Danganronpa RM; Deathly Montage

☠Prologue #5-- Midnight Disaster

Prologue #5

Midnight Disaster

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DAYTIME

OST - Hope Searching, Despair - Syndrome

AFTER that, the hall was so silent, you could hear a pin drop as we all attempted to process just what exactly had occurred just a few minutes ago.

Tahara shot up in shock, her face completely overwritten with panic. "You all saw that right?" she shrieked, asking for confirmation, "I wasn't the only one?"

Shion's normally calm disposition shattered. "What the fuck was that?" he stressed, joining the teen on his feet, his headache long forgotten.

"That bear... it talked..." Sarada shuddered, hugging herself tightly as she attempted to get a hold of herself, "It yelled at us... What the heck? I didn't sign up for this crap..."

Even Ritsuki was visibly rattled, trapped in an endless loop of staring silently at the static screen, biting her nails in intense thought.

Seeing that we were all panicked, I decided to be the voice of reason to get all of us, including myself, to calm down.

"There must be a reasonable explanation for this," I began, hiding the utter unease that I currently felt, "For example, that thing probably was just an AI. They're just tricking us; trying to get under our skin. And it worked! Kudos to them."

"Of course!" the Ultimate Judge eagerly slammed her fist into her palm, agreeing with the sentiment, "That must be it! No way something like that could exist in real life! That would be just plain creepy."

I was starting to think it was a good thing that Pandora had left while she had the chance. She'd probably be terrified if she had seen what we just had.

"No," Tahara shook her head slowly, her expression now stern, "If that thing was an AI, why didn't it show up on my screen itself instead of on the camera feed? That thing was real; no doubt about it. There's no point in denying it."

Just like that, the Ultimate Hacker sent my point flying out the window, especially considering the fact that she was the true technology expert.

I had nothing else to say. That thing had freaked me out enough before, but now knowing that it actually existed? It was pretty terrifying.

Just who the hell had created that abomination?

Drained once more, Shion held a hand to his head. "This must be a prank," the magenta-haired teen laughed in disbelief, "A practical joke-- it has to be."

"Or, it's the guise of our kidnapper."

Hearing the sudden comment, we all turned to Ritsuki in bewilderment.

"The guise of our kidnapper...?" Sarada repeated in confusion, staring at the amnesiac suspiciously, "What do you mean?"

Somberly, the unknown Ultimate gave all of us a brief stare as she gauged our expressions, finally meeting my own startled purple gaze. She seemed to think over her response for a minute, glancing off to the ground as she held her hand to her chin.

"We had to be brought here by someone, right?" she sighed, looking at me once again as if she expected me to agree, seeing as I had spent the most amount of time with her, "Surely all of you have realized that by now. Right, Murano?"