Danganronpa IF

Gymnasium.

"Naegi-kun! Are you all right?"

Maizono came running to Naegi's side as soon as he staggered into the gymnasium.

"Yeah... I'm fine. Sorry about yesterday. I must have made you worry."

"Not at all! It's my fault for barging in when you were feeling sick..."

"Come to think of it, what did you want yesterday?" Naegi asked. Maizono shut her eyes for a moment, then flashed him a practiced smile and shook her head.

"I-it's nothing... I'll tell you later."

"?"

Suddenly, Ishimaru Kiyotaka--the Super High School Level Hall Monitor--came up to them and pointed at Naegi.

"You're late, Naegi-kun! Explain yourself!"

The other students frowned, obviously wondering why Ishimaru was demanding this answer from someone who was sick. But Naegi smiled kindly and quickly gave his answer.

"I was sleeping in the infirmary because I wasn't feeling well. Could you put my name down on the class note(3)?"

"Of course! Excellent, Naegi-kun. It matches up perfectly with my information. If that is the case, you are completely excused!"

The conversation went along smoothly. Ishimaru grinned and continued.

"Hahaha! I'll make sure to fulfill my responsibilities as hall monitor, so focus on your convalescence, Naegi-kun! And if your condition worsens, check in with a member of the Health Committee immediately! Uh... It seems we'll have to appoint one as soon as this meeting is adjourned." Ishimaru mumbled, opening up a class note he found in the school's storage room and walking away. Seeing this, Celestia Ludenberg, the Super High School Level Gambler, came up to Naegi.

"That reply of yours sounded surprisingly used to his unusual demands."

"Huh?"

Her comment snapped Naegi back into reality. The fact that he was sleeping in the infirmary because he was unwell was true. But for some reason, when Ishimaru asked the question everyone already knew the answer to, Naegi did not feel at all annoyed. It was as if he had expected such a question from him. He wondered why he had accepted Ishimaru's quirks as something normal so quickly. He did not understand why he had said something so unnecessary like "put my name down on the class note".

Why did I say that? It's as if... I was used to it.

It was just like the way people breathed without consciously moving their lungs. Somewhere in his mind, the idea that 'Answering like this will make the conversation go smoothly' had come up and out of his mouth in sentences.

Why? Why?

Each time he tried to find out why, the headache worsened. Naegi stumbled through his thoughts, when suddenly-

A monochrome doll popped up from behind a table set up in the gymnasium and spun around as it spoke in a clear voice.

"Ah, is everyone here?"

He sounded as though he was leading the students on a picnic, but no one looked particularly in the mood.

"What's next? Are we gonna seajack a luxury cruise liner and come face-to-face with a gigantic worm?"

Of course, the one exception was the Super High School Level Fortune Teller, Yasuhiro Hagakure. He still thought the school was staging an event for them. Monokuma ignored him and spoke in a cutesy tone.

"Today I'm gonna teach you bastards about our wonderful school system. 'System', huh? Isn't that such a nice word? It smells almost as dangerous as a bear! I hope you bastards grow up to be real hardboiled villains who can trample over the corpses of your friends. I don't mind naughty students, as long as they're malicious!"