Second chance - O̺͆u̺͆m̺͆a̺͆S̺͆a̺͆i̺͆ - COMPLETE

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The detective knew that he needed to move, that he needed to peel his eyes away from the body that had been mashed in the hydraulic press yet, his feet were firmly frozen to the ground, partly glued and sticky with the blood that had gathered in a puddle around his feet, partly from his mangled hand and the other part was from Tsumugi's corpse. The liquids had mixed together, opposing each other in colour which was more than ironic.

There was a limit to the irony however, when the thought crossed his mind that they were both blood from murderers although the causes and reason were highly differing. Tsumugi had a high blood lust and it was chilling to know that she suppressed it to blend into the background. Did she see all the of 'her friends' as prey, like farmyard animals? Trapped in a cage of her own personal construction whilst seeing them squirm and writhe as the pressure and impending futures dawned on them.

If so, was she an abnormality or a common product of the so-called 'peaceful' outside world?

Shuichi was no doubt having these thoughts to prevent the heaving pain from his hand striking too deep. His body had switched onto autopilot as he wandered limply towards the academy courtyard, to let fresh air enter his lungs which would most hopefully calm his body down. Fingers were prodded subconsciously onto the control panel to close the shutter again; hiding his murderous deed behind enforced steel shutters.

Once he was out of the enclosed space where his victim lay, his trance shattered as if it were as frail as a slab of glass, killing the only part of his remaining self reassurance that had lasted this far. When his eyes adjusted to the area he had dragged himself to, he had to blink several times to understand, to process the differences. Instead of the natural landscape and colour scheme he was used to, the arena had been dyed with a tinted bloody hue and he wasn't able to distinguish whether it was his mind playing a trick on him to remind him of how blackened his soul now was, or if it was an actual physical change in the appearance.

Never had the academy been quite so silent. He forced himself to prick his ears up to pick up and trace of the other students, yet there was nothing. He couldn't be alone, no, no, the other students were alive, they were living, loving and breathing most importantly. The more he concentrated on trying to fish out for voices, the more an eerie static filled his ears.

Although he was most likely in a murder trance, many things were off that his mind couldn't have altered.

The academy looked, deserted. Shuichi pinched himself as hard as he could to try and drag himself out of his state of shock and denial, knowing that in a game such as Danganronpa, you can't ever stop going, you couldn't ever stop fighting as there's always a next crisis. He was the Ultimate Detective, for gods-sake and his mission, his purpose for returning to save everyone wasn't over yet; now he had to get them all out of the school one and for all. Then, he was sure that it would be over, he was begging to the fates that there wouldn't be any more surprises.

With a look of determination, he pushed his body forward, one foot in front of the other in a repetitive fashion until the pacing was done subconsciously. To think, what now? The mastermind was dead and the academy entering a Halloween aesthetic, but they must be related in some strand of a regard, since the correlations between them were simply too strong to overlook. As he walked onwards, his mind kept working at a higher proximity than ever before. Adrenaline was flooding his system and he wasn't allowing that biological boost up to be wasted on dwelling of the murder that he had wanted to commit since day one in the second simulation. Deep down he had always known that it would come to this, that it was near to impossible to beat Tsumugi at her own game, the only way to defeat her was to gift her with the murder and despair that she preached. When it came to murder in a setting like this one, a deathly aura surrounds you. It makes you do things and commit such atrocities that you would never go through with if you were anywhere else. The classrooms remind you of a place of learning, it drills into the mind of the Ultimates that they are here because they needed to be taught a lesson and that lesson, that lesson is inhumane slaughter.