DanganRonpa: Prepare for Despair

"He'd have to get involved again somehow." Julie responded, "Maybe this therapist knows more than she let on." She looked at Devin, "How did he hint it? "

"One of those incentive slips he gave us a while back. I forgot what it said exactly, but it was questioning my talent, urging me to get out of here to get back in the spotlight quickly." He shrugged. "Like I said, I only read it once so I don't remember clearly."

Angel sighed and closed the file, moving quickly on to the next one.

"The incentives...Fuck this isn't gonna be good." She frowned and read the next document on the screen:

Super Duper High School Engineer
Alann Clement

Alann is a student that I have had personal contact with for several months. The boy recently had a surgery to remove a brain tumor, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. The tumor was found in a late stage, the best that's been done so far is to delay his death by a few years. I began having sessions with him to try to calm him down and talk about the traumatic experience. Since coming to the school, I've noticed he's been more lively than when I spoke to him before. Maybe being around the fellow students is helping his mood. He does seem more tired now, and sometimes he'll say things that seem outlandish, but its hard to tell if that's the effect of the chemotherapy, or even the removal of the tumor itself. He's determined to stay in the school though. He refused to sit at home and rest or relax, not keen on sitting around waiting to die. I've warned him about being here, his increased susception to illnesses from the treatment he's taking. I will continue to meet with him, asking about how he's feeling and determining if he needs further treatment from there.

-M. W. Shirley

Julie stared at the screen, "That's...that's not right..."

"What do you mean?" Angel asked looking at Julie with a puzzled expression.

Julie looked at Angel before sighing, "You didn't meet him. Right." she pointed at the word chemotherapy on the screen, "The issue being, that Alann had hair."

"How long have we really been here?" Alicia asked nervously.

"If he had short hair, it'd be easy to believe that it was just a few months. But he had long, shaggy hair. For him to get that much hair after chemo...I'd say it's been at least a year since he stopped taking treatments." she shook her head, "But some thing's wrong with that too... "

"... " Julie stayed quiet, "Let's move on. I want to read more before I say anything." she crossed her arms, "I don't want to give everyone a preconceived notion if I'm not sure about it."

Angel sighed and shook his head before closing the document and opening the next one.

"Man, these things are getting worse and worse. I'm almost dreading opening the next one," Angel said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"We don't have to open yours." Alicia assured Angel. She didn't want Felix to relive bad memories all over again if he didn't have to.

"It's not you. What does it matter? "

"Thanks, but I'd rather do it and get it over with. It can't be that bad, right?" Angel said, ignoring Julie's comment.

Angel stared blankly at the screen. The words meant nothing to him but some part of his mind registered them with relief. Suddenly, he felt a blinding pain in his head. He grit his teeth against crying out but a low groan escaped anyway. He pulled at his hair while images raced through his head, Lys hanging from the bars above the catwalk, Alann shot through the chest, Nadine beaten before being smothered to death. It was over in a few seconds but it felt like an age had passed. There were tears in his eyes and as he gasped for breath one thought came to his mind. 'Angel was such a dick.'

"H-hey, are you, okay?" Alicia touched Angel on the shoulder. "I told you Angel, we didn't have to look at that one."

"Gods please don't call me that," Felix gasped out between deep breaths. "For what it's worth it was worth reading it just to come back to myself."

Alicia blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Glad to have you back among the miserable." Julie remarked coolly.

Felix blinked a few times to rid himself of the tears that formed in his eyes. "No, I'm sorry. I was such a dick when I lost my memory, to you and to Julie. But I'm back now, even if this wasn't the way I'd have hoped for it to come about." He stood up and was about to hug Alicia when he thought better of it. "I really am sorry for the way I acted, I hope you'll forgive me."

Alicia tried to think of what she knew about amnesia, which wasn't much, but she was sure it didn't work at all like the movies. "What the actual fuck is wrong with you? You don't get to just say shit like 'I'm back.' and have that be that! People don't just instantly recover from head-injury induced amnesia like this!" She ran her a hand over her bald head in a frustrated gesture and turned away, taking a few steps before turning back. "Prove it! Say something only Felix knows!"

"Your dad taught you to cook and that's why your pancakes are the best," he said.