"Kaede? Kaede, are you alright? Can you stand?"
The shadows had long since disappeared, and a bright lazy glow covered the dormitories of the Ultimate Academy. Kirumi Tojo was kneeling beside Kaede, trying to get her to stand up as gently as possible.
"H-Huh? How long was I here?"
"For a few hours, I suppose. We tried to move you, but I'm afraid you were frozen to the spot."
Kaede tried to get her feet to straighten, but a whole new wave of nausea hit her like a truck. What was wrong with her?
She looked down at her knees, realizing that she was still clutching Shuichi's hat. Just looking at it reminded her of the memories she had been trying to forget. Everything that happened...seemed to happen with him at her side.
Friendship. Trust. Destroyed by truth and betrayal. What did it leave her with?
"Kaede?" Kirumi looked her in the eye. "Are you alright? Would you like me to bring you lunch or can you make it to the dining hall?"
This was just the shock. She was just being delirious. There was nothing wrong with her, actually.
All she needed to do was stand up and start moving-"Ah!"
<hr>
She woke up to the blank dark walls of her own room, a blanket laid heavily on her and a cool cloth placed on her forehead. She tried to look sideways, but she realized that the muscles of her neck seemed to be completely frozen.
It hurt.
"Oh, you're awake," Kiibo's soft voice sounded from her right side. "I think I should go call Kirumi..."
Kaede realized their story wasn't over. "We need to talk,"
She heard Kiibo move uncomfortably around the bedrest. "I feared you would say that."
"There's nothing to be scared of, really," Kaede's voice was overly hoarse and scratchy, which hurt her sensitive ears. The fact that her body was breaking down in front of everyone was embarrassing enough on its own, but this seemed to rub salt in her wounds. "None of it was your fault,"
"Thank you for believing in me. The fact is, I didn't have any willpower to survive when I first woke up..."
"So your body moved on instinct?"
"No...In fact, my inner voice took over."
<em>I'm pretty sure that's willpower...</em>
"I am aware it is uncannily familiar to what Korekiyo calls <em>possession</em>. A cacophony of instructions filled my head, and my body just moved it accordance to it. I had no conscious will to move."
That really did sound like possession. "Well, I don't think it matters in the end. It helped you survive, right? Then I think we can count on it to help you survive in the end. It's like...a robot's version of a survival instinct?"
"Yeah...but I can't hear it anymore. It's gone."
"What?"
"Usually I had this faint buzzing sound at the back of my head, with an instruction every 5 or so minutes. But they're all...gone. I'm so confused! What should I do?"
Kaede wasn't really a pro on how to deal with losing a voice inside of your head, never having had to deal with the circumstances. "I don't know," she said truthfully. "But what does your heart say?"
"...My heart?"
"You can feel human emotions, right? Your heart has to have an opinion. It's your choice whether you want to try to get that voice in your head back or whether you want to move forward using your own heart and mind. What do you think?"
"I think that's a very Kaede-like sentiment." Kiibo's face appeared directly on top of Kaede, his face showing a grim, almost sad smile. "I'm also really sorry about this."
<em>Clonk.</em>
<hr>
"<em>Wow.</em> So this is the infamous Kaede Akamatsu, right in the flesh! She really does look like you, you know."
"We are identical twins, Queen J̶͔͉̩͓͋̉́̋̎͝u̸̟̥̰̟̯͚̩͉̪̻̅̆͊͐n̸̗̳̟̼͕̿̀͐͝ḵ̸̻͚̩̯̜͖͈̖̄̐̋̊̓͛̒͠ͅō̴̩̂̉̇̐̋."
"Yeah well, the only difference is that she's a basic blonde bitch with ugly tits and you're a basic blonde bitch drowning in despair with ugly tits. I sort of liked the inventor with the pink hair and half-decent tits better, what's her name ---Iruma? So I immortalized her."
"Queen J̶͔͉̩͓͋̉́̋̎͝u̸̟̥̰̟̯͚̩͉̪̻̅̆͊͐n̸̗̳̟̼͕̿̀͐͝ḵ̸̻͚̩̯̜͖͈̖̄̐̋̊̓͛̒͠ͅō̴̩̂̉̇̐̋..."
"But still, it would sort of be a shame to die again, sort of because I'm expecting it, and there'd be no despair in that, y'know? I need to plummet these midgins to the very brink of despair and destroy everyone who watches this stupid show. Ya get me, Kaori?"
"Yes, Queen J̶͔͉̩͓͋̉́̋̎͝u̸̟̥̰̟̯͚̩͉̪̻̅̆͊͐n̸̗̳̟̼͕̿̀͐͝ḵ̸̻͚̩̯̜͖͈̖̄̐̋̊̓͛̒͠ͅō̴̩̂̉̇̐̋, but forgive me, was there really any need to bring her here? Her conscience is only naturally taking the route of the protagonist to help lead the season. It's the default code in the network, trying to make the show halfway salvageable if something goes wrong."
"Always caring about appearances...Danganronpa has really gotten so primitive over all these years of blood and gore. I like it! So despairing..."
"What do we do with the girl, Queen J̶͔͉̩͓͋̉́̋̎͝u̸̟̥̰̟̯͚̩͉̪̻̅̆͊͐n̸̗̳̟̼͕̿̀͐͝ḵ̸̻͚̩̯̜͖͈̖̄̐̋̊̓͛̒͠ͅō̴̩̂̉̇̐̋?"
"Why don't we throw her into the hangar? Don't give the other survivors the last real key and the real last key--those little hamsters have more than enough space to run around, waiting for their miserable lives to end. Trapped down there where even the crows won't be able to lay their droppings on her, she's a goner for sure! Right, Kaori?"
"..."
"What's wrong, Kaori? You look really ugly when you pout."
"It is nothing, Queen J̶͔͉̩͓͋̉́̋̎͝u̸̟̥̰̟̯͚̩͉̪̻̅̆͊͐n̸̗̳̟̼͕̿̀͐͝ḵ̸̻͚̩̯̜͖͈̖̄̐̋̊̓͛̒͠ͅō̴̩̂̉̇̐̋. I'm just pondering how easy it was to get the robot on our side. With all the strong firewalls and antiviral protection around the game itself, is he really just completely controlled by an online public chatroom?"
"They really are careless in that regard, aren't they? The self-insert has to be readily accessible, and the only protection they would really need in that regard is a filter to remove any profanity or anything that isn't in Kiibo's personality. Just adjust the filter a little bit, make an account and type something in, and <em>voila</em>, instant access to the game itself. I almost regret enlisting <em>that person</em> as our mastermind. Maybe we should kill them?"
"Are we going to continue the game with Kiibo as the new mastermind, then? Should we hold a class trial for the previous mastermind's death?"
"I think I'll leave them at a bit of a standoff now, what'dya think? And Kaede? You can hear me right now, can't you?"
" ..."
"Enjoy your trip to hell."
