Danganronpa 4-Despair Loop

30

Nao is trailing behind Sayuri and Izumi, who are walking along, chatting as happily as they can, given the situation that had just happened. Two of the brightest people the group had are gone. Ayane, even if she was lying, tried to put on a good face for everyone. Nao would miss that, miss the positive energy she radiated, how she took care of Nao when she accidentally fell off the stage, and other times. Nao would also miss Miana, she was also kind, when she didn’t look like she was trying to plot something evil, like Yuki. Yuki scares Nao. Nao shudders at the thought of her storming off, the aura of rage she left behind. 
“Do you… do you think Yuki will be okay?” Nao asks, after a moment of silence.
“H-huh?” Sayuri turns around, “Why do you a-ask?”
“Because. She seemed… off. Everything about her…” Nao fidgets for a second with the edge of her dress.
“Nah. I’m sure she’ll be just fine. She’s just one of those fuckers who gets mad at everything, and hates life… Like I said before, Satan reincarnated.” Izumi states with a grin.
“Hm… I guess you’d be right,” Nao looks up and smiles, “I don’t know why I’m so worried…” 
“I-it’s okay to be worried.” Sayuri smiles back at her, then quickly drops her gaze. The two in the front turn around, leaving Nao standing there, confused. She turns around and runs off to her dorm, her heavy’s leaving that satisfying click on the tiles, her mind letting loose. She hated these shoes once, they hurt her too much. But… running, jumping, dancing… it was what helped her smile, it was what helped her try so hard. Before she knows it, she’s at her dorm, staring at the door. She sighs and unlocks it, yanking open the door, running into her room. She lays down on her bed, gently untying her bow and undoing her ponytail. 
“Count your blessings, honey. I know it’s hard… But, you need to be strong. For little Iono, for yourself.” Nao’s mothers words rang in her ears, the words she told her every day she felt down.
“I’m alive. That’s one… Some of my friends are alive, that's two… We have food to eat and water to drink, three and four…” Nao smiles a bit as a weight, heavy on her chest, lifts slightly. She sits up, taking off her dress, and brushing off her t-shirt and shorts underneath. She jumps off her bed, regaining some of her energy back, throwing her dress to one side. 
“I need to do something for them. For all of them.” Nao smiles to herself and runs out of her room, being careful to lock her door behind her. 

“I’m surprised you haven’t… killed anyone yet…” Chinatsu looks over at Naoto, the two of them sitting down in the cafeteria, chatting.
“Woah, that’s a bit of a jump to conclusions. Why would I kill anyone?” He says back, locking his gaze with hers.
“Well… you looked so n-nervous about the first motive…” She says.
“Yeah. I’m worried, like everyone else. Monokuma… that bear’s sick. Sick in the head.” He says, tearing his gaze off of hers and looking down, clenching his fists. Chinatsu places a hand on his.
“Whatever happens, I’ll be here, okay?” She says, smiling softly, her face going pink.
“Thanks…” Naoto smiles in return, his blue eyes twinkling slightly.

“Oh, that’s really not good…” Koko says, while Yuma and her walk down the hall.
“You think? I really don’t think everything is okay…” Yuma says softly, still reeling from what she heard and saw.
“Yeah, well… I don’t think there's anything more we can do. She’s probably still in shock, and needs time to recover.” Koko says, putting an arm around Yuma’s shoulders. Yuma smiles a bit, leaning into Koko as they walk toward their dorms, Yuma shaking a bit. They arrive, and walk through their respective dorm doors. Yuma throws herself onto her bed, staring at the ceiling until she falls asleep.
Yuma wakes up at Monokuma’s announcement, like normal. She peels her covers off of her, her clammy self recalling last night's dream. She shivers at the memory. She was standing in the middle of a large, open field, surrounded by the people she had cared about, and lost. And people added, and then almost immediately disappeared. And then… she was transported here. To the school. She saw the faces of the 4 people who had died; Kayden, her friend, the guy she liked, but couldn’t protect, Kokojo, the snotty, uptight girl who probably would’ve been close to her, if not killed, Miana, who she did consider as one of her now friends, one of the smartest, and gentlest people she’d met, and Ayane. Who knows what went on in that head of hers, how much of it was a lie, how much she was lying to protect, but eventually hurt, everyone from this supposed mastermind. Her mind flicks back to what Ayane had told her… 
Yuma shakes her head, clearing out any unwanted thoughts and gets ready. She quickly runs into her bathroom, just so she could check if her lack of sleep showed, and walks out into the hall.
“Hey Yuma.” Yuma turns around and sees Koko walking toward her, her eyes a little bloodshot.
“Hey Koko. You okay?” Yuma asks, holding Koko’s face in her hands. Koko nods her head and brushes off Yumas hands. Yuma looks at her concerned, and she shakes her head and mouths “Not here”. Yuma nods, and they both walk to the cafeteria, where almost everyone was waiting.
“Hey everyone.” Yuma tries to sound upbeat, but fails.
“Have you seen Yuki?” At her name, Yuma stiffens. She manages a stiff shake of her head, then goes and sits down next to Nao, who has her arms folded on the table and her head down.
“Hi Yuma. I’m going to go check upstairs after breakfast, okay?” Nao picks up her head and smiles. Yuma smiles slightly back.
“Please do. Then report back to me. I’ve got something on my mind…” Yuma looks over at the open door, inviting the last person to come in. She stares for a couple of seconds, then walks over to the kitchen. She opens the fridge and pulls out some food, carrying it in her arms as she walks to the second floor. She turns and walks down the hallway, each step thudding and echoing around the halls. 
Yuma steps into the workshop that Miana was always in. It's going to be very different now that both Ayane and Miana are gone. Yuma sat down silently looking around the room. The machine that she had asked Miana to make was sitting silently in the corner, completed to Yuma's specifications. She smiles sadly as she remembers Yuki and Miana working on it together, smiling and happy… Exactly the opposite of Yuki now. Yuma's eyes wander around, then land on the computer on the workshop table. There seems to be a small note on the top, so Yuma walks closer. She picks it up and sees a string of random numbers and letters. NEO11037prg. Yuma stares at it blankly, trying to figure out what Miana's little precise scribbles mean. 
"The password…" Yuma breathes, shocked that her friend completely followed through. She remembers her friend smiling and telling her to calm down.
Yuma quickly types in the password, and is greeted by an image, radiated with the glow of the computer screen. 17 people, all smiling and happy, all of them in uniforms. She stared at them, recognizing a couple. They were Ultimates… just like her. She looks over to the side, where 5 files were waiting to be opened. The first one was labeled, "Hope's Peak History: Important". Yuma drags her fingers across the mouse pad, landing on that file and double clicking it. A password prompt immediately pops up,  and Yuma groans. She quickly closes out of it, scanning the names of the other files.  
"Ultimates, Gopher, Neo, and Insanity… Miana, what the hell?" Yuma mutters underneath her breath angrily. Each of the files seems important to her, and important to figuring out what was going on. She picks up the computer and heads back downstairs to her dorm. She opens her door and places the computer inside one of her drawers. She lays down and sighs. Was Miana just trying to mess with her? Ultimates… maybe type in every single name of every single Ultimate? No, that doesn't make any sense… There has to be hundreds of thousands of Ultimates, and Miana couldn't possibly know all of them. She lays thinking for another second, then grabs the computer again. 
"Let's see…" Yuma types in the main password, and is greeted by the same picture. Yuma clicks on the folder, "Insanity". The same password prompt comes up. Yuma looks at the prompt closer. 
"4 letters or numbers needed?" Yuma reads the small text underneath. She closes it, then opens the other files. 6 letters or numbers for Ultimates, 10 letters or numbers for Gopher, 14 letters or numbers for Neo, and 9 letters or numbers for Hope's Peak. 
"Well, this is Miana, she wouldn't do anything too hard, right?" The more she stares at the files, the more disheartened she gets. What are any of them supposed to mean? Yuma clicks through the files password screens and stops at Insanity. 
"This is the only one that's… different…" Yuma thinks aloud. This is Miana she has to deal with, she wouldn't do anything too incredibly difficult, she knew Yuma isn't as smart as she was. She thinks about what she knows about her. Miana was the Ultimate Engineer. She wasn't crazy. But…