Profound Consequences~ Oumasai

Not at All

Shuichi's POV

Goddammit I can't do this again. I can't go through another trial and execution. It would kill me to see any of these people executed. Yes, they all have their quirks, and some are quite annoying (Miu cough cough) but.... goddammit. I can't do this. Not at all.

We entered the trial grounds after the investigation. The greenhouse was a beautiful paradise, leading down into the darks of a hell Dante could never have described. Here, we are not scorched by fire, nor drowned in the screams of the suffering. Here, we are tortured by what we have to do. And then, worst of all, we have to deal with the consequences.

This is author-chan speaking to you directly! Listen up folks! First order of business: if you're reading this, there's a 99.999% you've already seen this trial, and I don't want to like, copy it word for word, so let's just save each other the trouble and skip over it, okie dokie? Good! We'll pick up at the closing argument!

And so the theories were set in place. It killed me. But not doing this would literally kill me. "I'll show you the truth!" The pieces fell together in my head.

"Blah, blah blah look I'm not typing out the closing argument for you, you've seen it..
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And that person is... Kirumi Tojo, the ultimate maid. Am I correct?"

"Yes. Although it may not be wise to vote yet." Kirumi said.

"Nice try. Monokuma, start the voting time!" I yelled. 

¨Wait!¨ Kirumi yelled.

¨The heartracing moment as the blackened and the spotless face off! Who'll be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?¨ 

I winced as my hand pushed the button next to Kirumi's name. I didn't want to. Not at all Not at all Not at all Not at all Not at all Not at all Not at all Not at all!

The animation played and showed that we had it right. Relief washed over me and was soon replaced by terrible and gutwreching pain. Like my stomach had been sliced open and my inestines pulled out, put through a meat grinder, and put back inside. This will never get easier. 

Kirumi looked at the floor. "If it is for my sake...then it would be much easier to forfeit... But I cannot allow that! Because I must do this for everyone!"

¨K-kirumi, what are you talking about?¨ Tsumugi asked.

"I have...a duty and a responsibility... I must serve everyone and protect them... So I refuse to surrender! They won't forgive me if I do!" She continued.

¨What duty? Please, tell us!¨ Keebo asked.

She took a breath, and exhaled slowly. A statement of defeat, perhaps. "My pride as a maid demands that I fulfill every request that I receive. But, to end like this..."

¨Gosh, well that was boring. Fight a little more!¨ Kokichi said, with a smile that looked a little too plastic and little too practiced to be real.

¨Shaddup you degenerate sc-¨ Tenko... tried.

¨Just pretend Gonta stole your feather duster or something.¨ Kokichi said.

I can't believe that lying, two-toned little gremlin. How dare he, in the face of... Agh! Forget it, I'm too mad to think. 

¨Gentleman never steal! Gonta did not steal duster, he promises!¨ Now he made Gonta upset. Great job. 

¨But Kirumi, what do you mean serve and protect everyone?¨ Tsumugi steered the conversation back on course. 

Kirumi smiled. ¨Perhaps the truth will be easier to believe if you witness it with your own eyes."

Monokuma started her motive video. My eyes barely believed what they saw. I had see Kaito's- his grandparents seemed like a normal enough motive. But this was beyond my imaginings. To have the fate of a country on your shoulders at such a young age, to be put through the pressure, for no recognition, for no grand prize, for no prestige. It made all I had done feeble. All I've done is kill two of our classmates. Maybe I didn't push the button and hang Kaede, but I did vote for her. And I voted for Kirumi too. 

Why can't I break the this cycle? Is this killing game really going to go on? and on? and on? Until only two of us are left? I won't make it. Not at all. 

The video ended. ¨Kirumi... How?¨ Kaito asked.

"I was called upon to lift the country out a dire situation. I swore to serve and help all its citizens. As a maid, it is a great honor to serve the nation itself." She said.

The creepy masked man in the corner who looked like Jesus in the pose with the window behind him. ¨You do not grasp the true beauty! This gloriou-¨

¨Shut up you dumb virgin!¨ Miu yelled.

¨Aww.. at least he's not a hopeless little whore like you!¨ Kokichi was back at the whole asshole thing. Like always. 

¨Shut up, it's punishment time!¨ Monokuma said.

¨No. NO! I won't die! Not at all!¨ Kirumi yelled. "That's right... I must survive... Because...I carry the weight of an entire nation on my shoulders. I would not have killed if I was so easily deterred. This request will not be fulfilled until I have brought joy to every citizen of this nation... So no matter what, I cannot die! That is why I killed Ryoma! Even now, I refuse to give up!" 

I felt my own voice cry out my inner thoughts of it's own volition. "Run!" I yelled.

"Run!" Tenko.

"Run!" Kaito.

"I intend to live... I must survive...no matter what it takes... If I must debase myself, so be it! I would drink filth and eat carrion to survive! I will do anything—ANYTHING!—to survive!" Kirumi sprinted away, banging on the doors, the walls, the windows. "I have to escape! I won't die here! I will live! I refuse to die in a hellhole like this! For my nation! For my people! I WILL NOT DIIIIIIIIIIIE!!!!"

Monokuma rolled his eyes and dragged her away. It's punishment time. For Kirumi, and for me, and for all of us. The pain never ends. Not at all.