Credit Where It's Due | Riku | Execution Reaction/Trial End | Closed for Tomo
Right and yet wrong. There had been something missing after all- more than one thing, in all likelihood. But there just… wasn't time. Or was that just an excuse? Riku turned the case over again in their head, and over, and over, and over. Rapidly spinning the facts around and around even as Monokuma was making his announcement.
A moment of panic. What was going on. Riku couldn’t see the bear pointing, didn’t know who the scapegoat was going to be. Who was it? Them? Tomo? Aiko? Seki?
Ayame spoke, and the tension in Riku’s stomach clenched into a hard stone. Not good.
But of course someone was going to die. They’d known that would have to be the outcome, hadn’t they? Just because they hadn’t been able to figure it out… or rather, because they’d only half figured it out. They knew someone else had been involved, they'd known, but who? They’d named their suspects, but failed to narrow it down. They’d failed to prove even that Suzume had been killed, failed to solve the mystery…
And now Ayame was going to die.
Riku’s mouth was dry. Part of them wanted to speak up, to say something, to say No, take me instead, I’m the one who failed.
But fear stopped them. They weren’t that good of a person. And besides, there was no guarantee Monokuma would even have taken them up on it. Useless, useless, useless. What good was it to have caught the dead killer when it was the living one they’d needed? And yet…
There was still so much that didn’t make sense.
Ayame said her piece, and Riku felt respect for her swell up. She didn’t deserve this. It wasn’t right, wasn’t justice even by the disgusting standards of it this nightmarish place meted out. But she was accepting it with grace, with bravery, and Riku didn’t even know how to take that.
“Miyamoto-san, I… I’m sorry I failed you. You won’t be forgotten.”
It’s a poor farewell, but the best they had to offer.
Once again Riku missed out on the details of the execution, were left with only the ominous and confusing soundtrack of Ayame’s death- but that she was dead was all they really needed to know. It lasted longer than the others had, drawn out minute by agonizing minute, the sound of car wheels screeching and Ayame screaming harrowing right up until the final crash.
Feeling at once both strangely numb and hyperfocused, Riku shakily made their way to the stairs, trying their best to seek out Tomo along the way. They needed to talk to him…
Monokuma’s words over the megaphone irritated them, though the sharp heat of anger that cut through their cold misery was almost a relief.
“He’s wrong. We are not responsible for what he chooses to do. He picked Miyamoto-san out, and he sent her to her death. Monokuma and anyone else who organized this game are responsible. Whoever killed Tachikaze-san and allowed us to be incorrect is partially responsible as well. But Monokuma and his affiliates are the true cause. We didn’t ask to be part of this game, they forced us into it. Someone was going to die no matter what we did, and not because of us, because of them. Because of this game they set up.”
Riku had pitched their voice to carry, but they couldn’t be sure everyone was listening. Still, they had to say it. It needed to be said. It was the truth.
If only the truth had the power to banish the sick feeling of failure that still eats at them.
With a sigh, Riku turned and resumed their attempts to find Tomo, calling out his name. They had a suspicion as to where he might have gone, and began heading for the Staff Quarters, and the room where Hanami’s body had lain…
