Danganronpa Midnight: Lantern Lament (Fanganronpa)

Chapter 5 - Post Trial and Execution

We were swallowed by silence as Monokuma took his sweet time counting up five votes. As he dragged it out as long as he could, my eyes just lingered on Shimura.

I've got so many questions, but will I even get answers to all of them? I hope so, but knowing the nature of this twisted game and how Shimura's been acting so far, I doubt it..,

"And...Aha! That's it!" Monokuma applauded himself with a sharp smile before facing us all. "There has been a unanimous decision! How exciting! With all these votes counted, I can't wait to show the results."

"You only had to count five." I turned my attention to the bear, giving him a pointed stare as I impatiently tapped my foot against the marble floor.

"Oh quiet, girlie! You'd never understand the difficulties of a job like mine." He moped, acting as if he had suffered the most out of any of us.

"Excuse you! What difficulties-"

"Anyway!" He interrupted me, his jolly persona re-emerging. "If you'd take a look at the TV screen above me, we'll announce the votes."

As routine at this point, our attention was directed to the screen. Each of our votes appeared accompanied by a chime, all next to the same portrait.

Shimura's.

There's no go back now, huh? This is it.

"There you have it." Shimura declared with his arms across his chest. "The result I wanted."

"Don't get too excited yet young man, for we still have to unveil the identity of the killer to see if you all were right!" Monokuma chuckled. "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. Who is the real blackened? Did you make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one?"

The image on the screen had changed, now showing the slot machine. As the lever was pulled and it began to spin, I could feel a cloud of indescribable dread looming over not only me but every single person in that trial room.

That dread only increased when the three slots finally stopped, displaying one face.

Shimura.

I knew this was the answer. I knew this had to happen...

Yet my breaths couldn't help but quiver at the reveal of the truth. Even with the clear answer before me, it's still so painful to see Shimura turn out like this.

Fake cheers and confetti filled the room, poking at Shimura's feet. All of our eyes were on him at this point, but that didn't stop him from avoiding our gazes. Instead, Monokuma just spoke up again.

"Now I'm definitely happy with these results...Two nuisances out the way in one case!" Monokuma cackled, holding his metallic stomach in roaring laughter for settling down and continuing his announcement. "You figured it out! The person behind the brutal, violent, savage and absolutely vicious murder of Ryoko Tadashi is none other than the guy whose been hidden this whole damn killing game. That's right! It's Shimura Kurayami, the Ultimate Toxicologist!"

"We figured," I mumbled.

"Well," Shimura spoke up, finally meeting our expectant eyes. "For my first class trial, that wasn't too bad. I still don't understand the appeal though-"

"Shut the fuck up, you idiot!" I exclaimed, marching my way over to him. Once I was there, I gripped the collar of his shirt, dragging him down so we could see each other eye to eye. "You said you'd explain! So get to it!"

"You want the explanation right away, Chiyo?" Shimura gently grabbed my fists and removed my grip from his collar. "I should've known. You really are predictable."