Punishment: The Parade | Chapter 6
In response to Daishin, and even to the few words Abe says, Mika laughs and speaks sweetly.
“Goodbye… No. Don’t bother with goodbyes, Taniguchi-san. When someone is committed to memory… Goodbye never comes.”
There is a small pause as Mika wipes at her eyes, but she is soon to leave her podium again, taking the few steps necessary to stand on the other side of Kiha again. Smiling, she reaches her hand down to him.
“Kiha-san… It’s time for us to go now.”
At the sound of his name, Kiha's head picks up to face her.
His expression is mostly hollow, but there's something about the way he looks at her that seems completely captivated, like he can't bring himself to look away. His hands had been clinging tightly to the hair ornament that she had dropped into his lap, but they let it go clattering to the ground in favor of holding Mika's hand. He wordlessly pulls himself up until he is standing at his full height in front of her.
"O...okay..." The grip around her hand tightens and he nods slowly. "I'll go...wherever you do..."
Once Kiha’s hand is in hers, Mika offers Kiha and the rest of the room another smile before she looks at Sorakuma and simply gives the robot a nod. Sorakuma, seemingly knowing what Mika means, nods back, and Mika turns to the exit, pulling Kiha along with her as she walks to it. The remaining three members of SHSL Despair follow behind.
Sorakuma walks towards the exit too, but stops at the doors to look back at everyone else while pointing to the exit.
“C’mon, bastard! This thing is for you too!”
Whether everyone wishes to leave the gym or not, the gun carrying, Monokuma masked members of despair approach, making it obvious that they have no real choice.
Exiting the gym, the walk is unfamiliar for some, and familiar for others -- a silent trek through the hallways until they reach a set of doors that lead out into what was once the large grassy courtyard in the center of HPA’s campus.
Two more Monokuma masked despair are waiting, and when Mika reaches the doors, they open them for her. Compared to the dark halls of the school, the light outside is overwhelming -- it takes a moment for everyone’s eyes to adjust, but even before then, they are met by an equally overwhelming volume of noise.
Cheers. Music. Fanfare. Once everyone’s eyes have adjusted, what they have entered to is made clear by the crowds of people on either side of what is a clear path, lined with large bouquets of red poppies, and the confetti and banners that fill the air:
Mika leads the way down the path, smiling happily and waving to the monstrous crowds of people on either side. Lining the path along with the flowers are masked guards, armed with guns that ring out with gunfire every now and then -- bodies of people who have attempted to enter their path begin to line it as well.
Somehow, this does not deter the countless people cheering, and the music plays unhalted from the large area that they eventually end up in front of once they have made their way down the entire length of the path:
A wooden stage, with what appears to be a pyre and stake built on top of it, and two large screens to either side.
In front of the stage, Mika comes to a stop. While everyone else is halted behind her, she turns to Kiha, who has stopped next to her. Mika regards him with a gentle smile, before lifting his hand to her mouth and softly kissing the back of it.
“...Watch now, won’t you? As long as you keep watching… The end you need will come.”
Smiling still, Mika walks away, letting Kiha’s hand slip away from her grip. The members of SHSL Despair follow her up the stairs onto the stage, and then up the wooden stairs that lead up to the pyre and stake.
The woman turns to face the crowd again, and as she lifts and stretches her arms out to either side, the already boisterous crowd erupts into crazed cheers at an overwhelming volume. At the same time, the members of SHSL Despair tie her to the stake with rope that had been waiting on top of the pyre.
As the three masked despair walk back down to the stage floor, the screens on either side of the stage come to life. On them, Mika is viewable -- and as what she says booms across the courtyard for all to hear, it is clear that this is being broadcast just like everything else in the killing game.
“This… Is what our chaos looks like! Embrace it, and embrace the image of the one who created this hedonistic despair for you -- take it, and die with it!”
Her words are short and quick to the point. Grinning, Mika points down to the three SHSL Despair members. As the screen’s image cuts to them, a number of Monokuma climb their way onto the stage.
Just like the rest, the three are gunned down.
There is only one last member of SHSL Despair to kill -- and only one last thing she has to say as she raises her arms again.
“This world… Will die with me!”
While Mika’s words ring through the air, the Monokuma set fire to the pyre she is standing on. At first, the fire only licks up to her feet -- but it takes no time for it to spread along the wooden pyre and stake.
Even so, there is no screaming like in the kiln. From Mika, the only sounds are mixed laughter and sobs as she grins and cries. The fire is quick to engulf her.
Around everyone, the crowd seems to grow even more chaotic. It’s not long before the masked guards are overwhelmed by the people that clamor desperately towards the stage on which Mika burns, and who spill out into the path everyone stands on.
But somehow, they are safe. There are people the grab for them, but Sorakuma guns them down in seconds time and time again. The robot meant to bring them nothing but despair has been instructed to preserve their lives in the end, it seems.
It’s what Mika wanted, and all around, it festers -- but as her laughter stops, and her arms fall, there is no control to what is left in her wake.
The person who ended the world they knew has ended her own, and ended herself with it. Mika Tsukizuka, the woman who orchestrated the fall of the world and the most despair inducing incident in the history of mankind, is dead.
