Second Chances || Saiouma

Chapter 1

The air was swirling with dust and debris, a bright shining light spilled from the massive hole in the dome onto the ruins of the Ultimate Academy for gifted juveniles. Shuichi stood looking out at the falling scenery of the place where they had been forced to partake in a killing game. A killing game that had started with sixteen, now ending with three. A calm, almost sad, sense of peace settles in him. It's all over now. Nobody else has to die, they ended Danganronpa. It was all over. His peace, however, was short-lived, as the terrifying question of what comes next sprouts in his head.

He glances over at Maki and Himiko, who looked on as well with the same amount of apprehension.

"Well, what do we do now?" Maki asked meeting his eye.

"We go forward, I guess," he answers shakily.

Himiko bunches her dress in her hands and pats it off, the dust billowing out in small puffs. She gives a reluctant glance back at the fallen school, before taking a step towards the hole, they followed. The light seemed to get brighter as they got closer, Shuichi covered his eyes with his hand, stepping over pieces of rubble. What would be outside? Would it be an empty field? Or maybe an empty building? Or maybe the world really was over, and they were walking to their demise. Shuichi shook his head dismissing the thoughts, whatever it was it couldn't be worse than what they had already been through.

He stepped over another piece of rubble, stumbling slightly, the closer they got to the wall, the more noise he could hear. The sound of little clicks and if his ears weren't defying him... people. The hole in the wall had a ledge that needed to be climbed over, but because of the brightness, there's no way to tell if there was a drop after the ledge. Maki felt along the jagged sides of the hole trying to assess their situation, while keeping her eyes squinted, trying to adjust to the harsh artificial light.

"Here Himiko, I'll give you a lift and we can just jump to the other side." Maki decided, reaching out to Himiko. Himiko grabbed her hand and Maki wrapped her arm around her waist, lifting her onto the ledge. Himiko let out a little gasp of pain as she sat down, the broken pieces of the wall surely poking into her. Maki took a jump up holding onto the piece of wall next to Himiko as leverage, landing on her feet in a crouched position. Somehow Maki always found a way to surprise him. He knows that this was all a lie and that their ultimate talents weren't real, but the Maki before she lost her memories had to of had some skill, it just wasn't normal to have that kind of strength.

He reached out taking Maki's hand and grabbing the sharp side of the wall to balance. The wall shards cut into his hand and he felt the telltale signs of blood dripping down his palm. Gritting his teeth and pushing through the pain he got a good grip on the edge, pulling himself up.

Himiko's voice began to quiver, her small frame wracked with nervous shivers. "I- I'm scared to jump. We can't see anything so how do we know what's down there. What if it's a really far drop?"

"I know we just have to-, His sentence fell off into a startled scream. Something cold and mechanical wrapped around him. There was time to try and struggle free, with a quick pull, he was plummeting down over the ledge. Himiko was right it was a really far drop. Air rushed around him, his hair whipping up into his face, the sound of Maki's and Himiko's shouts following him down. But as soon as it started it was over.

Shuichi landed on his feet, with a harsh drop of the machine carrying him. He stumbled on pretty white tile floors, trying to ease his dizziness. Where was he? He looked up head still fuzzy. People. Tons of people. People with cameras taking pictures like crazy. People walking back and forth frantically with clipboards. People gathering another group of people adorned in what looked like doctor and nurse scrubs.

Maki and Himiko landed down next to him in much the same fashion, blood draining from their face as they saw their surroundings.

People stood around a buffet table and sat in director chairs, it looked to be some type of studio and the nearly blinding light was just a large stage light. Whatever this was, his stomach was beginning to feel sick. The crowd of people broke out into applause and cheers at the sight of them, turning around to each other and laughing in joy. Shuichi couldn't find the joy in this situation. What the hell even is this.