Torment and Lies (New Danganronpa V3 x OC)

[19] Suspicious

Shuichi had walked into the dining hall. Kaito, Maki, Tsumugi, and Kiibo were there and the atmosphere was thick. But there was one person trying to cheer everyone up.

"Geez, don't be stupid, guys. There's no way I'd die, y'know?" Kaito reassured. "Cuz I'm Momota Kaito, Luminary of the Stars!"

"Are you really okay?" Tsumugi asked.

"I'm telling you! I'm just fine! I wasn't feeling great yesterday, but after a good night's sleep, I'm all better. I'm 100% better now!"

Maki sighed. "There's no way you would get better so quickly after coughing up that much blood."

"I told you, didn't I? I just coughed too much and cut my throat a little, that's all."

"Are you sure you're not pushing yourself too hard?" Kiibo inquired. "Or suffering from a chronic illness-"

"Don't be stupid!" Kaito interrupted. "If I had a chronic illness, I wouldn't stand a chance in astronaut training! Seriously, you guys are worrying too much. Just cuz you all love me and cant help yours-"

"...Of course we'd be worried." Maki snapped.

"My bad... But I'm serious. You don't need to worry about me anymore... I shoulda told you guys I wasn't feeling well. I made you worry for nothing."

"..." Maki glared at Kaito, unconvinced.

"O-Okay... don't glare at me like that. If I do start to feel bad again, I'll have you guys help me, okay? Now that that's outta the way, let's eat! Yeah, c'mon guys! Let's all eat!" Kaito spoke cheerfully then left to go get his food.

"Hey... Where's Aki-san and Yumeno-san?" Tsumugi asked.

"Yumeno-san told me that she would bring Aki-san... but she seems to be taking quite a while." Kiibo responded.

"How was she?" Shuichi asked.

"She... She said she was fine and refused to let me or Yumeno-san into her room... and refused to come out." Kiibo sighed sadly. "Eventually she just stopped responding to us and we decided to check again in the morning."

Shuichi blinked. "You went there earlier?"

Kiibo nodded. "Yeah Aki-san told us she'd meet us there. Yumeno-san told me to go ahead to not miss anything so I did..."

"They better come here soon. We need to discuss ways on how to get out of here." Maki said.

As if on cue, the doors opened and they appeared at the door.

"Good morning." Himiko said with a smile.

"Good morning, everyone!" Ichika chirped.

"Ah... good morning you two." Shuichi said nervously.

"Aki-san. Are you feeling alright?" Kiibo asked.

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Ichika smiled.

Tsumugi blinked in shock. "S-Seriously...? How can you say that after what happened?"

"Well, there's no point in being sad, right? It's better to just be happy, no matter what happens." Ichika pressed her fingers in the corners of her mouth and smiled.

"Well, now that you two are here, we need to discuss ways on how to escape this place." Maki spoke up.

Himiko nodded. "Escaping is well and good... But what *does* the outside look like? We still don't know what the secret of the outside world is either."

"Gokuhara-kun wouldn't tell us what it was because it'd give us so much despair we'd want to die." Tsumugi replied.

"I-If that's true, then what could possibly be happening outside this academy?" Himiko stammered.