Fanganronpa: Destination Despair

Part 1/Chapter 11

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Monokuma's voice then appeared, probably coming from the hidden speakers."What's up, kiddos? I'm assumin' you had a blast to the moon and back! ...Not literally, of course. Not even quite sure what that means, literally."

"W-What does he want now?" Mirai asked.

I walked towards the door, "...It's probably... time. Time for the class trial."

"Oh, wow! So I see that some of you aren't total dumbasses! Maybe you guys do have some brains after all!" Monokuma exclaimed. I sighed. "But, yes, as some of you have figured out, it is time for the class trial!! Now go match yer' arses over to the Mountain Square! A.K.A., the place you all met each other when you woke up!"

"Does he mean that place that was behind those mini mountains?" Mirai asked.

"I think so," I said, "Let's get going, before Monokuma decides to do something to us." Even though I wasn't quite sure why, I couldn't manage to look Mirai in the eye.

* * *

"Finally! You kiddo's sure did take your sweet time!" Monokuma

shouted. We had just arrived, and it seems that everyone else had gotten here before us, despite how quickly we were to start heading this way. Maybe we were just walking too slow.

"So why are we even gathered here?" Aoi asked.

"I-I'd like to know, too..." Yukiya said.

Ishibuko spoke up, too, saying, "Yeah! And how the hell is this so called "class trial" even gonna work?! Like you barely explained that!"

"Looks like someone hasn't been doing their homework!" Monokuma teased. "Look, I'll give you an explanation once we get there, 'kay?"

"G-Get... where?" Hikari stuttered.

"To the trial room, of course! What, did you think we were gonna have a class trial out in a random area like this!? Ha! You kids dure are somethin' these days!!" ...Right...

"If I may ask... What do you mean by "class trial room"?" Chidori asked.

"If you would shut your damn pie holes and follow me, then maybe you would find out! NOW SHUT UP!" Monokuma ordered. Everyone remained quiet after that. Whether it was because they were too scared of Monokuma, or too scared of the situation, I don't know. But what I do know... is that none of this could be good.

Monokuma then snapped his fingers twice, and there was a whirring sound coming from his direction. Whirring...?! Like... from before?!

Just as I had suspected, a small hole began to form in the ground, the same one from before. The one that lead down to that cold, dingy room. Wait... So that locked room from earlier... Was  that-?!

"Alright, punks! Down you go!" Monokuma pointed towards the hole and looked at us sternly.

The lot of us then began crowding around the square shaped hole, going in one at a time, since that was the most space it allowed.

When we all climbed the steps down and into the room, Monokuma then shouted, "Jeez, could you be any slower?!" and came down with us.

"So... What now?" Mars asked. I saw Marje trembling behind them, digging his nails deep into Mars' skin.

"Now... We go down!!" Monokuma answered, and this time, he clapped twice. With a sudden jerk, the floor beneath us wiggled a tad, and then, from what I assumed, began to slowly descend. I had a really weird feeling in my stomach, like the type you'd get from being in an elevator, but mixed with nausia. My mind kept coming back to Shikumo, and more importantly, his body. Why was he on that post like that? Why was he disguised as a scarecrow? But most of all... Why did he have to die?

As we continued to go down, deeper, deeper, deeper, I realized the suspicious looks plastered onto everyone's faces. I wonder if I had the same look, too. Again, I wanted to look at Mirai, but couldn't bring myself to. Why... Why was that rope gone..? Surely... No, there's no way. Someone like Mirai...

She would never kill someone, right?

I wanted to scream at myself for ever thinking about the possibility of Mirai being a murderer, but the logical side of me told me not to, and to instead think about it. Which, of course, isn't what I wanted to do. But of course, I didn't want any of this to

happen. Nobody did-

But then, realization struck. Wait... if someone killed Shikumo... then doesn't that mean... that they wanted him to die? Was the murderer hoping for this outcome?

I glanced at everyone's faces once more. They hadn't changed from their previous expressions, and they looked to be statues, since no one dared to move. It almost scared me, how lifeless they looked.

Then, there was a small DING! The floor stopped moving, and another door appeared. This one was red, with a golden looking handle. The rest of the are looked to be the same as the room we started in, besides the hole at the top.

"Finally! Jeez, everythin' is movin' so slow today! Or maybe that's just 'cuz I'm excited, but whatevs!" Monokuma said, carefree.

So it's finally time, huh? For it all to begin..? I sighed. But still... I don't want to believe this... any of this....

But I couldn't deny it. Shikumo was definitely dead, and if he's dead...

Then someone here murdered him.