danganronpa - deluded | fanganronpa

[ prologue - books ]

Next, Akira saw a young man.

He had ghastly white skin that couldn't be healthy. Freckles littered his skin, contrasting his dark purple eyes. He had light lavender hair that spewed out all over the place - a curly mop on top of his head. He wore a white shirt with a weird, circular symbol on it. He had a black jacket over it. His belt connected to a pouch holding a book inside, and he wore black jeggings.

Akira scooted over to him, then sat down next to him. The man looked over at her and waved slowly. With a smile, she took that as her chance to speak to him. "Hello there! I'm Akira Sashiki, the Ultimate Archer."

He seemed to understand she was trying to start a conversation because he nodded and spoke as well. "I-I'm Jutaro Gushiken, the U-Ultimate Mystery Novelist. N-Nice to meet you."

JUTARO GUSHIKEN

ULTIMATE MYSTERY NOVELIST

"Hm?" Akira hummed. He seemed shy, which bothered her the tiniest bit. "No need to be shy, you know. I'm nice."

"S-Shy? I'm not shy," Jutaro replied quickly. He had a loud, clear voice, though he still stuttered. "I-Is it because I s-stutter?"

"Yeah. Isn't that caused by nervousness?" Akira asked curiously.

Jutaro shook his head in reply. "No. M-My stutter is g-genetic. My grandma stuttered s-so it passed down to me."

"Oh!" Akira inhaled. "Sorry, then."

"It's fine. I-I get it a lot," Jutaro dismissed her with a smile.

She peeked at the book in Jutaro's pouch. He was a mystery novelist, so maybe he wrote that. "Is that book something you wrote?"

"No," he replied, "i-its the Voynich Manuscript. It's w-written in a language nobody knows, so people have spent decades trying to d-decode it. You want to look?"

Akira nodded and gratefully took the old book from Jutaro's cold hands. When she quickly scrolled through it, all she saw were odd pictures and symbols that she didn't understand. She knew a few words in Italian and some in Russian, but this was completely different than anything she'd ever seen before. "Huh. That really is weird."

"I-I know!" Jutaro gushed. He hugged himself and sighed dreamily as he continued. "I-I've been trying to crack it for what feels like y-years! It's so mysterious and-and so incredibly groundbreaking. I'm gonna be the one to d-decode it and it'll make my name known across the world... s-someday!"

Akira couldn't tell if she felt uncomfortable or amused by his ranting. "You sure are... passionate."

"S-Sorry. I'm creepy, a-aren't I?" Jutaro asked, sweat starting to drip down his forehead.

"Hm? No, no, that isn't what I meant. It was a compliment!" Akira quickly defended herself, but she wasn't sure if that was a good idea when she saw his reaction to it.

Jutaro's eyebrows quickly tilted, his apologetic smile turning into a cold, unforgiving frown. He started to sweat even more now - he looked extremely upset. "Compliment?" He asked (more like growled).

"Uh- yes?"

"No!" Jutaro shouted. He stood up, snatched the manuscript from Akira's hands quite roughly, and took a step back. "I-I knew it! You're just like them, a-aren't you? Huh? A-Answer me, dammit!"

"I don't know who you're talking about!" Akira insisted, getting quite nervous herself at Jutaro's angry yelling. "It was meant in a good way and I didn't mean to offend you, I promise!"

To her surprise, Jutaro started laughing. It started off as quiet giggling and slowly evolved into full-blown maniac, hysterical laughter. "Oh! That's a g-good one! I-I'm nice - I'm your ' f-friend '!"

"No, really-"

"L-Look, I just need to c-cool down, okay? I'll be back soon, just- i-it's fine."

Jutaro slapped his hands against his sides and stormed off, leaving Akira confused and concerned.

OBTAINED TICKET FRAGMENT...?