Final Danganronpa: Curse III

Chapter 05 // Experience and Lack Thereof // Daily Life

I sat up in bed and stretched with a yawn, darting my eyes around the room as I do every morning. Checking for danger, or a change.

But the room was the same as it always had been.

I walked into the bathroom, looking around for any semblance of the new. But the bathroom was the same as it always had been.

And when I closed the door behind me, the hallway was the same as it always had been.

So I walked the short distance to the restaurant and sat down to eat a breakfast, the same as I always ate in the resort.

I used the coffee machine that Lada, Akari, Shin, and I had stolen from the campsite, like every morning.

Something about the way I performed my ritual this morning feels final more than it ever has before. Like I'll never sleep in that bed again. Stand in that bathroom again. Make that walk again. Eat that breakfast again. Drink from that coffee machine again.

But like every morning, I looked out over my fellow participants and made some observations. Ryozo eating with us, which still felt unnatural. Fuyuko looking out the window. Akari practicing (and failing) at bartending. Harmony and Dissonnace chatting together.

And then him.

"Shin. Shin. Shin. Shin." Mumbled Shin, sitting alone in the corner of the room.

"Shin-Shin? You feeling alright, buddy?" Akari asked from across the room.

Shin stood up and walked up to the window. He placed his hand on the glass and watched the gentle snowfall pass by. "It's been so long." He said to himself, like we weren't watching.

Fuyuko stood up and carried her empty plate into the kitchen. But as soon as she lifted off her chair, Shin clocked on to her.

He approached her from behind and followed her in to the kitchen, staring uninterrupted at her face.

"Um...can I help you?" Fuyuko stuttered uncomfortably.

"Hm.." He quietly hummed at her. "No. No. No."

"Why the hell are we pretending that this isn't weird and creepy?!" Dissonance slammed their hands on the table.

"No!!" He screamed back at them, tripping over his own legs and crashing into a table.

I watched as he struggle to scramble up to his feet. "I am fine."

"Are you sure...?" Harmony asked.

He looked uneasy in his own body, not able to carry himself in a natural way. His hands seemingly moved independently from his arms as if he was just developing fine motor skills for the first time.

"That is not Shin." Akari whispered to me.

"But what do we do about it? He seems...sort of past the point of saving." I admitted, earning a shocked glare.

"Never say never, Yo-Yo." She reassured me, walking over to Shin.

"Um...Shin-Shin?" She began, carefully approaching him. "High five!"

She raised her hand aggressively, waiting for him to do something. And when he finally reciprocated the gesture, her face seemed to turn blue with fear.

She stumbled backwards and threw herself back down in the chair next to me. "That..is not Shin-Shin. He would never high five me." She explained.

"So whatever that is...it's replaced him." I said, lowering my voice.

"But then where's the real Shin-Shin?!" She said worriedly. "Is he...is he dead?"