Rush Hour

**Rush Hour** is the name of Eriko Shigure's execution, as featured in Danganronpa: Operation V.K..

## Sequence

*Excerpt taken from Chapter 13 of Danganronpa: Operation V.K.*

Before Rin could react, a massive metal claw shot out from behind one of the curtains and grabbed Eriko by the neck, dragging her at an incredible speed behind one of the curtains lining the room. Soon, the remaining students saw nothing of Eriko from behind the curtain, but Monokuma reclined back in his throne and pulled out a Monokuma-brand TV remote, clicking on the mess of screens above the courtroom.

Rin looked above to see Eriko displayed on the screen, having been thrown into the middle of an empty crosswalk, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 roads leading off of it, an artificial sun designed after Monokuma's head just beginning to rise over the horizon. Eriko looked around, her mouth hanging open; no, she was panting, panting for air after having been thrown so forcefully, when the same claw from before shot in and forced two flags, one black, and one white, into her hands before retracting into the distance. The Monokuma sun rose to its proper position in the sky. Seven A.M., on the dot. The morning had begun.

The first traffic light turned green.

**Eriko Shigure's Punishment**

**RUSH HOUR**

Vehicles began to flood into the crosswalk at a pace Rin could scarcely imagine as all the crosswalk's traffic lights turned green simultaneously, leaving Eriko's position caught in the crossfire. The language of the Shigure Guarantee was not used to black and white, but Eriko's tight grip on the flags as she raised them into the air indicated she would do battle nonetheless. Watching her now was the first time Rin truly understood what it meant to be the Ultimate Conductor. Despite the vehicles of vastly different sizes and speeds clogging the crosswalk from all directions, Eriko used only two flags to direct them all without any collisions. Sports cars, school buses filled with cardboard cutout children, trucks carting hauls of who-knew-what, all blazed along over the course of the dreaded rush hour without a single accident, under Eriko's guidance.

Sweat was beginning to build on Eriko's forehead as her small frame began to slacken, but she continued her defense against the onslaught of traffic nonetheless as the Monokuma sun continued to rise into the sky. Her movements began to resemble a ritualistic dance, her hat having long since flown off in the breeze from the vehicles. Her teeth gritted, but she continued to breathe. Soon, rush hour would be over. Soon, she would be safe. Soon, she could properly begin to face her own cowardice, to apologize, to repent-!

She never noticed the shadow falling in from above. Eriko was suddenly gone, crushed beneath an airplane which had crashlanded from above right in the middle of the crosswalk. Without her guidance, the vehicles driving in all ran straight into each other, creating a massive landmass of broken metal wreckage all throughout the crosswalk, originating from the great, white airplane emanating smoke in the center. Not even a hint of Eriko Shigure, the Ultimate Conductor, remained beneath the disastrous traffic accident.

The pilot of the plane, one Mr. Monokuma, landed near the site of the crash, having successfully used his parachute to avoid damage from the fall. He gave the screen a thumbs up.

All that remained of Eriko was her pen, which she had dropped when the claw dragged her to her fate. Rin numbly picked it up, placing it in her pocket mostly out of instinct.