Danganronpa: Painful Truth

Daisies and Regrets

Yuri stared up at Gonta, her eyes sparkling, as he emitted a series of soft clicks and chirps that didn't seem suited to the anatomy of a human mouth. The shiny black beetle on his hand chittered back at him and opened its hard shell, unfurling its delicate wings. It performed an impressive figure-eight in the air and landed neatly where it started.

Yuri gasped and cheered. Ayu set the flowers she was holding in her lap so she could applaud. Even Kokichi, distracted as he was, grinned in appreciation for a moment.

Now that he had eaten breakfast and had a bit more time to think, he couldn't help but repeatedly revisit his last interaction with Himiko in his mind. Even though neither of them had had much of an opportunity to speak over Tenko's shouting, the few words he had managed to say had clearly not been the right ones.

It wasn't as though he'd said he didn't like her. He hadn't lied, simply avoided an intrusive question that he wasn't ready to answer, especially not to Tenko. Even still, Himiko had appeared significantly less upbeat by the time he had fled from the scene.

He sighed with quiet frustration. It made sense that delicate situations like this could be easily corrupted by misunderstandings. Anything other than blatant honesty could ruin everything and make her hate him all over again. He really didn't want that, especially not now that he was finally starting to get along with her and everyone else. He was actually enjoying the company of his peers from the killing game more than he thought he would, and she was definitely the most fun out of all of them.

Unfortunately, even if it made sense, blatant honesty was as boring as it was terrifying. Every single one of his friends was better at that than he was. Maybe it would be worth a try, just this once, but it would take some time for him to get used to it.

"Okay...my turn..." Yuri clenched her fists determinedly as Gonta held out the beetle. She took a deep breath before carefully replicating the noises Gonta had made. To Ayu and Kokichi's untrained ears, it sounded perfect, but the beetle immediately took off into a nearby tree, as though startled.

Gonta smiled encouragingly at her. "That very close! Yuri making good progress!"

"What did...I say?" she wondered aloud, her face falling into a pout. "I thought...I asked it...to do...a trick..."

"Well, yes, but..." Gonta frowned thoughtfully as he tried to explain. "Bug languages made for very tiny mouth parts. It easy for bigger creature to sound mean and scary by not speaking soft enough!"

"Huh...?" Yuri scrunched up her face in confusion. "But I...said it...as quietly...as I could..."

"Oh, it not too loud," he clarified. "Yuri speaking very clearly, and that good, but it make sounds too harsh and forceful. Sounds must be very careful and delicate!"

She nodded slowly. "So what did...I say?"

He hesitated with an apologetic smile. "Um, what Yuri said sound more like, 'do tricks or you get eaten!'"

Her eyes widened. "Eaten...?"

The absurd concept cut through Kokichi's thoughts, making him snicker. "Yuri, you eat bugs? That's so mean! Not to mention really gross. Is that why your breath smells weird?"

"Be quiet...over there..." Yuri stuck her tongue out at him. "Gonta...can you...tell the bug...I won't really...eat it...?"

"Ooooh, so it was just an empty threat?" Kokichi continued with a smirk. "Good job Yuri! Even I was convinced! This will really come in handy if we ever need to interrogate any bugs! Gonta can be good cop, and you can be bad cop! Nee-hee-hee!"

Yuri picked up a stick and threw it at him before turning her attention back to Gonta. "Okay...I wanna...try again..." she insisted. "Can we...go over it...one more time...?"