Danganronpa: Locked Doors of Despair

Ch.6 Deadly Life Part 3: Of Post-Its, Pockets, and Puzzles

Azumi, January 9th, 8:37 am

As Ren, Yuu, and I sit around the dining room table, attempting to formulate our next approach, the other three reconvene with us. Their expressions appear dour, especially Fujiko's, whose typically sparkling eyes are cloudy. She almost stumbles into her seat, and it's enough to make goosebumps rise up on my arms. "Goodness... what has occurred to make you so crestfallen?" I ask.

"I don't know what that word means..."

"We discovered something creepy about the simulation machines. Long story short, if you quit a simulation in the middle with Monokuma's remote, the person in the simulation loses their memory of it," Chimon explains. "It really shook her up, so we decided it would be way too dangerous to try a Forced Shutdown. Now we're just trying to figure out what to do."

Ren wraps an arm around her and rubs her shoulder supportively. She hugs herself and then shakes. "I'm good. I'm fine. What about you guys?"

"No luck with finding secret passageways yet, but we did learn that, for some reason or another, our Monoinu unit was designed to help us, and he didn't even know," he mentions.

"That's... weird... Why would he make someone to help us?" Gou asks, leaning in with interest.

"I was wondering that, too. But Monoinu need Monokuma's permission to answer our questions, and by the way they skirted around that, I don't think they tell us that." Yuu then takes the keys on the table and holds them up so everyone can see. "We'd mentioned possibly checking everyone's bedrooms with the keys Monokuma gave us. Since Wakumi's room gave us good intel, we figured someone else's might, too."

Chimon's eyes light up with curiosity. "Oh! Good thinking! I would've thought Monokuma had destroyed everything, but now that I think about it, there really isn't any point to locking a bunch of empty rooms. Can we join in?"

"As you wish. Though we ought not to all explore separate rooms at the same time. At least two people per room. I trust all of you not to hide anything, but two eyes are better than one, are they not?" I instruct.

"Sounds like a plan. I wanna look in Keiji's. He was the one who found the bathroom passage. We don't even actually know where that one starts," Yuu recalls. "Where else are you guys thinking about?"

"We should probably check Hachi's and Ikinari's. It's been the longest since we were in there. Besides, as selfish as this sounds, I denied the opportunity to look in there after she died. I'd kind of like another chance," Ren murmurs, plucking at the chains on his hips and avoiding eye contact.

"Hachi..." Gou mutters. He tilts his head back a little and takes in a deep breath. "I want to check that one."

"I will accompany you. I did check her room once, right before the first trial, so even if my memory is a smidge fuzzy, I will hopefully prove useful."

Fujiko clacks her nails against the table and thinks for just a second. "Then I'll go with Ren to Nari's. That okay, Yuu, Chimon?"

"Let's do this," Chimon nods in the affirmative. The six of us pair up, take the respective keys off the ring, and then depart from one another to scour our assigned rooms.

Gou closes his eyes and takes yet another deep breath before unlocking Hachi's door. "Are you alright?" I inquire softly, twisting to meet his eye.

He gives me a half-smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just crazy. She's where all of this started." I dwell on this for a moment as we stand outside the door.

"You are correct. And then the rest of us began to fall like a house of cards. How naive I was back then... It is my hope that everything we've learned from each one of them will assist us. Both in our final battle here, and, if all goes well, in our 'normal' lives. Though to be frank, I do not believe anything will ever be 'normal' again."