Mimi’s Writing Corner

She’d thought she’d had them all accounted for. Had she missed one…?

She shook her head. It didn’t matter. They were getting out of here anyway. It was worrisome that she had woken up here all of a sudden but anything could have happened to have the others bring her here.

She left the room without another thought, heading straight for the entrance hall.

——

The moment Kyoko stepped into the entrance hall, she froze.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Sakura Ogami, Chihiro Fujisaki and Sayaka Maizono were standing there, alongside Aoi Asahina and Toko Fukawa, and some of them were talking amongst each other.

Kyoko stared at the four people that should, by all intents and purposes, be dead.

Her heart lodged into her throat.

She blinked. And then she blinked again. She narrowed her eyes, shook her head. Pinched herself.

The sting of the pinch was strong enough to deduce she wasn’t dreaming. But she was doing a terrible job of shaking off whatever hallucination this was.

Asahina didn’t seem too bothered at the others’ sudden reanimation. She wasn’t reacting to Ogami’s presence in any of the ways Kyoko would have attributed to her after everything they’d been through.

She looked a little confused, but there was no recognition in her eyes when she looked at the others.

Fukawa was standing off to the side. Kyoko stared at the other girl long enough to attract her suspicious glare.

There was no recognition there either.

Someone bumped into her.

“Whoa, hey, don’t stand at the door!” came the complaint and Kyoko flinched away from the voice, her wide eyes snapping onto yet another dead body.

Kyoko was tense and she was pretty sure she probably should be breathing more, which was why it took her so long to realise the living dead before her wasn’t Junko Enoshima, but rather the disguised Mukuro Ikusaba.

The twice over disfigured Mukuro Ikusaba.

The Ultimate Soldier, Mukuro Ikusaba.

Something in Ikusaba’s Junko act slipped for a moment as she studied Kyoko. There was suspicion among the concern in her eyes and Kyoko desperately tried to reel in her panic.

The fashionista mask slipped back on more properly.

“Hey, you okay? You look kinda pale,” Ikusaba asked.

Kyoko took a deep breath. A drop of cold sweat ran down her neck.

“Uh… yeah.” Kyoko looked away, back towards the other students in the hall. “I may be getting a little bit sick.” That wasn’t a lie. Her stomach was folding in on itself.

Ikusaba frowned. “Well that doesn’t sound very reassuring.” She sighed. “Whatever, just tell someone if it starts getting worse. We’ll go to the nurse’s office, or something.”

Kyoko nodded numbly.

Ikusaba stared at Kyoko for a few more scrutinising moments before turning around and heading to the group of other students.

If Fukawa was standing in the corner on one side of the hall, Kyoko stiffly dragged herself to the other side, the main group of students gathered in between them and talking amongst each other.

“It’s all very weird right? What’s with the aesthetic?” Ikusaba was saying.

“Yeah, since when does the entrance door look like that? It seemed pretty normal and wooden when I walked in here an hour ago.” That was Maizono.

“Maybe they’re just that good at redesigning!” Asahina proposed. “Kinda makes sense for the most prestigious school in Japan if you think about it!”

They had no idea.

Kyoko folded her arms over her chest and tried to think. She was listening to the conversation in the background with one ear, but it wasn’t telling her much.

More people were arriving. More students. More of her classmates. Kyoko counted them off in her head as each new person stepped through the door. Including her, that made 13 now.

Hagakure poked his head in—that’s 14—looking very confused for a moment and then looking very relieved. “Oh, good, I made it! These hallways are so confusing, man!” He stepped in and joined the group.

“It is past 8 o’clock!” Ishimura pointed at Hagakure and, oh god, Kyoko did not miss his yelling. “How could you arrive late to your first day at this prestigious school!”

Hagakure looked spooked for a moment, but again, there was no recognition in his eyes.

Kuwata groaned, annoyed. “Dude, chill. It’s like two minutes past 8, stop overreacting.”

“I woke up in a bathroom stall I don’t remember walking into! I barely found my way back here, it’s not my fault!”

There was a short silence.

“Yeah, woke up next to some weird fucking hotel sign myself,” Owada grumbled. Various nods followed.

“Yeah, I woke up alone in a classroom.”

“I woke up in some kind of multi-media room, no idea how I got there.”

“I didn’t have any business in the bathroom either. Yet one moment I’m stepping through the school gate, and the next I’m there!”

“The same happened to me!”

“Okay, now that’s weird.”

People were starting to talk over each other and Kyoko half tuned them out as they discussed the peculiarity of their situation.

Kyoko had her own peculiar situation to deal with.

It was like she was back on the first day of their entrapment. The beginning of the death game.

Kyoko observed her classmates from the side.

Healthy. Uninjured. Confused and not knowing.

It was like she was back in time.

Ikusaba was stealing glances at Kyoko. Kyoko couldn’t tell for sure if that was happening because of their earlier conversation about Kyoko feeling sick or not. If Ikusaba was concerned, or if that would simply be her excuse that she was if caught in the act and asked.

Kyoko wasn’t sure Ikusaba would actually care. And there was something about those glances that made the detective feel very much in danger.

She tried to channel ‘distant and a little panicked because I can’t remember who I am’ as opposed to ‘distant and a little panicked because I know too much’.

She wasn’t very sure she succeeded, but people were talking, so Ikusaba turned back to the conversation.

Kyoko did another absentminded headcount.

Fourteen.

She glanced at the clock on the wall. 8:13.

Fourteen.

Perhaps she could use this to test a theory. What time had he come in again…?

At 8:17, the doors leading from the entrance hall into the school proper opened.

Fifteen.

Ah, had it been at 8:17, then?

“Whoa, hey, another new kid?” Kuwata asked.

Makoto Naegi blinked at the people gathered in the hall and made his way in, “Huh? Wait, so then you guys are all…?”

“Indeed,” Ogami nodded. “Today is supposed to be our first day of class.”

“That makes fifteen of us, including him,” Celeste said. “It seems like a good cut-off point. I wonder if this is everyone?”

“Sorry I’m late,” Naegi scratched at his neck awkwardly. “A bunch of stuff happened and I was just… asleep.”

Hagakure gasped. “You too?!”

Celeste hummed. “So we really did all experience the same thing. How curious.”

“Aaaah! It’s creepy! So absolutely creepy!” Yamada shrieked, making Kyoko almost wince at the noise. And then she actively winced when Ishimaru yelled right over him, pointing at Naegi.

“Do you have the slightest idea what time it is?!” Ishimaru asked as if Naegi hadn’t literally just apologised for arriving late, thus acknowledging that he indeed knew what time it was. By this point Kyoko was so done with the argument that she did her best to tune it out in an attempt to prevent a headache. Instead she focused on observing Naegi’s expressions as he got scolded and then defended.

He looked as clueless as the rest of them.

Something tightened in Kyoko’s chest at the realisation.

Next thing she knew, everyone was going around introducing each other to the rest. Kyoko struggled to maintain her composure as corpse after corpse approached her, introducing themselves to her as if nothing was wrong. As the only living faces around did the same.

Suffice to say, conversations with Kyoko didn’t last long. They were mostly limited to her just mumbling out her last name and then waiting for each of them to get the hint and leave her alone.

It was a little harder to deal with Ikusaba and Maizono, who approached her at the same time.

“Hey,” Ikusaba greeted, and then proceeded to wave and pose. “I’m Junko Enoshima! Nice to meetcha!” Kyoko stared at her. Maizono introduced herself too but Kyoko just continued to stare at Ikusaba. After a long and awkward enough silence, the disguised girl slumped into something more casual. She gave Kyoko a concerned frown. “You still feeling sick?”

Maizono gasped at that and looked at Kyoko with concern in her eyes too. “You’re sick? I’m sorry to hear that! What’s wrong? Can we help?”

Kyoko took a subtle breath and carefully stopped staring at Ikusaba, looking at Maizono instead.

“… I think I’m just tired,” Kyoko said carefully. “I should be fine after getting some rest.”

Maizono searched her expression for a few long moments before nodding. “Well, let’s hope so! It would be awful if it was an actual sickness. But let us now if it keeps up so we can help, okay?”

Kyoko nodded slowly. “Fine.”

Maizono gave another satisfied nod before pausing. “And, uh, what is your name again? You never mentioned.”

Kyoko was considering just straight up walking away. They could just ask one of the people she’d already introduced herself to. But then her eyes wandered to another person approaching their little group and suddenly she was frozen in place.

“Kirigiri.” Kyoko said, staring at pale hazel eyes. “Kyoko Kirigiri.”

Maizono brightened up and gave Kyoko a charming smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Kirigiri-chan!” Ikusaba responded something along those lines as well.

“And you?” The question took everyone by surprise for different reasons, but Kyoko was only looking at the boy behind Maizono. “What’s your name?” She asked him.

“O-oh!” Naegi stuttered, staring back at Kyoko with wide eyes as he processed that she was talking to him. When Maizono spun around to look at him, his eyes drifted to her and he gave her a shy, apologetic smile, presumably for startling her. He turned his attention back to Kyoko. “I’m Makoto Naegi! It’s nice to meet you, Kirigiri-san.”

Kyoko nodded at him. She wasn’t entirely sure what had prompted her to ask. After all, she knew his name just fine. It was a pretty unnecessary interaction.

Maizono was staring at Naegi and, from the corner of her eye, Kyoko could tell Ikusaba was staring at Kyoko. The detective hoped that wasn’t a bad thing. She didn’t think she was acting too out of character for herself. But then again, Ikusaba had been her classmate for two years. They could have known each other well.

Note: When you see brackets with nothing between them “()”, that’s how I mark empty space that needs writing added to it. It can be as little as a few missing paragraphs, or as long as several missing chapters inbetween scenes.

Note2: I still haven’t decided how I’m gonna be addressing the characters but I’m mostly taking the forms of address from the English dub of Danganronpa: The Animation, as opposed to the English dub of the game. Someday I’ll watch and play those things in Japanese. For now, Kyoko calls everyone but Celeste by their last name, even Makoto, because… idk, they haven’t had the talk yet.

Note3: As a zero draft, where I’m still working out the plot, the writing is uh… subpar. But also I have yet to finish a full chapter of writing for any of my numerous fic ideas, so I’m dropping this off just so that it isn’t lonely. Please point out any typos you notice!

Anyways. Enjoy!

——

Kyoko stared at Monokuma thoughtfully as he talked. That snide high-pitched voice was grating on her ears.

She was back in time.

The first time around she had suffered from memory loss. Or, more accurately, Junko Enoshima had somehow taken more of her memories than she had taken from anybody else.

Because she’d been wary of Kyoko’s detective skills.

Now Kyoko had an abnormal amount of knowledge, even if there was still a hole in much of her childhood memories. She knew what would happen next.

Well, she amended. She was already a brand new factor into the situation. Just her current thoughts were already a change in the situation that would undoubtedly lead to huge alteration in the timeline she was currently living.

She looked around. She wondered if anyone else was different from what she remembered. She wondered if she’d have the opportunity to find out.

She hoped Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba were not having Kyoko’s experience right now.

Monokuma disappeared, leaving everyone standing in the gym in various stages of dread and horror. Kyoko looked around, her eyes shifting to Ikusaba’s admittedly appropriate response—not horrible in the acting department. Kyoko, Togami and Celeste had less shocked expressions on their faces.

She then looked at Naegi standing in the middle of the room. She frowned softly in sympathy at the disbelieving and horrified look on his face.

When he’d introduced himself to her, there had been no recognition in his eyes.

The one person she’d perhaps have considered facing this situation alongside was back at the starting line, just like everybody else, as far as Kyoko could tell.

He wasn’t her friend, whose stubbornness had sharpened throughout the horrors they’d gone through, but who had managed to remain hopeful and kind despite everything.

Those qualities of his were still there, of course. They always had been. But right now, they were fragile.

Naegi no longer had experience solving murder cases. His input was unlikely to be necessary in her plans.

And sharing this secret with him could be dangerous.

They could be overheard. Naegi could slip up.

No… he wouldn’t slip up. Keeping a secret was one thing he was capable of. That was one thing Ogami’s case had taught her.

He’d kept her secret and almost got killed for it too…

Having the knowledge would make him reckless. Make him noticeable. Put him in danger.

Just what felt like should undoubtedly have been earlier today, when Naegi had confronted Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair had confessed to having always been frustrated by Naegi. Wary of him.

Apparently, that wariness had initially saved his life. It had been what convinced Enoshima to keep him alive.

But during their investigation of the school’s mysteries, the mastermind had tried to get rid of him almost as much as she had been trying to get rid of Kyoko.

It was better for Naegi to remain in the background. To seem to all the world like just an ordinary high school boy with slightly strange luck and a little too much optimism. Not remarkable in any way.

Kyoko now knew… not everything, but enough to work with.

She knew Enoshima was the mastermind. She knew the person walking among them was, in fact, Mukuro Ikusaba, disguised. She knew the reason they’d been made to kill each other. She knew the kinds of motives that would successfully be able to push some of her classmates to kill each other.

She knew where Enoshima’s surveillance couldn’t reach her.

All she had to do now was figure out how to prevent the killings and put an end to the game without being suspicious. Without Enoshima noticing that Kyoko was intervening. Without Kyoko attracting attention and getting herself killed before she can stop this.

That kind of discretion would be very limiting. The process would be slow. Nobody would believe her if she outright explained their situation because the concept of time travel was outrageous. And Kyoko would have no way of convincing the others that she was telling the truth without confessing to that little tidbit of information.

()

Keeping Naegi out of harm’s way would prove to be quite the challenge, considering he’d just been punched by Owada and would then later go on to become the first murder suspect if Kyoko didn’t do something about Maizono and Kuwata.

Kyoko couldn’t help but be a little frustrated at the way Naegi and Maizono clung to each other’s presence, being each other’s one familiar face among the chaos.

If only Kyoko could prevent Maizono from getting her motive… to prevent her from becoming desperate enough to try and frame Naegi for her attempt on Kuwata’s life.

()

Kyoko startled back to life, her breaths shallow and her heart in her throat. She looked around frantically, quickly taking note of her surroundings.

She put her head in her hands and tried to slow her breaths.

Back to square one.

She wondered if maybe she’d be stuck like this forever.

Someone always died. No matter what she did, someone always died, and then she herself would eventually follow.

Naegi had almost died again. And this time, he didn’t even know anything.

She’d hoped ignorance would at least somewhat limit the amount of trouble he managed to get himself into.

What a futile hope that had been.

She couldn’t do this.

She couldn’t do this on her own.

She’d had Naegi by her side the first time around. And even at the times when he hadn’t been much help in her investigations…

His presence had helped.

Knowing he was on her side had helped. Kyoko almost choked on the realisation of just how much it had helped.

Her breathing finally calmed but she didn’t move. She didn’t care that she would arrive later than usual. Even if she arrived later than Naegi, she didn’t care. Out of character for her? Perhaps. But Enoshima could chalk it up as a side effect to however she’d drugged them, or even to her uniquely more intense case of memory loss.

…

Keeping things from Naegi hadn’t helped him much.

And Kyoko was so tired. She didn’t want to do this alone anymore.

Kyoko rose to her feet and headed for the gym.

()

She’d made it before Naegi, even this time. She barely held back her incredulous snort at the thought. Since when was she punctual in grim circumstances?

She was staring at him even more than usual this time around. From the moment he walked in, her thoughts were focused solely on him. On the decision she was making. She redirected her gaze off to a random spot on the wall.

Was she really going to go through with this?

How does one go about telling another person that they’re from the future, and that they’re stuck in a time loop?

How does someone who doesn’t remember you in the slightest, who sees you as nothing but a stranger, go about believing something like that?

…then again, “stranger” might as well be another word for “potential future friend”, as far as Makoto Naegi’s dictionary was concerned.

And even if he didn’t believe her—because he could be stupidly trusting sometimes, but he was not an idiot, and common sense had a high chance of prevailing above all else in Naegi’s mind despite everything—, at least she would have tried.

There was no apparent way out of the loop she was stuck in at the moment. As terrified as she was every time she messed up that, this time, it would be permanent, it was still all too likely that if she messed up and died again, she’d just wake up at the start once more.

Kyoko’s eyes drifted back to Naegi when he got around to her once again, smiling shyly as he introduced himself.

She met his eyes and steeled her resolve.

She’d tell him.

She’d tell him the moment a good opportunity arose.

After all, what did she have to lose?

()

Now was her chance. She stared at him, at his confused and flustered expression for having been dragged into the bathroom—his own bathroom—by her.

“Um… Kirigiri-san…?”

Now was her chance. Time alone. In private. Monokuma wouldn’t eavesdrop. Naegi trusted her enough to look puzzled instead of panicked about how she’d dragged him in here.

Tell him.

Her throat closed up.

What if he doesn’t believe me?

…

What if he does?

“Kirigiri-san…i-is everything okay?”

“I know things,” she blurted.

Naegi blinked up at her at that. “What… wait, are you talking about the new motives?” Confusion shifted into realisation and then into embarrassment. “I mean, mine isn’t exactly…”

Kyoko blinked back at him, surprised. “I don’t mean those. Though I do believe I know most of them.”

“Uuh… then… you must know I wouldn’t try to kill anyone over mine… right?” Naegi was blushing. “Mine’s pretty… childish.”

Kyoko’s eyes softened. “Even if yours had been serious, you still wouldn’t have killed anyone over it. I doubt you would even try to hurt anyone over it.”

“Uh…thanks for the show of confidence? But then, why are we…”

“What I’m about to tell you will sound crazy. But I implore you to hear me out and try to believe me. And whether or not you do, to keep this whole conversation a secret.”

Naegi’s eyes widened. “You know something important, don’t you? About why we’re in this situation.” He paused, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. “Why wouldn’t I believe you? You wouldn’t be telling me this for no reason. No matter how crazy it sounds, I’ll believe you.” He shrugged a little helplessly. “Our situation is already crazy enough as it is.”

He said it like it was obvious. Like it was that simple.

Kyoko’s eyes pierced through Naegi’s own but he stood his ground, open and serious and trusting.

“I know things,” Kyoko said, deciding to built her way up from where she’d initially started. “More than I should logically be able to know. About you, about this school. About the rest of our classmates. About the mastermind.”

Naegi tensed at that, shocked but not disbelieving. He was quiet for a few moments before asking, his voice barely above a whisper, as if the enemy would hear him if he tried to be any louder.

“You know who the mastermind is?”

Kyoko nodded.

“I do. I know who she is. I know who her accomplice is. I know why she’s doing this to us, and I also know we can defeat her.

“ …I know all this because we’ve done it before. We’ve beat her. I’ve lived it.”

Kyoko waited, as Naegi obviously struggled to take everything in, overwhelmed.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, he asked:

“…you’ve lived it?”

There it was. The moment of truth. Kyoko sighed and braced herself.

“Yes. Though only once, admittedly. I’ve failed to stop her every time since,” Kyoko huffed a tired, incredulous laugh. “It seems I can’t do it without you.”

Naegi looked stunned.

It felt like another short span of eternity before he spoke.

“I… I don’t understand…”

“I’m a bit of a time-traveler, you see.” She snorted. “It’s ridiculous, really. That kind of thing should be impossible. Something limited to the realm of science fiction. But it appears it was only improbable. Just like so much about this death game is.”

Naegi’s questions sounded like they were more caught up with the situation than the rest of him.

“Y-you’re from the future…?”

Kyoko gave him a small pained smile. There was undeniable disbelief in his voice, but his reaction only made her fond.

“And stuck in a time loop, at that.”

“That’s… that’s insane…”

Kyoko couldn’t agree more.

“I know.”

——

That’s all I have to offer for now!