danganronpa - deluded | fanganronpa

[ chapter 5 - an unsolvable trial? ]

Question of The Day:

so the trial's impossible to solve. now what y'all

hhhshort chappie sorry guys :< next part should be longer!

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"Un... Unsolvable?" Akira repeated so she knew she wasn't dreaming. "N-No, that's not possible. We've just... gotta find some more evi-"

"Just... don't make this harder than it has to be. Please." Chiemi begged, more serious than she had been even when Shinako died. "Nobody besides Raizo and Tokihiko know what went down in that hidden room. We can't even use the camera footage to cheat because it was destroyed." She covered the bottom half of her face. "It's impossible. We're all going to vote wrong and die."

"This can't be happening." Akira took a step back, nearly falling off her podium. "I promised. I promised I'd survive. We all promised to work together. To never give up."

Her voice raised to a shout, voice cracking as warm, salty tears ran down her flushed cheeks. "I promised! I fucking promised! Do you not understand me?! I can't die! Not yet!"

"Akira..." Rei breathed out. "Calm down."

"I can't calm down! I can't die! Not after my promise! I already failed twice, I can't - I can't mess up again!"

She just kneeled down in front of her podium, hands on the sides of her head as she openly sobbed into her knees, hands tightening so much from the impending fear of death that she felt each strand of hair as she tugged them out of her scalp. "I-I can't I can't I can't I can't-"

"Akira, get a hold of yourself!"

She perked up at Obokata's stern call. "You're supposed to be the strong one! What happened to ' we're a trio '? What happened to ' whatever we do, we do together '? If we're all going to die here, dammit, I want us all to die knowing we did our best!"

She sat there, dumbfounded, and then put her forehead on her palm, choking back a sob. "Mutsumi's left too much of an impression on you."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Of course not."

Hejjikuma groaned. "Fuuuuck. This cast was so much fun to boss around. Boss is gonna be pissed when I tell 'er that I had to execute 'em. Fine. Whatever. Die for all I care."

"So... who are we all voting for?" Chiemi asked. "I say we all vote for ourselves."

"Got it. Start the vote, Hejjikuma." Rei snapped her fingers. "Chop, chop. We don't have forever. I want to get my death over with."

"Ugggh, fuck. Fine." Hejjikuma reluctantly allowed the students to vote.

Akira's hand were sweating, clammy and completely ghost white. This was it. This wasn't a fairytale - nobody was going to magically find a clue that gave away the answer. Nobody would be there to stop the impending doom from reaching her and all her friends.

She was going to die here.

Reminding herself to be strong, she looked up and nodded as the students started to vote for themselves.

As the turn came to her, she felt herself getting more and more panicked. She was going to have to be the reason she died. She was going to die here. And somehow, that thought suddenly stopped bothering her when she realized she'd do it as a team.

"Akira's the last one. Ready to vote?" Rei asked seriously. "Remember. Whatever we do, we do together."

"Right." Akira put aside her nerves for later and slowly, slowly, slowly reached down to press the button and vote for herself-

"WAIT!!!"

She stopped dead in her tracks, finger just a tiny bit away from pressing that button and ending the vote. "What's up, guys?"

"I didn't say anything." Chiemi murmured. "...It came from the trial room door."

"But all of us are in here." Obokata breathed out. "...You don't mean..."

Akira's eyes widened, jaw dropping open as...

The door to the trial room opened?!

"W... Who's there?" She asked warily, slowly pulling out an arrow from her pouch. "If it's you, Yuuna, I won't hesitate to shoot you!"

But no. That figure wasn't Yuuna. She recognized that figure, she just knew it couldn't be possible.

Could it?

But as they walked into the trial and looked up at everyone, she realized it wasn't a dream.

She couldn't speak. She couldn't breathe. She just stood there and sputtered out nonsense along with the rest of the class.

Finally, Rei seemed calm enough to step off her podium. "Is that who I think it is?"

It was.

There, standing in the doorway of the trial room, was Raizo Baisho.

Alive.

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oooOO PLOT TWIST / CLIFFHANGER EE