Glass Heart

Glass Heart - Chapter Fifty-Eight

Izuku shouted from the hallway to the living room for Shouta and Hizashi to keep their eyes closed. Once they had done so, Izuku directed Hitoshi, Shoto and Katsuki inside. Katsuki laid down on the floor, pretending to have died, and Izuku gently placed down a cardboard knife, before walking behind the middle of three trial stands, Hitoshi standing to his left and Shoto to his right.

"Time for the play to begin!" He called, as Hizashi and Shouta opened their eyes.

Izuku started the script off strong. "One of us killed Kacc - Katsuki." He proclaimed, flinging his arm forward. "We need to look at the evidence and find the true culprit here. We will discover the truth!"

He glanced at Hitoshi, who flinched slightly, and then sighed, knowing there was no way of getting out of this play. "You're right, Shumai. Nishishi..." His bad acting due to his reluctance aside, Hitoshi did his best to get into the role of the Ultimate Supreme Leader, leaning his head back into his raised hands. "I wonder who committed this atrocious act?"

"There's a knife there!" Shoto said, trying to lift the tone of his voice to better suit his character. "Maybe that's what Bakugou was killed with!"

"Last night, Kaede and I were in our labs - the labs of the Ultimate Detective and the Ultimate Pianist." Izuku said. "We never left them. This knife came from Kokichi's lab - the lab of the Ultimate Supreme Leader." Izuku shot his hand forward and accusatorily pointed his finger at Kokichi. "This means you have to be the culprit!"

Hitoshi glanced at his script. This was where he was supposed to confess and then do a re-enactment of him attacking Katsuki. That would be really fun, but... he also really wanted to punish Izuku for making him wear this outfit.

"Nishishi..." Hitoshi said with a smile, finally getting into his character, now he felt he was in control of the play. "You're missing one thing, Shumai..."

"L - Like what, Kokichi?" Izuku said, confused at the line change. He glanced at Shoto who just shrugged in return.

"Like the fact that there's no blood!" Hitoshi shouted, gesturing to Katsuki. Sure enough, there was no blood at all. "Care to explain that little detail?"

Izuku couldn't ruin the play by explaining he didn't want to get fake blood - pink paint, don't ask why it's pink - over the carpet, even if he knew Hitoshi was planning something. For now, he could run along with it. Out of the three of them, he was the best at innovation. "No, Kokichi, I couldn't. You're the culprit though, shouldn't you be the one to explain that to me?"

Hitoshi laughed slightly. "Nishishi, dear Shumai couldn't figure it out? I doubt that. As the Ultimate Detective, Shuichi would be digging for the truth right now if he didn't know. Which means..." His expression turned dark, as he glared at Izuku. "You're the true culprit."

"S - Shuichi is the culprit?!" Shoto jumped in, finally understanding Hitoshi's intentions. Honestly, he agreed with Hitoshi - Izuku needed to pay for making them wear these ridiculous outfits - what better way than to derail the play he'd spent so long working on?

"Is that why I found... this, near the body?" Shoto paused in the middle of his sentence, patting his pockets for any small container he could use as a prop, eventually finding some lip balm in his pocket. Grateful he'd left it there, he pulled it out and showed it to Izuku and Hitoshi. "This... poison?"

"Kaede!" Izuku gasped, realising what they were doing.

"And you just said you were in your lab all night - during the period where the murder took place." Shoto added, knowing they'd caught Izuku in their trap. "Well, I think you know better than we do, that all the poisons are found in the Ultimate Detective's lab - yours!"

"And I was asleep all night!" Kokichi added, backing Izuku into a corner. "You could've easily snuck into my lab and grabbed one of my knives to try and incriminate me instead of yourself!"

For a brief second, Shoto felt glee shoot through him, excited at finally confusing Izuku, and completing the goal of derailing the play. Then he remembered he's supposed to be acting as Shuichi's close friend Kaede, and quickly got back into character. "Shuichi... if I'm wrong, please tell me. I don't want you to be the culprit. If it was Kokichi like you originally claimed, then please show some hard evidence. I doubt you because I want to believe you, please understand that."

"Kaede..." Izuku muttered, glancing away from Shoto, face flushed slightly. Even when cornered in a play, he couldn't get over how pretty Shoto looked. He sighed, and took a deep breath in. If that's how Shoto and Hitoshi wanted the play to be run, then very well. He was a great innovator after all.

He released his breath - and flung off his cap.

"Very well. You want the truth?" Hitoshi and Shoto glanced at Izuku in surprise, shocked he's following along with them. "You're correct. That's exactly what I did. I figured your trust in me as the Ultimate Detective would be enough to avoid suspicion, so I got sloppy, and didn't have a proper plan laid out."

Izuku breathed out, allowing fake tears to form. "I was just so tired of all of this! So many people we all cared about... they all died... and I just..." He turned his head away, wiping away his fake tears, pretending to compose himself. "I couldn't do it anymore. I had to get out, by any means necessary. Katsuki was just in the wrong place at the wrong time - I would've gone for Kokichi if given the chance."

"Shumai, how could you!" Hitoshi whined, knowing his character would pretend not to be hurt by Izuku's claim. "I thought out of everyone here, you'd be searching for the truth the most!"

"The truth is, we're trapped here. And there's nothing that can be done to change that." Izuku finished, glancing between Hitoshi and Shoto, pure acceptance in his eyes. He kept a hold of Shoto's gaze. "Kaede, I honestly hoped you'd solve it. I think... that's why I was so sloppy. I didn't even get fake blood to try and incriminate Kokichi further... I didn't want you to die." He glanced back at Hitoshi. "I didn't want either of you to die."

He turned back to the front of the stage, facing the audience - Hizashi and Shouta, flinging his arm forward again. "It's time to start the punishment time - the punishment of the blackened, Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective!"

After a few moments of silence, Izuku bowed. Hitoshi and Shoto quickly followed, and Katsuki stood up and bowed as well, taking the opportunity to stretch slightly.

"What did you think, Dad? Papa Zashi?" Izuku asked, stars in his eyes.

The two of them glanced at each other, and Hizashi asked the first thing on his mind.

"... why's Todoroki in a skirt?"

Hi everyone! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, haha.

I've never been good at writing plays - and it was incredibly hard to write one based on something that I couldn't really make any references to, without spoiling things.

To be clear: this play was based on Danganronpa V3 - Hitoshi was Kokichi, Izuku was Shuichi and Shoto was Kaede. The play I wrote has no reference to the game itself, and hopefully shouldn't spoil anything for you if you decide to play the game after reading this play. Well done to everyone who guessed it before this chapter!

Also, I very much doubt the play was written well, I've never really been that good at writing original plays, and then adding a mutiny in the middle got confusing too, haha. Also I had no way of making a punishment for Shuichi. I mean there were many really amazing ideas, but in their living room? It'd be better to not actually act it out.

I'm not entirely sure what next chapter will be, but right now, I'm thinking of having some TodoDeku in the next chapter to conclude the winter break 'arc' (? XD) of the story, before moving back to the main plot.

I hope you're looking forward to it!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊