Danganronpa: Until Proven Guilty

Chapter Five - 2 (Part Two): Vengence for the Guilty

I can't be dreaming. I was awake a second ago. I'm in broad daylight. At Lorem University. Pinching myself, I blink, praying the dreaded thing will leave. That I was just seeing things. That this is just another nightmare.

And yet it's still here. Floating in front of me. Staring at me. Taunting me.

My heart races, chest stinging from the sheer velocity, "Wh-what the hell are you?"

Should I even be talking? Can it understand me? Am I going insane. The air around me turns cold, the bitter temperatures beating hard against my back. Encasing me in its wrath, I fear it will snap me in half. But it just holds me in place, staring straight back into the smoke of this cloud.

It doesn't respond to me. Of course it doesn't respond. It isn't human, it isn't even anything, yet I'm wracked with total terror, my body shivering and tensing. Whispers surround me, feminine whispers that are almost entirely incoherent, apart from one phrase.

"You did this."

I shake my head, "Th-that doesn't mean anything!"

It looks at me still, an aura of stone emitting from it.

"Stop taunting me!" I yell, fighting the tears clouding my eyes, "Just leave me alone! What do you want from me?"

Just go away! Go away, go away, go away, go away, go-

I can't take this much longer. I can't bare the sight of it, the sound of it, the smell of it. I want it to go away. I want it to stop. I want to be free. I want to be happy.

"I want revenge."

Its voice is haunting, a deranged mix of an angry, vengeful female, and a cowering male. As if it's two people. Two people calling out to me. My head starts to swirl, my vision pulsing, and all I can hear is the sound of my heartbeat thrashing in my ears.

"R-revenge?" I utter.

"I want revenge " It echoes, "You took something from me."

I want it to shut up, but I can't stop listening.

"The world should never forgive people like you," It says, "You are a cowardly bully."

"B-bully?" The tears can't stop now, flowing from my eyes in streams.

Suddenly, the cloud begins to dissipate, the smoke rising in the room like a bonfire. Revealing a ghostly figure.

A short girl. No older than 14. Her face is a dejected grey, still emitting that same black smoke as before.

Bright auburn hair flows from her head.

Jesus Christ. I recognise her, that face is engrained somewhere in my brain. Yet I can't pair it to a name, to a voice, to a history. But somewhere, at some point, I've seen her. Or what used to be her.

"You did this to me," She says, her voice shaky and feminine, "And I want you to pay."

"D-did what?" I hold my hands to my chest, cowering. Just as she said.

With her translucent grey hands, she flicks away her flowing locks, revealing her neck.

A noose, wrapped tight around, the skin squeezed pale.

"I died for you. You took my life."

By now I'm frozen. My legs are solid in place. My throat is clenched. My eyes are open. I'm nothing but a statue, gawking at this ghostly figure.

"You will pay, Kihona Hideyoshi."

Before she can say anymore, she hurtles towards me, smoke trailing behind her as she floats. Closer, closer, she's heading straight for me. I should run, but I'm stuck. As the world moves around me,  I'm nothing but a figure, a stalemate pawn.

The ghost passes through me. And just like that, it's over.

Cold. That's all I feel. Like the air has frozen every part of my body in ice. The chills course through me. Nothing but shivers, and an empty feeling of dread inside me.
I fall to the floor. The grey fades. The cold fades.

The ghost is gone. But I can't shake it off - unease seeping into my veins, the spinning in my head.

It broke from my subconscious. I don't know how, but it crossed the bridge from my mind into reality. Did I manifest this? Is this me?

This is my fault

I took her life

They will get revenge.

None of it makes sense. It just swirls in my head, a whirlpool of unanswered questions.
Yet I can't shake that feeling away, that nagging notion that I know her. Maybe I did do something to her. What if I'm a terrible person? Do I really deserve all this?

My mind slows, the world around me just a haze.

I'm about to sit up to pick the piece of paper up, until I'm cut off by a little voice. That all familiar croak.

"Kinoodle!"