Chapter Text
Staring up into the sky… which, technically, wasn’t the sky. It was… a reminder.
The world out there is huge. It might be destroyed, it might be barely surviving. None of them had any clue what could be awaiting them once they stepped out of this place.
Or if they could.
But, they had to carry on. They needed to. Or else Kiibo’s sacrifice would’ve been for nothing. All of their friends deaths…
“How are we even going to get to that?”
Himiko’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The trio walked to the edge of the place. The dome obvious. But… although thankful, the hole created in the wall was rather… high.
“That’s the issue,” Maki sighed, messing with her hair.
This really was an issue.
“I’m not sure…” Shuichi put a hand over his mouth in thought, “I would suggest any explosive left in Maki’s lab, but I’m not sure if any of it would still be in tact.”
“How would we know if that would even work?”
“We don’t,” Maki stated bluntly.
He could do nothing but nod. It had a higher likelihood of working due to the already big hole in it. But that took a powerful explosion to even create. Getting out of here was going to be more difficult than assumed. Even if it wasn’t an easy task to begin with.
“Can’t we just go check?” Himiko suggested.
He couldn’t help but frown. It seems like a good idea, but the main issue personally was the… remains of Shirogane.
It's something he didn’t know how to feel about since the beginning of these games. Simultaneously grateful and grossed out that Monokuma took the bodies of those who pass. He… knows what corpses look and smell like if they’re out for awhile. He works for the law, of course he does.
Although, whether that was true or not is to be determined considering his entire life as he remembers it could all be a lie.
But regardless. Since Monokuma died with her, she’d still be there in the splatter of blood… potentially including her body parts-
Okay. Quit thinking.
Luckily he didn’t see it all, but did see the puddle under some rubble. He really didn’t want to get a closer look, though. He’s seen enough blood throughout the time spent here.
“I don’t see the reason why not,” the brunette nodded.
Shuichi nodded as well, just… made a mental note of where not to go.
The three made their way back to the rubble. Maki went off to where her lab room used to be. Himiko decided to go check Miu’s as well. Leaving the detective to go to Kiibo’s.
There wasn’t much, as expected. Mostly rubble from the explosion. There was so much covered, including him and the others at some point. He was lucky to survive.
Some part of him didn’t feel so lucky.
He continued looking around. He wasn’t the strongest person, despite being stronger because of the training that Kaito made him do and he still will continue to do, in honor. He was able to lift up some of the remains and move them around. There were a few things still there, but nothing too useful. Just some spare parts.
It makes him wonder if it were possible to find a way to put Kiibo back together…
Would he want to be brought back if possible or would that be violating his sacrifice?
No. He had to shake his head, he can’t afford to think negatively at the moment. He needs to keep moving, if he lets his emotions take control over him, he’d never want to move again.
“There you are.”
He flinched at the sudden noise and turned around. Both girls behind him and he sighed. Maki was holding something rather large.
“What’s that?”
“Something I found in Iruma’s room,” the redhead stated, “it was a big heavy. So I had to ask Maki to help.”
He nodded. That made sense.
“It holds gunpowder.”
“Oh, perfect.” He stood up, “then we should be able to do damage… it’s already broken, so it shouldn’t be that strong anymore.”
The three made their way back to the wall. The assasin placing the item down.
“How big would this even get?” The magician asked.
“No clue.”
He tilted his head, “well, knowing Miu, she would have tried to make it the best possible. So it’s likely going to be big.”
“Or would that be overestimating her abilities?”
…Isn’t that disrespecting the dead…?
“Well… Iruma still made strong things, so wouldn’t assuming it’s gonna be big make sense?”
Maki hummed in response, “right. Then I’d suggest you two start running in case the explosion is big.”
“But what about you?” Shuichi found the words falling out of his mouth before he could stop them.
His breath hitched as he felt himself tense up a bit. She’s done enough trying to sacrifice herself in the past few hours. Offering to be the one to go to the next game while the rest were able to escape. Won’t let her do it again, he can’t let her do it again-
“I’m faster than both of you. I’ll make it to you two in time,” her voice coming off rather soothing instead of blunt, as she usually did.
He had to blink a bit to register it. Right, she was stronger… right.
“Yeah, Shuichi, I think the two of us would get in the way…” Himiko placed a hand on his side.
…”Yeah, right. Okay.” He took a deep breath.
Dammit, is he getting separation anxiety or something? Just great. He already has enough anxiety to begin with.
“…Be fast.”
All Maki did was nod, setting up the device and pulling a lighter out of her pocket. For one, didn’t know she had pockets in her skirt, that’s cool, and two, when did she get a lighter?
Well, whatever. The other two had turned around and began to run. Who knew how big the explosion would get, it could be as big as the one Kiibo made. Maybe a bit smaller, actually, otherwise Monokuma probably wouldn’t have allowed it to exist. Most weapons provided during the games were deadly, but not being able to destroy property.
“How far do we run?!” Himiko shouted.
“Behind the rubble!”
It was pretty far, and there was a pretty big pile of it that seemed stuck in the ground. Besides, even if it did blow back, it wouldn’t be the first time they survived an explosion.
He wonders if it’s too early for jokes like these… even if internal.
The two dove behind a pile of rubble and waited. They didn’t wait long, considering soon a blur of Maki was running on the way. Before he knew it, she was with them and tugged them both close to her as a loud bang was heard.
Even from behind some rocks, they could still feel the gust of winds blowing past. Able to see the dust flow by as the brunette held them close. Soon, it calmed down and it was safe to peak over the debris.
The hole was small compared to the one from the previous explosion, but enough to fit through. Which was a good thing, they could finally leave.
The real issue was…
“Why is it all dark?” Himiko questioned as they walked over.
That… is what he was wondering too. For some reason, beyond the dome keeping them there, it was just… pitch black?
“Could it be night time?”
It was possible that whatever this Team Danganronpa was were lying about the correct time of days inside the dome than outside. But for it to be this dark…
“I don’t see any moon or stars…” the redhead commented.
The trio all walked up to it. They could leave, but there was no telling where they could go. It was completely dark, no way of telling if there’s even a floor, or even if there was an ending. Well, logically there had to be. But this was… very trippy, to say the least.
Maki ended up grabbing a piece of rock that was scattered and tossed it into the abyss. It, as assumed but could’ve never been to careful about, landed. The ground was the same level they were currently on.
“We should probably take some smaller pieces of rocks,” the assassin suggested, “lay them down so we know where we’re going and where we’ve been when we can’t tell.”
“Right! And we can find a way out of here,” the other agreed.
…Something wasn’t right here.
He stared into the darkness for a bit before noticing something… weird.
The rock…
it was…
glitching?
“Well you don’t see that everyday…” he mumbled.
The two girls turned and looked where Shuichi was to see the rock, in fact, glitching. Weird.
The shortest stared at it for a bit, “…does that normally happen in pitch darkness?”
“I don’t think so,” the detective answered.
Suppose it could be possible that something was happening to the rock, causing it to react in such a way. This was a world where they basically had any knowledge on, including technology. Who knew if something could cause this to happen.
He looked more at it and as it glitched, there was something noticed on it… there was writing…?
He looked around at the other debris from the explosion. Most of them being shattered to rocks, but some of them had writing on them when he moved them. He could hear the other two question what he was doing, but he didn’t really bother to answer them. He needed to check something.
Danganronpa.
…
The words were right there in a larger piece of debris. The logo that was seen during the trial, the font, the word itself.
The debris came from the dome barrier. Likely on the other side from where there were, there was just… the brand name. Completely surrounding them.
“We’ve been trapped behind this the whole time?” Maki muttered.
…If they were surrounded in a branded dome the whole time… and the rocks when leaving turn all glitchy….
“Oh, you’re kidding me….” a hand went to his mouth as brown furrowed in thought.
“What?” Himiko asked, looking at him with concern.
He stood up and looked around, grabbing a branch that was had fallen from the trees around. Tossing that also outside the dome as that too started to glitch.
“Shuichi, what’s going on.” Maki’s voice was firm, demanding, but he couldn’t stop his train of thought.
He didn’t have anything he could use to particularly toss away. No loose items…
“Do you still have your lighter?”
The brunette looked concerned and annoyed by probably not getting an answer, but handed him the lighter. He then tosses that out too and it starts to glitch.
…”Fuck.”
“Shuichi. What the hell is going on.”
…He looked at her, then at Himiko and back to the items.
“…This isn’t real.”
The two girls went silent for a little.
“This isn’t…”
The dome they were trapped in… how everything happened that seemed like magic. The way the flashback lights worked, they basically seemed impossible. Even the ways that Monokuma and the Monokubs worked. None of it seemed like it could be reality, but it happened in front of his eyes, so it had to be.
But if this was all… a simulation…
“What do you mean…?” The magician’s voice was shaky, “what isn’t real…?”
“This.” He gestured around, “us.”
Everything… wasn’t real. It was a game. A game made for thousands, possible millions of people to watch. There were so many faces during the last trial. The way Shirogane was even able to turn into so many different cosplays at the snap of a finger… that wasn’t her ultimate at work.
There were limitations. But those limitations seemed to be blurred when the thoughts of ultimates applied. It shouldn’t be possible to be as fast as a blink, literally, but it was. It shouldn’t be possible to lift up such a heavy item with your fingers, but it was.
Was that written into the code? Nothing they did was real? Nothing they knew was real? They were all characters… in a game. Just like Shirogane said.
He could accept that, that he wasn’t really anything. But not only was he just a character, he wasn’t even a real person. He felt like one, but none of them were. It was all ran by some code in a dome.
It made sense why there wasn’t any other wildlife around. If they were sectioned off, stranded somewhere in the world to play this murder game, there would still be some remains of life. Bugs underground, birds flying by, animals… but there was nothing outside of the designated rooms they were in. Like they couldn’t leave.
During the inspect meet and greet, no bug left Gonta’s room. With the door open, you’d think some got out, but no. They stayed in… because they couldn’t leave. Because they were coded to stay.
“Didn’t we come to terms with this already? We’re characters,” Maki said sharply. But the emotion behind it wasn’t hard to find.
“It’s not just that!”
“Is that why they’re glitching…?” Himiko asked, “because… they’re… out of bounds…?”
He didn’t know what to say. It made the most sense. Logic was hard to come by in these situations, but was trying really hard not to panic and have a meltdown… again. Seriously, why does this keep happening to him? He’s in some significant need of therapy.
They understood his silence.
“So…” she looked at the items tossed out, “what… will happen to us…? If we go out..?”
“I…” he didn’t know. During Miu’s simulation, they couldn’t go out of bounds. It was just a box. They still felt everything in it.
“…We’d likely get kicked out.”
The two looked at the assassin.
“Of this game. We’d be kicked. Like Kaito was during Miu’s.”
“Forced out…?”
The world… was even more unknown than they realized. There whole world as they know it was fake, their memories were fake, their lives currently are fake… what the hell was real?!
“So…” the redhead started… “is there no way out…?”
”..There is one…” he mumbled, looking at the darkness.
“It’s not safe-”
“But it’s our only option.” Shuichi cut off Maki.
…She glared at him before looking at the abyss.
“I’ll go first.”
“What?! No!
Both Himiko and the detective found themselves saying.
“You’ve done enough, I’ll go-”
“I can’t let you do that, we know I’m stronger than both of you-”
“Which is why we might need your help in case something happens-”
“And if you go? We only got about because of your brains, or did you forget that?! We need you in case anything happens more!”
“SHUT UP!”
Shuichi and Maki quit arguing as the shortest shouted.
“…Both of you have done so much… and I haven’t done anything to help…” she looked at both of them, “let me be useful…”
There was silence for a bit.
“Why don’t we go together then?” The detective suggested.
“…No room for error if we all go down together.”
The redhead stared at them for a bit before sighing, “you two argue like siblings…”
They looked at each other.
Oh god. Found family is a trope that happened often in mystery novels and while he loved it, he didn’t want to think about living it.
…”Anyways,” he cleared his throat.
Himiko seemed to have been amused and laughed a bit. Then, she reached out here hands two both of them, “together?”
Shuichi smiled and took her hand, “together.”
They could see Maki fighting a smile as she “reluctantly” took the magician’s hand. She was a big softy and they both knew it.
They looked into the darkness, the glitching items. The idea was scary, but there was… quite literally no other choice.
So, they took their steps into the darkness.
There was, for a moment, a burst of color. Before everything went black once again and they lost consciousness.