Danganronpa: Until Proven Guilty

Chapter Five - 1: Reconciliation

haruka won the vote with 4 votes! ayana, kohi and aki were all tied for second so ayana and kohi will get a joint free time event, and aki will get one as well :) and Haruka of course, which is this chapter.

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"Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes."

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My eyes open. Again. A feeling I'm all too used to by now. The same prickle on my back. The same cold, hard floor.
I squeeze my eyes shut, still on the ground.

Wake up, Kihona. This is a dream. Wake up.

I half expect to drift back into the darkness, to find comfort in the void and eventually wake up in my bed. But I don't move. I still feel the cold air around me, creeping across the hairs on my skin.

Wake up.

I jolt upright, and open my eyes.
The same horizon. The same school. The same playground. The same dream.

Pinching my skin, I pray to myself I'll wake up. Find myself cozy in my bed. Yet I'm still stuck in my own head, surrounded by nothing but the grey sky and the biting air.
I glance at my hair. Bright red.

That's all I need to see

I know what's coming.

Standing up, I scan the horizon. Standing in place. Staring straight ahead. Waiting for them.

Quick as a blink, it appears. A deep, grey ball of smoke hurtles toward me. Just as it always has, it grows closer and closer by the millisecond, aiming straight for me like I'm its pathetic prey. My eyebrow twitches, as I watch it slow as it approaches, and try to ignore the racing of my heart.

I want to scream at them, tell them go away and leave me be, but my mouth is sealed like my lips are pasted with super glue.

The thing hovers in front of me, and suddenly it opens its eyes. Ice blue eyes casting a laser hot stare at me.

"This is your fault."

Its voice is feminine. Light, airy almost, soft enough to put a baby to sleep.

"You did this. This is all your fault."

I don't know what it's saying. I can't bring myself to care, my body frozen in place. My mind stagnant.

"You're disgusting."

"You're the reason this is all happening."

They don't stop.

"It would be better if you died."

The shadow edges closer. And closer. And closer. I feel the cold smoke wrap around my fingers.

Wake up, Kihona!

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Light.

It hits me like a truck. What starts as pure, blinding whiteness, fades into colours. Then lines, then shapes. I feel the light brushing of fabric against my skin, and my back on a soft, squishy surface.

I expect the blur to fade into the greens and whites of my dorm room, but all I see is pink, splattered with dusky brown.

And then someone's hand touches my neck.