danganronpa - deluded | fanganronpa

[ chapter 3 - kouta and akira talk for once ]

Question of The Day, just because I'm curious here...

...What does everyone think Tokihiko's talent is? I'm ready to listen to some theories ;))

jesus christ, this was supposed to be a fun fte but it turned into a deep chat about death and the future. sorry lmao if i do another, i'll make sure it's less serious

-

Akira bid farewell to Rei, promising to find this ' Mana ' and bring her home safely.

On the way there, she bumped into Kouta, and the two decided to chat for a little while. While it was supposed to be a civil conversation, it quickly changed into a topic about teachers.

"All I'm saying is that when teachers say they have no student bias, they're lying," Akira shrugged, much to Kouta's chagrin. "Like, every teacher I've known has totally had a favorite."

"Well, guess you met the first one without a bias!" Kouta announced cheerfully, giving the student a thumbs-up. "After all, it's hard to protect the 11 of you kids as is - knowing one of you could kill any day means I gotta be ready to stop them. Not just for the victim's sake, but for theirs. Don't want a repeat of the last executions..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, this turned so depressing so quickly. Sorry about that."

"It's fine. A lot of the students here are denying the situation," Akira replied, "while I know we need to stay positive, we do need to be alert that a murder could be planned."

Kouta sighed, though it didn't seem like anything terrible, just a genuine impressed sigh. "You know, Akira, you're so realistic yet unrealistic at the same time. Nobody is as nice as you yet so... you know, ready to accuse someone of murder."

"Toughness and kindness have a certain balance," Akira said, holding up both of her hands as examples. "For example, sometimes, during a hunting expedition, you'll need to shoot that cute bunny for food, but sometimes kindness is the better route for everyone. Say you find a cub stuck in a trap and its mom is panicking. You need to make sure the bear knows you're there to help, free the cub, and watch them leave. If you kill the cub, the mom will attack you. Karma comes back."

"Yeah. Some kids really need to learn a balance," Kouta huffed. "Mioko's way too nice. Naoki's way too tough. I don't want to think about it, but if they end up getting killed, that'll be two more times I failed as a teacher."

There was that talk again - Akira hated that word. ' Failure '. In fact, she firmly believed failing was a good thing. Otherwise, how would you learn to succeed? She stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're not a failure if we've gotten this far. Remember what you asked for? You asked for the killings to stop. We gotta listen to our teacher, right?"

Her voice softened as she continued. "Nobody could see any of these coming. I understand how much you want to protect us, but sometimes just living and letting go and allowing yourself to understand what you are and aren't in control of is the best way to do that."

Kouta smiled and covered his eyes with his hands. "Wow. You're one unique kid, Akira."

"I try," the archer replies.

The two sit in silence for a few minutes. It's comfortable - time to reflect on the situation with a friend. Truth be told, she never thought she'd call a teacher her ' friend ', but hey, they were all in the same boat here.

"Akira," he said, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem. Sometimes, the tough ones are the ones who need the most encouraging," she shrugged. "Just come to me if you ever wanna talk about it again."

Kouta nodded, stood up, said goodbye to her, and left.

[OBTAINED TICKET FRAGMENT! (2/6]