Danganronpa Zero

Chapter Three (part two)

"You're also too loud for someone as ugly as you. Speaking of, someone as ugly as you being scared of flying scalpels is weird too."

"W...Wait a second!", I stopped him, my voice showing signs of panic. "I could report you for discrimination if you keep calling me ugly, you know!"

"...Who are you going to report me to? The National Japanese Ugly People Association? That kind of organization would be guilty of discrimination just by existing."

The manga-reading boy who kept calling me ugly was the person in charge of this neurology lab. The doctor in charge of my treatment. My childhood friend. The boy I like most in the world.

He's "Super High-school Level Neurologist", Yasuke Matsuda. I think.

"Oh, I see. You're a member of that association, aren't you. Is that why you're so angry?"

"I...I'm not! I'm not even ugly!"

"...On second thought, you're right. You aren't ugly."

My chest swelled in pride and I flashed a complacent smile. "Yep, that's right! I even checked in my mirror just now and -"

"You're super-ugly."

"Super-ugly?!!"

My shock was considerable, but it didn't take me long to recover enough to come up with a sharp response.

"L...Liar! I'm not super-ugly! If anything, I'm world-class cute!"

Matsuda-kun continued to ignore the fuss I was making, his eyes never leaving the magazine.

"I don't care what the world thinks. Ugliness is subjective and I am free to make my own judgment", he said, as if the matter at hand didn't concern him at all.

"So, so, tell me where you think I'm ugly! I'll go fix it up in surgery!", I said in desperation. "Is it my eyes? My nose? Maybe my mouth? How about my eyebrows?"

"You forgot to mention your heart." "But I can't fix my heart in surgery!"

"Is that so? Poor you. Honestly, you're beyond help - both your face and your brain aren't any good. I think you can have some success if you make yourself an object of sympathy, though. Go stand in front of a train station and beg for change, or something. I'm sure you'll make lots of money."

I dropped my shoulders, crestfallen. Then I let my hands drop towards the floor and my body droop limply. I was beaten up.

"...By the way, who are you?"

"Eh?", I raised my head in surprise at his unexpected question. "I can't really tell just by the voice."

"Are you saying you didn't know who you were talking to until now?"

"It's your fault. You never told me who you were."

"I...I didn't, but you can recognize me by my look, can't you? See? It's me!"

"I don't have time to look at you", said Matsuda-kun, still absorbed in his book. "I just got to the interesting part."

"Don't have time...? Isn't that just a manga magazine?"

"So what? If you're going to ask, ̳What's more important? Me or the manga?', the answer's the same as always. It's the manga."

"I see! If the answer's ̳the same as always', that means manga was always more important to you than me! That's cruel! I didn't wanna know that!"

"That's a fine observation, but please just answer the question."

"O...Okay...", Pressured, I took the notebook out of my backpack once more, and observed its front cover.