Danganronpa: Eclipse of Harmony

The videos Monokuma showed us had shaken many of us to our core. Most of the group decided to follow Cozy and Capper’s lead, leaving to process this new development on their own. I considered suggesting we share what we saw with one another to try and foster some semblance of trust, but I quickly discarded the idea. With how intense many of those reactions were, I knew getting most of them to agree to such a thing would be a tall order.

‘Maybe I’ll suggest it later, when everyone’s had time to calm down a little bit.’

I decided to stay seated in the restaurant as I thought about what had just transpired. My friends, the ones who saved me from myself, the ones I couldn’t even remember…they might be in trouble. At the very least, Monokuma knew about them. He was probably the one responsible for messing with my memories. But to what end? I still had no idea.

Before long, I was left alone with one other person. Aria Blaze. She hadn’t moved from her seat the entire time, choosing to watch the others. And now her eyes were on me. Now that I was alone with her, that feeling from before came back. So much had happened that I’d almost forgotten about it. When I looked at Aria, I got this feeling of familiarity. But this wasn’t a pleasant feeling like with Rarity. Looking at her made me feel uneasy, as if I should be on my guard. And considering how she hadn’t taken her eyes off me since everyone else left, I got the feeling she must have some concerns about me as well.

Since she wasn’t making any attempt to approach me, I buried this unknown anxiety and moved to sit across from her. “Aria? Is everything alright? I didn’t do anything to upset you, did I?”

“No. Why would you think that?” Aria seemed genuinely confused by my question. On top of that, there was no malice in her tone, merely a hint of annoyance and confusion. Did she not realize how she looked, staring at me and frowning like that?

“Sorry, it’s just…you’ve been staring at me for a while. I thought maybe I’d done something.” Since she apparently wasn’t mad at me, I chose not to mention how things looked to me. Maybe that’s just her default expression?

“Oh, that.” She shifted her focus to her right, no longer looking directly into my eyes. “Sorry. Don’t worry about it. Just…trying to figure something out is all.”

“Trying to figure something out? What do you mean?” Now I was even more curious. She must be getting the same weird feeling I was. “If you want, I can try and help.” Aria was silent for a moment, looking as if she were considering it.

“Hmm…no.” Well, at least she seemed to think about it before shutting me down. “It’s not something you can help with. Talking to you about it would be pointless.” Okay, that just raised my curiosity even further. What was she trying to figure out about me? I thought about trying to push the issue, but I decided against it. I’d already seen how short this girl’s fuse seemed to be. I didn’t want to risk actually upsetting her.

“I see…well if you change your mind, I’d be happy to help.” Deciding it would be best to change the subject, I pivoted to something else I’d been curious about. “So, you said before that you were in a pop trio, right? The Dazzlings?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and myself.” As she said those names, her expression temporarily broke into a more somber one before she caught herself. “Together, we make up the pop trio ‘The Dazzlings,’ not that anyone here seems to have heard of us. It’s pretty damn infuriating.”

I pondered on that for a moment. Even Lemon Zest, the so-called Ultimate Rocker, hadn’t heard of them. And I knew firsthand how many groups she was familiar with based on my experience with her yesterday. I hadn’t thought about it much before, but it was odd that a supposedly famous group would be completely unknown. Yeah, there were a lot of music groups in the world, but Lemon Zest seemed borderline obsessed with music. If ‘The Dazzlings’ were even moderately famous, there was no way she wouldn’t have at least heard of them. And yet, I didn’t get the sense that Aria was lying. Maybe there was something more to this. For now, though, I decided to try and make her feel better.

“Well, I sure wouldn’t mind hearing about you and your group. And hey, maybe we could all jam sometime. I’m no professional, but I play a pretty mean guitar…huh?” I stopped as I noticed Aria’s fists clenched and a dour look on her face. “Uh…are you okay? Was it something I said?” Then it clicked. Her friends. Adagio Dazzle and Sonata Dusk. They must have been what was shown in her video. “Oh…oh no, I’m so sorry. Adagio and Sonata…are they…?”

“They’re fine.” Aria clenched her teeth as she spoke, venom and vitriol in her voice. “There’s no way Monokuma really got to them. Sonata’s too slippery. And Adagio…if anyone tries to nab her, they’ll end up with a knife in their gut.” She spoke with such conviction that I knew she was telling the truth. This Adagio Dazzle sounded like someone I’d sure hate to piss off. Still, Monokuma wasn’t to be trifled with. Who knows what he’s truly capable of?

“I’m sure they are.” It was clear to me that Aria was doing her best to put on a strong front regarding her friends. I wasn’t about to upset her further by contradicting her. “That just means we’ll need to get out of here. When we do, I’d love to see you perform.”

Aria stared at me for a few moments in silence before grunting in what I assumed to be appreciation. “Well…maybe I can get you tickets to a show sometime. No promises.” With that, Aria Blaze exited the restaurant, leaving me all alone.

’She’s a bit…intense. But I can’t really blame her, all things considered. Maybe she’ll let her walls down if we can become friends.’

Got Friendship Fragment! Aria Blaze: 1/5

After I spent a little time with Aria, I left the restaurant and returned to my room. I was in desperate need of a shower and a change of clothes. After taking care of myself, I left to begin meandering around the hotel. While there weren’t very many places to go, it was still better than staying cooped up in my room all day. When I entered the hallway, I saw Apple Bloom heading towards her room. She didn’t seem as upset as before, but she was still clearly down in the dumps.

“Hey Apple Bloom, how are you feeling?” She stopped and turned around, giving me a weak smile. Poor girl was trying her best to put on a strong front, despite whatever was in her video shaking her to the core.

“Oh, hey Sunset. I’m not doin’ so great, but I’ll manage. Honestly, I’m more concerned about Cozy Glow. She’s locked herself in her room.” My expression fell as I thought about Cozy. What could have been in her video to warrant such a reaction? She looked as if she were about to attack someone. “Ah tried to go and talk to her, but she just told me to go away. Now I’m not sure what I should do. I can’t just stand by and do nothin’ when my friend’s hurting!”

I understood how she was feeling. Not being able to be there when a friend was going through something was a terrible feeling. That said, they’d only known each other for a day now. Cozy must have really endeared herself to Apple Bloom for her to be this concerned. Or perhaps the redhead was just this naturally caring about everyone. It was hard to say. Either way, I was touched.

“Hmm…I’ll tell you what. I’ll check on her later and see if I can get her to talk to me. Maybe she just needs a little bit more time to herself.” I gave my best reassuring smile as I placed a hand on Apple Bloom’s shoulder.

“Ya will? Thanks, Sunset. Be sure to tell her that Scootaloo and me are worried about her, okay?” She already seemed to be a bit less glum than before.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to tell her.” I waved goodbye as I turned to leave, hearing Apple Bloom enter her room and lock the door behind her as I did.

As I left the East Wing guest rooms, I heard a commotion going on in the laundry room. Letting my curiosity get the best of me, I peeked inside only to see Trixie stuffing what seemed like a mountain of laundry into one of the machines.

“Come on…get in there already!” She was clearly having trouble, so I went over without a word and helped her out. The source of her trouble seemed to be a blue cape getting caught on the door of the machine next to it. Her hands were so full she didn’t realize she’d gotten caught on something. “Phew…Trixie thanks you for your assistance, Sunset Shimmer.”

“Don’t worry about it. But I have to ask, why are you washing all of that? We’ve only been here for a day.” Surely there was no way she could have dirtied all that laundry already, right?

“Oh, it is quite simple!” Trixie put a hand to her mouth and laughed condescendingly. “Monokuma thinks he’s so smart, but he can’t fool The Great and Powerful Trixie! All those nice clothes in the closet and drawers, it was too suspicious! And so, Trixie realized…sabotage!”

“Sabotage?” I was so lost.

“Indeed, sabotage! For all Trixie knew, these could have been a trap! Filled with itching powder or some other diabolical means of torture! Therefore, Trixie had the brilliant idea of washing all her laundry before making use of any of it!” A look of annoyance passed over her face. “She was even forced to wash her sheets before going to sleep last night. Seriously, what kind of hotel makes the guests wash their own sheets?!”

I had no idea how to even respond to all of that. I was certain that nobody else had even considered whatever it was she was going on about. Not to mention that by her own logic, there was nothing to stop Monokuma from sabotaging the washing machine in a similar manner. It made sense that she was paranoid, but she was just making extra work for herself.

“Trixie would recommend that you follow suit at your earliest convenience.” I snapped out of my musings as Trixie addressed me.

“Uh, sure. I’ll be sure to get right on that.” Remembering the cape she’d had in her laundry pile, I leapt at the opportunity to change the subject. “So, that cape? Is that part of your magician act?”

“Oho! Is Sunset Shimmer interested in the art of stage magic?” Trixie did a little twirl and a bow before beginning to load up the detergent and start the machine. “It’s true, that cape is a piece of Trixie’s stage apparel. She was quite surprised to find that Monokuma had made copies of it and placed it in her room.”

“Yeah, I thought that was weird too. I saw lots of copies of my outfit too.” He could’ve just thrown a random assortment of clothes into the closets for us. What was the point of going through all the trouble to make copies of our outfits?

“Yes, Trixie assumed as much. But enough about that. You showed interest in Trixie’s profession and so she will reward you with a brief demonstration!” With a flourish of her hands, Trixie was suddenly holding three gold coins with Monokuma’s face on them. These must be the so-called Monocoins she’d found and used on the MonoMono Machine. Where did she keep finding them though?

“You see here that The Great and Powerful Trixie holds three Monocoins in her hand.” She held out her hand to make it clear these were all she was holding. “And now…watch as Trixie makes them vanish without a trace!” She clapped her hands together, opened them up again and…they were gone! “Presto! As Trixie said, the coins have vanished! But look! Not for long!” Without any warning, she reached behind both of my ears and pulled two of the coins from nowhere. “Tada!”

“What the…how did you-?” I was simply flabbergasted. While I’m an expert at magical spell theory and the application thereof, I had no experience when it came to sleight of hand and stage magic. I knew there was a trick to it, but what it could have been was eluding me. Then I realized something. She had three coins and had only reproduced two of them. “Hold on, where’s the other one?”

Trixie smirked and leaned forward, pointing towards my chest. “Oh, you mean the one currently sitting in your jacket’s pocket?” I blinked a few times and reached into my pocket.

“No fucking way.” I pulled out a Monocoin from my pocket. She was right, it was right there. I narrowed my eyes a bit, trying to sus out how she could’ve done this. I gave up after a minute and sighed, shrugging my shoulders. “I’ve gotta hand it to you, Trixie. That was seriously impressive. I have no idea how you did that!”

“Ah, tis but a paltry demonstration. But Trixie thanks you all the same and is happy you enjoyed it.” I tried to hand her back the coin, but she held up her hand to stop me. “Keep it. Consider it a token of Trixie’s appreciation for indulging her. Well, not that it’s worth much. Trixie doubts it’ll serve any purpose once we get out of here. And it seems the only use they have in this infernal hotel is that MonoMono Machine.”

“Thanks, Trixie. I really appreciate that.” I gripped the coin tightly before placing it back in my pocket. Regardless of what it was, receiving a gift of any kind in this place meant a lot to me. “So, if I ever get the chance, I’d love to see one of your shows. If this is what you call a paltry demonstration, I can’t imagine how great everything else is.”

I felt a small sense of pride when I saw Trixie’s cheeks get a twinge of red in them. “Oh…you would? Ahem…of course you would! Who wouldn’t want to see one of The Great and Powerful Trixie’s shows? You are welcome in Trixie’s audience anytime, Sunset Shimmer!” Yep, this girl sure did recover fast. Talk about showmanship.

’She seemed weird at first, but I actually sort of enjoy Trixie’s eccentricities. Maybe the two of us can become friends.’

Got Friendship Fragment! Trixie Lulamoon: 1/5

Trixie and I conversed a bit longer while she waited on her laundry, mostly about stage magic and how much goes into it. I used to think very little of stage magicians and “fake magic,” but it turns out that a lot of work goes into it. Once we said our goodbyes, I decided to make my way towards Cozy Glow’s room. I told Apple Bloom that I’d check on her and I felt like I’d let enough time pass.

I made my way to Cozy Glow’s room and knocked on the door. I waited a bit, but there was no answer. I knocked again, still no answer. Maybe she’d left her room? I started knocking again just as the door’s lock clicked and it began to slowly crack open. Cozy Glow was barely peeking through the crack in the door. All I could see was her eye. “Who is it? Oh, it’s you Sunset.” Her voice had that cutesy tone to it, but I knew she had to be faking it. Based on her reaction earlier, there was no way she was in a good mood.

“Yeah, I wanted to talk with you. Is it okay if I come in?” She seemed to think about it for a minute before opening the door just enough for me to step inside. Once I did, she shut it back and locked it. As I expected, her room was almost identical to mine. The only notable difference was that her bed was cleanly made. I’d completely forgotten to make mine, a bad habit I carried over from my everyday life. I also noticed that she’d tossed a pile of clothes onto the floor near the bathroom, which had its door open and its light on.

’Did I catch her in the middle of…oh. Okay yeah, I sure did.’

Looking back at Cozy Glow, I saw that she was wrapped in a towel and had curlers in her hair. My face instantly went red with embarrassment as I turned to face away from her. “S-sorry Cozy! If this is a bad time, I can come back later.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” She hopped over and got in front of me, looking into my eyes with what appeared to be genuine confusion. When she saw my flustered state, it seemed to dawn on her, and she laughed! “Sunset, I’m not naked! I just didn’t want whoever was at the door to see me in my underwear, so I threw a towel on.” As she mentioned that, I looked closer. Sure enough, her bra straps were visible on her exposed shoulders. The color was just so close to her skin tone that I hadn’t noticed them before. I gave a sheepish grin and a nervous chuckle, causing her to giggle some more. She then led me to her bed and urged me to sit. “Here, have a seat. What did you wanna talk about?” Cozy sat down next to me and smiled that too cutesy smile of hers.

’Well, it’s good to know she’s comfortable with me being here. Not that that’ll mean much in a minute. Guess I’d better get started. No sense putting it off.’

“Cozy…” I took a deep breath as I steeled myself. I had no doubt that she’d react poorly to what I was about to say. “I know what you’re doing.”

“Huh? You do? Golly, what am I doing?” She cocked her head to the side and blinked a few times, staring into my eyes with the most innocent look she could muster.

“That. You’re doing that.” I crossed my arms and met her gaze with a stern one of my own. “I saw how you reacted to that video. I might not know all the details, but I can tell that this cutesy schtick is an act.” She backed away slightly as I said that, freezing up as her false smile began to falter. “I’m no stranger to putting on a mask to fool the people around you. So, stop pretending like nothing’s wrong.”

“I’m sure that I have no idea what you’re talking about!” She recovered quickly, standing up and pacing around the room while staring me down with her saccharine grin. Disturbingly, she had an aura about her reminiscent of a predator playing with her prey. “It’s so nice of you to worry about me, but I’m doing just fine!” She leaned forward with a hand over her mouth, playfully giggling at me. “Golly Sunset, you need to trust your friends more!”

“Funny, I was about to tell you the same thing.” I wasn’t fooled by her act. Whatever the reason for how she was acting, I was determined to get through to her. Sure, I might have been being a bit too presumptuous, but seeing her bury her feelings underneath this act didn’t sit right with me. “You want to be friends, right? I’d like to consider you a friend too. But if we’re going to be friends, then we need to trust one another." I thought back to how she managed to calm me down after I saw the statue of myself. "...I'm choosing to put my trust in you. And so, I want you to trust me too, Cozy.”

“I don’t…understand what you’re trying to say.” Her façade faltered once more as she backed up against the wall. Her demeanor had shifted from stalking predator to cornered prey. I sighed. I really didn’t want to upset her. Given different circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have been pushing so hard. But we were all in danger here. If there was even a chance of Cozy acting on Monokuma’s motive, I had to do what I could to prevent it.

’But how can I stop everyone from falling into Monokuma’s trap? I can’t just have one on one talks with each of them, can I? I may be an empath, but I’m not a damn therapist.

“Look, I think you know exactly what I’m trying to say.” Not for the first time since I woke up in this place, I lamented my seemingly diminished powers. Being able to just touch her and peek inside her mind would have made this whole affair much easier. “You don’t have to tell me everything. Just…stop pretending that you’re not affected by all this! It’s okay to not be okay. I’m your friend. I know-“

“You don’t know anything!” She suddenly interrupted with a shout, staring at me red-faced and with fury in her eyes. Although I was prepared for her to potentially lash out, I flinched at her sudden shift in demeanor. Still, I held my ground. After a few tense moments, she straightened up and spoke softly. “I…I’m going to go finish cleaning up for the night.” She went into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

’Well that was...intense.’

I was about to leave, but then I caught sight of Cozy’s MiniMonoPad sitting on her nightstand. There it was: the source of her current foul mood. A thought occurred to me. Should I watch it? No, that would be a gross invasion of privacy. But then again, maybe I could help her if I found out more about her. Besides, wasn’t I just complaining that I couldn’t gaze into her mind? That seemed like a far worse privacy violation. Eventually, my curiosity won out and I grabbed the pad. They weren’t long videos, so I’d surely finish it before Cozy got done in there.

I turned the video on, thanking my lucky stars that the video wasn’t terribly loud without the headphones. It began with an adorable chibi version of Cozy Glow standing in the middle of a field with many nondescript gray figures walking by her. “Cozy Glow, the Ultimate Chessmaster.” Monokuma’s voice began its mocking narration. “It would seem that…she has nothing!” The gray figures dispersed, leaving Cozy all alone in the field, with tears streaming down her face. “With no friends or family to speak of, this cutie patootie is all alone! Friendless. Powerless. Useless! Puhuhuhuhu!” Where the ending text of my video encouraged me to find out the truth by checking out of the hotel, Cozy’s ended with a condescending ‘Better Luck Next Time!’

I was shocked. I knew her video had to be bad, but this was terrible. Did she really have nobody on the outside? Is that why she acted the way she did? To try and overcompensate in a desperate attempt to make any sort of connection? Now I just felt bad about confronting her. I placed the MiniMonoPad back where I found it and went to the bathroom door. I knocked gently before speaking. “Cozy Glow? I’m sorry. I probably could’ve handled that better. I was just worried about you. Listen…just remember that I’m your friend, okay?” There was no response, no movement whatsoever on the other side of the door. Just a long stretch of silence. I was about to leave when I finally heard it.

“…You watched it, didn’t you?” The voice was so soft, so vulnerable. Even when she was breaking down during Monokuma’s initial appearance she didn’t sound this vulnerable. Her voice was coming from lower to the ground than before. Realizing she must be sitting, I followed suit and leaned back against the door.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did. I’m sorry.” That was all I could really say on the matter. I should have figured she’d realize I’d watched it.

“You saw it and you still want to call yourself my friend? Why?”

“Why wouldn't I?”

“You heard what Monokuma said. I’m powerless. Useless.” I could hear the frustration building back into her voice.

“Why should that matter?” I still wasn’t sure what this whole thing about being powerless and useless meant, but I wasn’t about to let her feel worse about herself than she already was.

“Because…friendship is power.” She spoke that phrase with such steely determination that I knew she believed it to be true in the very core of her being. “And because I keep fucking it up, I’m just a powerless nobody.”

“Friendship is...power?” Despite not having the full context, it broke my heart to hear that she had such a fundamental misunderstanding of what friendship was. What had happened in her life to make her believe such a thing?

“Of course you wouldn’t get it.” Cozy scoffed. “It must be so easy for you. I've seen you getting along with everyone you meet. Little miss perfect Sunset Shimmer has many friends. I have…no friends.” She sounded so defeated as she began lightly sniffling.

'Oh, Cozy Glow. I think we're a lot more alike than you realize.'

As much as I wanted to tell her as much, I doubted she'd respond well to that right now. So, I decided to simply stay there so she wouldn’t be alone. After a few minutes, she managed to get ahold of her emotions and sat with me in silence. Eventually, I sighed and stood up. It was getting late.

“Cozy Glow…I’m going back to my room now. Whatever you might be thinking right now, please remember that I want to be your friend. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo too. You don’t have to be alone.” There was no response. “…Remember to lock the door behind me, okay?” Deciding I didn’t want to trouble her any further tonight, I left. I stayed outside her door for a little while until I heard the telltale sound of the lock clicking into place. Assured of her relative safety, I began to make my way towards my room.

I was barely inside for five minutes before I heard someone knocking. I went to the door and opened it to see Scootaloo on the other side.

“Hey Scootaloo, what’s up?” She seemed in an alright mood all things considered.

“Hey Sunset. I just wanted to give you this.” She handed me a note which read:

Late Night Fun Time “Screw Monokuma” Party! Tomorrow at 8 p.m. in the lounge! Drinks, music, and entertainment galore! No Bears Allowed!

“Limestone decided it might be a good idea to throw a party. You know, to put us in good spirits and try to keep us getting along.”

“Huh. I didn’t peg her for the party girl type. And this invitation seems unlike her.” I couldn’t help but smile at what was written. It was almost like an invitation to a child’s birthday party.

“Oh, she didn’t write the invitations. Trixie did that.” Okay, that explained a few things. “And as far as I can tell, Limestone said she was doing this because it’s something her sister would do. Apparently, her sister is, and I quote, ‘an expert at turning frowns upside down.’”

“Well, I’ll definitely be there.” This was perfect! I’d been agonizing about trying to figure out how to talk down everyone from whatever they might have seen in their videos when the solution was right there. We just needed to get together and try to unwind. Get ourselves de-stressed so we could think rationally about it all. We’d figure out how to escape without giving that damn bear what he wants!

“Awesome! I’ll see you later then. I’ve still got a few more to deliver.” With that, she ran off to finish her rounds. It wasn't until she was gone and I'd closed the door behind me that I realized my mistake.

'Dammit! I should've talked with her about Cozy Glow. I'll have to find her and Apple Bloom tomorrow.'

While I proceeded to mentally kick myself for the obvious oversight, the nighttime announcement played.

Ding Dong, Bing Bong!

“Mm, ahem, this is a hotel announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Please return to your rooms and relax. The doors to the restaurant and the courtyard are now locked, and entry is strictly prohibited. Okay then…sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite…”

That was exactly the same as last night. Maybe these things were pre-recorded? Either way, I was feeling tired. I got ready for bed and went to sleep, ending my second day at the Hotel Despair.