There was nothing left. No bodies. No evidence. No mastermind. No blackened. No innocent.
No Danganronpa.
Kiibo Idabashi. Kaede Akamatsu. Korekiyo Shinguji. Angie Yonaga. Kirumi Tojo.
Tenko Chabashira. Kaori Akamatsu. Tsumugi Shirogane. Shuichi Saihara. Kokichi Oma.
So many people you thought were dead. One person whose first name you've never heard before.So much confusion.
So much water.
That was the first thing on Kaede's mind as she peered out from the tiny monitor of the exisal, uncomfortably close to two hot teenage boys whom she might have had a serious crush on in another universe.
This wasn't like one of the gentle spring showers that were warm and soft and felt so nice on your skin. This was the type of full-on downpour that burned you with every drop it hit and was so heavy that you could barely see your hands when they were an inch apart from your face. This was the type of downpour that made going outside an impossible nightmare. Whenever Kaede faced this type of rain, she was reminded of Rossini's Overture. This piece from that ancient opera had imagery and vivid and terrifying storms, but somehow everything calmed Kaede down when being pictured in music. Even relationships. Even death.
So now, watching her trademark pastel purple vest swirl in the rapidly diluting puddle of blood, she quietly hummed Chopin's Funeral March and tried to focus. It was okay. No one was dead. She didn't have to worry about anything. She had a bigger job in front of her. She had to play her part and rally the living!
"Smooch over piano baka, you're blocking the view." Kokichi nudged her with his elbow, leaning over her shoulder so close his purplish curls brushed against her neck. He looked deathly pale, even more than usual, when he registered what he was seeing, before receding back into the darkness, his plum colored eyes reflecting off the dark pink. "Wow. My brain just crashed. Remind me what I have to do again."
Korekiyo rolled his eyes. "Pretend to be Tenko, make them as confused as possible, and buy as much time possible until the light turns on again. It isn't that hard. What sort of Ultimate Supreme Leader are you if you can't even memorize your missions?"
"I didn't have to remember them when I had all my loyal subjects to remember them for me!"
"Wait...you're Tenko?" The person who looked like Tenko but was pretending to be Kaede raised an eyebrow. "Tenko's not dead? Then what's with all the blood?"
Shit. They asked too quickly.
"That was a ploy by Monokuma! Tenko is alive and well inside this exisal! You have to trust Tenko!"
Everyone else seemed at a loss for words, both because of the giant machine with their best friend's voice and because of the weather. The rain was so heavy that Kiibo's robot body was spasming, like he was electrocuted, and the robot's face was contorted in pain. Angie's bangs were stuck to her eyelashes, so she looked like a crazy emo angel with white hair.
"Why can we trust you in that regard?" Kirumi asked carefully. Kaede could barely hear her with the heavy thumping of rain on the exisal roof. "Please show yourself, if you are really Tenko Chabashira. Why are you in the exisal? Isn't that the Monokubs' primary source of transportation? How can you explain you are not part of Monokuma's ploy?"
God, Kirumi/Korekiyo was smart. The real Korekiyo's mask twitched, like he was smiling at how badass his personality was.
Kaede leaned in closer to the microphone and pressed the voice changer button again. "T-Tenko can't. Tenko had a bit of a run-in with the Monokubs, and Tenko's injured. Tenko's leg hurts like hell, and Tenko is stuck inside the exisal right now. But all of you have to trust Tenko! Even the degenerate males. Tenko is telling the truth."
