DanganRonpa: Copycat [DISCONTINUED]

I was sitting on my bed. The nighttime announcement was made thirty minutes ago, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. The day had gone by in a flash and I barely remember what happened. I was so absorbed in my thoughts throughout the day that I forgot to pay attention to what was going on around me. Things just stopped making sense. Monokuma laughed at us for thinking there was a mastermind, even though Ninsei had confronted him about it a few days earlier. And then there's the traitor... I don't want to believe a word of it, but it just makes too much sense to be denied. If people believe there's a traitor among us, then we're gonna have a big problem. People won't know who to trust and the tension will build up between us. It'll only be a matter of time before someone can't take the pressure anymore...

Pushing these negative thoughts aside, I got up from my bed and left my room. Maybe going for a walk would calm me down. The hallway was dimly lit by a faint, bluish light. The lamps had readjusted their lighting and seemed to be imitating moonlight. It was actually kind of soothing. At the same time I left my room, Akira came around the corner.

'Greetings, Mr Osada.' Akira greeted. 'Forgive me for asking this, but why are you up this late?'

'I could ask you the same thing...' I replied.

Seeing someone during nighttime, especially after what happened yesterday, made me kind of nervous.

'I just returned from the east wing. Ms Tanikawa told me to go to there during nighttime.' Akira said. 'I must admit that I don't regret going there. It was quite a sight.'

'My, my, my! What's this?' Someone interjected.

When I looked to my right, I saw Mae skipping towards us.

'Here I was, strolling in the indoor moonlight, and look what I found!' Mae said. 'Hmm... This is veeery suspicious! Are you planning to kill someone?'

Akira looked shocked when she said that.

'Don't be ridiculous! As if I would ever-!'

'Relax! I'm only joking!' Mae interrupted with a laugh.

I was surprised that she could still joke about things like that. I joked about that to Misaki, and she ended up killing someone. A cruel coincidence...

'Still, this is suspicious...' Mae continued. 'Both of you are out during nighttime... I can't help but think it's suspicious...'

'I can't speak for everyone, but I'm not planning to kill anyone.' I responded.

'Is that really true though...?' Mae said. 'No offense, but I think you could be the traitor...'

I was used to Mae jumping to conclusions, but I wasn't prepared for her throwing an accusation my way.

'Ms Yasumi, please don't say such awful things!' Akira exclaimed. 'What makes you think it's Mr Osada anyway?'

'Well, just think about it...' Mae replied. 'His student profile doesn't display a talent, but the talent tab wasn't removed. For all we know, he could be lying about not having a talent...'

Mae was talking about me as if I wasn't even there. I understand her reasoning, but it's not exactly right. I wish I could do something to prove her wrong, but I don't have anything solid to do that.

'I'm not the traitor...' I mumbled.

'Can you prove it?' Mae asked.

I couldn't answer that. I merely shook my head. I could only hope that people would believe in me, but maybe I would be asking for too much.