Neo Killing Game - Danganronpa x My Hero Academia

Chapter 8 : The End of the Beginning - Part 1 - Daily Life

Of all the ways one could be awoken in a Killing Game, a disturbingly vague note in the middle of the cafeteria was actually pretty okay for Nejire.

Well, it was okay until Tamaki showed up. He'd been the last of her classmates to emerge from their rooms when Yaomomo called them. It was to be expected, of course; Mirio's death had hit everyone pretty hard, but Tamaki was suffering the loss of his lover.

That had to hurt.

Nejire had never known true love before. She didn't know what it felt like; from what she'd read in those teenage romance novels, it was warm and sweet. Comforting on the darkest night.

She wished she had love in this place.

Actually, no, she didn't want that. That'd only give her more to lose.

As if she didn't have enough to fail already. She had enough people to let down over and over, enough people to kill in the end.

Nejire "loved" her classmates, her friends, the heroes. She wished the best for them, cared for them, wanted them to be happy, wanted to be happy with them.

Despite that, nobody could possibly be happy in this wreck.

Nobody but those who had true love, who had a piece of hope, however small, to hold onto; a beacon to reach for, run for, fight for, cry for, die for.

When Mirio died, the last of that perished with him, plummeted to hell with him.

There was no love left in this place.

"H-Hey, Tamaki." Nejire offered her best attempt at a greeting as the dark-haired boy shuffled into the room."How are... you..?"

"Mmh." Tamaki grumbled something incoherent and trudged over to the table where everyone was gathered. It was as if bricks were in his shoes. Tsuyu, who'd gone to get him, slipped into the room after him, silent as a ghost.

Maybe she is a ghost. I wouldn't be surprised, honestly.

"Everyone's here, huh..?" Yaomomo murmured, silver eyes sweeping the ragged assembled. The unspoken words that hung on her tongue dangled over Nejire's head.

There's so few of us left...

"Let's read this thing." The Detective shook it off and reached for the little folded piece of paper with slender, pale fingers. She'd awoken earlier to find it lying suspiciously in the middle of the cafeteria table, just waiting to be found. Ever the thoughtful person, she called everyone down to open it together.

She unfolded the note. Nejire leaned in closer, cheek brushing against her bony shoulder. The handwriting was a mess; the ink was smudged and letters shaky. Tears appeared to blotch some of the words, but it was disturbingly readable.

"'Mei's device. SoS. Escape route.'" Yaomomo read the short message's contents swiftly. "What do you guys think it means?"

"Mei's device is clear. It has something to do with that girl's machine's purpose," Shouto decided. "SoS means communicating with the outside world and requesting help. Remember when Mei was still alive, and was confident that that failed rescue operation had been her device's doing?"

"Yeah," Denki murmured. "Y-Yeah, that's gotta be it! The device communicates with the heroes and asks for help. Th-That's the only logical connection between her device and SoS..!"

Shouto offered the boy a rare shadow of a smile. "You're right. Escape route makes sense, now. Using the device and sending out cries for help is our best bet of escape at this point."

"B-But... why do the heroes need intel?" Tsuyu inquired softly.

"Because without intel... they're fighting without leads," Nejire deduced gently. "They don't know which villains are present, which heroes to have help them fight, which new faces have appeared and what new quirks have shown up... It's incredibly inefficient... I guess."