Dangan Ronpa: Unser Sommerende/Chapter 1 - Motive

Continued from Chapter 1 - Daily Life (1).

[1]

MONOYAKI HOROSCOPE

Taurus!

Excitement is on the horizon! Don’t be surprised when you also see a massive tsunami on the horizon next Thursday. Maybe it’s time to buy that motorboat you always wanted?

[2]

Another day had come. I woke up a bit earlier than usual, so I just sat around and thought for a while. Ever since I’d come to the academy, I’d felt... Different. Like I’d changed. I didn’t find myself being quite as odd anymore, and I know I pinned that on Lucy’s existence before, yes, but it genuinely feels like that part of me has gone missing. Well, not that it’s a bad thing. It had generally declined since I was younger, anyway, so this isn’t the biggest surprise. I’d probably like it if I was more confident, too, but that didn’t seem to be happening. I suppose I was confident in the situation as it was, though I wasn’t exactly confident in myself as a person. I hadn’t gotten a chance to make any art yet, which would be a nice way to try and relax at a time like this, even if I’m not really the best artist... Yeah, I know, “Ultimate”. It still didn’t really feel like that. But, I had more important things to focus on, really.

[3]

The morning announcement’s jingle sounded.

“Wakey wakey, here comes the sun!... By the way, there’s a special announcement I need to make this morning. I’d appreciate it if all of you came up to the gym, and right away, too... Uwehehe~”

[4]

... Oh god. Another announcement? If this was anything like the first announcement he made in the gym, then... I mean, there wasn’t much I could do, so I headed up there. On the way there, my brain was just thinking of all the possible things that were about to happen, but they whizzed past so quickly that I can’t even remember any of those possibilities.

I arrived, at around the same time as everyone else. Mia was a little bit late, which wasn’t exactly surprising. Mary and Robin were there this time, too, so I suppose it was relieving to see that they hadn’t gotten killed, or... Killed anyone. They’re not capable of that, anyway.

[5]

After a bit of silent waiting, the dreaded goat boy showed himself once again, popping up behind the same podium that he occupied a few days earlier.

“Hello! Hey everybody! How’s it going?”

“... I think you know quite well how it has been going.”, Molly sighed.

“Look, can’t I just bring a little positivity here? I’m trying my best...”

“If you want some positivity from us,” Sadie began, “You could, um, release us?”

“... Alright. You’re all free to go, uwehehe.”

“Really?!” Amber clasped her hands together, eyes twinkling. Everyone just sort of responded with silence, until eventually, she went back to the same anxious expression as before. “Oh... That was... A joke...”

“Look,” James began, “Can you just get on with whatever it is you’re planning on saying? Or doing? Just do it.”

“Okay... Okay. I’ll do it, and right now...” Monoyaki reached into his pockets, and began to pull out... Newspapers. A bunch of them, and they all apparently fit into his small pockets. While this should have been impossible, with everything else that had already happened, we didn’t really consider how strange that was. He looked at each one, before he’d toss it to their respective person, and look at the next. Eventually, he threw one at me, too.

It looked to be a local newspaper, from my specific city. The newspaper read...

[6]

‘PRODIGOUS YOUNG ARTIST FOUND DEAD IN TRAGIC ACCIDENT.’ Wh-what is this?... The article went on to detail the death of... Jane Attebury, and how unfortunate it was that such a gifted young talent of the community would pass.

“Wait, you’re telling me...” Jo began to speak. “We’re... Dead?” It wasn’t surprising to hear that the other newspapers had similar information.

Dan was shivering a bit. “Th-that’s impossible. No. No way. I’m alive right now. This isn’t... Hell or something...”

“Monoyaki!” I shouted, as my voice faltered a little. “What... I-is this?”

“Ahem!” The goat looked kind of annoyed at our reaction. “No, you’re not dead. Yet. You’re all perfectly fine right now. These are fabrications, just like those E-mails I mentioned earlier.”

“So,” Charlotte said, “You’re sending them out to make people think we’re ghosts able to write E-mails, right?”

“... No. In fact, none of these are being sent out.”

“Then... Wh-why?”

“Simple. These are just hypotheticals.” His red eye gleamed, with a wicked smile to accompany it. “This is a taste for how the world’s going to feel when such important young boys and girls such as yourselves are found out to be dead.” He took on a mocking tone. “Oh, to think of what you could have been... All the people who are going to miss you... So... I’ll just remind you, one more time... Uwehehe... If you want to leave the Academy, you must kill another student. I don’t care how you do it; just murder them and get away with it.”

... That... Wretch... He’s trying everything now. He’s so desperate to start a murder... And... Now that we had been given a motive of sorts... Looking around at all the people’s faces... Some of them... Could they?... It was the same feeling as before, when Mary had left us wondering if we could really trust each other... But this time, it was stronger. Far stronger. It had gone from an air of unease to an air of pure distrust. Now, more than ever, we were starting to judge each other, think of each other as threats, perhaps some of us even planning... No... That’s... Not going to happen...

“So! That’s your invitation to become an entrepreneur, everyone! Don’t keep me waiting.” And he was gone.

[7]

The contrast of that beast yapping on and on, and the silence of us staring at each other. God.

Eventually, said silence was broken again. Footsteps, towards the door, and after a few seconds, Mary had left again. More people left after her. For some reason, this time, I felt... Glued to the ground. Reading over that paper again and again... Could I... Actually die here?

Bad thoughts.

Don’t think about it.

“James!” A voice? Sadie’s voice. Looking around a bit, I notice that the only people left in the room are me, Sadie, and James. James’s shoulder was being shaken around by his girlfr- err, by Sadie. That shoulder wasn’t the only thing that looked shaken; the boy’s eyes screamed in terror, even if his mouth was silent. Then, he suddenly dashed out of the room. Sadie was just standing there, staring at the swinging door, visibly confused.

(SOUNTRACK PAUSES)

... I didn’t want to seem like I wasn’t contributing at all, so I decided I’d dedicate my daily chat to her, maybe help her cheer up.

“... Um...” That’s all I managed to say, until she looked over at me. She looked a little distressed, as opposed to confused now.

“... Jane, are you okay?” Ah, perhaps I was looking a bit like how James might have looked a few seconds ago.

“... Honestly... N-no...”

“Yeah, I understand... Let’s... Just head somewhere else, for now... You wanna hang out, right?”

“S-sure...”

Hopefully, some socialising would get this whole newspaper thing off of my mind, and her mind, too.

Continued in Chapter 1 - Daily Life (2).