Danganronpa: Melancholic Mayhem

Chapter 5 Part 13: The Good, The Bad, And The Blackened

"Is there something over there?" Arima called out. Yamazaki stood still, almost silently thinking about his response.

"... you know what? I'm not gonna be the bearer of bad news. You can figure it out for yourself." He said. We all stood silently, looking at each other. After a moment, I started walking towards Yamazaki. Slowly, the sky started to look like it had... little grooves? Suddenly, it hit me, as I finally got close to Yamazaki. I could hear Yamazaki muttering swear words, his fists tight and angry. Slowly... I put my hand out...

... and touched the wall of the fake sky. The small lines in the walls were letting in a small amount cool air.

"... why..." I started. I slouched down, tears in my eyes. Everything exploded all at once. I grabbed onto my chest, folding in on myself. I began to sob like a little kid. I was whaling. I was screaming. I was feeling pure, utter, despair. "WHY!!!" I howled, trying to wipe the tears from my eyes. My body was violently shaking, unable to calm down from the shock. Yamazaki stared at me for a couple of seconds, before walking away.

The others approached me, trying to call out to me. "Is she okay?" I bet that's what they said. I couldn't hear them. My senses had gone numb. My hands gripped to the top of my hair. My finger started to hurt from how hard I was pressing them into my head.

We didn't escape. We just found another area of the killing game. Why did I ever think I could escape? What made me think that such a harsh punishment could be so easily foiled? I just wanted to see my dad and my brother. Was that so much to ask!? Maybe this really was a punishment for what I did to Masako. Maybe I was in the wrong for that accident. This was all just a ploy to take every ounce of hope I had. It had to be only a couple seconds of sobbing, but it felt like I'd aged 30 years.

I could hear the anguish and pain from the others as they reached the same conclusion as me. Slowly, I stood up, my legs hardly supporting my weight. This feeling. I'd felt something like it twice before. Once when my mom died. Once when I'd killed Masako. But this feeling... it was 10 times worse than those feelings. At least I knew I would live. But now... I'm not certain.

I forced myself to walk. An emotionless feeling came over me, as I stumbled back towards the giant brick box. The others followed behind me. The exit was still open, Imamura's wheelchair being left on the other side. Yamazaki was already back inside... and Ressa was there too. He was cackling, rocking on the floor as he reveled in our misery.

"OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO FUNNY!!! BAHAHAHAHA!!! I'M SO GLAD I WAITED!!!" Ressa yelled, still dying of laughter.

"You... you knew?" Otani barely managed to croak out his words.

"OH YEAH I DID!!!" Ressa bragged, getting up as he continued to chuckle. "You guys REALLY thought that I wouldn't notice you guys going into the secret room? I KNEW FROM DAY ONE!!! And it took every ounce of patience in me to wait for you guys to try and escape, AND OH BOY AM I GLAD I WAITED!!!" Ressa cackled, falling on the ground as he uncontrollably laughed. After a moment, he disappeared. Everyone was silent. There was no way to respond. Our efforts were in vain before we even knew we could escape.

... someone's gonna kill. Someone... HAS TO kill. It's the only way to leave this place now. If... if I killed someone... then maybe I could get out of here.

... no...

I already made a promise. I'm not going to kill anyone.