Danganronpa: Return of Despair

Chapter 7, Part 3

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.
"Daisuke was teaching me about knots and stuff," Rokuro replied, "It's actually quite interesting,"
Daisuke nodded, "And I've only gotten through half!"
"Wow, that sounds like fun," I replied.
"It is, actually, Daisuke also has quite a nice voice, so listening to him is easy," Rokuro nodded.
Daisuke laughed, "I get that a lot, as far as I remember,"
"That sounds nice," I replied.
"It is," Daisuke smiled, "I'm gonna get back to talking to Rokuro now,"
"Alright, have fun guys," I smiled.

I walked away from them. That was anticlimactic. I sighed. I didn't want to talk to Ayu again. At all. Not after what she said. I decided to find Arisa instead. She was standing alone by the door.

"Hey, Arisa," I waved.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"I didn't want anything, just wanted to talk," I replied.
"About?" She asked.
"I dunno, just talk," I shrugged.
She groaned, "Alright, let's talk then,"
"Okay," I looked up at her, "So, what are doing over here?"
"Waiting to leave," She replied bluntly, "Why are you over here?"
"I dunno, I wanted to talk to everyone one more time," I replied.
"Well, now you've talked to me, can you go now?" She glared.
I sighed, "Yeah, sorry to bother you,"

I walked away. I didn't want to talk to Ayu. I decided to look for someone else to talk to. They all looked busy talking to each other. I sighed. I went to go find somewhere to sit instead, maybe have a nap. On my way, I was stopped by someone. They pulled on my arm, it startled me. I turned around, it was Zenshiro, of course.

"You scared the shit out of me," I stated.
"Well, good, no not good, but, I need help," He gripped my shoulders.
"What do you need help with?" I asked.
"Well, I wanna, y'know, I wanna kiss her, Kaz, y'know? I've kissed tons of people before, but I dunno what it is, but it's different, this time, like, I feel different, what do I do?" He shook me a little.
"First of all calm down," I grabbed his wrists, "Whatever's stopping you, just do what you did before," I shrugged.
"But she's scary," He laughed a little, "Don't tell her I said that,"
I laughed as well, "Promise, I won't, why is this so important to you anyway?"
He sighed, "We are from, like, the same country or whatever, but, how are we gonna see each other ever? We're on completely different sides, I wanna do it now rather than later,"
I nodded, "Good point, good point,"
"I hope she doesn't get in trouble though, she's trying to break the vending machine with Seiko and Asa," He laughed.
"That's probably not gonna end well," I shook my head.
"It's definitely not," He agreed.
"Why don't you just ask her to move in with you instead, so that you don't have to be, like, too far, I dunno," I shrugged.
"That's not a bad idea," He nodded.
I smiled, "Well, I think I'm gonna tell someone they need help with the vending machine, I'll see ya around,"
He slightly smiled back, "See ya, Mamoru,"

I walked back up to the front desk. The lady laughed a little bit.

"What can I help with now?" She politely asked.
"I think they need help with the vending machine over there," I gestured over to the group at the vending machine.
She sighed, "I'm afraid I can't do that, they're trying to break it open and that's not really allowed,"
"Wouldn't they be hungry after, like, being gone for so long..?" I asked.
"Oh, unless they didn't eat when you were all in the testing, then they should be fine! The food you ate while there was processed through your physical body so you wouldn't die while we were testing," She explained.
"Really? That's kinda weird, but cool," I laughed a bit.
She nodded, "It is, that was a thing we were still testing at the time as well, so I assume you all just got lucky,"
"Excuse me?" I was worried now.
"I'm just kidding," She smiled.
I was a bit embarrassed, but I laughed a little, "Of course, you wouldn't have it be that unsafe for basically a bunch of kids,"
She nodded, "That's correct, and how may I help you, ma'am?" She looked past me.

I turned around, Seiko was standing behind me. She ran up to the counter and lean over, basically hopping over it.

"Do ya got any money to spare? I'm thirsty and the vending machine won't open," Seiko complained.
She laughed, "I may, but it depends, how about I come with you instead?"
"Yeah! Sure! That works!" Seiko got off the counter and cheered.

She walked over to the vending machine with Seiko. I sighed and walked back over to have a seat. I looked at the clock. It was already 7pm. I closed my eyes. It was weird to think about this. It felt so real, but it was just a mental experiment.

I opened my eyes again. Kaz, Zenshiro, and Seiko were sitting in the chairs across from me. Seiko handed me a water bottle.

"I have no clue what you wanted so I got you a water!" She smiled.
I accepted the water and smiled, "Water's actually one of my favorite drinks, thanks,"
"Oh! Really? That's weird," She laughed, "Not in a bad way, I've never met anyone that actually likes water,"
I laughed a bit as well, "Me either,"
"Man, I fuckin' hate water," Kaz added in.
"That's obvious," Seiko rolled her eyes.
"I...wait do I like water? I'm not sure," Zenshiro laughed.
"Well, I like water," I nodded.
"I like orange soda, which is why I got it," Seiko shook her soda around.
"You dumbass, ain't that gonna make it explode," Kaz pushed Seiko a bit.
"Oh, you're right," Seiko set the soda on the ground.
I sipped my water, "The difference between yours and mine is I can shake mine without it exploding," I joked.
Seiko laughed, "I can make your water explode!"
"I don't think you should," Zenshiro laughed as well.
"Why not? It's just water,"
"There's gonna be a mess," I shook my head.
"Yeah, same with if your soda exploded," Zenshiro nodded.

Our conversation went on until the clock struck 8. There was a ring on the speaker system. A shot of anxiety went through my system. I could tell the others felt the same, but we weren't in the game anymore. I remembered that and shook off the thoughts I had. A man's voice went through the speakers.

"This is the 8pm announcement. Test Group L, who should be located in the lobby or cafeteria, is now eligible to leave," The voice had stated before there was another ring. The announcement ended.

We all looked at each other one last time. Seiko looked down at the ground, then she turned up to Kaz and gave her a hug.

"I DON'T WANNA LEAVE YOU GUYS!!" She yelled and started crying.

Kaz hugged her back, I decided to hug them as well, as well as Zenshiro. We all held each other for a few minutes, until Seiko stopped crying.

"Seiko, we can still stay in contact, remember?" Zenshiro reassured her.
"It's not gonna be the same," She looked at the ground again.
"How about this, maybe we can come visit you sometime? Would that be alright?" He suggested.
Seiko nodded and sniffled, "I'd like that,"
"Alright then, it's a plan!" Zenshiro smiled.

We all made our way to the door and said our goodbyes. I did end up getting a few people's contact information. I looked around for whoever was there for me. No one looked as though they were. I saw Kaz and Zenshiro leave together, so my suggestion did work, Seiko left as well.

After a while, only Daisuke and I were left.

"Mamoru," Daisuke turned to me, "I'll do my best to remember you, I don't wanna forget you,"
"Really?" I was slightly surprised.
He nodded, "You might've heard this from a bunch of other people, but, you're my best friend, probably one of my only true friends. I'm gonna miss you a bunch,"

A car pulled up, they were there for Daisuke. Before he left, he pulled me into a hug, he patted my back and entered the car.

Another car pulled up once his left. That was for me. I turned and looked at the hospital one more time. I turned around and entered the car. I was finally going home. I closed my eyes as we drove away.