Danganronpa: Locked Doors of Despair

Ch.6 Daily Life Part 4: Of After-Hours, Afterthoughts, and Afterglows

Chimon, August 8th, 2:13 am

I sit on the swing, rocking slightly as I think back on all of everything. And I mean everything. My childhood, my current home life, the life I've led while I've been here. I think about love. And about the people who came into this place. Who we've beco--

WHY IS THE DOOR OPENING—?! SHITI'MGONNADIEI'MGONNADIEWHATTHEFU-- "YUU! YUU, I DON'T HAVE A WEAPON!" I announce as soon as I process that we're both screaming. I open my hands and show him that I have nothing, I pull my pockets inside-out, I even take off my hat so he can see there's nothing in there. He slumps against the doorway and sinks to his knees, panting in both relief and diminishing horror. "H-Hey, are you okay? What are you doing here? It's two in the morning," I speak softly.

"I could ask you the same thing," he shakes his head.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and needed water... didn't want to go back to bed. This is our last normal day here... I kind of can't believe it," I explain. "I thought I wouldn't ever come back to the playground, but I surprised myself during a game of hide and seek with Wakumi, and so I'm... processing it all."

"I..." He looks down at the ground, avoiding eye contact. "I had a nightmare, and I just sort of... wandered over here. I don't know what exactly I'm doing... if I'm trying to get some kind of catharsis, or if I'm still punishing myself."

"C'mon, sit on the swings with me. It's a good place to think and vent. I'd know," I invite with a half-smile. He gives the slightest breath of laughter and pries himself off the floor to join me.

"I'm terrified," he admits meekly.

"Do you know what exactly it is that's scaring you?"

We sit in silence. I grip my key to reassure myself as he figures out the right words to say. "I... lived. Because of Monterio, I lived. But I don't know what'll happen to me if we escape. I'm still a murderer. Do I even have a future? Is there any sort of world out there that could possibly have a place for me?"

I think about it. "I don't know much about law. But they'd absolutely take into account that we were hostages in here. And... if all else fails, you could try an insanity defense. Brief reactive psychosis is no joke, and considering the literal truckload of trauma that got dumped on us here, it's honestly not surprising that one of us dealt with something like that."

"But there's the issue of proof." He looks like he's trying to keep himself from trembling.

As if purely on impulse, I say something I'm not certain of. "We'll find a way! We'll find a way to keep you safe and give you a future! If we make it out of this building, I swear, we won't lose one of our own ever again!"

He calls me out on it. "You can't make a promise like that. We can't predict what could happen. To tell me that we'll all stay alive and happy until we die of natural causes... none of us can know that."

"I-I know. I just... can't let anything bad happen to you guys outside of this place. I need for this to have mattered. I need light at the end of the tunnel." I curl in on myself and hug my knees.

His next words sound forcedly optimistic. "This will have mattered regardless of what happens to us next. So you don't have to go worrying about that, okay? Whatever happens to me, I'll accept it. This'll matter as long as we all keep each other in mind, no matter what. You can do that, right?"

"Mhm... Monterio was the first person I was able to care about in years... Can I admit something to you?" I wait for his nod. "In those very first moments of the trial when I learned you wouldn't be executed, I thought I'd want you to hurt forever. I wanted you to pay, and to never be able to move on. I knew it was wrong to feel like that, but I was convinced that you being in pain was the only way for the dancers to be vindicated. But I was wrong. I don't want you to suffer! I don't! It's... not what either of them would've wanted!" I express. My voice cracks all over the place, and tears fill my eyes.