89Disclaimer: Been a while but I don't own Danganronpa. Sayaka would have lived, if I did :p
Chapter 7 – Blood & Lies
Sayaka stared blankly at her breakfast. It was boring, bland, and all she could muster up to eat at the moment. Makoto had sent her ahead, having just woken up, and still needing to shower. This left the pop sensation to eat her food alone. Of course, other people were present, but she didn't care to share their company.
Especially not after-
She shook her head rapidly. No, no. It was just an overreaction on her part, nothing to concern herself over. Especially not anything to worry Makoto with. Burdening the sweet boy with her own problems was unacceptable and not something she'd ever do again. She was paranoid by nature. The whole thing would blow over without incident. At least that was what she told herself.
"Maizono-chan, how are you today?"
Son of a-
"Kuwata…kun." Sayaka steeled her nerves. "I'm doing, alright. How are you?"
Leon grinned cockily at the so-called 'global phenomenon' in front of him. Beautiful, elegant, rich and talented. The perfect catch. One that he seemed to believe he had a chance with.
She would have wholeheartedly disagreed.
"Yeah, I'm doing just fine Maizono-chan." He crooned. Sayaka resisted a flinch. "So, I was thinking, that today you and I could go look around a bit? Explore? Maybe find something out the rest of them hadn't found yet?"
Not after what happened yesterday, was the thought prevalent in her mind.
She opened her mouth to say no. Then shut it.
"Naegi-kun…?"
Her whisper was practically inaudible, but Leon had no need to hear it to see what caught her attention. Coming into the cafeteria together was Makoto and Hina. They were talking, giggling and both looked incredibly happy.
Sayaka repressed a shiver of anger. Well, not anger, more jealousy at the girl in front of her spending time with the happy-go-lucky boy instead of her. Leon looked at the idol out of the corner of his eye and snarled. Then, a hint of inspiration struck him.
"They sure look happy together, don't they?" he leaned back, as casually as he could. "Almost like a couple. I could see it. They kinda fit personality-wise, and I'm sure she'd be willing to protect him. He seems like the kinda guy that needs someone like Asahina-san when it comes to her physical capabilities."
Sayaka tried to deny the words. Ordinarily she would, on account of knowing exactly what the boy beside her was planning. She couldn't help it though. A worm of doubt was inching its way through her body.
She suddenly sped off towards the 'couple'
"Hey wait-!"
Leon's yell went unanswered as he watched with annoyance as the girl suddenly picked the boy from the swimmer and fled the room. That backfired.
Little did he know just how he wrong he was.
"Maizono-san…? Hey! Maizono-san, what's wrong?"
Sayaka didn't answer. She felt blank. Her eyes reminded him of a dead fish. It scared him. She scared him.
"Maizono-san please stop!"
His yell woke her up. She blinked and looked down the arm within her grasp. She saw her nails had dug into him. Blood. Blood dripping down the appendage as the boy tried to get out of her grasp.
"Ah, Naegi-kun I'm so sorry!"
She stepped away and watched as he clutched his arm. She hurt him. She hurt him. She hurt him. She-
"Maizono-san, it's okay, please stop shaking. I'm okay. I promise."
Sayaka put a hand on her chest. She was… shaking? No… no she wasn't. She couldn't be. Why would she be shaking? She wasn't cold, right? She wasn't shaking. She just hurt Makoto. She hurt him bad. He's bleeding. There is blood. Blood. Blood. So much blood. Pooling around the boy as she watched him get torn into by a pile of nails.
"Hey!"
She awoke from her daze. Staring back at her was Makoto. His arm, that she previously imagined to be pouring blood out of every orifice, was securely stuck to his body with only a single mark to show any form of injury. It was nothing. The smallest cut. Nothing to worry about. He was fine. Fine.
"I'm okay… I'm okay… you're okay, right?"
Makoto was concerned. Incredibly so. He wasn't so naïve to not notice a panic attack when it happened directly in front of him. Granted, he had never actually seen it in person, but he certainly wasn't oblivious to it. Tentatively he grasped her hand.
"I'm alright Maizono-san don't worry about it. You didn't hurt me. I promise. It's okay."
His words soothed her bruised heart as her soul tried to mend itself. Makoto was okay, she didn't hurt him. Tears sprung to her eyes as she threw her arms around him. He returned the gesture.
He wasn't okay.
He was okay.
…was okay.
(S)he wasn't okay.
Sayaka was sat on her bed. Next to her Makoto looked at her worriedly. It had been a good thirty minutes since her 'episode' and he had yet to leave her side. She was inwardly thankful, but almost wished he would leave her to her own self-wallowing. Of course, he more than likely realized that's what she had wanted in the first place. What kind of friend would he be if he abandoned her now?
In his mind, not a particularly good one.
"Maizono-san…?" he began, hesitantly. "do you want to talk about it, now?"
No. She really didn't, it would just lead to him worrying which wouldn't go anywhere in the long run. Then again, was keeping it to herself just troubling him more? It was a lose-lose situation in her overthinking mind.
"I…" she swallowed. "I just keep seeing things. Imagining things. Thinking things."
Makoto scooted closer and gently put an arm around her shoulder in silent comfort. He hadn't expected her to lean her head on him, but he valiantly fought the blush down.
"What is it, you see? What do you think about?"
His questions were soft and soothing. Easy to the ears, and almost melodic to the singer. Idly she thought that perhaps Makoto would have a nice singing voice had he been trained for it. Now wasn't the time for idle thought though.
"I see… I see you. And everyone I care about. Dying… it scares me."
Makoto didn't speak, he just held onto her a little tighter, in a manner of which he used to do for his sister when she got scared. Sayaka appreciated the silent comfort. Gripping his arm in reassurance she breathed out.
"The death… and blood. The mark I left on your arm earlier terrified me. I saw so much blood. It cascaded down your arm onto the floor." She chuckled mirthlessly. "I suppose in retrospect I should have realized that a man bleeding so much would be on the floor, more than likely unconscious if not dead. Yet you kept talking to me. I filled in the blanks for what you were saying but I knew you were at least speaking."
Her breath began accelerating so she hugged his hand to her stomach tightly. Both felt blushes grace their cheeks but neither complained about the situation.
"There was… something else. It was more a feeling I got, than anything concrete happening. It was worrying so I didn't want to bring it up with you and worry you but-"
"You're my partner Maizono-san." Makoto grinned cheekily. "Don't think to hide stuff from me. That's not part of the agreement."
Sayaka blinked before breaking out of his hold. She turned to look at him and smirked.
"Oh? Deal? I don't recall ever agreeing to such a thing." She flicked her hair away. "Don't get so ahead of yourself Detective Makoto. I may be the assistant, but I don't appreciate words being put in my mouth."
Immediately Makoto began floundering to grab an escape.
"Ah-well I didn't mean it like that, it's just that I want us to trust each other!... not that I don't trust you of course, Maizono-san, but-!"
Sayaka giggled. Her laughter cut him off as he blushed at the realization he was tricked again.
"It's not fair… you're too good at that."
Her laughter accelerated at his complaint. Patting him on the head she beamed before grabbing him into a tight hug.
"Sorry Naegi-kun, your reactions are just too precious." Feeling energy pour through her body, she jumped up. "I'm feeling rejuvenated! Wanna go grab a bite to eat now? I skipped a meal earlier and it's starting to catch up to me."
Makoto nodded slowly, happy to see his friend back on her feet.
"Okay… just promise that you'll tell me sooner if anything is wrong, okay?"
Sayaka eagerly agreed and pulled him toward the door. Unbeknownst to him, she internally grimaced, fully aware that she had already broken that promise just moments ago.
'Distracting him is almost too easy… it hurts to know just how much of a naïve teenager, Makoto is. I'm sorry though… I'm still not ready to talk about my suspicions…' she thought, rather derisively, to herself. 'as much as I don't want to admit it… it was the main reason I was planning to use him before. But now that I know that life wouldn't have been worth it, I have to protect him from those who would do what I almost did.'
The smile upon his face from her apparent happiness filled her heart with hope. It was a hope she would do anything to preserve.
Their snack was nothing fancy. Sayaka whipped up a plate of nacho's with salsa and cheese on top. The chips were stale, and the salsa had expired about a month prior, but it tasted fine. Food poisoning was the least of their worries, and it gave them a chance to hang out just as regular teenagers in this rather irregular situation.
Sayaka giggled as Makoto told her the story of how he first received his invitation to Hopes Peak.
"Are you serious Naegi-kun?" her beautiful laughter filtered throughout the large room. "You really ended up having to have three separate showers from the amount of food that accidentally fell on you?"
Makoto pouted and turned away. "Hey, it's not funny! That kind of stuff just happens to me all the time. You don't know what it's like."
"No, no. You're right, I don't." Sayaka indulged. "Still, doesn't mean it's not funny to hear about."
The Luckster kept pouting, though his lips twitched upwards. Sayaka laughed again.
Suddenly-
"Uh, mic check mic check! Can everyone hear me?" the two froze. "This is a special announcement! The motives for the second round of the killing game will now be given out! Please make your way to the gymnasium to pick them up. See you later!"
The line went dead.
Both remained still.
Makoto gulped before forcing himself up. Looking towards his shell-shocked partner, he softly patted her on the shoulder to grab her attention.
"Maizono-san… we should go. If we don't he might consider it an act of defiance and we'll all be in trouble."
She nodded absentmindedly, putting her weight on his shoulder as he helped guide her to the gym, both in a daze. They knew what this could mean, and neither liked it.
The motive this time around was, somehow even worse to some than the first was. Their darkest secret. For some, like Makoto, it was nothing major. A little embarrassing? Sure. No one wants to admit they peed their pants until they were ten years old. Still, that was at least acceptable knowledge for others to find out.
Not everyone was so lucky, however.
"Absolutely not." Celeste denied Taka's suggestion to share. "My secret is not one I would trust any of you people with."
"I agree." Byakuya pushed his glasses up. "You peons are not worth my time, let alone private information that only my most trusted of acquaintances would get. Don't screw with me."
"But, but-!"
Taka's sputtering went ignored as almost everyone left the area with a ghastly expression on their face.
Three days. If no murder occurred within the next two days, then on the third, they would all be shared. For some, the possibility of blood on their hands was well worth that.
"Maizono-san! What's your secret?"
Sayaka was one of those. Well, to a degree. She wasn't sure she could murder anyone, not anymore. She had been given a second chance and had no intention of ruining that. Telling Makoto what was written on the other hand?
"It's a little embarrassing to be honest…" Makoto chuckled sheepishly. "You see I actually peed my pants until fifth grade… I know, I know."
In any other situation, Sayaka would have laughed. It was just so… Makoto. However, in this moment, she couldn't even muster up a half-hearted chuckled.
"Sorry Naegi-kun…" she spoke softly. "I don't want to share my secret. At least right now."
The boy looked so wounded at her words that she had to grit her teeth and turn away, lest she break down again.
"Excuse me."
With that, Sayaka Maizono left the gymnasium empty bar a stunned Taka, and a saddened Makoto.
Sayaka felt such intense hatred at the current moment, that it almost felt primal. How did they ever come across this information? For that matter, how did it get linked back to her?
"For that matter, why did it have to happen now of all times?"
Right after everything began falling into place, the rug was pulled out from under her. Right after Makoto asked her to trust him she pulls this and lacks the conviction to tell him what her motive said. She crumpled the paper in her fist as she fell back onto her bed. Honestly, if she ever got out of here, checking for any mental instabilities was more than likely necessary. Depression, split personality disorder and anxiety. In one day, she ran the gambit from one to the other and she felt exhausted.
"Please just let me out… I don't know how much more I can take…"
Her will to murder was, by this point gone. However, her will to live was teetering dangerously on the edge. Only the thought of those outside, and her precious light kept her alive.
"Makoto…"
She began sobbing as her grip on the paper slackened. It slowly drifted to the ground
'Sayaka Maizono caused the deaths of two up-and-coming idols.'
A/N: As this update was stupidly late, I will do my best to get the last bridge chapter done... definitely the hardest to finish :p. Basically, I wrote out the planning of this arc from the body announcement onwards, but I could not figure out how to write the interactions that lead before it happens. It was difficult :p. But aw well, we got over the writing hump and it will be updated soon! For once, you'll all see XD. I'll see you guys soon!