danganronpa - murderous heights // BONUS CONTENT!

Backstory Blurpt - Ryochi

Since the 1st motive is officially here, I figured Ryochi's headphone audio (to be revealed next chapter ;)) would need context. Enjoy.

tw:

- mentions of abuse (not in detail, it doesn't actually happen in the story, it's just mentioned)

- mentions of alcoholic parents (in case you have one and are sensitive to it)

READ THE A/N AT THE END, PLEASE!

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"Big Bro! Big Bro! Lookie here! Look at what I can do!"

Ryochi watched with a mirth-filled smile as his little sister pranced around his bedroom, her eyes bright with wonder and a childlike sense of innocence as she presented him a birthday present. She made him a little safe decoration, made mostly of macaroni and old bendy straws. Knowing she made it all by herself filled him with pride - she was doing much better than he had when he was her age.

He ruffled her knotted, tangled mop of a head of hair and gently took it in his hands, cradling it like a precious treasure, because it was. "Thanks, Cal. You did a great job. Wish I could repay you somehow, but... y'know."

She laughed it off, stepping back and pressing her finger to his nose. "Don't worry about it, Big Bro! It's your birthday. You're getting old, and Ma said I'd need to take care of you when you got old, so this is how I'm gonna start!"

"I-I don't think I'm that old yet, Cal..." He replied through her fits of laughter. Cal was the most important thing in the world to Ryochi, so he let the comment slide.

At first, when he heard Ma was having another kid, he would grumble. Kick a few toy cars around, complain to his friends in his kindergarten playground that he didn't want someone else for his mother to cherish, to love. Of course, he only did this out of jealousy. She was so gentle with the new baby, not harsh and cruel like she was to him. When the baby would be an annoyance, she would coo and tell Ryochi how adorable she was, but when he did something? It was straight to the school nurse the next day with an injury he got from ' roughhousing '.

Of course, soon, Cal grew up. Ma was strict with her, too, ever since she started going to school. In her world, anything below a 90 was a failure, and any failing grade deserved what Ryochi liked to call ' The Deadly Twirl '. In fact, he didn't see it as anything other than that - a simple dance.

A dance where Ma would grab his arm, quite harshly, and send them both twirling around the room. She would accidentally push him into a wall on the way, sometimes leaving an imprint there of his back. A dance where the only music filling his ears were the shouts of Ma herself and Cal's wailing, choky song in the background as she tried to play along.

When he would go to school the next day, his teachers would look at him with concern. "This isn't healthy," they'd tell him. "You need to call someone. Child protective services. Try to contact your father - is he aware of this?"

"It's just a dance." Ryochi replied. "Sometimes, she slips up and we hit an object. Ma always says she's sorry after. We're just dancing."

Ma never danced with Cal. She always said Cal was light on her feet - like a dove gracefully maneuvering around. Maybe she was worried Cal would dance better than her. Maybe she actually did like Ryochi more, and so she decided he deserved more of the waltzing time. Either way, he was a bit relieved she wanted to dance with him. It hurt, but it made him feel loved. The way she'd hold him tightly (sometimes, it felt like he was suffocating), the way she would spin him around, the way she'd let him know she was sorry for hurting him, he knew it meant she loved him.