The Weight of Expectation

Takahashi Aki: “…” She had remained utterly silent ever since I had asked everyone to roll up their sleeves.

Suzuki Minoru: “What’s wrong? Playing mute again?” He raised an eyebrow, his retort laced with exasperation.

Takahashi Aki: “Hehehe~ It’s been so long since I’ve personally experienced the taste of ending in failure like this~”

Her eyes grew increasingly alluring, and she intimately pressed an open palm against her flushed cheek, a shiver-inducing smile playing on her lips as she looked at all of us.

Takahashi Aki: “You’re absolutely right… I am the one who killed Amemiya.”

Akahira Yuusuke: “Why did you kill Amemiya?” His fierce gaze pinned Takahashi Aki to the spot.

Takahashi Aki: “Why? Hehehe… Anyone who stands in the way of my path to honor and fame must be… eliminated, one by one!”

Her face suddenly contorted into a terrifying grimace, a sudden transformation that sent shivers of trepidation through all of us.

Kitajima Kazumitsu: “The path to fame…? Are you the type who chases after glory and riches?”

Takahashi Aki: “That’s right~ I simply adore the feeling of being the center of attention and worshiped by all~ So, to achieve honor, I’ll stop at nothing, no matter the cost! It’s getting late~ Monokuma~? Hurry up and start the voting, won’t you~?”

Her utter disregard for her impending death struck me with astonishment, and her extreme pursuit of honor and fame left me deeply unsettled.

Monokuma: “Hmmph~? All done~? Then… the thrilling spectacle is about to begin~ Start your voting now~!”

I pressed the voting button, silently awaiting the final outcome.

Monokuma: “Puhuhuhu… Since everyone has finished voting, I’ll announce the results right away~!”

The voting results displayed on the screen showed: Others, 0 votes; Takahashi Aki, 13 votes.

Monokuma: “Regarding the voting results, who could the culprit possibly be? Is that answer truly correct—?!”

The screen then switched to a roulette wheel labeled “roulette,” its pointer gradually slowing down until, in the final moment, it landed on Takahashi Aki’s pixelated avatar.

Colored confetti rained down from above, alongside Monokuma coins gushing from the roulette machine.

****

Monokuma: “Ding ding~! The answer is absolutely correct~! You’ve successfully passed the class trial once again, eh~? Your performance has truly impressed me, you know~?”

Monokuma: “Cheer to your heart’s content~! Children~!” It stood alone before us, happily dancing with glee.

Takahashi Aki: “Don’t waste time. Just end this class trial already.” She urged Monokuma with extreme impatience.

Akino Atsushi: “I’ve never seen anyone so eager to die before…”

Akahira Yuusuke: “She’s truly nothing short of a monster…”

Kamimura Anko: “Please wait a moment, Takahashi-san, I want to know… how exactly did Amemiya-san offend you… to the point that you would take her life…?”

Takahashi Aki: “There’s no need for that. After all, I’m just a person on the verge of death anyway, why bother with such trivial details~?” She whispered softly to me, a harmless smile gracing her face.

Monokuma: “You might not, but I do, you know~? Puhuhuhu~ Revealing the culprit’s motive for murder… I absolutely love it~!”

Takahashi Aki: “Utterly boring.” A hateful emotion mingled in her eyes as she glared at Monokuma, her eyes wide with fury.

Monokuma: “Next, everyone, please watch Takahashi-san’s [Motive] video carefully~ Please remain absolutely quiet while watching, everyone~?”

****

I was a dancer, a girl… forced onto the stage.

Each time I returned home from school, my parents’ first words to me were never, “Our daughter’s home~?”

Instead, they would ask…

“How were your exam results this time? You got first place, didn’t you?”

It was my father, seated on the sofa, reading an old-fashioned newspaper, who posed the question.

“I’m sorry… Father… This time, first place… I, I didn’t get it.”

“Bang!” A loud thud abruptly cut off my words, leaving me utterly stunned and frozen.

My father slammed the newspaper onto the square table with one hand, and I timidly raised my head, sneaking a glance at his expression—a stern, serious face, his eyes harboring even deeper dissatisfaction.

“What good are you to me?! You can’t even manage this simple task, huh… I thought you would have a bright future, full of great potential, just like your mother and I.”

“Yet, you still haven’t achieved anything worthy of my admiration…! It seems I expected too much from you! Why did your mother and I even have a daughter in the first place?” He shook his head, utterly disappointed.

Though my father rarely spoke to me, the few words he did utter always left me feeling suffocated.

It was as if I was never truly his own daughter.

“Our daughter’s back?” My mother approached after hearing my father’s scolding.

I had initially believed my mother would inquire about my school life and well-being, but I later realized how naive that thought was.

“I heard the school is holding a campus dance competition, it wasn’t in vain that I signed you up for dance classes, was it? You got at least a second prize, right?!”

My mother looked at me with immense excitement, but the more I saw her like this, with the answer already known deep within my heart, the more agony I felt, making it difficult to breathe.

“I, I got… th-third… third prize…” I stammered out my reply.

“Third prize?!! I spent so much money signing you up, and you couldn’t even get a second prize?! You’ve utterly disappointed me!!” My mother’s face was a mask of disbelief, my brief words enough to make her frown deeply.

To this day, I can never forget a single phrase they often repeated: ‘The greater the expectation, the greater the potential for disappointment.’

“She couldn’t even get first place in her exams, and you still expect her to get a good ranking in dancing?” My father’s tone was incredibly cold, chilling me to the core.

“Sigh… Back in our day, your father and I won countless awards. Now, it seems we truly can’t count on you to achieve anything…”

Indeed, the reason they placed such importance on good rankings was that they were accomplished in their youth, their paths smooth and successful.

My mother was an exceptionally talented dancer, seemingly quite famous in her era, with even many prominent figures bowing to request a dance with her.

My father was also an outstanding pianist, his prodigious talent shining brightly; some even compared him to a modern-day “Mozart.”

Therefore, I could fully comprehend why they held such incredibly high expectations for me.

However, life’s adversities often erupt unexpectedly.

“Father! My essay won first prize! Look!” That was the happiest moment of my entire life; without any specific writing training, I had managed to secure the first prize my heart desired, all thanks to my unique writing style!

No matter what, this time, Father would surely look at me with new eyes!

But… things did not go as planned.

Without even a glance, Father crumpled the award certificate in my hand into a ball and tossed it onto the floor as if it were mere trash.

“Do you even know how terrible your grades are right now?! Huh?! If you had focused your efforts on dancing, I wouldn’t say a word, but you’re wasting your precious time on such a meaningless competition?! Do I have to teach you what to do and when to do it?!”

In that moment, I fully realized how starkly different my father’s world was from mine; all the joy and excitement bubbling within me turned to ashes.

To this day, I still distinctly remember numbly bending down to pick up that crumpled “trash” my father had dismissed, carefully hiding it where they would never find it.

‘You want a daughter with a brilliant future, don’t you?’

‘Very well then! I’ll push myself to the brink of death to become the dancer you’ve always envisioned!’

‘Even if it costs me my body, I will make you all witness my capabilities!’

For this, I practiced dancing day and night, simultaneously catching up on my academic performance, utilizing every precious moment, every single second, to the extreme, to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep.

Consequently, I also lost time for communicating with classmates and family, which is why I usually kept to myself and acted independently.

In my opinion, matters of social interaction were a complete waste of my time; I would rather solve two more math problems.

As time passed, I seemed to live in a perfect world that belonged solely to me.

Finally, the long-awaited day arrived, and I successfully achieved first place in both the city-level examination and the city-wide dance competition.

I rushed home like a madwoman, eager for them to witness their daughter’s true capabilities.

“Hmm… This time it’s not bad, you’ve made some progress, but it’s still far from the results I expected.”

He seemed utterly dismissive of the achievements I had worked so long and hard to obtain, leaving me dumbfounded, staring blankly at his expression.

“What? You’re not going to stop here, are you? Right… I shouldn’t expect too much from you. I see that little girl next door is quite outstanding; she’ll surely have a brilliant future…”

My father’s last words instantly ignited a furious rage within me, yet I dared not speak out, for the person he mentioned had indeed surpassed me in the number of awards won.

From that day forward, I resolved that no matter what, I would surpass that person.

Until I surpassed her, I would remain restless and utterly miserable.

During that period, I also came to fully understand why my parents harbored such an intense craving for fame and honor; because whenever we went out and met people in the neighborhood, they would inexplicably shower them with praise and flattery. My parents’ every word and action subtly, yet profoundly, instilled in me a growing fascination with that feeling of being elevated.

Subsequently, I made a firm decision: I would achieve true fame and honor, even surpassing my parents’ accomplishments in their youth! I would make them understand that my potential had no limits!!

However, during the most recent provincial competition, I was sabotaged by a schemer… The competition venue was none other than Hope’s Peak Academy.

On the day of the competition, I placed my prepared dance shoes into my backpack. Overwhelmed by nervousness, I carefully set my backpack inside my desk before heading to the restroom.

But as I stepped onto the stage to perform, the heel of my dance shoe suddenly broke, causing me to accidentally fall to the ground.

At that moment, my face was ashen, and I felt an overwhelming sense of despair.

‘It’s over… it’s over… it’s all over, completely over.’

‘My first place is utterly gone…’

As expected, in the end, I didn’t even receive a ranking. I had completely missed the best opportunity to showcase my unique performance to them!

I gnashed my teeth, glaring furiously at the dance shoe with its broken heel, only to suddenly realize that the heel had been tampered with!

I froze, instantly recalling the time I had gone to the restroom.

‘It must have been her! There’s no mistake!! She was the only one in the classroom at that time!!!’

With the last vestiges of my sanity consumed by overwhelming anger, I clenched my fists tightly, my fingernails already digging into my flesh, drawing a trace of blood.

‘I must… personally interrogate this schemer to discover the true intention behind her sabotage, what—exactly—it—was!!!’