Neo Killing Game - Danganronpa x My Hero Academia

Chapter 8 : The End of the Beginning - Part 5 - Class Trial

"Yaomomo? Yaomomo, what's wrong?!"

In a flash, Yaomomo was suddenly back to standing in the trial room. The chandelier above her head cast an all-too-bright glow over her, over the floor she was staring at with its pristine, shiny, monochrome tiles; everything was too bright, too loud, really. Shouto was at her side, shaking her gently by the shoulder. She had hunched over her podium railing at some point, her hands over her head.

What... did I just..?

It was always just Tamaki and you, Momo. Just him and you and a knife and a note.

Oh, god, the voice was back.

"Cynthia..?" the Detective murmured, her voice shaky and strained in her throat.

"Yaomomo, what are you talking about?! Snap out of it..!" Shouto had one warm, steady hand on her shoulder. "Hey, talk to us here!"

"Y-Yaomomo... what are you doing?" That would be Tsuyu's voice to her left.

"I... I'm sorry..." The ravenette shivered as she stood up straight. Tsuyu was hovering awkwardly near her, intrigued by the scene but unable to fully empathize with it. Shouto was at her side, his hand having fallen from her shoulder. He was wearing a concerned expression. She tried to ignore them, instead scanning the few out in the circle.

Nejire was leaning over her podium, watching her with worry clear in her tense features. Denki was staring at his feet, arms still wrapped tight around his own torso. Hitoshi, having drifted back to his podium, met her gaze, expectant and slightly confused. "I-It's okay," Nejire spoke out. "We all... we all crack under stress sometimes, especially in these types of situations. It's fi-"

"No- no, that's not why I'm apologizing!" Yaomomo couldn't land her eyes on any one thing in the room, instead allowing them to dart from person to person, object to object, before she simply settled on closing her eyes and dipping her head. The image of Tamaki's dead body, wounds still dripping, flashed into her head again, but she tried to ignore it.

"Then... then what is this for?" Denki's words were meek; anxious. "What could you p-possibly be... sorry for?"

"I'm sorry I've lied to all of you." Yaomomo exhaled softly. "Sorry I dragged you all on a roundabout trip of suspicion."

"Y-Yaomomo! What are you saying?" Shouto sounded like he wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her. "You can't mean-?!"

"I killed Tamaki."

A tense silence immediately fell over the trial room at those three words. Yaomomo opened her eyes, allowing the sight of her clutching a kitchen knife soaked to the hilt in hot pink blood to slip away from the forefront of her mind.

Everyone was staring at her, as to be expected. Nejire was stiff as a board, and Denki's golden eyes were wide. Hitoshi's face was contorted in confusion, Shouto's in distress; Tsuyu was unreadable, a perfect poker face, whether intentional or unintentional on her part.

"Yaomomo..?" The Swimmer snapped the quiet atmosphere like a twig. "What do you mean..?"

"I killed Tamaki Amajiki. What is there to understand? I killed him. I definitely did..!" The images were pouring into her head now, like polaroids raining on her in a downpour, flooding her with colors and scents and sounds and sensations she instantly despised.

Look here, Yaomomo! Kyouka. That was her voice. In her mind's eye, in the void where photos -snapshots of an adventure- floated around her and filled her mind with memories she'd tried to throw away, the Musician was standing in front of her. Yaomomo couldn't make out any of her features; trying to find them only made her disappear. The violette was perpetually trapped in her peripheral. Kyouka had snatched a polaroid from the storm and was brandishing it in Yaomomo's face. It's Tamaki's note!