
“Bite me,” Pierce said.
“Still feisty, I see?” Monokuma said. “Well, let’s see what this trial will do to that. I assume you at least know what to do at this point?” We nodded. “Good! See ya soon!” He disappeared.
WIth a resounding group sigh, we gathered ourselves, and we made our way to the elevator in the gym.
Once inside, we were contemplating our position. “Why does this have to keep happening?” Andy screamed.
“It’s all that stupid bear’s fault!” Jay protested.
“Him and the person controlling him,” Cassy pointed out.
“But why do we keep falling for the bait?” Tammy wondered.
“Because we’re vulnerable,” Sophie told her. “And that’s just how he wants us.”
“No more talking!” May protested. “I just want this over with.” We all nodded.
We returned to the familiar courtroom. And as much as I’d hate to admit it, I was kind of getting used to it. But even the thought of getting used to it repulses me, so I can’t really say it. We took our usual places. Elliot’s portrait had two bloody ribbons in the shape of an X, and Annabelle’s portrait just had “Obituary” written in blood upon it.
The time has come to dance this dance again. Annabelle was dead, and one of us did it. This one has a lot more questions than direct answers than any other trial so far. Too many things don’t add up, and there’s a lot of missing information. The inconsistency might wind us up more than the motive. But maybe there’s more to it all than at the surface. And it’s figuring out what that is that will put everything together.
#danganronpa#danganronpa fanfic#justin#Cassy#pierce#andy#sophie#tammy#Jay#duke#May#annabelle#maria#roman#Troy#Rachel#Buck#elliot#monokuma#monobird
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Danganronpa: Away Chapter 2: Talk is Cheap, Death is Free (Part 1)
The night after the first trial. Location: ???
The gold light peers through a portal to see the horrors that have occured. “I knew it was too good to be true” the light says to itself. “Did Monkuma know I couldn’t interfere unless he did something? Or is there another reason? Either way, I just need to find another way to help them. Hopefully before the body count becomes all of them. However, if I’m reading this right, there is going to be some help with that.”
Abandoned Hope’s Peak Academy Building:
I had the dream again. I was being dragged away, begging not to, while an evil smile haunted me. Only this time I saw some more detail. I was in a courtroom. Why was I in a courtroom at this young of an age? Oh yeah, grandpa. He probably had something to do with it. But why did I get involved? Why am I screaming to be let go? Why is this smile looking at me? The smile gets closer and closer.
“GAH!’ I said waking up. I breathed heavily for a while. I tried going back to sleep, but my mind kept jumping back and forth between Maria’s body, Roman’s execution, and that smile. It was only 2 am. “What do I do?” I said to myself. Just then I was reminded of some things.
[The first day of Monkuma rule]
“I just make statues of Maria to relax” said Roman.
[The night of the arm wrestling contest]
“By the way, one of you was complaining about the low amount of clay. I’ll make sure that they bring it along with the next food delivery” said Monokuma.
[Present]
“...Well, normally taking advice from killers isn’t something I would do” I said. “But I guess in this case, it’s better than nothing.” I got out of bed and went down to the art room. Maria’s body, the statue, and the tapestry have all been moved. I looked around and eventually found the clay. “Now let’s see...from what I remember from art class…” I prepared the clay and sat down at a station. I began by taking a lump of clay and start working on it. I knew exactly what I wanted to make. I began to work on the clay. I wasn’t an expert like Roman was, but I hope my stuff looks fine. I just kept working away at it.
The next thing I remember is someone telling me to “wake up…” I opened my eyes, not knowing that they were closed and saw the light of day and a figure hovering over me. “Good sir, wake up!” the voice said again.
I adjust to the light and saw Troy through the haze. “...Troy?” I say.
“HE LIVES!” shouted Troy.
“Oh thank goodness” said Jay.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Troy looked at me and said “You weren’t in your room this morning, good sir. We thought something bad had happened to you. So we went looking for you.”
“Hey, he’s in here!” Jay called out to everyone else. “He’s alive!” Soon everyone was in here.
“What happened?” asked May.
“We just found him sleeping” said Jay. “He was just hunched over in a seat.”
“What were you thinking?!” shouted Cassy. “Why did you leave your room?!”
“...Well-” I said.
“Don’t yell at him” said Pierce, who I noticed had received a big black eye on his left eye since the last time I saw him. “He’s alright, and that’s all that matters.”
“Pierce...your eye…” I said.
“Huh? Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re alright” said Pierce.
“...But what he was doing here is a mystery” said Annabelle. “And I wouldn’t mind knowing.”
“Of course” said Rachel.
“So, um, what were you doing in here?” asked Sophie.
“Well...I kind of had a nightmare last night” I said. “I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. I then remembered that Roman says he sometimes makes statues to relax. So I’d thought I’d try it.”
“I get it” said Pierce. “So, what did you make statues of?”
“Well, I…” I began when I remembered something. “Oh FUCK!” I called out and went back to my station. The statue I was working on was on its side, and pressing against itself. “Oh no” I said.
“What’s wrong?” asked Jay.
“It’s just *sigh* the statue of my mom I was working on got ruined” I said.
“I am sorry to hear that, good sir” said Troy, putting his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure you can fix her.”
“I guess you’re right” I said. I picked her up and put her back on the station. “So, are we all getting breakfast?” I asked.
“Huh? Oh yeah” said Jay.
“I kind forgot about breakfast actually” said Duke. “I was too worried about what happened yesterday. And then Justin was missing. I became double worried.”
“Does this mean you like him?” asked Annabelle.
“Huh? Like, like him like him?” asked Duke. “Not really. I can’t deny his appeal, but I don’t swing that way. I just got so worried because I saw two dead bodies yesterday. That’s two more than I usually see in a day.”
“Usually?” said Annabelle.
“Appeal?” I said.
Jay put his arm around me “Let’s just go get breakfast. We can continue talking in there.”
“Huh” I said. “Oh sure.” We all made our way to the dining area. We each made our own breakfast, and sat down to eat. I decided to ask Pierce “So, how did you get that black eye?”
Cassy stopped and stared at me. “It was nothing. Honestly” said Pierce.
“NOTHING?!” shouted Andy. “Cassy just started punching you when we found out that Justin was missing! How can you call that nothing?!”
“Cassy?!”
“Yeah,” said Jay. “It was kind of hilarious actually. I mean, it wasn’t so funny at the time, but now that we know you’re safe, it was funny.”
“Why did she do that?” I asked.
“I can explain” said Pierce. “See, last night, I was going to grab a bite to eat. Cassy was too, and we met each other in the hall. Cassy, being Cassy, wanted to keep her distance, but I told her that it would be fine. In the moment I said ‘no one would try anything just after the trial.’ So when you went missing, Cassy thought someone might have killed you. She took that anger out on me for thinking I lied. But you’re alive, and that’s all that matters.”
Cassy looked at him. “I guess that makes sense” I said.
Cassy looked back at me and said “Right. Of course. More importantly, I would like to know something. How did you manage to figure out who killed Maria?”
“Yeah, I was wondering the same thing” said Jay. “Your performance was amazing.”
“I would like to know as well” said Annabelle. “You’re style of questioning and summarizing was second to none.”
“...I don’t know…” I said. “I just kind of figured out what was going on. Although, you guys played a huge part in it.”
“We did?!” asked Buck.
“Well yeah” I said. “If it wasn’t for the information you guys gave, we never would have made it out of there alive.”
“But you were the one who put it together” said Cassy. “How did you do that?”
I stared at her for a second. “I really don’t know. It just kind of came to me.”
“Maybe it has something to do with his hidden talent” said Duke. We all looked at him. “I mean, I know that chemical compositions come to me naturally. Maybe he has a knack for figuring things out.”
“You know what?” said Pierce. “I think you might be onto something.”
“Really?!” said Duke.
“It makes sense” said Andy. “We each had the pieces, but Justin is the one who put it all together. Maybe he has some sort of puzzle solving Ultimate talent.”
“But how could we test it?” said Tammy. “I mean, I could engineer a puzzle, but I don’t have the materials.”
“That’s a good point” said Jay. “How could we test it?”
We all stopped to think. “Hey, what about figuring out who is controlling Monokuma?!” said Annabelle. “That’s certainly a puzzle worth solving.”
“It is” said Cassy. “But I’ve been trying to figure it out since Monokuma trapped us in here, and I can’t figure it out.”
“Well, maybe it’s worth giving Justin a try” said Elliot. “He might figure it out in minutes.”
“What did you say?” said Cassy, with a dark look on her face.
“Do I need to spell it out for you?” said Elliot. “I’m saying that Justin may be better than you.”
“Do you want to be the next person we find dead?” said Cassy.
“I’m not better than Cassy” I said.
Cassy and Elliot looked at me and said “Huh?”
“Well, it’s more that we have different skill sets” I said. “Cassy is better at getting information than I am. During our investigation yesterday, she figured out different elements that I wouldn’t even think to test. She might also be better at figuring out stuff than I am as well, but she needs time to do it, and Monokuma doesn’t give us that luxury.”
“Indeed I do not” said Monokuma’s voice from nowhere. Monokuma mysteriously showed up and then continued talking. “And as I do not give you the luxury of time, FINISH YOUR BREAKFASTS QUICKLY! I’ve got something to show you all upstairs.” Monokuma left.
Not wanting to try his patience, we did as he said and finished breakfast. We then all headed upstairs to see what he wanted. We found him standing by the walled off hallway. “What do you want, fuckface?” asked Buck.
“I’m glad you asked” said Monokuma. “But I am sad that you called me a ‘fuckface.’”
“Consider yourself lucky I didn’t go further” said Buck.
“Very well. I will do that” said Monokuma. “Ahem. Now for the main event. You all congregating in the trial room made refurbishing this old building easier. So now I have this area done for you. You can explore and kill each other here to your heart’s content.”
I found this odd. “What about the rest of the first floor?” I asked.
“Silly Justin” said Monokuma. “You don’t know what’s on the rest of the first floor. So you don’t know how hard it is to refurbish it. DON’T QUESTION MY METHODS ANYMORE!”
“Alright, chill” I said. “You could have just said that without getting angry.”
“True...but I like getting angry” said Monokuma. “Anyway, it’s time for the reveal.” Monokuma grabbed the end of the wall and pulled it back to reveal the rest of the second floor. “Presenting, the second half of the second floor. That is all.” Monokuma disappeared.
We walked forward to see what this new area entitled. There were a lot of classrooms. “So THIS is where the classrooms were” Buck said. The left side had classrooms going most of the way down the hallway. At the end though, there was a bigger room. I thought to check that later. The right side had some classrooms, but it had something else. A big room that spanned the back half of the hallway. I decided to save that room for last.
I first looked through the classrooms. Most of them were empty. They all looked like regular classrooms. I found some of my fellow students in some of them though.
The first room I found that had others in it had Sophie, Tammy, and Elliot. “Oh, hello” I said, walking in.
“Hi” said Sophie.
“Hello” said Tammy.
“Hey there” said Elliot. “So, what do you think this room was used for?”
“Huh?” I said, confused.
“It’s just that the three of us were arguing about what kind of room this is” said Elliot.
I stood confused. “It’s a classroom” I said.
“We know THAT” said Tammy. “We just want to know what kind of classroom it is.”
I was even more confused. “Wha……” I said.
“You know, like ‘Is this a math classroom?’” said Sophie. “Or like a psychology classroom?”
“Oh” I said. “That’s what you mean. What makes you think that I would know?”
“Well DUH! Because your grandfather used to be the headmaster here” said Tammy.
“Yeah, and he was still doing some side-work for Hope’s Peak up until his death” said Elliot. “And since you spent so much time with him, I’d thought you would have known.”
I guess that makes sense. “Unfortunately, I don’t know exactly what kind of classroom this was” I said. “By the time I was born, this building had already been condemned.”
“Oh” said Elliot.
“This doesn’t resemble the classrooms at the current Hope’s Peak at all” I said. “I wonder why.”
“Good question” said Monokuma, popping up.
“AH!” I said.
“See, at this building, Hope’s Peak was more generalized” said Monokuma. “Back when this building was open, they had your regular classes, and just put similar students together. If I recall, this was a social sciences room. When this building become condemned, the headmaster at the time, your grandfather, thought it was time for a change and asked the new building to reflect that change. The result was making Hope’s Peak, more open ended.”
“Tell me something” said Elliot. “Why did this building get condemned?”
“And why are you refurbishing it?” asked Tammy. “If you hate Hope’s Peak so much, why do you want to bring this building back?”
“Well...I can’t answer that first question” said Monokuma.
“Why not?” asked Sophie.
“Because that would give away too much” said Monokuma.
“We’ll figure it out eventually” I said, defiantly.
“Well, I suppose given enough time here, you could” said Monokuma. “But what are the odds that you’ll be alive to figure it out are in the first place?”
I was worried. That was a good point, but I wasn’t going to let him know that. “What makes you think any more of us will be dead in the first place?” I said.
“Smooth” said Monokuma kind of sarcastically. “But I already know. I’m already working on the next motive.”
That bastard.
“As for that second question, I have two answers. One, it’s to encourage you guys to kill each other in more creative ways. It would be boring if you each grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed someone in the throat EVERY time.”
“Um, what’s the other reason?” said Sophie, nervously.
“The other reason?” said Monokuma. “Why, because this is the Ultimate Killer’s old stomping grounds of course. He feels nostalgic whenever he sees students roaming around here. It’s a nice little gesture I do for him. But it’s mostly the first answer.”
“WHAT?! No way!” said Tammy.
“Yup!” said Monokuma. “It was here that he came to learn about the best possible ways to kill people.”
“Why would your grandfather allow that kind of talent in?” asked Elliot.
“He wouldn’t” I said. “You know, I always thought that claim was suspicious.”
“Suspicious or not, he just admitted he went to Hope’s Peak. He is the Ultimate Killer, isn’t he?” said Elliot.
“Well, technically, no. I’m just an AI programed by the Ultimate Killer. I’m like a tool he uses for killing. Much like a knife or a gun. Except I’m cuter” said Monokuma.
“As I was saying,” I said, “I thought it was suspicious, but now that know that you went to school here while my grandfather was headmaster, there’s no doubt in my mind. You didn’t come to Hope’s Peak to become the Ultimate Killer!” Everyone was shocked.
“Alright smartypants,” said Monokuma, “IF the Ultimate Killer didn’t come here to become the Ultimate Killer, then what DID he come to Hope’s Peak for?”
“Well…” I said. “I don’t know.”
“AHA!” said Monokuma. “So you can’t prove anything! You have no evidence.”
“Well...you kind of just gave me some circumstantial evidence, if I’m being honest” I said.
“Wha? HOW?!” asked Monokuma.
“You just asked me to prove it. You didn’t deny it” I said.
“Well, I deny it now” said Monokuma. “You didn’t let me get to that point.”
“No, it makes more sense that you didn’t come here to be the Ultimate Killer” said Tammy. “I mean, Hope’s Peak is meant to help, and since when has killing people helped anyone?”
“Wars. Coups. Making martyrs. Getting away from people who attack others. The uses for killing are endless” said Monokuma.
“Sure…” said Elliot. “But those are a very specific way of killing, with a more specialized type of person to deal with those things. You kill because you don’t like Hope’s Peak. That’s more of a specific end to your goals, not what those things might accomplish.”
“But, you also work at Hope’s Peak” said Sophie. “How does that work?”
“Why should I tell you?” said Monokuma. “I almost let something slip because of your mind games. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Doesn’t like…” I said. Everyone looked at me. “THAT’S IT!”
“What’s it?” asked Elliot.
“The Ultimate Killer doesn’t LIKE the talent he was originally recruited for” I said. “THAT’S why he said he came here to be the Ultimate Killer. He would rather be a killer than his original talent.” Monokuma was mad. “Am I wrong?”
“NO MORE QUESTIONS!” Monokuma fled.
“Does that mean you’re right?” asked Sophie.
“I think I might” I said.
“Wait, people can NOT like their talents?” asked Tammy.
“Well, yeah” I said. “My grandfather ran into those kinds of people from time to time. He would always talk to them personally and get to know why they don’t like their talents. It would take some doing, but my grandfather could always convince them that their talents meant something.”
“Huh. Interesting” said Tammy.
“But why did he not do that with the Ultimate Killer?” asked Elliot. “Then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“I...don’t know” I said. “Maybe he couldn’t get through to them? I really don’t know. This was before I was born. I didn’t know him back then.”
“I suppose that’s fair” said Elliot.
“Well, at least we know what this room was for” said Sophie.
“Oh yeah” said Tammy. “I had forgotten about that.”
“Well, I should get back to exploring” I said.
“Seeya!” said Elliot.
“Bye!” said Tammy.
“Later!” said Sophie. I left the room.
The next room I walked into that had anyone in it only had Buck. “Hey Justin” he said.
“Hey” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I was doing some self-reflection” said Buck.
“Oh?” I said.
“Yeah” said Buck. “Being in here, it reminds me of my old school. I had to keep my grades up if I wanted to be on the basketball team. I used to think of all that fucking school work as a means to an end. A way to do the thing I enjoy. But..”
“But…” I said.
“Just thinking of this horrible shittastic situation we’re in, I’d feel like those classes would come as a sweet relief. And now I just feel bad that I treated it the way I did. I mean, look around. It seems so peaceful now.”
“I guess compared to our current situation, class doesn’t seem so bad” I said.
“Exactly” said Buck. “And I’m thinking ‘it’s only peaceful here because there’s no one in here. Usually, it’s chaotic. But it’s the same with basketball. It’s chaos, but finding your way though it is what makes it satisfying. So I’m thinking that when I get out, I should start treating school work the same way.”
“I like that idea” I said. “I hope you do better.”
“Thanks” said Buck. I left.
The last classroom I found with someone in it had Cassie. “Um, hi” I said.
“Not now” she said. “I’m trying to look for clues.”
“Well...if it’s information that you want…” I said. I then informed her of the conversation Tammy, Sophie, Elliot, and I had with Monokuma.
“...I can’t believe I missed all of that.”
“Well, it’s just wrong place wrong time.”
“No. They invited me to come with them. But I refused.”
“Oh...”
“God, I am such an IDIOT!”
“No you’re not.”
“I am! I’m too focused on getting out that I miss an opportunity to do so.”
“It happens to the best of us…” I could tell she’s beating herself up. “Look, there was no way of knowing that would happen. It only happened because I joined the conversation.”
“So...you’re saying I should follow you constantly?”
“Well, no. I’m saying that it can happen at anytime. The point is you don’t know. So it’d be hard to get anything on your own. I know how hard it can be to open up at times, but sometimes it can be worth it.”
“...I think I get what you’re saying.”
“Great. I’m glad we had this talk.”
“I think I would like to hang around with you for the rest of the day though. You know, just because.”
“...OK. We can do that.”
“Where are you going next?”
“Well, I was going to go to the room at the end on the left.”
“OK, let’s go!”
We left the classroom and entered that room. It was a library with a computer lab. Rachel and Annabelle were there.
“Oh, hi there” said Annabelle.
“How do you two do?” asked Rachel.
“We’re doing alright...I think” I said.
“Yes” said Cassy. “It appears you two have been here for a while. What can you tell us about this place?”
“Straight to the point, I see?” said Rachel. “Well, it’s just as it looks like. It’s a library. There are a lot of book here. As you could probably guess, I took a glance at all of the history books.”
“Was there anything to report on them?” I asked.
“Yes” said Rachel. “These books are ancient. Well, not technically ancient. But they are rather old. I think these were the book that were here when this school was operational.”
“That’s weird” said Annabelle. “Because I was in the computer lab, and all of the computers seem rather up-to-date.”
“That’s strange” said Cassy.
“So, if the computers are up to date, do you think you could contact the outside world?” I asked.
“I tried that” said Annabelle, “but they won’t do that.”
“Really?” said Rachel.
“Yeah, it’s using a weird operating system” said Annabelle. “According to the computer, it’s called Kuma.O.S.”
“No doubt a gift from our gracious host” I said.
“Why would he bother installing his own operating system if he didn’t bother to update the GODDAM BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY?!” shouted Rachel.
I have never seen Rachel like this before.
Cassy was thinking “...maybe it has something to do with the security. He had to hijack Monobird’s systems and install his security cameras and such. Maybe these computers had to be update.”
“Wait!” I said. “If these computers are connected to that, then it’s possible we might be able to reverse engineer it.”
“What do you mean?” said Rachel.
“Well, if they’re all on this Kuma.O.S., then it’s possible we could find a way around Kuma.O.S. by figuring it out on a computer that’s here.”
“Yeah. Yeah I think we could” said Annabelle.
“But we’d need someone who has an expertise with computers” said Cassy.
“What about Tammy. Maybe she could do it” I said.
“Good thinking” said Cassy. “We shall tell her at dinner.”
“Great” I said.
“You know, I’m starting to get it even more” said Cassy.
Annabelle tok out a notepad “Get what more?” she asked.
“Oh” said Cassy. “Well, I was having some trouble doing some detective work on my own. Justin is going around talking with everyone and in turn he is finding out all of this information. So I’m starting to see the benefits of getting out of my shell more...so to speak.”
“OK. OK” said Annabelle. “But as a detective, don’t you usually talk to witnesses?”
“OF COURSE!” said Cassy, defiantly. “What do you take me for?”
“It’s just...why aren’t you good at talking to people in this instance then?” asked Annabelle.
“Well...it’s just that...trying to get out of here is work. I’m a detective. I’m trying to solve a mystery. From the outset of this, you guys were presented as people I should be friends with. I don’t like mixing work with pleasure. When I’m at work, I like focusing on work. When I’m having fun, I like focusing on that. But in this situation, everything is jumbled. Are you my friends, or are you potential targets that I need to solve a mystery to save? I don’t know.”
“It’s both” I said.
“What?” said Cassy.
“It’s both” I repeated. “Well, I think you should treat it as both anyway.”
“How do you figure?” said Cassy.
“Well, I think Monokuma designed this to aggravate you specifically” I told her. “Like the three hour time limit on the investigation. He’s doing this to actively throw you off. Because he knows you’re a good detective when you work how you usually do.”
“So, you’re thinking he’s doing this to throw me off of my groove?” Cassy asked.
“I mean, yeah” I said. “You’re probably the biggest threat if you had time and the ability to investigate properly. So by taking all of that away, he’s trying to reduce you to the level of everyone else who doesn’t have experience solving high profile cases.”
“Hmmmm. You have a point” said Cassy. “Alright.”
“Alright what?” asked Annabelle.
“I’m going to try to break out of my usual style and adapt to this new situation. I can’t think like how I usually think if I want to bring everyone out of here” said Cassy.
“Oh. OK. That sounds fantastic” said Annabelle. “Now Justin…”
“Yes?” I asked.
“How did you figure that out?” Annabelle said.
“Well...I just thought of everything that’s happened so far” I said. “It seems like at every turn Monokuma wants to mess with Cassy.”
“That is entirely correct” said Monokuma popping up.
“GAH!” said Annabelle.
“But it seems like I should have been more worried about you, Mr. Arbil” said Monokuma.
“Well, how could you?” I asked. “After all, I have an unknown talent.”
“True...but you’re also the grandson of that jackass Westwood” said Monokuma. “If he wanted you in Hope’s Peak, then there’s no reason not to fear you.”
“So does this mean you fear all of us?” I asked.
“I-NO MORE QUESTIONS!” Monokuma said as he disappeared.
“Weird” said Annabelle.
“Although I think you were on to something” said Cassy. “I DO think he’s afraid of all of us. That’s why he wants us all dead.”
“I agree” I said. “But that presents a new question.”
“What's that?” asked Cassy.
“If he’s afraid of all of us, then why doesn’t he just kill us all. He has the means.”
“True” said Cassy. “You did mention that the Ultimate Killer doesn’t like his actual talent right?”
“Yeah” I said.
“When did this happen?” asked Rachel.
“When I was talking with Elliot, Tammy, and Sophie” I said. “Monokuma showed up there too.”
“Fuck” said Rachel. “I gotta check on her later.”
“Still, there might be a connection. I’ll need to think on it a little more” said Cassy.
“OK” I said. “Shall we continue exploring?”
“I think we shall” said Cassy.
“I’m going to stay here” said Annabelle.
“Same” said Rachel.
Cassy and I left. We went into the big room across the hall. It was a theater and it appeared that a lot of people came here as well. We looked around for a minute. We then decided to talk to Troy and Jay.
“Hey how’s it going?” I asked.
“Well, it’s just me right now” said Jay. “Troy has been lost in deep thought since we got here.”
“Oh” I said. “Any reason why?”
“Not that I know of” said Jay. “As soon as he saw the stage, he suddenly got lost in thought. I’m standing on guard so no one takes him from behind.”
“Oh. You’re doing a great job then” I said.
“Thanks. That means a lot coming from you” said Jay.
“Let’s see what else we can find here” said Cassy. We looked by the area we entered an electrical box. “What’s this?” I ask, flipping one of the switches. It turned on a light on the stage. We saw Duke and Pierce get blindsided by it. “SORRY!” I called out as I flipped it back off.
“Why is this here though?” asked Cassy.
“I can explain” said Monokuma popping up. “...What, is no one going to go ‘GAH!’ anymore?”
“I think we’re used to it at this point” I said.
“If you say so” said Monokuma. “Anyway, this was set up while this building was still in use. I didn’t want to mess with the building plans. Unlike a certain bird. Can you believe he installed a computer lab?!”
“He did that?” asked Cassy.
“Oh yeah” said Monokuma. “I was just lucky none of you got to it before I arrived.”
“You’re also lucky that you have machine guns pointed at us” said Cassy.
“Yes indeed” said Monokuma. “I just might be the luckiest person in here.”
“What about Sophie?” I asked.
“Well...we’ll see about that. Soon there may come a time where her luck will be pitted against mine” said Monokuma. “Is that all?”
“Yeah” said Cassy.
“Grrrrrreat!” said Monokuma, disappearing again.
We went up to the sound room and unsurprisingly found May there. “Hey guys” said May. “What’s up?”
“We were just having a look around” I said. “What did you find?”
“Glad you asked” said May. “Look at this.” She pointed to the sound system for the stage. “This thing is ancient. BUT it produces some of the best sound imaginable. In a non-digital format, that is. Man, I have always wanted to use one of these things. Although it only takes records and cassettes. I hope those are easy to find around here.”
“Maybe you could check the library?” I said.
“There’s a library?” said May.
“Yeah, it’s across the hall” said Cassy.
“Cool” said May, walking off.
Finally we decided to inspect the stage. “There’s a lot of tape here” said Cassy.
“Yeah, that’s so the actors learn where they’re standing” I said
“It is?” said Cassy.
“Yeah” said Pierce, inserting himself into our conversation. “Did you not know that?”
“Well...I don’t know how common that information is” said Cassy.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right” said Pierce. “I only know that because Andy told me.”
“So why are you judging me?” asked Cassy.
“I don’t know” said Pierce. “Perhaps I couldn’t see right from wrong after what happened this morning.”
“Look, I’m sorry” said Cassy. “I just got really scared and really angry.”
“I know. It’s just fun messing with you” said Pierce. Cassy glared. “Alright I’ll stop.”
“So, what are you doing on this stage?” I asked.
“I was just checking it out” said Pierce. “Which reminds me…” Piece looked up and called out “HEY ANDY! HOW YOU DOING UP THERE?!”
“FINE!” shouted Andy. “THERE SEEMS TO BE A PLATFORM UP HERE!”
“GREAT! KEEP ME UPDATED!” shouted Pierce.
“Are you sure it’s safe for him up there?” I asked.
“I’M FINE!” screamed Andy. “HEIGHTS DON’T BOTHER ME ACTUALLY!”
“Besides, if he falls, I’m here to catch him” said Pierce. “ISN’T THAT RIGHT?!”
“CORRECT!” said Andy.
“ANDY, WHAT KIND OF PLATFORM IS IT?!” asked Cassy. I looked at her. “I mean, as long as he’s up there.”
“UM...IT LOOKS LIKE IT CAN BE LOWERED!” said Andy. “IT’S PROBABLY USED FOR PERFORMANCES!”
“GREAT! THANKS FOR THE INFO!” shouted Cassy.
“NO PROBLEM!” shouted Andy.
“Pierce, did you notice anything else?” I asked.
“Nah” said Pierce. “By all accounts, this is a fairly normal stage. The lights seem to be in a weird place though.”
“Yeah, sorry about that” I said. “Say, where is Duke, by the way?”
“Oh, he went backstage” said Pierce.
“Maybe he found something there” said Cassy. “C'mon” she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me.
We headed back stage. It was a narrow hallway, filled with some props and costumes. There were two dressing rooms. “Which one do you think Duke is in?” I asked.
“I don’t know” said Cassy.
Duke walked out of the men’s dressing room. “You guys need me?” he asked.
Cassy and I looked at each other. “Duke, did you see anything interesting in there?” I asked.
“Eh, not really” said Duke. “Just a bunch of old scripts and stuff.”
“So, why were you in there?” asked Cassy.
“It’s the closest bathroom” said Duke. “What are you getting at?”
“So you don’t mind if we investigate?” I said.
“Go ahead” said Duke.
“Should we divide and conquer?” I asked Cassy.
“I take the girl’s room, you take the boy’s?” said Cassy
“Yup” I said. We broke off and investigated. I went into the boy’s dressing room and it is as Duke said it was. I walked back out and said “It looks like Duke was telling the truth” I said.
“Yup. Same here” said Cassy.
“Look, just because I insisted that Maria was killed in the art room, doesn’t mean I was lying” said Duke. “I didn’t know the trick to it.”
Both Cassy and I were stunned. “We were more worried about you penchant for peeping” I told him.
“What?” said Duke. “Where did you get that from?”
“From you trying to get into the girl’s bathroom” said Cassy.
“I told you, I was investigating” said Duke. “How was I supposed to know that someone was in there?”
“The point is you don’t go in” said Cassy.
“Yeah, it looks really bad that you did that” I said.
Duke was taken aback. He then hung his head in shame. “I guess you’re right” said Duke.
“Well, it will help if you apologise” said Cassy. “How about at dinner?”
“That sound good” said Duke.
The three of us walked back out together. Just as we were getting out we heard Troy scream “THAT’S IT! I GOT IT!”
“Got what?” asked Jay, who was recuperating from the sudden shout.
“Meet me at dinner, good sir” said Troy .”I shall have all the details for you all then. Until then, I bid you all adieu.” Troy ran off.
“I wonder what that’s about?” I asked.
“It looks like dinner is going to be eventful” said Cassy.
“Yeah” I said.
We kept looking around, but didn’t find much. Soon it was time for dinner, and we went off to join everyone else for this eventful evening.
Later, at dinner.
“A play?!” I said.
“Yes, good sir” said Troy. “I think this will be a great idea.”
“And what is this for?” asked Pierce.
“Why it is to help Justin find his talent, good sir” said Troy. Everyone looked at him confused.
“Um...How?” I asked.
“It’s simple, good sir” said Troy. “We put on a mystery play, and before we reveal whodunit, we shall give you the chance to answer!”
“And this will help?” I asked.
“Yes” said Troy. “At least, I think it will, good sir. It should test your aptitude for solving a case, like you did with the...unfortunate incident that happened recently. Worst case scenario: we just figure out your thoughts from it.”
“I guess it’s worth a shot” I said. “It’s better than someone getting killed.”
“I couldn’t agree more, good sir!” said Troy.
“Do you have a script?” asked Cassy.
“Actually, good madam, I was going to ask you about that” said Troy.
“Me?” said Cassy.
“Yes. I was wondering if we could borrow from a case you have solved to use as a script” said Troy. “I was stacking my brain for the best script, but I couldn’t come up with something. When you entered, it hit me. This way, not only can we guarantee that Justin doesn’t know about it, but it will be more real, which may help Justin more.”
“I guess so…” said Cassy.
“I think it sounds fun” said Pierce.
“I think you should help him” I said. “You did say you wanted to break out of your shell more. Besides, I don’t know how much more investigating we can do until we figure out Kuma.O.S.”
“What?” asked Troy.
“Oh yeah” I said. “Tammy!”
“Yeah?” asked Tammy.
“When we were in the library today, we noticed that there was a computer lab. I was wondering if you cod help us figure out the schematics of the weird programing that Monokuma installed. It could help us find a way out” I said.
“Oh. Sure!” said Tammy, delightfully. “Although it might take a while.Do you know how hard it was getting the blueprints for the prison computers? Like a month. And that was in a stress-free environment.”
“So, it’s going to take a while then” I said.
“Yeah” said Tammy. “But I can start figuring out stuff tomorrow.”
“Cool” I said.
Rachel looked at Sophie and said “Hey, I heard you had a run-in with Monokuma today. You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine” said Sophie.
“Good. I don’t want that plush bastard doing anything to you” said Rachel.
“I know you worry,” said Sophie, “but I think you need to look out for yourself a bit more.”
“I’m fine” said Rachel.
“That’s exactly what I said, and we both know I don’t fully mean it” said Sophie. “Luckily Justin got him all flustered, so I’m not as worried.”
“Well, that’s good” said Rachel.
“I’m serious though” said Sophie. “I’ll be fine. Maybe you need to start taking care of me less, and taking care of yourself more.”
“...I’ll think about it” said Rachel.
“Good” said Sophie.
Duke was nervously looking at May. “What do you want?” May asked. “You've been nervous since we got here.”
“It’s just that...I want to apologize…” said Duke. “About yesterday.”
“Oh. Yeah, that was weird” said May.
“But I was trying to investigate, but I know it’s wrong…” said Duke.
“You know what you can do?” said May. “Maybe just stay away for a little bit. I mean, except in instances where Monokuma summons us all under the threat of death.”
“OK” said Duke. “So, how long do you figure?”
“I dunno” said May. “But I will tell you when it’s over.”
“Cool” said Duke. He picked up his things and moved next to me. “Well, that could have gone better” he told me.
“Could have gone worse” I said, trying to cheer him up.
“Yeah. I guess it could have” said Duke.
After we finished, everyone went to relax. It was kind of a big day. As I was about to leave, Cassy stopped me and said “Hey.”
“Hey. What’s Up?” I asked.
“So, was your mom the only statue you worked on, or…?”
“Oh. OH! Right. Uh, no actually” I said.
“Could I see what else you made?”
“Sure.” I walked her into the back room of the art room and showered her the top shelf. Up there was little statues of Maria and Roman.
“Oh. Cool.”
“You like them?”
“I like the thought behind them” Cassy said. “But your craft could use a little work.
“Yeah, I know” I said.
“You gonna finish your mom’s?”
“I think I’ll do that tomorrow. Today was a long day. I’m tired enough.”
“Fair...I think I’ll head back to my room and try to think of a case that Troy can adapt.”
“Hey, do you think Troy could do a good job?”
“Well, I think he has a flair for the dramatic. He’s also very upfront about being trusting. So I think he won’t ruin it too much.”
“Too much?” I asked.
“Well, you kinda have to fudge a few details in adapting the truth. It makes things more interesting.”
“Gotcha” I told her.
“Well, later” she said, leaving the art room.
I decided to reflect on the statues and the people they were inspired by.
Maria. Full of kindness and understanding right up to the very end. Always looking out for everyone. Roman, Andy, all of us. She was like our mom in a way. She had no place in this Hell. Hopefully she’s thriving in Heaven.
Roman. Always trying to impress. He was afraid to be left behind, and that fear drove him to make his decisions. Of course I don’t agree with what he did, but I understand it. If it wasn’t for all this intense pressure, I’m sure he’d be doing good for himself.
I left the art room and the night time announcement came on. After it finished, I was going to head to my room, but then I remembered something. “I wonder what’s new in the MonoMono Machine.” I walked over and gave it a spin. Put some coins in and got a few things. The first notable thing I got a jumbo pack of marshmallows. “Weird” I said. “But I guess they’ll be useful for something.”
The other notable thing I got was an acoustic guitar. “OK, how does this even fit in here?”
“Oh, I know this” said Monokuma, popping up. “OK, let’s get into character. Short. Apathetic. Really believes in this stuff. Ahem. It’s MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGIC!”
“Right…” I said. ‘Hey so, as long as I have you here, you willing to be honest with me?”
“Depends” said Monokuma.
“How long until we’ve figured out everything?”
“Oh, I know this one too. OK. Short. Depressed. Athletic. Ahem. You’ve still got a ways to go.”
“Right. Well good night” I told him, as I walked back to my room. I went into bed and fell asleep, thinking about all of the weird stuff that happened today. What does it mean? And what will our future hold.
#Danganronpa#Dangaonronpa fanfic#Danganronpa away#Justin#May#Cassy#Andy#Troy#Jay#Pierce#Annabelle#Rachel#Sophie#Buck#Elliot#Duke#Tammy#Monokuma#Monobird
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Danganronpa: Away Chapter 4: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Part 5)
I woke up the next day. I always liked sleeping in, but recently, I’ve come to like sleeping in general. I tend to get lost in my dreams, and I forget I’m here, which is a nice feeling. Except for when I’m having nightmares. However, I do have to wake up and face reality sometime.
I got ready, and I headed down to eat breakfast. Duke seemed particularly excited. I mean, he was teaching next, and he was really adamant about getting to teach, so I can see why. “So, are you excited?” Duke asked.
“I guess…” I answered. Duke looked at me weird. “I’m still tired, OK.”
“...You’d think getting up early for as long as we have would help you get used to it,” Duke remarked.
“Well, I’d argue the general stress of this place might hinder that,” I replied.
“Hmmmm,” Duke pondered. “You might have a point.”
“Well, I know I’m excited,” Monobird said, butting in.
“Oh!” Duke said, a little shocked. “Uh, well, to be honest, I think you might know what I’m going to be teaching…”
“Really?” Monobird asked. “I’m not in the forensics department, you know.”
“Yeah, but you’re pretty high up, aren’t ya?” Duke said. “You oughta know a thing or two, right?”
“Maybe?” Monobird said.
“I’m excited too,” May chimed in.
“Really?” Duke asked.
“Yeah. I can’t wait to see how you ruin this too,” May laughed.
“HEY!” Duke said. “I take offense!”
“You should,” May shot back. “I meant it to be offensive.” She giggled some more.
“Ugh! Can you PLEASE save your lover’s quarrel for after I wake up more?” I said. I then realized I said it. I sighed. “Man, I’m tired.”
“‘Lover’s quarrel’?” May questioned.
“Oh, yeah,” Duke said. “Justin here thinks I like you or something.”
“Really?” May said.
“Yeah,” Duke answered.
“How dense are you?!” Tammy asked me.
“Now now,” Pierce interrupted, “let’s hear him out. So, Justin, who DO you think this nightmare couple works out?”
I was confused. “How am I the only one that sees this?! I don’t even know how to explain this properly. But like, you know sometimes, two people might fight with each other, but they actually like each other, and just don’t want to admit it. It’s like that.”
There was a bit of a silence. “You really see that here?” Andy said, breaking the silence.
“Alright, look!” I said, getting mad. “How is me and Cassy, the most nothing thing, obvious to you all, but this clear lighthearted jabbing that will turn into something more not obvious?”
“Do you really want us to answer that?” Jay asked.
“Yeah, cause there are like at least five things I can cite for each,” Annabelle continued.
“Ugh!” I said, frustrated. “Just forget it. I think we’re already on thin ice in terms of the motive as it is. I shouldn’t have said anything.” I went back to eating, and trying to ignore everyone else.
After I finished eating, I got up and said “I’m sorry. I know this whole situation is frustrating for all of us. I just let it get to me for a bit. I’ll be in my room cooling off until class starts.” I walked out of the dining area and headed back to my room.
I slumped myself on my bed. Had the pressure of everything finally gotten to me? Everything felt like a fog. I just want to leave. But I can’t leave unless I kill someone. I’m not that desperate…am I?
Just then, I got a knock at the door. I went to open it up. “Pierce?”
“Hey,” Pierce replied.
“What are you doing here?” I asked
“I figured you could use some help,” he answered. I stood silently, not saying anything. “You’re right, this is hard on all of us. I don’t think anyone is mad at you for snapping like that.”
“I am…” I retorted.
“Well, that’s beside the point,” Pierce said “Look, we all have our moments of weakness. And honestly, I think we’re allowed to. We’re teenagers after all. Show me a well-adjusted teenager, and I’ll show you a bootlicker at best.” I was still pouting. “You’re fine. We’re all in this together. Don’t let this moment ruin everything.”
“How could this get ruined even further?” I responded.
“Well, sometimes, it’s nice to see the glass half-full,” Pierce said. “And yes, while the emptiness is particularly striking, we can’t let it bring us down completely.”
I sighed. “Fair enough, I guess… Thanks.”
“No problem,” Pierce responded.
“But um, could I just chill by myself a little longer?” I asked.
“Uh, sure, I guess…” Pierce said, sounding unsure.
“I do feel better,” I assured him, “but I just want to rest a bit more.”
“Sounds fine then,” Pierce said. “I assume you’ll join us for class?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Great. See ya then,” Pierce said. He left, and I closed the door. I flopped back on my bed and started thinking again.
This whole situation is fucked up beyond belief. A crazed killer who wants all of us dead. So far, their plan seems to be working. Six people have died at the hands of this madman.
But Pierce is right. Just giving up is also what this lunatic wants. So we have to hold onto whatever silver lining we can.
But sometimes it feels like the wire is going to snap. What do we do then? I guess hang on, but it’s hard… Hopefully we can figure this out soon.
A thought then occurred to me. Maybe this motive might have more merit to it than I had imagined. But do I…? Well, I’ve encouraged others… Maybe I should take my own advice.
Just then, I heard the announcements come on. Annabelle chimed in. “Good morning. We are now on Day 2 of between 7 and 14 before the motive kicks in. For this morning’s class, our teacher, Duke Hunter, has asked us to join him in the chemistry lab. See ya there.”
I sighed and got up. “Maybe after lunch…” I left my room and proceeded to head into the chemistry lab.
I thought I would be the last one there, but when I sat down, the lesson didn’t start. Then I heard someone coming from the hall. I turned to look, and it was Annabelle. “Sorry. I had to come from the third floor…”
“It’s fine,” Duke said. “Just take your seat.” Annabelle did as such. “Alright, for today’s lesson, I’m going to teach you how to clean blood.
All of us were confused. “Told ya he’d ruin it,” May said.
Sophie raised her hand. “Yes, Sophie?” Duke asked.
“Um…why?” Sophie asked.
Duke stared at us for a minute. “...Do you want the real answer?”
“If possible,” Cassy responded.
“...Very well then,” Duke said. “I’m afraid to admit, my motive here is selfish.” We were confused again. “I was already blamed once for a murder. I don’t want someone to look up how to clean blood, kill someone, and when the blood is cleaned, I get blamed, because I’m the only one who would know. I mean, apart from Monobird, that is.”
“Uh, yeah, why do you think I would know how to do that?” Monobird asked.
“Because you're a cop,” Duke said.
“Again, I’m not in forensics…” Monobird reminded him.
“Yeah, but as a cop, you probably accidentally, or purposefully, shot someone, and needed to clean it up quickly,” Duke rebutted.
Monobird looked at him. “You don’t have a positive view of law enforcement, do you?”
“I’m a teenager, what do you think?” Duke asked back.
“Need I remind you, us cops are giving you food and supplies,” Monobird shot back.
“Yeah, thanks,” Duke said. “Now, when are you going to do something about the psychopath keeping us in captivity?”
“...We’re working on it…” Monobird said sternly, but also somewhat defeated.
“Well then, in the meantime, let me teach my lesson in peace,” Duke said. “Ahem. So, the first thing that’s important is making sure you clean the stain as quickly as you can. Otherwise, you can use hydrogen peroxide to get rid of a tougher bloodstain. But f you react quick enough, detergents should get it out. Um, let’s see, what else…” Andy raised his hand. “Yes, Andy.”
“Um,” he began, “why does hydrogen peroxide work on blood?”
“Huh,” Duke responded. “That’s a good question, actually. Ya see, hydrogen peroxide, or H2O2, is an oxidizer; which means that when it combines with certain things, such as blood, it breaks them down. Hold on. This is actually a bit of a complicated process. Let’s start from the beginning.”
Duke then proceeded to teach us about some of the basics of chemical reactions, and how they work. While I was a little familiar with some of it, a lot of it was new, and honestly it was very interesting. When Duke is in his element, he’s really engaging.
Duke looked at the clock. “Ah shoot, has it been an hour already?”
“I’m afraid so,” Monobird said.
“Well, shoot,” Duke said. “And I have to wait until the next rotation. Well, I hope you had fun, despite the little detour.”
“You know, honestly, I did,” Sophie said.
“Well, that’s all I could ask for,” Duke said. “Anyways, class dismissed.” He left the classroom.
A few others did as well. I was on my way out when I saw Cassy stopping Andy. “Ummmmm,” Andy said, nervously.
“You…didn’t know how hydrogen peroxide works?” Cassy asked.
“Oh no, I did,” Andy replied. “I figured I could probably give him a gentle push into talking about chemistry on a broader level though. Since, um, I…wasn’t entirely interested in talking about blood for an hour.”
“I see,” Cassy said. “Good job.”
“Thanks,” Andy said. They left as well. I left too.
We kind of hung out a little bit until lunch time. Lunch was a bit quieter than usual, or maybe I was just too focused to pay attention. I had some ideas rattling around in my head, and I wanted to figure it out. I was ready to give that stupid bear and his psychotic puppet master what they wanted, but not in the way that they expected. Not in the way anyone expected, really.
I was the first to finish my food (so maybe I just wasn’t paying attention), and I went to put my dishes away. When I got back out, I heard Annabelle shouting. “Justin!”
I turned to her. “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about something else, you know.”
She smiled. “I get it. So, are you excited for my class this afternoon?”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” I replied.
“Great,” Annabelle responded. “I’ll see you then.”
“Right,” I shot back. “In the meantime, I’m going to be working on something. So, um, I guess if you really need me, that’s OK, but I’d rather not be disturbed.”
“That’s fine,” Annabelle said. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I heard something in her voice. I didn’t think much of it though.
“Thanks,” I said. I headed back up to my room. I got out some paper and a pen, and proceeded to write out some of my thoughts. I don’t know what I was looking for, but for a while, I knew what I was writing wasn’t it.
I sighed. I was trying to figure out how I felt about Cassy. A part of me still wanted to deny any sort of romantic feelings, but even if I didn’t want to admit it, I knew they were there. It’s just…being in a situation like this isn’t ideal for a romantic proposal. Still, I had to try.
I had to try because I knew it would help. If I could get over this motive, then surely anyone could. Although with the numerous factors, this was easier said than done.
Still, I felt myself getting closer after a certain point. I think I figured out something, and I just needed to push on from there. Figuring this out almost felt like a trial. I just need to find a truth, latch onto it and keep going from there.
Eventually, I think I landed one something I felt OK enough on. I took a deep breath. I knew that when I walked out of the door, I’d have to confront my feelings. “I can do this.”
Before I left, however, I heard the PA system come on. Right, Annbelle’s class. But the thing I heard coming out of the speakers wasn’t Annabelle’s voice. “BANG! BANG! BANG!”
“Th…those were gunshots…” I reacted, horrified. I left my papers in the room, and ran out.
I hurried to the announcements room. I was not the only one who heard it, since I ran into Cassy, Andy, Sophie, and Jay in the hall. “Was that…?” Sophie wondered.
“We don’t have time,” Cassy said, seriously. The rest of us nodded, and then rushed up the stairs.
We approached the announcements room, and soon enough, everyone but Annabelle was with us. We knew what that implied, but we didn’t want it to be right. However, we had to find out. I opened the door.
Sure enough, we were greeted with a horrific sight. On the floor was a gun. On the corner of a table was blood. Directly below the table laid Annabelle’s body. She had three distinct bullet wounds, as well as blood pouring out of her head. Annabelle was dead.
#danganronpa#danganronpa fanfic#danganronpa fanfiction#justin#duke#pierce#sophie#andy#tammy#Cassy#Jay#May#annabelle#maria#roman#Troy#Rachel#Buck#elliot#monokuma#monobird
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Danganronpa: Away Chapter 2: Talk is Cheap, Death is Free (Part 2)
I woke up the next morning, still confused. “I just hope that everything will work out alright” I told myself. I walked down and I had breakfast with everyone.
“Oh, Cassy, good madame” said Troy. Cassy looked up. “At what time should I come to your room to discuss which case we shall make into a play?”
“Oh” said Cassy. “I was thinking we could, you know, do that in your room…”
Troy looked embarrassed. “Oh… Well, in that case, good madame, allow me to clean up my room first.”
“Oh…” said Cassy. “Well, you don’t need to go through all that trouble then.”
“No, it’s my fault, good madame. I never should have invited myself into a lady’s room.”
“Oh…” said Cassy.
This is getting weird. “Why don’t you meet in the library or something?” I said.
“Good idea! Good sir” said Troy.
“Yes, it is good” said Cassy.
I swear, if these two keep interacting, it will be the death of me. “OK” I said. “Do you have a case in mind already?” I asked.
“Yes” said Cassy, directly for the first time today.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Fool! It is not for you to know yet, good sir” said Troy.
“Oh...right…” I said. Tammy looked at me weird. “What?”
“Nothing” said Tammy. “I’m just thinking about how to get around Kuma.O.S.”
“You’ve looked at it?” I asked.
“Last night” said Tammy. “I took a quick glance. Based on the outset, it seems really complicated. I don’t know when I could crack it.”
“Um, Tammy,” said Andy, “is this something you’re going to be working on constantly then?”
“Hell No!” said Tammy. Everyone was shocked. “Sorry. It’s just that...the last time I worked tirelessly was attempting to get dad out of prison. After which I got accepted into Hope’s Peak. Between those two events, I passed out for like three days straight. I don’t think that kind of dedication is going to be helpful in getting out of here.”
“Oh. I see. That’s understandable” said Andy.
“Plus, it helps me think better” said Tammy. “Thinking back on it now, there were at least 10 better ways to solve that problem. Sleepless Tammy is an idiot.”
“Man, I wish I could have you dedication for rest” said Pierce. “I’m practically the living embodiment of ‘I’ll sleep when I die.’”
“I used to be like that. Maybe you should stay up for days on end” said Tammy. “That’s what helped me.”
“Well...maybe something a little less drastic” said Pierce.
“Suit yourself” said Tammy.
We finished breakfast. I stayed behind to do dishes. Duke came in to the kitchen. “Here to keep me company?” I asked.
“Not really” said Duke. “Mainly I’m trying to keep my distance from May at the moment.”
“Gotcha” I said. “Do you like May?”
“What do you mean? Of course I do! I like everyone here” said Duke.
“I mean, do you LIKE like May?” I clarified.
“...Oh” said Duke. “I haven’t thought about that.”
“I think you do” I said. “I have an eye for these things.”
Duke looked at me funny. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” he broke down laughing. “Good one.”
“No, I’m serious”” I told him. “Listen, how else would I know that Troy and Cassy like each other?”
Duke only began to laugh harder. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!” He eventually fell to the floor. “Listen, leave the chemistry to the experts. You’re talented, no doubt, but this is clearly one place you’re lacking.” I was annoyed. “Oh man, it’s moments like this that make me miss hanging out with my friends. We used to do all sorts of stuff together.”
“Like what? I asked.
“Well, one thing we did was we used to was go camping” said Duke. “We used to just sit out under the stars. Staring at them. Talk about nothing. Eat smores.”
Smores huh? “Well, I managed to score a bag of marshmallows from the Monomono Machine” I told Duke. “If you want, we could do something like that later.”
Duke thought about it. “OF COURSE!” he said. “We can have a guy’s night here! In the cafeteria! It’s perfect! I’ll tell everyone. Don’t worry about a thing! Except the marshmallows, I guess.”
“Cool...see you tonight then?” I said.
“You bet!” said Duke, rushing off.
I finished the dishes and headed out myself. I went upstairs to the library to see what was happening there. In the library, I found Tammy and Monobird talking.
“So, do you know anything about Kuma.O.S.?” Tammy asked.
“Only that my cage is controlled by it” said Monobird.
“So, that’s one more layer of complication” said Tammy.
“Hey guys” I said.
“AH!” said Tammy. “Oh, it’s just you.”
“Hello Justin” said Monobird. “We were just discussing the Kuma.O.S. system that Monokuma was using to keep us in here.”
“Right” I said. “So, what do you know so far?”
“Well, like I said, it will take a while” said Tammy. “There are many...how do I explain this...basically tripwires.”
“Tripwires?” I asked.
“Yeah. So, here’s what I mean” said Tammy. “Basically, to get access to something you’re not supposed to have access to, you need to find a way to get around. Say you want to sneak into a building. The front entrance is being guarded by guards. So logically, you would want to find a way other than the front. The problem is that they’ve also thought of this and have installed tripwires to alert the guards to when you are trying to get into the building another way.”
“I get what you mean” I told her.
“So, the thing with Kuma.O.S. is that there are trip wires everywhere” said Tammy. “What’s worse is that, unlike a real life tripwire, when looking through a way to get access on a computer program there are ways of telling what the tripwires will do. Usually, this just means locking your computer, or in some extreme cases reporting your IP address to the police.”
Well, she did try to break her dad out of prison.
“But after tracing some of the tripwires of Kuma.O.S., I have learned that they do much worse things when activated.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like leak poison gas into the school. Or fire the guns automatically” said Tammy.
“Gotcha” I said.
Monobird chimed in “Yes, well, as we know Monokuma is a rather cruel host. It would only make sense that these kinds of traps would be set.”
“However, it is not impossible to get around these tripwires of sorts” said Tammy. “However, creating something that can will take a lot of time. And…”
“And what?” I asked.
“...And I’m afraid” said Tammy. “I mean, I can do this, but how many more people will die before I get it done? I COULD crunch, but even making the smallest mistake can end up with all of us dead. I just don’t know what to do.”
I placed my hands on Tammy’s shoulders and said “Just do it at your own pace.”
“But I don’t want anyone else to die” said Tammy.
“I know” I said. “But being stressed out isn’t going to help” I said. “Just focus on what you can do. Even saving one life will be a miracle in this situation.”
“...OK” said Tammy.
“I say, you have a very good grasp on what to do here” said Monobird. “I do have to wonder how you are so good at navigating these dire straits.”
“Well Troy and Cassy are in the computer lab trying to figure out” said Tammy.
“They’re in the computer lab?” I asked.
“Yeah, they’re working on a script together” said Tammy.
“It figures” I said wistfully.
Tammy gave me a look and said “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re completely wrong.”
“What? What do you mean?” I said, innocently.
“Look, the reason Troy and Cassy were acting like that wasn’t because they like each other” said Tammy. “It’s because they’re both socially awkward people trying to solve a problem!”
“Yeah, but that’s just the beginning of it” I said.
“It really isn’t” said Tammy.
“You sure about that?’ I asked.
“Trust me. If there’s someone Cassy likes, it’s not Troy” said Tammy.
“Ahem” said Monobird. “Speaking as someone who has experience in this field, I agree with Tammy on this.”
“Wait, you have experience with this?” I asked.
“Of course” said Monobird. “I’m married and I have a child. I’m also expecting a second child soon.”
“Oh, congratulations!” said Tammy.
“Yes, well, thank you” said Monobird. “Anyway, yes, Troy’s and Cassy’s awkwardness with each other isn’t the romantic variety like Miss Sparks says.”
Troy walked out of the room with some pages in his hand. “We have a script, good sirs and madam!” he shouted.
“Yes, it has been completed” said Cassy.
I looked at Tammy and Monobird. “No” said Tammy.
“No what?” asked Cassy.
“Justin has this notion that you two are lovebirds in the making” said Monokbird. “So to speak.”
Cassy was embarrassed. Troy on the other hand laughed and said “How delightful, good sir.”
“You call us going out delightful?” asked Cassy.
“No, good madam. I was referring to the idea of Justin thinking we would go out” said Troy.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“It’s just funny to me, good sir” said Troy. “It’s a fun distraction for us both.”
“Wait, us both?” I said.
“Yes, good sir” said Troy. “See, there’s someone I like already.”
“Really?” asked Tammy. “Who?”
“Well, good madam, um, she is, um, Veronica Jacobs...she went to middle school with me...she is going to Hope’s Peak this year as the, um, Ultimate Daredevil…”
“Oooooo” said Tammy.
“See, this is the kind of awkwardness form someone in love with someone” said Monobird.
“Yeah, I get it” I said.
“What’s she like?” asked Cassy.
“Well, she’s tough, but sweet, good madam” said Troy, getting more embarrassed. “She can navigate any situation like it’s nothing. Whether that be jumping over 15 cars on fire, or my jealous ways.”
“Jealous ways?” asked Tammy.
“Yes, good madam. See, I was reminded of when I accused her and one of her friends of dating because I thought I didn’t have a chance. She saw right through me though, and came over and gave me a kiss... We eventually started dating, but she went to train in the summer, so we haven’t done much. I was hoping to meet her on the first day of school, but all of this happened.”
“I see” I said. “We’ll make it out, and you can see her again, don’t worry.”
“Yes, of course, good sir” said Troy. “And hopefully with this script, we’ll be one step closer in getting out of here.”
“Speaking of” said Cassy, walking over toward Tammy. “How would you like to be in this play?”
“ME?!” asked Tammy.
“Yes, good Madam. We thought that you would play one of the characters nicely” said Troy.
“Oh, uh, well, sure” said Tammy.
“GREAT!” said Troy. “Now we just need to get a few more people.”
“Here’s your script” said Cassy.
“Great, I’ll look it over” said Tammy.
“Oh, uh, right” said Troy. “We’re going to put this on tomorrow, good madam. So there’s no need for you to memorize it, we’ll just be reading from the script.”
“We are going to do a few run throughs this afternoon to make sure everything is OK” said Cassy.
“Oh. Sure thing. I’ll be there” said Tammy.
Troy and Cassy left. Tammy followed. “So, I was wondering,” said Monobird, “did you pick up on something during Troy’s story?”
“Yeah” I said. “I picked up on one more reason we need to get out of this hellhole.”
“...Just what I’d expect from you” said Monobird.
I explored a little more. I tried hanging out with a few people, but it seems like a lot of people are being drawn into the production.
“Sorry, I can’t. I gotta practice a bit for the play” said Buck.
“I can’t. I need to get to the theater” said Sophie.
“I would, but Troy and Cassy asked me to do the sound for their production” said May.
I wound up in the cafeteria all by myself. Well, only for a little bit. “Why the long face?” said Pierce. “Lunch got ya feeling down?”
“Nah” I said. “It’s just everyone’s working on the play.”
“Well, I’m here, aren’t I?” said Pierce.
“True” I said. “But it’s more like...everyone’s doing this big thing on my behalf, and I don’t know if it will work.”
“You just gotta have hope” Pierce said. “You know, you seem to be good at dishing out advice, but you’re not so good at taking it.”
I thought about that. “Well, I’m only human” I said.
“True” said Pierce. “But it helps to see the bigger picture.”
That’s what I was afraid of. “Pierce, I was lying before” I said. Pierce looked surprised. “I wasn’t worried about whether or not it will work. I think all possibilities should be tried. It’s just I’m the reason everyone else is stuck in this mess.”
“How so?” asked Pierce.
I sighed. “Well, everyone got invited because of me. Because my grandfather thought I was special. I put us in harm’s way by existing. Now Maria and Roman are dead, and Monokuma isn’t letting us out anytime soon. It’s just so frikin annoying, you know?” Pierce started laughing. “What are you laughing about?”
“I’m sorry” said Pierce. “You just remind me of someone. How do I phrase this? So one time in class, I was told the story of this one prince from ancient times. Before they were born, their mom was taken by a rival kingdom. The king whose wife was stolen set out an expedition to save her. However, by the time he got there, the other king had already had his way with the queen and she had given birth. The two kings fought, and the queen’s husband won, taking the queen and the prince, who wasn’t his son, with him. Later, the other king was dying, and he sent his army to save his only heir, the prince from the other kingdom, so that he could inherit the throne. When the two armies fought, the prince questioned why the other army invaded. The king and queen told him what had happened and he said to himself ‘everyone's dying because I was born.’ I was laughing because you sound just like that.”
“How does the story end?” I asked.
“Oh, right” said Pierce. “It ended with the prince going to surrender himself. However, it was a trick. He stole the other king’s crown. And since he was the legitimate heir to begin with, the army listened to him, and he merged the two kingdoms together.”
“Wow.”
“My point is, not everything’s about you. Just like the prince, you couldn’t control the circumstances that lead us to this point. However, also like the prince you can use your skills to get us out of it.”
“I guess you’re right” I said. “But I don’t know what my skills are.”
“Well, isn’t it wonderful then that you have a bunch of friends helping you figure out what they are?”
I laughed. “Yeah.”
“Just relax. I’m sure that when you’re at your best, you can get everyone out of here without a hitch” said Pierce.
I looked at him. “Thanks.”
I decided to spend the afternoon working on the clay figure of my mom. It was more of a process than I remember it being, but I guess I was too focused on that nightmare I had to remember the excruciating labor to produce a statue. I guess that’s why I eventually fell asleep on the third one.
I heard a knock at the door. “Come in” I said.
It was Annabelle. “Uh, hi.”
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Well, I was wondering more about your statue making” she said. “Why did you start doing it? What are you making statues of? What is your technique? I need to get to the bottom of this!”
“Oh, sure” I said. “Well, like I said, I started making them after I got a nightmare and-”
“And you needed something to make you tired, yeah I know. But why did you land on making statues.”
“Oh. Well, Roman says he did it to relax. I thought I would try it to see if it worked.”
“So, you took advice from a murderer?”
“Well, I know it’s not ideal, but nothing about this situation is ideal. I don’t think Roman would have been a murderer in an ideal situation.”
“Right” she said. “I don’t ask to accuse you of anything, I ask to clarify.”
“I get ya” I said. “To be honest though, the whole situation with Roman was fresh in my mind. I don’t know what I would have done if it wasn’t.”
“I see.” she said. “So, what do you make statues of. I know about your mom, but is there anyone else?”
“Well, yeah. I did a statue on Maria and a statue on Roman.”
“Can I see them?”
“Sure, they’re in the room in the back.”
Annabelle got up and went to the room in the back. She came out soon after saying “Your craftsmanship needs work, but for an amature, you’re not bad.”
“Thanks” I said. “Is that it?”
“Well...I guess that’s it for this subject, but I want to talk to you more.”
“Cool.”
“It’s just...I’m not sure what to do right now.”
“How do you mean?” I asked.
“Well...I’m a reporter, right?”
“Yes.”
“But I’m trapped here, so I have nothing to report on. So, what do I do?” Annabelle asked.
I had to think, because I wasn’t sure either. “Well, this would certainly make for an interesting story once we get out, right?”
“Yeah, but I would be the news at this point” said Annabelle. “I couldn’t report on it fairly.”
“Well...I assume it would still be helpful to take note and stuff. Just to see where we started and ended up.”
Annabelle looked at me. “You’re right. Primary sources ARE always important. And since I’m great at taking notes, and interviewing people, and taking their words to see what they mean, I can have the MOST accurate primary sources! This is great! Thanks Justin.”
“I’m just trying to help keep us all sane.”
“Well, whatever you’re doing, it’s working. This is just what I needed.”
“So, do you want to watch me work so you can take notes on it?”
“Yes please!”
I kept working on the statue. It was mostly quiet, but Annabelle and I would sometimes chat about things. Apparently, she didn’t think Cassy and Troy were a couple either. She was surprised that Troy had a girlfriend though. She also talked a bit about her days at the newspaper. It was interesting stuff.
I eventually finished the statue. “Cool” she said. “What an interesting process you have.”
“This isn’t how you’re supposed to do it?” I asked.
“Well, I mean, I have seen professional at work due to the nature of my job. But your way works for you.”
“Wait, no, how are you supposed to do it?” I asked.
Annabelle smiled and said “Now now, no need to get your panties in a bunch. You’re fine the way you are.”
“I...but…”
“HA!” she said. “Now I got YOU all flustered. Serves you right.”
“I see you haven’t lost your competitive edge yet.”
“Nope. That’s just who I am.”
“For what it’s worth, I didn’t mean to fluster you.”
“Yeah, but this is fun.”
I can’t argue that point. “Well, speaking of fun, this has been fun, wouldn’t you say.”
“Oh yeah, totally. Maybe we can do it again sometime.”
“I’m looking forward to it.
Making the statue took a while, even though it didn’t feel like it because of the time I spent with Annabelle. When I finished, it was time for dinner. During dinner, I remembered the guys night Duke was organizing tonight. I should get ready for it.
I went to my room and grabbed the marshmallows. I came back down to the dinning hall. I saw Duke setting up the place to make things more outdoorsy. “Uh, hi” I said. “I brought the marshmallows.”
“GREAT!” said Duke. “You can set them on the tale and help me with this stuff.”
I did as he said. “Um, so who’s all coming?” I asked.
“All the guys” said Duke. “I invited them.”
“Oh, cool” I said. I helped Duke finish the preparations.
“That should do it” said Duke. “Now we gotta wait for everyone.”
Buck was the first to arrive “Wow, this is fucking dope” he said.
Then Troy and Jay came “Wow, I really like what you guy did with the place” said Jay.
“Truly, this is a grand design, good sirs” said Troy.
Finally, Pierce and Andy showed up. “Sorry it took a while” said Pierce. Andy said nothing.
“Are we ready?” said Duke.
“Uh, sure…” said Pierce.
“Them let the guy’s night COMMENCE!” said Duke, as he lit a fire in the middle of the room.
“WHOA! Isn’t that dangerous?” asked Jay.
“Not really” said Duke. “I’m using a fireproof tarp around the fire, and I checked the ventilation earlier and there’s no danger of this room getting filled with smoke.”
“Oh...cool…” said Jay.
“It WILL be once we get this party rollin’” said Duke.
“I found some skewers in the kitchen” I said. “Take a marshmallow and we can start on smores.”
“SMORES! ALRIGHT!” yelled Troy. Everyone looked at him “What? I lie smores, good sirs.”
We made smores and at them. We had conversations about all kinds of different things. Our old schools, our friends, out families. Stuff like that. Even Andy opened up at some point.
By the end of it, we were all smiling from ear to ear. We were tired, but we didn’t care.
“Man, this was amazing, good sirs” said Troy.
“Yeah, thanks Duke for inviting us” said Andy.
“Thank Justin. He was the one that gave me the idea” said Duke.
“Really? Well, thanks Justin” said Andy.
“Well, Duke did a lot of the work” I said.
“Nonsense” said Duke. “Work is work, but ideas are magic.
“He is right, good sir” said Troy.
“Well, yeah, but you gotta give credit for the work” said Jay. “It’s not easy.”
“I’ll say” said Pierce.
“Let’s just thank them both” said Buck. “An idea isn’t complete without good execution.”
“Right” said Andy.
“Well, whoever was responsible, thank you. I had an excellent evening” said Jay. “However, I should be getting to bed.”
“Me too” said Buck.
“Yeah” said Andy, yawning. “I’m just about plum tuckered out.”
One by one, everyone started to leave, until it was just me, Duke, and Pierce. “Don’t you want to go to bed as well?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I can help clean up” said Pierce.
“Great!” said Duke. We cleaned up and put everything where it goes. “Thanks for helping us clean.”
“No problem. Thank you for putting on such a good guy’s night.” Pierce left.
“Justin” said Duke. “Thanks. This really made my night.”
“Right back atcha” I said. We both left for our rooms.
When I got back, I thought about everything that happened today. Tammy trying to figure out Kuma.O.S. Troy, Cassy, and everyone trying to figure my talent out. Annabelle trying to figure out her purpose here. We are all trying. I want to continue to try to break out of this prison. Hopefully no more blood will be shed.
#danganronpa#Danganronpa away#Danganrnpa fanfic#Monokuma#Monobird#Justin#Cassy#Buck#Elliot#Annabelle#Tammy#Troy#Jay#Pierce#Andy#Sophie#Rachel#Duke#May#Roman#Maria
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Danganronpa: Away Chapter 1: A Smiling Face Betrays the Truth (Part 3)
I woke up again feeling heavy. This time due to Monokuma’s motive. It still confused the heck out of me. He is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, who wants us dead. That is dangerous. I put on my clothes and headed to the dining area for the meeting for the first time without needing someone to stop me on my way.
When I got there, everyone was nervous. I couldn’t blame them. “What do we do?” asked Maria.
“Well, we at least have some time to think things through” said Cassy.
“Like that would help” said Elliot.
“It might” said Duke. “You don’t know.”
“How would it help?” asked Elliot. “There’s no good way out of this situation. Either one of us murders someone, or all of our parents are killed.
“Well...yeah…” said Duke. “I guess you’re right.”
“Not necessarily” said Cassy. “Monobird, you’re still on the outside, right?”
“Well, technically, yes” said Monobird.
“Great. I have an idea” said Cassy. “I want you to assign officers to protect our parents.”
Everyone was in shock. I guess when you’re trapped in here, the easy solution can seem impossible. After all, there’s no easy way out of this makeshift prison.
“Of course we’re doing that” said Monobird.
Cassy took a deep breath. “There’s something else I want you to do” she said.
“What is that?” asked Monobird.
Cassy looked frightened, but knew to press forward. “Could you...could you ask what our parents feel about this motive and report back to us?”
“WHAT?!” shouted May.
“Are you crazy?” asked Rachel.
“WHAT KIND OF FUCKIN’ QUESTION IS THAT?!” asked Buck.
“I know!” said Cassy. “I know.” They were right. She knew that. Asking that question of them is asking them if they were willing to die for us. While it seems like a lot of our parents told us that growing up, it’s another thing to put it to the test. “I don’t like this either” said Cassy. “But I hate playing into Monokuma’s game. I hate seeing him win. I hate seeing him use us like puppets on a string. We have to try to fight him. So, will you allow me to make this request so that the Ultimate Killer can be stopped for good?”
Everyone at the table knew the consequences of the request. It was a difficult choice that no one wanted to make. “Let me be the first to say I shall allow this request, good madam” said Troy. “But, I propose this: We reconvene once Monobird has asked all of our parents. If the answer ‘yes,’ then we shall respect their wishes and bare the burden of their deaths on us. If they answer ‘no,’ then I shall offer myself as a sacrificial lamb. No one else should have to suffer because of us.”
“I agree to those terms, good sir” said Cassy. Troy looked a little embarrassed to be called what he formally called everyone else. “Are there any objections from anyone else?” The whole table was silent with agreement. “Then it is settled. We shall reconvene at the request of Monobird. Once he gives us the results of his finding, we discuss our terms.”
“Hold on” said Pierce.
“What is it?” asked Cassy.
“I don’t necessarily have any objections,” he began, “But I would like to point out two things. One: I am currently without parents. I just wanted to point that out so Monobird doesn’t waste his time trying to look for them only to find them in some cemetery somewhere. Two: I am willing to also be a ‘sacrificial lamb.’ And since, this is a murder game, if Troy will allow me, I will play the role of murderer for him. I know how to achieve a quick and painless death, so you won’t feel a thing.”
“Not necessary, good sir” said Troy.”Monokuma has placed no rules against suicide. I shall end my own life for the sake of all of you.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then I’ll be the one to kill myself” said Pierce.
“Again, not necessary, good sir” said Troy. “I have already promised.”
“No, I insist” said Pierce.
“No, I shall do it, good sir” said Troy.
“No, let me” said Pierce.
“ENOUGH!” I shouted. “We will figure out who's killing themselves at our next meeting if it comes to it. I don’t want to talk about this possibility any further, unless we know FOR SURE that we’re going through with it.”
Pierce and Troy looked at me. “He is right” said Pierce. “Maybe it won’t come to that.”
“Also, let’s not forget, that there will be officers guarding our parents” said Cassy. “It is possible that the Ultimate Killer will not be able to reach them.”
“Right” said Troy. “I’m sorry for bringing up the possibility. I hope one day you will all forgive me.”
“Of course” said Cassy. “Monobird, will it take you more than the time limit to receive an answer from everyone?”
“No” said Monobird. “With any luck, we should have everyone’s answer by the end of the day today.”
“Then it is settled” said Cassy. “We shall meet when Monobird comes back with our answer. Until then, I suggest we just try to live as we have been.”
Everyone at the table was somber. They knew what they had to do, but none of them liked it. “Right then,” said Jay, “let’s just wait on our parents.”
One by one everyone left the table. Eventually it was just me and Cassy. I was about to leave, but Cassy said “Hold it! I actually want to talk to you. Could we please head to my room for a little bit?”
“Uh, sure” I said. I didn’t know what this was about, but it seemed important. We headed up to her room. We sat down, facing each other. “So, what’s this about?”
“I want to talk about your grandfather’s death at the hands of the Ultimate Killer” said Cassy. “Is that alright?”
So that’s it. “Sure” I said. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, I would like to know the circumstances of his death” she said.
“OK, well, my grandpa was a cautious man, so he had a surveillance camera in his home. It captured the killer, who I know now to be the Ultimate Killer, breaking into his home and the fight the lead to his death, but…”
“‘But’ what?”
“There was something weird.”
“What was it?”
“Well, between the entry and the struggle, the camera shut off for about 20 minutes at the will of my grandfather.”
“I see” said Cassy. “WAIT!” She pushed me out of the way and dug through her desk drawer. She pulled out a case file.
“Where did you get that?!”
“I brought it with me” she said. “I had it under my hoodie.”
She’s saying that like it’s a common occurrence.
“More importantly,” she said, pulling out a photo, “is this your grandfather?”
She was holding a picture of my grandpa. “Yes” I said.
“Great Scott! Your grandpa was Jacob Westwood? Perhaps the greatest headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy to ever live?”
“Yeah” I said, dejected. “So, I guess now you know.”
“Know what?” she asked.
I had come to terms with it already, but saying it aloud was another thing. I didn’t want to let anyone down, but the truth is the truth. “That the only reason I got accepted was because my grandfather holds a lot of power at Hope’s Peak. I know I could never live up to your greatness, but I did my best to try and fit in. I hope you can forgive me.”
Cassy just stared at me. “What are you, stupid?” she said. “Jacob Westwood doesn’t let just anyone into Hope’s Peak Academy. If he selected you, then there’s no doubt you belong here.”
“I don’t know…”
“It’s true. Listen, were your parents accepted into Hope’s Peak?”
“...They were not.”
“Then why do you think he would allow you in without a reason? He was serious when it came to matters of Hope’s Peak!”
I sighed. “Of course he was” I said. “Why should I be any different?”
“I like the words, but you seem to be annoyed.”
“It’s just that he was almost too focused on Hope’s Peak. Like, I loved him, but come on grandpa, can we go one place and not find someone to send to Hope’s Peak? I just want to spend time with you without you getting interrupted by work. Is that so much to ask?”
“I see…”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to believe he cared about me as much as he cared about the academy. I thought I was special, but I guess I was just another of my grandpa’s projects.”
“...He cared about you” said Cassy.
“What?”
“He cared about you. He told me stories of you when he was recruiting me. He even said that he was recruiting me to get you in.”
“Wait, why?”
“Well, you see, I wasn’t Hope’s Peak’s first choice to be Ultimate Detective. They had someone else first, but your grandpa did some scouting of his own. He told me that he was asked to look into their selections because was very passionate about getting you in. He saw my detective skills as a better fit for the title of Ultimate, and I got accepted.”
“That’s weird.”
“What is?”
“Roman and Maria had similar stories. They both said that they were originally not accepted into Hope’s Peak, but someone interfered and they got accepted.”
“WHAT?!” said Cassy. “We may have something big here. This cannot be a coincidence. We need to interview everyone to see if we found a connection. Let’s go!”
“WAIT! Before we go, can I ask why you have my grandfather’s case file with you?”
“Oh, right” said Cassy. “I originally wanted to work on the mystery and put off going to Hope’s Peak until the murder was solved. However, he left a note behind saying that he would rather that I work on his case from Hope’s Peak. Get this, he actually let the guy I replace investigate his death full-time. Can you believe that?”
“Yeah, actually. I can”
“What? How?”
“Because I know my grandpa. He believes that you can actually solve his murder better from Hope’s Peak. He knows how to plan ahead. One time, he asked an Ultimate Pilot to delay his worldwide trip by a week, so that he can catch a criminal that he was chasing jumping out of a window. If he sent you off, it’s because he knows you can actually solve the mystery within Hope’s Peak.”
“...And you thought he was just letting you in because you’re his grandson. Sometimes Justin, you really know your stuff.”
“If only I knew my talent.”
“Anyway, we have questions we need to ask. So, let’s a get a move on!” She took my hand and we bolted out the door. “First, let’s see who’s in their rooms.” We knocked on rooms in the girls hall. Cassy took her side, I took the opposite side. “Hey Justin, Rachel’s in” she called out.
I went over to Rachel’s room. She and Sophie were inside. “Oh hello” said Sophie. “Nice to see ya.”
“What are you both doing here?” asked Rachel.
“We’re investigating” said Cassy. “We may have just made a breakthrough.” She pulled out my grandpa’s picture. “Do either of you recognize this man?”
“Why yes” said Sophie. “He was the one who recruited me to Hope’s Peak.”
Rachel looked stunned. “You too?”
“Yeah” said Sophie. “He actually sent me over someone else who was given the title of Ultimate Good Luck.”
“But, that seems almost absurd” said Cassy. “How can someone know someone is luckier than someone else?”
“You’ve met my grandpa before, right?” I said. “He was the Ultimate Perceiver.”
“But luck isn’t something that should be perceived” said Cassy.
“You’d think that, but my grandpa had a knack for perceiving things that most people couldn’t. Even luck” I said.
“Wait, that man was your grandfather?” asked Rachel.
“Oh, uh, yeah” I said.
“So, YOU’RE the grandson he was talking about” Rachel said.
“He told you that?” I asked.
“Yeah” said Rachel. “To be completely honest, I too was selected by your grandfather over someone else for the title of Ultimate Historian. He said he was trying to prove to the board of Hope’s Peak that he still had it in him. He wanted his grandson to attend Hope’s Peak because he had a lot of talent. I guess that was you.”
“I see” I said.
“He told me something similar” said Sophie. “And I was equally confused about how someone tested something as random as luck. He tested it in an extreme way. He wanted the both of us to cross a busy street slowly, saying that our luck would save us.”
“That’s my grandpa” I said.
“How did the test go?” Cassy asked.
“Well, the other person made it just fine. I fell into a sewer hole though” said Sophie. “Although, apparently, a huge truck was about to hit me, so I fell at just the right time. He said that that proved I had better luck.”
“I was similarly tested” said Rachel. “I had to recreate the conditions of a historical event on set, with barely any information available to me. My competitor was close, but he missed one key detail that was the focal point of the entire event.”
“I see” said Cassy. “Well, thanks for talking to us.”
“No problem” said Sophie.
“It was our pleasure” said Rachel.
We left and continued knocking on doors. We didn’t find any other girls in their room. “Let’s try the boy’s side next” said Cassy. We went over to the boy’s side. No one was in their rooms either. I met back up with Cassy, and she was thinking. “What should we do next?” she asked.
“Well, I suggest going to the art room” I aid. “Roman and Maria were our first leads. We should ask them to confirm whether or not my grandfather recruited them.”
“That’s a great idea” said Cassy. “Let’s go.” We headed down the stairs and into the art room. Sure enough, Roman, Maria, Tammy, Pierce, and Andy were in here. We approached Maria and Roman. “Hello” said Cassy. “We’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“What about?” asked Roman.
“About what you were telling me earlier about being accepted over someone else” I said.
“Oh” said Maria. “Fire away.”
Cassy pulled the picture out again. “Was this the man who recruited you?” she asked.
“Yes” said Roman.
“Yes” said Maria.
“Just as I thought” said Cassy.
“But how do YOU know him?” asked Roman.
“He recruited me as well over someone else” said Cassy.
“And he’s my grandfather” I said.
“WHAT?!” asked Maria. “The one who the Ultimate Killer killed?”
“Yeah” I said.
“It’ll be OK” she said, hugging me. “You feeling better?”
“I guess” I said. “It’s hard to tell in a situation like this. On top of finding out who killed my grandpa, we also have been given a time limit on our parent’s lives. It’s a lot to deal with.”
“Anyway,” said Cassy, “we think we may be onto something. Thank you for your help.”
“Oh, sure” said Roman.
“No problem” said Maria.
We made our way to Tammy. “Hey Tammy” said Cassy.
“Hey Cassy. Hey Justin” she said. “What’s up?”
“We’re conducting an investigation” she said. “Do you recognize this man?”
“YES!” she said. “He got me into Hope’s Peak!”
“Was anyone else slotted to be the Ultimate Technician before you got accepted?”
“YES!” she shouted again. “It was the kid who designed the security system of my dad’s prison. I met that man when my dad told me I couldn’t break him out. He asked me why I was so down and I explained what happened. Then, that jerk said no one could infiltrate his security system. I started yelling at him, but that man decided to test it instead. Of course, I easily disrupted his systems. That jerk of a kid asked if I could do better, and I did. He was in disarray. Then, that nice man said I could have his invitation to Hope’s Peak as the Ultimate Technician. But, why are you asking about this?”
“We’ve been noticing a pattern here” said Cassy. “Your story lines up with it. Like you, I was also accepted by this man over someone else.”
“I see” said Tammy. “What about Justin?”
“My circumstances are a little different” I said.
“You see, this man was trying to prove to Hope’s Peak’s board of directors that he should be let in with an unknown talent. So the board asked him to investigate their choices and see if he could do better.”
“Also, this man was my grandfather” I said.
“I see” said Tammy. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you” I said.
“And thank you for taking some time out to talk to us” said Cassy.
“No problem” said Tammy.
We headed over towards Pierce and Andy. Andy was diligently working on something. “IT’S NO USE!” Andy called out. “I just can’t get it right.”
“You’ll get it” said Pierce. “It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
“But-But-” said Andy distraught.
“It’ll be alright” said Pierce. “Let’s take a little break. It appears that Cassy and Justin are here to talk to us.”
He wasn’t even looking at us. I don’t care if he explained it, it’s still unsettling. “Yes” I said.
“Damn Pierce, always giving me the willies like that” said Cassy under her breath.
“Don’t think I didn’t hear that” said Pierce, turning around. “It’s fine though. A lot of people fear what they can’t understand. Usually though, I just try to understand it.”
Cassy looked shocked. “Anyway,” she held up my grandpa’s picture, “do either of you know this man?”
“YES!” said Andy, looking away from his work desk. “His name is Jacob Westwood. He was the Ultimate Perceiver, and the 27th headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy.”
Andy is really putting his skill to use with this.
“He was married to Penelope Goldman, the Ultimate Writer of her time. They had one daughter, who did not attend Hope’s Peak, and in turn she had a son, who headmaster Westwood said would be attending Hope’s Peak, so long as he knows what he’s doing.”
It’s frightening that he knows that much about my family.
“Well, he did” said Cassy. “Because his grandson is right here” she said, pointing to me.
“WHAT?!” said Andy. “Of course, I should have known. You both have the same aura. I thought it was just a coincidence though.”
“Aura?” I asked.
“Yeah” said Andy. “Aura. It’s a distinctive atmosphere that surrounds people. Most people don’t believe it, but being able to read someone’s aura is really helpful in trivia.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Well, it gives you a sense of who you’re up against” said Andy. “Of course, while I can read people’s aura, I’m not the best at it. I can only get an aura off of people with a strong will. And even then, it can get muddied.”
“How?” I asked again.
“Well, let’s look at this situation” said Andy. “We’re all Ultimates here, so all of us have a strong will. However, it is somewhat tainted by Monokuma and him forcing us to kill each other. In a straight up trivia contest, I can tell how a person is thinking in the heat of the moment, but in this situation I can only get a vibe of what a person is like, which might not be as helpful.”
“I see” I said.
“ENOUGH ABOUT AURAS AND SHIT!” shouted Cassy, panicked.
“Whoa, looks like someone’s scared” said Pierce.
“I’m not scared” she said, clearly lying. “I just want to get back to business. Andy, you said that Mr. Westwood said something to you, correct?”
“Um, yes” said Andy.
“So, that means you met with him then, correct?” asked Cassy.
“...Yes” said Andy.
“Can you tell us about the meeting?” she asked.
“Um, sure…” said Andy. “He was scouting out some selections that Hope’ Peak had made in terms of who will attend. He came to my usual trivia game. I noticed him before the game began and I approached him. He asked to talk after the game, so I went back to my table. After the game, which I won, but just barely, I approached him again. He told me that the school had accepted my rival, Kirk Wright. Apparently, Headmaster Westwood came here to watch him. This was his third night observing him but after watching me play, he said Hope’s Peak would benefit from having someone like me.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Really?” asked Cassy.
“It’s because, while Kirk is good at trivia, he’s a sore loser” said Andy. “He only plays trivia to win. I play because it’s fun.”
“I see” I said.
“And he mentioned something about getting Justin in?” said Cassy.
“Oh, right!” said Andy. “He said he was looking over some profiles the school board gave him. He said he approached them to get his grandson in. The board thought it was nepotism, so Headmaster Westwood accepted a challenge from them: ‘Look over these candidates and tell us if we can do better. If we can, you still have it, and your grandson can join Hope’s Peak.’”
“So, do you think it’s nepotism?” I asked. Cassy elbowed me. “Ow.”
“Not at all” said Andy. “I can tell from your aura that you are indeed someone with an Ultimate Talent.”
“Can we just move on to Pierce?” asked Cassy.
“Oh, uh, sure” said Andy, regaining some of his nervousness.
“So, why don’t you like this ‘aura’ talk?” asked Pierce.
“I am a firm believer in science” said Cassy. “There’s no evidence for something like ‘aura’ to exist. MORE IMPORTANTLY, Pierce, do you have a story related to Mr. Westwood?”
“Of course” said Pierce. “Like, Andy, he’s the one who sent me to Hope’s Peak.”
“And did you replace anyone?” asked Cassy.
“I guess” said Pierce.
“You guess?!” I asked.
“Well, when we were talking, he didn’t mention anyone else who was coming here with my title” said Pierce. “But, I think I might have. He did tell me he was mostly retired from doing stuff for Hope’s Peak, and that this search was to help his grandson get in. So, I guess I must have replaced someone, if my selection was in the same search as Andy’s selection.”
“That’s weird” said Cassy.
“Eh, I’m used to it” I said.
“Pierce’s weirdness?” asked Cassy.
“No, my grandfather doing this kind of thing” I said. “If he wasn’t replacing anyone, which is still an ‘if,’ then it’s entirely possible that my grandfather scouted him as a bonus. Besides, I wasn’t replacing anyone either.”
“A bonus, you say?” said Pierce.
“Yeah, he did that all the time” I said. “One time, he was sent to look for an Ultimate Carnival Barker, and he came back with that, an Ultimate Surgeon, and Ultimate Firefighter, an Ultimate Contortionist, an Ultimate Photographer, and an Ultimate Baccarat Player.”
“That seems rather odd” said Andy.
“Eh, it was Tuesday” I said. “Besides, I still got to enjoy the parts that didn’t catch fire. And some parts that did. You know, before they caught on fire.”
“I can kind of see why everyone else would be there, but why was a baccarat player at a carnival?” asked Cassy.
“I’m not entirely sure” I said. “He said he was there to find a good luck charm, but he already had like 8. I think he was up to something, but he will never tell me”
“Wait, the baccarat player he scouted that day was none other than ‘9-Charm’ Julian Francesco?” asked Andy.
“Yeah, I guess” I said.
“WOW!” said Andy. “He’s a legend.”
“Well, it look like our work here is done” said Cassy, trying to speed our investigation up. She was right, but I loved hearing Andy talk about stuff. “We should get going.”
“Have fun on your investigation” said Pierce.
We left the art room. “Should we just go down the line and check the gym next?” asked Cassy.
“Sure” I said. We entered the gym. Buck, Elliot, Jay, and Troy were there doing some form of exercise.
“Hey!” called Buck. He rushed over. “You guys hear from Monobird yet?!”
“No, not yet” said Cassy.
Buck scoffed. “Figures” he said. “So, what are you two doing together?”
“Well, we have some questions for you” I said.
“Shoot” said Buck.
Cassy took out my grandpa’s photo. “Do you know this man?”
Buck looked confused. “Yeah. He recruited me to Hope’s Peak.”
“Was he choosing you over someone else?” Cassy asked.
“Yeah…” said Buck. “But how did you know that?”
“It seems to be a recurring theme” said Cassy.
“Um, what was your impression of him?” I asked, nervously.
“He was something else” said Buck. “It’s like he was 12 steps ahead of everyone when he tested me against the person they were going to give it to. I mean, I was happy to let her have it, but he insisted I was the better choice. It was very hard to argue with him about it. I mean, he knew things I knew about basketball that I didn’t even know.”
“That’s my grandpa for you” I said.
“THAT WAS YOUR FUCKING GRANDPA?!” shouted Buck. “Then I totally trust his judgement.”
“What do you mean?” asked Cassy.
“He said that he was evaluating these choices to show Hope’s Peak that he still has it in him” said Buck. “He wanted to let his grandson in. After playing ball with you, I fully understand what your grandfather saw in you.”
“Um, Thank you” I said.
“And thank you for your time” said Cassy.
We talked towards Elliot. “What’s up?” she asked.
“We have some questions for you” said Cassy.
“Yes, I would be down with a threesome with you two” said Elliot. I was blushing, but not as hard a Cassy. “Just kidding.”
“About what?” I asked.
“I just wanted to see how Cassy would react” said Elliot. “After all, we gotta keep having fun to stop ourselves from killing each other, right?”
“How is this fun?” I asked.
“It’s fun for me” said Elliot. “Anyway, what are your actual questions?”
Cassy couldn’t look at Elliot anymore. She looked away and held up the picture. “Do you recognize this man?”
“Oh yes” said Elliot. “He’s the one that got me into Hope’s Peak.”
Cassy was still embarrassed, but she pressed onward as best as she could. “Did he say anything unusual?”
“Unusual how?” asked Elliot.
“Um, do you know if you were replacing someone as the Ultimate Contestant?” I asked.
“Oh, that” said Elliot. “Yeah. What of it?”
Cassy finally looked up. “It’s important” was all she was able to muster though
“I see” said Elliot. “Man, that threesome thing really got to you. I was joking.”
“Most people usually aren’t that forward with their jokes” I said.
“How were you chosen?” asked Cassy.
“Oh that?” said Elliot. “That was fun. Have either of you heard of a show called ‘Double Dare’?”
“Maybe” said Cassy.
“My grandpa used to watch it from time to time” I said. “He said it helped him understand what a contestant is truly capable of.”
“Well, your grandpa and this person would get along famously, because he also loved watching Double Dare for that reason” said Elliot.
“That was my grandpa” I said.
“Oh! Really?!” said Elliot. “I can see the resemblance now. Anyway, my competitor and I competed on a makeshift Double Dare-like game. It was a test of a lot of things, and in the end I won. That allowed me to get an invite from Hope’s Peak.”
“Well, thank you for your time” said Cassy.
“Man, you’re still flustered” said Elliot. “Just so you know, I was kidding. I’m not the type of person to share.”
I figured as much. “You’re so used to getting first that I bet sharing feels weird” I said.
“That’s what your grandpa said when my competitor asked if we could both attend Hope’s Peak” said Elliot. “I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Let’s just go” said Cassy, tugging on my arm.
We walk away for a bit. “Maybe we should take a break” I said. Help you cool down after that joke.”
“...Sure” said Cassy. We sat in the bleachers and took a break. “It’s just, Elliot says stuff like that a lot. I thought she was being serious. It really got to me.”
“I know what you mean” I said. “I wasn’t sure if she was joking at first either. But hey, we got the information we needed. It’s all good, right?” I said nudging her.
“Just, don’t touch me” she said.
“OK” I said. We just sat there in silence for a little bit.
Finally Cassy composed herself and said “OK, I think I’m ready. Let’s go interview Troy and Jay.”
“500!” We heard Troy and Jay call that out at the same time.
“Another tie?” said Troy.
“Looks like it” said Jay. “Man, I haven’t felt this pumped in a while.”
“Let’s go” I said. We got up and met with Troy and Jay where they were standing. “Hey guys, what’s up?”
“We were having a push-up contest, good sir” said Troy. “We wanted to see who could get first to 500 push-ups.”
“It was a tie though” said Jay. “Although, I’m psyched to have someone who can match my skill. It pushes me to become even better.”
“Hopefully not too far” I said. “While you might not exactly care about the state your body is in, Monokuma isn’t willing to help us if you somehow decapitate yourself internally.”
“Been there, done that” said Jay.
I was kidding.
“But I get what you mean” said Jay. “Monokuma isn’t exactly in the mood to help us. So if that type of thing happens again, then yeah, I’d be up shit creek. But I don’t think that’ll really happen. I mean, I’ve already done a lot of stuff like that, and my body has toughened up because of that. So, it’s be really hard for that to happen again.”
“While we are friends, good sir, I am deeply disturbed by your previous injuries” said Troy.
“A lot of people are” said Jay. “No offence taken.”
“AHEM!” said Cassy. She held up the picture. “Do either of you recognize this person?”
“Why, yes I do, good madam” said Troy.
“So do I” said Jay. “He’s the one who got me into Hope’s Peak.”
“What a coincidence, good sir. He got me in as well” said Troy.
“Like you were saying yesterday Troy,” said Cassy, “this might not be a coincidence at all.”
“What do you mean, good madam?” asked Troy.
“First, I’d like to ask another question. Were either of your replacing someone else for your title?” said Cassy.
“Yeah, I was. It was a little satisfying too” said Jay.
“I, too, was replacing someone, good madam” said Troy. “Although, I wouldn’t say I was satisfied with crushing someone’s dream.”
“Normally, I wouldn’t either” said Jay, “but she was one of my biggest bullies. It made me laugh to see that old man almost beat her in a race.”
“I see, good sir. Then I shall laugh at her misfortune with you. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” laughed Troy.
“You grandfather was that fit?” asked Cassy.
“Yeah” I said. “He had to keep up with people like Jay. Although not so much that he could outdo them. ‘Just enough to separate the wheat from the chaff’ he said.”
“That old man was your grandfather?!” asked Jay.
“I am shocked, but not surprised, good sir” said Troy. “He carried himself in a similar manner that you do. Although, he was much more refined.”
“He did say something about getting his grandson into Hope’s Peak” said Jay. “I thought it was nepotism, but then he clapped back by saying his daughter wasn’t allowed entry when he was the headmaster. He seems to take his job rather seriously. Although, after having met you, I agree with Troy. You possess a similar spark to your grandfather’s. I can see now why he would want you in.”
“Oh, uh, thanks” I said. “So, how were you tested?”
“My test came about by accident, good sir” said Troy. “I saw your grandfather jumping off a building. I thought he had fallen, so I rushed in to help. I stood on a wire and grabbed his hand. After that, I picked him up and rushed him back on top of the building. I saw another person there, who I later found out was originally going to be the Ultimate Parkour Artist. Apparently, your grandfather was testing him to see if he could make it across the building, but he said he couldn’t. So, your grandfather was trying to do it himself, using the wire as a springboard, but I then caught him. I then demonstrated how to leap across the building without that wire. The original person fled the building in a panic. The best part though, was when he was describing to me how he could think to attempt it. He started to go into my Master’s philosophy, and then I told him I was his student. He asked to come to Master’s grave with me, and we did. It was a lovely time.”
“My story is a little similar” said Jay. “I was strolling around in the bleachers. At this point, I was just kicked off the track team because they didn’t need me for victories anymore. Anyway, I saw your grandpa racing my bully. It was close, but she won. But, she was breathing heavy, and your grandfather hadn’t broken a sweat. I called out to her to delight in her misery. That’s when gained an interest in me. My bully explained that I was no longer on the track team, but that made him even more curious. He said he wanted to race me next. I allowed him time to catch his breath if he needed it, but he said he was ready. We raced, and I won by a mile. Your grandfather needed to rest after that race, I’ll tell ya. He then said I was going to Hope’s Peak instead. I rejected at first though.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because, my school has a serious bullying problem” said Jay. “I wasn’t the only one, but I was the toughest. And usually, I would defend those who couldn't defend themselves. Luckily, your grandfather seems to know a lot of interesting people, because he said he would call in people to help protect student and educate everyone so that the bullying would be reduced.”
“Was one of them a bodyguard named Chris?” I asked.
Jay had to think for a minute. “There was a bodyguard, but her name was Ashley, I think” he said.
“Wow, Ashley’s getting jobs on her own now?” I said. “Good for her.”
“Anyway, I think that our work here is done” said Cassy. “Thanks for the information. Let’s go” she said, pulling my arm.
“Uh, thanks again” I said. “Seeya.”
“Fare thee well, good sir” said Troy.
“Seeya” said Jay.
While we we leaving the gym, Cassy asked me “Why must you always lengthen the process?”
“I get where you’re coming from” I said, “but I like seeing how my grandfather tested Ultimates. While I admit he was a workaholic, I enjoyed that side of him from time to time, and seeing how these people were chosen feels like his final gift to me.”
“Oh” said Cassy. “I’m sorry. It’s just that, we are on a timer. I’m a little stressed out when I need to work on a timer.”
“You don’t work well under pressure?” I asked.
“I like to be thorough with my investigations” she said. “Normally, I’d be asking those questions, but in a situation like this, I loose my cool. When I’m given the freedom to work, I do end up taking longer, but I never get the wrong person. I pride myself on that.”
“I see” I said. We made it out into the hall again. “Well, I guess the only place left is the dining area.”
“And the nurse’s office” said Cassy. “But I don’t think anyone’s in there.”
“Well, if we’re being that specific, I don’t think anyone’s in the shopping district either” I said.
Cassy looked stunned. “THIS is why I don’t work well on a timer.”
We entered the dining area to find Duke, Annabelle, and May just hanging out. W approached them. “Um, excuse me” I said. “We need to ask some questions of the three of you?”
“Why?” asked Annabelle.
“We’re conducting an investigation” said Cassy.
“Oh. OK. Fire away” said Annabelle.
Cassy held up my grandpa’s photo. “Do any of you recognize this man?” she asked.
“Yeah” said Annabelle. “Yeah I do. He was the person who recruited me to Hope’ Peak. That’s Jacob Westwood, isn’t it?”
“Seriously?!” said May. “He recruited me as well.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” said Duke. “That man also recruited me. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“We don’t think it is either” said Cassy. “In fact, I’m certain of it. However, I do have another question for you, and some information of our own. Now, how many of you replaced someone else coming to Hope’s Peak with you title?”
“Well, I mean, I did” said May. “But I’m not sure how relevant that fact is.”
“You can’t be serious?!” said Duke. “I was also replacing someone!”
“That’s weird” said Annabelle. “I was replacing someone as well. How mysterious. So, what was the information that you wanted to share?”
Always alert to pick up on a scoop. “Oh, right” I said. “The man in the photo Cassy held up is my grandfather.”
“Hm, I see…” said Annabelle. “Wait...HOLY COW! Your grandfather was former Hope’s Peak headmaster Jacob Westwood? That’s amazing!”
“Seriously?!” said May. “That is SUPER WICKED!”
“Wait. The man that tested us...was your grandfather?” said Duke. “Well, I have to say, he does not disappoint.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“Well, he did mention something about getting his grandson in” said Duke. “I can see why he thought you belong at Hope’s Peak now. I thought it was nepotism, but I just went along with it, because who could say no to Hope’s Peak? But after seeing you play basketball, and talking to you for a bit, I can understand the potential he sees in you.”
“Yeah, he also mentioned something like this to me” said May.
“He said something to that effect when he tested me a well” said Annabelle. “....AHHHHHHH!!”
“What is it?” asked May.
“I just realized,” said Annabelle, “if Jacob Westwood is Justin’s grandfather, then his grandmother is Penelope Goldman!”
“Where have I heard that name before?” asked May.
“GADZOOKS!” said Duke. “Wasn’t she an Ultimate Writer?”
“Yes!” said Annabelle. “She wrote in all sorts of styles, and was nearly perfect in all of them. From fiction, to nonfiction. She was even good at writing newspaper articles.”
“Yeah” I said. “My grandma was amazing. That’s also why you recognized the style of what she said to me when she got me this wristband.”
“So, THAT was it!” said Annabelle.
I looked at Cassy, as if to ask if our investigation was done. “Fine” she said. “I need to talk to Monobird anyway. She left to approach Monobird, who stayed in here since breakfast.
“What was that about?” asked May.
“It’s nothing” I said. “Anyway, if you don’t mind, I would love to hear how my grandpa tested you.”
“Oh, sure!” said May. “I’ll go first. So, what happened was he wanted to see if we could move someone with our music selection. It was a friend of his. He was a grumpy old man, but deep down I sensed that he was sad and lonely. The person who was to go to Hope’s Peak just played stuff from his era. It got him moving a little bit, but it wasn’t what he needed to hear. I opted for some more modern songs that felt like what he needed to hear. My opponent scoffed at me, but when I looked at the old man, he was crying. Just letting it all out. He opened up about how his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash. He said he hadn’t felt the same ever since. I told him about my situation, and we bonded over that. He said he was going to keep moving forward. Well, as much as he could anyway. I wonder how he’s doing.”
“By chance, are you talking about Gordy Jones?” I asked.
“Yeah!” said May. “How do you know him?”
“He’s one of my grandpa’s friends, like you said” I said.
“Oh, right” said May.
“You must have gotten through to him, because at my grandpa’s funeral, he was in better shape than since I last saw him. I mean, he was still sad about grandpa dying, but aside from that, he was more relaxed than I had seen him since the accident” I said.
“Really?!” said May. “I’m glad for him.”
“My test wasn’t anything so emotional” said Duke. “Well, unless you count excitement as an emotion. Which it is. But that’s not the point. The point is my test involved me and my competitor recreating a ground-breaking formula that a previous Ultimate Chemist came you with. It was a little tricky, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Apparently, it was a little too much for the other guy. Can you believe that they were off by 5 milliliters of water? 5 milliliters!”
“Um, 5 milliliters doesn’t sound like a lot” I said.
“This is why you aren’t the Ultimate Chemist” said Duke. “Sometimes a chemical compound can be disrupted simply by 1 milliliter of something. And sure, water isn’t the most dangerous thing, but if it were something, like a type of acid for example, the results of putting in too much or not enough could be disastrous! So, don’t go messing with things you don’t understand. Got it?”
“Got it” I said.
“Good” said Duke. “I might have been foolish enough to ignore that warning in my youth, but I won’t allow anyone else to make those mistakes so long as I can help it. To be honest, that’s kind of why I wanted to get into Hope’s Peak. If I were known world-wide I could spread my message more clearly, and hopefully prevent further accidents.”
Duke seems a bit off, but he’s serious when it comes to matters of chemistry. “If we were at Hope’s Peak right now, instead of here, I think you could do it” I said.
Duke was taken aback by the sudden compliment. “Thanks” he said.
“As for me, Mr. Westwood determined it was a simple matter of oversight on Hope’s Peak’s account” said Annabelle. “You see, the article that got Hope’s Peak’s attention was an article the person they were considering and I wrote together. However, I did most of the work. Hope’s Peak only chose the other person because her name was the first to appear on the byline. It was only like that though because the names were listed alphabetically by last name, and having a last name like ‘Winchell’ doesn’t help me in that scenario.”
“Who was the other person?” I asked.
“Her name was Vanessa Greene” said Annabelle. “She’s not bad at the job, in fact she’s the one that got the ball rolling on the story, but her style could use a little more polish.”
“Were you close?” I asked.
“I guess you could say that” said Annabelle. “I guess we were friends. There was always a little bit of competition between us, you know being the only two teenagers at a major newspaper and all, but we were friends. We even went to the carnival together just for fun once. I didn’t take a single note.”
“That sounds nice” I said. Hang on. A mix-up in the by-line. That doesn’t sit right with me.
“Alright everyone” said Cassy, coming back to us. “Monobird says he’s ready to talk to all of us. May, you gather everyone from the gym. Justin, get everyone from the art room. I’ll go get Sophe and Rachel. Duke, Annabelle, you two stay here.”
“Sounds like a plan” said Duke.
With that, May, Cassy, and I left. I entered the art room and told them that Monobird was ready. All of them stopped and followed me back to the dining area. When I had gotten back, May and everyone from the gym were already there.
“So, this leaves Cassy, Sophie, and Rachel” said Elliot.
“They should be here soon” I said.
“Hey look, there they are” said Jay.
We all looked at the three of them walking in. “Alright, now that we’re all here, let’s begin” said Cassy.
Sophie jumped in and said “Aren’t you going to talk about-?”
“NO!” said Cassy, her face turning red. “No.”
“We’ll discuss it later” said Rachel. “For now, there is more important business to discuss.”
“Right” said Cassy. “Monobird! What do you have for us?”
“Right!” said Monobird. “We have successfully contacted everyone’s parents. We are protecting them to the best of our ability. However, we did discuss the idea of what would happen when Monokuma’s timer reaches zero.” Monobird breathed heavily. “And all of them said they would die to let you live.”
“Wait, all of them?” asked Jay.
“Yes” said Monbird.
“I-I see” said Jay. All of us looked upset. This wasn’t a good option, but if we all wanted to live this was our only option.
May was in tears. “Not again!” she called out.
Troy seemed like a mix of angry and depressed. “Well, a deal is a deal, good madam” he said to Cassy. “So no one will be giving up their lives.”
Cassy looked solom. “Though we must bear this burden on us now” she said. She opened her eyes. She looked serious. “We will have more than enough time to mourn later” she said, as she collected herself. “This is hard on me as well, but we do have something else to discuss.”
“Oh yeah?” said Duke.
“I think I have found the reason why we were specifically targeted” said Cassy. The whole room was now focused on her. Cassy held up my grandfather’s picture. “All of us here were recruited by this man, Jacob Westwood. Justin and I confirmed that from everyone this morning. Furthermore, most of us were replacing someone else. Justin and I also confirmed this.”
“Wait, most of us?” asked Elliot.
“Yes” said Cassy. “It is unknown if Pierce was replacing someone, and Justin wasn’t replacing anyone. Mr. Westwood was recruiting the rest of us in order to prove that what he saw in Justin wasn’t a fluke, and that Justin should attend Hope’s Peak.”
This was a repeat of what everyone had heard individually, but it’s nice to know that we’re all on the same page. However, there was something I had only just thought about. “That’s not all” I said.
“What?” said Cassy. “We didn’t do much else. I wanted to be prepared before this meeting as fast as possible.”
“Right, and I get that,” I said, “but this was something I came across just before the meeting while you were talking with Monobird. Annabelle said that she wasn’t chosen initially because of an error on the part of Hope’s Peak. They had misinterpreted the byline of an article she had worked on.”
“Right” said Annabelle.
“However, as you all know by now, I am the grandson of Mr. Westwood, who was the headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy for several year. I know a lot about Hope’s Peak, and I don’t believe a mistake like that could be made unintentionally” I said.
“You don’t mean?” said Cassy.
I nodded. “While I don’t have any evidence for it, I believe that our initial rejection from Hope’s Peak wasn’t an accident” I said. “I believe that The Ultimate Killer did that on purpose so that we wouldn’t go to Hope’s Peak.”
Suddenly, two party popper shot off, confetti dropped from the ceiling, and a congratulatory jiggle sounded. “You got it” said Monokuma, popping out from nowhere again.
“AHHHHH!” said Andy.
“What the fuck do you want?!” asked Buck.
“You solved a mystery” said Monokuma. “The Ultimate Killer did indeed want you to not be at Hope’s Peak. However, that lousy Jacob was just too darn good at his job. So The Ultimate Killer had to kill you all.”
“Care to explain why?” I asked, half knowing the answer.
“No” said Monokuma. “That’s another mystery you have to figure out on your own. But maybe you can do it. After all, you figured something out just from a byline. That’s the kind of detective work I like seeing. And hopefully, I can see that kind of work in a class trial soon.”
“Well, don’t hold your breath, foul villain” said Troy.
“Or do. They you could just suffocate and die and the world would be a better place” said Jay.
“What are you talking about?” asked Monokuma.
“You listen to all of our conversations, don’t you?” asked Rachel. “You know what we’re planning to do.”
“Right!” said Duke. “And our parents are willing to give their lives for us. So your little motive has failed!”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Monokuma.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Sure, THEY’RE OK with it, but are you? Think of the consequences” said Monokuma. “For instance, did you know that Buck has the most adorable little sister?”
Buck’s face turned pale. “What are you going to do with Millie?” he asked.
“I’m not going to hurt her” said Monokuma. “I only said I’d kill your parents. I’m a bear of my word. However, that doesn’t stop The Ultimate Killer from say, taking her and raising her as his own.”
“You wouldn’t” said Buck.
“BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Just think about it” said Monokuma. “A sweet little girl like that growing up and becoming a second, more deadly Ultimate Killer. It’s almost to much to BEAR!”
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” shouted Buck, as he was charging Monokuma. “I’M GOING TO PUNCH YOUR FUCKING STUPID FACE!!!!!!!!”
“WAIT!” shouted Jay. Jay sprinted incredibly fast to tackle Buck.
“Get off me!” said Buck.
“He’s just saying that to get you riled up” said Jay. “He wants you to do stuff like this.”
“Well, it’s working” said Buck. “Just let me hit him.”
“I can’t let you do that” said Jay. “If you attack him now, you’ll just get killed. That won’t do your parents or Millie any good now, would it.”
Buck thought about it for a second. “You’re right” he said. “You’re absolutly fuckin’ right.”
“If it helps, I don’t think the Ultimate Killer could take away your sister if he wanted to” said Cassy. “He’d already be bogged down by the police. If he manages to kill your parents, there’s no way they’d take your sister without her dragging him down.”
“Ya got me” said Monokuma. “Still, that’s just one scenario. There are plenty of other things that could happen because your parents died. But if you don’t care, that’s fine by me. Either way, the clock is still ticking. Be sure you absolutely know what you’re doing before you do it. Oh, and one more thing. Happy Killing!” Monokuma disappear just as fast as he appeared.
Everyone in the dining area looked disturbed by what just happened. “We’re not going to let him get to us, right?” said Pierce. “Let’s just stick to our plan for now.”
“Easy for you to say, you don’t have any parents to speak of” said May.
“That’s fair”said Pierce.
“But he is right” said Cassy. “We’d just be playing into his hand if we let him bother us. We already agreed to a plan. I still say it’s best for us to stick to it.”
“I agree” I said, hoping to bring everyone down from their justified anger at Monokuma.
“Yeah, you’re right” said Buck. “Thankfully, we have people like you to keep dummies like me in check. And thank you too Jay. If you hadn’t stopped me, I’d be worm food right now.”
“Oh. Um, you're welcome” said Jay.
“Right” I said. “All we can do now is wait out the clock.”
“Well, that’s not all we can do” said Elliot.
I looked at her and said “I don’t think now is the time to-”
“No, silly, I’m not talking about THAT” she said. “Although, I wouldn’t say ‘no’ if you asked me.”
“Then what is it?” I asked.
“I’m glad you asked” said Elliot. “I’ve prepared a special bonding activity for us tonight. It’s after dinner tonight, so please wait in the dining area or kitchen until everyone’s done eating. Then we can begin.”
Everyone nodded. Well, I’m glad that we can still be somewhat cheerful. But what Monokuma said was still bugging me. Still, as long as all of us stuck to the plan, then we shouldn’t have too much to worry about
#danganronpa fanfiction#Danganronpa Away#danganronpa#Monokuma#Monobird#Justin#Cassy#Pierce#Andy#Tammy#Roman#Maria#Jay#Buck#Troy#Elliot#Annabelle#Sophie#Rachel#Duke#May
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Danganronpa: Away Chapter 3: Only Human (Part 1)
Computer Lab: The Night After the Second Class Trial
“Why does it say ‘Phase 2’?” Asked Tammy
“How am I supposed to know?” asked Monobird. “I don’t work with him.”
“I mean, I guess not” said Tammy. “Ugh.”
“It’s OK,” said Monobird. “We have Cassy and Justin. Maybe they can figure it out.”
“Yeah, but who knows how many of us will still be alive by the time that happens,” said Tammy.
“...I know it’s scary” said Monobird.
“That’ a generous way of putting it,” said Tammy.
“But we have to hold out hope that things will get better” said Monobird.
“But will things be ‘good’ ever again?” asked Tammy.
Monobird looked at her. “...that is something you have to figure out on your own.”
Tammy yawned. “I should probably go to bed.”
“Good idea” said Monobird. Tammy left. “Of course. She’s still a child. They all are. And four of them are dead already.”
Zooming in on Monobird’s eye, the scene changes to a monitor in a dimly lit room where a police officer is staring into it. He then says “...I’m probably not the first one to say this, but if I ever meet The Ultimate Killer, I’m going to make him pay.”
Meanwhile, out in the hall, Tammy yawns again. “I should have gone to bed sooner. Oh hey, there’s Justin. Why is he heading downstairs? Oh well.” Tammy went back to her room.
Earlier, in Justin’s room:
That night, I had the courtroom dream again. The smiling dream. The smile was as creepy as ever. However, I saw a table. On the table was some peculiar things. There was some broken glass, a pair of wire cutters, a pair of gloves, and a bloody knife. Again I protest in vain that I shouldn’t leave. I am being taken away anyway. I am pointing. Am I pointing at the table?
“AH!” I wake in a sweat. “Is this going to happen every time something terrible happens?” I say. I try going back to sleep, but I can’t. “Well, it worked last time,” I said. I got out of bed and I made my way to the art room. I got out some clay and made two figures, one for Troy and one for Rachel. I then went back up to my room and slept.
I wasn’t woken to the sound of Monokuma’s announcement playing, but a voice screaming in the halls. “EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!”
Without thinking, I get up, put some pants on, and walked out to see Cassy in a panic. “What’s the matter?” I asked.
Cassy said “Well, first off, Justin isn…” Cassy stopped, as her face turned red. “Why are you here?”
“Because it’s where I sleep?” I said.
“But why aren’t you in the art room?!” she snapped back.
“I guess I had the energy to make it back” I said. “I only made two statues this time.”
“Oh… Well, there’s still the matter of Sophie.”
I was now worried “What happened?”
“She’s not in her room!”
“Well, let’s see if we can’t find her” I said.
“I already found her” said Annabelle.
“Huh?” said Cassy.
“She’s in Rachel’s room,” she said. “Sleeping like an angel.”
“Oh…” Cassy’s face grew even more red.
“I guess that makes sense,” I said. I looked at the clock and saw it was around 6 am. “How are you people awake?”
“I’m usually up early to get a head start on the day’s news” said Annabelle.
“And I like to wake up this early just because” said Cassy.
“Well, you do you, I guess” I said. “But since there’s no emergency, I’m going back to sleep.” I returned to my room and passed out.
I woke up to the morning announcement. “Ugh, I’m going to be so tired today.” I got out of bed and got ready for going out. I made my way to the dining area. Everyone was silent. What happened yesterday was horrific to say the least, so I wasn’t surprised.
What I was surprised with was who broke the silence. “So, um, do we have any ideas on how to get out?” Sophie asked. We all looked at her. “It’s just, we kind of discuss these things…”
“No, she’s right,” said Duke. “We can’t keep feeling so down that we don’t find a way out. So let’s spitball here. I’m thinking of making a chemical compound that we serve to Monokuma. It will short circuit him, and hopefully the whole system where we could just walk out.”
“Well, he’s not going to accept it now, dumbass” said Buck.
“Oh, yeah, that’s a good point,” said Duke.
“Do you think that dowsing Monokuma counts as attacking him?” asked May.
“Well, if it is, then let me do it,” said Jay. “I may have the best chance of being gunned down by those security cams. Besides, since I’ve lost Troy already, I’ve got nothing left to lose.”
Right, Jay is also hurting as well.
“Do you idiots actually think that would work?” said Monokuma, popping up again.
“Oh, what do you want?” asked Andy.
“Wow. Blunt” said Monokuma.
“Well, I’m sorry I don’t have candor when talking to a psychopath who has killed four of my friends in the past week,” said Andy.
Wow, he's not taking any shit.
“Technically, I’ve only killed two of them,” said Monokuma.
“No, you killed four” said Andy. “I don’t care if someone else killed Maria, or Troy, you are the reason they are dead.”
“Am I?” asked Monokuma. “I just laid the groundwork. You all said you wouldn't do it. And yet two of you did do it. Maybe because you freaks are selfish, greedy monsters who care only about themselves.”
“Well, if we’re going to start insulting each other like children,” said May, “I’m rubber, you’re glue. Everything you say bounces off of me, and sticks to you.”
“Cute” said Monokuma.
Freaks? That’s new.
“Why are you here?” asked Cassy.
“Ah yes” said Monokuma. “I have finally finished reservations on the first floor. I would like you to come and see what is in store for you. Your killing possibilities will go way up.”
We all walked out to the first floor wall. “Are you ready?” Monokuma asked. He put a key in the lock and unveiled what remains of the first floor.
“Wow” I said.
“Thank you,” said Monokuma. “Finally, someone appreciates my work.”
“Are you telling me you built all this?” I asked. “We you the Ultimate Architect and you hated it?”
“What, NO!” aid Monokuma. “I renovated this place.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t build it.” I said.
“IT STILL COUNTS!” screamed Monokuma.
“Whatever” I said. “Let’s just look around.”
There were a few new rooms to explore. I began with the big room on the left. It was a science room. In there I saw Duke pouting. “If only this room was open last time…” he said. “Troy might still be alive.”
“Um, are you OK?” I asked.
“GAH!” said Duke. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“I was in front of you the whole time…” I said.
“Well, I didn’t see you” said Duke. “Although I was lost in thought. Whatever. What do you want?”
“Well, what do you make of this room?” I asked.
“What do I think? It’s a science room. It’s glorious” said Duke. “Man, if this room was available earlier, my plan of drugging someone with a chemical that gives the illusion of death and then leave.”
“Oh...”
“Do you think he did this on purpose?” Duke asked.
“Well, if I’m being honest, no” said Monokuma, showing up again. “Although, I’m glad it worked out that way. Otherwise my plan would stop working.”
“You know, for someone who fancies themselves as ‘The Ultimate Killer’, relying on luck doesn’t seem to suggest that you are the best at killing” said Duke.
“Well, remember, he wasn’t actually ‘The Ultimate Killer’,” I said, “he was something else that he hated so much that he resorted to killing.”
“Maybe he should have stuck to that and not half ass this whole killing thing” said Duke.
“You know I can hear you” said Monokuma.
“Whether or not you are actually here, you can hear us,” I said. “It still doesn’t change the fact that this part of your plan was half baked.”
“Well, I’m still a successful killer, aren’t I?” said Monokuma. “I planned everything methodically.”
“Not so methodically that the police interrupted your plan by bringing us here instead of going to actual Hope’s Peak” said Duke.
“Yeah, which you yourself alerted the police that you were doing this,” I reminded him.
“Well, I’m still getting results” said Monokuma. “And RESULTS are all that matter to you Ultimates, now aren’t they?”
I interjected “Actually, my grandpa always said ‘a true Ultimate is not measured by results, but by action.’”
“Yeah, well he’s DEAD!” screamed Monokuma and he pounded his fist on one of the tables, collapsing it. There was a hum coming from Monokuma and then his head popped up. “Oh, I’m sorry, I'm not always in control of my actions,” he said.
He started to fix the table he just destroyed. “What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“Oh…um...well…” said Monokuma. “Fine. I was told not to tell you this, but sometimes the Ultimate Killer controls me. However, I have an override feature when things get too heated.”
“Like, he talks for you?” asked Duke.
“Talks, moves, everything” said Monokuma. “Although, 95% of the time, it’s lovable old me in here.”
“You’re not much better” I said.
“Aww, why do you say that?” said Monokuma.
“Cause you still want us dead” I answered.
“Oh, yeah. That thing” Monokuma said. “Well, like I said, I’m a tool. In use by the Ultimate Killer. I don’t really have control over that.”
“So, you're saying that if we met in different circumstances, we could be friends?” asked Duke.
“Well, no, I was built to kill” replied Monokuma. “Unless you’d be fine with me killing other people.” We both stared at him not amused. “OK, fine, I get it. You guys don’t like killing. Anyway, your stupid table is fixed.”
“Is the Ultimate Killer going to be mad that you told us this?” I asked.
“Eh, he’s told you more revealing stuff” said Monokuma. “What’s the worst that could happen? Anyway, seeya.” He left.
“Well...that was something” said Duke. “I think I’ll take a look around here some more. You know, see what I can gather from this.”
“OK then” I said. I looked around and saw that Tammy was also in here. “Oh, uh hi” I said, nervously. “You saw that, right?” She nodded. “Um, are you alright?”
“Um...maybe…”
Translation: No. “Um, do you have anything you want to say?” I asked in a calming voice.
“Well...I do, but I also want to share it with Cassy. Can you bring her back here so we can talk?”
“Sure” I said. I left to see where everyone else was. I entered the room across the hall. I was surprised to see it was essentially a weapons room. “It’s just one surprised after another.”
“Oh, hey Justin” said Pierce. “You don’t look great.”
“Yeah, I didn’t sleep well, and Monokuma just exploded on me” I said.
“Oh? What happened?” Pierce asked.
“Well, he showed up while Duke and I were talking. So, we decided to get under his skin” I began.
“Like you do.”
“So, we may have pushed him a bit too far and he smashed a table.”
“Oh, that’s...not great.”
“Yeah, but then he told us that the Ultimate Killer himself was controlling him at the time.”
“So, the Ultimate Killer can control Monokuma sometimes then, eh?” said Pierce.
“Apparently” I said. “So, what did you find out about this room? Why is there an armory in here?”
“We’re not sure” said Jay.
“We think this was an indoor target range, but there appears to be no targets” said Andy.
“...Were you two in here this whole time?” I asked.
“Yeah” said Jay.
“...Man, I’m tired” I said.
“So, former target practice area then?” Pierce asked.
“Well, based on all of this room back here with nothing in it” said Andy.
“And the fact that all of these weapons can be fired or thrown” said Jay. “Like guns, arrows, spears, axes, they even have slingshots.”
“And I assume that all of these weapons were provided by the Ultimate Killer themselves” I said.
“Probably” said Andy.
“Great, just what we need: MORE tools to kill each other with” I said.
“Exactly” said Monokuma, popping up again. “Oh, you were being sarcastic.”
“Of course I was” I said.
“So, who’s in there now?” asked Pierce.
“Why, it’s ME! Monokuma” said Monokuma. “The Ultimate Killer will continue to be locked out of direct control for another 47 minutes.”
“I see,” said Pierce.
“Can you just go now?” I asked. “I’m too tired for this.”
“Sure, but how did you expect school would go?” asked Monokuma. “You gotta wake up early.”
“That fact that you treat this like school still amazes me,” I said.
“Yeah, but you’d still have to wake up early even if we were going to actual school” said Jay.
“Hope’s Peak is open ended” I told him. “I wouldn’t have to wake up before noon.”
“Yeah, it isn’t” said Andy.
“How would you know?” I asked.
“Because I’m the Ultimate Trivia Master” said Andy. “I look these things up all the time.”
“...Motherfucker” I said, under my breath.
“Well, anyway, it seems like I’m not needed here anymore” said Monokuma.
“You’re ever needed” said Jay.
“Toodleoo” Monokuma said, disappearing again.
“I swear, every time I think ‘this isn't too bad’, he shows up,” I said.
Pierce said “I would say ‘it could always be worse’, but I don’t think it can get much worse at this point.”
“Well, assuming we can get out at this point, losing only a quarter of the people we came in with wouldn’t be the WORST hostage situation” said Andy.
“It’s still not great,” said Jay.
“I know” said Andy.
I left to see what was down the hall. The hall was filled with a bunch of loose stuff that assume would go to the gym. “Why is all of this here?” I asked myself.
“To explain” said Monokuma, showing up again.
“GAH!” I said.
“You see, not everything we wanted to bring for the gym could fit reasonably in the storage room of the gym” Monokuma explained. “We have a tendency to overpack, you see. So, we just left it in this hall. It’s close enough to other exercise equipment anyway, so we figured ‘what the heck?’”
“Please stop saying ‘we’” I said. “I get that you want to distinguish yourself from the Ultimate Killer, but it’s kind of creeping me out.”
“Yeah, I see your point” said Monokuma. “Besides, that sounds like something some other villain would do. I need to be original.”
“You know what would be original for a villain? Letting us go” I said.
“Are you kidding?” said Monokuma. “The face-turn is done by plenty of villains.”
“Yeah, but all of those villains were sympathetic” I told him. “You’d still retain your whole unlikable charm while doing the right thing.”
“Hmmmm. As tempting as that sounds, I find it more fun to just watch you all die one by one” said Monokuma.
“Well, I tried” I said.
“And an Ultimate is measured by their actions” said Monokuma. “That’s what you said, right?”
“...Yeah, but how did you know?” I asked.
“Just because I’m not in control, doesn’t mean I can’t hear” said Monokuma.
“Duly noted” I said. Monokuma left.
I went to the end of the hall and I found two rooms. One labeled “Girl’s Locker Room” and one labeled “Boy’s Locker Room.” I went in the Boy’s locker room and had a look around. I saw that each of us had a locker designated to us. I opened mine up to find a swimsuit. Not just any swimsuit though; My favorite swimsuit. Red with a black stripe on each side. “OK, THAT’S creepy.” I saw a sign that said “No casual clothes or Monopads in the pool area. Also, everyone has to shower before entering the pool area.”
“Guess I have no choice,” I said. I put them on and continued. I found the showers and used them. I went further and there was a door. I opened it and I found the pool area. “”Bout time you showed up,” said Buck. It was weird to see him without his sunglasses. His swim trunks were green with outlines of basketballs on them “I was worried you’d never show up.”
“Why did I need to show up?” I asked.
“We need a ref” he told me. “And you’re it.”
“Ref? For what?” I asked.
“Water basketball” Buck said, like that was totally a normal thing.
“Water basketball?” I said.
“Look, I know it’s odd, but it’s fun,” said Buck. “And I knew you’d stop by eventually, and I don’t want you to be sore in the morning, so I volunteered you to be the ref.”
“Umm, thanks?” I said.
“Great” said Buck. “Follow me.” I followed him to one of the pools. It was then I noticed how large the pool area was. There were two water slides, a lap pool with 12 lanes, a hot tube, a sauna, and like three other pools. It could be so easy to get lost in here. “Hey, he’s here.”
“Great!” said May. “Let’s get started.”
I only saw May, whose swimsuit was a red and orange two-piece, where the top looked like a sports bra and the bottom was shorts, Annabelle, whose swimsuit was an aquamarine one-piece, and Elliot, whose swimsuit was a pure white two-piece. “Where are Sophie and Cassy?” I asked.
“Sophie is in the sauna” said Annabelle. “As for Cassy, well…”
“She’s investigating the area, so she couldn’t be our ref” said Elliot.
“I see…” I said. I might as well see what this is about. If Cassy finds anything she’ll tell us. “Well, OK then, let’s get started. What are the rules?”
“Just like regular basketball, but in the water, so we don’t need to worry about dribbling” said Buck. “Also, I added some house rules.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because Buck here is the only one who’s played water basketball,” said May. “He has an unfair advantage.”
“That, and it’s just the four of us playing” said Elliot.
“So, I’m on Buck’s team to even things out,” said Annabelle. “I’m not that athletic, but I can do some things.”
“Basically, the two rules in play is that the ball has to at least be passed once, and a team can’t score over 10 points without both players at least scoring once” said Buck.
“OK. Sounds fair enough” I said. “And how long are we playing?”
“I was thinking just 30 minutes,” said Buck.
“Seems reasonable” I said. “OK, then, let’s begin!”
They got into position. I started the clock and they went for it. Water basketball is actually really engaging. The water adds some depth that wasn’t there before. It looks so stylish. Of course, Buck was styling all over the place and getting points left and right. But the rules were helpful. May and Elliot managed to score a fair amount of point. And even Annabelle scored some points. It was really charming. However, due to the nature of these things, Buck and Annabelle won.
“And that’s game,” said Buck. “56 to 50.”
“Hm” said Elliot. “Good game, but still.”
“Yeah, THAT WAS AWESOME!” said May.
“I’m just impressed with how well I did” said Annabelle. “I’m going to see what else is here.”
“Yeah, I’ll come with you,” said Elliot.
“Well, I’m probably going to do some laps in the lap pool,” said May.
“Want to compete?” asked Buck.
“Not really” said May. “I just want to see if I can beat my personal record.”
“Fair enough. I’ll just hang out here then” said Buck.
“I should go too,” I said. “I need to find Cassy.”
“I bet you do” Buck said, suggestively.
“Seriously, why do people think we should go out?” I asked.
“Because you should” said Buck.
“Whatever” I is said. I left and decided to check on Sophie in the sauna to see how she was holding up. However, it seems I wasn’t the only one to think that, because as I went in there, not only did I find Sophie, who was wearing a green two-piece with olive green accents, I also found Cassy, who was wearing a dark purple to-piece swimsuit with a pink frilly skirt-thing on the bottom half. “Oh. Hi” I said.
“Oh hey Justin” said Sophie. “What’s up?”
“Well, I just wanted to check on you quick” I said. “You know...since yesterday…”
“Right…” said Sophie. “Well, I’ve just been thinking in here. About Rachel. And Troy. And Roman. And Maria. And I realized that what I did was wrong. Me just giving up like that some that everyone else could be safe. The Ultimate Killer has taken away so many people. Now that I see that I don’t want to be just another person he takes away, and cause harm to anyone else. I want to fight him. I want to beat him.”
She’s gone through so much, and yet on the other side she’s still standing. Rachel, if you could see this, you would be proud.
“Well, I should go, my time’s almost up,” said Sophie.
“What?” I said.
“She means in the sauna” said Cassy. “Look.” She pointed to a sign that said “CAUTION: Please do not spend more than 1 hour in the sauna.”
“I see,” I said.
“Well, see you later” said Sophie.
She left and it was just me and Cassy. “Sooooooooooo, what’s up” said Cassy.
“Well, actually, Tammy has something she needs to tell us,” I said. “But she won’t talk to me without you.”
“Why not?” asked Cassy.
“She seemed scared” I said. I explained what happened with Monokuma.
“Oh,” said Cassy. “OK then. Let’s go.” We left the sauna and went back to our respective changing rooms and met each other outside the pool area and headed towards the science room.
We met Tammy, who asked us “Why do you smell like chlorine?”
“Well, we just got out of the pool,” I said.
“There’s a pool?!” Tammy asked, excitedly.
“Tammy, what is it that you wanted to tell us?” asked Cassy.
“Oh, right. I’ll worry about the pool later” said Tammy. “Anyway, last night, after the trial, I decided to look into what Monokuma told us about those devices that would make us forget things. I looked into some of the protected file and I managed to find the device he was talking about.”
“But he never got a chance to use it,” said Cassy.
“Well, I just wanted to see what he was planning” said Tammy. “Plus it might give me insight on how some of the Ultimate Killer’s tech works so I could figure things out faster. But before I got a chance, I saw something.”
“Saw what?” I asked.
Tammy fidgeted nervously. “Well, the blueprint was labeled ‘Phase 2’” she told us.
“Wait, what does that mean?” said Cassy.
“I don’t know” Tammy said. “But maybe the Ultimate Killer already did something to us.”
“But how?” I said. “We got moved before we could enter the school.”
“Hmmmm. It's worth thinking about” said Cassy. “Thank you for finding this. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you want both of us?” Cassy asked.
“Oh, um, ya see” stammered Tammy. “Ho boy, this is awkward.”
“What?” I asked.
“So, you know how my dad was arrested?” said Tammy.
“Yeah” I said.
“Well, soon after my mother became distant. She was there, but she wasn’t really there” Tammy continued.
“Go on” said Cassy.
“So, for the first time in a long time,” said Tammy, “I feel like I have parents in the two of you.”
Both mine and Cassy’s face turned beet red. “Oh,” I said.
“I know it’s stupid,” said Tammy, “but that’s just how I feel.”
“It’s OK to feel like that” said Cassy. “It’s important for people to have someone to depend on. I’m glad you can trust us.”
“Really? Thank you!” Tammy said, giving Cassy a hug. After a second of shock, Cassy hugged back. They broke the hug and Tammy said “Well, I’m going to go swimming now.” She left.
“So, what do you make of that? I asked.
“I genuinely think it’s sweet” said Cassy.
“Wha? No. About the whole memory wipe device being a ‘Phase 2’” I said.
“Oh. That” said Cassy. “Well, I might have something. But I don’t know for sure.”
“Really, what is it?” I asked.
Cassy looked at me. She told me “I’m very unconfident in this evidence as of right now. I don’t even know if it means anything yet. I’d like to wait and figure it out some more. ...If that’s alright with you.”
I sighed. “I guess do what you think is best” I told her. “But just know that two minds are better than one, and we are on a timer here. I know speed isn’t your strong suit, but the sooner the better.”
“I get you,” said Cassy. “It’s not a matter of if Monokuma gives us another motive, but when. Still though, I don’t know what to make of this evidence yet. It could be nothing even. I’d rather have you focusing on what we know for sure than something that could be nothing.”
“Understandable” I said. We just kind of hung around until dinner time. Afterwards we all met up to eat. Cassy and I explained everything we learned that day to everyone.
“Oh MAN!” said May. “That’s some heavy stuff.”
“Yeah. It’s weird enough that he’d try to wipe our memories,” said Jay, “but to know he might have done something else on top of that? That’s disturbing.”
“I agree, that shit’s wack” said Buck.
“Wait a tick, I just thought of something” said Annabelle. “If he had this all planned out, is it possible that he planned out the motives as well?”
“Well, it seems possible, yes,” said Cassy.
“So, couldn’t Tammy also find those motive plans?” Annabelle asked. “So that we can properly defend against them.”
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that” said Monokua popping out again. “The Ultimate Killer may have planned a lot, but the motives are provided by yours truly. And as such, there are no records of them, until I think of them and announce them to you.”
“So, YOU think up these motives?” I asked.
“Yes” said Monokuma.
“Do you run them by the Ultimate Killer before telling us?” I asked.
“Of course” said Monokuma. “And he OKs them all before I tell you.”
“And what if you don’t agree on the fundamental idea of a motive?” I asked.
“Just what are you getting at?” Monokuma asked, annoyed.
“Well, I just think that maybe the last motive wasn’t as pure as it was intended” I insinuated.
“Wait, what do you mean?” asked Andy.
“Yeah, what do you mean?” Monokuma said, intimidatingly.
“Well, it’s just that the night of Troy’s death, I saw someone among the police who was dressed in black from head to toe” I clarified.
“Did they have guns hidden under their petticoat?” May asked.
“I think that that was the Ultimate Killer” I said. “And he was going to kill whoever walked out into police protection.”
“Oh my,” said Monokuma. “That’s a charged accusation. Do you have any proof to back this up?”
“Well, ya see,” said Jay, “this guy is the Ultimate Killer. And he trapped us in here to kill us. So, it seems likely that he would try to kill us once we got out. So the burden of proof is on you. Now tell us, why would the Ultimate Killer NOT try to kill the children he’s been trying to kill in a horrific way.”
Monokuma looked stunned. “Oh. Well, if you put it like that…” said Monokuma.
“So, the whole last motive was a lie?” Sophie asked.
“Well, not a lie, per say said Monokuma. “It’s entirely possible to protect yourself from the Ultimate Killer, eve if he did sneak into the police vehicle you were in. Just not likely for some of you, I suppose.”
“And if Monobird were to tell us this, we’d have no reason to consider the motive anymore,” I said. “So you would have to cancel the motive.”
“Grrrrrrr” growled Monokuma. “Well, no matter. I’m already thinking up a new motive. And THIS time, there won’t be any of this roundabout, technicality stuff. I want to see you guys play the game!” Monokuma disappeared.
“Well, that was weird,” said Jay.
“What about him ISN’T weird?” said Tammy.
“Well, at least we have something to try and work with” I said. “We know that there is some friction between the Ultimate Killer and Monokuma. We just need to figure out how to take advantage of it.”
We finished eating. I was tired, so I decided to go to bed after dinner, but first, I stopped by the MonoMono Machine. I put some coins in and some interesting things came out.
The first thing of note that came out was a big book about the countries of the world. “This seems peculiar.” The next thing of note that came out was a packet of Lightning Gum. “Now that seems weird.” The final thing of note that dropped was some pool toys. “This could be cool.”
I was on my way to my room when Sophie stopped me. “Um, uh, Justin” she said.
“Yeah” I said.
“Did you make figures of Troy and, um, Rachel last night?” she asked.
“Yeah” I replied.
“Do you mind if you show them to me?” she asked.
“Oh, uh, sure,” I said. I lead her to the art room. I showed her the statues I made. “What do you think?” I asked.
“Well, they look good,” she told me. “I can tell you put your heart into it. I’m sure that if they could see it, they would love it.”
“Thank you” I said. I decided to reflect on those we lost yesterday.
Troy. A man of honor. He was always willing to help anyone. He was colorful, but that made him all the more real. He wasn’t pretending to be anything he wasn’t. I’m sure he could have been a good hero if a foul villain didn’t torture us like this.
Rachel. She was a very wonderful person. Always there, looking after Sophie. She was calm, even in the darkest of situations. She wasn’t afraid to open up when the situation called for it though. Though she can no longer look after Sophie, she trusts us to do so. And I’m not about to break that trust.
Sophie yawned. “Well, I guess I’m off to sleep,” she said.
“Are you sleeping in Rachel’s bed again?” I asked.
“Oh, so you heard about that?” she said. “I’ll be in my own bed. I just felt like I needed to do that last night.”
“I understand” I said.
“It...felt warmer,” she said. “I needed that. Well, good night.” With that, Sophie left.
I left soon after and headed to my room. I got into bed and thought about what was happening. Despite all of the death and being held against our will, we were all trying to make the best of the situation. We were all trying to find a way out and trying to have fun. We were growing as people. I guess it’s like grandpa always said: “An Ultimate isn’t measured by results, but by actions.” And it’s those actions that will ultimately take down the Ultimate Killer. I just know it. It’s not a matter of if, but when.
#danganronpa#danganronpa fanfiction#Danganronpa away#Justin#Cassy#Tammy#Duke#Jay#Andy#Pierce#Buck#May#Annabelle#Elliot#Sophie#Rachel#Troy#Roman#Maria#Monokuma#Monobird
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Danganronpa: Away Chapter 4: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Part 4)
We were all stood still in the gym. Monokuma had just presented us with a tricky motive; one which walks the line between love and murder. Of course, knowing that shitbag, that’s not a line for him at all.
I looked around. Everyone was clearly nervous and scared. Yet they were all silent. I couldn’t tell if the silence was coming from how horrifying this whole thing was, or if we were so used to this rigmarole by now that we have no reason to be shocked. Truly, this existence is a nightmare.
Still, nightmares also have to come to an end at some time. This time, Cassy ended up waking us up, albeit temporarily. She took a deep breath, capturing everyone’s attention. “Alright. Let’s move back to the dining area to sit down and discuss this.” Everyone nodded. We didn’t want this to get to us again.
We arrived at the dining area and took our seats. It’s funny. Before this motive, these seats were so filled with life. Now, they’re as hollow as they can be. Cassy took another breath. “So… that was a lot…”
“Yeah!” Tammy snapped. “Sorry.”
Cassy didn’t respond, and kept going with her analysis. “So, we have a motive, and a time limit.”
“But the time limit’s basically an unknown,” Jay said.
“And the motive is a bit more layered than I thought,” May said. “There’s a dance, but we have to ask people to go with us, but not platonically.”
“And if it is platonic,” Sophie began, “or otherwise insincere, it’ll end up killing us.”
“And if we don’t ask, Monokuma will send invites to people,” Pierce added. “I hate to admit it, but this bear’s pulled out all the stops on this one.”
“Hmmmm” Andy thought. “This is tricky. It’s not like we can meet up and tell each other who we have, like with the target motive.”
“Yeah, otherwise we might end up telling the person, and that might be seen as an insincere invitation” Annabelle said.
“Um, speaking of…” Jay interjected. “ Are we… equally divided?” Everyone looked at him. “It’s just… based on who I got, I’m not sure…”
“That is a good question,” Cassy said. “And like Annabelle said, we can’t confirm anything with each other.”
“Or Monobird” Duke pointed out.
“Well, there is a silver lining to all of this,” I added.
“There is?” Sophie asked.
I nodded. “We do have at the very least seven days.”
“Right,” Cassy said. “Monokuma said the Friday after this upcoming one. So there is ample time. All we have to do is remain calm for at least seven days.”
“Correct” I said. “We just gotta figure out how to ask someone out in seven days or less. It shouldn’t be too hard when death is on the line, right?”
“Question” Pierce said. “If we lost track of time to the point we don’t know what day it is now, how are we supposed to keep track?”
We all thought. “Well, I guess we could make a note of it,” Jay said. “I mean, having it physically would be handy.”
Cassy smiled. “That’s actually a great idea. Any volunteers.”
“I can do it!” Annabelle said. “I can even incorporate it into the morning announcement.”
“Well then, I think we have a temporary fix for now,” Cassy said. “I guess what’s left is to… um… actually ask someone out…”
“Yeah….” Andy said.
We were all silent again, but it was a little less tense. We decided to head to bed for the night, knowing that this was probably the best way to handle this going forward.
When I went to my room, I immediately passed out onto my bed. I have been up for a while, and I like my sleep. Of course, because of this trap, and this motive, and everyone else in general, my dreams tonight focused on Cassy.
Usually, when I wake up early like that, I like sleeping late. However, that is not a luxury I’m afforded here currently. However, while I’d usually still feel tired, I felt refreshed a little. Well, mentally anyways. I was sore from all the running I had done, and it was hard to move. But not as bad as the basketball tournament.
Once I was ready, I shuffled my way to the dining area. I grabbed myself some food and sat down. “Uhhhhhhhh” I groaned.
“So, you feeling alright?” Jay asked.
“I’ve been better,” I told him.
“Haven’t we all?” Jay said.
I glanced at him, then sighed and said “Yeah, I guess that’s not the most apt thing to say, huh.”
“Well, it’s all relative,” Duke jumped in. “It’s hard to say that even people outside of this Hell are working in optimal conditions. But still I’d rather be there.”
“Yeah, I get what you mean,” Jay said.
“But even with the motive, we can still make things work, right?” Andy asked.
“I’d like to think so,” Sophie responded. “I mean, there’s a lot to this motive, but there are ways to make it through.”
“Speaking of…” Tammy said.
“Halt!” Cassy shouted. We all turned to her. “Ah…Sorry. It’s just...my class is after breakfast, and the motive might come up, so I’d like to speak about it there...if that’s alright…”
I smiled. “I don’t see why not.” I kept eating.
“Thanks,” Cassy said. Pierce smiled and ate while keeping his thoughts silent. Not that I couldn’t figure them out.
We finished breakfast and then spent some time chilling. Some returned to their rooms, while I opted to stay in the dining area. I was still a little tired, and I didn’t want to move more than I had to. People respected this, since they didn’t really interact with me too much during this.
When the time came, we heard Annabelle chime in over the speakers. “Good Morning. First of all, we are now on Day 1 of between 7 and 14 before the motive kicks in. Anyway, for this morning’s class, our teacher, Cassy Williams, has asked us to join her in the middle classroom on the second floor. See ya there!” I was feeling a little more rested at this point. I managed to get up with no problem, and make my way there.
Once we were all sat down, Cassy walked to the front of the room and gave us a look of deadly seriousness. “Ahem. Today, we are going to learn some of the basics about being a detective. Since this is just one class, we can’t go over everything, but hopefully we can get a good sense of things.”
She slammed her hands on the desk. “One thing to be aware of is there is no such thing as ‘the perfect crime’. Crime isn’t clean. There are always traces of someone in every crime. They might not be obvious, but they are always there.
Take The Ultimate Killer, for instance. He’s been getting away with various murders left and right, including those of our classmates.” We all felt that. “But despite his best efforts, there are things we can learn. We already know a few things, such as he was a former Hope’s Peak student, but I want to see what we can learn from this whole thing.
The very situation we are in is torturous at best. We are pitted against each other and given these dramatic motives to try and kill us. One thing a detective should know is how to iterate on ideas. And one way of getting ideas is by asking questions. So, I ask you all: Why do you think The Ultimate Killer is doing this to us?”
“Well, he hates Hope’s Peak” Andy chimed in.
“Yeah,” Tammy agreed. “And he hates us for being exemplary students chosen by a former headmaster.”
“OK, but why?” Cassy kept asking. “Let's see if we can’t find something new here.”
“Well, he hates his original talent,” Sophie reminded us. “Maybe it has something to do with that.”
“Maybe he was chosen by Mr. Westwood?” Jay mused.
Cassy lit up. “Yes. That makes sense! Mr. Westwood is hailed as probably the best recruiter in all of Hope’s Peak history. If the Ultimate Killer didn’t like his role despite that, that might give him motive.”
“Hold on,” Annabelle said. “Something's bugging me about all of this. If you don’t like your title, that’s fine. But why go through all of this? Why make this persona and go through all of this elaborate planning to get their vengeance?”
“That IS a good point,” Duke agreed. “I mean, when I hate something, I don’t do something so complicated.”
“Hmmmm” Cassy wondered.
I then had a thought. “Of course! YOU wouldn’t do this! No reasonable person would do this! Whoever the Ultimate Killer is, they MUST be on a different wavelength.”
“Well, obviously…” May said.
“Hang on, I think he’s onto something…” Cassy said.
“Of course you would…” muttered Annabelle.
Cassy ignored her. “It stands to reason that this is motivated by a severe hatred of Hope’s Peak and Mr. Westwood. But the extent at which he is expressing it is something else.”
“What does that mean?” Tammy asked.
“I think I have an idea,” Pierce chimed in.
Cassy looked at him. “Go on…”
Pierce stretched his arms, cracking his knuckles doing do. “While we might not have a better idea of who The Ultimate Killer is, we can get an idea of the type of person they are. In this instance, we can gather that The Ultimate Killer gets his buttons pressed easily. That, combined with the extent he’s willing to go, tells us that he believes highly of himself.”
“Well, he DID manage to trap us all in here” May said.
“This is true,” Pierce admitted. “And it’s true that The Ultimate Killer is talented. But every little bit more we get to know weakens him.”
“Correct,” Cassy said. “People like him thrive on us being scared of the persona they created. But as an investigator, you need to learn to find clues to demystify them; to show them as the human they really are, instead of the monster they’re masked as.”
“So, in theory,” I began, “The Ultimate Killer is actually nothing short of a Saturday morning cartoon villain?”
“One with a sizable body count, yes” Cassy answered. “And right now, we’re the meddling kids.” After a moment, Cassy asked “Does anyone have any more theories or ideas?”
“Hmmm” Andy thought. “If they work at Hope’s Peak, would it be possible to go in and start pressing buttons, as it were?”
“An excellent question,” Cassy said. “Unfortunately, no. While it may seem like a good idea in theory, in practice the investigators would be putting in a lot of work for little gain, if any. They’d also be playing their hand too early. This is why you need to gather as much evidence as possible. Once you put enough of the pieces together, you can make a move.”
“I see,” Andy said.
“It doesn’t help that all the information we gather is also being seen by The Ultimate Killer” Annabelle pointed out.
“Yeah…” Cassy lamented.
“This sounds like a lot of work,” Duke stated.
It is?” Cassy replied.
“So, why does Justin make it look easy?” Duke continued.
“Well…” Cassy said, getting flustered.
“I can field this” I said. “Now, there’s a lot that is different between most cases, and the ones we have been forced to solve. Firstly, none of the murders we faced are premeditated. There’s a lot of misdirection in each, but overall, there’s an element of surprise on the part of the killer as well.
Second, this whole game system turns the pressure up, which hinders a true blue investigation. We’re only given three hours to investigate. That’s not a lot.
Third, I tend to solve everything in the courtroom process, which makes sense since I’m the Ultimate Lawyer, I guess. But it’s everything coalescing, the testimony, the evidence, the debating, that helps me put it all together. I might have an idea who the killer is, but like Cassy said, I don’t want to overplay my hand. Does that make sense?”
Duke looked at me. “Damn. It does.”
“So, what do you think you’ll do when you get out?” Jay asked. “I’m assuming normal trials aren’t like the ones held here.”
“Right,” I said. “But generally speaking, nothing much should change.” Everyone seemed intrigued. “A lawyer’s job is to help determine the truth. So long as I keep doing that, I should be fine.”
Everyone was in stunned silence for a moment. “Heh,” Jay said. “You never cease to impress me.”
Cassy nodded. “Well, I think with that, now’s a good time to call it. Did you learn anything?”
“I think so,” Annabelle said. “To be honest, there’s a level of similarity between being a detective and a journalist, but this was a good refresher.”
“Yeah,” Andy said. “My brother’s a detective, so while I didn’t learn too much new, it’s nice to have a grounding point.”
Cassy was a bit surprised by that particular reaction. “Well, as long as I was helpful in a way.” We began walking out when Cassy came face to face with Monobird. “Oh.”
“...There wasn’t really enough room in the class itself,” Monobird explained. “I thought I didn’t need to hear any of this, since, well… But it reminded me of what my commanding officer says… It’s kind of assuring to feel like since an Ultimate is saying the same things. It feels better.”
Cassy was a bit taken aback. She regained her composure and said “Well, thank you for those generous words, but it doesn’t take an Ultimate to come up with great ideas. It takes great ideas to make up an Ultimate.”
“I see,” Monobird said. “Very well.” He moseyed along. We stood there for a moment before following suit. We just kind of hung out a bit before lunch, which itself was fairly uneventful.
After lunch, there was a bit of time before the next class. We just spent that time hanging out. Before we knew it, Annabelle was on the PA again. “Good afternoon. For today’s afternoon class, our instructor, May Venus, has asked us to join her in the announcements room. See ya there!”
The announcement’s room? That’s weird, I thought. Still, I headed up there.
Once we all got there, May greeted us. “HEY! Today, we are going to learn one of the basic ideas of DJing: Flow.”
“Flow?” Duke asked.
“Yup! Flow” May said. “Basically, flow is the idea that each song you play goes well with the song previous. You have to be able to read the room and select songs that fit the overall tone. Otherwise, everything will feel out of place.”
“Huh. I think I get it” Duke said.
“OK, now before we get to the main thrust of today’s class, does everyone know how to operate a sound engineering program?” May asked. After a few seconds of silence, May said “I’ll take that as a ‘no’. Very well. I will demonstrate.” She sat at the computer and opened the program.
May taught us the very basics of using said program. “There are a lot of options here, but to keep it simple, all you need is import, and paste. Although a few other things here are fairly self-evident.”
“I see,” Tammy said, admiring the program.
“Very interesting,” Pierce said.
May stood back up. “So, now that you have some knowledge, I have a set of songs on this computer that I am obligated to thank Monokuma for.”
“You’re welcome,” Monokuma said, appearing. We all glared at him. “Sheesh, tough crowd.” He disappeared.
May sighed. “Anyway, I will pick the first song, then everyone else has to follow step. Don’t worry about getting right exactly. I know this is all your first time. Just try your best. So, what wants to go first?”
All of us were a bit hesitant, but Pierce raised his hand. “I’ll bite the bullet on this one.”
“Great!” May said. “And then who’s after Pierce?” We spent a bit of time determining the order, which went Pierce, Andy, Sophie, myself, Cassy, Tammy, Jay, Annabelle, and Duke. “Alright, now let’s party!” May put on the first song.
After the first song was finished, Pierce put on a different song. He did really well at picking a new song. “This is an amazing follow up,” May said.
“Well, I’m used to reading a room,” Pierce responded. Afterwards, Andy chose a song. Since he was following Pierce, he made a good choice, since following Pierce was sort of his specialty. Sophie then went, and also did well. She might have said it was her luck though.
I was up next, and I was a little nervous. Music wasn’t my strongest suit, and no one failed previously. Still, I vowed to have confidence in myself. I chose a song that I thought went well with the previous. Upon hearing it, May said “Alright. That’s pretty good.” I sighed, relieved.
Cassy went up next. The look on her face told me she was confident. The look on May’s face as the song began said she made a wrong choice. Previously, we were playing pop-punk songs, but Cassy put on some heavy metal. “Um, Cassy?” Cassy looked over at her. “I don’t think this has a good flow. It’s a good song, don’t get me wrong, but…”
“Hu?” Cassy said. “I thought the theme was ‘songs to relax to’. Did I get it wrong?”
“You RELAX to this?” Andy asked.
“Do you not?” Cassy replied.
“Maybe we need to work on understanding some things,” May said. “Again, it’s not bad, but it doesn’t flow well from previous songs.”
After that, it was Tammy’s turn. “Wait, do I follow Cassy’s new lead, or do I go from the previous?”
“That’s up to you,” May instructed. Tammy looked at the songs available and made her choice. She opted for a heavier punk song, to walk the line between the metal Cassy chose vs the pop-punk we’ve been going through.
Jay went next, and followed Tammy’s lead of going more pure punk, but that wasn’t too surprising. Annabelle went afterwards, and drifted us back to pop-punk. Finally, there was Duke. Duke put on a TV show theme song. The song itself was pop-punk in flavor, but it was a TV show theme nonetheless. “...Duke?” May said.
“WHAT?” Duke defended. “It fits.”
“Well, kind of…” May said, getting more exacerbated by the second. “But it’s a bit...shall we say...distracting…”
“From what? The party?” Duke said. “At this point, people are going to be high off of food, or booze, or what have you. They won’t be of reasonable mind, so why not? People love it, it fits, what’s the problem?”
“Duke…” May just said.
This isn’t going to win him points. Although… “Duke! Just tear off the bandage now!” I suggested.
“What?” Duke said. “Um, OK.” He bent down and tore a bandage off his knee. “OW!” He checked. “Wow. It’s not bleeding anymore. How’d you know it was there?”
“I...didn’t?” I said, confused.
Duke was now confused too. “Then why did you tell me to do it?”
“No, I was speaking in code,” I explained. “You know…the thing that’s going on...” Now everyone was looking at me confused. “Forget it…”
A wave of silence washed over us. “Well, despite some hiccups, I think this went fairly well overall” May said, guiding us back. “I do see the amount of trust you put into everyone else though, which is really endearing to all of you. Maybe it’s just worth knowing what people are expecting.”
“Oh” Cassy said. “I never really was good at that. Giving people the unexpected is usually what I do, as a detective. Especially with strange and befuddling cases.”
“I see,” May said. “Well, for everything that’s happened, I don’t feel like you did too bad. I feel like if I had done this at the beginning, you might have picked something from left field.”
Cassy seemed intrigued. “Are you...just using a phrase?”
“Um, yeah?” May said.
“Oh” Cassy said, disappointed. “I thought you were going to tell me about the band ‘Left Field’ because I had never heard of it before.”
May chuckled slightly. “Sadly, no, but I like your enthusiasm.”
“Hm” Cassy pouted. “Well, all and all, this was still nice.”
“That’s all I could ask for,” May said.
Everyone kind of disbursed, leaving only May behind. I was on my way out, when I stopped and walked back. “Hey” I said. May looked at me. “You did good.”
“Thanks,” May responded. She sighed.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“It’s just…” May began. “Doing that course made me realize how much I missed doing what I do, ya know? I just want to breathe life into something again! But I don’t know how to do that here.”
Hmmmm. A way for her to breathe life… “Um, May?” I asked. She looked at me. “I found this in the MonoMono Machine. While this might not be something to wash away everything that’s happened, it could be fun.”
May gave it a closer look. “Is that…? It IS! A Good Intentions record. Man, it’s been a while since I’ve seen one. You know, since most music is digital.”
“So, God Intentions…” I wondered.
“They’re this really cool band,” May began explaining. “They have this really cool sound. Yeah, if I can figure out how to play this over the system, I will do so tonight.”
“Well, I hope everyone likes it,” I said.
“They will,” May replied, confidently. She left to figure out a way to play it over the speakers.
I went back downstairs. There was a little bit of time before dinner. On my way down, I found Duke. He looked like he was waiting for me. “Duke?”
“Hey” Duke responded. “What did you mean back there?”
I had to think for a second. “Oh, when I said ‘tear the bandage off’?”
“Yeah,” Duke said. “I’m still confused.”
I shrugged. “I meant you should ask her out.”
“Why would I do that?” Duke shot back.
I was now confused. “Because of the motive…?” Duke still looked at me strangely. “Look, I know you have a thing for her, so I-”
“BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Duke laughed abruptly. “You think I have a thing for May?”
“Well, yeah…” I said.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” he continued. “Man, you really suck at this, don’t you? You can’t tell that Cassy likes you or you like Cassy, but I didn’t know it extended to everyone else though.”
I was getting peeved. “If I have a thing for Cassy, it’s because you all keep saying I do. If you tell a lie 1,000 times, it becomes the truth.”
“Oh man” Duke said. “I just can’t handle this.” He went back to laughing. “Am I the type of person who would perpetuate a lie like this to you?”
“You seem to…” I sneered.
“Look, if something’s not correct, I’ll say so,” Duke said. “Although I might not be the best at figuring out what the truth is.”
“So…?” I insinuated.
“Huh? No. I was talking about the trials” Duke said. “Your affection for Cassy is clear as day.” I groaned. “But me liking May? Where did this come from?”
“Well,” I said. “I sighed. “I don’t understand these sorts of things myself, but I thought it was one of those things where, you know how like in movies or TV, sometimes people will antagonize each other, but it means they actually like them.” Duke looked at me intently. “Yeah, I don’t get it either…” Duke was standing still. “You alright?”
“Huh?” Duke responded. “Oh. Yeah. Right. Ha ha. That.” We stared at each other confused as ever. “Well, bye!” Duke left.
I was confused. What I found even more confusing was when I thought someone touched my shoulder. I turned back to see if anyone was there, but I didn’t see anything. “Ugh. When I get out of here, I don’t think I’m ever going to stop therapy.” I headed out.
There was some time before dinner where we just kind of hung out. Dinner wasn’t all too eventful either. I guess after so long, there’s only so much you can do. Also, the motive has everyone on edge for more than one reason.
I looked over at Cassy while she was eating. Maybe I should take my own advice. She noticed me and I turned back to my food. Maybe not now. But soon. I continued eating.
Once we were finished,May stood up enthusiastically. “ALRIGHT!” she said. “Now, I know things have been tense…”
“Talk about an understatement” Tammy snided.
“BUT I think I have something to help ease things a little bit” May said. “Justin brought me a record I haven’t heard in a while, and now I’m going to play it for you over the speakers. Are you ready?”
“Uh, sure, I guess…” Cassy said.
“GREAT! I’m gonna get started!” May rushed off.
Everyone just stood still for a moment. “Um, what are we doing?” Tammy asked.
“I don’t think we have to do anything but listen,” I said.
“Well, if that’s the case…” Cassy said. She left. Everyone else kind of wandered off to do their own thing as well.
The music started up, and boy was May right. This was really good. It certainly cheered me up a bit. But… I decided to head up to Cassy’s room. I knocked. “Hey.”
“Why are you here?” she asked from beyond the door.
“I dunno,” I said. “I thought you’d just like a bit of company” I replied.
She opened the door. “Fine. Come in” she said. I followed.
She sat at her desk while I sat on the floor. “So, how are you liking the music?”
“It’s fine…” Cassy said.
“But…?” I inquired.
Cassy looked at me. She sighed. “I dunno. I’ve always felt like a wet blanket at these sorts of things. And now…”
I understood what she meant. “I get it,” I told her.” This isn’t good by any stretch of the imagination. And yeah, once this is all wrapped up, we can celebrate to the fullest. But right now, in moments like this, it’s important to keep our ships afloat. And despite everything, I don’t think there’s anyone I’d do this with than all of you.”
Cassy just sat there, quietly. “Damn. Your logic never ceases to amaze me.” She came over and sat down next to me. “This sucks.” She looked at me, face as red as a tomato. “Ah, I mean, this situation.”
I chuckled slightly. “I get it.”
Casy smiled. “But this is nice.” We sat there, vibing to the music for a bit. We heard a knock. “Come in.”
It was Sophie. “Um, hi…” she said, sort of embarrassed.
“What’s up?” Cassy asked.
“Well...I figured you might be a bit lonely…” Sophie said.
“Why’s that?” Cassy continued.
“...Because I sort of...felt lonely too…” Sophie admitted. Cassy waved her over, and Sophie sat down next to her. “I...remember listening to...really, all sorts of music with Rachel...but now…”
Cassy pulled her in. “It’s fine. We’re all in this together, right.”
Sophie looked at her. “Yeah.” We listened to some more of the music. “This is actually kind of nice…”
A few minutes later, we heard another knock. “Come in,” Cassy said.
Jay opened the door. “Huh. You’re all here.”
“Is everyone else together?” I asked.
“Eh, some of them are,” Jay said. “I was going to invite you, Justin, since they seem to be having a good time. But what’s going on here?”
“We’re just kind of vibing” I explained. “We don’t feel like dancing right now. But this is perfectly fine.”
Jay looked at us for a second. “Heh. I getcha. Mind if I join in?”
“By all means,” Cassy said. Jay came in and sat down next to me.
A few minutes later, there was yet another knock. “Come in,” Cassy said.
It was May. “Huh.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Well, I just wanted to see how everyone was enjoying the music,” May explained. “Everyone else I’ve seen is enjoying it.”
Cassy smiled. “We’re enjoying it too. We’re just enjoying it in a more subdued way.”
“I see,” May said. “Do you have room for another?”
“Always,” Cassy said.
May came to sit down with us. “Heh. I haven’t done something like this in a long time. This is nice.”
Wel all sat there, just chilling together. We didn’t say anything, but we didn’t need to. We just wanted to feel, and that’s what we did. And while I had heard it from just about everyone else at that point, I did have to agree that it was nice.
After a certain point, there was no audio. “When's the next song coming on?” Sophie asked.
“OH SHIT!” May said, shocked. “That’s it!”
“‘That’s it’?” Jay responded.
“I guess I lost track of time,” May admitted. “But this was great. Thanks Justin.”
“I just gave you the music” I replied. “You put it to good use.” May nodded and headed out. A few moments later, we heard over the speakers “Um, well, that is it for this album. Thank you for indulging me. I hope you all had a good night.”
Jay got up and left first. Sophie followed him. I got up as well, but before I could get to the door, I felt a tug. Cassy had grabbed my pant leg. I turned to her. “Hey…” she said. “...Thanks.” I looked at her, smiled, and nodded. She let go, and I headed back to my room.
As I was laying in bed, I was reflecting on the more positive things that had happened during our stay in this Hell. Perhaps in another world, another time, another place, we wouldn’t have to deal with the bad stuff, and all that good stuff would just be. We’d get to enjoy it with everyone, and no psychopath would want us dead. Heck, we might even have a whole network of friends; at least from what I’ve heard, some of our class is fairly social.
I smiled. It’s those positive moments that make me want to leave the most. Well, aside from not having to watch everyone die. I think I speak for everyone when I say I want to have fun like this, no strings attached. But I guess this is our burden to bear at the moment. We have to fight through Hell to reach out to Heaven.
#danganronpa#danganronpa fanfic#Dangan Ronpa Away#justin#Cassy#sophie#tammy#May#Jay#duke#annabelle#andy#pierce#maria#roman#Troy#Rachel#Buck#elliot#monokuma#monobird
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Danganronpa: Away Chapter 4: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Part 3)
I was rudely awoken to the sound of someone knocking at my door. I checked the clock. “What kind of monster wakes up at 5 am?” I got up half asleep and didn’t bother putting my clothes on, just wearing a tank top and pajama shorts. I answered the door. “Jay?”
“Hey, so I know it’s a bit early…” Jay began.
“No foolin’” I responded.
“BUT I am instructing the first class of the day” Jay finished. “And, well, you know things could get intense.”
“Uh huh” I nodded.
“So, I was wondering if you could maybe make something for us to eat right afterwards,” Jay asked.
I stared at him. “Sure,” I said. I attempted to close the door.
“Waitwaitwait!” Jay said. “I meant, can you do it now?”
“Now?” I replied.
“In. Tense” Jay emphasized.
I looked at Jay. After seeing and hearing some of the stuff Jay has done, I guess it makes sense. “Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh!”
“Is that a ‘yes’?” Jay asked.
“Yeah” I said. “Let’s go.” I started walking out.
Jay stared at me. “Um, aren’t you going to change?”
“Nah!” I said. “I know what I’m doing.”
Jay shrugged. “Well, you’re the cooking expert here.” He began following me. We made our way down to the kitchen. “So, what are we making?”
“Stew,” I said dryly.
“Stew?” Jay asked.
“Yeah” I said. “If this is going to be for later, it has to be able to be stored well. If it’s for everyone, there needs to be a lot of it. And you insist we need it now, so it has to be something I can make when I’m half asleep. So stew.”
Jay smiled. “I getcha.” As I began making the stew, he paused for a moment. “You must really hate mornings.”
“Honestly, I don’t know how anyone likes mornings” I replied.
Jay chuckled. “Well, maybe you’ll come around eventually. How ‘bout I make you some coffee?”
“I don’t like coffee,” I answered.
Jay looked at me, shocked. “Well THERE’S your problem. You’ve got nothing satisfying to help get you up.”
“I don’t need another lecture about how good coffee is” I said annoyed, continuing preparations.
“Don’t worry. I understand liking and not liking things” Jay said. “But maybe once you’re in a serious relationship with someone, you might like waking up to them.” He looked at me again. “Then again, you seem like the type of person to sleepily tap the snooze button and grasp your partner and fall deeper into sleep.”
For whatever reason, be it Piece’s constant bothering, the little bits from everyone else, or the fact that she called me her assistant and tousled my hair last night, my mind drifted to holding onto Cassy and delving into a deeper sleep. “Uhhhhhhhhh…” I stopped prepping.
Jay looked at me. “Woah. You alright? You’re looking so red I almost think you’re allergic to yourself at this point.”
I shook myself out of it. “Sorry. I’m fine. Just a little loose thought…”
Jay picked up on that. “Oh? Were you thinking about someone in particular?”
“Do you want me to finish this, or do you want to talk about my drowsy thoughts?” I retorted.
“Sorry. Sorry. Keep cooking” Jay said. He remained quiet for most of the rest of the time I was cooking. He helped out some, but decided to leave most of it for me. He then said “I wish Troy was here to attend the class.”
I looked at him and said “I wish everyone was.”
“Well, yeah…” Jay said, embarrassed. “But Troy and I… we had something special… Platonically, of course.”
I slightly smiled. “Yeah. Seeing as he mentioned he had a girlfriend.”
“Right,” Jay said. He sighed. “You know, on the night he died, he was trying to set me up with one of her friends.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I told him none of them were my type,” Jay said. “But it was nice.”
“I can imagine” I said. I finished making the stew for everyone. “OK. It’s done.”
“Great” Jay said
“Now, if I were to fall asleep now, could I trust you to take me back to my room?”
“Ummm, yeah?” Jay said, confused.
“Good,” I said. I passed out. Jay managed to catch me before I fell on the floor, but that was the last thing I remember.
The next thing I know, I woke up to Monokuma’s morning announcement. I say “woke” but in reality, I was still half asleep. Still, I don’t want that bear coming into my room and trying to wake me with whatever he thinks is funny. So I got ready, got dressed, and headed out.
When I went down to the dining area, Jay stopped me before I could get to the kitchen to make myself something. “Hey,” he said. “Uh, I already made you something.”
“Really?” I said, confused and waking up a little more. “Thanks?”
“Yeah, I don’t expect it to be great,” Jay said. “But it is a thank you for helping me out this morning.”
“Oh. Thank you” I said. Jay guided me to my seat where I was greeted by a stack of blueberry pancakes. “These look actually pretty good.”
“Heh,” Jay said. “Well, when you have what I have, it’s easy.”
I snorted. “And what would that be?” I asked.
“Well, we’re going to learn about it in today’s class,” Jay said.
“Ugh” Tammy said. “Don’t remind me. I’ve always hated gym.”
“Same,” Cassy said.
“Why’s that?” Pierce asked.
“Because” Cassy answered in a dignified fashion. “In gym they want you to go fast. They put limits on you and ask you to do well within those limits. While I try to methodically figure out things, and take as much time as I need, everything is said and done.”
“I see…” Jay said. “Well, there’s no need to worry about that for my class.”
“I just don’t like exercising,” Tammy said.
“Well, there’s not much to be done about that,” Jay said.
I took a bite out of the blueberry pancakes, a la Jay. “This is really good.”
“Aw, you’re too kind,” Jay said.
“No for real,” I said. “Whoever you end up with is going to be lucky to have someone like you cooking.” Jay slightly blushed. We all continued to eat our breakfasts. After I finished, I placed my plates in the kitchen only to see it was an absolute mess. I walk back out. “Ummmmmmm…”
“Yeah” said Jay. “I know. It took awhile to get the pancake stuff just right.” I wasn’t sure if I should be impressed, or upset. “Don’t worry. I’ll probably have energy to spare. Since you made lunch already, I’ll take care of the dishes after lunch.”
“Sounds fair,” I said. I sat down. “How long before your class?”
“I dunno. Like an hour or two maybe” Jay said.
“OK great,” I said. I folded my arms on the table and nodded off.
I was awakened by the sound of the announcement system going off. Again, it was Annabelle. “Good Morning. For this morning’s class, our teacher, Jay Lafayette, has asked us to join him outside on the track. See ya there!”
I was still a little groggy, but I managed to pull through. I got up and walked outside to meet everyone else. Once we were all there, Jay stood in front of us.
“Good morning,” he said. “Now, as you know, in order to be good at anything, you need to practice. However, you need something else as well: Endurance. I have been pressured to give up numerous times, whether it be from classmates who hate me, or doctors telling me that I shouldn’t be able to walk.”
He gestured towards the track. “Which brings us to today’s exercise. Now, we have a limited time for class, so here’s what I want you to do. I want you to either run until time is up, or run 10 laps, whichever comes first. That’s all you have to do.”
Andy raised his hand. “Um, what happens if we reach 10?”
“Well then,” Jay began answering, “you can continue running, or you can stop. It’s up to you. Are you ready?” We collectively nodded. “Good. Now let’s go.'' We started lining up. “Oh, and just so nobody cheats, I have Monobird here tracking how many laps you’ve done.” Monobird waved at us. “Are you ready?” We all nod. “Alright. Then GO!”
We all start running. Obviously, Jay outruns everyone and gets 10 laps done faster than any of us could. However, after his tenth lap, he slows down periodically to help people who need it. Some people decide to give up after the required 10, although among those people some are faster than others. Others decide to try and push themselves a little further with varying degrees of success.
Personally, I was among those who wanted to give up after ten, but lap nine proved to be a little more difficult for me. Even the people who were more excited by running this much had given up before I had complete lap ten. I just gotta keep going I told myself.
“Hey” Jay said, pulling up to me. “Are you sure you don’t have what it takes?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” I asked, realizing it was only him and I on the track.
Jay smiled. “You’re like on lap 20.”
“22!” Monobird called out.
“WHAT?!” I said, stopping suddenly. However, the inertia pulled me still, and I ended up falling over. “I did more than 10?”
Jay slowed down to a stop. He came back to help me up. “Yeah” he said, picking me up. “I thought you knew.”
I rubbed my head. “Ugh… I thought I was on lap nine forever.”
“Great! That’s a good motivator!” Jay said. I glared at him. “Oh, you meant on accident.”
“Ugh” I groaned. “I’m so tired.”
Jay smiled. “Alright. Time’s about up anyways. We can just call it here, since everyone else has basically stopped anyway.” He turned to everyone. “Alright, how did you like that?”
“Horrible,” Cassy said, tremling.
“I liked it!” Tammy said. “I was very surprised. I usually don’t like this, but going at my own pace helped a lot.”
“Me too” Andy said. “I did more laps than I thought I could.”
“You did 11,” Pierce pointed out.
“That’s ten more than I thought I could,” Andy replied. Piece laughed.
“Ugh, man” Duke said. “I mean, I liked it, but now I feel the pain.”
“Well, we can all relax now” Jay said “Justin made us some stew earlier this morning for this exact moment.”
“Which is why I accidentally ran 22 laps” I retorted.
“Aw, come on,” Jay said. “You can’t tell me it was a completely bad experience?”
I looked at him. “Ask me when I’m more awake.”
“Fair enough,” he said.
“Alright!” Monobird called. “Let’s head back!” We all headed to the dining area. We got out the pot and reheated it. We each grabbed our bowls and poured us some stew.
I began eating my stew. “Huh. Not bad for something I made when I was half-asleep.”
“OK, I have to ask, how rich is your palette?” Pierce said. “This is absolutely the best stew I’ve had.”
I looked at him. “That can’t possibly be true.”
“Eh. Maybe you’re right” Pierce said. “But it’s the best stew I’ve had in awhile.”
“I concur,” Cassy said. “This is definitely great. If this whole Hope’s Peak things doesn't work out once we get out of here, you could probably get a job at Renee’s restaurant.”
I smiled. “She told me something similar the night before this all began.” I continued eating. It was strange.
I really enjoyed lunch, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think that things were going too well. Like this was another calm before another storm. We’ve been fighting against this for quite some time, but we were nowhere closer to leaving. Still, I thought, I guess I should enjoy these moments with everyone while I still can. There’s no point in not being happy at times like this.
We finished lunch. “Alright, so as promised, I’m going to do the dishes!” Jay said.
“Wait!” Cassy said. “I’ll come and help you.”
Jay looked at her. “Really?” Cassy nodded. “Well, alright then.” The two of them walked off.
Meanwhile, I was still a little tired, so I just stayed seated. “Hey” Andy said, talking to me. “How are you feeling?”
I looked at him quizzically. “Did Pierce put you up to this?”
“No?” Andy questioned. “I’m just wondering since you seem tired. I mean, you did accidentally run 22 laps.”
“Oh” I said. “Well, I guess I’m tired,” I explained. “I don’t like getting up earlier than I have to. But I can do it if need be. Jay asked for help, so I helped him.”
“I see…” Andy said. I yawned. “Well, the good news is, you could probably catch some Zs during my class this afternoon.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?” I asked.
“Yeah” Andy admitted. “Surprisingly, trivia is a lot like running in that you need endurance. But it’s also one of those things where you either like it or you don’t.”
“And you don’t think I’d like it?” I asked.
“Well… I’d like it if you would,” Andy said. “In fact, it might be up your alley. But I’m just trying to help.”
“I see.” I smiled. “Very well. I might just take you up on that.”
“Great!” Andy said. “Oh, and by the way, great stew.”
I smiled. “Thanks.” Andy headed off.
After lunch we had time to hang out for a bit. After a little while, I heard May on the PA. “Good afternoon. For today’s afternoon class, our instructor, Andy Fisher, has asked us to join him in the library. See ya there!”
We headed into the library. Once we had all gathered, Andy looked at all of us. “Um, hello…” he said, nervously. “Um, so, you’re probably wondering what kind of class this is going to be. Which is a fair question to ask. Trivia isn’t necessarily like a lot of your talents, but it can be fun nonetheless. Much like running this morning, this kind of study requires perseverance.
So, for today’s lesson, I want you to pick a topic you are unfamiliar with, find some information on it and keep going until you are bored. I will give you until about 10 minutes until class is over. Ready, steady, go!”
We all were a bit surprised, but decided to go through with it. I looked over at Cassy who promptly got up to find something. Hmmm. Maybe if I knew more about it, I could understand why she has a strong adverse reaction to the supernatural. I looked for a book that talked about supernatural function. I made sure to find one that was objective in its narrative. As much as Cassy shows her disdain for it, I don’t think it would be helpful to get something that promotes it as the hardest truth.
I found a book and read a little bit. The topic itself was actually fairly interesting. I mean, of course it didn’t shake me of my beliefs, but it was interesting to gain a new perspective.
I kept reading for a while. Eventually, Andy called out “OK, I think that’s enough time for now.” We all looked up. “Ah, I mean, if you want to keep looking into it afterwards, that’s fine. But I think it’s time to share. What did we learn about?”
“Well, I did some research into casinos,” Duke said.
“Really?” May asked.
“What?”
“Well, it just seems like you are the type of person to hang out at a casino all day” May said.
“Inconceivable!” Duke said. “I am a scientist. Whatever odds there are of messing up, I would like to be in control. ...Although, having looked into it, it could be fun maybe…”
“Well, I looked into photography,” May explained.
“Photography?” Duke asked
“Yeah” May answered. “I felt like since I’m more about the kinetic, and keeping the party going, I wanted to see what still images had to offer. Turns out, a lot.”
“Alright, alright” Andy said. “Who else wants to share?”
“I’ll go,”Pierce said, raising his hand. “I took the time to look into technology.”
“Huh? But you’re a teenager, right?” Tammy asked. “You should know about this kind of stuff.”
“Heh. Well, I have remarkably bad luck with technology” Pierce added. “Sometimes, I think it’s afraid of me. But now, I think I have a better understanding of it.”
“Hm. Well that seems peculiar” Tammy said. “But I like it. And you might be interested to know, I studied up on the Mongol Empire. It’s actually quite fascinating.”
“And what makes you think I’d be interested in that?” Pierce asked.
“Oh, well, uh, you’re kind of the weapons guy, right?” Tammy answered. “Since they established the biggest empire on land, I would assume you’d study up on the various weapons and techniques they used to pull off such a feat.”
“Oh yeah” Pierce said. “That makes sense. Although my personal preference is within the Roman Empire.”
“Huh. Go figure” Tammy said.
“I looked into medical stuff,” Jay said. “Turns out, I probably should have listened to them. Some of the stuff I went through is actually quite serious.”
“But, would you do it again?” I asked.
“Of course!” Jay answered.
“Figures” I sighed.
“I looked into sea creatures,” Sophie said.
“Why’d you do that?” Annabelle asked.
“Because I thought it would be fun. And it was!” Sophie replied.
“I see,” Annabelle said. “Well, speaking of fun, I took a look into medievil torture devices.”
“Wait, how is that fun?” Sophie asked.
“Well, I thought it would be more fun,” Annabelle relented. “But it wasn’t the kind of torture I was looking for. Still, I learned some interesting things.”
“Well, as long as you’re learning” Sophie said. “Wait, what was that?”
“I took a dive into the history of fast food” Cassy said.
“Fast food, huh” I remarked.
“Well, I am fairly rich. My parents never felt the need to go to such places. But I was always curious” she added.
“Huh. Makes sense” I said.
“And what did you choose to study?” she asked me.
“Oh, I took a deep dive into the supernatural” I answered.
She looked at me, pale as a ghost. “What? WHY?” she demanded.
“...Well…” I began. “For this?” She was still glaring, but seemed a little curious. “I mean, you have such an adverse reaction to it all, I wanted to figure out why you don't like it, but other people do. And what to do if something comes up that makes you uncomfortable about it.”
Cassy’s face turned a little red. “Oh. I see…”
“Smooth,” Pierce said.
“Huh.. That is interesting” Andy remarked. “Most people chose a subject that helped them personally. But you seemed to have chosen a subject for someone else’s benefit.”
“I can’t say I’m too surprised,” Tammy said slyly.
Sophie nodded. “And it’s no surprise who he did it for either.”
I looked at them confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Annabelle chimed in. “Just follow your heart. No matter what others think.”
“Huh?” I said.
“Heh heh” Pierce said. “Well, this has certainly been enlightening.”
“Indeed” Duke said.
“And that’s all I could ask for,” Andy said. “The thing that makes me a good trivia expert is knowing that there is more to learn. So I hope this helped instill a better understanding of that pursuit. And with that, I believe that ends the lesson.”
We all dispersed. As I was leaving, Cassy grabbed my arm. I turned to her, but she didn’t say anything. “You OK?” I asked.
She stood there silently for a bit. “Nevermind” she said. She walked off.
“Huh” I said.
“Hey, uh, not that I mind,” Andy said, “but, um, I did say you could sleep through my class.”
“Oh, right,” I said.
“What made you change your mind?” Andy asked.
“Well, I don’t know,” I said. “When you introduced the topic to us, I immediately thought of it.”
“Huh” Andy said. “How bold of you.”
“Bold?” I questioned.
“Well, uh, you see,” Andy started, “when I like someone like that, it can be hard for me to do stuff like that, you know?”
I sighed. “Why does everyone think I have a thing for Cassy?”
Andy looked at me with a confused expression. “Um, are you sure you don’t need glasses? Cause I can see that even without my glasses.”
I sighed again. “Why does it matter anyways? Even if I did, it’s not like she’d have a thing for me.”
“Hmmmm” Andy thought. He snapped his fingers. “Maybe that’s it.”
I was confused. “What is?” I asked.
“Hold on, I’m going to need to think about this for a bit,” Andy said. “Later.” He walked off.
We had some time to ourselves after that, so we just kind of hung out. A little while later, we all convened for dinner. Diner was mostly chit-chat about today’s lessons. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.
However, like all things in this cursed place, good doesn’t last long, and evil rears its head at moments like this. “Attention!” Monokuma said from the speakers. “Please join me in the gymnasium immediately. Attendance is not optional. See ya there!”
We all were frozen for a second. Still, we knew we had to move. We left the dining area and entered the gym. Monokuma had prepared a stage with a giant heart behind him. “What do you want?” Duke asked, although we all knew the answer.
“Heh heh heh” Monokuma chortled. “I think the more appropriate question to ask is what do YOU want? Or maybe WHO do you want?” We were all confused. “You want to treat this like a real school experience, huh? Well, as the headmaster I feel like I should do something to help out. So I’m organizing a school dance.”
“Where is this going?” I wondered.
“Upupupupu!” Monokuma laughed. “Of course, since this is a dance, you’ll all need dance partners, no? But as highschoolers, it can be hard to ask your crush to a school dance. But never fear! I’ll be doing the asking for you!”
“What?” Cassy said.
“Everyone! Look at your Monopads!” Monokuma instructed. We all did. “On it, you’ll see a name. If you haven’t asked someone to the dance, an invitation will be sent to that person from you asking them to the dance. And none of this ‘going as friends’ business. You have to ask someone on a proper date, or else!”
“Or else what?” Pierce asked.
“My, aren’t you brave” Monokuma remarked.
“Nah, I’m just used to all this BS” Pierce admitted.
“Well, either way…” Monokuma said. “You will all die if you ask someone out insincerely. Happy?”
“I just wanted to hear you say that,” Pierce said.
“Well, there IS another option” Monokuma said. “Obviously, if a murder were to take place, I would have to cancel the dance entirely. So those are your options.”
Everyone was looking at the Monopad. I looked and I saw Cassy’s profile. Of course. Everyone else does. Why wouldn’t the homicidal dual-colored bear think I have a thing for Cassy too?
“When is the dance?” Cassy asked.
“Well that’s what makes me such a good headmaster” Monokuma said. “I’m going to give you a lot of time on this one. The dance itself is on the Friday after the upcoming Friday.”
“After the upcoming Friday, which means…” Cassy began to deduce. She then had a look of horror.
“What is it?” Tammy asked.
“...What day is it today?” Cassy asked in a panicked state.
“Huh? Why it’s…” Duke began to answer. Suddenly, fear washed over him. “Oh no.”
“Hold on, do none of us know?!” Andy asked. He began hyperventilating.
“I usually check my phone for that,” May said.
“But our phones got taken away,” Annabelle said.
“And we’ve been trapped in her for so long, and so much has happened, I guess we lost track” Jay said.
“Oh well,” Monokuma said. “And don’t think about asking Monobird. Otherwise he’ll take a one-way trip to short circuit city. Well, I hope you all can get ready for the dance. After all, everything needs to be juuuuuuuuuuust right.” He left.
We were all very much disturbed by this. An upcoming dance where we have to ask people out sincerely on an unspecified date. Furthermore, invitations will get sent out if we don’t ask. This level of complexity was a lot to unpack, and it didn’t help that this whole situation is emotionally draining already.
#danganronpa#danganronpa fanfiction#Danganronpa Away#justin#Cassy#Jay#pierce#andy#May#annabelle#sophie#tammy#duke#maria#roman#Troy#Rachel#Buck#elliot#monokuma#monobird
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