Super Danganronpa 2: On Harmony's Shores

by Dewdrops on the Grass

14. Chapter Two: "The Secret Ingredient is Never What You Expect" Part 3

Chapter Two:

“The Secret Ingredient is Never What You Expect”

Part III

Well, I wasn’t going to get an answer for Rarity’s behavior if I didn’t go and ask her. “I’m going after her,” I said.

Before I could get two steps, Juniper tugged on my shirt. “No, don’t,” she said. “What if that’s what she wants? To get one of us alone so she can kill us?”

“In broad daylight? With a witness?” I snorted. “Come on, Juniper, let go. I need to…” I looked back at where Rarity had been standing, but she was long gone. I couldn’t even hear her footfalls anymore. “...damn it.”

“It’s for the best,” Juniper said. “Now she won’t shank you like some horror movie villain.” She grinned. “Oh, of course, this would be a great setting for a horror movie, wouldn’t it? Imagine some masked guy stalking people amidst the trucks…”

I tuned her out as my mind wouldn’t let go of Rarity. What, exactly, had she been doing watching us? Was it like Trixie said, the whole project thing? Keeping an eye on me, making sure I wasn’t messing up their hard work?

Was it just friendly concern? Maybe she’d wondered how I was doing, making sure I was staying safe. That would dovetail with the project concept but it could also just be that she cared.

Or…maybe she hadn’t been stalking us and just happened to be out there, and came across us by accident. And maybe when she saw us she ran because she thought we were stalking her.

Damn it. Guilt burned through my veins. I didn’t want to upset Rarity…even if Trixie was right. I still considered Rarity a friend. Upsetting her was the last thing I wanted to do.

So while Juniper was still going on about movies and not looking my way, I took several steps, just long enough to be out of reach, then ran for it, trying to catch up to Rarity.

“Wallflower! Wait!” But Juniper's plea fell on deaf ears, and she failed to pursue since I didn't hear her footfalls.

As I rounded the corner of the truck, I scanned the area, looking for any sign of Rarity. I spotted a splotch of purple trailing behind another truck, and rushed to circle around it.

Nothing. No one there.

I kept searching around, trying to figure out where she went when I rounded a corner and almost walked face first into Cheese Sandwich.

"Whoa, careful now," he said, reaching out to steady me. He touched me just long enough to get me stable then let go, drawing his hands behind his back. “You alright?”

“Yeah… sorry,” I murmured, flushing from embarrassment. “...thanks for not… touching me much.”

He grinned. “You’re sensitive to it, I can tell. I’m not here to pop bubbles or breach boundaries.” His grin slipped a little. “What’s got you in such a hurry though?”

“Oh, I was looking for Rarity, have you seen her?” I asked, glancing about for that splotch of purple I’d spotted before. Only then did I realize there was something wrapped around Cheese’s wrist: a dusty purple party streamer.

“Can’t say I have.” His grin vanished, replaced with a frown of concern. “You sure you’re alright? You look pretty flustered.”

I nodded, my eyes fixing on that streamer… and memories of what happened with the last party streamer flooded my mind. “...y-yeah. Um, Cheese…” I swallowed, my throat drying out. I took a couple steps back. “Why do you have a party streamer?”

He blinked, then held it up and half smiled. “Oh, this? Found it in one of the trucks just now while I was looking for parts.” He pointed to the closest truck, one with a cab nearly as intact as the one with the functioning engine, though this one possessed punctured tires and a lot of holes in its trailer. “Figured I’d take it with me. Didn’t want anyone trying to… you know… hurt anyone with it.” His smile slipped away. “It probably looks bad to find me with it, huh?”

“A little,” I admitted, holding up my thumb and forefinger.

He let out a sad sort of chuckle, then unwrapped the streamer and handed it to me. I immediately stuffed it in my pocket, not wanting to see it for more than a moment. I’d dispose of it later. “Sorry about that.”

I shrugged. “Anyway, I need to find Rarity, excuse–”

“Um, Wallflower?” he interrupted, looking at me plaintively. “Mind if I ask you something?”

I grimaced, fidgeting as I tried to decide, before letting out a quiet sigh. Wherever Rarity went, she was long gone by now, so I might as well hear him out. “Go ahead.”

His lips pressed together, his hands running over each other before he said, “You ever hear of someone named Pinkie Pie?”

My head ached as I struggled to remember, but I nodded. “The name sounds familiar. I think she’s… one of Rarity’s friends?” I winced, the headache becoming worse before I gave up. “I don’t remember much. Why?”

His expression turned grim.. “Just curious. I’m… kinda worried about her. She’s…well, nevermind.” He shook his head slowly and sighed. “Better question: you were awfully defensive about Trixie during the trial. Are you sure we can trust her?”

That made my blood run cold despite the late morning sun. “...I’m pretty sure she’s trustworthy. She just wants to live through this, like the rest of us.” I eyed him, trying to figure out why he would ask. “Is there something that makes you think she isn’t?”

He crossed his arms and stared right back at me, his eyes scanning over me, like they were searching for something… or he was making up his mind. Then he softly shook his head. “Sorry I asked.. It’s probably nothing. Just… maybe let’s keep an eye on her, huh?”

“If by keeping an eye on her you mean keep her with the rest of the group, I’m all for that,” I said, though I kept staring right back at him despite how difficult that was for me, just in case he buckled and told me what he was holding back.

And it actually seemed like he was about to break, but fate wasn’t on my side. I heard a loud whooping noise, and suddenly there was a third person there with us. In my shock, it took me quite a long time for the whooping to cohere into comprehensible words.

“...And Wallflower, too! I just love this old stuff, don’t you? It’s like, what was any of this even for? Why’d it get abandoned? I don’t believe in ghosts even though I saw a ghost once but–Oh! Cheese, did I tell you about the time I saw a ghost?! It wasn’t scary, because like what’s a ghost even going to do to you? Ghosts are only scary because of the existential fear of the unknown, and…”

“Hi, Autumn,” I finally managed. She was latched onto Cheese’s arm, practically talking directly into his ear. He didn’t seem to mind, smiling widely, somehow taking her completely in stride.

“Hiiiii!” Autumn greeted back. “We were meeting up here to go check through the trucks for more parts and stuff! Wanna come?”

“Um,” I said, still feeling more than a little uncomfortable, “no thanks. See you later.” They waved cheerfully, and I grumbled to myself as I turned and walked away. Just what had he been hinting at?

I headed back to meet up with Juniper, who breathed a massive sigh of relief when she saw me. “Oh thank goodness… I thought… I thought Rarity was gonna–”

“Didn’t see Rarity,” I interrupted. “Just Cheese Sandwich and Autumn Blaze. They were going through the trucks.”

“Oh.” Juniper let out a quiet sigh. “Oh well. Let’s get out of here. I feel like heading back to my room. Wanna come? We can play cards. I’ve got a set.”

“Sure,” I said. It would be something to do, at least. And on the way, I made sure to dispose of that purple party streamer by tossing it into the still stinking puddle of rattlesnake venom.

~*~

Sometime in the afternoon, after I’d grown sick of cards, I was wandering the succulent garden when my tablet beeped. I pulled it out and looked; as I expected, I’d been sent another one of those weird surveys. Sighing, I found a shaded bench and hunkered down, hoping to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, this one was stupid-long. It seemed to be some kind of personality test, or something, just row after row of weird statements I was supposed to agree or disagree with. The instructions said not to think too much about any of the items, but they were so ambiguous and odd, I couldn’t help it.

And once I started thinking, I felt a comfortable darkness.

I insist on getting the respect that I deserve. I had no idea how to answer that. I thought I knew what they were getting at, but should I count it if “the respect I deserve” is low?

I like to use clever manipulation to get my way. Ha, I try to manipulate people, all the time, probably. But it’s not clever. It’s stupid, everyone probably just sees through me and I have no idea.

People who mess with me always regret it. Sunset might have messed with me. She might have been lying about killing Pear Butter. But then I exposed her and… well, she sure regretted it. For a short time, anyway. Before she…

I shook my head and set my tablet down. My thoughts were racing; I felt gross, angry, bitter. All these opportunities to think about myself had sent me spiraling… somewhere. Like how I felt the worst moments back in high school, but numbed and rote and easy. Familiar.

“Gah,” I said out loud, rubbing my temples. “I’m thinking about this too much.” Talking to myself was weird, but it felt like a little rebellion. “Stupid survey.”

I picked my tablet back up and continued, vowing to just answer each item quickly. Luckily, before long, the statements got less relentlessly negative, focusing on more neutral topics like how much I like to think about things and how imaginative I was. I got into a rhythm of it; if I felt that weird abyss-pull start up, I forced myself to move on to the next thing.

After a few minutes, I heard a thump; someone had sat down next to me on the bench. I looked over and saw Zephyr Breeze, holding his tablet in front of his face, but clearly craning his neck to look at mine.

“Hey, Wallflower! Doing surveys, huh? Look at us, a couple of survey buddies.”

“I guess so.” I felt a strong urge to scootch farther away from him, but couldn’t think of how to do it that would be subtle.

“Well, you know,” he sang, “I am a little bit of a survey-taking expert, so I can help you out if you get stuck.”

“...Good to know.” I tried to focus on my tablet, tilting it so he couldn’t see what I was answering. He was silent for a few moments and I actually thought that would be it, but eventually he spoke again.

“Heyyyyy. So. When you’re as good at surveys as I am, you get your own techniques, but. Sometimes I lose track of the basics. You know.” He leaned over, whispering. “So, uh, what’s the answer to number thirty-four?”

I slowly raised my eyes to look at him. He was smiling widely, harmlessly. “It doesn’t have an answer. The answer is whatever you think the answer is for you.”

“Yeah! Sure sure sure sure sure sure sure. Totally.” He leaned in again. “...but what did you put for it?”

I stared. His smile got wider.

Sighing, I scrolled up a few items to find what he was asking about. I like tasks that require little thought once I’ve learned them. “Strongly disagree.”

“Right!” he exclaimed, poking at his tablet. “Me too, me too. Yeah.”

“Zephyr.” I set my tablet on my lap and glared. “What are you doing?”

“I’m just…” He glanced around nervously, still with that shit-eating smile. “See. I’m the Breeze! The Breeze can’t be labeled and limited. All these questions… it’s like trying to put the entire sky in a little bottle, like ‘hey there, bottle of sky, you comfortable?’ No, I’m not comfortable, I’m the sky, I need to be free! Get it?”

“You can’t possibly think I get it.”

“I’m… see. The Breeze can’t…” His smile finally slipped as his babbles faded. He just waved his hands around vaguely. “...How do you know what to put?”

“I’m just going with what feels closest,” I replied. “Like they said in the instructions.”

“But how do you know you’re not wrong?” he asked, eyes hollow. “This is committing myself, saying deep down in my heart what kind of tasks I like, or how much I like to manipulate people, or whatever! What if I do it wrong? Monohuman will probably kill me!”

He glowered down at his tablet. “I hate this thing. I want to stop taking it. I wanted to stop taking it after the second question. But he definitely will kill me for that. Poor dead Zephyr.”

I felt a headache coming on. This was just the stupidest, most ridiculous thing I could remember ever hearing.

…But on the other hand, I knew what it felt like to freak out from having to think about yourself too much all at once. I could sympathize with that, at least.

“Poooor, poor dead Zephyr,” he repeated.

“Look,” I said, desperately willing my irritation away. “It really isn’t that big a deal. They don’t expect you to put down anything but what you’re feeling in the moment. They even say in the instructions not to think too hard about it, right?”

“Yeah, but… other people are good at this stuff!” he pouted. “I’m The Breeze! I’m complicated!”

“Everyone’s complicated! You’re just having a hard time because you’re putting way too much importance on something that doesn’t matter!”

“Hmf.” He set his tablet down on the bench between us. “Well. Maybe you’re right; you’re just good at that.” He gently and not-at-all subtly pushed his tablet a centimeter closer to me. “And. Since you’re so good and everything…”

“No!” I snapped, my irritation in full force. “I am not going to take your survey for you! Are you serious right now?”

He recoiled, then glared with what was probably supposed to be haughty disdain but instead looked like nausea. “Well. I guess I should thank you for letting me die. So thanks. For me dying, and everything.”

“Oh, for…” I grabbed my tablet and stood up, fully intending to storm away. But when I took what was supposed to be one last glaring look at him, I hesitated. He was cringingly ashamed, drawn in on himself, sad. This guy was actually completely frozen about committing himself to tiny little statements. He really couldn’t do it.

“I’m going to go finish this on my own,” I declared. “But. I’ll tell you my secret technique first, all right?”

“Oh? Um.” He picked up his tablet and held onto it, looking up at me hopefully. “New techniques are always good.”

“I turn it into a game. I pretend I have a five-second time limit for each one.” I hadn’t been so rigid about it, but this was close enough. Just keep going, keep from thinking too much. It worked. “No matter what. If I hit the five second limit and still don’t know, I just pick the middle option and move on.”

“...But what if the middle answer is wrong?”

“You’ll be too busy answering the next question to think about it.”

He vaguely whimpered, and I rolled my eyes. “Look, do it or don’t. I tried.” I turned away, as coldly as I could. “I’m going to go finish mine on my own.” I started to walk, and for some reason I felt compelled to add, “Let me know if you do it and it helps,” before I made my escape.

~*~

I headed over to the picnic tables in the main area, finishing up my survey as quickly as I could. Afterwards, I lay my head down on the table, exhausted. This had been a very social day, and I sent out a heartfelt wish to get a break from it all.

The universe refused my prayer. I heard footsteps and someone calling my name. “Wallflower?”

I looked up to see Derpy, giving me a smile that twitched at the corners, like she was about to lose it at any second. Her posture showed tension in the way she held her back and arms, her knees bent as if ready to bolt. “Derpy?”

She took a few steps towards me, and I felt myself wanting to back away. “I’ve been trying to find you… where’ve you been?”

“Oh, um,” I blushed. “I was playing cards with Juniper in her room.”

“...oh.” Derpy let out a brief giggle as her smile slipped some more. “Of course. Um. Yeah.” Noticing my apparently obvious anxiety, she coughed uncomfortably. “I guess you really don’t know.”

My lips twisted into a frown. “What do you mean?”

It was her turn to blush, and the red added much needed color to her cheeks. “I, uh, I mean, I just meant… oooh, I’m making this all sound way worse than I’m meaning to.” Her face fell into her hands and she sighed.

I raised an eyebrow and pressed the issue. “Is this about Juniper? Is there something about her I should know?”

“No, no, it’s not about Juniper,” Derpy said, waving her hands. “It’s about you and me. And what we had.”

“What we… had?” My face heated up again, this time hotter, like I’d opened up a slow cooker and got a faceful of steam.

She slapped a hand to her face once more. "Ugh, no, not like that. Ooh why am I so bad at this…" She sighed and dropped her hand, giving me a tight smile. "I know you don't remember anymore, but we were really close friends, you and me. Have been for years."

My heartbeat slowed to normal. "Oh. For a moment there I thought you meant we were, err…"

"No no no. Nope. That was never possible," Derpy said with a light laugh. "You're great but I'm more interested in, err…masculine people."

I nodded in understanding. "Like Big Macintosh."

"Like Big Macintosh, yeah," Derpy said. She gestured to the table and laughed. “Mind if I sit down with you? It’s a little awkward to keep standing here."

"Sure." I moved over to give her some additional room, so we weren’t right on top of each other. I tried to relax. "You told me we were friends earlier, but I kind of assumed it was just acquaintances. I don’t feel like someone who’d, y’know, be close to anyone. Sorry."

Derpy shrugged. "It happened right at the end of high school, so I assumed you just forgot. But I want to reconnect with my friend. I know what some people have said about the whole Equestrian thing, buuuut I doubt either of us are ponies, right?"

Yes, I was not a pony. I had human memories, I wasn’t going to be paranoid about this. "Of course I'm not a pony," I said. "I'm just as human as you are."

"Right. So there's nothing wrong with us talking about the past and getting to know each other again." Derpy gave me a smile. "'cause lemme tell you, it's pretty scary in here."

A sly smile crossed my face. "Is that why you've been all over Big Macintosh?"

"Ergh…guilty as charged," Derpy said with a slightly uncomfortable laugh. "Truth is I've been kinda lonely ever since I broke up with Bulk."

I blinked. "Who?"

She rolled her eyes at herself. "Right, you don't remember. Bulk Biceps. He's this really huge guy, pale like Rarity, has a bit of an enthusiasm problem. Likes to shout yeah a lot."

I tried to focus, and for a split second I had a vision of someone like that before pain sliced through my attempt once again. "Sounds kinda familiar."

Derpy nodded. "Well, he's also really sweet, and we were together for several years. But last year he got a scholarship to a school across the country, one that guaranteed him a high paying job right after. He… he tried to ask me to come with him. I told him I didn't want to give up on what I was studying. We had an…argument, words were exchanged. And by the end of it, he dumped me."

"...Ouch. I'm sorry," I replied. “That sounds rough.”

She shrugged again, her shoulders slumping. Her smile strained to keep from collapsing. “It’s not like there weren’t issues with our relationship. He was great, but… our interests didn’t always align, and sometimes he could be a little too rough.” She coughed and patted her side. “So really, we weren’t gonna last.”

“Oh. Ah…”

“Not like that!” she squeaked, shaking her head furiously. “Just, he got all excited, and he didn’t know his own strength. And combined with my clumsiness… I mean, lots of times we’d leave a room looking like a hurricane went through it.”

I eyed her skeptically but couldn’t really find anything to argue with. “Sounds exciting, at least.”

She chuckled. “Yeah. Sometimes it feels like I don’t fit well with anybody, but at least the way me and Bulk didn’t fit made some good stories.” She sighed, glum.

I patted her on the shoulder, feeling like I should be doing something to comfort her. “And so you’ve been lonely ever since.”

“Well, yeah,” she said with a light sigh. “Especially since…” she trailed off and looked away.

I leaned forward. “Especially since what?”

Derpy let out a slight sigh. “Around that same time, something changed about you. Before then you were doing great, way better than high school. You were making friends, getting along with people… you were coping really well with your anxiety and everything. But then right about the same time I broke up with Bulk, you changed all of a sudden and got… sad. Really sad.”

“...Sad?” I pressed. “What do you mean?”

Derpy shook her head. “I can’t really be more specific, because you stopped talking to me for weeks at a time. And every time you did you seemed just as sad. When I signed up for this program I was super surprised to see you here too; I tried to ask you what happened but you wouldn’t tell me. And now you don’t even remember.” Her expression turned glum. “I was one of your best friends and you never told me what was wrong…”

The urge to hug her rose rapidly until I gave in, giving her a quick embrace. She held onto me a little tighter than I would have liked, sniffling into my shoulder, but she released me after only a couple of moments. “Sorry about that,” she said.

“Don’t apologize,” I replied, shaking my head. “It sounds like I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me.” If only I could remember why.

Derpy chuckled. “Nah, that wouldn’t be very fair of me to ask that of you. Besides, we’re here now. We’re talking now, and that’s what matters, right?”

“Right.”

She leaned back against the bench, her expression turning pensive. “So, what do you think our chances are of getting out of this place?”

I winced at the question, since I hadn’t the foggiest clue. Maybe if we still had Sunset around, we could figure out how to stop the magical computer, and find a way to call for help. Without it… “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’d like to think that we’ll all make it out of here alive somehow, but…”

“But those secrets,” Derpy said, shuddering. “If they’re anything like mine… someone might kill because of them.”

Sunset’s words of warning resurfaced in my mind. “What do you mean? What’s yours about?”

She recoiled, a grimace briefly flashing over her face. “Sorry… I’m… I don’t know if I want to share it.”

I paused for a moment, then made a decision. Derpy had been nothing but kind to me, and I had done nothing but feel suspicious of her. That needed to change. “I can share mine,” I said, reaching into my pack to pull out the sheet of paper. “It’s confusing bullshit anyway.”

She shook her head and pushed my hand back down into my bag. “...sorry. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just don’t want to think about it right now.”

Suspicion rose inside me, but I dropped the paper back in the bag and zipped it shut. “Alright. Sorry I suggested it.”

She waved that off. “A-anyway, I think it’s important we try to stick together whenever we’re out of our rooms. And I kinda want to spend more time with you, so we can catch up. Or rebuild our friendship. Whichever.”

Everything in me wanted to believe Derpy was being nothing but sincere, but recent experience had taught me not to trust that. “Yeah, maybe,” I said, refusing to give a more specific answer.

She gave me a tight smile, then abruptly snapped her fingers and gasped. “Oh my gosh. Of course. I can’t believe I forgot to ask you about this.” Her cheeks bloomed with red as she searched for her words, then leaned in so she could speak furtively. “Listen. I dunno how much you remember, but….you know you have some pretty important medical needs, right?”

I mouthed the words medical needs a couple of times before realizing what she meant, feeling my own cheeks heat up anew. “...You know about that?”

“Yeah, you trusted me with it,” she said, nodding. “That’s why I’m asking. I wanna make sure you’re getting the meds you need.”

“No need,” I said. “I’ve got all the medicines I need in my room. I picked them out the first day from the clinic’s pharmacy.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness. I was a little afraid you’d been missing doses… I know that contributes to–”

I held up a hand to stop her. “No, I’ve been very diligent about that. Even when I… stayed in my room… I was taking my meds.” I found myself fidgeting more and more as we talked about this. I don’t talk about my medical needs to anyone. In fact the only person I could remember ever saying anything to was Sunset Shimmer.

So I must’ve trusted Derpy quite a bit to let her know.

Or she had been spying on me and was using this as a pretext to try to poison me, a more suspicious part of my mind pointed out.

“Um, Wallflower?”

I blinked and looked back at Derpy, realizing I’d missed something she said. “Sorry, what?”

She giggled. “Zoning out, huh? I was asking if there was anything you did need.”

“I don’t…” I trailed off as I thought about it, scratching my chin. “Actually yeah, there is one thing I could use,” I said, explaining what it was.

“Great, let’s go, then,” Derpy said, standing up from the bench. “I might as well help you look… maybe we can find some better version of your meds too.”

“You really think we could?” I asked as I stood and walked with her towards the clinic.

“Dunno. But I’m running out of my anti-anxiety meds so I’m gonna be looking at them anyway,” she said.

I smiled at that. “I didn’t think you would have anxiety.”

“Oh, I do. Big time,” Derpy admitted, smiling back. “Like… you know how Fluttershy has all her panic attacks and stuff? Mine’s not like that. Mine’s just a constant low-level thing that leaves me forever on edge…hey… is that Trixie?”

As we reached the clinic we saw Trixie rushing out, carrying a large pill bottle of something she stuffed away into her cloak right as she spotted us. “So, are you following Trixie around now, Wallflower?” she snapped, pointing at me. “Trixie knew that really was a threat you gave her earlier.”

“Uh, no, Trixie, we didn’t even know you were here,” Derpy answered for me with a roll of her eyes. “We’re just here to pick some stuff up.”

Trixie huffed. “Whatever.” She looked me up and down. “At least you seem to be listening to a bit of Trixie’s advice. You’re better off with Derpy than you are with Vignette or Rarity, Wallflower.”

“...Uh, thanks?” Derpy said, nonplussed.

“Now if you will excuse Trixie, she has better things to do than risk her life by speaking with you two,” Trixie said as she pivoted on her heel, heading for her dorm room.

“Trixie, wait,” I said, reaching a hand out automatically.

She curled both her hands into tight fits, trembling for a moment before whirling back around. “What?”

I wasn’t sure why I was bothering to tell her, given the experience we had just this morning. But even if she was the most stubborn woman alive… this was just so weird. Why was she so tense and upset around me? “Cheese Sandwich was asking about you earlier.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Cheese Sandwich? What about him?”

“I ran into him at the truck stop,” I continued. “He was questioning how trustworthy you were… and mentioned someone named Pinkie Pie.”

Derpy and Trixie exchanged a confused look. “Pinkie Pie? But she’s not even a part of this program,” Derpy said.

“Strange… why would Cheese Sandwich be asking about Pinkie Pie?” Trixie murmured. She looked at me, her mouth twisted in uncertainty. “Why are you telling Trixie this?”

“Because I meant what I said earlier, Trixie, about isolating yourself,” I answered, finding that same smile from before coming to my face. “I still see you as my friend, and I’m worried if you keep to yourself all the time, you’re going to be hurt… or worse.”

She bristled, baring her teeth. “You keep saying that as if you're threatening Trixie.”

“No, Trixie,” I sighed. “It’s not a threat. It’s a warning. Look...I…” I swallowed nervously, trying to find the words to say what I needed to say without giving away my secret. “A couple days before she… died…Sunset told me something about the first game. She said that she was responsible for the first victim self-isolating, by pushing them away or something. Said that if the victim had just stayed with the group, they wouldn’t have died.”

Trixie stared at me wordlessly for several long moments. “...did she tell you who this victim was?”

I looked away, not able to meet her eyes. “...no,” I lied. “But that’s not important right now. What matters is that self-isolation led to that person’s death. And that’s exactly what’ll happen to you if you keep acting like this. Someone might think you’re planning to hurt them and decide to strike first.”

“Tch.” The dismissive sound made me look back at Trixie, whose look bore a remarkable resemblance to the way Pear Butter used to look at me, not long before she died. But unlike Pear Butter, Trixie’s anger or fury or whatever it was seemed to melt away before my eyes. “...fine. You’ve made your point. Trixie will consider listening to it.”

“Thank you,” I said as a sigh of relief crossed my lips. “Like I said before, you’re my friend, Trixie, even if you don’t see it that way. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Don’t push your luck, Wallflower,” Trixie said as she brushed past us, heading for her dorm room.

Derpy watched Trixie go until Trixie disappeared inside, then looked at me, confusion written all over her face. “What the heck was that about?”

“Just me trying to look out for a friend,” I said as we continued into the clinic, beelining for the pharmacy. “Were you and Trixie friends too?”

“Kind of?” Derpy said as she meandered into the prescription drug aisle. “We didn’t hang out too often. Usually you were either with me or with her and Sunset, rarely at the same time. But we got along.”

Rather than head directly for what I needed, I decided to browse a few other things. Like pain relievers. I was sick of the headaches my memory issues were causing me. I could use a few good aspirin or something. “So she was never jealous of you or anything?”

“No, Trixie matured a lot after high school,” Derpy said as she plucked a bottle from a shelf, examined it, then smiled and pocketed it. “Even if she might not be showing it much lately.”

“Do you know why she’s always speaking in third person?” I asked as I looked for the largest bottle of the most powerful over the counter pain reliever available. I wasn’t about to touch anything stronger. Last thing I needed was an opioid addiction. “If she told me, I don’t remember anymore.”

“Oh, that’s just something she does,” Derpy said, waving it off. “She never told me. I asked her once and she almost punched me in the face, she was so mad. Found my meds by the way. Gonna search for yours now.”

“She was that mad, seriously?” I plucked a bottle of five hundred naproxen sodium pills off the shelf and shoved it into my pack next to one of five hundred ibuprofen. While I was at it I decided to pick up some other things, like cold medicine, antacids, and the like.

“Yeah. Then again it might’ve been the timing.” She paused and looked over some meds more carefully. “She was really tipsy.”

“Tipsy? Was this a party of some kind?” I grabbed some extra strength antacids and some other similar medicines in both liquid and chewable forms. A little bit excessive, but at this point, I wanted to be prepared.

“After-party,” Derpy corrected. “For one of her shows. She made way more money that night than she expected so she was celebrating. I…might’ve been a bit tipsy too, actually.” She paused. “Hey, come look at this.”

“Hmm?” I walked over to her aisle. “What is it?”

She pointed out a small shelf near the end of the prescription strength meds. “ What are… androgens?”

“Androgens?” I raised an eyebrow and peered closer to confirm. “They’re sex hormones. Like testosterone.”

“Oh, like steroids?”

“Kind of?” I said, frowning at them. “Though I don’t think these are potent enough for that. The real question is why are they here? This someone’s prescription?”

Derpy shrugged. “I dunno. Why are there a whole ton of illegal drugs over there?” She pointed out a shelf separate from all the others, one that looked more ramshackle and makeshift, stacked high with everything from heroin to cocaine to methamphetamines and more.

I let out a frustrated sigh. “Because Monohuman wants to give us lots of means to kill each other. Or for escapism. Or both.”

“You don’t think someone’s gonna start using drugs just to cope with being here, do you?” Derpy asked as she headed for a different aisle.

“Well, so long as they stick to the legal stuff like marijuana, it’s fine,” I said, and to prove my point I grabbed a single bag of edibles. “I just hope no one touches anything else.”

“Too bad we can’t lock it all up somewhere,” Derpy said with a sigh.

Briefly I explained what Monohuman had said about that earlier. “So we’ll just have to watch out for any signs.”

“I’ll try,” Derpy said. She then picked something up and chuckled. “Hey, Wallflower, you ever use a straight razor?”

I burst into laughter at that. “Uh, no… that’s not exactly what I’m looking for.”

“Aww, too bad,” she said, though the grin on her face betrayed the humor.

Eventually I found the last thing I wanted, and with a fairly full pack we left the pharmacy for the clinic exit. But just as we reached the doors, we heard the sounds of shouting. “Uh oh,” Derpy murmured. We glanced at each other, then rushed outside to see what was happening.

We witnessed Rarity raising a fist in Big Macintosh’s face, waving it around like she was prepared to deck him. He stood tense, all his muscles coiled, an angry snarl twisting his mouth.

“...about my sister!” Rarity was screaming.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s going on here?” Derpy asked as the two of us ran over. “What the heck’s wrong with you two?”

For just an instant, a look of horrified embarrassment crossed both their faces. “Nothing is wrong, darling, whyever would you think that?” Rarity said as she managed to force a smile onto her face.

“Eeyup. Just havin’ a talk,” Big Macintosh added, though he still looked troubled.

“...Are you sure?” Derpy pressed. I nodded in time with her question, backing her up silently.

“Of course we are,” Rarity said, her smile widening and her posture relaxing till it was like she’d never been angry in the first place. She brushed her hair back and nodded to us both. “If you’ll pardon me, I am needed elsewhere.”

I blinked and dumbly watched her go, so shocked by her sudden change in behavior I almost forgot to call out, “Wait, Rarity, I still need to talk to you!” But she sped up till she’d entered her dorm.

“Hmph,” Big Mac harrumphed, his posture still tense.

“Big Mac, are you sure you’re okay?” Derpy asked, reaching out with her hand.

He stared at it for a moment before meeting her eyes. After another long minute of silence he reached out to hold her hand, which caused her to turn red as a lobster.

“Nope,” he admitted, slumping a bit. “Ah… Ah ain’t doin’ so great.”

She patted his arm and moved in closer. “There, there. Hey, it’s almost dinner time. You want to go get some food together?”

“Eeyup,” He nodded, giving us both a soft, quick smile before it vanished again. “Thanks.”

I walked with them to the Mess Hall, where we went into the kitchen to help Derpy make up a stir fry over rice for the three of us. I chopped vegetables while Big Mac took care of the rice and Derpy did the actual stir frying. As we worked, Derpy kept chatting a little to Big Mac, asking him this or that, which he mostly smiled and nodded or shook his head to rather than speaking aloud.

Only when we sat down at a table together with our meal did he finally speak up again. “Sorry Ah’m not sayin’ much. Been havin’ a real rough time. Ah hardly even leave mah room except to eat.” He took a couple moments to find more words before speaking again. “Ah’m not a good talker. Not even sure of a lot of what Ah’m feelin’, save for fear and grief. Don’t have a lotta words for it, so…” He trailed off and shrugged.

“So you’re staying quiet because you don’t know what else to do,” Derpy finished for him.

“Yup.”

She ran a hand along his arm. “That’s understandable, Big Mac…you lost your mom. I can’t even imagine what that must be like. But I’ll do my best to be here for you, okay?”

“Me too,” I added, giving him a friendly smile, though it was a little strained. “As much as I can anyway…”

He nodded his understanding of that. “Ah hear you, Miss Wallflower. If y’all would please… bear with me a minute.”

He went silent and I think it might have actually been more than one minute before he spoke again. “Mah mama… I thought I lost her once before. In the accident that claimed mah pa. Granny told us both of them had passed. She misheard herself ‘cause she had to see pa’s body and was fallin’ apart.”

He fell silent again, but not for nearly as long. “So then she was alive again after being dead. But pa’s still gone, and she’s different, ‘cause she’s got a sadness.” He frowned and shook his head. “Naw, we all got sadness, Ah dunno the word. After a while, she mostly got to the way she was before, but with somethin’ else. Like sadness, but not the same. And Ah never got to see her again without it. And Ah feel like I’ve lost her twice, and Ah’ll go crazy if Ah lose anyone else.”

This was all excruciatingly uncomfortable. I had nothing close to an idea of what I should be doing or saying or expressing on my face; he was facing the most serious, awful thing in the world and there was no way I wouldn’t mess everything up the second I did anything.

But then I looked at Derpy. She was leaning in, her hand gently resting on top of his. Her eyes were watery, threatening to spill tears as she nodded encouragingly to him at the start of every pause. She was amazing.

And apparently she was my best friend.

“So that’s somethin’ Ah been thinking about,” he said, simply.

“Oh, Big Mac,” Derpy sniffled. “Um, I don’t really have any good words here, either. But, I don’t think that’s because either of us are bad at talking. These kinds of situations are just stuff there aren’t any words for. Like… like I think this is the whole reason poetry was ever even invented. To find a way to talk about losing someone.”

She squeezed his hand, looking so purely sad herself. “So all we can do is listen and tell you that what you’re feeling is right and fine and important, even if you can’t express it.”

“Yeah,” I added, feeling very lame.

He nodded, with a sad half-smile. “Ah’ll try. And Ah appreciated your friendship, both of y’all… especially yours, Miss Derpy.” He looked into her eyes and gave a fuller, more genuine smile.

She blushed redder than a fire engine and let out several little cute giggles, which only served to make Big Macintosh chuckle.

“Ah, you know what, I think I’ll… finish my food in my room,” I said, feeling the need to excuse myself.

“Later, Wally,” Derpy said, waving.

As I took my food back, I kept my eye out, but Rarity was nowhere to be seen. I’d lost another opportunity to ask her what she was doing.

But if I was honest with myself, I found I didn’t care nearly as much as I had that morning. Seeing Big Macintosh and Derpy get along left me feeling, dare I say it, hopeful. Derpy and Big Mac seemed to be forming a connection… maybe even falling in love.

Seeing that made me hope that maybe the rest of us could start getting along after all, especially since I’d been able to talk Trixie into hanging with the rest of the group.

“I’m working on keeping that promise to you, Sunset,” I muttered to myself as I strode up the stairs and into my room, locking the door. “I’m doing the best I can.”

Comments

[ArcticAce01]

Ok. I’m getting REALLY sus for Rarity now. Like the end of the last chapter and this chapter telling me she is going to be the next Blackened or Victim.

But, I’m leaning more into her being the 2nd Blacken just a little bit

[Killerfox]

Huh the victim is either going to be rarity orTrixie calling it right now.

[Thought Prism]

Hmm, seems to me that almost everyone received information about the previous killing game. And dangit, Wallflower, you know better than to litter.

[RTStephens]

There's going to be multiple layers to this next murder. And with a small spark of hope creeping in, it's going to be that much more painful to see it squashed.

Jeeze, each chapter brings into question who I think the next victim will be. Just like last time, everyone is throwing up warning signs. I wonder if we'll see a double murder with how things are going.

Interesting how in the last game, the setting was well defined but the motive of the villain wasn't known until the end. Here, the villain has stated plainly what he wants but the location is the biggest question so far. Not sure if that was intentional but that's the impression I'm getting.

I'm not much of a betting man, but I'd wager that next time we'll be discovering a new body. Till then!

[Uz Naimat]

Seeing that made me hope that maybe the rest of us could start getting along after all, especially since I’d been able to talk Trixie into hanging with the rest of the group.

“I’m working on keeping that promise to you, Sunset,” I muttered to myself as I strode up the stairs and into my room, locking the door. “I’m doing the best I can.”

Cue Part 4 with the next murder.

In all seriousness, though, this is all very exciting. I’m getting the chills with this story.

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Oh boy, next part should be the murder and I am worried how Wallflower is going to handle it.

Cheese asking about Pinkie Pie was a bit surprising, but also a bit heartbreaking considering what happened to her in the last Killing Game. I doubt Cheese will take that information very well if he ever finds out.

I really liked Derpy in this chapter though. Seeing her and Wallflower bonding was great, especially when Derpy reminded her of how they were close for years. It kinda reminded me of how she and Roseluck joined Wallflower's garden club in CHS. Plus Derpy talking about her old relationship with Bulk Biceps before he dumped her. It definitely seemed like the two of them were close at times during the series, but I've always been more of a Derpy x Dr. Hooves fan myself. It also seemed cute how she and Big Mac were becoming closer and maybe falling in love, since poor Big Mac needs it right now, but I have a bad feeling it is setting them up for heartbreak if something happens to either of them. I still hope Derpy will be okay.

“You don’t think someone’s gonna start using drugs just to cope with being here, do you?” Derpy asked as she headed for a different aisle.

Well that's exactly what happened to Pinkie Pie, and we all know how that turned out.

[Uz Naimat]

11560285
Almost all of Book 1’s romances sunk by the time we reached last chapter (pun intended). So, I second that Derpy and Big Mac will eventually meet an unceremonious end.

[Spaisugaru]

Man, I just can't decide which characters are raising the most death flags in these last chapters. I'm guessing Derpy will be the next on the chopping block but maybe that's too obvious.

[FlamingSamurai]

At this point, I'd say Case #2's victim is either going to be Big Mac, Rarity, Derpy, or Trixie. Tragic pasts are a common theme in Danganronpa's second cases, so Big Mac and Rarity especially fit the bill for having some major role in this case.

[Moonlight Tome]

He fell silent again, but not for nearly as long. “So then she was alive again after being dead. But pa’s still gone, and she’s different, ‘cause she’s got a sadness.” He frowned and shook his head. “Naw, we all got sadness, Ah dunno the word. After a while, she mostly got to the way she was before, but with somethin’ else. Like sadness, but not the same. And Ah never got to see her again without it. And Ah feel like I’ve lost her twice, and Ah’ll go crazy if Ah lose anyone else.”

Despair, perhaps?