Chapter Text
prologue
I let out a scream, louder than I've ever screamed.
The people around me, they were just as afraid as me. except they were concerned because of my yells and shrieks of terror. I was concerned by something else.
I swear, there was something outside my window, which usually is just a tree or shrub… but I was on the fourth floor of the apartment building we've been stuck in for the past three weeks, or twenty three days. I‘ve been keeping track in my journal.
”Miss Bloomington， are you alright?“ I can't recognize the voice talking to me, but I realize who it is when the fluffy paws land on my shoulders.
”Yeah. I'm alright Bonnie, I thought I saw a spider, but it was just a dust bunny.“ I lie
Bonnie‘s expression turns from concern to relief. ”Well that's good, the others and I thought you were hurt!“ she says. I lift my head and see Eclipse and Rudie nodding.
”Do you want to come to floor zero with us? The others are trying to find a way to escape again.“ Eclipse says, Rudie nods signaling allowance for me to join them.
”Oh by the way, you can call me Cocoa, that's my first name. I'm not really used to being in Japan, and it’s a little uncomfortable when people refer to me by my last name.“ Cocoa says, grabbing my hand and heading towards the stairway.
The stairway was still a dull grayish tan. When we first arrived here we were all assigned rooms, well, assigned is a stretch. They were all in alphabetical order, but some of us swapped rooms to be with friends，like Bon- Cocoa and her group.
Our personal rooms all had a restroom, bedroom, a small kitchen, and a closet full of the same outfit, a school uniform for our assigned at birth gender.
There were no showers, so most of us would use the cleaning rag and sink water to bathe.
In the center of the apartment would be a small box, full of childhood photos and decorations based on the person‘s aesthetic and preferences. Really uncomfortable and eerie, but it’s better than dark and dreadful like the stairway.
Down at floor zero, the hardworking, talented toons were digging through the wall with a makeshift pickaxe, made from what I assume to be a sink faucet and pole from the stair railings. I wonder who sacrificed their only water source for that.
Besides the point.
The hardworking toons I'm referring to are Bobette, Soulvester, and Cocoa‘s crew. There are at least three other people watching as they dig, one holding a child, named Gourdy from what I've heard eavesdropping.
A final hit from Bobette hits the wall, and a small gap crumbles open.
”Woo-hoo! Finally, I can go home!“ Bobette cheers, but she’s abruptly stopped by Rudie.
”Everyone, stop cheering. There‘s something strange…“ he says.
Then and there, something unbelievable, supernatural, unreal happens. Thousands of tiny bugs, spiders, crawl out of the gap in the walls. The building starts shaking and the missing toons run down to the already cramped floor zero with us.
A figure smashes through the wall, and the whole building crumples.
I open my eyes, we’re all outside, and the rooms are still intact, but they're all stacked like a house rather than an apartment like before. I try to remember what happened. That figure that broke through the walls, but also allowed us out of the apartment building, that was the same creature I saw through my window.
A voice echoes throughout the dark, humid plains.
”こんにちは！Welcome people to Dandyronpa!“
The high pitched childlike voice says, ”I'll be your host, Sekitan-Inu! I see you're all foreign exchange students, besides Soulvester and Flyte.. You weirdos. kehehe“
How does this thing know all of this? I ask myself.
”This is a mess! But don't worry, I'll fix it!“
The figure points its tail at the stacked apartments, and suddenly, they get rearranged，from what I can tell... Back into alphabetical order? A bright light flashes, and walls of a huge lodge surround the rooms.
”Much better! A proper living space! Please excuse that dirty apartment building, it was all I had at the moment… Please enjoy your new place!“ The creature, or Sekitan, I suppose, says. All the other students are staring in disbelief.
Chapter One...
Chapter One
It goes silent, the voice has disappeared. The other students go to explore the new lodge, but I'm perplexed by something else. The sky from the pov inside the apartments was almost completely dark, only able to see the silhouettes of the forest, but outside, now, the sky is light and we‘re in a treeless plain. Weird.
Everything is so strange, so unrealistic… It feels like a huge fever dream. Just a big burden waiting to disappear as soon as my alarm goes off.
"Hey you guys still outside, you should come in! Y'all gotta see this!“
Gourdy yells, clearly awakened from his asleep state on Ribecca's back. I look around and see who else is still outside, but everyone else is already headed towards the lodge. I sprint forward, trying to slow down for a conversation with somebody. Someone to talk to.
The inside of the lodge was beautiful.
It had unbelievably cozy decor, well, for the situation we were currently in. Infact, why has nobody brought that up? We're in the middle of nowhere in Japan, inside a wood lodge in the center of a plains for some reason, and nobody remembers how we got here.
I clear my throat, hoping to get the others’ attention, but they can't hear me over the conversations about the improved living environment that Coakuma granted.
”Guys, why are we so content in this situation? It's weird enough that we're even here，but we saw magic in front of our eyes from that talking two-legged-rock-dog, and everybody is ignoring it like we see that everyday?” Cocoa yells. She's amazing, always so brave, and talented, and honestly just the perfect student. She's always been a huge role model for me, ever since I met her in junior high. I wish I could be like her, and I so wish I was as brave as her to be able to tell her this.
”Yeah, you're right Cocoa! I thought nobody else would bring that up. I was just about to say the same th-“ I say, but get cut off by Cocoa and my own realization.
”I hope this doesn't come off as rude, but Miss Bloomington, why didn't you just say what you thought before?“ She asks.
I sweat nervously, ”I just thought you would deliver the message better. I'm not the best at speaking infront of crowds... Also, just call me Bassie,“ I say, not mentioning the fact that I was trying to say it before, and my call for attention was unheard.
”Makes sense I guess, you should really work on your self confidence! I love hearing what you have to say.“ Cocoa smiles, and I smile back, awkwardly. I blushed lightly, and Cocoa must've somehow noticed, because she awkwardly laughs.
The next day, I rise from bed, yawning and stretching my arms upwards.
That was the first night I slept without horrible nightmares, nightmares about my horrible thoughts I’ve had since we somehow got in this situation. Nobody has thought about trying to leave the plains yet. Fair enough, since the land seems to stretch on forever until you can't see further than the horizon line.
I walk down the wooden stairway, not dull or gray. Wooden. A smile is plastered on my face.
"Hey, I've never seen you this happy, did something change?" Rudie asks, quickly catching himself and shaking his head, "Ah- not trying to be rude, I'm just surprised, you look well rested."
"Because I am! I haven't gotten this much sleep in so long! I'm glad Sekitan came, even though she's sort of... strange. I mean, it's not everyday you see magic. Some students' super high school level talent give them literal superpowers, but the class we're with here, we're all just normal students, who are good at something they're passionate about," I respond, reaching for a vine in my hair, and pulling it to behind one of my handles.
Rudie nods, "That's good to know. I'm glad you're getting more sleep," he says, laughing like he's at a circus performance. I just smile at him.
"Right, got a little off topic there," I say.
Rudie probably thinks that I'm implying I thought he was laughing at me getting off topic, he's easy to read with his exaggerated facial expressions, this one's presenting worry. “Have you acknowledged the fact that you gesture with your hands a lot while speaking?” I ask.
"Mhm. I used to tutor a deaf kid." He says.
We talk for a while, a simple back and forth conversation about our opinions on certain topics. Soon, the other students wake up and go downstairs to join our small talk.
A loud voice, a different one from Sekitan's, but equally as high pitched, booms from the speakers. "Hello students! Usually I prefer to speak Japanese, but it seems like most of you guys don't know Japanese.. fufufu," The voice says. The scratch of the speakers makes me want to puke.
Sekitan-inu rushes into the room, opening the lodge door with what I suppose is magic.
"Oh no, he's already here!" She says panicked. I look back up to the speakers, as if I would see someone. To my surprise, I did. Another talking rock-dog, like Sekitan-inu, is sat on the first window ledge in the hallway of rooms. It jumps down to the kitchen, landing on its face, but getting up in a quick, bouncy, oddly cartoonish way, so fast you don't even know how it got up. I'll just assume it's magic.
"Hey, what's everyone staring for? Don't you guys know me?" The figure says. Then it hits me. Koishi-inu.
Back in the apartments, and still in this lodge, instead of normal newspapers and magazines, there were Sekitan-inu magazines. Each zine includes a special section exaggerating the horrors of Koishi.
Other than the sinister, and somewhat goofy entrance, I saw nothing evil in this guy.
My brain filters out the argument of Sekitan-inu and Koishi-Inu and the horrified faces of my classmates. I guess I’m too tired, starving, and slightly dehydrated to notice. My brain finally snaps back to reality, and I catch Koishi saying something.
"Oh spare me this, you're acting like I'm all evil sis! You're the one who removed the students' school life memories, and the ones of how they got here!" Koishi yells. Sekitan gasps, clearly what was said was true, from the tone of that gasp.
"Excuse me?" I blurt out, quickly realizing what I've done. I cover my mouth with both my hands. I look at my classmates, trying to avoid Koishi and Sekitan-Inu's faces. I can tell they weren't expecting anyone to actually hear what they were talking about. "Crap, she wasn't meant to hear, how'd she break through too early? Oh gods," I hear in my ear. Someone is talking, I hear a gasp afterwards and a faint sound of a microphone dropping.
Sekitan looks at me afraid, but quickly, somehow, realizing that I zoned out again, continued yelling, in only what I could assume, telling Koishi that he messed up big time and about why he would mention that. This was only an assumption. All I could hear was the gaps between paragraphs of argument, and gasps of offense.
Soon, everyone snaps back to reality. Sekitan is gone. Koishi stands there, looking blankly at the floor before opening his mouth to talk, "Don't worry, she'll probably be back. But, I have an announcement to make, real quick, before Sekitan comes to lecture me again!" he said. The room is filled with whispers. Not the gossip kind, but the kind where you're muttering to yourself in disbelief. Koishi clears his throat, coughing into a handkerchief that appeared out of thin air. Unlike when I tried to get my classmate's attention myself, everyone immediately looked back up at Koishi-inu.
"So I've been thinking.. Not actually, I never think before I speak, but that's besides the point. Dandyronpa, have you ever heard of it? Sekitan actually led you into a death trap! Not voluntarily, so don't worry about her betraying you lot or something cheesy like that. fufufu." He had stopped mid sentence, presumably to let us all process what he just said. Then he started speaking again. "That's right, you're in a death game now! But I won't be the one torturing you guys. You'll all die quick painless deaths... If you don't kill each other first! Fufufu. That's right, if all of you decide to remain peaceful, you'll all die! It's only fair, two lives for ten, hm?"
Ten? I suppose somebody was missing. Me, Gourdy, Eclipse, Soulvester, Ribecca, Bobette, Ginger, Rudie, Cocoa, Fly- then it hit me. Flyte was missing. Flyte was… killed? The others also seem to count, and realize who was gone. I wanna puke. I run upstairs, ignoring whatever warnings I get, as well as completely not hearing Koishi laugh. The smell of ink that somehow wasn't there before stenched the hall. I stood infront of Flyte's room and paused, the sound of running footsteps are behind me. I can hear Rudie's hooves, and I assume the other two there are Cocoa and Eclipse.
I start breathing heavily, like there's weights in my lungs. I hadn't heard myself through all my thoughts, and didn't even realize I was sobbing until that familiar, fuzzy hand landed on my shoulder. A gesture of kindness and comfort that I've been handed many times.
"It'll be alright, I hope..." Cocoa says. After a few minutes of standing there in silence, and our other classmates rushing over , the door seemingly swings open itself. As if the wind just blew the locked door open.
Flyte's body is nowhere to be found. But there's some black liquid, that looks like ink, smells like ink, but the viscosity was off, as well as a bunch of pink colored dust, the scales on his wings. I never really talked to Flyte. Despite being able to speak English, he was much less talkative than his mute sister, who he once told me about. We didn't have a bond, but he somewhat had a way of words when he did talk. Class 2b. One classmate. Dead. Murdered, even.
Chapter One, part two...
Chapter One, part two
I breathe in and try to hold my breath.
“This has to be some stupid fever dream.” I mutter to myself in an air-deprivated voice, not realizing that I said that aloud.
“It’s alright Bassie. Just breathe out. This is difficult for all of us to process. Do you want to go outside with me? We can try to get out of this place, since Koishi seemingly disappeared after explaining the death game rules and what happens if you broke them. Bobette caught Rudie, Eclipse, and I up. I know this isn’t the best time to mention the death game, but I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t get hurt accidentally breaking a rule.” Cocoa explains, her paw resting on my shoulder for the second time today. So much has happened today, and I can barely hear her words. They’re blurred in with the sound of a door opening.
I raise my head, looking around to see who came into the room. Nobody, then I heard that voice, the same one I heard while zoned out earlier.
“Bassie? Hello, are you alright?” Cocoa asks, a concerned expression on her face, Eclipse is fiddling with her moon pendant next to her, nodding in agreement, and once again, concern.
“Yeah, I'm alright. It’s just so sudden. Like, we were used to that wretched apartment, then suddenly, we earned the right to a proper place to stay, and we’re stuck in a death game… I just didn’t expect anybody to die here.” I explain, Eclipse listening to my rant intently. Cocoa’s gone to get drinks for us: hot chocolate, floral tea, and sweet tea.
“Never knew you were big on psychology, it sounds interesting! I still don’t know what I’m gonna major in, even if we make it out here alive.” Eclipse lets out a disappointed laugh, and a sigh of shame, “Do you think we’d be able to survive this death game, or whatever?” She says, nearly spilling her drink as soon as she takes it from Cocoa’s hand when she returns.
“I don’t really know. It’s kind of a dark topic. I mean that Koishi-Inu thing, I thought the Sekitan Magazines were exaggerating, like—how can that guy—that talking rock dog—how could it kill one of our classmates?“ I say, tears returning to my waterline, before promptly coming to a stop, resting in my eyes, when Cocoa places her paw on my shoulder, for the third time.
“Hey, let’s go outside to try and find a way out of this place, like I mentioned earlier. You like flowers, correct? There’s a bunch of little blue flowers in the grass, plus a sunflower and daisy field. Whoever planted those did a great job, I wouldn’t be able to tell they were planted if it weren’t for all the gardening tools gathering around the red shed there.” Cocoa smiled thoughtfully. I smiled back, nodding, as I do like flowers, very much.
“You listen to the random bull-crap I say?” I snicker at my own self-deprecating comment. I wish I could remember as much about people as Cocoa, she must be great at picking out personal gifts for all her friends, and I admire that. A hint of envy drips down my esophagus, landing in my stomach and sizzling away. My face blushes lightly.
“Hey, it’s not random crap if I listen and make notes of your interests for later, those are important!” Cocoa yells, playfully. Eclipse looks unamused.
“Alright girls, I’m going to go get Rudie to come along with us, he loves whimsical activities, plus it’s a great way to calm down aft-.” Eclipse pauses, taking in mind that I felt uncomfortable about the mention of the death. Then she continues, “If you two aren’t ready in the lobby in five you’re gonna wear flip-flops to save time, then you’re gonna complain about bugs in the grass.” She jokes, Cocoa laughs, and I laugh quietly as well.
“Oh well that’s unexpected, you two aren’t thirty minutes late to go do something for once! Well, chop chop, if you arrived thirty minutes later we’d be in the dark, which is not my cup of sweet tea,” Eclipse jokes, clearly lying about the last part, as she’s mentioned loving the dark in every conversation that it’d fit in the topic with.
“Well, there was a little wolf who threatened us with bugs if we were late,” I said, Cocoa starts saying the same thing in unison with me, as we finish off the joke."
“That was like the least in sync thing I’ve ever seen you guys do,” Rudie says, this time I can’t make out if that was sarcasm or not, but I just brush it off.
Then there was silence. I woke up in the middle of the night, we were all leaned back against the lodge wall closest to the sunflower–daisy field. I tried recalling what woke me up, as it was still dark. Definitely wasn’t my paranoia to not be tardy at breakfast this time. My eyes widen, and I rush inside. To my relief, Eclipse was safe, leaning into the kitchen sink. Her ear twitches, and she turns to me.
“Bassie? Why are you awake?” The disheveled furred wolf asks me.
“I could ask you the same thing. Why are you in the kitchen washing your face?” I asked, a bit frustrated.
“Do you smell that too?” Eclipse asks, baffled that I don’t know the answer. I sniffed the air. The inky smell had gotten much stronger.
My pupils dilate, both trying to find light in the room, and out of pure terror. Seeing as I didn’t have a reply, she continues. “Even worse, Flyte’s room was cleaned. I saw while trying to figure out how the inu killed him.” pause, “That means there’s more ink, or blood than when Flyte died,” I say in unison with Eclipse. I suppose psychology can be used in simple discussions like this.
“I was washing my face, because I was trying to see if my ability was tampering with my sense of smell again. I guess it wasn’t.” She said, looking over at the grandfather clock tucked behind the stairway, that I suppose I just noticed. It’s only five. The others should be up as soon as the sun climbs above the low clouds.
“Huh, we should try to find out who died… I don’t want to see the body, or whatever was left on the floor after they were killed.” I say, grimly.
“I mean, I don’t want to assume they were killed, but I’m looking at our chances here, and doubting it.” Eclipse says, also sad and disappointed, gesturing at me to follow her to the hall of rooms.
We look at the rooms one by one, Eclipse keeping her head down to see if she can smell where the ink stench is coming from. She finally stops infront of a room. Gourdy’s. Eclipse and I freeze, and I can hear Eclipse breathing heavily.
I finally noticed something Eclipse noticed a bit before we arrived at Gourdy’s door. Ribecca’s lights were on. I can’t help but nudge Eclipse to signal that I noticed what she saw, despite her being frozen, She hands me her phone.
We haven’t been able to do anything with our cellphones since there was no signal, no satellites, and only the settings, camera, and photo app would work. But honestly, that was all we really needed in our current situation.
I snapped quick photos of the blood under Gourdy’s door and the faint glow from under Ribecca’s door. The light is dim, but it’s bright enough you’re able to tell that it’s the overhead light and not the study light on the desks.
We walked downstairs, Eclipse’s head still down, her expression unreadable. We proceeded to sit beside each other on the couch in the lounge, just waiting for sunrise.
Chapter One, part three...
Chapter One, part three
I woke up for the second time that day, taken a small nap. The sun has nearly risen. Eclipse is staring out the window, clear she didn’t take a moment to rest like I did. The others should be waking up.
“Oh, you’re awake. Perfect timing, I mean, I suppose you still have that mini time paranoia alarm clock in your head,” Eclipse says, “Can you go call our classmates to meet here? I think I understand how you felt with the whole ‘I didn’t know them that long, we never even talked, but my heart is still breaking down and sobbing at the death,’ thing.” I nod at the first part, pausing as I hear Eclipse’s confession.
I nod again, then ask her, “How’d you know I was saying that?” I asked.
“Wolf hearing, you were probably muttering it under your breath without noticing.” Eclipse says nervously. I nod again, heading upstairs to call the others down. Eclipse goes outside, likely to wake up Rudie and Cocoa.
“So, you guys are wondering what’s going on?” I ask hesitantly. Some of the others nod, whispering to each other. I sigh, “Well, Eclipse and I noticed something earlier, do you guys notice anyone missing here?” I ask. The others either have eyes wide in shock, or confused expressions. Understandable, Gourdy usually wakes up around nine. It’s only six-thirty at the moment. I glance at Eclipse, she hands me her phone. I open the Photos app, I can see Eclipse’s nervous shaking and existential dread, as well as Ribecca’s panicked expression.
I click on the photo of the “blood’” underneath Gourdy’s doorframe, turning the phone and showing it to everyone. Gasps fill the room. I stand up, signaling “follow me” to the rest, “We need to investigate,” I say, “First we need to check if he really is dead.”
as we enter the room, a loud announcement plays, “A body has been discovered!” The loud recognizable voice, from Koishi, shouts. Eclipse starts to sob, Ribecca hyperventilating behind her.
“Ribecca, ma’am, please calm down, you as well, Eclipse. The people who are getting picked off one by one are weak, so we mustn’t be cowardice, this is difficult for everybody. Even I feel like I’ve failed to protect Gourdy, but we have to investigate, and if you two aren’t going to buffer, now’s not the right time for you to be here.” A voice from behind says. I turn around, it’s soulvester, I should’ve guessed from the way he spoke.
“Soulvester’s right. I pity you two, and Gourdy didn’t deserve this fate, but it’s pretty clear the people trying to escape this killing game have no morals and go for the weakest first, so calm down. And Soulvester, your voice throws off your whole ‘no offense thing’ try calming down and taking your own advice,” I say frustrated, investigating Gourdy’s room, trying to avoid investigating the corpse, with everyone’s current state. Eclipse’s phone is still in my back pocket.
Suddenly, the whole room fills with buzzes and beeps. I check Eclipse’s phone, and a popup comes on the screen. I was going to give Eclipse her phone so she could read it, but I realized she’s not in the right mood to be able to.
It was a report, a Koishi-Inu file, showing information about the death and victim. I look at the file and back to the room, all the information is correct, but some key information is missing: The time of death, student last seen with, and the cause of death. I look around the room, trying to find the missing pieces of info. The first two being essentially impossible to figure out if you weren’t there when the murder happened. Then it hits me, I still had the photo of the lights being on in Ribecca’s room.
“Hey Bassie, how’s the investigating going? You’ve been in this room for a while, and I reckon you should just take photos of the crime scene and room, before moving on to investigate the other places and interrogating the others,” Cocoa tells me.
“Right, I’ll be right there. Oh by the way, what’s your alibi? I already know you were asleep when Eclipse and I found the body, but we don’t exactly know when it happened so it’s difficult to prove innocence.” I say, taking photos of the crime on my phone, and airdropping myself the information on Eclipse’s. When I’m done with that, I place Eclipse’s phone on the lounge table while passing by, to go outside, get fresh air after that psychological torture.
“Gourdy, the ultimate candy maker, dead. He was the youngest of our class,” I mutter to myself, Fourteen wasn’t young for a highschooler. But he was the youngest non-junior course member at Hope’s Garden Academy. How could this have ever happened, it’s so… surreal…
“Hey Bassie, you done catching a break? I don’t want to overwork you, but if we don’t find out who the killer is, we’ll all be punished. Plus with only seven people available to help with the investigation, we’ll need all we can get,” Rudie says. pause, “Do you need a moment"?” Rudie asks, thoughtfully.
I nod, “Just one minute,” after the break, I finished up investigating the photos of everyone’s rooms. Any sharp objects, or anything that smelled of ink, even just ink pens or paintings, were confiscated for Cocoa and I to investigate.
I breathe out, reciting everyone’s alibi’s in my head to write on my notepad. They just assume the person who loves psychology was good at solving crimes like a detective. I could only narrow down suspects, but I couldn’t solve the whole mystery. I try to breathe out again, not realizing I didn’t breathe in after my last sigh. “Cough cough, eugh… Forgetting to breathe is the new low of my sleep deprivation now?” I joke to myself. Chuckling. Despite getting nearly ten hours of sleep last night, my restless investigating wore me down, it was only noon. I couldn’t rest yet.
I carry my notes and phone downstairs, stopping in the kitchen to take two bottles of sweet tea from the fridge. We ran out of tea bags yesterday, I’d used most of them when we were still in that unstable apartment building.
I place one bottle on the table in the lounge, the other placed infront of Eclipse’s room.
I start investigating suspect one’s claims. Ribecca’s claims. I don’t believe one single bit that she killed Gourdy. Not just from the reaction to Gourdy’s death, that could’ve been really good acting, but from proven evidence, because I have proof of her alibi being true. I’m just saving it for the class trial. So nobody uses it against me.
“You nearly done with your investigating?” Cocoa asks, “I’ve finished looking at the potential weapons, all of them are clear. This crime is deeper than we thought,” she says
“Mmm, yep, after background checking suspect three, I’ll only have one more suspect,” I reply, “I always figured this would be a difficult crime. The doors lock from the inside, but the room was locked with nobody but the victim inside, so I checked the lock, it wasn’t even locked with the door lock, it was locked with one of those portable locks. I know that kind of makes the previous information obsolete, but I like burning time just to get out of this research so I can sleep contently tonight.” I yawn, and take a sip of the sweetened tea. I glanced back at the hall of rooms, Eclipse had taken the sweet tea. I smile.
“Figured you liked messing with people, I’m gonna check the basement that we just found out existed. I’ll let you know if I see anything crucial!” Cocoa smiles. My smile brightens even more after that.
“A basement huh? That sounds scary, I’m glad you’re checking it instead of suggesting I do.” I laugh, “Also, I don’t like messing with people, I told you why I was saying unnecessary information,” I say. Looking back down to continue my fact-checking. I can nearly hear Cocoa mutter “sure, sure,” quietly.
Chapter One, part four...