Entertaining a Small Thought

5th Arc Part 5: Rats Died

5th Arc: Journey without Feeling or Fulfillment

Deadly life

"What is this? What's going on!?" Shuichi shouted right after Monokuma was done delivering the body discovery announcement.

He didn't know what to think. He couldn't stay calm at all, not with what he was seeing. His mind was twisting in chaos and madness, confusion and turmoil. Nothing made sense anymore. Not with this much despair surrounding them.

"Wh-What!? Th-That's blood, right!? Why is there so much blood coming from the hydraulic press!?" Tenko shouted as held a hand to her pale face.

She was covering her mouth, probably to stop herself from hurling at the sight. It was easy to imagine why that amount of blood was dripping out from the press, but it was just too evil and sickening.

"That was the body discovery announcement, right? That means...someone is in that press." Rantaro grimaced. "But...who in the world–?"

"The only ones in the hangar were Kokichi and Rin. It must be one of them." Keebo state grimly.

"...What?" Shuichi gasped in terror.

"Oh! Look!" Keebo gasped as he pointed towards the press.

Everyone's eyes followed where Keebo was pointing, and they all landed on the piece of clothing that was sticking out from the press. The single sleeve of a purple jacket.

"Those clothes!" Shuichi shouted in horror as his eyes shrank to pinpoints.

The image of a peerless, enigmatic man who had saved them on countless occasions entered his mind the moment he saw the sleeve. The smile he always wore. The confidence he always had. The kindness he always gave them...and the purple jacket he always wore. If Rin's purple jacket was there, that means that the one under the press was...

No one spoke as they stared at the sleeve for what felt like an eternity. And then, Kaede started moving towards it. It was a few small steps at first before she had tossed the Electrohammer from her hand and sprinted over to the press, ignoring all the blood she was walking as she crouched down to clutch the sleeve. After a moment of staring at it, she slowly turned to the others. A pained, devastated look was painted on her face as tears began to stream down her face. She choked out a sob as she clutched the sleeve close to her and wailed.

Kirumi was the next one to move. She slowly walked over to Kaede, never once taking her eyes off of the purple sleeve the pianist was holding like a lifeline. And then she dropped to her knees, caring not for the blood that would get on her, as she stared with a blank, confused look as if trying to process what exactly she was looking at. The muscles in her face morphed with multiple tragic emotions and twitched as she seemed to try to process what was in front of her.

Tenko stands there with tears of her own pooling at the edges of her eyes. Both of her hands were now covering her mouth, and she was incredibly pale. She looked like she might actually throw up if she continued looking at the horrible sight, yet she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away. So she simply stands there, muffling her cries with her hands as she slowly hunched over, her choked-up gasps and sobs only getting louder and clearer the longer time went on.

Rantaro didn't seem to know what to make of it all. His body shook in confusion and sorrow as his eyes darted up and down the press. It was as though he was desperately trying to figure out what had happened, and why it had to happen. He didn't find an answer, though, it seemed, as his face soon morphed into anger and defeat as he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as his head dropped down towards the ground. Failure... That was probably the strongest feeling in his mind at that moment. He had failed to return the favor. He had failed to save his friend.