Danganronpa: Return of Despair

Chapter 4, Part 2

I turned around. The hall was empty. Maybe I was being superstitious. I sighed and kept walking. All the while walking, I felt like I was being followed. I reached the new staircase and walked up. It smelled sweet. It was a well lit area, there were a few rooms. They looked nice. It looked like an indoor fair. I walked into one of the rooms, it was a bakery. It was a nice, pink and white scenery. It looked like something out of a dollhouse. It smelled like cakes and sugar, I almost didn't want to leave. I shook my head and went to explore another room across the hall. It looked like a candy shop, it had rainbow decorations and candy dispensers along the walls. I liked it, but, it did remind me of Asa. I left the room. There were two other rooms down the hall, they didn't look as interesting on the outside, so I went in the one next to the bakery. It was a trampoline room. It was black and green with a childish feel to it. It smelled like rubber. I left the room and went to the last room, it was a laser tag room. It had a futuristic feel to it, and it smelled like air conditioning. It would be best to do that with others, so I left and went back to the bakery. I grabbed 5 cupcakes, each for one of the people I left in Zenshiro's room, and Kunihiko. I wasn't sure what flavors they wanted, so I grabbed the first 5 available. Vanilla, red velvet, strawberry, chocolate, and a cookies and cream one. I walked back down with the cupcakes and set off to find them all. I went to the dining hall, it was the closest accessible place. I found Kunihiko in there, she was sitting at a table reading. I walked over to her.

"Hello, Kunihiko," I waved and sat next to her at the table, I placed the cupcakes at the table.
"Hello, Mamoru! Oh! Where did you get those?" She pointed to the cupcakes.
"Oh, there was a bakery on the new floor, I got these, one for each of you guys, well, you, Koki, Shichiro, Kaz, and I," I laughed a little.
"Oh, that's very nice of you, but I actually can't have gluten! I'm sorry, Mamoru," She smiled a melancholic smile.
"You can't? Oh! I'm so sorry-!" I stood up frantically.
"No, no, it's alright! No need to apologize!" She smiled, "Yokichi might like one, he tells me he doesn't really have many friends, so maybe you can make a peace offering of sorts! That's a weird way to phrase it, but you get it!"
"Yeah, I do get it, I'll go give him one!" I walked out of the dining hall.

I started off to find the others. I went down the dorm room hall. All the doors were closed, I sighed. I decided to look someplace else for the others. If I didn't find them, I would come back down and knock. I walked up to the second floor, it didn't feel great. I was feeling something was off. I walked around, nothing seemed to be out of place since the last time I was here. I shrugged it off. Maybe someone was in the pool area, I walked in. It seemed to be empty from the view of the door. I walked in and looked around. Kaz was sitting on the side of the pool, but she was still fully dressed. It was weird to me. I walked over to her.

"Hi, Kaz, I have something for you," I went to set the cupcakes down.
"Shh," She grabbed onto my shirt, she didn't look up from the pool, "Unless you want to come with me,"
"What? I just wanted to give you a cupcake," I got a little nervous.
She let go, "You'll be spared," She laughed a little.
"I'm still confused," I sat next to her and set the cupcakes down, "What one do you want?"
She picked up the strawberry cupcake, "I'm taking this place down, either that or I'm going myself,"
"Let's not jump that far here, I think we should just eat our cupcakes for now," I laughed a little.
She gave me a side eye glare, her eyes looked bloodshot, "Are you going to leave?"
"Uhh, do you want me to?" I asked.
"I don't give a shit," She put her legs in the water.
"You're gonna get all wet," I poked her.
"That's the goal," She turned her eyes back to the water and placed her cupcake next to her on the floor, "You don't think 20 feet is that deep, right? That's what Monokuma said,"
"Why..?" I was confused more.

She quickly pushed herself off the edge and sank to the bottom of the pool. I jumped up in a panic.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" I looked down into the water, there was no sight of her.

I took a deep breath and jumped in after her. I swam to the bottom, the pressure of the water was getting to be too much. I couldn't keep my eyes open, I hoped I was going in the right direction. I reached the bottom and felt around, I felt her shoulder and started to pull her up. I reached the surface of the water and swam back over to the side. I got a severe headache. I looked down and saw blood, I realized my nose was bleeding. I panicked and got out of the water. I looked at Kaz, she was still hanging onto the edge of the pool in the water.

"I think we should go someplace else," I tried to pull her out of the pool.
She laughed, "What if I don't want to go anywhere else, asshat?"
"We should, y'know, maybe to dry off, eat the cupcakes," I suggested.
She pulled herself out of the pool, "Where the fuck did you get the cupcakes anyway?"
"Oh, the new floor, there's four different rooms up there," I explained.
She nodded, "That's fantastic," She sounded sarcastic.
"Y'know, what is with you today? You're off, and I dunno what it is, but it's kinda different," I stared at her, she also had a nosebleed, and her eyes were definitely bloodshot, there was blood coming from the side of her face, probably from her ear, but only one side, that was weird.
"I want to leave. I hate this fucking torture of a stupid fucking game, it's not funny anymore, whoever is running this shit show better step the fuck up already," She banged her fist on the ground.
"Do you think that there's someone besides Monokuma running this?" I leaned forward.
"OBVIOUSLY!" She exclaimed.

The doors to the pool opened, Koki and Shichiro walked in. They ran over to us.

"Hey, we were just looking for you!" Shichiro said, "Why are you both all bloody?"
"That's not important, dipshit," Kaz rolled her eyes.
"Where are the cupcakes from? The bakery upstairs?" Koki asked.
"Yeah, actually, did you see it already?" I responded.
"Yes, Shichiro and I were just up there," Koki nodded.
"I got these for you guys, besides the strawberry one, Kaz wanted that one," I gestured to the cupcakes.
"Oh, thank you!" Shichiro smiled and picked up the red velvet cupcake.
"That was very kind of you, Mamoru," Koki nodded and picked up the cookies and cream cupcake.

The two of them sat next to us. We had a small conversation, and explained what happened beforehand. We sat in silence afterwards.

Kaz broke the silence, "There is someone else besides Monokuma running this shit,"
"Really? How do you know?" Koki asked.
"I dunno, it just feels like it, he's a goddamn robot bear, he wouldn't know how to fuck with us mentally like a human would," Kaz crossed her arms.
"She makes a point, kind of," Shichiro nodded.