Author's Note: This story will spoil the entire game right from the start, so I highly recoment not reading unless you've finished SDR2!
Despite the first-person, this is not a self-insert.
Chapter One
I wish I could say I entered this world with an array of sparks and flashing colors behind me as I was slowly sucked into a different, albeit familiar, dimension. I could then say I faced it bravely and as I entered the world, my mind raced to think of an explanation and predict the future. The reality is less elegant.
One instant I was at home. Tumblr gracelessly scrolled up the screen of my laptop and I stifled a yawn. I shoved back the thought of the Physics exam I had in two days and ignored the word document with a half-finished paper on Pride and Prejudice peeking out behind the Google Chrome window. I had time, it was only ten p.m.
I moved to type when I blinked, as humans often do.
In that tiny instant where my eyes were closed, I could feel everything change. The couch I had been slumped across seemed to give way underneath me and the feeling of an overheated laptop on my thighs vanished. My eyes opened a split second later and my mouth opened in a shriek.
I was sprawled flat on my back on a classroom floor. A couple eyes blinked above me, and someone was saying something I couldn't make out. I sat up, an action that caused my head to spin.
Another shriek rang through the air as I took in the scenery. Those nearest to me, a red-haired girl I subconsciously tagged as Koizumi in my shocked stupor and an irritated Souda who was identified in the same unconscious manner, turned to face me with wide eyes.
I clamped my mouth shut and stared. My outburst had made more heads turn. I muttered something akin to 'I'm fine sorry ignore me' that might or might not have been audible. I sat there, rigid, and waited for those eyes to look away from me. I stared at the wall and tried to force a few thoughts through my head. It was a little like dragging a bag of bowling balls through four feet of mud. There had to be an explanation for this. There just had to be.
It was a lucid dream. I pinched my arm. It hurt. That wasn't it.
It was a daydream somehow and I had pinched myself in reality, which it why it hurt. But the floor felt so sturdy, the voices around me seemed so real; for now, I disregarded this explanation too.
I was hallucinating. I had never hallucinated before, I wasn't aware of any condition I had that could lead to such a realistic delusion. But unless video games had developed the ability to integrate real people into them, this remained the most likely explanation.
I had waited for months for Dangan Ronpa 2 to be translated. I had only finished reading the last chapter and the free time events online a few weeks ago. After all that, I recognized the opening classroom and the cast on sight. It was strange to see them more realistic for sure, but even if they ceased to be papercut-outs in my hallucination they were distinct.
Who would, ever, after reading all that not recognize Souda? Who would go through the entire game and not notice Hinata standing behind Koizumi? Nanami and Komaeda stood near each other to the side of them, which to the average fangirl was a double hit to the gut.
Myself included.
Now I stood staring at the wall and not daring to look at any of them. I understood that looking again would be confirmed their existence and my own hallucination.
What about my life? Where did my room go? Will I ever return to where I should be?
Maybe it was a brief delusion. Maybe I feel asleep and awoke in a strange place and jumped to conclusions. Maybe just the voices were hallucination and I was still within reality. Taking a breath, I dug my fingernails into my palms and turned back to face the group.
No luck. I was met by a curious glance from Mioda, who was no doubt wondering why I was wracked by trembles and probably looked like I'd see a few ghosts.
The appearance of Monomi didn't help at all. I felt my vision spin and locked my vision on the empty wall again.
What did I have to do? I had a bad feeling dying within the game(hallucination? dream? I knew it originated as a game, and since I had nothing else to be certain of, I'd call it that from then on) would be as bad it sounded. How hard could survival be when I knew all the potential murderers, anyways?
Another idea popped into mind.
The Island was a game within a game. Maybe somehow in the future someone made an equivalent and plugged me into it along with the cast, who were presumably AIs then. If they could do that, than memory wiping could be done as well so I would forget everything up to being put into it. As extreme as that sounded, it might be legit.
Or who knew, by some freak cosmic screw-up this was just sheer astronomically bad luck and I was now part of the game. That sounded less likely.
The walls of the classroom came down. I could feel the students exiting, slowly in more cases than not, to go explore the island. I stood up, legs numb underneath me, and followed like a shadow.
Should I reveal my position? That also seemed like a bad idea, though I couldn't say why.
I would lose my advantages, as no doubt killers would rethink their plans if they knew I had read their first attempt. That was why, right?
Nearly walking into the wall of the Supermarket pulled me out of my panicked thoughts. Instinct kicked in. I stumbled in and walked straight past Mioda. I didn't want to talk to anyone, I wouldn't be able to hold my words together-
That huge bottles of cola on the shelf looked awfully appealing. I took one. Binge eating couldn't hurt in a game within a game and I needed something, anything to calm my nerves. Cola under one arm, I wandered the store, eating. Perhaps not the most useful action, but it was helping me feel better. My thoughts crept back as I stuffed my face.
Seeing as Monomi hadn't seemed to notice anything strange about my presence, I could only hope Monobear would do the same when he inevitably appeared. I would have to make up a talent and play along. Perhaps in this strange version of the world, my presence was supposed to be there. The thought make me choke on a mouthful of cola and I spluttered into a corner. Even within my confusion and horror, I was glad no one saw that.
If I 'belonged' then did I also cause the spread of despair, like the rest of the cast? (Minus Nanami, my subconscious whispered. I told it to shut up.) I did not like that thought. But I had no evidence to support it. Hopefully whatever this game was would end long before I ever did. The tangent made me finish off my third slice of plain bread. I was going to make myself sick at this rate.
If Monomi didn't take note of me, then do I have a history here? Who could I even ask?
Right, Komaeda. If there was an SHSL anything for me, he would know. Hinata would come by the mart soon, with him, to introduce himself to Mikan and Mioda. I drank another swig of Cola and left the aisles to wait by the door. Mioda, thankfully, seemed occupied with something and didn't try to speak to me, and I would have been shocked if Mikan attempted to.
Another half-litre of Cola and maybe ten minutes later they arrived. I was painfully aware of how strange I looked, just standing there. Unlike within the actual game, Mioda and Mikan were anything but cardboard cut outs, scurrying around the mart and seeing what was there.
"Umn, hi, I'm Hajime Hinata." I blinked twice and felt my throat close up. No no no I needed to talk– I was talking to a video game character– Name name name give him a name. Give him a fake name no no no don't do that in case somehow you're on record here that would be bad just give her your name it's nothing big–
"I-I'm Liese Collier." I answered after a moment and the rapid-fire thoughts momentarily settled down. Then I waited, heart racing so fast I was surprised I didn't collapse right then and there, for them to hopefully follow the same pattern they did within the game. Hinata didn't fail me.
"So what's her talent, Komaeda?" He did step to the side, but he was anything but quiet. Was he this close in the game that everyone he asked this about heard? I tried to ignore the question, as it was another one I had no answer to.
"I don't know, actually. There was a lot to read on the websites, I must have missed her." Unfortunately, Komaeda turned to face me.
"What's your talent?" The horrible feeling of my words and thoughts being swallowed up into a blackhole of confusion and resistance to the very idea that I was talking someone who couldn't and shouldn't appear real reappeared. I had no astounding talent, didn't want to draw any suspicion, oh hell I would just lie. Give him a fake one, lie, something no one can prove, something I'll never have to do here–
"Cross-country skiing." I said after what was surely a suspicious silence, crossing my arms and grabbing at the sleeves of my coat. Clenching onto it wasn't reducing the rising panic. I doubted I looked athletic enough for it with no muscle and twenty more pounds than any of the overly thin video game girls, but few in this game looked their part –Komaeda nodded and Hinata seemed to accept my response, and I drew another breath. "Stupid t-talent to have on an island like this, huh?"
"Yeah, bad luck." I nodded at Hinata's statement and the pair was on their way to talk with Mikan. I grabbed my Cola bottle off the ground where I had left it and ran out of the building.
The brief exchange was far more nerve-wracking than I had expected. That was going to be a problem, I could tell already; I had to pretend to be one of them, not a hopelessly scared and suspicious student. Three more gulps of Cola helped, but not enough.
I was reduced to sputtering for a second time that day as the monitors turned on and Monomi requested that everyone go to the beach. I really, really did not want to be in such close proximity with the logical-impossibilities that were my classmates. Choices were limited. I'd just think it over, come to a conclusion that would comfort me, and manage–
View it as exposure therapy, Liese. I told myself as I walked towards the beach. You'll fix you fear of talking to those murderer-weirdos-video game characters. They're just characters. You'll kill your nervousness of being thrown into an impossible game–people who could kill–losing your world– before it really counts–
A short stream of jagged laughed escaped my lips. The pitch rose and fell and I squashed it, only for a few more unsure giggles to rise up. Thinking more about this was not helping!
I did manage to kill my nervousness-induced laughter once the beach was within sight. I hung a few feet out from the knot of people, and did my best to look antisocial. I took a quick look at Kuzuryuu and saw how he carried himself that kept people looking quickly away when they saw him and tried to imitate it.
Monomi offered up swimsuits. A three second long image of bearing that much skin in front of people I didn't know was enough to make me feel even more sick to my stomach than the situation was already making me feel. Needless to say, I declined.
"...Who are you? I'm Chiaki... Nanami." I felt like my skeleton jumped a half-inch within my skin. I whirled around as if I'd been electrocuted to stare at the sleepy face of Nanami. I relaxed my shoulders and repeated the introduction I had given Hinata. I could talk to Nanami. She was the most trustworthy of the cast in the game, there was nothing bad would happen by speaking with her. Hopefully. And I had to get over this fear of speaking with people who shouldn't be real, I really did.
"You don't want to swim either?" Nanami inquired, and I nodded.
"I don't like wearing swimsuits much." That had to be my first sentence so far without a stammer. A good start.
"I understand… the swimmers'll tire out and...we'll do something better later." I paused to take in what Nanami said. She was being nice, unsuspecting of future events. That was strange, she barely knew me? And with what was going to happen–
Right. Monobear had yet to appear; she had no reason to be on guard as everyone would be by the end of the game. Abruptly I clung to my coat against my chest again and Nanami cocked her head to the side in question. I didn't address it.
"Y-yeah, t-that'll be fun." I replied, but my mind was elsewhere. I had just remembered. This was when Monobear appeared. Right about–the sky darkened in a flash.
Now.