#i am but a funny little jester who is entertaining a bunch of clowns

[st0rmy-fr]

Gay 🫵

[rewoundcircuit]

The Ultimate Show | Takaku | Monotheatre 5.3

Words would fail anything that could be said following their exchange with Kimiko. There wasn’t anything left for them to say about it. While there was a lot of vitriol being hurled around during their ever-fewer final minutes of life, they were quite okay with that. More than okay, really. Their death would forcibly wrench the spotlight away once that moment came, but until then, they were content with being a side act. Fewer eyes on them while everyone argued was fine. But they had enough left to say that eventually they would have to stop basking in the chaotic glory of the trial room and make their final statements to no one in particular, really. The time for one-on-ones were over, but it'd just be weird if they didn't get all eyes on them one last time.

“Fortune’s a fickle thing, if you can even really qualify a concept like that as being a thing. Fate, too. Any one of us could have been someone or something else. Me, you’ll probably hear about in a minute, but I could have been getting ready to work some perfectly average desk job if some of the people in my life had their way. Was it fate or fortune that led me here? I can’t say I ever really saw it that way. The world’s moved on from things like jesters and public executions as entertainment. But here I am, and here we are.��

“But that’s not fate. I made the choice to be like this. Faking those transcripts, skipping the country, lying about my age - oops, spoilers for the story of my life! - but was that fate? Was that fortune? Or was that a series of defiant choices in the face of dullness and stagnation, completely independent of anything like predetermination. And that’s another thing! Is everything predetermined? All of us being born, living our lives, slowly shaping into who we are and coming into our talents at a young age, being scouted for some illustrious academy only to be shoved in a station and forced to kill each other?”

They shake their head.

“I think the world as a whole would have given up a long time ago if anyone really believed that our paths are set in stone from the moment we come into existence. But even now, even here, has anyone just given up? We’re all fighting in our own ways, for our own reasons, and we all have something that motivates us. And that’s the real beauty of the human condition, isn’t it? Even in a place like this which limits us in a physical space and inhibits our impulses with a bunch of silly rules that put breaking a coffee machine on the same level of severity as murder, there’s so much room for growth and change and difference. It’s on a smaller scale than I dreamed it would be, but…”

“I think seeing all the different kinds of hope you guys are holding onto in the face of something this hopeless was a pretty worthwhile sight.”

“Nothing like that has ever mattered to me, personally, but it’s fun to watch!"

"Like a game I’ve got no personal stake in, but I’ll watch every moment of it rapt, waiting for something to happen. For two key players to clash head-to-head, for conflicting hopes to spar, for when the one who’s held onto theirs the longest sink into the depths of despondency when they just can’t take it anymore! Such a heart-pounding spectacle, but at the end of the day, I can walk away knowing full well that it could never be me who winds up like that because I’m watching from a position of detachment, and nothing that happens to you could ever happen to me. I’m safe. It can’t hurt me.”

They don’t look directly into the camera, but cast a glance aside at it for a fraction of a moment - just barely enough to be perceptible.

“Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

They give a light chuckle, before smiling back at the room as a whole (perhaps after a quick glance at Kimiko, which they seem pretty darn chuffed about.)

“Anyways! Final words, final words..."

"This pain will have its place. Or maybe it won’t! That’s really up to you guys now, isn’t it? Will you continue the cycle diligently like good little game pieces, or will you give the one behind it all what-for? Will everyone’s deaths have been in vain, or will the spirits of the departed find peace knowing that those who survived past us transformed it into a worthwhile experience? Nobody can change the fact that we all got roped into this situation, and that some of us are going to die, but every single one of you is someone who could fly in the face of it all and defy the expectations set out for us.”

Takaku turns their head to make it clear that they’re addressing Monokuma and Monomi.

“That goes for you two as well. You could break the cycle just as easily as any of us… or maybe you’re even more bound by the strings we’re all dancing on here? Who can say for sure? I’m going to die before I can find out, but that’s life!”

“Well, there is someone who could say for sure. Who are you? Who am I? What are you? What am I? Only you know, only I know. I have a feeling this is all going to be over soon, you know. It’s not going to end until after my death, I know.”

“... I know.”

“... Hey, you know what’s funny? Even after all that time I spent wanting this outcome, now that it’s actually here, I don’t want to die! Kukuku~! And feeling that way is how I know I’m ready! At the end of the day, no matter what my personal philosophy is, there’s one last little reminder that I’m human after all! I surprise even myself, sometimes, kukuku~”

The resident clown exhales, and their smile carries an unmistakably somber undertone. The bells on their hat toll for them. Almost like clockwork, with their thirty minutes are drawing to a close, they snap into a rhythm that anyone who’s watched the conclusion of one of their shows would be familiar with and begin gesturing freely around the room. Like they’re ending a show.

“Aaand that’s all for tonight, lords, ladies, and fine members of the gentry! You’ve been a wonderful audience tonight, and it’s been a pleasure to serve for your entertainment! Don’t forget - the curtain might sequester but you can’t keep down a jester! Thank you, thank you everybody! I’ll see you all next time!”