danganronpa - deluded | fanganronpa

[ chapter 2 - progress not made ]

They spent nearly all night trying to work out a way to speak with hands. However, as they practiced, more and more issues came to light - Jutaro's point proved to be useful - many people struggled to keep up as Rei made hand signals to go through letter-by-letter. Chiemi, in particular, looked like she had nearly no idea what was going on. Kouta had to sit out and watch (he still couldn't move his hand that much. It was healing, but the blisters were still visible).

...So it ended with everyone giving up and going to sleep the day away.

However, instead of getting to go home and sleep until she was probably murdered, Akira was stopped by Chiemi, an apologetic smile on her pale face. "Hey, Akira. You're probably tired, but I figured that we could just sit and chat for a few? The motive makes me want to talk about possible suspects - that is, if another trial happens."

Akira nodded. As much as she hated to think about it, she knew some students would consider it. She, in particular, had not made a tight relationship with someone, so she really wasn't too moved by the idea, but a few came to the top of her head.

The two sat down at a table (close to the one they met at, funnily enough) and grabbed some drinks at the venue close-by. Akira went for water while Chiemi took about five minutes making an entire cup of iced coffee - she went to an entirely different venue to get the sugar, then another one for the ice, then an ice-cream themed one for the milk, and then she came back.

"I thought you didn't like milk in your drinks. Weren't you trying to go vegan?" Akira asked curiously as she sat down with her cup.

Chiemi shook her head and took a sip of her drink. "No. I said no milk in my tea. Coffee is undrinkable without milk and sugar."

Akira tilted her head. "Really? I drink it black-"

"What?!"

Akira had to laugh at Chiemi's shock. "Yeah. What's wrong with that? Most people from my village drank it like that. Most of our milk was used to make cheese, pastries, or sold to the next town over. Of course, we also had to save milk for the calves, so we never really had much."

"Well, that's better I guess, but still... not even a drop? Wow. That's a first," Chiemi shuddered, "moving on - what do you wanna talk about?"

Why is she asking me?

"Um... I guess I have a question for you," Akira shrugged.

Chiemi nodded. "Shoot."

"None of the other kids here are like this, so why are you obsessed with memes?"

The screenwriter folded her hands and shook her head with a smile. "Oh, it's not really an obsession with the memes. I just like using them because it makes people laugh.  It's always a good feeling when you say something and you hear laughter, you know?"

"I wouldn't know. People don't really laugh when I talk all that much," Akira murmured, "I guess I'm just not a comedian, you know?"

"Don't feel bad about it, Akira. You don't need to be funny to be likable. Take Raizo. Nobody seems to hate him and he's just... you know... kinda dumb," Chiemi murmured. "Not to be rude, of course, you aren't dumb."

"Yeah, I get what you're saying," Akira assured the girl as she started to panic a little. "Don't get so worked up about it!"

Chiemi took another sip of her coffee, nodding. "Yep, yep. You're a good person, and that's the tea."

"You're drinking coffee," Akira commented, "so it's not really-"

Judging by the look she got, it was just some more internet lingo she didn't understand. Deciding to just enjoy it, even if she didn't understand it, she laughed to herself and allowed the two of them to share a fit of giggles, causing Chiemi to spit out her coffee, causing the laughter to continue.

[OBTAINED TICKET FRAGMENT! (2/6]