Danganronpa: Until Proven Guilty

Chapter Three - 3: Rotations.

13:05
Aki's pale face stares back at me, her thin, almost blue lips gape open like a fish. She cocks her little head, her scraggly blue locks falling into her eye. Her snails are close by - the snails I had completely forgotten about until now.
"Hello," She repeats, as if it's the only word she's ever known, "Hello Kiho. Kihona."
I force a smile, "Hey there."
She sits cross-legged on the floor, patting the spot next to her as if she's beckoning me to sit. But it's barely an inch wide - hardly an adequate space for my body.
"Sit," She mumbles, "Please?"
Slowly, I slide down the wall and onto the hardwood floor, though backed up against the door to avoid crushing her under my weight.
Sure didn't give us much room in here.
Then again, probably the point.
"So," I bite my lip, "You an A or a B? What does your handbook say?"
"Fingerbook," Aki reiterates, "I'm a B. Buzz buzz."
She presses her lips together, continuing to make crude bee noises in between her fits of giggling. I can't help but feel my heart melt, her excited little face enough to light up a whole street. It's as if those dark circles don't even exist as long as she smiles.
I grin. "So, you're in here all day? Who was in here last?"
"Can't say," Aki shakes her head with intense vigour, "Monokuma won't like that."
"Oh damn, yeah," I shrug.
"Naughty word."
I raise an eyebrow but I choose not to question her. Twenty years old and somehow trapped in a ten-year-old's body. Perhaps even younger. Though it's impossible to tell where she may have lost herself, or for how long.
Without thinking, I catch myself gazing at her. Gazing at her listless eye, glassy like varnished tears. Something about the dirt and grime clinging to her freckled skin is almost pleasant, as if it's meant to be there.
"What do you wanna do?" She says eventually, the silence shattering as she strokes Cthulhu and Lucifer, "You wanna play duck duck goose?"
"I don't really think there's enough room for that," I laugh nervously, staring at the snails with the utmost hesitance. One wrong move and those things are dead under my feet.
"Okie then," She grumbles, "I don't know any other games, sorry."
"Really?" I tilt my head, "You only know duck duck goose?"
She nods, "Yup, I learnt it from school. Big meanie boy used to bonk me with his hands and call me a goose. Once I went to heaven."
"You died?" My jaw drops and I'm barely able to contain my pure shock.
"No," She pulls her knees to her chest, settling the snails down on the bedside table, "I went to sleep. But like, a looooong sleep. For like three weeks."
"You were in a coma?" My horror isn't lessened as she speaks.
"I dunno what that is," She shrugs, "Sounds tasty."
Sighing again, I can barely process another sentence. She's strange, ever so strange. Yet it's so endearing.
All of a sudden I can only think back to the week before. The night before Minato's murder. Aki's sombre words that she likely barely understood herself.

"What's alcohol? I heard my mommy talking about it once. She said it made her angry."

"Aki?" I blurt out, barely able to process my words before they spurt out of my mouth like a tap exploding, "Are you okay?"
She looks puzzled, patting her knees as she stares at the floor, "Wha? Yeah, I'm okay. You?"
"N-no," I laugh nervously, the sudden weight of my words crashing down upon me, "I mean in general. You've said some pretty concerning stuff while we're here, Aki."
"What does that mean?" She tilts her head.
"It's making me worry," I say, "I may not be licensed yet, but I am a psychologist. I want to help."
"Okie," Aki mumbles, chewing on her tongue, "Whaddaya wanna say?"
I clear my throat, "You said alcohol reminded you of your mom, right?"
"Oh, that stuff?" She nods, "Yeah, my daddy said that mommy has a problem. I dunno what he meant by that."
"This morning," I say, tapping my chin, "You didn't want to come down until the yelling stopped, right? Why?"
Aki pauses, chewing on her lip. She blinks, trailing a finger along the floor.

"Were you scared?"

I barely even have time to finish what I'm saying before the wailing begins.
She flings herself around my waist, her little sobs muffled by my shirt. As her legs flail in my lap, I feel all I can do is lightly pat her head, hoping such a meek gesture will offer even an ounce of comfort.
"I don't want them to yell anymore!" She cries, "Make them stop it, I hate it!"
My hand grasps at a tuft of her blue hair, as my slender fingers slowly comb through the bunches of grease and knots. Yet it doesn't bother me, as I continue to brush through. Stroke by stroke as she sobs into my shirt.
"It's okay, Aki," I say, my voice soft as I speak, "Why are you scared? Do you think they'll hurt you?
Through her dozens of sniffles, she nods, wiping her runny nose on her arm. If only there were tissues in these rooms.
"Whenever I go downstairs when there's yelling," She croaks, though her usual croak is so much more choked. So afraid, "Somebody yells at me. I don't like being yelled at..."
"I'm sorry, Aki," I say, as if I feel obliged to, though my responses feel automatic almost, "Kaso is just a god damn prick. But Ayana doesn't want to hurt you, she would never. She has a kid of her own, you know?"
I can't help but think of Kaso's smug face, the devious little curl of his lips, that menacing twinkle in his narrowed blue eyes. Every part of my being wants to slap him, yet I know he'd overpower me easily. A force to not be reckoned with.
"Will Kaso hurt Yana?" Aki glances at my tie, as if she's mesmerised by it, "He's pretty big."
I bite my lip, silence clogging my throat. I can't answer. I don't want to answer. I don't even think I know the answer.
Will he hurt Ayana?
Gulping, I set Aki aside, "U-um, I think Cthulhu and Lucifer are awake now."
Aki cocks her head, turning to the dresser and then back to me, "They were never sleeping, silly."
I shrug, "Maybe you should sleep?"