NOTE: THIS WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THE RELEASE OF THE ANIME DANGANRONPA3: DESPAIR. Also Sdr2 spoilers.

Run. Run. Run.

Sato was going to die.

Her own footsteps rung in her ears as she dashed through the hallways of Hope's Peak Academy.

The quick feet of her chaser grew closer, and Sato quickened her pace.

I'm going to die. A murderer is murdered... How? How did he find out I was the one who killed her?

Fear coursed through her veins, and she stumbled, skidding around a corner and bumping into a wall. With one hand on the wall to steady herself, Sato lifted her head to check behind her.

"That's right! Run until you can't lift your legs, Sato!" Someone snarled.

Inhaling sharply, Sato started again.

He won't be able to get into the dorms.

Slowly, surely, Sato turned another corner. The stairs to the second floor greeted her, and she looked behind her once more. The slam of shutting doors caused her to jump, then dart up the stairs.

The locker rooms were to the left of her when she came upstairs. She couldn't circle back, and besides, her fear wouldn't have let her- he was on the first floor, probably near the entrance of the doors.

The girl's locker rooms were the next best thing.

She scanned her ElectroID- profiles on everyone in her class. It wasn't useful for anything else except for entering the locker-rooms and getting to your locker.

The light pink walls caused her to shiver. Such bright colors always unnerved her- they were warped, distorting, and made her eyes sting.

"Is it safe enough to go into the lockers near the pool...?" Sato wondered out loud. He would never look in the lockers, and he wasn't allowed in the girl's locker room.

Her choice was made. Sato slipped into the swimming area, and her footsteps echoed softly off the walls. In the very back, she located her hiding spot- a row of blue lockers.

I'm scared.

I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm terrified.

It was robotic, almost. Her movements were stiff, jerky. The lock clicked together with ease, and Sato's dark eyes peered out between the metal binds.

Minutes.

Hours, even.

They blended together as Sato just stood there, her legs aching.

It was hard to crouch, but with her knees drawn to her chest, she managed to sit down in the locker and hunch over, her head in her hands.

She hadn't left school yet. He was waiting there. He was waiting for her. And just like Sato did his sister, he was going to kill her.

In the distance, something clanged together. Sato jerked upright, her black hair flying over her head and getting into her mouth and eyes.

Silence followed. Her palms were slick with sweat, and she hastily ran them over her uniform.

Terror.

Thunder that shook your mind and soul.

Lightning that stole sight from your eyes for the briefest of milliseconds.

The door wrenched open, and Sato screamed as the blade flashed across her eyes, taking a large chunk of the door with it.

"Hiding in the locker isn't the most courageous of actions," Peko Pekoyama commented, raising her blade again. "Aren't you the supposed leader of your little group?"

Ducking out of the locker, Sato managed to evade another slash. The metal inside of the locker now bore a hideous scar, the metal having puckered up, edges sharp.

Only expected of the Ultimate Swordswoman, Sato thought, backing up.

Peko took her time in facing her, readying her sword. She wasn't usually allowed to have it on school grounds- but all of the staff had gone.

The sleek, silver blur was almost too fast for her to catch. Sato shifted her weight back to her back foot, and a spark of pain lit in her cheek as the evasive movement allowed only her cheek to be cut.

She wasted no time in getting out, stumbling into the hallway without a single glance behind her at the advancing swordswoman.

He was waiting.

A hand slid into his pocket, with the other cradling a bat behind his arm, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu blocked off the staircase to the first floor.

Sato didn't have the guts to look behind her, but she had no doubt that Peko was blocking off the staircase to the third.

"So we meet, it seems," Fuyuhiko said, his words snarled and clipped. "Murderer."

"Lay off!"

"Bitch," Fuyuhiko jeered back, voice lurking with barely-concealed venom. "Sato, am I right?"

She stiffened at her name. Taking this as a confirmation, the Ultimate Yakuza took a step forward.

Sato took a step back. Then another. And another.

Until she felt the finely honed tip of Peko's sword prob her spinal cord.

"I would advise against doing that," the grey-haired woman suggested.

"I won't do anything, ya know," Fuyuhiko shrugged," Tell ya what... Why don'tcha go inside that classroom," he jerked his head to the side. "And we'll leave you alone? Just one favor."

No. This is a trap.

Sato could see it.

It was in his smirk, his face, his words, the way he held himself. Most of all, it was in his sandy-brown eyes.

Hopelessness.

No, Sato automatically corrected herself. Not hopelessness, yet it is.

Despair.

"Peko, blade down," Fuyuhiko commanded. After glancing over her shoulder, it was surprise that flickered through her at the sight of the sword at the girl's feet.

"See?" Fuyuhiko grinned- too widely for her comfort. "It'll be just fine. Just go into the classroom."

"Just fine," the black-haired girl repeated weakly, slowly walking to where he had ordered. His eyes burned into her back- unforgiving, cruel, even desperate- feeding fuel to her flames of fear.

Should I call Mahiru? Hiyoko? Ibuki? Mikan?

No. I can't risk getting them in danger. I killed his sister, this is my punishment.

The door clicked shut behind her.

"How fitting for a murderer," Fuyuhiko said behind her.

All the former calm in his voice was gone. Malice resonated strongly, and his knuckles shook by his side, one gripping the bat tightly.

"To be murdered," Sato finished softly, and pressed her back against the wall. "Th-That's what you're going to do, isn't it?"

"Precisely."

Fuyuhiko shifted closer, and reached up, grabbing her hair and yanking. Sato stared down at him, her teeth digging into her bottom lip.

"Here's what you don't understand. Damaged people are dangerous, Sato. They know they're going to survive," he whispered. "And they know they're going to bring despair."

Her breath hitched, and Sato's eyes never caught sight of the bat until it had smashed into her skull.