Danganronpa: String Theory (DrV3)

1.3 - Take Number Two

I open my eyes, only to blink several times at the darkness on the other side of my eyelids. There's a disconnect from the fact that it looks exactly the sa-

Whatever I'm leaning on suddenly gives away, spilling light sharply enough against my retinas that I groan and close my as I come falling out of the locker.

Wait, locker? I think, just as a pair of hands catch me by the underside of my arms to keep me from getting familiar with the floor. Everything is spinning, and opening my eyes still hurts.

"Whoa there..." The deep masculine voice huffs as he helps steady me, prompting me to eventually open my eyes enough to see who it is. As soon as the green locks come into view, I let out a breath of relief. It's just Rantaro...

"Oh, it's just you..." I smile up at him before glancing around and blinking the last of the blurriness out of my vision. It's the same classroom we first woke up in, and I frown at the sight. "Why are we back here? D-did they really shove us back in the lockers again...? I thought they were joking when they said they were going to start over..." I comment, shivering as I become aware of the chill in the room now that I'm out of the locker.

...

Confused by Rantaro's lack of input, I look up at him from where I'm half laying, only to find a peculiar expression on his face that I can't quite identify. I blink and cock my head slightly to the side with a concerned frown.

"...Rantaro? Are you okay? I-Is something wrong...?" I ask timidly, feeling my nerves spike up just the slightest when he doesn't make an attempt to answer. The moment I say his name though, I see his shoulders square slightly. I feel my cheeks start to turn red when he gives me a curious once over, causing my anxiety to sky rocket into oblivion right then and there. I crawl back just a little and jump to my feet, bumping my hip painfully into a desk in my attempt to increase the space between us. "Ow-!"

He's acting just a little too weird for me right now...! What even happened? Did the people that brought us here do something to him?

"...I'm sorry," Rantaro suddenly starts, laughing nervously and running his hand through the back of his hair. I relax only a little as I settle my gaze on him, waiting for him to explain what's going on. "You obviously know me somehow, but...I honestly can't remember seeing you before. My head is sort of jumbled up right now, and... Did you say we were shoved inside lockers before? As in this already happened?"

Playing with my hair and feeling rather anxious under his scrutinizing eye, I manage a quiet nod.

"...What's your name? Maybe it'll ring some bells," Rantaro suggests, smiling that familiar easygoing smile that first greeted me after he patched up my arm.

"Prairie Marble," I say, looking towards my arm and smiling when I see my bicep still patched up from before. Glancing up at him timidly, I find both his sleeves are still missing and hold up my arm as proof of his kindness. "Um... You helped me the first time. When I got hurt and sliced my arm coming out of the locker, you cleaned and patched up the gash."

Rantaro blinks in obvious surprise, looking down at his "vest". He'll surely believe me now when I say I know him then, right? After all, it's not like I could have ripped his sleeves off...

"Oh, I didn't even realize my sleeves were missing," he laughs, before I realize a majority of his earlier peculiarities have completely faded at this point, if not all of it. "Hey, do you mind giving me a bit of a rundown on what happened before?"

And so I tell him everything, even down to the people whose names I could remember from their introductions to me. When I tell him about the bear with the strange flashlight, I notice something akin to familiarity in his eyes- along with an edge of alarm that immediately makes me nervous.