Epilogue

Epilogue: The Last Goodbye

13 days later, and this story is finished! Now, enjoy the finale of On the Path to Bravery in a Coward’s Paradise, everyone. :D

Epilogue: The Last Goodbye

One Year after the End of the Killing Game

Nanako was sitting in the car, being droven to the park by her mother.

She was wearing a white button up blouse, a brown blazer, a red string bow tie, a brown pleated skirt, white socks and brown loafers.

It had been a year since the Killing Game had ended.

None of them had escaped without constant nightmares. Whether it was Emma flashing back to Setsuka dying, Sora watching Kanade be tortured to death, or Nanako watching her brother be ran over by that damned rolling pin, they all had demons that wouldn’t leave them the hell alone when they tried to sleep. Medicines helped, but Nanako didn’t want to rely too much on them. The Nikei related nightmares were the worst. The ones where Nikei was sent off to die horribly again. Something among the lines of him falling to his death. It was never the same way, but it happened far too frequently.

And she wasn’t the only one. Nanako’s friends had nightmares about how Nikei died all the time.

Unlike her dreams, however, these dreams stayed the same every time.

Nanako got out of the car and walked to the park.

Her friends looked different.

Emma’s hair was now shorter, and kept up in a ponytail, and she wore the same outfit from when they were trapped in that damned ‘Last Hope Sanctuary’, minus the coat.

Hajime now wore a red hoodie and blue jeans and white sneakers.

Sora now wore her hair down, and she wore a long sleeved white button up blouse, a brown pleated skirt, white stockings and brown loafers.

And Otori wore a long royal purple trench coat with a sky blue scarf, a black shirt, blue skinny jeans and a matching backpack. His hair was now a dark strawberry blond. He had dyed it a while back to something tamer, his green hair quite loud and attention-attracting.

“Are you here for the funeral?” Emma said.

“Yes,” Nanako said.

All four of them were standing for a tombstone.

Lots of people were already there, too.

And this tombstone bore the names of all twelve victims of the killing game, alphabetically. Each one was read off by the family member or person closest to the deceased, who also took the time to make a speech for them.

Then once they had finished with all the speeches, the five survivors got together and sang a song. It was a fitting tribute, but after it was all over, all Nanako could think was that she wished they hadn’t had to have done any of it, that those twelve souls ought to still be with them here today.

Then Nanako cleared her throat.

“There’s so much I want to say to each of you, so many things. I could be here for hours, talking and talking, but… I think you all know what I really want to say, what I really mean, when you boil it down. I love you. Each and every single one of you, I love you, and I always will. Goodbye, my friends.”

As Nanako stepped away from the tombstone, she let her eyes drift back to it, one final time, to read the epitaph. It was perfect.

“Dedicated to the memory of the twelve friends who were lost during the Great Kidnapping of August 2021. Though their journeys carried them far in life, they have passed into the great beyond. They will be forever loved, and be forever missed. May they rest forever peacefully in our hearts' wake.”

Insert Credits

After 14 fucking days, this story has finally reached its conclusion. This story has been a nice ride (with a few bumps), but I'm glad that I wrote this in the end. What’s coming next?

Well, it's simple.

A sequel.

It's rather fitting for a swap AU to explore both ends of it, is it not?

After that will be three stories in which I’ll be switching around the casts for 3 of my favorite Fanganronpas and putting them in different locations.

The Project Eden’s Garden characters will be in the location of Despair Time, the Danganronpa Blowback cast will be in the location of Hope Restoration, and the DRA cast will be in the location of Twisted Truths (I’ll make that once I'm done with the second story). Those latter two stories will take place between the first story and the second one and after the second one, respectively. The DRA story will take place before the events of the first story. I won't start the sequel for a while since there’s Danganronpa: Class Change 2 tempting me. But in two weeks time, keep an eye out for the sequel.

By the way, in the final punishment, I put Kokichi’s unused execution in there. Because I love the conpect of it.

Until then, I’ll catch your guys later.