Danganronpa: Dead or Alive

🇯🇵Chapter 28: Do You Hear The People Sing?🇯🇵

5:00 am.

Jiro was the first one to wake that day. It was very early in the morning, but he couldn't seem to fall back asleep.

Left with no other alternative, he rose from his bed and exited his room. He just had to walk it off. Yeah. That was definitely it.

The mansion felt incredibly empty after all this time. Perhaps it was that he's grown used to it. Or maybe it could be that it lacks the overwhelming presences of the other students that it started with.

A long and drawn out sigh escaped from his mouth.

'Yasha Fukuda. Bludgeoned to death by Akito Sakurai. Sai Nekoshara. Choked to death by Benjiro Arai. Hiroto Yokoyama. Pushed to his death by Leiko Tsukiko. Nao Windrider. Neck snapped by Gin Kojima, in a failed attempt to save Leiko Tsukiko. Ryo Shigeru. Throat cut by Chiyo Namida.'

Out of all the people who went through Jiro's head, only one of them was still alive.

"But...he's a murder...." he mumbled to himself.

"Upupu~ what have we here? A lone mouse?"

He immediately spun around to face the speaker. Taking a tentative step back, he managed to regain his composure.

"W-what do you w-want?" He asked, voice trembling.

Monokuma placed a paw under his chin in a thinking motion.

"Oh nothing. Just wanted to say hi to an old friend. You work for me, after all."

He froze. Unconsciously, his fists clenched and he took another step back.

"I-I don't work for you. Or anyone." He shot back.

"Oh? Do you really not remember? Come on, kid! You helped me bring an end to the hope of the world! We are the Ultimate Des'bear's."

"I-I didn't help you with anything. I don't know what you're t-talking about." Jiro murmured.

"Ah, maybe I'm a bit early to be confronting ya. I'll be gone now!"

Monokuma disappeared, leaving Jiro to revel in the confusion that was left behind.

A small, black shadow quickly darted around the corner.

No one saw it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Darling. We got another call from the Kindergarten." A woman, in her mid-thirties, entered the room.

A man sitting on the couch, also in his mid-thirties, set down the newspaper that he was reading.

"What did he do this time?" He asked.

"He just won't interact with the other children. Whenever they do, he'll break their stuff or say awful things to them." She explained, plopping down on the couch next to him.

She put her face in her hands.

"Where did we go wrong, Akira? We did our absolute best to raise him and keep him protected. So why did he turn out like this?" She asked.

"Anna, maybe it's just a phase. He'll grow out of it and start behaving normally. We just have to wait it out." The man said, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Maybe..." she repeated, trying to reassure herself.

Suddenly they heard the sound of multiple thumps upstairs, followed by something crashing.

Immediately, the two were on their feet, heading up to their child's room.

"Sweetheart? Are you alright? We hear-" the woman trailed off when she opened the door.