Alternate (Shuichi Saihara x fem reader)

Epilogue

    It was a rude awakening. A loud series of beeps and whirrs woke me up, echoing like a bullet in a tunnel. I scrambled up, trying to recall what had just happened. I had died...right? In that desk, on that conveyer belt, my classmates all around me, waiting, the sound of the massive pressing machine getting closer, waiting, no one daring to look back, waiting...

    Then, that voice.

    "Sorry, I lied."

    As soon as I remembered that voice, I lost consciousness. Was it the execution that got me? It must have been, but I was sitting there, alive and well, without a scratch on me. Right? I checked my pulse—it wasn't hard to find. Yeah, I was alive. But, how? As the mastermind, it didn't sit right with me, so I got up and decided to make my way back to the execution chamber. You know, for despair. Or was it in the spirit of fairness? Then I was conflicted in the despair of unfairness, and sat back down. It's weird, the longer you spend deciding whether or not to do something, the more time you spend not doing it. That's one of nature's flaws. I wished time would have stopped so I could make my decision. But it didn't. Not for me, or for anyone else. Not for the person walking towards my room, who I had thought was dead.

    "Rise and shine, ursine," I heard the smooth voice of Shuichi Saihara, and looked up. I didn't fully process his presence at first, so I responded by greeting the stuffed bear he was holding.

    "Hello, Monotaro." And then a half-red, half-white bear was thrown at me. That's when I finally realized. I looked at the bear, and at the person who threw it.

    "Y...you're alive?" I exclaimed. I smiled, nearly crying. Was this hope? How could I feel hope? "H-how..."

    "Of course I'm alive, and so are you. Here," he rolled up his blazer sleeve, "check my pulse, if you want."

    ...blazer?

    I put a couple fingers to his wrist, and confirmed that there was life in there. Overwhelmed with joy, I hugged him. He was warm, like a living person. He was alive.

    "The others...the others, are they alive?" I asked excitedly. As the mastermind, I would have to apologize for the failed execution, and probably redo it...oops.

    "No, no, of course not. It's just us now. Sorry about that."

    "Huh?" He stood up and started walking a little bit.

    "It's just like that, we're the only ones left. About time, really." I didn't know what to say. "You were there, weren't you? In the front, too. You must've heard them get squished, their screams of fear, the loud bangs, the squishing...oh, right, you were unconscious. I'm so sorry about that."

    "What do you mean?" I stood back up again. "If they're all dead, even though it was a mistrial, then we need to—"

    "No need," he rested a hand on my shoulder, signaling that I didn't need to move. "It wasn't a mistrial, and the outcome wasn't fuzzy." I looked at him oddly. Then, my focus shifted to the smashed flashback light behind him, with the same label as the one I found in my lab. "Do you understand yet? I am the mastermind, not you." For a second, I felt like time actually stopped. There was no way to actually process that. After all I had said, all I had done to the others...whatever power the light had on me before had suddenly disintegrated. I was in complete shock. Of course. After we proved that the flashback lights weren't true, of course I wasn't the mastermind. A large pit grew in my stomach.

    "Then...then..." I was at a total loss for words.

    "Then you're the survivor. Congratulations!" He popped a party popper that was concealed behind his tie, which was when I about fully processed his change in attire. It wasn't much, but the tie, dress shirt, blazer, and pants-that-weren't-striped were definitely not the uniform he was wearing throughout the killing game, even though those were the only clothes provided.

    "I...won?" It was too much to handle all at once. They all died because of me. But then again, I survived. Was it okay to live off their sacrifice? I was too tired to tell. "The killing game...it's over?"

    "That one, sure," he said. "But you'll be participating in the next one, won't you?"

    "Next...?" My blood ran cold.

    "Yeah. Don't worry, though!" He cheered. "I'll pull some strings again to make sure you survive. You'll probably have to go through countless death games, but as long as we're together, you have nothing to worry about! Probably!"

    "What do you mean by that? I have to do another one...?"

    "Duh! You're the Ultimate Survivor now, so you'll be doing the next one, and the next, and so on...don't get too attached to anyone, because you'll have to see them die! I can't always prepare a flashback light to temporarily block your empathy and make you seem like the mastermind, that was a one time thing!"

    "You...did all of this? For what?"

    "Well, the killing game was for Team Danganronpa—as I'm sure you know. But I eventually grew to love you, so I'll protect you and your emotions until the day comes that I plunge the both of us into despair." He got close to me. Really close. "The more I fall for you, the more despair I'll feel. So I'll keep you safe until then." He tucked some of my hair behind my ear. I just wanted it to be over. "Anyway!" He clapped. "I need to begin preparations for the next killing game. Don't worry, I'll erase your memory of this conversation." He kissed my forehead. I was too stunned to move. I was distraught. All the feelings that were blocked by me thinking I was the mastermind came flooding in all at once, and I broke down crying. He put his arms around me, and gave me some small "there there" talk for comfort. As if I could find comfort in him now. "Don't cry, don't cry. Here," he took his hat off and put it on my head. For some reason, I was expecting him to have some sort of cowlick, but the top of his head was smooth as could be. "You can wear it until I come back. It'll be like I never left. Until then," he waved and left the room. I didn't have the energy to stand up, and even if I did, I'd probably get lost, so I just sat there and eventually fell asleep.

    I just hoped I'd wake up before this "next game" began.