Danganronpa: String Theory (DrV3)

4.24 - Echo of a Person

"Prairie!"

At the sound of Kokichi's distressed yelp, my spine stiffens uneasily. Not what I was expecting to hear from him, but any concern dissolves when I hear Kaito and Shuichi trying to calm him.

"He's fine, don't come back in! It's just the drug!" I hear Shuichi call out, presumably to me.

"Augh...! How does such a scrawny dude have so much strength in his body, what the heck...?!" Kaito complains.

At my expression, Himiko makes the executive decision to close the door, though she doesn't lock it. I can still hear Kokichi yelling, but it's thankfully muffled now that the door isn't open.

A moment later, I hear music coming from the direction of Kiibo and Rantaro, a calming classical piano tune that makes Himiko and I look around until our eyes land on the robot. His sheepish expression says it all, the cyan lights of his body aglow just a little brighter as it influxes with the keys of the melody.

"I-I'm not going to be powered on for much longer, but I want to support everyone the best I can. I'm sure Angie would say this is okay..."

"'For much longer'?" I start to ask, before it dawns on me. My eyes jump from the ceiling lamp to the flashlight on my night table next to Kiibo. Unlike flashlights, I don't think we can just replace Kiibo's battery when he runs out of power. "Oh crap! You haven't been able to charge your battery since the power went off!"

"Yeah...I'm just lucky I had an extra energy source to tap into, but it's almost finished," Kiibo laments, before holding his hands up to reassure us. "It's okay though! My power cord is in my room and I left written directions on how to plug me in if I power down before we get electricity back. I'm not worried knowing I'm in good hands."

"How much longer do you think you have until you hit zero...?" Himiko asks, walking over and squinting when she sees Kiibo carefully pulling on Rantaro's eyebrow piercing to annoy him awake again, resulting in his green eyes flicking open to leer at Kiibo. He doesn't say anything, but he does manage to lift a hand to weakly swat Kiibo's efforts away. "Don't be rude, Rantaro. If you fall asleep, Prairie's gonna cook you..."

His eyes flick over to her moodily, and then to me when I join their side. I can see the moment his gaze softens when he sees me, causing a little strain in my chest that reminds me of something I don't want to think about.

Rantaro reaches out to take my hand in his and promptly closes his eyes again. My heart skips an annoying beat.

I hate feeling like this.

With a scowl to pair with my sour sentiments, I lift up his hand and give him a nice bite on his wrist that makes him jerk in surprise.

"Ow...!" He hisses, snatching his hand back and nursing it against his chest.

"Keep your fluffy sentiments to yourself, I'm busy right now," I huff, crossing my arms and turning away.

Maybe if I reject any conflicting affection people give me, it might make them stop. Maybe if I stop being treated that way, it'll stop my stupid brain from warping their true platonic intentions for something else.

"Prairie, would you want me to confront Kirumi with Maki? We might be able to fish information out of her," Himiko speaks up suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts to give her an incredulous look.

Huh...she wouldn't be nervous to do that?

"Are you sure?" I ask, watching her put her hands on her hips and nod.

"Yeah. I'm pissed off enough, I can wrangle it out of her...probably..." She grumbles, glaring at the floor with only a crumb of visible uncertainty. "And if I'm not enough, we both know Maki won't have any trouble with it."