DanganRonpa: Prepare for Despair

Liam showed up at the cafeteria entrance before long. He gave Julie a nod, but didn't linger. He headed for the second floor, where Heather had headed the night before. If he'd learned anything these last few days, it was that going alone was a bad idea. And sure, that was what he was doing, but Heather had done it during the night, and night was when every other one of the murders thus far had happened. He didn't want to think Heather had been killed, but he had to be sure.

Liam found Heather in the workshop, still cleaning. He breathed a sigh of relief seeing her. "Have you been cleaning all night?"

Heather turned towards Liam and nodded, a small smile on her face. "Good morning, Liam. And of course. It's a maid's job to make sure everything is spotless."

Felix was slightly later than normal to breakfast. He looked around when he entered but seeing only Julie, headed immediately to the kitchen to make coffee.

Alicia was right behind Felix, she looked unusually cheery considering everything that had happened the day before. She marched into the kitchen and started working on breakfast.

Julie watched as Liam came in and gave him a quick nod. She watched as he walked out and hummed to herself. As Felix and Alicia walked in, Julie looked up, "Mornin'." she said as they rushed past her. "Liam's up too. Walked out whenever he saw me." she laid her head down, her face turned away from the kitchen.

"You should clean during the day," Liam said with a serious look. "You're just going to exhaust yourself cleaning all night, and you know what happens to those who fall asleep outside their rooms..."

Felix brought the pot of fresh coffee out to the table along with some cups. He sat a cup in front of Julie and filled it before sitting down opposite her. "I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind," he said.

Alicia happily stirred pancake batter in the kitchen and hummed. She was thinking about her family and home and how the first thing her dad had ever taught her to make was pancakes. These were his special recipe.

Julie sat up and looked at Felix. "I think that's a good idea." she tapped her fingertips on the table, "Im sorry for accusing you. Even if that's not something I can really apologize for."

"A maid shouldn't rest while a mess still remains to be cleaned." She kept working as she spoke, "There wasn't much sleep to be had anyway. With the excitement of everything that happened yesterday, I would have just been restless."

Felix sat up a little straighter. "Why did you accuse me? You knew it wasn't me. And then you attacked me again in here. Why?"

"I didn't know that it wasn't you. We were on good terms, but I'm not at liberty to let things like that cloud my judgement." She folded her arms, "The circumstances behind the evidence was stacked against you. You see that right?" She sighed, "And I'm not going to apologize for what I said in here. Everyone had a right to know about the lie."

"Well it may have been a lie then but it isn't now and I still have no idea what's different about Alicia's room compared to mine. You need to start trusting us more if we're ever going to get out of here, you understand that. There's no way to get out of here on your own and as long as we're all fighting and killing each other, we'll never get out. We need to work together. There aren't many of us left now." He paused for a few moments, thinking about his family. "Julie we need you, we need everyone. If Leit's mystery woman is real and what she said is true then we only have to hold out for a few more days. We were friends for two years before, that should count for something."

Julie stayed quiet for a moment, "I will work with you. But you can't ask me to trust all of you. Especially when there are still two traitors in our midst."

Felix nodded. "That's good enough for now, but if you trust me then I can only ask that you trust Alicia too. She's helping to keep us all alive, she has the ability to kill any of us at any time and she doesn't. Think about it." He stood up and pushed Julie's coffee cup closer towards her. "Drink up, I'm going to help Alicia with breakfast and then we can talk with Leit more about his mystery woman. I'd appreciate if you were there too, You'll think of things I won't."

Julie nodded and drank her coffee. She yawned and waited for others to come in.

Felix walked into the kitchen and smelled the pancakes cooking. He began to cook bacon and sausages to go with them and as they cooked he found some maple syrup and put it on the serving trolley. "I love pancakes," he said with a small smile. They always remind me of home."

"Yeah." Alicia smiled. "This one's my dad's recipe, he'll swear they're the fluffiest pancakes you've ever eaten. I've tried to beat them for years."

"One of my brothers is a chef, every Sunday he would make pancakes and bacon for breakfast. I loved it." he smiled sadly as he thought about his brothers again. He hoped everyone was alright and that they were taking care of his mother. He didn't know if she could handle losing him.

Devin eventually walked in, hat held in hand as he let his hair dry out after a shower. He looked around. "I thought I'd be the last here."

Liam frowned. "Cleaning is a comforter for you, isn't it? A shield you can pull up over yourself when things get hard." He nodded. "I can understand that. But if you had fallen asleep out here during the night, you know what the bear would have done to you."

"Surprise." Julie said flatly as she sipped at her coffee.

"I appreciate your concern." She turned to him and did a small curtsy, "However, it is nothing to worry yourself over." She gave him a warm smile, "I am more capable than I let on."

Liam sighed. "Alright. I'll take your word for it. You'd best come to breakfast, though, I'm sure you're hungry. I know I am." He allowed himself a small smile.

Heather nodded. "You go ahead without me. I will be down there after I'm done in here."