danganronpa - deluded | fanganronpa

[ chapter 4 - the end ]

Question of The Day:

Does anyone have any predictions for chapter 5? We all know those are the saddest chapters.

Here we go. I bet all of you predicted that.

The wake ended. I wasn't as upset as I thought I'd be. Yeah, a bit of a shock value seeing his body in the casket, but my friends and relatives were there and we all laughed about topics unrelated. Not something I'd want to do again, but hey, I'm glad everyone else is taking it like a champ. The funeral is tomorrow.

-

Mutsumi, hands stiffly at her sides, smiled as fondly as she could at Akira. "I'm... so proud of you. I didn't think you'd be able to do it. I knew I picked a good number three for my trio."

"I'm sorry. I-I should've done it sooner instead of trying to get us all killed like a coward. I'm so, so sorry. We could've all died because I didn't want to accept the truth." Akira looked down at her trembling hands and sniffled, holding back tears as to not have anyone else freak out. "Oh, God, I-"

She froze, feeling a sudden warmth wrapped around her, looking over, she saw a gloved hand wrapped around her waist in a gentle hug. She gripped Mutsumi's arm and felt herself crying. It reminded her slightly of when they hugged in the control room.

"I put so much pressure on you." Mutsumi choked out. "I should've let you figure it out yourself instead of making you think I didn't do it."

Rei, who was having none of it, sharpened her gaze and frowned. "Mutsumi. Confessing was the bravest thing you could've done. Rather than sit back and defend your actions, you were willing to take the punishment to protect us." She paused for a moment, then continued. "I... might've misjudged you."

Chiemi, who looked all kinds of conflicted, slid off her broken glasses and bit her lip. "I... I really, really wanna be mad at you, but I just can't. Dammit, I need to be mad at someone!"

"No, you don't." Mutsumi corrected, letting go of Akira in favor of walking away from the podium and smiling. "Instead, I want all of you to live on for me. I don't think any of you are willing to kill anyway. I trust all of you to live on for me, got it? Be friends."

At ' live on ', Tokihiko grinned. "Of course we will." His voice was just dripping with sarcasm, but Akira ignored him in favor of looking over at the really loud noises coming from where Mutsumi was.

"Ow! Ow! Dial it back on the love a bit, dude! I thought the whole ' ceiling collapsing on you ' would've made this hurt-" She wheezed as Obokata basically suffocated her in a hug. "I get it, I get it, ow, ow, ow..."

At that, he only clutched the girl tighter, muffled sobs escaping him. "I can't lose you! I can't!"

"Hey, you won't lose me." She pulled away from him and sadly wiped away the tears falling down his face, then roughly poked him in the chest. "I'm right here, you dumdum! Sappy as it sounds. It sounds really sappy, actually, but I'm about to die anyway, so why not?"

"Stop being so casual about this! I-I told you it was a bad idea!" He grabbed her arm as it tried to retreat back to her side, and Akira could feel her heart break as the snowboarder's face paled at his near-hysterically hopeless expression.

"H-Hey... don't be like that, Kata! You're gonna make me feel bad... ah, shit, I already do," she sighed in defeat and tugged her arm away with an unsure chuckle. "Ah... Chiemi! My bud...!"

Chiemi hadn't opened her... eye(?) since she slid off her glasses, though the sympathy was ridden on her face. "I can't believe it was you of all people. I'm sorry I acted so... rude, I guess. It was kinda uncalled for. I sounded as much of a douche as Naoki does-"