Dangitronpa au (Weak Hero)

Chapter Two

He got up with a start; he was a light sleeper after all. He was breathing heavily as his eyes scanned the dark room, landing on the person sitting at the foot of his bed, looking equally startled. "Ben…?" He called out to the figure, calming down at the familiar company. "Sorry, Gogo, I just wanted to be sure you were okay." He smiled; of course he did. "So you’re watching me sleep?" He fell back onto the bed, looking over at his best friend.

"I’m just keeping watch...?"

"I can’t sleep with you staring at me like that."

He sighed before shuffling to one side of the bed and patting the free space. "We can just sleep together," he explained. This was fairly normal for them; they grew up together, after all. Ben would also insist they share a bed whenever they had a sleepover to save the trouble of dragging extra pillows and blankets for whoever was going to sleep on the floor. It was more convenient, or so Ben would say. Not that he minded.

He felt the bed shift with Ben's weight, getting more comfortable as he closed his eyes. Truth be told, he felt much safer sleeping beside Ben.

…

"Attention to all players, please make your way to the main hall."

He further buried himself into the sheets, trying to ignore the alarm noise that followed after the announcement. He took in his surroundings, gently untangling Ben’s arm from him as he sat up and shaking him awake. "Get up; the game master wants us to get to the hall." He pried Ben’s limbs off as he got out of bed, walking towards the bathroom.

At least the bathrooms and rooms were surprisingly well maintained. Everyone had been given a room for themselves, though most of them settled for sharing a room. Clearly, out of paranoia and concern for their own and personal safety, it was clear that, separate from their own groups, nobody trusted anyone. Placing the toothbrush back into the cup as he finished brushing his teeth, he made his way back to the room to see Ben sitting at the edge of the bed with a grim look on his face.

"Something wrong?" He frowned, leaning against the door frame as he waited for an answer. "Gogo, I don’t want you leaving my side until we get out of here."

"…."

"Someone else might end up dead again today. There's no telling when we can escape, and something tells me we can’t just sit around praying the authorities will save us." Ben's tone was firm and serious. Nothing like his usual personality or manner of speech, seeing him like this sent a shiver down Alex's spine at the unfamiliar feeling. "Alright, I got it."

 [The main hall, 08:24 AM]

They all stood crowded around the room once more—the same room where they all witnessed yesterday's deaths. Everyone seemed to be on edge, dreading whatever the game master had to say.

Sam Lee looked as though he was no more than a walking corpse; his eyebags looked worse, paired with the obvious signs he had been crying nonstop. Robin's broken watch was now on his wrist, as well as a few bandages on his injured hand. The watch no longer worked; it served no purpose, and yet Grape wouldn’t have parted with it even if it meant he would end up dead.

The quiet chatter in the room dispersed when it was interrupted by a familiar static buzz. "Good morning. I'm hoping everything was comfortable for you all."

"Get to the point," Jimmy snapped, clearly not a morning person, it seemed.

"In the box there in the middle of the room, there are small devices specialized for each one of you. They can help keep you all in touch as well as keep track of the cases of all the players that end up meeting a grim fate; there's also a list of all players. Though keep in mind you can't reach the outside world with them, so save your energy."