Pairing(s): SoraMafu, UraSaka

Danganronpa Au

I'll just say it now, I'm sorry

Prepare for angst
(o'ω｀o)

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The room was almost empty, with only five people, and Mafuneko, present. Most of the podiums were occupied with portraits of their friends, all x'd out and grey. Except for two that had a question mark on them instead.

"Do we really have to do this?" Urata asked the others, "we already know the answer."

The other four made uneasy faces after hearing the short brunette's words. Amatsuki could see the hopeless expression on the short brunette.

"......Sakata is dead. And Mafu was the one to kill him." Urata slowly said, the raven-haired spotted the slight trace of sadness in his voice.

"......we don't know if that's true." Amatsuki stated as the blonde female shook her head.

"W-We've seen the body at the scene," Lon said as she looked at the red eyed brunette, "and it was Sakata's."

"Plus the fact that Mafu isn't here, that just shows that he's guilty." Urata added as the red eyed brunette looked down.

"So I guess we vote now?" Amatsuki said, the mushroom-haired shook his head.

"We shouldn't vote yet." Eve said as the others became confused.

"Why not? I mean I don't want to see Mafu get executed but—" Lon's sentence was cut off by the mushroom-haired.

"E-Even if it's true..... Mafu and Sakata were friends, I just can't see why Mafu would kill him out of nowhere." Eve stated, he glanced at the raven-haired that was silent.

"We thought the same thing for Luz, Kradness and Reol. And look what happened." Urata pointed out.

"I just want to know what happened."

The short brunette crossed his arms and looked away while the others just gave him pitiful expressions.

"I-I guess it won't hurt to go over it." Lon said as the red eyed brunette took out his phone with the file on it.

"W-Well the file says that the death was caused by poison." Amatsuki stated, "time of death was around 8:05 pm."

"We found his body in the locked door, thanks to the card key that was left there." Eve said as the blonde female frowned a bit.

"He died from poison, so why was his body hanged?"

"Maybe to make us think it was a suicide." Soraru finally spoke in what had been ages.

"Glad that you finally decided to join us." Urata muttered in slight irritation.

Soraru just weakly rolled his eyes. He normally would've gotten annoyed at the short brunette's attitude, but he knew that he was just upset at what happened.

"Let's just go over our alibis." Soraru said.

"I was in my room at that time." Lon said, "and I saw Mafu and Soraru together at some point."

"I was in the library," Amatsuki said as he recalled his thoughts, "Mafu was with me but he then left, saying something about going to Soraru."

"I was with Sakata a few minutes beforehand. He then left, though he never told me where he was going to." Urata stated as the mushroom-haired spoke next.

"I was just at the dorms, Amatsuki then arrived at some point." Eve said as the raven-haired finished up the conversation with his alibi.

"Like Lon said, I was with Mafu. He said that he just came from the library."

"So now what?" Lon said, "our alibi's practically back each other up."

"I'm guessing that when Mafu and Sakata left that means that they ended up meeting each other." Amatsuki reasoned as the mushroom-haired nodded his head.

"That would probably be the most likely reason. But why did they meet up?" Eve asked as the short brunette shrugged.

"Sakata told me that Mafu wanted to tell him something later."

"I don't think Mafu told Sakata 'hey I'm going to kill you so can you meet me here?'" Amatsuki said as the raven-haired crossed his arms in thought.

"And Mafu wouldn't kill him without a motive so let's talk about that."

"Right, if Mafu wanted to escape that would mean that he'd have to live through the trial. And doing so would end with the rest of us dying. I doubt he'd want to kill us, especially Soraru." Lon said as Urata furrowed his brow at the blonde female's statement.

"Maybe with all these murders he just finally snapped."

"There's no way he'd do something that would result in Soraru's death. So he has to have some important motive." Amatsuki said as the short brunette sighed in exhaustion.

"Then what is it? All we've been doing is going around in circles."

"We just know that Sakata died from poison and that Mafu was the last person he was seen with," Eve said, his voice shook a bit the more he spoke, "and Mafu's not even present at the trial."

"He's probably hiding somewhere," Urata said, "that would be the most logical reason."

"Wait.....w-what if Mafu was also killed?" Amatsuki began to panic as the blonde female made an puzzled expression.

"But we haven't found his body."

"Well is he dead, Mafuneko?" Soraru asked the robotic cat.

He didn't know why he would trust what the creature would say but thought that it'd be worth a shot.

The mascot seemed to be grumbling and complaining about something to himself. His red eyes were glowing bright, which usually happened when he was irritated.

"Hey Mafuneko." Eve called out, the robot snapped out and glared at the male.

"What?" Mafuneko said in irritation.

"Is Mafu also dead?" Urata asked forcefully.

The robot was silent before the five of them could see him look like he was beginning to sweat, if that was even possible.

"H-Huh? O-Of course not," Mafuneko said, "t-that terrible excuse of a human is probably alive. And he'll be punished for breaking the rules by not being present."

"Wait, 'probably'?" Eve repeated the robot's word choice, "what do you mean by that?"

"You sounded pretty unsure too." Urata added as the robot began to sweat again.

"W-What do you mean? Of course I'm s-sure."

"Hold up, do you even know who's alive and not?" Amatsuki asked as the robot stayed silent.

Soraru frowned and took out his phone to look at the file. He then widened his eyes before looking up at the others again.

"Mafuneko doesn't know who was the victim."

"Eh?" The other four said as they looked at the raven-haired.

"Sakata could still be alive....." Soraru slowly said, as if he was also trying to process his own words.

"What?" Urata said as he stared at the raven-haired in shock. The short brunette shook his head, pushing down the small slim of hope that was about to bloom.

"B-But we saw Sakata's body at the scene of the crime," Lon stated, "so there's no way—"

"We haven't really gave the body a thorough check." Eve remembered as the blonde female titled her head in confusion.

"So we never actually got to see their face." Eve continued as he looked at them.

"But Mafu and Sakata don't have the same body shape." Amatsuki stated as the mushroom-haired shook his head.

"The body was wearing a baggy clothing, so we couldn't really identify the outline of the body. Meaning we can't really pinpoint who it was."

"Also think about it guys," Soraru said, "why did we all assume it was Sakata in the first place?"

"Because of the......" Urata began to say before trailing off. Wait, why did we....?

"I-I actually don't know why." Lon nervously said.

"Didn't Mafuneko say something about how he was beginning to wonder how an idiot survived this long?" Amatsuki said as the robot grinned.

"I was pretty shock that no one tried to kill that idiot before." The black and white cat said as the short brunette glared at him.

"But do we really trust his words?" Eve asked the other four, who all shook their heads.

"Not to mention this," Soraru said as he showed them the file, "it doesn't even say who the victim was. It usually shows their info and picture once the person has died yet here it's silhouetted."

"You're right." Urata said as he took out his own phone to look at the file.

"I guess we were all shock that we didn't think much about it."

"S-So maybe Sakata's alive." Amatsuki said, the short brunette was about to begin feeling a glimpse of hope before it was completely shutdown by the robot's words.

"Or it could also mean that Sakata was the one that was killed and this is just to trick you guys into picking the wrong person." Mafuneko stated as the blonde female nervously spoke.

"I-I want to say that he's wrong, but that could be possible. I mean Mafu's actually pretty good at thinking about plans."

"But if there's a possibility that Mafu is the one dead then we shouldn't ignore it." Eve said before they heard static from the big screen next to Mafuneko.

"Eh? What's—" Lon was cut off as the screen showed the albino, shocking everyone.

"H-Hey guys." Mafu nervously said as he smiled.

"M-Mafu...." Soraru couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"S-So Sakata really is dead." Amatsuki said as the short brunette covered his eyes with his hair.

"I'm sorry Urata." Mafu said, "but there's a reason that I—"

"Then tell me!"

"I-I can't! A-At least not now."

Urata only stared at the screen in disbelief as the albino looked away.

"W-Why..."

Soraru didn't want to see the albino get executed. Not after realizing his feelings for him.

"P-Please Mafu..." Soraru said in a shaking tone as the albino closed his eyes.

"Why are you hiding?" Lon asked, she wanted to know the truth.

"I-I can't face you guys in person," Mafu then sheepishly laughed, "a-and I'm sure Urata hates me for this."

The short brunette just looked away.

"S-So we just vote now then?" Eve said unsurely as the raven-haired looked at the screen.

It was glitching a bit, as if the signal was weak and it was breaking. The male looked closer to see that it would flash sometimes. It flashed again and he saw a hint of red in the quick flash. Wait.

"How do we know you're really Mafu?" Soraru asked, earning confused stares from the others.

"E-Eh? O-Of course I'm Mafu." The 'albino' said as he smiled, "who else could this precious face be?"

"He has the same narcissistic attitude like him." Amatsuki commented as the raven-haired furrowed his brow.

He noticed that while the 'albino' stuttered the voice sounded different. Something's definitely off. Soraru decided to push further the hypothesis about the redhead being alive.

"What if you're just Sakata pretending to be Mafu?"

The others froze at the raven-haired's words. 'Mafu' tensed up a bit before nervously giggling.

"I-I know you don't want me to die Soraru, but please understand that it's me. I-I killed Sakata."

Soraru took a deep breath, he did want to believe it. He wanted to believe that the albino was alive and well, but his doubts were slowly rising up. The mystery of this murder filled his mind with questions.

"I think Mafu was the one that died.... and Sakata killed him." Soraru boldly said.

He wanted to figure out the truth. Even if it would end up haunting him. He glanced at the others' upset and distressed faces. If we get this wrong, then we all die. Our promise to the others were all for nothing then. Soraru sighed as he was determined to find out what really happened between Sakata and Mafu.

*****

Why is he still fighting me? Soraru thought as he looked at the nervous 'albino'. After pointing out some things and evidence, the raven-haired was convinced that it was Sakata. But why hasn't he given up yet.

The raven-haired was thinking hard about it. Sakata wouldn't want Urata to die so why does he want us to think Mafu is dead. Soraru then widened his eyes in realization, he shifted his eyes to look at Mafuneko.

The robotic cat seemed nervous, and the fact that he had joined them means that he was determined to find the culprit too.

If Mafuneko doesn't know who died then he can't punish the culprit. Soraru looked at the screen, he then smiled at the 'albino.' Alright. I get it now. I'll put my trust in you.

"I-I'm sorry Mafu. I'm sorry that I can't protect you," Soraru nervously said, "b-but I can't keep lying to the others."

"E-Eh? S-Soraru...." 'Mafu' said as he looked at the raven-haired in confusion.

"When I was with Mafu a few minutes before the murder, he looked nervous and told me that he was sorry for what he going to do. That he hoped that I'd forgive him. I didn't know what he meant back then but now I know he was referring to killing Sakata."

"S-So Mafu really is the killer in this case." Lon sadly stated as she looked at the raven-haired with a pitied expression.

"Are you guys done?" Mafuneko's voice was stern, filled with irritation, "my patience is running thin."

"I-I guess we're ready to vote—"

"Y-Yamete!"

All five of them stopped talking after hearing the shout. Soraru widened his eyes before quickly shifting his gaze towards the short brunette. Urata was frozen, he looked like he was a deer caught in headlights.

They all looked at the screen displaying 'Mafu' and saw it go black. The podium next to Eve went down before coming back up with someone on it.

That person was none other than the redhead.

"Hi guys." Sakata nervously said as he gave them a weak smile.

"S-S-Sakata....?" Urata stuttered while the others were shocked.

"B-But if Sakata's here then that means......" Eve looked at the raven-haired, who wasn't facing them.

"S-Soraru..." Lon quietly said as she felt tears begin to for in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Soraru..." Sakata muttered, he couldn't look at the raven-haired's expression.

"I see the trial has come to a conclusion." Mafuneko said, his tone sounding blank.

"W-Wait—" Amatsuki was cut off by the robot's laugh.

"Puhuhuhu~ well you all know what time it is."

All five of them tensed up. Urata stared at the robot in complete shock and disbelief.

"N-No, y-you can't be serious..."

"Puhuhu~ who knew that the tanuki was capable of being utterly defenseless," Mafuneko grinned, "but too bad. It's Voting Time."

"W-Wait!" Amatsuki shouted out desperately, "w-we can't vote yet, w-we still have to—"

"As you can see I'm starting to get tired of this constant back and forth." Mafuneko said as his claws appeared, "and me being angry is going to be a problem."

"You can't just—"

"Soraru, it's fine."

The raven-haired stared at the redhead in shock. Sakata sadly smiled at them.

"I-I've accepted it. I deserve it for what I did to Mafu."

"N-No you don't!" Amatsuki shouted as he looked at the redhead.

"Guys....." Sakata looked away, unable to meet their scared expressions, especially the short brunette's. "P-Please just vote already."

"No." Urata forcefully said, causing the redhead to looked down even more.

"You could cut this atmosphere with a knife," Mafuneko commented, "just vote already. Look even the culprit wants to get this over with."

"B-But Sakata—"

"I'm the one that killed Mafu, there's no other possible debate." Sakata finally looked up, the others could see small tears in his eyes. "I'm definitely the culprit."

"S-Sakata....." Soraru couldn't say anything else, he didn't want this. "I-I'm sorry....I-I..."

"It's okay Soraru," the redhead smiled at him with teary eyes, "you just want to save everyone. Just like Mafu."

"Huh? 'Just like Mafu'?" Eve was about to ask what the redhead meant until the robot smiled.

"Puhuh~ so you're all voting now alrighty then~" Mafuneko pushed a button and soon the screen on their podium lit up.

"I-I can't do this." Lon said which earned a small laugh from Mafuneko.

"Oh well, then you can just die along. Maybe you can finally see Kuro again."

"Asshole." Urata barked as the robot laughed.

The raven-haired looked at the screen. His finger was hovering over the redhead's image. He looked to see the albino's image was greyed out, breaking his heart even more than it already was.

Soraru closed his eyes and sighed before pressing the screen. He looked up and saw that the others were done voting.

"Now let's see the results." Mafuneko announced as a screen came down.

It turned on displaying the pixel art of everyone. The screen showed one vote for the redhead, while the others had one vote as well.

"How touching, you all voted for yourself~" Mafuneko mocking said as the five of them glared at him.

"Shut up." Urata threatened as the robot grinned.

"Looks like the tanuki has taken out his claws," Mafuneko laughed, "well the idiot voted for himself and you all know the truth so I won't punish you guys."

"W-Wait but we didn't vote for him!" Eve exclaimed as the mascot laughed again.

"I see no other possible choice. He even admitted it so that's enough proof for me to do so."

"Y-You—!"

"Urata, please stop," the short brunette looked at the redhead, "it's okay. I kinda had a feeling this would happen."

"T-Then why did you....?"

Sakata grabbed his arm in a nervous gesture. His face was pure sadness and uneasiness.

"Wait Mafuneko," Lon called out, "c-can you at least let us talk to him a bit before you—"

"Fine. If it'll stop your whining then you can have a few minutes. But once I get bored again, it's punishment time. I guess you can leave your podiums, I know you won't try to run."

The six of them left their stands and were standing on the area left open. Sakata avoided their gazes.

"W-Why Sakata? W-Why'd it have to be you and Mafu?" Amatsuki asked, he couldn't believe that two of his friends would turn against each other.

"I'm sorry guys, but it was part of Mafu's plan. He was the one that told me." Sakata said as he continued to look away.

"Mafu's plan? What do you mean?" Eve asked as the redhead sighed.

"Mafuneko always knew who the culprit and victim were because of the cameras around the place. That allowed him to be right every time. So Mafu figured that if even Mafuneko didn't know who the victim was then he couldn't execute anyone for being wrong since even he got it wrong too."

"That's why you pretended to be him? So Mafuneko would think you were the one dead." Soraru said as Sakata nodded his head.

"W-We didn't really know whether he'd play by his rules. But we decided to take the gamble."

"So Mafu told you to kill him...." Lon's face had a downcast expression, "that does sound like Mafu. Risking his own life to save us."

Soraru just let out a weak sigh, he was emotionally exhausted.

"He told me to make it look like I was the one that died. He then gave me a key saying it was for the other locked room that was hidden close to the trial room."

"Why did he have it?" Amatsuki asked.

"He found it while we were looking around the camera room." Sakata then looked away with a dejected face, "I-I'm sorry guys."

"Sakata...."

"Oh right, here Soraru," Sakata handed the raven-haired a small teru teru bozu. "Mafu told me to give it to you."

Soraru looked at it, the drooling face on it made the raven-haired make a pained expression. He noticed that the words 'I love you' were written on the bottom of the doll. Soraru just looked at the ground as he held the doll in his hand.

"I-I'm sorry guys. I'm sorry that I betrayed you." Sakata said as he tried to blink back the tears.

"Sakata..." Lon was now beginning to cry, "y-you didn't betray us."

"You and Mafu just wanted to end the game. T-To save us." Amatsuki couldn't stop the tears that were beginning to fall.

"H-Hey guys," Sakata smiled at them brightly, as bright as he could, "don't give up just yet. You still have to end this killing game for us."

"I—"

"It's execution time!~"

"No." Urata said as he stood defensively in front of the redhead, "I-I won't let you kill him."

"U-Urata.."

"No he's right, you're not going to get executed." Soraru said as he wiped away the tears in his eyes and glared at the robot.

"We don't care about your stupid game anymore." Amatsuki stated as the mushroom-haired nodded his head.

"Then you can all just die with him. Simple." Mafuneko said cheerfully.

"I don't care." Urata sternly said as the redhead began to panic.

"B-But guys! T-Then—"

"I'm not going to let you die. I-I..."

"We're not letting anyone else get killed." Soraru said straightforwardly.

"Please stop...." Sakata quietly said, "y-you're making this harder for me..."

"B-But—!"

"It's fine." The redhead gave him the most cheerful smile he could muster.

"S-Sakata.....b-but I...I never...." Urata shook his head, "I never got to......"

"Urata—"

"I-I'm not letting that bastard take anymore of my friends, first S-Shima and S-Senra....." Urata glared at the robot, "I'm not going to let him k-kill the one I love!"

Sakata widened his eyes while the others looked at the short brunette with a pitied expression.

"Urata...." Eve weakly said as his expression turned into one of sorrow. The mushroom-haired could tell how he felt.

"Urata, you...." Sakata felt the tears finally escape his eyes.

"How sad," Mafuneko made a fake crying face before smirking, "then I don't mind killing you with him. At least you can die happily together."

"Urata no!" Sakata shouted as he grabbed the short brunette's shoulder, "p-please don't throw away your life for me!"

"I—"

"P-Please promise me that you'll continue to live for me," Sakata hugged the male, "all of you. Please, work together to end this killing game."

"Sakata," Eve said as his expression was filled with sorrow and pity.

"W-We'll do it." Lon said as she cried.

"For you, for Mafu, and for those who have died." Amatsuki said as he gave the redhead a weak grin.

Sakata beamed, the tears weren't stopping at all. He tightened the hug, not wanting to let go of Urata now. The short brunette could feel him shaking a bit.

"Are you guys finally done?" Mafuneko was now getting bored, "I enjoy watching you guys cry but it gets quite boring after a while."

"You seriously are the worst." Lon said as she uncharacteristically glared at the robot.

"Puhuhu now for the time you've all been waiting for. It's punishment time~!" The mascot said as he pushed the button.

"W-Wait!" Amatsuki shouted but it was too late.

Sakata was pulled off of the short brunette. Urata tried to reach for him, just like Eve had done for Sou, but he was unable to.

"Sakata!" The five of them shouted as they watched the redhead get dragged away.

Soraru lost all strength in his legs and fell to his knees. He shut his eyes, trying to block out the horrible scene that was playing. Urata looked away, not wanting to witness it. He could feel his entire body lose strength.

"Puhuhu look at you sorry excuses for a human." Mafuneko laughed as he left the room, leaving the five of them there.

"T-That asshole!" Amatsuki shouted, surprising the others a bit by his outburst.

"U-Urata, are you...." Lon trailed off as the short brunette looked away.

"I'm fine." He bluntly stated, his hair covered his face.

"That has to be a lie." Eve said, causing the short brunette to turn and glare at them.

"I'm fine! Leave me alone!"

The others flinched at the male's shouting. Lon then looked at the rest of them.

"We should at least give him some time." Lon said as the other two nodded their heads.

"S-See ya." Amatsuki said as he walked towards the elevator with Lon and Eve following behind.

The only two left in the trial room were the raven-haired and green eyed brunette. Soraru was still closing his eyes, he didn't want to look up, knowing that the first thing he'd see would be the redhead's dead body.

".....I'm sorry Urata...." Soraru finally said after a couple of minutes of silence.

The short brunette glanced at the raven-haired, who was still on the ground.

"I-I didn't want to.....b-but I didn't want everyone else to die....I-I...."

Soraru hated himself. He hated himself for sentencing his friends to death. He hated himself for not being able to protect the albino.

Urata moved his eyes to stare at the ground, he seemed to be thinking about something before he let out a sigh. The short brunette walked towards the raven-haired and crouched down.

"It's fine. E-Even he admitted to it." Urata said as he looked at the male.

Soraru sighed, finally lifting his head up to look at the short brunette. A tired, exhausted and teary-eyed Urata met his gaze.

"I promised, no, we promised that we'd work together to stop this." Urata mimicked the redhead's usual smile, causing Soraru to smile.

"For Mafu and Sakata."

The two males were determined to keep their promise to their loved ones.

They were going to end this wretched killing game.

If it was the last thing they do.

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A/n

I-I'm sorry, please forgive me

I always make ursk and srmf suffer, I need to be stopped ww

Hope you enjoyed (??) the chapter