Chapter Text
They met through one of those “friend of a friend of a friend of a friend” type situations. Nothing too special or out of the ordinary. They went to different schools, lived in different neighborhoods, stammered through different lifestyles – but they were here together now, discussing “what ifs” as they usually did, all because of—
“—karaoke night?” Shuichi suggested.
“No, no, no. Why would Saihara-chan even say that? We both hate karaoke.”
“Ah, right… Um, what if we met at the mall?”
“At the mall? Seriously? Since when do I go there? Saihara-chan, I’m starting to think you have amnesia…”
“Then what if we met… at a restaurant?”
“No, that’s so last year.”
“What if it was at a café?” Kokichi was giving him the look now. “T-Then where did we meet?” Kokichi shrugged. He was no help as usual. Shuichi still squeezed his hand though.
“Your memory is worse than mine and I’m supposed to be your elder.” Kokichi clicked his tongue. “How sad. Saihara-chan should really get his head checked out before it gets worse.”
“But you don’t remember eith—” Kokichi loudly slurped around the popsicle he had in hand. “Ah, Ouma-kun,” Shuichi couldn’t do much but lightly jostle their intertwined hands, “don’t do that.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
It could’ve been morning. Midmorning. Afternoon. Midday. Didn’t matter. Who ever really knew what time it was once the world was ensnared in the sticky web of the summertime? Could’ve been any day, any time of day. It didn’t matter. Shuichi could overcome the throes of the dog days as long as he had Kokichi by his side. The thought alone was enough to make him give into the desire of pressing a (surely icy and sugary sweet) kiss against the other’s cheek. (That Kokichi pretended to wipe away with a smile as he always did.)
It was hard to tell what time it was anymore in the day and age they lived in, anyway.
“Okay, but what if you—?” Shuichi tapped his half-eaten popsicle against Kokichi’s lips. Kokichi easily accepted the disruption without hesitation and finished the frozen treat off in seconds. “You have to go soon, hm?” he asked as he chewed.
“Ah, you’re right.” Shuichi discarded both of their finished popsicle sticks aside before he leapt off the picnic table they had been lounging against. Kokichi made some sort of noise of discontentment from having to hop off the table too by extension due to their hands still being connected. “I have to go to a bookstore in this backstreet market.”
“You’re…” Kokichi blinked twice, slowly, as if he was still processing the information. “You—Saihara-chan—are going to a bookstore in a backstreet market?”
“Ah, yeah—”
“For what purpose exactly?”
“I-I was just about to say for what.” Shuichi went into the steady motion of swinging their arms together. It didn’t need to be said aloud that Kokichi wasn’t going to let him go alone. The intention was loud and clear from how tightly he was gripping his hand. “I bought the original Danganronpa pilot from someone online. They told me to pick it up at this bookstore in the street market.” To hinder any more surely incoming skepticism, Shuichi pulled out his cellphone and showed the proof of the purchase.
“Saihara-chan…”
“Y-Yes?”
“You’re seriously about to go to a backstreet market to buy something from someone whose username is ‘Cockroach’? Even I wouldn’t do that.”
“Ah, no. See,” Shuichi even pointed to his phone screen as if it would help his case, “the display name is ‘Cockroach’ but the username is ‘051224.’” Kokichi, again with the look. Shuichi even had to admit that he gave a piss-poor attempt at a defense. “S-Seriously though, it should be fine.”
“I dunno. I know how Danganronpa fans are.” Shuichi felt the usual burn that Kokichi always packed into his gaze whenever he carefully eyed him up and down – and a shiver coursed down his spine each and every time. “And they’re not the most… trustworthy people.” Kokichi did that little twisted half-grin, half-smirk he always did after he blatantly checked him out, the one that used to make Shuichi squirm in the past – but the sudden kiss smacked square against his mouth made him squirm in the present. It was too sticky with the remnants of artificial cherry and grape flavoring from the popsicles that lingered on Kokichi’s lips.
Kokichi cackled away a little too happily as Shuichi went to wipe at his mouth with a sigh.
∞
It was the typical backstreet: congested with stores, congested with people, congested with different smells: an amalgamation of summer sweat, sweetened tea, and street food – and sounds, too: vendors belting for attention, dogs yipping for scraps, children pleading to stop at every vendor and storefront. It was undeniably where urban culture met and perfectly melded with rural practices. It didn’t take too long to find the bookstore, but it did take too long to push through the bodies and bodies of everyday people while trying not to disconnect hands through the entire ordeal.
The bookstore wasn’t anything atypical. It had paperbacks gathering mildew tucked in just about every square inch of the establishment, and they were stacked high enough to reach the ceiling. It was absolutely stifling indoors, sweat even seemed to be dripping from the book pages – all the complete essentials for a backstreet market store.
The store owner was slumped over the counter, nearly completely nestled among a mile-high cocoon of books. It didn’t take too long for Shuichi to retrieve what he was looking for – all wrapped up pretty in a brown paper encasing too. His hand couldn’t help but tremble once he wrapped his fingers around the package.
Shuichi must have been staring at the package a little too long because an “Ugh, it’s so hot in here, Saihara-chan, we gotta go” disrupted his stupor and he looked up to see the store owner had cocked an eyebrow at him – at his staring, at his and Kokichi’s uninterrupted handholding – and they quickly departed on that note.
∞
The first thing Shuichi did when he got home was shoot off a message to the seller; just a confirmation that he had successfully received the package and a thank-you seemed especially in order. What he was holding was a rarity. In fact, it was a gross understatement to simply call it a “rarity” even. It was the only copy out there as far as Shuichi knew. He had to search low and high through all corners of the universe – but finally, finally it was his. He was holding it in his hands right now. And he couldn’t breathe.
He needed to type the message out before his hands started shaking too badly again.
TO: ゴキブリ (@051224)
MESSAGE: I got it! Thank you so much for even being willing to give this to me. I know how important this is and I’ll cherish it for the rest of my life. Thank you so much.
A bit dramatic? Perhaps. Shuichi sent the message anyway. His phone buzzed no less than a few seconds later.
FROM: ゴキブリ (@051224)
MESSAGE: No problem. And warning: myself and another person have already played this through before, so it’s slightly used. But it should work without a hitch.
Shuichi raised his eyebrow at the message.
TO: ゴキブリ (@051224)
MESSAGE: “Played?” It’s fine if you watched it before, really.FROM: ゴキブリ (@051224)
MESSAGE: No, “played” as in played the game before. You know that this is a game, right?TO: ゴキブリ (@051224)
MESSAGE: No, I wasn’t aware of that? This is a video game?FROM: ゴキブリ (@051224)
MESSAGE: Yes and no. It’s a full-motion video game, meaning that it contains pictures and videos of the pilot launch of DR, but it’s interactive. You’ll see. Tell me if you have any problems with it and I can help you through it.TO: ゴキブリ (@051224)
MESSAGE: Ah, thank you for the clarification. I’ll be sure to message you if I have any troubles. Thank you again for everything.
After he sent the message, Shuichi received what he should have predicted: a call from Kokichi. Kokichi was the only person who called him anyway, really – especially during the summertime, it seemed like. “I’m calling,” Kokichi started speaking before Shuichi could even say anything, “not because I care or anything—I mean, ew; me caring? Never—but because I’m bored, like, so bored I could cry. So, how’s your little nerd thingy doing? Is it a rip-off? My bet is that it’s a total rip-off. Watch, some random movie or song is gonna start playing when you put it in.”
“I… hope not. And I just learned that it’s actually a video game.” Shuichi held his phone in between his ear and his shoulder as he worked to remove the paper packaging.
“A video game?” He heard Kokichi make loud sniffing noises directly into the phone speaker. “Do you smell that, Saihara-chan?” Shuichi traced his fingers over the white plastic of the video game case. It was extremely minimalistic – no designs, no logos, nothing. Just the simple words DISTRUST and DIISTRUST printed in bold, black text in English across the front. “Smells like a scaaaam.”
“Well, let’s see.” The moment of truth. He popped the disk inside in his computer and held his breath as it loaded.
“Hello? Saihara-chan? Did I lose Saihara-chan? It must be working, then.” It was, Shuichi thought. It was working. But his thoughts couldn’t reach Kokichi. “Well, as fun as it is to listen to Saihara-chan just breathe and cream his pants over nothing—it isn’t that fun if it isn’t over me.” He sighed loudly, dramatically. “Saihara-chan loves Danganronpa more than me. What to do? See ya later.”
Shuichi just managed to get out a barely passible, “B-Bye,” before Kokichi hung up the phone.
The loading screen presented not only the title that was on the case, but also the official Danganronpa logo in the foreground, all in white against a simple black screen, before it quickly dissolved away and presented another screen: a menu with options ranging from “chapter zero” to “chapter six.” Only “chapter one” and “chapter two” were available options.
Shuichi could barely even move his hand on the mouse to click for the first chapter to start. He heard his own breath stammer as the screen briefly showed the game logo again before it faded to black and a video began to play…
∞
The screen faded to black once the chapter ended.
Shuichi’s eyes were still practically glued to the screen and glazed over in nothing but utter awe. The first thought that managed to echo through his absent mind was that it was all video, nothing “interactive” had happened yet like the seller and one of the loading screens had stated – but he didn’t care. He had been blessed with the chance to even be in the presence of absolute magnificence. He didn’t care if it was in the form of a video, pictures, a video game, or whatever – he had it in his grasp.
A ding sounded off from his computer. He immediately sat up straight again.
PRIZE FOR COMPLETING CHAPTER ONE: NOW DOWNLOADING…
A picture popped up on the screen. He would be a fool not to recognize those faces: the emblematic Enoshima Junko herself and Tsumiki Mikan from Super Danganronpa 2 – a monarch and a figurehead in the franchise, respectively, were side by side. Shuichi recognized the location too – Danganronpa 3: an interesting spin-off show that showcased a bit of backstory toward the iconic season one and two cast. Perhaps it wasn’t too outlandish of a thought that Team Danganronpa had planned a video game that later on apparently got scrapped – but Shuichi had it now. It was right in front of him, just begging to be explored, to have all of its innermost secrets uncovered and laid out bare before him.
And he had the rest of the limitless summertime at his fingertips to do just that.
Shuichi’s cellphone rang. He blinked once, twice, just barely coming out of his daze before he almost robotically moved his hand to answer it.
“Hey, Saihara-chan~! Sure, I said I wasn’t going to call again buuut I’m bored—as usual. How’s that nerd game of yours coming along?”
“Ah, i-it’s—it’s…” Shuichi was at a loss for words. His adrenaline was still high for crying out loud.
The blood pumping in his ears made him miss Kokichi’s quiet laugh. “Sounds like it’s not a scam, huh?”