Fanganronpa: Destination Despair

Part 3/Chapter 9

As Tomoka and I left the kitchen, I got the feeling that she immediately understood what I was talking about. A sickly silence was heavy in the air, and everyone looked so far away, as if each of them were alone despite how physically close they were. It was like a weight was immediately placed on each of my shoulders as soon as I walked in.

"Alright, well, I guess just about everyone's here, so I'm starting this shit!" Monokuma announced. "First of all, both the diner and gym will be closed during night time hours, while the campsite and library are not. So I better not see any of y'all in there, or I'll have to deal with you myself!" Monokuma cleared his throat. "Second of all... I'd like to give you all a little present!"

"A... Present?" Mars asked.

"Yes, a present! I guess you could say it's for... Making it this far! Congrats on not getting killed, kiddo's!" Monokuma snickered.

"Would it be safe to assume that this 'present' of yours is actually another motive?" Izumi inquired.

Monokuma froze. "Damn, you totally saw through me!" He sure didn't put up a fight...

Hikari shook her head. "N-No... I don't want anymore motives..."

"Well too bad, sweetie pie! Besides, I think you all will enjoy this motive!" Monokuma grinned.

"And why would we ever enjoy something that came from you?" Allie said.

"Because! This time, the motive will be... A hint!" Monokuma then pulled out a piece of paper from behind his back. "Here you are!"

Since no one moved to grab it, Chidori finally took a deep breath and walked up to Monokuma wearily. He slowly took the paper and looked at it. His eyes widened upon looking at it, and he let the paper drop from his hand.

"Oh? What's this? Are you too shocked from excitement? Isn't it just enthralling?" Monokuma laughed.

As the paper was left alone on the floor, Mirai slowly walked over to pick it up. As she looked at the card, she too widened her eyes and covered her mouth. She shook her head. "N-No... W-What is this...?"

"Aww, can you all not read or something? Surely you have the skills for that, right? Maybe give it to the Ultimate Writer. They should be able to read it for you all!" Monokuma said slyly.

Mirai slowly looked over at Aiko, who looked back at her. Aiko gave her a slow nod, and Mirai walked over to give it to them. Aiko slowly gulped as they read what was on the paper. "I-It says... 'Tragedy'..."

I suddenly realized why the others had been so scared. "Tragedy...?!" I suddenly said. "As in... The event... From last year?"

"Bingo!" Monokuma said, pointing to me and snapping his fingers. "The biggest, most awful, most despair-inducing event in the world!" he said with glee.

"B-But... How... Is that related to us...?" Haru asked, slightly shaking.

"Well, I can't tell you! That's something you'll have to figure out yourselves!" Monokuma said with a sadistic smile.

"Do you really expect us to believe this?" Allie said. "The Tragedy is over, so there's no point in believing this bullshit. He's just trying to confuse us."

"I get where you're coming from... But aren't Monokuma's very... Tragedy related...?" Tomoka said. "I mean... All around the streets, Monokuma's were parading all over. It was like cavalcade after cavalcade."

"That... That is true, but... Like I said, it was last year." I looked at Tomoka. "If all other Monokuma's were shut down, then how could the Tragedy still be going on? If anything, this is just a rogue Monokuma that happens to have an AI chip."