Shame If I Failed To Tell You The Truth (Danganronpa: Kirigiri)

Not My Time After All - Do You Agree?

Just then everything went dark and she found herself spinning in an endless void.

She wasn't dizzy, no, but she felt like she was unsteady. What happened? She thought to herself in genuine confusion.

She tried to close her eyes, stupidly thinking she might be sent back to that personal heaven where she could say the name she hasn't uttered in years without pain, but when she opened them again, the scenery changed.

But instead of the one from before... In front of her she could see a familiar face which was once convicted of multiple crimes in their own dazed, hypnotized state.

"...you're awake!" a squeaky-kind of high pitch voice exclaimed in what Kyoko could only describe as excited.

Her vision was blurry, but she managed to wet her dy eyes by blinking rapidly.

"You-" a dry cough erupted from inside her throat to the the outside of her mouth, sending her up from her laying position.

She covered her mouth with one of her gloved hands as the realization of the situation she was in set in.

Her eyes widened as she again cranes her neck painfully due to the stiffness to look at the person who spoke earlier.

The girl with those purple, uneven locks of hair gasped as soon as their eyes met.

"I-I'm so sorry for looking at you! I'm so sooorryyy!!" she suddenly cried, bandaged hands grabbing at her hair as tears slid down her cheeks like a waterfall.

Kyoko's brows lifted upon the similarly familiar reaction. That is, until she remembered again.

Right. "Tsumiki-san... It's okay." she comforted the girl with her words yet she felt stiff, like she didn't believe the syllables leaving her own mouth. She didn't want to see the Ultimate Nurse eye-to-eye.

The girl, who turned out to be Mikan Tsumiki, a former member of the Remnants of Despair, stopped crying almost immediately and took in a shaky deep breath, rubbing her eyes clear of the tears in the process.

"A-anyway... I-if you don't mind, th-then maybe you can... R-recollect your memories from b-before you fell asleep...?" Mikan stuttered out as briefly as she could, clutching her hands together like a prayer as if she was begging Kyoko to listen.

Kyoko nodded, and concentrated, shutting her eyes once more.

-----

Her head perked up and she opened her eyes once more. Mikan flinched at the sudden reaction but gave no more inquiries other than a small 'w-well...?'.

Kyoko gulped at another realization, her brows on instinct knitting together, causing lines to appear in-between her eyes.

Right...I'm supposed to be dead... She thought to herself without much emotion despite her expression as she thought back to her last meet-up with her oneesama.

She looked back at Mikan, who was giving her an expectant look, which was obvious due to the slight sparkle in her dull eyes.

"...I was dead for the moment, correct?" she asked the nurse and she immediately nodded, as if waiting for it the whole time they spoke.

Kyoko hummed in satisfaction of the silent answer, touching the side of her face that was heavily damaged by the strong poison of her NG code.

She then slid the sleeve of the same side of her body up and saw no deep purple, like how everyone else who were killed by the poison had their skin look like.

She, in confusion again, turned to Mikan for answers. The girl yet again flinches at her stare but answers the unspoken question anyway. "I-I used Kimura-san's m-medicine on you, a-and it worked! S-so, this is the result of m-me u-using it on you."

Her stuttering was starting to annoy the usually stoic detective but she nodded through it anyway, the answered curiosity leaving her mind while processing what was said.

So Kimura's medicine does work. Kyoko wanted to compliment Seiko for her medicine's success of reviving her, but at the same time she didn't want to.

Especially when she was only an arm's length to her life's greatest regret.

She was angry, yet at the same time something inside her was nagging her irritatingly to let it go.

She didn't want to, but...

She looked down at her gloves.

She used a finger to grab onto the tip of the glove, and pulled up. Mikan watched in awe as Kyoko unraveled her secret in front of her.

She stared at her burned, scarred hands from the explosion due to trying so hard to dig through the impossible fire towards the epitome of her happiness.

But instead of the regret she used to look at it with, it was... Fondness.

Mikan stared at her hands as well. "That... Is a very worrying scar," the nurse said matter-of-factly.

"It is," Kyoko answered. "If you don't mind me asking... W-what caused it?" Mikan asked sincerely, like she already knew it was a sensitive topic.

"That doesn't matter." Kyoko replied under her breath.

The detective suddenly turned her gaze back to Mikan. "If you love someone... You'd want something to remember them by, right?" she asked and Mikan hesitantly nodded, as if remembering what she had done to herself after Junko's death as a Remnant of Despair.

Kyoko sighed, looking back at her scarred hand. She had showed Makoto of these scars, him and Aoi, before she went into a temporary death. But she didn't seem bothered or embarrassed by that fact anymore.

Even if she wanted to go back to her Yui-oneesama, supposedly she also had other people she treasures in the living world. And... Maybe it still wasn't her time to go.

She gave Mikan a small, thankful smile for reviving her. The nurse looked shocked that Kyoko would smile at her like that, but she returned the gesture with a small, nervous smile of her own.

"Thank you for bringing me back, Tsumiki-san." she thanked the nurse kindly. Mikan nodded frantically, "O-of course, Kirigiri-san!"

Kyoko stared at her burns for a few more seconds before putting back on her glove.

She stood up slowly, and dusted her suit.

She had to say, despite preferring to be with the people she truly preffered to be with, she can still stay here with Makoto and the others.

'I suppose I can wait.'

After all, the shame was no longer evident.

Kyoko could now live freely saying the name she could never even mutter before.

She had shown and said enough that her partner when she was thirteen was the only person she can rely on.

She admitted that she was ashamed of herself for failing to protect her when the time came.

She didn't need to say she failed to tell her the truth of her undying guilt because of it.

.
.
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"It's not a shame if I successfully told you the truth."

- End