Danganronpa: Island Life

Chapter 6: MAINTENANCE

Sonia: "Are you sure it is safe to be doing that?" Sonia asked Kazuichi as he was messing around with the pods, where the ones who didn't escape the killing school trip were resting. The Ultimate Mechanic's legs were crossed as he sat on the floor, a few different tools resting in his lap. He was sitting next to one of the pods that contained their comatose friends, the side of it was opened in order to examine the parts on the inside.

Kazuichi: "I know for sure that it's not, the life support systems went offline for a few of the pods. That is what keeps them all hydrated and stuff like that. Basically, it's what keeps them alive. If I can't fix the ones that are going haywire, well... they're going to die."

Sonia: "How long do we have?" Sonia asked with worry in her voice. Kazuichi had stopped his work, bringing one of his hands to his chin as he thought the question over.

Kazuichi: "Maybe a few hours. They'll be okay without it for a while, but I would still like to fix everything as soon as possible. Could you please go find Hajime? I think I'm going to need an extra pair of hands if I'm going to get this done quickly."

Sonia complied immediately, rushing out of the room. Now alone, Kazuichi tried to get back into focusing on the task at hand. Straightening his posture, he leaned forward to peek at the top of the pod in front of him. Inside, he could see the body of Mahiru Koizumi. He shuddered at the thought that his inability to fix something would be the death of someone, all he could do was believe in his talent.

As he started his work, his eyes darted back between some schematics and a box of spare parts he had, an all-new problem had just made itself known to him. The spare parts he had at his side were just enough for two of the pods, at best, and there were six in need of maintenance. Kazuichi felt like an idiot for saying that only a few of them were going under when in actuality, it was more than half.

He stood up quickly with the schematics in hand and ran for the nearby storage room, it was at about that time that the situation had gone from bad to worse. He grabbed one of the handles attached to the double doors of the storage room... and it was locked.

Kazuichi: "It's locked!?" He was pulling at both handles now, which was a futile effort. Frantically, he pats his body down, checking for the key that he usually kept inside his pocket. He went over his body once, it wasn't there. He checked again, it still wasn't there. "Where is it!?"

He brought his fist down on the door out of frustration, running back over to where he was previously sitting. He picked up the box of spare parts, inspecting it over and over. As he tried coming up with a solution, he could hear his friends approaching, the door to the building slamming open.

Hajime: "What's going on!?" He heard Hajime yell from across the large room. As he and Sonia drew closer, their sprints slowly came to a halt. Sonia was clearly exhausted as she leaned on Hajime's arm, panting heavily.

Kazuichi: "I need some help here." Kazuichi snatched the beanie off his head before ruffling his own hair. He explained the situation at hand and the problems he had on the side, receiving shocked looks from Hajime and Sonia. "You still got a bit of Izuru in you, right?"

Hajime: "We're one in the same, so... yeah, I guess so? Why?" Hajime cringed at the mention of Izuru Kamukura, his former personality.

Kazuichi: "As I said, I can't find my storage room key. I've got to get in there to get some extra things I need to fix these pods, I figured you can find some sort of way to get the door op- "

Hajime: "Is that your key over there?" Hajime pointed to the ground near one of the pods. Kazuichi almost screamed with glee when he saw the key on the floor. He ran over and picked it up, running back to the storage room while yelling about how lucky it was that Hajime spotted the key on the floor.