Danganronpa Drabbles/Short Stories/One-Shots

Cards

Ibuki and Nagito build a card tower together.

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   "Nagito-Channn!!"
Ibuki called with a wave, succeeding in getting the lanky boy's attention.

   "Mioda-San," He greeted with a small wave and grin. This earned an even bigger smile from the musician as she waddled up to him, holding something behind her back. "I assume you want to investigate with me today?" Ibuki dramatically gasped— her eyes widening her free hand going up to her mouth. "Kyaahh!!! How did you know?!" She exclaimed, as if she didn't make it a habit to investigate this strange island with a new person each day.
   Ever since all 16 students made it to Jabberwock Island, Hajime and the others all decided to investigate together to either find an exit or gather these so called ‘hope fragments’, as that pink rabbit called them. Ibuki made sure to change investigation buddies each day in a cycle, so that way, nobody had to be left out! Today, Nagito just so happened to be her next victim as she noticed him wandering all alone at Jabberwock Park.

   Nagito just continued to smile as he shrugged his shoulders. "Lucky guess? But I'm surprised," He looked down at his side, his smile never faltering. Ibuki tilted her head, she knew where this was going. "An ultimate student— The ultimate musician herself wants to investigate with a lowly human like me! I can't even begin to express how gre—"
"Nagito-Channn...."
"Ah, my apologies. Aha, I should know better than to speak out of turn like that." He brought his head up to look at the musician once again. The boy stayed quiet, which was Ibuki's cue to start speaking.

   "Oh! Welllll— I don't feel like investigating today," She hummed, which made Nagito cock his head to the side in confusion. "Oh?"
Right then and there, she revealed what she had been hiding behind her back: A small box of playing cards, which she more than likely took from the supermarket. A large grin formed on her face, while Nagito's expression still remained curious. "Playing cards?"
"Yeah!! Let's play in the hotel lobby! Come on, come on!!" Ibuki marched away with an innocent expression, and Nagito chuckled lightly as he trailed close behind.

---

   Apparently, Ibuki's idea of “playing cards” was different from Nagito's. The musician's idea was apparently to make a carefully constructed tower of cards on the table situated in front of them. As Nagito toyed with a playing card between his index finger and thumb, he watched as the musician continued to construct a nearly complete tower of cards.

   "... Mioda-San?—" Nagito tried to question, the silence between them making him feel awkward. Unfortunately, he was quickly interrupted by the musician. "Shhhh!! Shh shh shh—" Ibuki looked unusually focused, her eyes narrowed and her hands steady as she tried to place the last two cards on the row she was on. "Ibuki... Almost has it..." She spoke softly.

   "Ah—"
In the blink of an eye, the card Nagito had been fumbling with flew from between his fingers and crashed into the tower in front of him. The two students watched with wide eyes as all of the cards came tumbling down one by one and started to flutter down onto the table. Silence lingered between them for what felt like hours, though it was only for a few seconds.

   "NOOOOOOO!!!"
Ibuki cried, bringing her hands to her head whilst still gripping the two cards she had held before. She threw her head back and screwed her eyes shut tight. Nagito's expression turned into one of concern as he saw how distressed Ibuki was. "Mioda-San! Are you okay?— Well, that's quite the dumb question, befitting of scum like me.." He muttered before continuing. "I'm sorry about your tower, really. It looks like my bad luck took its toll.." He frowned.

   "Eh, its fine.." Ibuki said, quickly calming down from her outburst, "Like white rice with hot sauce!" She laughed, receiving a confused smile from the boy. "Well, if you don't mind, may I help you rebuild your tower? As an apology for what just happened," He offered with a chuckle. This earned him a small nod from the musician as she scooted herself over. "Of course!! Come on, come on, sit!!" She eagerly patted the spot next to her, which Nagito reluctantly took. An ultimate student seriously wanted him to sit next to them? It was as if he were in a dream.

   "... Mioda-San?" Nagito asked, earning a soft hum from the musician as she tried to start once again on the tower. "Is there a specific reason you wanted to do this?" The boy inquired, carefully placing down a card on top of Ibuki's upside down “v” shaped cards.
She remained silent for a moment— whether it was because she was coming up with the right words to say, or if it was because she was focused on the card tower, was unknown to Nagito. But afterwards, her expression turned to be calmer and a bit more serious than usual, which caught him off guard.

   "Ibuki just wants to get to know Nagito-Chan a bit better."

   Huh?
Did... Did he hear that right? Ibuki Mioda, the ultimate high-school level musician, wanted to know about him? A lowly, incompetent human being who had no right to even be in her presence right now?

   Nagito gave Ibuki a questionable look, which signalled for her to continue. "I think Nagito-Chan is a very interesting person, even if we haven't talked much," she started with a carefree smile, continuing onto the next layer of cards. She carefully placed some cards horizontally, as she continued. "I like to think of Nagito-Chan as if he were a complicated piece of sheet music— Difficult to understand at first, but once you learn more about it and figure it out, you find out it truly is a work of art."

   Those words left Nagito speechless. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had ever said anything so poetic and kind to him like that. And yet, Ibuki just let those words flow out of her mouth so casually. They sounded so.... So genuine.
Or is that just the work of an ultimate's tongue?

   "You really mean that?" Nagito questioned for confirmation, his eyes switching from Ibuki's face to the card tower that was slowly growing in height.
"Mhm!"
"... I see." He grinned after a brief moment, "Thank you, Mioda-San."
"No problem-o!!— Oh!" She looked at him eagerly, "Tell me something about yourself then! That would really make Ibuki's day!"

   Nagito hummed softly as he thought... What would be a good topic to talk about anyways?
The time he got kidnapped?.. Nah. Maybe later.
His recent diagnoses? Ah, no. That'd probably concern the hell out of her.

   "Ah, well, there was this one time when I was younger. My parents and I were gonna go on a vacation to another country, so we took a plane!"

---

   Chatter filled the hotel lobby as the two of them laughed, shared their hardships, and joked about the most random subjects that came to mind. The tower slowly grew in size as they did so, even though at some points it looked as if it would topple over once again. Fortunately for the two of them, it stayed upright throughout the whole construction process.

   "Haha, it's complete!! Nagito-Chan and Ibuki's tower is finished!!" Ibuki cheered, leaning back from the table as she shot her arms up into the air with glee. Nagito smiled calmly as he saw the finished product as well.
"Oh! Ibuki should ask Mahiru-Chan to take a picture of this!" She added, hopping up onto her feet. "Stand guard, good sir!" She called over her shoulder as she ran out of the hotel in search of the red-headed photographer.

   "And there she goes," Nagito chuckled softly. A flicker of something shiny caught the corner of his eye, and he looked beside him. In the place where Ibuki was sitting just moments ago, laid a hope fragment. It was unmistakable— the clear blue crystal that shined as bright as a star when it came in contact with light. The symbol of a blossoming friendship, of hope.

   The boy took it into his grasp and brought it up to his face. He fumbled with it between two of his fingers, watching as the light refracted off of the crystal. He felt as though he could stare at the hope fragment for hours, days even, as he was entranced by it's beauty.

   "Like complicated sheet music, huh.." He pondered softly, then proceeded to let out a soft chuckle. "Mioda-San, you're such an odd individual.."