Chapter 1
'Just some lowly reserve course student.'
'You'reIzuruKamukuraYou'reIzuruKamukuraYou'reIzuruKamukura-'
'There's no way we're ultimate despair!'
'No more last minute plot twists!'
'11037.'
'Isn't that messed up?'
'Future.'
'Future!'
'F u t u r 3@-'
Phrases ebbed in and out from Hajime's conscious. Sudden flashes of memory overlapped and entangled each other. They were all tangled. They were tangled like a web. Perhaps tangled like two deer fighting for dominance.
1 z u r u-:@
K a m u k u r @:
It all felt fuzzy. It was like a film role that had been slaughtered into tiny pieces and rearranged.
'-Hi-.'
It felt all so far away. Static rang over the words loudly as he tried connecting the pieces.
'-Hinat-.'
Was there a noise? Remembering it all came in quick flashes. It seemed like too much.
"-Hinata!"
He needed to open his eyes. It hurt. The back of his head hurt.
"Hajime Hinata!"
Hajime flickered his eyes open, the brightness of the outside caused him to squint. The Neo World Program. It all came flooding back to him. The game. Junko Enoshima. Izuru Kamukura. It all felt so surreal. Lifting a hand up, matted black looking hair followed. It was all real. The nauseous feeling in his stomach was very much real as well.
"Welcome back Hinata," a feminine voice congratulated him softly and horsily.
"Nevermind?"
His eyes were slowly adjusting to the light. Her eyes were the same blue that carried such grace and empathy but what caught Hajime off guard was the rest of her appearance. Apart from her being in a wheelchair and wearing a hospital gown, her hair had been cut about an inch shorter and her face was pale. The princess had obviously lost a couple of pounds and the gown they had given her simply hung off of her limbs. Along with that, her pale face had the remnants of mascara and/or eyeliner clinging to the underside of her eyes. Yet the most noticeable thing about Sonia was her scars. Large jagged scars surrounded her face almost like her face was a mask.
That's when she started to tear up. That's when Hajime realised how long he had truly been looking at her.
"Sorry..." he commented guilty, "it's just odd not seeing your avatar,"
"I understand. It's..." she paused with a shaky smile, "difficult seeing everyone looking rather... different. However, we are still trying our hardest and carrying on. The Future Foundation will be here in a couple of minutes to get you unhooked from some of the wires. Now, I will excuse myself and leave you to get ready. You've been out for quite some time Hinata; we were rather worried."
The boy tried to nod however failed miserably so just smiled and that was the 'all clear' for Sonia to signal the three members and get wheeled out of there by a woman with her brown hair tied back in what looked like a tear drop shape.
A second after his friend was gone, he saw three shapes he recognised coming towards him: Togami, Naegi and Kirigiri. Sitting up, the long-haired Male grimaced as some of the wires pulled at his skin however he didn't stop that from giving the trio a welcoming smile.
"Hinata-kun! Great to see you awake," the brunette grinned as he began to walk over and undo the wires. He gently brushed the others black, matted hair out the way to get to the other places he needed to and Hajime cringed. He remembered how he looked from that memory in the last trial yet seeing and feeling the long strands of his other self felt wrong.
"Thank you." Hajime said quickly as Kirigiri and Naegi lifted him into a wheelchair and up towards his bed.
"Tomorrow you'll be going through a thorough medical examination of your physical and mental state. We don't exactly want you killing us in our sleep," Togami spoke matter-of-fact-ly. This made the reserve course student gulp and close his eyes, suddenly hyper aware of how he looked and his other name. Izuru Kamukura.
"Goodnight, Hajime Hinata." Kirigiri said as she closed the door. The room was dull and empty with the basic necessities. It would be a long night.
The static in his ears began as he attempted to fall asleep. The web was becoming more complicated as more loose strands appeared. An image popped up. The image of bright lights and a pod as well as the face of a man with a surgical mask. Too many questions flooded his mind. It was making him drowsy. With that, the boy slept with too many loose memories, too many questions and too much loneliness.
Hajime awoke feeling slightly nauseous from the small thread of memory he had recovered last night. Surprisingly, he wasn't feeling nauseous from remembering it; he was feeling nauseous from the pounding he felt in his cranium. It hurt. It hurt. Ithurt. Ithurtithurtithurtithurt. Instinctively he went to go and touch the area almost as if he was shielding it from harm. Desperately clawing away at the thick hair that strangled his head, the boy felt the scalp where it came from. It was a ragged piece of flesh. It was a scar- no it was *the* scar. He emptied his stomach over the side of the bed. Hajime let out a choked sob as he spat out the remnants of phlegm that lingered in his mouth. The name 'Yasuke Matsuda' appeared.
Obviously hearing the boys choked sobs, Kirigiri. To his surprise, worry painted her face along with a quiet determination that flickered in her lavender eyes.
"Hinata-kun," Kirigiri said.
It seemed so odd that the scar felt so grotesque. It was simply a scar. However, the feel of the sticky, knotted hair slithering amongst his fingers had crossed the line.
"Hinata-kun!" Kirigiri said, louder this time. She held the boys attention. "Breathe in... Breathe out."
This phrase repeated roughly eleven times until Hajime had stopped shivering and had just sat up in his bed. His eyes were red and the back of his mouth stung.
"Sorry..." he muttered, wiping his face with the gown he was given.
"Everyone that woke up had a rather difficult time," the female spoke, "however it's the middle of the night. Is it possible for you to rest some more?"
Hajime scrunched up his eyes as the memory flashed up again. Surgery tools. The bright lights. He felt sick again. He shook his head.
"I see," she blinked, "perhaps it would be better if I got you something to read. I'll stay with you tonight to monitor you and get the place cleaned up. Are you ok with that?"
Hajime shrugged. Something to get his mind off of it all would be good and he supposed that it would be easier to relax once the smell was gone.
Kirigiri then got to work. She left the room for a good five minutes before arriving with a mop bucket and mop and a book.
"I'm afraid I've only got books on neurology and murder mysteries..." her face was still stone set even if her voice had a tinge of sympathy. "So I got you a book from Naegi's room. Just a simple manga about a green-haired hero."
With that, the purple-haired girl set the manga on the bed and began cleaning up the vomit. Hajime tried to stay awake and read the entirety of the book but felt himself fall into a deep dreamless sleep.
Yasuke Matsuda. What a boring name.