Down the Rabbit Hole (Danganronpa) (Rewrite)

The next time Shuichi opened his eyes, he was in the void with Tsumugi, hearing her laugh echo through out the place. He groaned, finding himself on the ground of the place. Despite the rest of the world around them being all black, the ground felt like grass, slightly scraping against his skin.

"Look at you go," Tsumugi said, appearing above him. "You really showed him. You, mere human with no fighting experience. This is so entertaining." She floated around in circles in excitement, laughing more.

Shuichi didn't respond, staring down at the ground. Tears were forming in his eyes, the scene replaying in his mind. Tsumugi huffed, grabbing Shuichi's face and making him look up at her.

"Hey, come on. You're being dramatic."

He slapped her hand away, replying, "Wake me up."

"Excuse me?"

"Wake me up! I don't want to deal with you right now."

"Uh. You are aware you passed out, right? Like, you missed so much sleep that you desperately need it. That's not going to be easy to do."

"I don't care. Wake me up."

Tsumugi huffed, snapping her fingers. "Fine. But you know the only way I can do that is through a nightmare."

🔪🐇🔫

Despite the horrors he was going through in his sleep, he didn't wake up screaming. His eyes didn't even open right away, body still feeling too weak to move. All he could do was lay there, trying to take in what he could feel and hear. His mind tried thinking back to what happened before, specifically after Kaito's death. Remembering he agreed to go with Kokichi, he got tense, focusing harder on listening if anything was happening around him. He heard a bit of movement around him, specifically the sound of footsteps and Kokichi humming. Shuichi could feel himself in a bed, slightly gripping onto the blanket. Both the sheet and blanket were soft, the room having the perfect balance of cold and warm. Even though he demanded to wake up, he immediately felt like going back to sleep, feeling completely at peace.

This peace didn't last, Kokichi's humming getting louder as he got closer, along with a strange sound of metal clinging together. Shuichi waited to open his eyes, partly wanting to see what would happen before intervening. The other part of him hoped he would be able to continue to lay there in peace. All noise stopped, Kokichi stopping in front of him. Time passed, metal clinging again one more time but still nothing happened. Finally, curiosity got the better of him, slowly opening his eyes. Kokichi immediately dropped what was in his hands, the sound of it hitting the ground before being kicked under the bed. He nervously smiled at Shuichi, rabbit ears bent down slightly.

"Morning," Kokichi said, smiling nervously. "You're awake already? You were barely asleep for an hour."

Shuichi hummed, replying, "I don't... want to... talk to... Tsumugi..." It was hard to get words out, body begging to go back to sleep.

Kokichi shook his head. "You can't avoid sleep forever. Look at you. You can barely speak." He gave a small laugh, reaching out to touch Shuichi's head.

At first, Shuichi flinched, about to move away. But he quickly calmed down, allowing Kokichi to pat his head. The pat turned into petting, Kokichi seeing how far Shuichi would let him go. When Shuichi still didn't pull away, Kokichi sat next to him on the bed. Shuichi moved back a bit, giving Kokichi some room. He could barely hold his eyes open, vision becoming a blur. However, he continued to fight it, eventually pushing his body to sit up.

"You really should sleep," Kokichi said, frowning.

Shuichi ignored him, looking around at his surroundings. His brain wasn't taking any of it in, leading him to just stare at Kokichi instead. Kokichi's rabbit ears perked up upon Shuichi's attention, him moving slightly closer. Shuichi didn't move away, shutting his eyes as he tried to stifle a yawn. He failed, making Kokichi laugh.