Just One More Time

3 - A Familiar Friend

Fluttering his eyes open, Shuichi glanced at his surroundings and groaned, throwing his head back onto the wooden desk he'd been sleeping on. For fucks sake, this is the fourth damn killing game, I'm sick of this shit. Throwing the chair behind him as he stood up, Shuichi glared at the ground as he stormed out of the classroom. Hearing people laugh and talk to their new friends, Shuichi ignored anyone who attempted to talk to him and made his way to his destination.

Slamming open the gymnasium entrance, Shuichi frowned at the stage, knowing Monokuma would appear eventually to introduce the killing game. Movement caught his attention to his right as the door closed behind the detective, a woman approaching him. "Saihara, do you have your memories too?"

"What...?" Shuichi mumbled, staring into Yumeno's reddish-brown eyes. "You mean, wait, Yumeno have you been stuck in a loop too?!" 

"Yeah, it's good to see you again." The two smiled at each other and shared a brief hug.

"Does that mean Harukawa's in the same situation?" Shuichi wondered out loud, holding his chin in thought.

"I met her in the last loop I went through," Yumeno yawned. "We tried to kill together but Ouma figured us out."

"I was figured out too, it's harder than it seems," Shuichi huffed out a laugh. The fact we've met up like this, it's extremely rare considering all of the possible universes we can be reborn into. Either this is a massive coincidence, or it's been set up. What if the errors in our character coding attract each other? Oh well, it's no point wondering about it.

"Should we wait here for Monokuma's announcement?" Yumeno asked, yawning as she sat on the degrading linoleum floor.

"Yeah, I guess so," Shuichi agreed, taking a seat beside his friend. "I wonder if Harukawa has her memories as well."

-*_*⏳*_*-

Rolling his eyes, Shuichi watched as Monokuma disappeared from the stage. The unaware Ultimates around him trembling with fear as the robot's announcement echoed silently throughout the room. "Hey, you! Emo Hat!" Someone shouted, snapping Shuichi back to reality.

"Me?" He asked no one in particular, knowing only one person who'd give him the nickname.

"How are you so calm about this? I bet you're working with that bear bitch! Nishishi~" Ouma giggled, swinging his hands behind his head with a grin.

"Do you all believe the situation?" Shuichi asked the room, ignoring Yumeno's confused frown.

"What are you suggesting?" Tojo asked, her head tilted slightly to the side.

"There's no way a killing game like this can function. If this isn't an elaborate prank or social experiment, then the police will be here within a few days. Sixteen kidnapped Ultimates won't go unnoticed by our friends and families." Everyone stayed silent, a few nodding in agreement with Shuichi.

"Saihara, what are you talking about?" Yumeno whispered, looking up at the bluenette as everyone started filing out of the gym.

"I just wanted to try and calm a few of them. Trust me, the moment we reveal that we know anything about this killing game, someone will kill us."

"You say that like it's happened before."

"It has..." Shuichi mumbled, staring at the ground. Tears welled up in his eyes as he remembered the expression of guilt and self-hatred on Ouma's face as he choked him to death. "A-Anyway," he wiped the tears away before they could fall, returning the smile on his cheeks. "Do you think Harukawa has her memories?"

"No, she would've come up to us by now. She seemed a little shocked at the announcement as if she hasn't heard it before." Yumeno drawled as she rubbed her tired eyes. "This is a pain, I don't want to keep going."

"Hey, I promise I'll do whatever I can to get you out of this loop." Reassuring the female, Shuichi gently rubbed her shoulder.

"Nyeh, do you know how to?"

"We have to sacrifice ourselves like Amami originally did, or win as the blackened," Shuichi explained. "There may be other ways, but I can't be too sure yet."

"You're an amazing detective Saihara," Yumeno smiled, her eyes sparkling with adoration. Shuichi awkwardly laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, lowering his head to hide the faint blush spreading over his face. "I don't think I have the energy to kill someone again, it was such a pain. We survived once, we should be able to do it again."

"Yeah, just don't get attached to anyone. Anything can happen. I feel like I should warn you that I think the mastermind might be able to change, so I'd assume everyone is the mastermind right now." Shirogane said 'every season contains multiple universes where one thing changes...' That makes me wonder, can the mastermind change too? I never really thought about it until now.

"What makes you think it's not Shirogane?" Yumeno wondered, holding a finger to her lip as she looked to the roof.

"Did you notice her reaction to the announcement? She's a great actor but something seemed different. Her eyes seemed genuine, not like the Shirogane we knew." Shuichi had been analysing all of his fellow contestants during the announcement, wanting something to focus on during the repeating speech. Quite a few of the Ultimates acted slightly different, but Shuichi had expected that. What he hadn't expected was Shirogane's reaction, he saw no evidence of her falsifying her expressions or behaviour. "From now on, we never leave each other's sides."

"Okay. Should we go introduce ourselves to everyone? We didn't do that yet," Yumeno pointed out, glancing towards the gymnasium entrance.

"Yeah, it'll look less suspicious if we do. I don't feel like being called Emo Hat the whole time we're here," Shuichi chuckled. The two smiled together as they left the gymnasium, searching the academy for anyone to talk to. Even though I have to do this again, at least I have Yumeno on my side now. Finding the mastermind should be easy, I've already ruled out two people. If I lay low and stick by Yumeno, no one should try to kill us, and I can help her escape at the end. There are only two ways this will end, and I don't like either of them, but I promise I'll help you Yumeno. 

We can do this, we can escape from Danganronpa.