When Sonia, Owari, and Kuzuryuu returned from their trek that day, Kamukura was still in the process of deleting all traces of the Junko AI from the backup server. Hinata assumed he'd gotten most of her by now, but without any background in programming and data management, he couldn't actually be sure without asking Kamukura himself. And anytime he did ask, Kamukura's only response was silence. Souda, meanwhile, was napping on his bed, having finished messing with the pods a couple hours ago.
"Did you do it? Will our friends come back?" Owari asked as she approached Kamukura. She had with her some plastic bags, and the strong smell of meat filled the air around them.
Being asked the same questions again and again was getting boring, but Kamukura reasoned that if he didn't respond, she would've nagged him until he gave an answer. Well, either her, or Hinata. "I have located the backup and I'm currently extracting everyone's information." He purposefully left out the part about AI Junko still being there; there was no need to cause unnecessary panic and confusion, especially if she was going to be deleted and thus rendered as a non-issue to the group.
"That is good to hear," Sonia said as she joined the conversation. Kuzuryuu walked up behind her, his usual scowl just a bit less antagonistic than usual when he heard the news.
"What about Souda over there? Ya knock him out or something?" Owari jabbed her thumb in the sleeping mechanic's direction.
"I assume he went to sleep out of boredom."
Kuzuryuu smirked. "Yeah, you're not exactly the chattiest person in the world," he said. Turning towards Souda, he shouted, "Oi, get your ass over here if you want dinner!"
"HAH?!"
Souda's hysterically panicked expression as he woke up once again made Hinata take back control of his body, doubling over in laughter. He could feel everyone staring at him in confusion, but for now, he didn't mind.
You know, if you want to take control, you should at least give me a heads up, he heard Kamukura say dryly.
My bad, but I just couldn't help it. Souda's reactions are just so funny.
When he finally stopped laughing, he saw the other four people around him still gawking at him as if his hair had turned neon green. "Ah, sorry about that," he said sheepishly, "but I'm okay now."
It took them another couple of seconds to recover from their shock, but finally, Sonia spoke up. "Right. We should discuss what we have done today, and make a plan for tomorrow as well."
"But first," Owari said as she fished out a couple of turkey legs from her bag, "let's eat!"
The group gathered together and sat down on the floor, as per usual. Sonia brought out the smartphone she took from the market the other day and turned it on, signaling the beginning of their meeting. "So as you know, Owari-san, Kuzuryuu-san, and I explored the Second Island today," she said as she pointed at the island labeled on the map. "The first place we visited was this building, which had several different kinds of medicines and some first aid material. Possibly a pharmacy of some sort."
"That'll definitely be useful if we decide to stay here for any length of time," Hinata said. "Who knows who might get injured or sick here."
"Tsumiki would like that, wouldn't she?" Souda said almost offhandedly. The others glanced at each other awkwardly, unsure how to respond to his comment. Even Kamukura stirred in the back of their shared mind, though Hinata couldn't pick out any particular feelings the other personality might've felt.
"M-moving on!" Owari pointed to another area on the map, which appeared to be next to the beach. "We found this really big house here! I think Sonia said it was a beach house of some sort? Anyway, there were a lot of swimming and diving stuff in the closet, and it had this cute little fridge, too!" She suddenly slumped forward a little, a pout on her face. "But it was empty."
"Aw, c'mon, Owari! We've got that market on the First Island for all our food needs," Souda said with a friendly grin. "I'm sure that'll keep you filled for a while."
"We could use the beach house as a changing room if we ever want to relax on the beach," Sonia suggested.
Souda howled loudly, as if he were a dog in heat. "Ooh, amazing idea, Miss Sonia!" Sonia suddenly looked as if she'd regretted saying anything.
Kuzuryuu, who hadn't spoken since Owari brought up the house, looked oddly uncomfortable as he gazed emptily at a particular pod some couple of feet away from him. Hinata vaguely wondered if it was because of what happened in the beach house back in the Neo World Program, though he quickly brushed that thought aside. If they couldn't remember their time in the simulation, there was no reason why Kuzuryuu should be so downtrodden by the events that had taken place there. Still, Hinata couldn't think of any other possible answer for Kuzuryuu's lack of enthusiasm, and he didn't want to ask the other man in case he accidentally offended him.
Instead, Hinata took the time to point out another building, even though he already had an idea what it was supposed to be. "What about this thing over here? It looks pretty big to me."
"Ah, that building is a library!" Sonia said, apparently all too happy to change the subject. "There are many different books and articles in there. It is large enough that it rivals my homeland's national library."
Kuzuryuu seemed to have perked up a little when the discussion finally moved on. He fished out a couple of pamphlets from his pockets and proudly produced them to the group. "We found a guidebook about the islands we're on in there. Seems like we're on some kind of abandoned resort called Jabberwock Island."
"A resort?" Hinata feigned surprise, having already heard all this once. "That explains the cottages on the First Island, then."
"The guidebook said that the only way to travel between the islands was by boat," Sonia said with a confused expression on her face. "It said that the islands originally didn't have bridges for fear of harming the local wildlife…"
"Those Future Foundation people must've installed them, then!" Souda exclaimed.
"I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case," Hinata said thoughtfully. "I mean, maintaining ferries would be pretty expensive and difficult to manage, wouldn't it?"
"And this last place is a diner!" Owari said, excitedly pointing at another spot on the map. "They have all kinds American foods in there, and it smelled so good!"
Kuzuryuu rolled his eye. "Yeah, but we have to make everything ourselves. It's not like anyone else lives here, anyway."
A thought suddenly occurred to Hinata. "Wait, if nobody lives here, how's there so much stuff? I mean, if this place is abandoned-"
Owari shrugged. "Eh, probably those Future Foundation guys again," she said. "I wouldn't put it past them to use these islands like some sort of storage area or whatever. Probably meant to keep us here anyway, away from all that mess we caused."
The atmosphere in the room felt heavy again, as everyone was reminded of the state of the world outside of the islands. Even if he technically didn't do anything, as either himself or Kamukura, Hinata still felt an immense amount of guilt as he reflected upon all the chaos and destruction the world had fallen into over the past few years. He might not have directly caused anything, but he sure as hell hadn't prevented any of it, either.
Deciding that wallowing in such negativity wasn't going to help them any, Hinata forced himself to brighten up. "Well, Souda and Kamukura made some good progress today," he said, his voice a little bit too chipper for his preference. There was a reason he wasn't the Ultimate Actor, after all.
Owari leaned forward expectantly, and Hinata could tell that she, too, was trying to appear more optimistic than she actually felt. "Oooh, really? What'dya guys do?"
"Well!" Souda grinned proudly as he straightened his back. "I've successfully upgraded everyone's pods! They won't have to worry about doing all that tedious exercise when they wake up now."
Kuzuryuu frowned in disappointment. "That's it? No progress on them actually waking up or anything?"
"Well," Hinata said, "Kamukura did say that he finally accessed the backup database, and he thinks he should be able to upload everyone's avatars back into their bodies in a few days."
Sonia nodded. "I recall him mentioning that when we first came back, though he did not give us an estimated time for when he would finish. This is very good news!"
"Hell yeah it is!" Owari said. "Boy, I can't wait to see everyone already."
Hinata sighed, relief flooding over him as he watched everyone's happy expressions. Though he knew that reviving their classmates wasn't going to be as easy as he'd made it out to be, his friend's cheerfulness made him feel just a little more optimistic.
"So, what's our plan for tomorrow?" he asked. "Go to the Third Island, I guess?"
"Oh, that reminds me!" Sonia turned towards Hinata, a look of determination on her face. "Kuzuryuu-san, Owari-san, and I were discussing this on our way back, and we all agreed that you should come with us tomorrow to look around."
"Huh?" Hinata blinked in surprise. "B-but Kamukura still hasn't finished extracting everyone's avatars yet, and we still have so much other stuff to do-"
"Aw, c'mon, man! You definitely need to go out in the sun while you're here. Being stuck here all the time ain't good for you," Owari said.
"Unless you want to hole yourself up in this shitty room for the rest of your life." Kuzuryuu wrinkled his nose. "And you could really do with a shower tomorrow. You smell worse than Souda!"
"Hey!" Souda yelled rather indignantly. "That was uncalled for!"
"Well, it's the truth," Owari said with a nod.
Hinata still looked unsure. "But what about our friends! Who'll look after them while we're out?"
Souda shrugged. "Eh, I guess I can stay here another day. See if there's anything else I can do, or something."
"I'll stay with ya!" Owari said excitedly as she grabbed Souda with her arm. "Don't wantcha getting lonely by yourself, man."
Souda looked like he was about to object, but when he spoke, all he said was, "O-owari, air-"
Hinata sighed. He definitely had not been planning to go out tomorrow, but if his friends insisted, there wasn't much he could do. I guess you'll have to finish everything some other day, Kamukura, Hinata said.
This doesn't affect me, Kamukura replied. I was expecting them to ask you to join them tomorrow, anyway.
What, and you didn't tell me?!
Their body language made it obvious, I assumed you knew.
Maybe some of us aren't as smart as you, Mister Ultimate Everything!
Still, having Kamukura's approval to go out made Hinata feel more at ease over the situation. "Alright, might as well explore the island with you guys," he said. "I'm sure the fresh air would be good for me, at least."
"Alright!" Owari pumped her fist in the air. "The Third Island better watch out, because Hinata Hajime's on his way!"
Everyone laughed, and Hinata couldn't help but smile. His friends, despite having all memories of him removed, still cared about him. It was a comforting thing to know, he thought as they continued to chat into the night.
Everything was going to be fine.
(A/N: Yeah, so... this is pretty much a filler chapter, as nothing truly significant really happened. I realized that only after I'd written it, but it taking it out completely breaks the flow of the story. Sorry about that.)