Chapter 6: Distrust, Part II (Deadly Life)
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(Investigation: Monokuma Control Room)
The five of us cautiously entered the room, knowing full well that we were risking our lives. If the mastermind wasn't lurking with us, then if they turned up and found us... well, we probably wouldn't survive to tell our story.
The first thing I noticed was a monitor. Well, one of many, to be more accurate. Maybe it was the sticky note attached to it? I don't really know myself, but what was more important was just who was on it. I turned on the monitor, and it flickered to life, displaying the face of... it was unmistakably Junpei Ichikawa.
Junpei: Greetings to, uh, whoever is listening to this message. If you are hearing this, the bottom line is that I'm dead. Murdered.
Daisuke: Junpei?! But... but you're dead.
Junpei: I am just a virtual shadow of Junpei Ichikawa. Don't question how, but you're familiar with Chiaki Nanami, aren't you? Another dead Hope's Peak student reborn through the magic of artifical intelligence. Of course, because I'm dead myself.
Daisuke: (Wait... what? Did he predict his own death?!)
A.I. Junpei has been added to the Truth Bullets.
I had to press him further.
Daisuke: Junpei! If you're truly there, answer me!
Junpei: And with that, my point has been made - that humanity is little more than a loathsome, repugnant, abominable race that should've been wiped out a long time ago. Here's the story of how I lost faith in humanity.
Daisuke: ...
Junpei: We as a species are rotten from the head to the toe. That guy who flips out and threatens to report you because you don't immediately reply to his unsolicited e-mail. That drunk driver who runs over, kills an entire family, and gets little more than a slap on the wrist. That politician who gets elected as head of a democracy and turns it into his dictatorship.
Daisuke: (But-)
Junpei: Don't even think that Japan's innocent! In our homeland, an innocent girl was kidnapped and, over the course of a month, tortured to death by homegrown thugs. In our homeland, the government systematically slaughtered dozens of men, women, children, even babies, for science, and escaped consequences. In our homeland, a terrorist cult successfully brought around the borderline end of the world. Haven't we learned anything from Junko Enoshima?!
Daisuke: (Junpei...)
Junpei: Once she was gone, others picked up the slack for her. Tsumugi. Sasuke. Naoya. All of them looked at her Killing Game and thought to themselves, "Wow, a Killing Game must be a great idea!"
Daisuke: (But we made that bet...)
Junpei: Even the head of the Future Foundation was in on it... heh. And I'd like to remind you of Towa City.
Monaca: (gasp) That place...
Junpei: Monaca Towa and her band of equally depraved children slaughtered anyone they could get their little hands on. I saw everything. I saw what even children are capable of.
Monaca: ...No... Junpei, I'm-
Daisuke: He can't hear you. He's gone.
Junpei: (sigh) And the last straw? What they did to my best friend even though she was barely older than they were. That was the one that finally broke me.
Daisuke: ...!
Monaca: What's wrong?
Junpei: I always thought, ever since I was a little kid myself, why good people suffer, and seeing her, reaching out for me as those Monokuma Kids descended on her with pipes... Once she was gone, that was it. I had nothing left to live for... and nothing left to lose.
YOU ARE READING
Danganronpa: Paradise Lost
Mystery / Thriller"The life of Daisuke Hiyori, the Ultimate Hikikomori, turns upside down when he finds himself in the middle of nowhere alongside 15 other young prodigies. But then Monokuma returns and forces them into a Killing Game, where they will inevitably turn...
