danganronpa - deluded | fanganronpa

[ prologue - hair ]

Akira noticed some girl sitting on a bench, desperately trying to do something with her hair.

The woman had caramel skin with long, luscious, black hair. On the left side of her head, all of that hair was tied up in a bun. A red scrunchie was at the end of the bun, turning it into a ponytail that went just below her shoulders. She had piercing red eyes with maroon eyeshadow and a dark reddish-purple, matte lip color on. She had a puffy, gray cloth around her neck, but it seemed like it was connected to her shirt and not a scarf. She had a shirt that went down to right below her chest. It was black - from the shoulder down to where a bra would've been, it was semi-transparent with floral patterns. On the area below that to where it cut off, it was a full black. From her belly downward, she wore a dark red skirt that went below her feet. She had a jacket/cape thing connected around her shoulders. It was red with black on the edges. They seemed to appear as sleeves and cut off at her hands.

She looked up at Akira and waved. "Hey, you! Mind helping me out here? I wanna tighten my scrunchie but I can't. You seem tough."

Akira nodded and walked behind the woman. She undid the scrunchie easily and re-tied it with ease in a firm, tight knot. The woman nodded gratefully and stuck her hand out for shaking. "Thanks! I'm Ikue Enomoto, the Ultimate Interior Designer."

IKUE ENOMOTO

ULTIMATE INTERIOR DESIGNER

"Nice to meet you, Ikue. I'm Akira Sashiki, the Ultimate Archer," Akira introduced with a smile.

Ikue nodded. "Oh! That explains the totally antique, tough look you have. It totally suits you - not to mention how pretty that outfit is! Rock it, girl."

"Oh. Thanks...?" Akira chuckled. She'd gotten compliments from village folk, but none sounded anything like that. It was mostly, ' you look nice today! ' or, ' I like your hair! '.

Ikue nodded. She put her chin in her hand, thinking. "But... there's something bothering me."

"Hm? What's wrong, Ikue?"

"That hair... girl. You look like a weird version of a Barbie doll. Nuh-uh. Not digging it. It's ugly," she said bluntly with her arms crossed.

"U-Ugly?" Akira hissed. "Did you just call me ugly?"

Ikue, seeming to realize what she said, covered her mouth with her hands and squeaked. "Oh! Did I? I'm so, so sorry- stuff like this just comes out of my mouth without control!"

"It's fine," Akira replied. She could clearly tell Ikue was sorry. "but do you really think it's weird?"

"Well, I love the braids, if that makes it better!" Ikue said with a giggle, "I just think the ponytail is a bit out of place. It'd look better if it was also part of the braid, you know? I can fix it for you later if you'd like."

"Yeah. You seem well-informed in the world of fashion," Akira replied with a smile. "I'd like that. Thanks. Your hair's really pretty though. I feel like I could run my fingers through it and it'd be super smooth. It probably smells really nice, too."

Ikue blushed a tiny bit and giggled. "Thanks. I take a lot of time styling it every day. Though, your compliments went from nice to a bit creepy for the time we've known each other, you know?"

Akira laughed in reply, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry. Didn't mean to come off as creepy."

"Ah- creepy?!" Ikue gasped. "I didn't mean to say that out loud either! I'm so sorry! I really need to learn to control what I say-"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Akira interrupted the frantic girl. "I'm not offended. It's fine if you speak your mind!"

"No, it isn't!" Ikue whined. "I'm trying really hard to be nice, I promise. I'm not used to being around other kids my age."

"Oh?" Akira asked, raising her eyebrow.

"I never went to elementary school. My parents were rich snobs so they thought I was too good for it. Instead, I got a different rich snob as a tutor. He was super rude, so it kinda rubbed off on me," Ikue explained with an apologetic glance. "...sorry."

"Don't worry about it! Being in this school will be good, then. It'll help you be nicer!" Akira responded.

Ikue smiled gratefully, running her fingers through her hair. "Yeah. I guess it will. Thanks for that, Aki!"

"...Aki?"

"We're friends, right? I'll give you a nickname!" Ikue giggled. "Now, we match - Ikue and Aki!"

Akira nodded. She liked the sound of a nickname - back in her village, she was only called ' Akira ' or ' Ms. Sashiki ', so a change like this was nice. "Yeah. It's nice."

With that, Akira waved goodbye to Ikue and continued on her way.

OBTAINED TICKET FRAGMENT!