The only indicator that told him he was conscious was the slight hum of a machine; everything else was dark and empty as if he was floating through space. He felt nothing, saw nothing, thought of nothing. He would have stayed in the empty space forever had the humming had ceased. He waited and waited and waited until the sound died so that he could fully return to his unconsciousness, but the moment never came. With every passing moment that the hum continued its song, the more he became aggravated. He tried to block out the sound inside his head but to no avail. With annoyance and slight curiosity, he decided to leave the comfort of his consciousness to find the source of the sound. He was staring to get bored anyways.

He slowly opened his eyes, never really realizing they were closed in the first place. At first, he saw nothing as if he didn't open his eyes at all. For a fraction of a second, he doubted he actually opened them until a dim green light began to appear in his vision as his eyes adjusted from the darkness of his own eyelids. Slowly, that light grew brighter and brighter until it began to blind him. He attempted to move his hands to his face to rub his aching eyes but as he lifted them, one of his hands grazed against something solid above him. Confused, he placed his hand on the object as he tried to look at it with squinted eyes. For a moment, he had no idea what he was touching but as his vision began to adjust to the harsh light, he realized that he was touching glass.

He looked all around him and realized for the first time that he was trapped in an enclosed space. The realization caused him to jerk as he began to panic, splashing the liquid all around him. The liquid frightened him as he wasn't even aware it was there covering him. He knew it wasn't water without even looking as he felt it have a slightly higher viscosity. Regardless, he looked down at the liquid and at himself from his lying position to use his sight to confirm it wasn't water. However, all his thoughts about the liquid vanished when he realized he was naked with wires attached to multiple parts of his body. He let out a hoarse scream as he pounded the glass above him with his fist.

He was confused, he was scared, he was panicking.

He hit the glass for what felt like hours as he continued to scream like a madman, until finally it began to lift up with a hiss. He sat straight up as soon as soon as he was able to, not caring as cold air hit his bare body. He looked around frantically for something, anything to tell him what was going on. Outside the green light of his enclosure, everything else was pitch black. His eyes were once again, unaccustomed to the dark causing him to completely miss the figure running towards him. He only noticed the figure once it was close enough to him for the green light to illuminate it.

The figure turned out to be a short, young man with spiky brown hair in a black suit. His face olive eyes were filled with worry as he stared at him. Before the young man was able to say anything, he spoke first.

"Who…..Who are you?" He croaked as his throat was a bit raw from screaming. He had backed away from the young man as much as he could while still inside his wet enclosure. He wanted to get out of whatever he was in and run but he didn't know if the wires would rip his skin if he did.

"I am Makoto Naegi. I'm one of the people who helped you leave the simulation. You do remember me, right?"

He stared at Naegi's face as if the answers to everything were hidden there. The young man looked so familiar to him and he felt like he heard his name before not too long ago. However, he couldn't remember anything as if his memories were covered in fog.

"Tell me then, who are you?" Naegi questioned as he took a step forward, his face now serious.

"I….My name is K-" It was a simple question he knew the answer to but he stopped himself before the name left his mouth. He began to doubt himself, his name, as another one formed within his mind.

He was Hinata plain and simple. What was he about to say?

Kamakura

That's when everything hit him. He recalled his life before things became hopeless, his life when he became hope, and his life when the world fell into despair. He remembered the scientists at Hopes Peak using him as a lab rat as the picked at his brain. He remembered his life being nothing more than a boring cycle of death and corruption.

He would have fell back into despair had he not also remembered the island. He recollected all the friends he had made and the precious times they spent together. How their bonds grew as they faced tragedies together. None of them cared that he couldn't remember his talent at the time and they all treated him as normal person, something that he craved for his entire time at Hopes Peak. He remembered Nanami, how she gave him hope to continue past the despair and make their own future.

"Where are my friends?!" Hinata blurted as he gripped the side of the container in front of him. He tried getting up before Naegi stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about them Hinata-kun, the ones who left the island with you are doing fine. They're waking up as well." Naegi responded with a small smile, calming Hinata down a little. Naegi was more than relieved to find that Hinata was the one who woke up from the simulation and not the other part of him. He only had a slight doubt about it, but having that small doubt be cast away lifted a huge weight off his shoulders.

"Come on, let's get you out of there and I'll give you some clothes so you can meet some of your friends that have already woken up. Unfortunately, we only have the clothes you came here with but we washed them so there's that." Naegi said cheerfully as he began removing all the wires from Hinata's body who looked at them distastefully. He didn't need to ask what they were for, he already knew it was keeping his body alive during his time at the simulation. It took a few minutes, but Naegi eventually removed all the wires and tubing from Hinata. He left momentarily to fetch a towel from a pile nearby that was placed there for this moment. Walking back, he draped it over his shoulder and proceeded to help Hinata out of his enclosure. Hinata clung onto Naegi as his legs adjusted to standing. When he was able to stand on his own, Naegi gave him the towel to dry and cover himself with before walking back to grab a few more. He had forgotten how long Hinata's hair was when he Kamakura.

Hinata was walking down a long, bright hallway with Naegi on his left side. Dressed in his clean but slightly torn suit, he walked with confident steps which contradicted what he felt inside. He wanted to see his friends more than anything but he was uncertain how they would react to them looking like the monster that was Kamakura.

"By the way, where is Togami and Kirigiri?" Hinata asked in attempt so start a conversation in hopes of calming his anxiety.

"Before you woke up, Kirigiri-san was actually helping Sonia-san who was the first to wake up. After that, Togami-kun helped Kuzuryuu-kun who awoke about half an hour later. They should be running around here somewhere." Naegi replied, facing him time to time as if they were having a normal, casual conversation. Hinata didn't know how to reply to the information that was given to him so he stayed silent with eyes straight ahead. If he concentrated enough, he could hear faint footsteps and the sound of doors opening in the distance as they bounced off the hallway walls.

Naegi abruptly stopped at a door on the left wall, causing Hinata to stop as well.

"Well here we are. Like I said earlier, Sonia-san and Kuzuryuu-kun are the only ones who woke up before you. I have no doubt that all the other survivors will all wake up today." Naegi said with another of his smiles. "I'll give you three some privacy, Kirigiri-san should be coming later to deliver some food. That is, if she doesn't get distracted with someone else waking up." Hinata only replied with a nod before Naegi turned around to walk back down the hallway.

Hinata knew that all the other students who had perished in the game wouldn't be waking up together with them but hearing it from Naegi made his heart hurt a little. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he decided to appreciate the fact that anyone was able to escape at all. He gripped the doorknob and pushed himself to open to finally see his awakened friends.