Regrets, Restarts, and Forgiveness

Chapter 23

Kirumi hurried to get Gonta somewhere to rest. She highly insisted that he stay in his dorm room, but he requested that he rest in the back room in the game room so he could watch TV. So, Kirumi hesitantly accepted his request. She had him rest upon the couch with a quilt covering his large body, which she brought from her lab.

"Are you sure you want to stay in here? I am sure your dorm would be much more comfortable, as well as suited for your condition." Kirumi asked. Gonta looked up at her and nodded.

"Gonta sure....Gonta like this room. Gonta can watch....bug movie." he said. Kirumi gave a small sigh but nodded as she adjusted his fluffy pillow.

"Very well. Then please refrain from moving from the couch." she stated. Kaede stood beside the weak Gonta while I watched from the door. "Don't worry, Gonta. We'll figure something out for you. Until then, just rest and don't move from this spot." she insisted. Her voice was waverig slightly, but she kept her composure.

"Thank you, K-Kaede....don't worry....Gonta will be okay." Gonta replied. His voice was sounding raspy. The Ultimate Pianist nodded and gently grabbed his hand, planting a kiss on it. 

"I'll be back in a bit." she said. Kirumi nodded and they began to come to the door. I waited until both girls left the room before I left, closing the door behind me. Right now, fourteen of us had gathered in the game room to discuss what to do.

"So now what?" Tsumugi said, looking lost of what else to say.

"I am unsure of what to do. Monokuma said we had roughly six hours until the poison kills Gonta. I cannot be sure of what kind of poison it is, I don't recognize his symptoms linking to any poison." Kirumi replied. Shuichi placed a hand over his mouth slightly.

"I could try researching his symptoms in my library, but that might take too long." he said. 

"Keebo, I don't suppose there's something you can do. Do you have a health scanner or something?" Rantaro asked. Keebo frowned, shaking his head. 

"No, I'm afraid I'm not equipped with that kind of function." he said. Rantaro sighed, placing his hands on his hips and closing his eyes. "I was afraid you'd say that...." 

"You know, maybe Kokichi had the right idea," Kaito stated, clenching his fists, "Maybe we should all just ban together and beat the shit outta Monokuma until he coughs up the antidote!" "Don't be a fool. The moment we make any move against Monokuma, the Exisals will get to us first." Ryoma stated. 

"I don't care how dangerous it is! We gotta try. right?!" Kaito stated. 

"We can't just run in there without any proper weapons. Even the weapons in my lab aren't anything when it comes to facing an Exisal." Maki stated. 

"But what can we do?! Surely there is something we can do!" Kaede stated. The conversation continued on with everyone, but I remained silent. What the hell can we do? We have no clues as to what the poison is, and Monokuma stole the antidote. And there is no way in hell we could stand against the Exisals. If we even had a sliver of a chance, it would be with Gonta's support, but obviously he's in no condition to help.

"There's nothing we can do."

Everyone looked over at me, surprised by my response. I felt a shadow cast over my eyes. "Monokuma made sure of that, too. The only way we're getting the antidote....is if we killed someone." I said.

"You're not saying we should really kill someone, are you?!" Tenko stated. "Course not, I'm just stating the facts. And the fact is, we can't save Gonta. End of story." I said. Kaito growled, walking over to me.