Future's Hope - A Danganronpa Spinoff

P - 7 : Stranger Ends

Suddenly, the speakers crackled to life.

"Ha! Haha!  How do you like that?  Monoko is up, running, and stunningly perfect!"  The PA crackled and went silent.

"Thaaaat's right, kiddos!"  The cat, Monoko, shouted.

Kioko was the first to react.

With an ear-piercing scream, she gripped the door and began to tug and push at it, trying to get out.  But her struggling was to no avail, and though Eiji also ran over and tried to help, the two only ended up clinging onto each other, pressed against the door.

Yuudai and Fuyutake pushed closer to each other, eyes wide.  Alastor, Seiichi, Rouko and Kyung all helped a boy who I hadn't noticed before as he fainted, bobbing down around him and shielding him from view as they fussed.  Rei began murmuring about curses, and Tamotsu and Aimi teamed up to help others.
Sora made to run for the stage, but Kaida stopped her, gripping her arm tightly and pulling her backwards. 

But nobody stopped Michi as he rollerbladed his way through the group, and I watched in slow-motion as he reached the stage, skidded to a stop and made a grab for the cat.
Shocked into action, I ran to the stage as well, grabbing Michi and pulling him away.

"GET OFF ME, BASTARD!"  He shouted, yanking his arm out of my grip.

"Katsu, don't-!"  I replied, running for him again.

"Violence against Principal Monoko is strictly forbidden!"  Monoko shouted, and as I grabbed Michi the cat pulled out a button and pressed it, and suddenly the world went white and I couldn't hear or see anything but a ringing in my ears and I felt myself fall, felt the ground on my knees, and then my senses came back...

Grey.
All that surrounded me was grey.
But it wasn't a grey which could be touched.
It wasn't the grey of walls and floors, or the grey of clothing.
It was a hazy, smoky grey.  Like a thick fog.  I could see the floorboards, barely, and I could see my hand, barely, but I couldn't see anything else.
A ball of panic began its slow crawl up my throat, and with it came an unfamiliar sensation of the cup filling, the world becoming too much for me.  I heard a voice on the PA, a voice I recognised, but it sounded like it was coming from inside my head as well as far, far away at the same time.  The panic reached the surface, the water overflowed, and my vision seemed to narrow until it was only one singular point, a singular piece of flooring. 
Water hit my back but it felt like knives, my mouth went dry, my body froze in place as I stared at this singular point, my brain trying to understand what was happening while simultaneously shutting down.  My senses heightened further, I felt the knives dig in deeper, I felt the shirt clinging to my back, watching as droplets of water fell down my nose and onto the floor, each drop going in slow motion but also too fast to see.  I felt the blood running through my veins, the heart beating in my chest, the nails on my fingers.  It felt like I was being pulled every which way, like I was tied to the front of a train which was about to drop over a cliff, and my stomach dropped and my breathing fastened and everything was too much, all too much...
I leaped up and ran for the doors, making a desperate bid for escape.  I reached them, the logical part of my brain telling me they were locked, I couldn't leave, but I still rammed my shoulder into them.
Closed.
Locked.
Trapped.
I felt myself sliding towards the floor, and I dropped my head into my hands, trying to calm myself.
I was sweating, but it was cold.  My hands shook, my brain was a tangled mess of thoughts, like a child scribbling on a piece of paper.

"Calm down."  I whispered to myself.  I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, focusing on just that, just my breathing.  And as I did that, I began to feel it.

The ground beneath my feet.  The water dripping onto my clothes.  It was passing.

I was okay.