Danganronpa: Melancholic Mayhem

Chapter 5 Part 3- The Good, The Bad, And The Blackened

"..." my eyes were wide. Slowly, we all exited the elevator. Araigu's parts had been spread across the floor. Everyone was silent. What was the point in talking, when nothing you say will fix anything. "... we're stuck here..." I mumbled, not realizing that my eyes were beginning to water up.

Slowly, I looked at the others. Otani stared with a sympathetic, and hopeless expression. Arima was still as distraught as he'd been when he came back down the elevator. Yamazaki, almost didn't seem to care. But his eye seemed to be twitching every couple of seconds. And then Kawata. His face drained of any ambition and hope, becoming an empty husk.

"Welcome back everyone!" Ressa laughed, appearing behind us. He walked over or the fountain, hopping up onto it. A devilish smile came across his face. "Do you like my handiwork? It was a lot of fun tearing Araigu to pieces, as they begged for mercy. Almost cured my bloodlust! Emphasis on the 'almost' part." No one moved. Maybe it was the shock. But we didn't have the courage to say anything.

"... how..." I whispered, as I put my hands over my mouth. I felt the water drip down my cheeks. Araigu had helped us out so much. And now... they were just gone. Ressa cackled to himself, standing up.

"How? Oh Hirano, you really think I didn't know?" Ressa laughed. "I've known about all of this for awhile." Something about that comment seemed... suspicious. "It was fun to see you guys scramble to get out of here. I don't know why you all thought it would be easy to escape!" Ressa chuckled. "I wouldn't let that happen, you know that... right?" Ressa cackled again. "Anyways, I'll let you all rest before I reveal the final building." Ressa said, jumping down from the fountain. "Au revoir!" He laughed, before quickly disappearing. The room was filled with silence.

"... w- what... do we do now?" Arima asked.

"E- everything's gonna be okay. Yeah. Don't give up everyone. This won't stop us from escaping." Otani said, as he trembled, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"... are you okay?" Arima responded. Otani stood still for a moment, unable to respond for a couple of long seconds.

"... yeah! Yeah. I just... I just need to go to my room for a little bit." Otani replied. Slowly, he started moving towards the stairs. Everyone watched as he maneuvered his way up, and out of sight. Without another word, Arima started to follow, his pace a little bit faster than Otani's. I stood silently for a moment, as Kawata walked over to the fountain, looking at all the parts skewed across the floor. Yamazaki stood sort of close to me, just taking everything in and processing.

"... do you think we're going to be able to get out of here?" I asked. Yamazaki glared at me.

"Why are you asking me?" He replied. I stared at him.

"... I don't know..." I responded, before turning away. He took a deep breath in and out. He folded his arms, and turned to me.

"If this thing dictated whether or not we escaped from the very beginning, then we'd already be dead." He explained. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have stuff to do." Yamazaki walked away, heading down one of the hallways. But... why not up the stairs? I turned around, looking to Kawata. He was so still, I could've mistaken him for a statue. I approached him.

"... hey Kawata." I said. He didn't react, just staring blankly at the scene. I walked over to one of the parts. It was Araigu's head. I knelt down, placing a hand on the top of it.

Tears started to well up in my eyes. I didn't get to know them very well. I didn't get to understand anything about them. But they still tried they're very best to help us escape this place. Even if it was trivial. They still went out of their way to help us. And I couldn't even protect them, like I'd promised.