It's maybe noon when the elevator makes it back to the surface with now only nine students remaining. Minoru quickly walks off almost instantly, having stayed silent during the ride up, not even making eye contact with anyone.
"He probably needs some time alone." Hikaru mutters with a sigh, before looking back at Chinami.
The figure skater is still curled up in the corner of the elevator, not having moved an inch since she sat down there. Soft sobs can still be heard from her in the now mostly empty space.
"I've got it." Juro says, looking up at the tattoo artist, figuring he has enough on his mind with Daichi's death.
Hikaru opens his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, before deciding against it and just nodding "Alright. I'll leave it to you then."
With a sigh, Hikaru tucks his hands in his pockets, walking off without another word and leaving Juro alone with Chinami, now that most of the others have walked away too. He takes a breath, then walks over and sits down next to her. He stays silent for a moment, not sure what to say as her sobs slowly die down.
"Monokuma might lower the elevator soon." He mutters.
"I don't c-care anymore." Chinami chokes out, lifting her head a little. Her eyes are red from crying and tears stains still run down her cheeks "My friends are d-dead and I don't know what to d-do anymore."
Exhaling softly, Juro gently pulls the small girl into a hug, patting her back as she clings to his shirt and cries softly again "You live on..." He mutters, tilting his head back, looking at the sky. It's a bit cloudy now, but he still vividly remembers the conversations he shared with Daichi "It's hard, and it's okay to not know what to do except cry and be upset, but we live on for them."
"Why...?"
"Didn't Kasai-san tell you to escape this place?" Juro asks and Chinami tenses up "It's what they'd want us to do. Even if it takes time, everyone who died..." He swallows, closing his eyes as he lowers his head, "they'd want us to learn how to smile again, so that we can find happiness despite what we've been through. Besides..." He takes a breath, "if we don't live on... our friends and classmates will just become numbers... nothing more than the amount of people who died in this tragedy. I don't want that to happen. I want them to be remembered as who they were. That's my reason to live on..." He looks at her, smiling a little "what's yours?"
"I d-don't know..." Chinami whispers and pulls her knees to her chest, resting her chin on her arms "I'm not like you, Sasaki-kun... I'm n-not strong enough." Tears gather in the corners of her eyes "I don't k-know how to carry on alone."
"You're not alone. All of us here, we know what you're going through." Juro places a hand on her shoulder "For now... your reason to go on can just be because Kasai-san told you to escape."
"K-Kasai-san wasn't a very good person though, was she...?" Chinami looks away.
Juro sighs "I understand where she was coming from, but yeah, she was wrong. We shouldn't expect Asada-kun or the others to forgive her for it."
Chinami nods slowly, staying silent.
"But she did seem to care about you, at least enough to leave you with that message. That's still something." Juro mutters "People aren't just good or evil. Kasai-san was horribly wrong and knowingly hurt a lot of people, but she was also just a grieving teenager who missed her friend and couldn't find a way to cope."
"I g-guess..." Chinami whispers "She was my friend. Th-thanks to her I was able to move on after Yukimura-kun died..."
"Then that's enough to still value her words."
YOU ARE READING
Cabin Fever
FanfictionHe was on his way to Hope's Peak Academy, but he woke up in an abandoned cabin near a lake in the woods. How could the life of Juro Sasaki take such a drastic turn? Well, that's what he and his fifteen classmates would like to know too. But finding...
