Danganronpa: Retirement Plan

Ch. 1: Goodbye Life Savings [7] (Deadly Life)

Author Note:

It could be better, but I'm fine with this.

_____

 "The voting process is very simple." Tiger the Dog explained to us. "Even Felix can do it!"

...

"Just get on with it." Gabriel demanded.

"Look on your podiums. There are pictures of all 16 of your faces." It told us. "Click the picture of who you want to vote for."

I looked around to see everyone else voting. Vanessa stood at her podium with her arms crossed, while Nora waited patiently for everyone to finish.

I hope I'm voting for the right person.

I clicked Vanessa's face. A check mark appeared on my screen and I stepped away.

"And the all 13 votes are in!" The dog cheered.

"Well?" Rory bugged her, sounding anxious. "Did we get it right?"

"You got the killer..." Tiger paused for dramatic effect. "Correct!"

I let out a relived exhale, finally relaxing for the first time since the trial started.

"Vanessa, the Ex Ultimate Track Star, killed Skyler!" It announced to all us. "Her punishment will start soon."

Oh. The punishment.

"You killed them..." Zenith was the first to speak. He couldn't stop himself from tearing up again. "Why did you kill them? What was so important that you needed to take someone else's life to leave this place...?!"

"I... I..." Vanessa choked up, intimidated by the chauffeur. "I n-needed the money...

I wanted to get my life back on track."

"Why did you need money to get your life back on track, Nessa?" Quartz asked her.

"My parents got really mad when I lost my title as the Ultimate Track Star. I was just about to graduate high school and I had a fully paid track scholarship, since I was an Ultimate." The ponytail began to explain. "But... I lost all that when I lost my talent."

"That's terrible," Minerva said, as if she could related. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you lose your talent."

"It was stupid. Really stupid... I was partying with my friends since were about graduate and whatnot." She recalled, sounding regretful. "One thing lead to another and we all got arrested."

"Everybody makes mistakes," Hunter attempted to comfort her.

"But I never should have gone to that party." She said, tearing up. "The others got scolded by their parents, but I lost my entire future in a single night. My parents have been furious with me every since, all the pride they had in me gone. Sometimes, they act like they don't even have a kid."

...

"Just a couple months ago, I sighed up for a race. The winner of this race would be titled Ultimate Marathon Runner." Vanessa went on, no longer crying. She smiled when talking about it. "I figured having an Ultimate's salary would be good enough to make it up to my parents."

"Is that where you got hurt?" I guessed.

She nodded, tears rolling down her face.

"You came here to your old talent back to jumpstart your life." Nikolas summarized. "But things did go the way you planned."