Hopeful Blacksmith (Danganronpa 1 x OC)

Chapter 35: Tread Towards Hope! (Short)

Alter Ego was destroyed. Executed. No more were we able to connect with him anymore... Monokuma's grin was wider, more sinister than ever.

"Y-You...!", Makoto looked like he was going to punch something.

"You suck, man! You turned him into a mangled hunk of junk!", Hiro yelled in despair.

"Whew, that really took it outta me! Maybe I'll go grill up a plate of chicken! After all, they say for post-workout grub, chicken's where it's at! And I'm all about the grilled goodness! Fried? Broiled? Gimme a break! The color, the smell, the succulence... Grilled is where it's at! Ahh-hahahaha!", Monokuma laughed.

"How dare you...? That was my friend! How dare you kill him!?", Makoto shouted with tears in his eyes.

"Huh? You were friends with a laptop? That's pretty pathetic. What's next, friends with a basketball!?"

"Shut the hell up! He wasn't just a laptop. He was my friend! And you killed him!"

"Is this what you call animism? Where a soul dwells within all thing? Even, like...laptops? Well, you can call it whatever you want. Bottom line is, it got in my way. It was trying to find things out all sneaky sneaky."

"So...you finally noticed him.", Kyoko hummed.

"Finally? No no no, I knew about it from the very beginning! I knew Chihiro was doing something with the laptop. And I knew you were using it to analyze data. I knew exactly how it was all gonna play out from the start!"

"You did...?", I muttered.

"You knew, and you were still cocky enough to let us take the plunge...?", Togami asked with a scowl.

"Well, I mean...the data in that laptop? It was...I guess you could call it a gift, from me to you. Or maybe more like a reward, in honor of you being able to unlock something so difficult. So of course I didn't care if you got access to that. But sneaking into the network was just too personal! So I had to do a little, ya know, reformatting!"

Alter Ego tried to get into the network... That was what Kyoko had mentioned in her plan with Makoto...

"Puhuhu... Yeah, the punishment time has made me feel a billion times better! Experiencing a meaningless death is so soothing! It makes me remember that every low can get even lower!"

"No...his death wasn't meaningless, either. Everybody who's died so far... The deaths of each and every one of our friends... They all make us stronger! I swear to God...someday, you WILL pay for this!", Makoto declared.

"Holy moly! You're super mad! Like, just unreasonably upset! Okay, time to bring things to a close! Oh, but before that--! I need to read the post script."

"Post script?", I echoed.

"Yeah, there's still a bit more left of Sakura's note."

"Huh...?", Hina's attention was peaked, as well as the rest of us.

"Puhuhu... Do I have your attention? Okay then, here we go... Prepare your ears for the dulcet tones of yours truly!"
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" ...One other thing, Hina. There's something I'd like you to tell the others. Hopefully it will act as a clue to help you unravel the mystery of this school. I've spoken with the mastermind off and on the whole time I've been here, and so I've learned one thing... Which is...the mastermind has done something to us. I think what they've done is--"

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"Oopsie daisy! That was a close one! Another word and we would've been hip deep in spoiler territory! Okay, I don't wanna ruin the surprise, so book club is dismissed for today!"