Ouma's POV:

"S-Saihara! W-wait up!" I screamed as I ran after Saihara, we were lost in the mall, it began with us looking for the food court before eventually giving up due to both of us failing to understand the map, now we didn't even know where the exit was.

"Sorry" Saihara apologized waiting up, he looked intimidated in the mall, "o-oh god d-do you think w-we're ever g-going to f-find a way o-out of here?" I asked, "no, prepare a will," he told me as he dug out a notepad from his pocket ripping me a strip of paper.

"I-I w-was joking!" I whimpered, "I'm not," Saihara told me.

Sometimes I wish I could tell if he was joking.

"HEY! KOKICHI!" A voice rang out and I turned around to face my friends as they quickly ran up towards us, "hi Kazue, Riko, w-why are you t-two here?" I asked, "Oh! So Kazie and I decided to go out to the store and go shopping, cause he wanted to see what was the new trends up close and personal and I wanted to get free makeup samples!" Riko told me cheerfully before turning over to face Saihara.

"WOW! Is this the cute boy you kept talking about! You're right he's adorable! I thought you would be talking about some kind of six-pack dude but I should have known this guy was much more your type sorry Ouma I'm a bad friend" Riko apologized.

"R-Riko!" I spat out embarrassed, but Saihara remained unaffected, "oh, are they your friends?" he asked simply, Riko nodded smiling proudly, "Kazue and I have known Kokichi since we were all in diapers!" she told him.

"Ah, I see, now if you don't mind can you point us in the direction to leave?" Saihara asked Riko pouted "aww leaving already? I wanted to meet Kokichi's new boyfriend...aww...well you can show up for movie night this week right?" she asked.

"I mean it's just any TV night cause Takura always wants to watch some new anime and Miri couldn't care less about what we play- but it would be fun! It's tomorrow so PLEASE KOKICHI DRAG HIM ALONG!" Riko begged.

"Riko I don't want a total stranger at our movie night," Kazue told her annoyed, "aww you're just being a jerk!" Riko complained before turning her attention back to Saihara, "so will you come?" she asked.

"Ok," Saihara said shrugging, Riko smiled in victory "great! Oh, wait what are your favorite snacks? Nah nevermind you can never go wrong with chips, oooh and nacho cheese dip and- oh wait you wanted to know where the exit was right?" she asked suddenly remembering.

Saihara and I nodded desperately as she pointed to her side...

It was a giant glass wall with a clear exit sign in neon color.

"Oh," Saihara said as I mentally died on the inside, "so it seems Saihara has Ouma's sense of direction" Kazue joked rolling his eyes, "K-Kazue!" I blurted out embarrassed, "come on let me have this, you can't honestly expect me to be nice about this when the exit is RIGHT NEXT TO YOU" Kazue emphasized.

"You d-don't have t-to be so m-mean about it..." I muttered, "let's go Ouma," Saihara said as we headed towards the exit, "bye Kokichi! See you later" Riko called as Kazue seemed to have found some kind of sale dragging Riko with him.

"Your friends are strange," Saihara told me as soon as we left the building, "R-Riko just gets e-easily excited...y-you d-don't have to go to movie n-night if you d-don't want to," I told him, he shook his head, "No I do, it would be interesting meeting your friends but have you told them about our relationship?" he asked.

I shook my head, "n-not yet" I told him, Saihara looked disappointed for a bit, "i-it's just cause...I told them a b-bit about m-my first r-relationship...and t-they w-were really r-really mad t-that I didn't t-tell them sooner...a-and since have b-been trying to p-protect me, I-I just w-want them to meet y-you first and l-learn to trust you l-like I do b-before they know" I told him.

Saihara nodded understanding.

"Ok, then I'll come to your movie night?" he asked, I nodded smiling, I hope they like him...

~-~-~-~

"NO! FOR THE LAST TIME! I AM NOT WATCHING ANOTHER GOD DAMN POKEMON MOVIE!" Mirai screamed, oh boy. Saihara and I just arrived for the weekly fight over what movie we were going to watch, this week it was Takura's choice and Mirai...well she had a different taste.

"BUT MIRAI YOU HAD YOUR TURN! I JUST WANNA WATCH SOME CUTE POKEMON BE CUTE INNOCENT BOYS AND HAVE FUN! LET ME HAVE THIS!" he begged, "IF I HAVE TO WATCH ASH 'DIE' ONE MORE TIME I WILL GO INSANE!" she fired back, I looked over at Saihara who seemed to be just as awkward about the situation.

"OH! KOKICHI! HI!" Riko called out poking out of the kitchen, "YAY! YOU BROUGHT YOUR FRIEND!" she cheered running over, she had flour in her hair and was covered in whatever she was cooking with, Eiji the only person with culinary talent also poked his head out and gave a short wave before heading back inside.

"So since we have the civil war over movies right now, and since Kazue didn't get to choose last week cause he was sick, we decided that half of everyone is going into the basement for something he chooses and the rest up here for Takura, so you can go choose!" she told us, "oh yeah and my Mom said we can't destroy the house again, so please don't start a turf war!" she begged.

"Riko where do you keep your baking powder?" Eiji called, Riko turned back, "COMING! See you guys later!" she told us smiling as she ran back inside the kitchen, I looked over to Saihara, "w-where do you w-wanna go?" I asked.

Saihara shrugged, "w-well...I think y-you and Kazue h-have similar t-taste so l-let's go downstairs" I told him as I led him down into the basement, there were fewer people than I expected so I guess everyone else got dragged into the civil war.

Instead, only #*(!~!(~!, Kazue, and Tsuki were in the room relaxing. #*(!~!(~! I expected because she and Kazue were dating and Tsuki just liked staying out of conflict. #*(!~!(~! turned over to me, "oh hey Kokichi, what are you doing here? Who's this guy?" she asked.

"H-he's my friend f-from school," I told her, "Riko i-invited him" I added, she nodded nervously, "Uhm you might want to go back upstairs, I don't think you would like this show," she told us, "w-why? I-I thought w-we would j-just watch s-some Netflix s-show?" I asked.

"Oh, Uhm...Kazue do you want to explain? I don't wanna crush this innocent soul's innocence so PLEASE" she begged, Kazue looked nervous as he looked at the two of us before sighing, "we're watching Danganronpa" he told us.

"Danganronpa?" I asked, "Ouma, Ouma how the heck do you not know what Danganronpa is?" he asked, "I-I h-heard of it, j-just never s-seen it, w-what's it about?" I asked. 

#*(!~!(~! looked down nervous before taking a deep breath, "ok so it's a murder mystery/survivor series" she told me, "t-that sounds f-fine what actors?" I asked, "o-or is it a-animated?" I asked.

"It's live-action technically I guess but it's kind of hard to explain, basically it's not a regular show where it's just actors and a script but instead actual real people fighting to the death kind of and none of it is planned out beforehand, just the characters and the area they are trapped in, it's cool because even in the worst seasons it's great because the characters carry it through and act realistic its super fun honestly," she told me.

"R-Real p-people?!" I cried out, "yeah, actual people sign up to become apart of Danganronpa," Kazue said, "t-then it has t-to be s-scripted? I-I don't understand!" I cried out, I look towards Saihara for answers but he looked as equally confused as I was and even slightly disturbed.

What...what have they been watching?!

"Relax! It's fine!" #*(!~!(~! insisted, "no one dies!" she told me, "ok so the way it works is that there is this simulation, no wait remember our history class back in Elementary about the Tragedy and the Jabberwock island killing game?" Kazue asked.

I nodded, everyone knew about the games, "So it's like that! No one really dies, all they do is I think they put in fake personalities for the people who sign up, they act out a killing game like the first ones, and boom there's a season and then we have the next one so on and so forth" he told me.

"O-oh...s-so they're f-fine?" I asked #*(!~!(~! nodded, "yeah they're perfectly fine! Even better apparently when you go through a season you get A LOT of money and fame! Cause the show is pretty popular, it's kind of like with Hope's Peak before that got shut down, you get instant success because you come out like an ultimate with a super cool talent to keep!" she emphasized.

"O-Oh...I...I g-guess it's f-fine then...s-since no one g-gets hurt..." I muttered. #*(!~!(~! smiled, "glad you understand! So want to watch a season Kazue wants to tell them the big news?" she asked.

Kazue looked down, "no thank you, you're better at these sorts of things," he told her, "aww babe you're so sweet! Ok so let's watch some episodes and then I'll tell you the super cool thing that happened to me and Kazie!" she squealed as she got herself comfortable sitting on a beanbag chair, I looked over at Saihara.

"D-Do you...?" I asked unable to finish my question, Saihara paused, "let's see what it's like" he decided and I nodded as we made ourselves comfortable sitting down on the floor, turning out attention towards the screen, it was named Danganronpa Season Fifty, "this one was released months ago" Kazue said munching on popcorn, "they're about to do fifty-one, and they say they're gonna cram in season fifty-two straight afterward, it's already been cast even I found that to be mental" he told me, "yeah especially since season fifty got so much backlash cause...well I don't know" #*(!~!(~! admitted shrugging, "it's cause no ones like the despair endings," Kazue told her.

#*(!~!(~! pouted, "I do, they make it so much more special when they end in hope," she said, Kazue shrugged, "I guess," he said as he played with her hair, "Hey!" she complained, "oh come on you know you like it when I play with your hair," he said, she blushed, "not in front of other people" she complained, "alright sweetie, you got to let me try something though later, I found a cool hairstyle online and with Riko's help I think it would look great on you," he told her.

"Ooooh," #*(!~!(~! said excitedly, and the two huddled close together as the TV began playing the recorded season, I felt myself tensing up as Saihara sat nearby for support.

...

...

...

~-~-~-~

I didn't know what to do watching the season...we must have watched maybe three episodes? It was scary watching it too be honest despite it being fake, the way the characters acted was lifelike and I felt...they were almost real.

"HOWDY GUYS!" Riko called walking into the basement with a giant bowl of popcorn as she playfully threw some at Tsuki, "aah! You got butter on my glasses!" Tsuki cried, "oops, sorry" she apologized as she placed down the bowl, "Nah it's fine," Tsuki said.

"OOH RIKO YOU CAME AT THE RIGHT TIME!" #*(!~!(~! said getting off of Kazue's lap as she sat up straight and proud dragging him up with her, "ok then! I got an announcement! After a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, Kazue and I have been accepted into Danganronpa season fifty-one!" she cheered.

"W-What?" I asked, "#*(!~!(~! and I auditioned a few months ago, and we got accepted that's all," he said messing with his hair embarrassed, "that's ALL? COME ON KAZIE THIS IS WHAT WE'VE DREAMED OF!" she reminded.

"I'm so confused, what's a Dangronfiddle?" Riko whispered to me, "a tv s-show" I told her, "so you must be wondering why, and well get this! We made a plan and with the money, we get from this and the fame we can launch off Kazue's career since he's graduating this year! We can become the super cool fashion designer couple and stuff except I have the talent equivalent to a rock so I guess I'll just stand there and do...nothing" #*(!~!(~! admitted.

"Nonsense, she'll be the mannequin," Kazue told us, "KAZIE!" she yelled, "I was joking come on!" Kazue told her, "a-aren't the t-two of y-you scared?" I asked, "I-I mean...w-won't it hurt?" I asked.

"I guess, but I don't think it will be that bad," #*(!~!(~! said, "So yeah, we go in like a week? So it's going to be pretty cool I think when we come back and get to see our season, so yeah! Can't wait!" she said smiling.

She sounded so excited when she was telling us...even Kazue looked happy...but I...I couldn't help but shake the feeling of unease when I thought of them going into the show...I...

"Ouma, would you ever do what they're doing?" Saihara asked when we had finally left the party and were heading home, I shrugged, "I d-don't think s-so...I'm a c-coward...I w-wouldn't f-fit in..." I told him.

"I don't think I have an interesting enough personality, although it does intrigue me" he admitted, "but I don't think I would, even if I did because I don't see what kind of real reward I would get out of dying" he admitted.

I stopped dead in my tracks...my friends...I'm...I'm going to watch them die...

The thought terrified me so I tried...I tried my best to ignore the fear growing in my stomach.

~-~-~-~

It's been a few weeks now...we all knew this was going to happen but...I wasn't ready.

My eyes were glued to the screen with Saihara next to me, I saw the tweets last night about what happened to #*(!~!(~! and how right now the trial was going on, but we decided we wanted to see the whole episode before skipping right ahead to the trial episode.

I don't know how Danganronpa managed to get me so addicted, it started as me just trying to understand the show Kazue and #*(!~!(~! were so obsessed with but now...now that mere curiosity opened a door and I couldn't stop watching, it was so despair filled and yet...

With every episode, I felt like...like even though the endings sometimes didn't end happily that maybe...maybe I could use that strength the characters had and face my horrible world...is...is that a bad thing? 

I don't know.

I just need some hope. I think Saihara had the same kind of fascination as he to joined me when we watched the show, I could see him slowly grow more and more excited with every single episode we watched like life was returning to him.

I wish...I wish I could have been the one who did that for him...

With each passing day I felt myself grow even a little bit more confident, and a will to live...but...I still stand by what I told Saihara, how despite loving the show now I would never be able to sign up for it.

Because...I was too scared to die.

And seeing #*(!~!(~! only solidified my resolve. It was disgusting the sight, my poor friend had been brutally murdered and I felt myself growing nauseous just watching it, tears streaming from my eyes despite knowing in a few weeks she would wake up and be fine...I couldn't forget seeing her body mutilated in such a way, and the tears of the characters only pushed me over the edge.

"I...I'm going home!" I told Saihara unable to watch any further, he nodded and quickly shut off the episode, "n-no...you c-can keep w-watching...j-just text me a-about how t-the episode w-went...I j-just...I c-can't see her b-body" I told him.

"Ok then. Want me to walk you home?" He offered, "n-Nah it's f-fine," I told him, it was still early in the afternoon so I left quickly.

I don't want to cause anyone any trouble.

I wish I could be strong like those characters...then...then I would be able to make Saihara happy...I know he says he is but when I see him watching all those characters I just know...I know he wishes I could be brave like them, smart, and able to make him laugh and smile...

I...I want...

I opened the door to my home, it was a bakery on the lower floor and we lived just above, "Mom?" I called looking around, usually, she would be running the shop around this time with my father in the backroom.

However the shop was strangely quiet and the lights were still on so we weren't closed...my heart began to fill with dread, "MOM?" I called looking into the side room, the supply closet, I even checked the kitchen and nothing was there.

"MOM!?" I screamed, as I finally ran to look...

...

..

...

Lying there in a puddle of her blood at the foot of the stairs was my mother, her body looking like a ragdoll as it laid there broken........

All I could do was scream.