In Memories, We can't trust
Chapter 1: Not me anymore
"It's too risky." Togami said with his arms crossed.
"We can't rely on Chiaki to do the job." Haru said firmly with her arms crossed. "One of us have to go in there to be a mediator, and Naegi doesn't have what it takes to stop a fight."
"You're not doing this."
"I can and I will."
"No."
"Guys." Naegi tried to break their tension.
"I agree with Haru-chan." Kirigiri said. "The program is a risk, and Chiaki can do so much, so we will need an inside person to mediate any problems out of our control. But are you truly sure about this Haru-chan?"
"Yes."
"Then I will not support this program." Togami said.
"Togami, it's not like anything will go wrong! If there is, then we got Fujisaki to fix that."
"But he will be here in Japan while you will be on that island. What if it's too late to fix anything?" The man looked away.
"Togami..." She pulled on his sleeve to make him face her but he refused. She touches his cheek making him face her, but his eyes were stubbornly looking away. It doesn't stop her from placing a sweet intimate kiss on his lips before walking away. "Let's go to the island."
Haru was certain of herself that what she was doing was right. She knew the other guys who fell to despair. They were only one grade above them but since it was a dorm, there wasn't a lack of socializing at all.
She didn't have all her memories since the incident, but she was certain that as she laid down into that pod that if anything went wrong, she would do her best to fix it. She took a quick look at her engagement ring before she straightened her body.
She closed her eyes and then after a while she saw herself standing in front of a door. She opened it to see that she was the first to enter the classroom.
She felt a sense of fear when she remembered the bloody classroom that Izuru had caused. She took a couple of deep breathes before taking a seat on a desk.
Soon, Komaeda was the first to show up. "Oh, hello." He closed the door behind him. "Are you a new student here too?"
"Yeah. The name's Haruna Takahashi. But you can call me Haru." She told him politely. It felt awkward for her.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Komaeda Nagito. While we're at it, we should also introduce our talents. But mine is kinda lousy."
"Lousy? But if Hope peak's academy wants you than it can't be that bad."
"I guess. Then my talent is Super Duper High School Level Good Luck."
"Good luck?" Haru gave herself credit for her acting skills. "You must be very fortunate at winning the lottery then."
Komaeda smiled with mirth. "That's funny. I got into this school through a lottery."
Then the door opened to reveal a redhead with a camera. "Did you two enroll in here too?"
"It looks like it." Komaeda responded with a friendly smile.
"Oh." The redhead looked away and waited at the side nervously. Soon after, each and every other student was entering with a confused expression. The last one being Hinata.
Haru was almost surprised by his appearance. Compared to the gloomy one, this one was a lot more...normal. Sort of.
The soccer player thought about her situation again. She remembered everything that each of these people did. She was horrified and disgusted, but that was why she was here. To change them.
She looked at Chiaki as everyone else began to panic and question why all of this was happening. The program blankly glanced back at her.
"Do you have any idea of what we're doing here Haru-chan?"
"Hm?" Haru realized Komaeda was speaking to her.
"Ah, sorry. You were thinking."
"Oh no. It's okay. Besides we don't know anything, so why not wait until someone like the teacher comes in and explain."
"The teacher?" Sonia heard her.
"Yeah, we just enrolled. Someone's gotta come in an explain what's happening."
"That makes sense." Peko said. "So we have to wait."
"But for how long? I'm bored!" Saionji whined.
"Not for vewy long!" Someone said.
"What was that just now?" Twogami questioned.
"Hey fatso. Don't go making baby noises." Kuzuryuu told him.
"I don't feel like arguing about my body weight right now, but that voice wasn't coming from me."
Akane arched an eyebrow. "Huh? So, who was it?"
"Um, it was meee!" The noise came again.
"WHO IS IT? WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUU?!" Nidai exclaimed.
"Isn't it coming from behind that podium?" Chiaki pointed out.
"Bingo! It seems everyone's here, so wet's begin!" Everyone looked at the podium where a white and pink bunny appeared.
"What the fuck?!" Haru did not expect the teacher to look like that. It just bought bad memories of stuff animals. She should've known better leaving the program to Naegi and Chihiro.
"No bad langwuage pwease!"
"What is that thing?" Sonia questioned.
"Um… I think it's a stuffed doll." Koizumi responded.
"Thaaat's wight. I'm a stuffed doll. I'm made of felt. My name is 'Magical Girl Miwacle Usami', but you can just call me Usami! I'm your teacher, everyone. Pweased to meet you!"
"You have to be fuckin' kidding me!" Haru stood up. "I get that Hope Peak's a weird ass school but this is a little too much for a first day don't you think?!"
"Eeeeh?! I-I'm sworry!"
Everyone else was with her on this, but then Twogami changed the subject of why they were there. Usami explained that they were on the field trip and then had the walls fall down to reveal a beach.
Everyone freaked out. What made Haru freaked out was when Komaeda asked if they had to kill each other. That was not something she wanted to hear.
Hinata fainted before Usami explained about their ElectroID and the hope shards.
Understanding the objective everyone began to introduce each other. Haru looked at her ElectroID to see her file:
Haruna Takahashi
Height: 165 cm / Weight:54kg / Chest:98cm / Blood type: AB
Birthday: Oct. 19 (Libra)
Likes: Soccer & Any kind of noodles
Hates: Weak things & Green food
Title: Super High-school Level Soccer Player
Twogami then suggested that they searched the island.
"What about him?" Tsumiki asked about Hinata.
"Just leave him. He will eventually wake up, and then be told the details later."
"He appears to be pretty out cold." Komaeda said as he was poking the male at the cheek. "I'll watch over him while you guys search the island."
"Fine. Let's head out."
"Hey! Who made you boss?" Saionji questioned.
"I don't see you making any other ideas."
The girl sulked and then rudely showed her tongue.
Everyone headed out except Komaeda. Haru looked at where everyone was going, and felt unsure of who to follow or whether to stay.
She began choosing by remembering their files. After Junko's death, thirteen parts were taken from her body: Her hands, eyes, feet, ovaries, heart, brain, intestines, tongue, ears and face.
Souda and Gundam were going to the airport. Tsumiki and Mioda were going to the Rocketpunch market. Nidai, Koizumi, Kuzuryuu, Peko and Nanami went to the hotel. Hanamura and Sonia went to the restaurant. Akane and Saionji walked towards the farm. Twogami went towards Jabberwock park.
Souda fell into despair by his sensitive abusive past. He invented most of the executions rooms including a giant foosball table meant for her. The mechanic had taken Junko's right hand, and killed people and forced them to kill themselves.
Gundam fell into despair after his heavenly kings died. He had his breeding followers and animals try to kill earth's existence altogether. After Junko's death, he tried to preserve her ovaries in order to continue the line of despair.
Tsumiki was in love with Junko, so did anything she said. She replaced the vaccines with viruses within hospitals with others which led to many dying of fatal painful diseases. She was devastated by Junko's death that she took her heart and almost surgically switched hers.
Mioda had a fall out with her band for her creative difference that Junko must have told her that no one would ever appreciate. So the musician created music that brought her listeners into despair. She took Junko's intestines and used it as the strings of her guitar after using other people's intestines to perfect the strings to her use.
Koizumi didn't have the confidence in the first place about her abilities. Yet, she used her photographic abilities to create false pictures that led to suspicions between powerful people which eventually led to war. She took one of Junko's feet along with Hiyoko who had a malicious heart in the first place, and used her popularity for people to hear her despairing vicious words.
Kuzuryuu had fell into despair for not having the courage of being a yakuza leader, and Peko followed him loyally. They used their connections to cause wars within nations during the wars outside of it. They each took an eye from Junko in replace of their own in order to see despair together.
Sonia never truly wanted to be a princess and had a love for the darker side of things which Junko fed on to convince the teen to betray her country and leave it to ruins. She took Junko's brain in order to think in despair but hadn't been able to surgically have it before being put into the program.
The one Haru couldn't believe was Nidai. He inspired and trained athletes to their very best including Leon. The soccer player figured that he failed to train someone which brought him to despair as he couldn't accomplish Daisuke's dream. The guy used his talents as a coach to inspire the low class people to go against the higher classes. He took one of Junko's ear in order to hear despair.
Owari also took an ear by random. Junko played with her starving past to convince the girl to use her body to pull schemes on important people, and then ironically starved herself to feel despair.
Twogami wasn't Togami, and having a lack of an identity had the teen turn to despair. He used his skills in taking identities and destroying people all around the world bringing them to their own despair. After Junko's death, he took her face and sow it on to pretend to be her and continuing her reign.
Hanamura lost his mother to her illness, so he poisoned people including her parents. After Junko's death, he took her tongue, and then cooked family members to feed to their own to survive starvation as they were locked in cells.
She already talked with Komaeda and thought it was better to spread her horizons. It wasn't for the fact that the teen was secretly insane with the need for hope after Junko gave him his essential high for hope. Junko used his fortunes and luck against the world. After her death, he took her left hand in order to become the despair to create hope.
Hinata wasn't any better by the fact that he killed the student council. There wasn't much information on him after the despair incident unlike the others.
After making a quick decision, she chose to follow Hanamura and Sonia to the restaurant. There, she pretended to look around at the place.
"And who are you?" Hanamura asked.
The soccer player gave a nonchalant greeting. "The name's Haruna Takahashi, but you can call me Haru if ya want. Didn't we introduce ourselves back at the beach? You're Hanamura Teruteru right?"
"Ah yes, but it was really rushed. We can take our time here, no? Doesn't your first name mean 'springtime vegetable' and your last name mean 'good person' or 'high bridge'. Haruna Takahashi. It's a really lovely refreshing name like yourself." He gave her a lecherous look.
"Uh...sure." Haru knew she was being hit on but didn't exactly know how to respond at a situation like this. She wondered what Togami was thinking of this.
He was not happy. He was with Kirigiri and Naegi in the security room watching the screens. "This is a waste of time. She shouldn't be in there."
"This was Haru-chan's decision." Kirigiri told him. "She's aware of the dangers that may happen."
"And what would that be? To stop pesky fights between these simpletons? Maybe fights should happen to build some actual character into them."
"Hey," Naegi said lightly. "They shouldn't be fighting, Togami-kun. Our mission is to establish hope after all."
"I sympathize with your concern Togami-san," Kirigiri told the blonde. "But, again, this is what Haru-chan decided on."
"And why are you defending her?"
"...She confided in me on making this decision." She responded.
"Confided with you? There's more to this isn't there?" Togami felt even more concern.
"Hanamura killed Haru-chan's parents." Kirigiri paused for a moment for the two males to process that. "We mostly heard stories between Haru-chan and her therapist, but she did care for her parents. Among Hanamura's duties under Junko's influences, he poisoned Haru-chan's parents having their insides liquified."
"Liquified!" Naegi was shocked. "Then Haru-"
"It's not what you think Naegi-kun. Haru-chan needed to find forgiveness in order to move on from grieving."
"Why with you?" Togami questioned indignantly. "Why did she confide with you instead of me, her fiance."
Kirigiri responded, "Haru-chan told me that she does know that you love her, but you wouldn't understand because you still lacked compassion."
Togami was at a loss of words for a proper response to that, so asked, "Then how does she plan of having forgiveness. None of them knows what they've done, so it's pointless when none of them will acknowledge it. This whole program is pointless when they don't acknowledge the fact that they've slaughtered people. This isn't establishing hope. This is establishing ignorance from being brought to justice."
"That's not true Togami-san!" Naegi defended the program. "This program was meant for them to realize that hope isn't unavailable to them! That falling into despair isn't there only option!"
"That still doesn't answer my question!" Togami barked slamming his hands on the table as he stood up abruptly. His chair falling down with a loud bang.
Kirigiri responded, "Haru-chan needed to forgive herself for not being there for her parents. For preferring someone else than her flesh and blood. That's the real reason why she confided in me. We both lost people that we wished we knew better." She remembers the funeral and the present box. She looked at the screen. "Their time to pay for their crimes will come another day, but right now Haru-chan needs to be rehabilitated from her guilt as much as they do."
Haru went into the kitchen to have a quick snack of a chocolate bar to check out her senses to find them fully functional.
She wasn't sure if she could be herself, but then when she exited, she heard an interesting conversation, "That's right. It's terrible if it gets swollen by poison. That's why you must suck the poison out with your mouth as soon as possible."
"Poison. I see."
"Yes. If you don't suck it out right now, I'll die."
"We can't have that! Just tell where it is and I'll suck it out for you!"
"It's at the lower part. Do it quickly."
"Lower part understood!"
Haru kicked Hanamura across the room like a soccer ball. "What the fuck do you think you're doing you damn pervert?!"
"What's happening here?" Komaeda questioned with concern.
"This pervert was tryin' to use Sonia!"
"He wasn't using me!" Sonia declared. "He needed me to suck the poison out!"
"You're..." Haru calmed down and tried to find the right words. "You really didn't spent a lot of time with teenage boys did you?"
"No. My friends were all females. They're known as the four Sonias which is silly because they have their own names."
The soccer player sighed by the naivete, but she did feel invigorated. She realized that it's been so long since she kicked the crap out of somebody. It felt awesome!
"He appears to be alive." Komaeda said checking the unconscious Hanamura.
"He'll live." Haru told him and then faced Hinata. "Yo, the name's Haruna Takahashi. It's nice to meet you."
"Ha-Hajime Hinata." The boy responded nervously and then stared at her. That worried the girl because this was a pre-trial before using it on other people. So erasing their memories might not have worked for some of them.
"What? Somethin' on my face?"
"N-no! I'm surprised."
"She's not what you expect considering how cute she is right." Komaeda said. "She is 'Super duper high school level Soccer Player'. She won the FIFA world cup and the FIFA confederation cup three times in the row. Right Haru-chan?"
"It's nothing to get excited about." She tried to keep it modest.
"Hey, what happened?" Hanamura was waking up.
"Oh I kicked the flying crap out of you." Haru made it sound like she got him milk from the grocery store. "If you ever try to sexually harass Sonia again, there'll be a lot more of that but harder." She threatened with a sweet smile.
"I-I promise!"
"Good." She looked at the other three who looked frightened or intrigued by her. She realized she went a little too far. She had just spent the last year learning physical hand to hand combat and dealing with sadistic people questioned in the foundation that her heart hardened and face became a mask convention. "So Hinata, you need to know Sonia for a hope shard right?"
"Ri-right."
They greeted each other with Komaeda explaining. Hanamura was very cautious and polite with his words. Then Komaeda and Hinata left. The white hair male glanced back at her before leaving.
"Uhm..." Hanamura wasn't sure what to say.
"Just say that you're sorry Hanamura."
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't actually mean for her to do anything. I didn't really mean to." He seemed honest.
"Just don't do it again. You can be a pervert, just don't trick anyone into doing anything."
"I won't! I promise!"
Haru smiled at the honest face. "I believe you."
"Wow, Haru-chan! You're really scary." Sonia commented.
"Gotta be when you're the captain of a soccer team! They were really the worse at listening."
"It must've been really stressful for you."
"Yeah." She hesitated with that answer. "Well, not really. I just didn't know how to get along with them. My parents had me home tutored and play with professionals. I didn't get to play with kids my age until middle school."
"I understand. I was home tutored, too, and the four Sonias weren't really my friends. Everyone always treated me like royalty that I hope that now everyone would treat me as their equal from now on."
"Then that shouldn't be a problem now. We're friends right?" Haru gave a genuine smile. She felt proud of herself for being someone who could actually be friends with them.
"Really?! I can be your friend?! Your equal?"
"Don't get so excited about it. We all have to be friends to get off this island. Right Hanamura?"
"Uh, yes! Yes!"
Then the screen monitor turned on to show Usami telling them to go to the beach for a present.
"I wonder what type of gifts she has for us." Sonia said.
"Probably something lame." Haru responded, and then the three of them went to the beach where the others were.
Twogami had them say what they discovered and then like the jackass he was acting like, he withheld useful information. But it did get her to know who the others were before the whole despair predicament.
Sonia was kind with qualities of a leader. Hanamura was a pervert who was now afraid of her which was a minus for a second hope shard. She had to get it through nice means. Not fear and dominance.
Tanaka was a weirdo stuck in the dark ages. Souda was a punk. Saionji was a brat. Tsumiki lacked self-esteem. Koizumi acts like a girl who's considered a feminist but has sexist views. Pekoyama was cool and collected but showed to have a shyness when Hanamura mentioned the black thong.
Haru let him slide with that. It was only when he actually tried to do something physical would she butt in.
Interestingly, Kuzuryuu didn't comment on that. Must be keeping their connections a secret, but still acted like a rude bad boy shota. Owari had a selfish lazy one track mind. Nidai on the other hand was his loud and inspirational self with a thing for shitting. Ibuki played the hyperactive idiot, and Nanami was really aloof and sleepy which was a huge minus for her program, but this was a test drive before using it on others.
After hitting Hanamura, she felt like this she could do this. But then there was this small ache in her head.
Then Usami appeared to give them their gifts. As Haru predicted, it was a lame Usami keychain which everyone threw to the ground including her. Then the second gift was a welcoming party, and swimsuits to swim.
"Aren't you going to swim Haru-chan?" Sonia asked her.
"Yeah." Then the ache got bigger like needles being stuck into her brain. "Actually no. My head hurts."
"Oh dear. Do you need to rest?"
"No. I'm fine. False alarm. Let's get into our swimsuits."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah! I'm an athlete! I need to move!"
"Alright. If you say so."
They went with the others to the changing room and then got on the beach. Haru was so ready to swim but then her head ached harder like someone just banged her with a hammer.
"Haru-chan?! Are you alright?" Sonia asked. "Maybe it was a mistake."
"No. I'll just sit here." Haru sat on the wet sand feeling the cool water rushing in. The white dissolved oxygen fizzling on the shore beneath her.
"Then I'll sit next to you."
"Don't! Have fun! I'll join when my headache all gone."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah! Tsumiki would agree that I'd be fine!"
"Huh?!" The nurse was shocked to hear her name.
"Go have fun." Haru told the princess earnestly.
"...Okay. Just call me if anything's wrong!" She hesitantly left to play in the ocean.
Haru looked around to see Tanaka building a sand castle with his dark lords. Souda and Ibuki were just splashing water at each other. Hanamura was rubbing all over Nidai's hard rock muscles. Komaeda was trying to get along and play with a bashful Tsumiki. Pekoyama was swimming like a pro which made her jealous. She wondered why her head was aching.
It kept getting harder and harder like a rhino was trampling on her. She tried to massage it and pull her hair but the pain wouldn't stop.
Outside, alarms went off.
"What's happening?" Togami questioned when Haru's screen of her body's screen was red.
"Her brain is being tampered. The system has been breached by a virus." Kirigiri responded.
"What?! Ho-How?!" Naegi questioned.
"...Kamukura." Kirigiri typed down on the keyboard to show security footage. She guessed the appropriate time to plant a virus and then freeze framed it. "There." She stopped at the footage of Kamukura entering the room.
"I don't see anything wrong."
"The person escorting him in. She's not the one we assigned him with."
"But there's no footage of anything going wrong! Our security guards would've noticed!" Naegi pointed out.
"The blind spot." Togami responded indignantly while he was on the phone. "He used the cameras blind spot to take out the person escorting him and hide him, and then snuck into the controls room to plant the virus."
"But none of our people saw him come in."
"Think Naegi! He's a test subject who has every talent there is! We need Fujisaki immediately!" He turned away to talk to his phone.
"Togami-kun is right. We didn't take better precaution. Izuru Kamukura is a mystery to us, but if he has every talent there is, he must have thought of more than a thousand and one steps in all this. He must have went back to the school to create a virus that could override Fujisaki's own, and then let himself become one of the first test subjects in order to implant it."
"...Why? Why did he do this?"
"So we could fail. So despair could win."
"THEY WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T BRING HIM HERE! DAMMIT!" Togami threw his phone to the wall which broke into pieces. The man tried to compose himself. "We can't get Fujisaki. The damn chairman thinks the mission he put Fujisaki in is more important than saving Haru's life."
"Then you need to make a choice Togami-kun. You are her fiance'. If my suspicions are correct, the virus would delete those who are a threat. Chiaki is a program which might make her defenseless to control, but Haru-chan isn't. Not unless we erase her memories. Once the virus acknowledges that, Haru-chan would be identified as not a threat, but as one of the students."
The detective typed in the controls that showed a screen with a need for a password. The blonde was surprised by that. "You planned this ahead?"
"No. We all know that this was in case either one of them fell into despair and needed to be...rewinded back before that. Each and every one of them has a password. Haru-chan already prepared her own."
"How far?"
"Freshmen year, but with the events of the game included. She won't remember any of us or that this is a game, or that Chiaki is a program." She glanced at the screen. "Hurry. Monobear is ready to strike."
"Monobeasts! I bid thee rise!" Monobear called out. The statues came back to life scaring the crap out of everyone.
"Everyone, pwease, stand back! I-I will pwotect you! Even at the cost of my own life. I will pwotect you all!" Usami promised.
A promise Haru knew couldn't be kept. It was happening all over again, and she didn't know what to do once again.
Now she understood the headaches. The system was going to kill her, and whether she lived or not was not entirely sure upon Togami's decision to erase everything and leave her defenseless among the students who massacred the world.
"Upupu. What is this? Upupupu. Oh, I see! This is that feeling before you throw up! The nausea one gets from witnessing such a hackneyed sense of justice! Fine! I decided! If that's what you want, I'll just make you an example!" The monobeasts went straight for Haru.
The pain in her brain numbed by her fear as her life flashed before her eyes and then was taken away from her. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She screamed before dropping down to the floor unconscious.
The monobeasts flew passed her and then destroyed Usami instead.
"Haru-chan!" Komaeda ran towards her. "Tsumiki-chan!" The teen called out to her but the nurse was under so much shock.
Togami walked out of the room.
"Togami-kun!"
"Leave him Naegi." Kirigiri stopped him from running after the blonde. "Togami-kun needs time to think about his actions."
"How? How did he know what password to type in if he didn't know about this? That this was for Haru-chan?"
"Haru-chan only wanted Togami to do this, and she never told me it, so it must've been personal and intimate."
"Like what?"
"A nickname perhaps."
BAKA-KUYA