“Shuichi, Shuichi!”

A voice echoed in his mind. That was his name…Shuichi Saihara. And that voice felt…familiar.

“Wake up, please, I beg you, just wake up!”

“Huh?”

He opened his eyes and a girl with yellow hair was watching over him with tears in her eyes.

“K-kaede?”

An immediate thought was that he was dreaming. Afterall, he would occasionally dream about her during the days of those dreadful killing game. But this all felt too…real.   

The girl’s face was red and there seemed to be snot coming out of her nose as well. Shuichi wanted to laugh at the absolute ridiculousness of the situation. But before he could, Kaede wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her face on his chest.

“I…I am so happy…to be alive”

Yes, happy, alive. It was good to be alive. 

Shuichi’s body relaxed, he hugged Kaede back with a smile. 

A few minutes of silence passed. But it wasn’t one of those damp and dead silence. It was silence filled with content and relaxation. The warmth of her body, her tears…it was all real. Real and not a dream. It wasn’t fiction.

Kaede pulled herself off from his chest. She wiped her nose and looked at him, a bit embarrassed. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, then opened again.

“W-what happened to your hat?”

“Oh, I-I threw it away” he said and looked away from her. 

Shuichi and Kaede were sitting on a small bed together. The floor was blue, there was a table at the end of the room and two doors behind him. But his attention still diverted to Kaede. He stretched his arm to grab hold of Keade’s hand. It was so soft and warm.

Tears started to form in Shuichi’s eyes. Could one’s wishes truly be granted with enough begging? Was a miracle like this even possible?

“I thought…that you had…died” muttered Shuichi. 

Kaede grabbed her throat with her hands, her face became strained.

“Me too. I…it was painful”

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“Are we dead?” asked Shuichi.

Kaede laughed.

“Y-you’re a detective, right? I didn’t think you believed in the afterlife?” 

“Y-yeah. But it’s not that I wanted to disbelieve it either. Most debates surrounding it become difficult and useless since there is not enough evidence to support any of the theories.”

Shuichi felt like he was rambling and shook his head.    

“Besides, it doesn’t matter. We’re alive and together right now. That’s all that matters. I…I won’t let you die again” said Shuichi with a confident smile.

“Thank you, Shuichi.”

Shuichi quickly walked over to the nearest door. He moved the round handle but the door did not budge. He walked over to the other door and moved the handle and the door opened. Shuichi cautiously walked out, Kaede trailed behind him. As they exited and entered a hallway bathed in red light, a familiar voice echoed. 

“Hey, look! It’s Pooichi and Piano head”

He looked around to see a pink dressed sassy girl and a white costumed purple haired boy. Those figures were all too familiar.

“Kokichi, Miu!” gasped Shuichi. 

“Oh, thank goodness. I’m glad I’m not stuck with just Miu for the rest of my life! Would be pretty bad if I had to pity fuck this pink bitchlet out of loneliness even tho I kinda killed her before” said Kokichi happily as he walked towards them while putting his arms behind his head.

“You guys!” yelled Kaede with tears in her eyes and ran towards them. 

She jumped towards Miu and wrapped her arms around her neck.

“Hey, hold up. I know I’m mind blowingly gorgeous and ingenious, even a girl like you couldn’t resist me.  But these sudden snuggling sections are startling me up” said Miu while she blushed and shook. 

“Hey, no fair! I wanted Kaede to hug me too. Surely I am more deserving of that than this murderous whore” said Kokichi with tears in his eyes.

Kaede giggled and hugged Kokichi as well. Shuichi might have been seeing things, but Kokichi seemed genuinely happy to be hugged by her.

A door nearby swung open. 

“ARghhhh, killer! BETRAYER! YANDERE!” yelled an overly chubby boy. He ran with minimal speed and hid behind Shuichi.

“Oh please, shouldn’t you be glad for clinging to dear life” said a gothic girl who wore a fancy dark dress. The enormous curled hair on her both sides were something to take note of.

“Hey, who are you people?” said Kaede as she approached them.

“My name is Hifumi. And that snitcher’s name is Celestia Ludenberd! Nyeeehhhh” said the gigantic boy as he ducked down and stared down his nemesis through the gap between Shuichi’s legs.

Shuichi walked away puzzled. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked at those two people. Clearly, they were characters in the Danganronpa franchise, Tsumugi cosplayed them during the last class trial. But how can this be? Danganronpa should be over. To see these characters here again, it seems he did not do a great of a job as he had hoped.

His eyes shifted back to Kaede who was distracted by the sudden guests.

Was Kaede fictional too? 

Given the truth Shuichi had figured o-, no, relayed and forced onto him, it had to be so. But everything about her looks like the same Kaede he once knew. The same person he cared about, and still do. But…he couldn’t let his guard down. Danganronpa continued…it continued forever and ever.

A door swung open and two boys, one brown haired, the other white haired came out of the room. Shuichi identified them as Hajime and Nagito. Their names were on the hope’s peak academy research book. Tsumugi cosplayed them as well.    

“Wait, this place is” gasped Hajime with a terrified face.

“Hello, my name is Nagito Komaeda. I was pretty sure it was the end of me, but life seems to be full of hope” said Nagito as he approached Kaede. 

“Kaede Akamatsu. Nice to meet you” said Kaede, bowed and went past him.