Danganronpa Zero

Volume Two, Chapter Four

Red eyes.

The whites of the eyes seemed almost painted red. The eyes turned towards their companion, Matsuda Yasuke muttered a questioned.

"... How long have you been conscious?"

After blinking for a strangely long time, the person on the bed - ̳Super High School Level Student Council President', Murasame Soushun opened his mouth slowly. His lips were parched and made a dry sound as he opened his mouth.

"... Always," His voice was quiet and hoarse. He sounded like a completely different person in comparison to before.

"So that's how it's been..." Matsuda let a grin creep into his expression. He turned to his friend showing a friendly smile. "But don't you think it's stupid to trick me like that?"

However Murasame did not make a sound. His eyes showed no emotion as he stared at Matsuda. Matsuda continued in his joking tone to help calm the tense atmosphere.

"It must have taken a lot of acting on your part. Your actual physiological symptoms and echos of such have almost completely disappeared... yet you were easily able to cease being a normal person. We wouldn't have been in this situation had I not seen through your act."

"Why did you come?" But his reply almost came with a violent attitude.

As if giving up, Matsuda's expression returned to a more sober look.

"You said that earlier. You asked those ancient artifacts from the steering committee that. I want you to find out... whether you really woke up or not."

In response Murasame only looked away, redirecting his attention to the ceiling and blinking without meaning.

"To be honest... even I'm having my doubts..." Matsuda licked his dry lips before continuing, "What if... I told those people that you're awake?"

Murasame remained silent to Matsuda's questioning. Like a remote controlled car with a flat battery, his reactions were slow and sluggish at best.

Maybe it isn't just acting.

Matsuda breathed out a deep sigh - he just answered his own question.

"Still, I'm sure the news will surprise them. After that... I already guessed what would happen. Didn't they used to say when people needed to prepare for the worst... ̳Desperate times call for desperate measures'? At the moment they're relying entirely on influential people outside the school to cover up this incident," Matsuda looked away from Murasame and slowly gazed at his surroundings. Instead of looking for some kind of reaction from Murasame, he turned to the surrounding electronic equipment, as if trying to communicate with it, "After all... they can't afford to make up excuses for this. Like allowing a known threat into the general public, they can't just pretend there's no danger.

There are also people who say who say a ruthless person cannot be a good researcher... well, not that it matters. It depends on how much talent there is."

Matsuda stayed talkative and Murasame didn't even shift an eyebrow. Murasame Soushun used to be the kind of person who would at least pretend to laugh no matter how bad the joke was - it seemed like that man was no longer there.

The issue isn't that he's feeling depressed.

As Matsuda sighed, he brushed his hair out of his face. His long, narrow eyes looked sharply at Murasame.

"Oy, Murasame. This isn't a bargaining point, but I do want to tell you... I'm saying this to make sure you understand, the school's intentions and the steering committee's intentions are very different. To be truthful, I don't care what those guys think. I just want to know what the hell is happening at this school. So then I-"