The Ultimate Biologist (Danganronpa 2 x OC)

Chapter 3 (VII): Hard Work

After Hajime explained all the points surrounding the case, Mikan stood there, smiling.

"Heh... heh... heh... hahahahahahahahaha!"

"Wah!" Kazuichi cried. "Now she's laughing!"

"Haaa... it's been such a long time... This feeling... I know it well... like the floor is collapsing... like the sky is falling above you..." She clutched herself in ecstasy. "This feeling of despair!"

"T-Tsumiki-san!" Sonia said. "You... what has happened to you?"

"Whoa there!" Monokuma cut in. "Before we're done, I'd like to have a moment of your time. It seems your arguments have reached a conclusion, so let's proceed to our regularly scheduled voting time! Now then, please pull the lever in front of you and cast your vote! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? Let's go!"

Why...?

—

The votes had been placed.

"Now then, though it may be obvious at this point, you're right!" Monokuma announced. "The true identity of the horrifying blackened responsible for the murder of the two girls is... Tsumiki Mikan-san!"

"You gotta be... kidding me," Akane muttered.

Why was it her?

Mikan...

Why... was it her...?

And... who was she really looking at again?

"Don't joke around with me, Tsumiki!" Akane yelled. "Did you lie to us all along? Did you plan to kill them all from the start while nursing them?"

"Hah... hahaha!"

"Tsumiki-san, answer the question," Katsumi said, her voice strained. She was desperately holding in the web of twisted emotions she was feeling.

"Hahahahahahaha!"

"Tch..." She looked away.

"This is nothing like Peko!" Fuyuhiko said. "She's actually gone mental!"

"There's nothing we can do," Nagito said. "She's no longer the same person. She's... no longer the Tsumiki Mikan we know."

"...Huh?" Hajime said.

"Based on my predictions, she might've caught it, too," he explained. "She probably had the Despair Disease, the motive for this case. After all, if Hirata-san had managed to catch it, it'd make sense if Tsumiki-san had contracted it too, right? Especially as the one who was looking after all the patients."

"Tsumiki too, you say?" Gundham said.

He knew...?

"I know for sure... because I was looking at Tsumiki-san for a long time. She was the one taking care of me, after all. My consciousness kept drifting, but even so, when I did catch a glimpse of her, her expression... was full of despair. A despair so devoid of hope that not even a single fragment of it remained."

Hajime's eyes widened. "That's right... Tsumiki felt really hot at that time... Now that I think about it, that must've been... a high fever."

Why didn't I notice it earlier?

"Hehehe, while we were working together, I did a great job at concealing that, didn't I, Hirata-san?" Mikan said, seemingly reading her mind. "You didn't suspect it in the slightest..."

Those words felt crushing.

"You didn't get infected from the patients, it was me! And of course, I transmitted it on purpose... How unfortunate, after aaaaaaall that time we spent together finding the cure to the disease."