Danganronpa vG: Goodbye Magic

by witegrlninja


Hell Springs Forth - Daily Life 2

8am came annoyingly quickly. I awoke to the taunting prattles of the Monokubs on the TV, tuning them out the best I could. I got out of my bed and threw on my bathrobe, bundling my clothes and used towels into a lump to take to the Laundry Room. It wasn't pleasant cramming my bare feet into my boots, but I trudged through the inch or so of snow all the same. At least there was a hot breakfast awaiting me.

After putting my things in the wash, I made my way to the Dining Hall, gathered together some food and sat down. Everyone else was here eating as well, some of them also wearing their bathrobes over their clothes for warmth. Aside from Flash and Sunset, who seemed to be having an animated conversation, and Sonata cradling a baking potato in her arms and feeding it oatmeal, the others didn't seem to have much to say this morning. At one point Sugarcoat discussed the glowing gem with Sunburst, who suggested that we should all wait at least another couple of days until bringing it back out. He wanted to be sure no one had any adverse reactions to being exposed to it, and he hadn't quite put together all the things he wanted to experiment with it yet.

"You hear that, everyone? If you start feeling sick or weird, tell me or Sunburst immediately," Sugarcoat bossed, earning uninterested grumbles in reply.

"WELL, I FEEL WEIRD," Kotenage grunted to himself as he swung his arms around in a stretching fashion. "I'VE STUCK TO MY DAILY ROUTINE AS BEST I CAN ALL THIS TIME, BUT MY TRAINING JUST ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT AN OPPONENT TO FIGHT AGAINST."

"That's... not what I meant..." Sugarcoat sighed, shaking her head.

"Trees aren't enough for ya, big guy?" asked Soarin'.

"THEY'RE OKAY FOR KEEPING UP MY STRENGTH, BUT I NEED TO KEEP MY SKILLS SHARP. I MUST PRACTICE MY OWN BRAND OF SUMO."

"I get it, but... I don't think anyone here can take you on," Memento remarked as she glanced around the room. Ocean, Soarin' and Flash shook their heads in unison, while Sunburst shrank down in his seat a little.

"I'd give it a crack," Indigo smirked as she flexed her arms, comically small compared to Kotenage's. Everyone shared a few laughs, knowing that there was really no way she was a match for him.

"How about Mr. Potat here?" Sonata held up her potato for a brief moment before throwing it in Kotenage's direction. Confused, he caught it effortlessly, then chuckled when he saw the potato had a silly angry face carved into it.

"AH, YES... A FEARSOME OPPONENT," he smiled. "I MIGHT JUST HAVE MY FIRST LOSS AGAINST HIM!"

"...Actually, I think I could last at least a few seconds against you," Silver suddenly stood up.

"OH? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT?" asked Kotenage.

"I mean, I strength train and stuff... if I'm going to drive something as fast as a Formula One car, I need to be able to withstand a lot of G's," she replied as she stretched out her arms and cracked her neck. "You gotta be in damn good shape for that, and I'd like to think I am."

"Yea? How strong are ya?" asked Indigo. Silver calmly strode over to the line of breakfast foods, finding a bowl of unshelled nuts at the end.

"Watch this," she smirked. She picked out a walnut from the bowl and placed it in the crook between her neck and right shoulder. After making sure everyone had a good look at the walnut, she pressed her neck down and flexed her muscles - and the walnut's shell shattered.

Sweet Celestia...!

Everyone's mouths dropped open in shock. "Daaaaamn!" Ocean shouted as the pieces of shell clattered to the floor. Silver popped the walnut into her mouth and smiled.

"Holy shit," Memento mouthed.

"Guuuuurl, you strong as hell!" Indigo gaped.

"INDEED, VERY IMPRESSIVE," Kotenage nodded. "BUT DO YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH SUMO WRESTLING?"

"Well... I've seen it on TV a couple times when I had races in Neighpon... I think I got the gist of it," Silver shrugged.

"HMM..." Kotenage mulled it over in his head for a few moments, then grinned widely. "...ALRIGHT. LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN STAND AGAINST ME."

~

Everyone hurried outside, eager to see Kotenage and Silver square off behind the Main Cabin. Kotenage got a stick and drew a large circle on the ground in what was left of the snow, then motioned for Silver to join him in the center. Once there she stretched and flexed her limbs, while Kotenage took off his robe and cast it aside.

"I WILL DO MY BEST TO ENSURE YOU ARE NOT HURT," he assured, stamping his feet into the ground like a bull about to charge.

"Ah, I'll be alright," Silver cracked her neck once more. "Let's see what you got, big boy." Kotenage simply nodded as he sank to the ground in a squat, leaning on one fist on the ground. Silver took a deep breath before doing the same.

"Yeaaa! Go Silver!" Indigo cheered raucously as she jumped up and supported herself on Sugarcoat's shoulders, much to the latter's chagrin.

Then Kotenage touched his other fist to the ground, signaling that he was ready whenever she was. Silver stared forward motionlessly for a few moments, before suddenly punching the ground with her other fist and launching herself at Kotenage.

I was fully expecting her to bounce off of him like a rubber ball against a hard surface, but to my surprise Silver's charge pushed him back a few inches. At nearly the same time Kotenage grabbed her around the waist, but she easily slipped out of his grasp and swung around to his side, grabbing at the hem of his shorts and wrapping one of her legs around his in an attempt to trip him.

"AH, GOING FOR A SOTOGAKE, ARE YOU?" Kotenage grinned. "A WISE CHOICE." Silver pulled with all her might, while Kotenage shifted and shook to keep his balance. They remained in this stalemate for a few moments, Kotenage muttering a phrase to himself that I couldn't quite make out. Silver released Kotenage's leg from her own, only to grab it with both of her hands. She lifted as hard as she could, actually raising his leg a few feet into the air and causing him to stumble.

But he quickly regained his balance. "ASHITORI WON'T WORK ON ME, EITHER!" he laughed, clearly enjoying himself. Silver abandoned her attempt at a leg pick and moved away, but Kotenage managed to grab her arm. Before she knew it, both his arms were firmly wrapped around her midsection, and with one swift motion she was lifted high into the air. She flailed her limbs wildly in an attempt to break free, but it was no use.

"Aww... damnit," she half-groaned, half-giggled as Kotenage simply carried her out of the ring and gently set her down.

"AND THAT IS TSURIDASHI FOR ME," he smiled. "AH, DON'T FEEL TOO BAD, SILVER. YOUR SUMO IS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD!"

"Ah... you think so?" she asked, wiping her forehead.

"HAI. IN FACT, PERHAPS AFTER A FEW MORE BOUTS, YOU'D BE A DELIGHTFUL SPARRING PARTNER! I LOOK FORWARD TO OUR NEXT MATCH."

"Heh... yea, you got it, big guy!" Silver grinned, giving a thumbs-up. "Wanna go again?"

"HAI!" he nodded, the smile on his face brimming with excitement and the fire of competition. He picked up another stick and began defining the borders of the circle a little more.

"Girl, you are my spirit animal," Indigo exclaimed as she slapped Silver's shoulder.

"That was so bad. Ass! Where have you been all my life?!" Ocean yelled in awe. Silver giggled bashfully.

"Ah, well... ehehe..."

While Silver dealt with her new adoring fans, some of us stuck around to keep watching, while others left to go do their own thing. I was among them... my clothes should be ready for the dryer now.

~

I loaded the damp clothes into the dryer and turned it on. The laundry room was nice and warm after standing outside for a while, so I sat down on a bench and simply enjoyed the dry heat and hum of the machines.

A few minutes later, the door to the room opened, interrupting my reverie with a cold draft. Juniper walked in a few seconds later, clothed in her bathrobe and carrying a bundle of laundry in her arms.

"Oh... hellooo, darling," she droned in a slightly snotty tone as she dropped her laundry onto a table.

"Hey Juniper," I replied. "Doing laundry too?"

"Yep," she nodded, sorting out the items by color.

"Uh... doing anything afterwards?"

"First my hair, then my face," Juniper smiled serenely before raising an eyebrow. "...Wait, no, the other way around."

"...Oh."

"Ah, but we can totally hang out while I'm doing that!" she quickly added. "And... maybe I can do something about your hair and face, too!"

Gee, how nice of you to suggest...

~~~

Juniper and I finished our laundry, then at her insistence, we went to her cottage and I let her do my hair and makeup for the day... We definitely don't have the same sense of style...

~~~

"Hey, so Sunset said you went to Manehattan a few years ago," I commented while Juniper was focused on giving me a manicure.

"Oh, yea! I signed up to be on a reality TV show. Didn't think I'd get in, but they must've been blown away by my looks and charm, because they asked me to be a contestant!" she beamed.

"Ah, that's cool. What kind of show was it?"

"Equestria's Next Top Model, if you can believe it!" Juniper gushed. "Sure, I never really had any interest in modeling, but I figured if I was going to be an actress, then that would be the place to get noticed! Just getting on the show basically guarantees you a commercial or two."

"Huh." I let the thought roll around in my head for a moment. "I guess that makes sense. What was it like?"

"Well... I'll tell you right now, I was definitely the smartest of the bunch," she smirked. "I was the first to arrive at the mansion where we'd all be staying - gorgeous place, right on the beach, huge pool and garden in back. After bidding my boyfriend at the time adieu, our modeling mentor showed me around... not much of a mentor, really, he just told us all what we were doing that week and then left until the next. So then one by one all the other girls arrived... ugh, the first bitch, first thing out of her mouth, she had the audacity to tell me not to eat everything in the fridge! Like, go the fuck ahead and eat pizza and cookies, the fruit platter's mine!"

"O-Oh..." My head recoiled and I couldn't help but blink several times in surprise. "...Really? That's how she greeted you?"

"Yes! Ugh, and all the other girls were no better," Juniper rolled her eyes as she finished pushing back my cuticles. She then swiped some sweet-scented oil onto the raised skin and massaged it in rather roughly. "One bitch tried to tell me how to use the PDA we all received to keep our schedules organized... like, duh, I know how to use a frickin' PDA, but you don't even know how to turn the thing on! Then the next ho was all 'look, I like you, but we can't be friends' to me... psh, well fine, then! And then the next bitch after that was like 'if we become friends, will you do your makeup and hair juuust like me? I'm super pretty!'" she snarked in a comically nasally voice.

"Holy... really?" I laughed uncomfortably. Juniper nodded.

"So of course I told the bitch exactly what I was thinking... I took zero shit from any of them, of course, I'm sooo much better than any of them. The next girl was actually pretty nice, but she did think it was necessary to tell me how to use the house phone if I wanted to call my man... like... I know how to use a phone?" she groused slowly.

"...Where did they find these girls?" I blinked incredulously. Sure, it was Juniper of all people telling me about them, after all. But even so, that would've been a very... awkward conversation to have.

"Psh, who knows? Probably some street corner or something," she replied flippantly. "Anyway... so then we were chauffeured to the city to buy clothes - yea, can you believe we had to buy our own clothes to model?! I mean, yea, they gave us a daily allowance of like $500, but still! And there was no photographer, and the hair and makeup lady wouldn't be there until a week later, and our gym instructor guy was literally some Borat wannabe... and the sponsored restaurant that catered our food? A fuckin' burger joint! I mean, weirdest burger joint I've ever been to, but really?! And our server? The most redneck-sounding lady I've ever met. 'Welcome to Chomps, the best restaurant in town,'" she drawled in a Southern accent that would've deeply offended the Applejack in either version of Equestria. "Yea... she was apparently part of a set of quintuplets... all named Bess... all in the catering business... except for Bess who sheared sheep for a living."

...This... cannot be real... I couldn't even find the words to express how dumbfounded I was at her tale.

"Yea, it was a fuckin' trip and a half, I'll tell ya," Juniper sighed, wiping acetone on my nails before reaching for a bottle of nail polish. "Buuut it ended with me beating out all those other bitches and getting my first commercial, so I guess it was worth it."

Ugh... Juniper, what makes you think that color goes with my outfit...?

"Oh, and the best part of all? That first week, our theme was 'casual', so I thought to myself, 'what's more casual than not even bothering with clothes'? So I ran around the mansion and city in just a T-shirt and underwear for a couple days... until the one boutique I ever bothered with in the city had a really cute skirt come in. I just had to buy that."

...What.

I sat there, stunned into utter silence as Juniper continued to rant about her first week on the show while she sloppily painted my nails. I really didn't think anyone could ever mess up a Prench manicure so badly...

~

My makeover finally finished, I parted ways with Juniper and returned to my cottage, desperate to get the nail polish off of my fingers. After soaking them in acetone for what felt like an hour, I finally got it all off.

There was still a good bit of time left until dinner, and I knew just how I would spend it. It took a bit of searching, but eventually I found him in the mysterious cave studying the crystals. A couple of lanterns scavenged from the Storage Shed provided plenty of light, rendering the gentle glow of the gems nearly impossible to discern.

"Oh! Hello, Starlight," Sunburst turned his head towards me as I came closer. "Come to see the crystals? Quite fascinating, I must say. I've never seen anything like them before."

"They are," I nodded. "Buuut I was more thinking we could hang out for a bit."

"O-Oh..." he blinked rapidly, his cheeks glowing much like the gems. "W-Well, I don't see a problem with that. Why not?"

~~~

Sunburst and I talked while we studied the glowing crystals.

~~~

"So, uh..." I had to admit, I was curious about how this Sunburst's childhood had turned out. The Sunburst back home had told me all about how he'd gone to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and all that, but since magic wasn't even a thing in this world until somewhat recently... "...being a preschool prodigy and all, how was life after that?"

"Ah, yes," Sunburst cleared his throat with a grimace. "Well, my mother sent me to the finest K-12 school she could afford... after learning the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic in kindergarten I found that the work came naturally to me. It wasn't until taking a battery of tests in the first grade, however, that I was allowed to skip multiple grades."

"Really? What kind of tests?" I asked.

"Oh, goodness, I don't recall... something similar to SAT's, I know. But apparently, not only was I always the first to finish each test, but I scored perfectly on every single one. I still remember the stunned look on my teacher's face when she told me so."

"Neat! So how far were you able to skip forward?"

"To the seventh grade," he grinned. "My teacher was worried about my ability to fit in and make friends, seeing how I was only seven at the time, but the principal and superintendent both were convinced I'd be the next Einstein or someone similar."

"That's true..." I pressed my lips together as I tried to put myself in his position. If human children were anything like colts and fillies, those teenage years tended to bring out the worst qualities in a pony until their brains developed enough to properly learn empathy, cause and effect, and consequences. Such a young student among them would have been an ideal target for bullying. "Did you have any problems?"

"For a while, no," Sunburst shook his head. "My classmates were surprised, of course, but most of them were friendly enough."

"...A while, though?" My heart dropped.

"There was this young man... Autumn Jasper, if I remember right. He offered me some money to write an essay for him. I refused, of course, and then... he actually threatened to hit me! I warned him I would go to the proper authorities if he did so... and then he hit me anyway," he shrugged. "Right between the eyes, broke my glasses and everything."

"That's awful!" I scowled.

"Oh, that wasn't even the end of it," Sunburst scoffed. "The oaf happened to punch me right in view of our biology teacher, so we were both quickly sent to the principal's office. We were both scolded quite severely, and then my mother arrived about an hour into our meeting and, uh, talked him out of applying a zero-tolerance policy to the incident."

"Ew, your school did zero-tolerance?" I stuck my tongue out. "Nopo- er, nobody does that back home... it never works."

"Not after that day they didn't, not with all the negative publicity and lawsuits she was threatening him with," Sunburst glanced away sheepishly. "So Autumn Jasper was suspended for five days while I returned to class... of course, he held a grudge against me after that and always made my day just a little more difficult if we crossed paths. But... I got my revenge," he smirked.

"Oh? Do tell," I leaned closer.

"So," he puffed out his chest, as if he was going to tell me his proudest memory, "Although I aced my classes with ease, I couldn't continue on to college classes until I was at least thirteen, so I had quite a few free periods with which to pass the time. Some of these were spent being a teacher's aide... grading papers, doing small errands, you know. It wasn't until my senior year that I found myself grading the papers for the classes Autumn Jasper was taking... it only took a moment to realize that he was copying all of his answers from other classmates, and rather blatantly, I might add."

I couldn't help but grin.

"I gave him big, fat zeroes for every test he took, in every class of his I had. He ended up having to repeat the year, while I graduated as Valedictorian, excited to finally take more advanced classes. Ah... justice. Made all those years of enduring his crass barbarism worth it."

"Oh, I bet that felt good," I giggled, although I could feel myself sneering inside. An utter jerk getting their well-deserved comeuppance... that feeling of righteous indignation, finally sated and banished away once things had been put right, once vengeance had been taken and the sinners had been punished...

...It reminded me of the way I felt when I had ripped Twilight's future away from her the first time.

The sudden realization shook me to the core with a cold chill. I blinked uncomfortably as my thoughts warred against each other. Every action was the consequence of a reaction, a mantra I had taken to heart when I first accepted the position of guidance counselor at the School of Friendship. I found myself wondering why Autumn had been such a bully, why he had cheated on those tests... what happened to him that caused him to be that way?

No... it's not the same thing... it sounds like Autumn actually deserved what happened to him... he had no troubled past to blame his actions on... right?

"I've always wondered... would he go to the same class reunion as myself? Or the one he actually graduated from?" Sunburst mused to himself. "Assuming the oaf ever did graduate to start with..."

"I'm... sure he did... eventually," I mumbled. Sunburst shrugged.

"Ah, well. No use dwelling on the past... the here and now is what I should be worried about. Now, where was I... ah, yes, I should collect some samples, that would definitely aid my research..."

He began carefully scooping some of the loose rocks by the cave wall into a bag, seemingly ignorant of or content with our silence. I helped where I could, but didn't say much else... I was too busy with my own thoughts.

~

After Sunburst brought his samples back to his cottage, I returned to my own to wash the dirt off my hands before heading to the dining hall - it was just about time for dinner. Most of the others had already arrived, the last few stragglers walking in as Kotenage finished bringing out our meal - chankonabe again, with what Sunset called beef this time. Soup was beginning to get a little old five days into our ordeal, but it would be rude to complain, especially since he really put his heart into it...

"...You know," Sunset suddenly spoke up. "Given our situation, you know what would really help to ensure no one falls for Monokuma's crap?"

"Ugh, don't you dare say a party," Sugarcoat grumbled. "It's bad enough the rest of you are treating this like an extended vacation as it is."

"Nooot exactly..." Sunset chuckled nervously, glancing away for a moment. "More like a... trust-building exercise!" Sugarcoat groaned again.

"Yea? What do you have in mind?" asked Soarin'.

"Well, we were thinking we could all hang out together at those hot springs," said Flash. "Maybe get some snacks and drinks together and make a day of it."

"Ooh! That sounds fun!" Sonata chirped happily.

"Yea, that doesn't sound too bad," Silver nodded, looking Sunset's way. "There's a couple people here I'd definitely like to chat with, in a more... relaxed setting."

"I KNOW JUST THE THING TO MAKE FOR SUCH AN OCCASION," Kotenage grinned. "I'VE GOT A WAGASHI RECIPE I'VE BEEN DYING TO TRY OUT!"

"Hehe, all these hot chicks in swimsuits in nature's hot tub... hell yea, I'm in," Ocean leered.

"...Contain yourself, hm?" Mountain sighed, lightly whacking her twin on the head with her spoon.

"But... doing something like this would surely anger our captors," Sunburst hummed thoughtfully.

"Psh... screw Monokuma," Flash rolled his eyes as he flipped his hand backwards. "Something like this'll be the perfect way to show him we aren't gonna fall apart and kill each other."

"We'll all become better friends, and it'll be easier to stand together against him," I agreed, then turned towards Sugarcoat. "Don't you think so, Sugarcoat?"

She let out a loud, long sigh before finally nodding once. "I... guess so," she grumpily conceded. "Of course, that's assuming nothing bad happens... like someone using the opportunity to murder someone else."

"Do you always have to be such a buzzkill?" Juniper groaned. "Maybe if you stopped being paranoid for two seconds we could stop worrying about that happening."

"Girl needs to get laid..." Indigo coughed not-so-subtly to Ocean, who snickered.

"Oh, forgive me for wanting to survive a killing game," Sugarcoat huffed, pouting as she spoke through clenched teeth. "But fine... I'll try to relax and... mingle a bit." She added quite a bit of begrudging emphasis on "mingle".

"Perfect. So, how 'bout we all meet up at the hot springs at like, 1pm?" suggested Sunset. "Hang out and stuff until, say, 4pm so we all have time to shower and dry off before dinner?"

"Sounds good to me," nodded Memento.

"Can I bring a plus one?" Sonata asked as she held up another potato to her face. It was different from earlier, as this one had a happy face carved into it with googly eyes glued on.

"1PM? I'LL HAVE TO START THE RECIPE RIGHT AWAY," Kotenage chuckled, slurping down the last of his huge bowl of food as he got up from the table. Smiles spread on everyone's faces as they talked excitedly amongst themselves... well, everyone except Sugarcoat, anyway.

After finishing my meal, I brought my dishes to the dishwasher in the kitchen, where Kotenage was busy pouring an unholy amount of sugar into a crockpot full of beans. I spent the rest of the night wondering what in Celestia's name he was making with that concoction...