Inescapable Despair (Song of Despair AU)

Chapter 4: The Escape Artist's Despair

Tomi felt pretty confused as Satchiko was dragging him into the new area against his will, but he just let her do so and went along with it.

"We're exploring together, you gotta get out of this despair of yours!" Satchiko had explained, but Tomi didn't really get it.

As the two walked into the newly opened empty street, Tomi looked around in interest. Immediately his eyes caught the amusement park; the huge roller coasters, giant thrilling rides- or so he had heard. Tomi had never actually been to an amusement park.

Satchiko obviously noticed his interest, and looked up at him with a smile. "Let's check it out! C'mon!"

This time the lucky student didn't have to drag him, and they walked side by side. Normally Tomi would be pretty talkative, but ever since Jikkō, no, Toki, had died he had lost all motivation. There was no point in even killing someone, because he didn't care about escaping when Toki was gone. He could let the others out, but he didn't have the motivation for that either. Attacking Monokuma would take too much effort, as would killing himself- though he may reconsider that. All he could hope for was to be murdered, put out of his misery the same way Toki was. He couldn't see himself fighting back.

"Hey, Tomi, you listening?" Satchiko asked, tilting her head. Only then Tomi realized she had been talking.

"Nope." Tomi simply responded. "Didn't hear a word."

Satchiko frowned a bit. "I know that expression. You're still hurting a lot, aren't you?"

Tomi only shrugged, not wanting to say anything.

"You definitely are, you aren't acting like yourself at all! The Tomi I know would've already been at the top of one of those roller coasters, and no one would know how you did it!" Satchiko went on, "It's amazing how you can do that stuff, y'know? Even the athletes in our class aren't as agile as you."

"I kinda needed to be agile where I grew up." Tomi replied plainly. "To- Jikkō's almost as agile as I am, she just doesn't show it." He paused for a moment, staring at the floor. "I mean, she was..."

Satchiko stopped, grabbing onto Tomi's arm to stop him as well. The short girl faced him, a determined look on her face. "I know this must be horrible for you, Jikkō was like your sister, and just the thought of losing my sister makes me super depressed. But your life isn't over! You're so talented and skilled, you could do so many amazing things if you put that to good use! So please... hold onto hope! You can overcome this despair!"

Tomi was a little surprised at her sudden speech, but slowly smiled. "Y'know Satchiko, you're not that bad. Kaiya's a lucky girl." He ruffled her hair before she had a chance to dodge.

"Tomi! Not the hair!" Satchiko whined, backing out of reach. She then laughed a bit. "Now I gotta get you back!"

"Yeah right, even if you catch me, you're too short."

"Is that a challenge?"

And so the two teenagers started chasing each other around the abandoned amusement park.