Danganronpa: GHOST TOWN

Chapter Four: Forgotten Despair and Rewarding Answers

"Hon'yomi. Hon'yomi."

My eyes were fixed on a tiled floor.

"Hon'yomi." Haruko turned away from a sink that was running. "Give me your hands."

Numbly I lifted them from my sides. Haruko quickly clasped them without fear and in pushing up my jacket sleeves, she dunked them beneath the facet.

If the water was cold, I didn't notice. If it was hot, I couldn't wince.

The water ran red as Haruko worked the blood off my hands. It didn't make sense to me. Why was she helping me?

I didn't recognize my voice. "What are you doing?"

"Cleaning your hands. You can't go through the trial covered in blood." Haruko stated matter of factly.

Trial.

"I don't feel good."

She paused in her scrubbing and looked back to me. "Are you going to be sick?"

I shook my head.

"Toilet." Haruko nodded to a toilet to the right of the sink.

"Where are we again?" I couldn't hold a single thought in my head long enough.

"My house." Haruko swiftly turned off the water. "I'm cleaning you up." She buried my hands in a grey towel.

"Why?" I couldn't see a reason as to why anyone would be helping me.

"We're not leaving you alone." Haruko said, tossing the towel to the floor. "Follow me." She led me by my wrist out of the bathroom.

Together we stepped into a plain hall attached to a bedroom. Haruko guided me through the corridor to a tidy living room. Folded neatly on a cracked leather couch were piles of neatly folded black sheets and placed on a small coffee table was a bowl of oranges.

Something creaked loudly drawing my attention away from the room. Haruko held open her front door looking at me expectantly. I hadn't even realized she had let me go.

"We have to join the others." She said.

I nodded knowing that somehow what she was saying made sense.

I stepped my way past her onto the road. My body moved slowly, aches plaguing me with each step. Haruko followed closely but I wasn't sure if it was with caution or concern.

"The announcement already went off. Everyone has been free to investigate." She said as we made our way past the Diner.

I forced my feet to move. "Everyone but me."

"You had to be cleaned up." I could hear a frown in her voice.

Nodding was my only answer. I guess it didn't really matter how much time I would have to investigate. I could barely find a solid place in my thoughts to feel grounded in the first place.

"Hey!" Saori suddenly shot out from the ally leading to her house. Her short hair was tied up in a small pony tail atop her head and she had a fierce look in her eyes.