Danganronpa: Locked Doors of Despair

Epilogue Part 2: Of First Steps

Fujiko

"Oh my God, look. It's happening," I whisper furiously. Kana is walking toward Yuu. I have no idea how this is gonna go.

"Do you think it'll be okay?" Chimon asks beside me. We're both too tired and sicky to really do much of anything yet– the downside of being some of the weakest.

"Hopefully. She's acting confident, but I think she's doing that thing where she makes herself look powerful so that she'll actually feel that way."

We wait in silence for a little while. "Oh? She just said something that seriously took him by surprise! He's basically lost all the color in his face, and his eyes are about to bulge out of his head!"

"She looks super bashful!"

"Oh my GOD!" we both squeak, seeing the tell-tale signs of Yuu blurting something out that he regrets. To our relief, she seems almost equally panicked, but manages to reassure him into continuing. "So far, so good..." my little buddy nods enthusiastically. Despite our legs being kinda useless, he drags himself toward me to hold my hands. We squeeze them excitedly. She punches him slightly in the shoulder and I can feel my heart start to pound.

A loud burst of surprised laughter escapes her, to the point where basically everyone can hear it, but she doesn't seem all that self-conscious. "Eeeeeee! He made her laugh, OMG!"

"This is way more exciting than those lame sports my papa watches!" When we woke up, he started taking the time to tell me about his story. Now that I have the whole picture, I understand a lot better.

Suddenly, though, Kana grabs Monterio, and the two of us fall silent. A modest wave and sheepish smile toward Yuu. And a glance our way that makes Chimon's eyes start to water. "Ah, fuck, it's too soon. I haven't even actually TALKED to him yet."

"It's never 'too soon.' We've been through hell and back, cry whenever you need to, honey!" I encourage. He sucks in a big breath and swipes at his eyes.

"I still kinda can't believe this is real? I keep getting real scared that one morning, I'm gonna wake up and not be able to love again. If I'm being super honest, the tiniest bit of me thought something might happen after the shutdown. But I'm okay."

"We're okay now. We're finally safe." We lean up together, without a peep, for a while. I nearly fall asleep before remembering something and jolting to attention. "Oh– And, um! You have a job, whenever you need! I can hire whenever!"

He makes a fist and raises it with determination. "That's probably gonna be sooner rather than later! I'd like to do it now, but I don't think we have enough to get Papa therapy, and forcing him to start job-hunting again without it may be a bit tricky."

"I think we can manage that," says a deep voice.

I clap a hand over my mouth so that I don't just– SCREAM IN THRILL. I don't wanna take my hand away cause I feel like the noise is gonna just flood out of me the second I stop. Kana winks playfully and Monterio stands tall and proud. I lean forward so that my forehead is on the floor, and then I use all of my energy to launch myself at her. She shrieks and everyone looks at us as we crash to the ground, but nobody seems to mind TOO much. Chimon, meanwhile, holds his arms out to Monterio pleadingly, gets swooped up in the coziest looking hug, and buries his face into Monterio's chest. The words are muffled, but I make it out as, "I love you. I can actually love you. You're my best friend."

"I love you, too. I'm so glad for you."

He takes his face away. "My wish came true. I can't believe it."

"Oh! When you made all those paper cranes? What did you wish for?!" I ask, on the very edge of my seat.

"I wished that I could wake up and have everything be okay again. It– It actually happened! After all the shit we went through, finally it's over! And– And I have the same confusing feeling I did before. Am I allowed to be this happy when Gou– when he's–?"