I want to preface this one with: Don't look at me like that, there were like a ton of hints on this one.
I mean, obviously, you're still allowed to be upset or whatever, but objectively speaking, this story has my most elaborate mystery yet, and maybe the most well put-together. And this isn't even the last of the twists! But don't take my word for it, read ahead if you want to experience it firsthand.
Also, just want to say, get ready for a lot of reading. I know that's a weird statement given what site we're on, but there's a difference between reading something like the previous chapter and reading an investigation/trial chapter. And this one, I purposely tried to write the progression of the conversation in a way that would make it similar to the latter. We'll see if I did good, I guess.
Without further ado, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 34
Schrodinger's Cat
I arrived in the conference room a few minutes early. Despite my timeliness, I was the last arrival. Every member of class 78, aside from Hina, was present. Chiaki was currently resting, Miaya was in the Observation Room, and everyone else on the island didn't really need to know all this information. Oh, and Grand Bois Cheri was here, of course.
I walked to the head of the table and set my notes down. Normally I would take a seat, but not today. I had the floor. To my left, Byakuya, Celeste, and Kyoko sat, the former two appearing more impatient by the moment, and the latter waiting in contemplative silence. To my right was Makoto and Chihiro, who at least had the courtesy to greet me with their smiles. The cat was walking around the table, much to his owner's chagrin.
"Well, Al, you asked for more time, and we provided." Byakuya said. "Do you have the results to show for it?"
I couldn't help but let a bit of snark out. "Actually, I just wanted to deliberately waste your time by calling you all here for kicks. But now that you mention it..."
"What did you find?" Kyoko asked, cutting straight to the point. "Given that your theory involved Toshihide's notes..."
I nodded. "If I'm gonna explain this, I'm gonna have to start at the beginning. When it came to Maki's, or rather, Alice's sudden appearance, there were always three main questions we needed to solve. What's her true identity? Where did she come from? And how did she manage to access the Neo World Program? I have a theory that can answer all three of these questions, and I've spent a long time gathering even the smallest bit of evidence for my theory. At present, it seems to hold pretty nicely."
"I think the first one's been answered already, right?" Makoto asked. "She said it herself. Her real name is Alice Kizuki. Unless you think that was another lie?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm pretty sure it was genuine. She was in an odd spot, emotionally, and seemed determined to clear up as many lies and misconceptions the others had about her as possible. Hell, if that phase lasted longer, we probably would've had all our answers long ago. But I digress... what I mean when I say "her true identity" is a little more specific than what the rest of you mean."
"How so?" Celeste asked.
"When this mess started, I recall a few of you asking me if I recognized Maki Yugami. After all, the most likely explanation for why she was here was that I changed the past somehow. But I told you that I've never met anyone by that name before in my life. And that's true. But it isn't true for the name Alice Kizuki."
"So... you do know her, after all?" Chihiro asked.
"Yeah... I do. When she confided her real name to Mikan, I was quite shocked, to say the least. But that's when I started working on this theory. In any case, I can easily explain the answer to question 1 by focusing on question 2: Where did she come from? As I'm sure you're all aware, I've been researching Toshihide's notes for the past few days now. And I found something big, something that blows the lid off of this whole mystery. There's evidence that when Toshihide was summoning me with his dimension-jumping machine... he actually fired the machine twice. What's more, it seemed they had to pay for some extra parts, some sort of repairs."
Earlier, Kyoko seemed like the only one who was following my thought process, but now everyone seemed to be catching on.
I continued. "As I've said before... I knew someone by the name of Alice Kizuki. She was an acquaintance of mine... back home. Back in my home dimension."
"So... the phenomenon happened twice." Byakuya said.
"It's likely that Toshihide didn't even realize it." I picked up my notes and skimmed them again. "I'd guess that, during the initial test, before everything was working properly, they transported her to this world. But whatever caused the malfunction... didn't allow her body to be recreated."
"But... she didn't die?" Chihiro asked.
"You guys can't think of a device like that? A device that can allow someone's mind to exist beyond their body?"
"That... sounds like the device Susumu Kimura invented." Makoto recalled. "The one that Toshihide used to become immortal... but it trapped him in the time loop, and took away his ability to interact with the physical world."
I nodded. "Her circumstances... were likely similar to his, before she entered the Neo World Program."
"...Before we go any further with this..." Celeste started. "Al... what can you tell us about Alice Kizuki? Has she always been as deranged as she appears in the Program?"
I shook my head. "I didn't know her much, admittedly. She was the older sister of a childhood friend of mine, Light Kizuki, so I only know her through a degree of separation. On top of that, my family moved to another town a couple years before my arrival here, so I hadn't seen either of them in a long time. During the time I knew her, however, I can tell you that she wasn't crazy. Or at least... she never showed any signs of it..."
I supposed it was possible I just missed the signs. It's not like we were ever in the same room for an extended period of time. Still, the idea just made this whole thing feel like yet another failure of mine. One day, I'd run out of things I have to make up for...
I did my best to ignore that thought. It was just more inferiority. I didn't need the reminder.
"If the two of you knew each other way back when, then she should recognize you, right?" Byakuya asked. "She didn't seem to comment when she saw your picture in that file Monokuma provided. If she knows you, she's done an excellent job keeping it under wraps."
Celeste thought for a moment. "Perhaps not as excellent as we might have thought. In retrospect, there have been multiple moments where she lets slip something that could be used to connect her to Al. For a recent example, she repeated Al's central philosophy to one of the other students. "We live on in the way we change those around us." She even admitted that she stole the line from someone that she used to know, someone that she bears resentment towards."
"It's almost like... she's been watching us this whole time." Chihiro muttered. "But... why would she resent you?"
I shrugged. "Why wouldn't she? Imagine, she's had to deal with all the problems I've had to about being taken from my home, combined with Toshihide's problem of being unable to interact with the world around her. All the while, she had to watch as Toshihide and his dad repair the machine that did this to her, and summon someone who got luckier: Me. I don't know about you guys, but "green with envy" would be an understatement for how I'd feel if I were in her shoes."
A moment of silence passed through the room as everyone digested that. Eventually, Kyoko raised the next subject. "Okay. That's the first two questions answered by your theory. What about the third? How did she access the Neo World Program if she's just a drifting consciousness?"
"I'd imagine her status as a drifting consciousness would give her an edge in accessing a virtual reality landscape. Of course, it'd be best to ask someone more knowledgeable on the technology we're working with. Chihiro?"
He thought for a long moment. "Well... in order for the Neo World Program to work, we had to make sure the pods were compatible with the computer. I had to make a few adjustments to the operating system to make sure of that. For example... I made it so that the operating system itself could be handled with a neural interface, if you needed it to be."
"So... instead of using a keyboard and mouse, you could hook up a pod to control the computer directly?"
"Yeah, basically."
I gave myself a mental high-five for understanding basic computer terms. Kyoko continued, "But what we need to know is how she connected herself to the computer in the first place. Even without a body, she would still need to be using a pod for that, wouldn't she?"
"Would she?" I asked. The others turned to me in confusion, but I quickly shifted focus. "Chihiro, what would happen if we pulled one of the Remnants out of their pod, right now?"
"Right now? They would probably die... There wouldn't be any time for the system to upload their consciousness back into their body, so..."
"You're saying their consciousness isn't currently connected to their body in any way, right? Because they wouldn't require an upload like that if they still were..."
"Huh...? I guess so...?"
"Which means... If you used a pod without a body, it wouldn't matter if the pod was turned off or used by someone else afterwards, right? Because it's not like you're leaving anything behind... When we booted up the Neo World Program, Alice saw her chance and took it, because she literally had nothing to lose. From there, the pod uploaded the only thing left of her into the computer, and that's where she resides, to this day!"
There was a long moment of silence as the others tried to think of any other blind spots in my theory. Even between the five of them, they weren't able to come up with anything at the moment.
Byakuya turned to Chihiro and asked, "How about it? Would the pods and the program be able to support something like that?"
He thought about it. "I'm... not sure. All this quantum physics stuff is so confusing, you know? It's so far beyond common sense..."
I nodded. We were reaching the end of what we could figure out with just us. "In that case... why don't we ask the resident expert for this sort of situation?"
"The... resident expert?" Makoto repeated.
"Of course. There's someone in this very room who knows more about all this mind-warping stuff than anyone else. Even more than me."
"Who is it?"
I stared forward, betraying nothing. I spoke out loud. "...You tried to warn me back then, didn't you? That Alice is a dimension-jumper, like me. You've been trying to steer us to the truth this whole time, so that we could repair your mistake. That's all you've ever left behind, isn't it? Me, Alice, your past self... All of us are just the mistakes that you left behind. And now here you are, doing what you can to make things right. Is that it?"
"A-Al...?" Chihiro called my name, but I paid him no mind.
"Is he hallucinating again...?" Celeste asked.
I suddenly raised my hand, pointing across the room, to the other end of the long table, where Grand Bois Cheri sat staring at the wall.
"Each of these mysteries is just another one of your mistakes! Isn't that right, Toshihide Tomonaga, the Ultimate Physicist!"
For a few moments, there was silence. Then, all at once, there wasn't. A metallic clack sounded throughout the room. A new presence arrived. A cold, empty aura. The presence of death. A shape came into our view in the formerly empty seat, directly in the cat's line of sight.
My friends all jumped in their seats, some of them even jumping out of their seats, confirming that they saw him as well.
A grey mop of hair sat on his head. His dull purple eyes pierced the entire room. He was scrawny and sickly, and wearing a labcoat at least three sizes too big for him. He sat there casually as he spoke in his signature raspy voice.
"I would say that assessment is correct, though I don't quite appreciate your tone."
Without missing a beat, he glanced up at me and smiled.
"It's been too long, Albert Wright."
Despite myself, I couldn't help but smile back at my former mentor. We were finally getting somewhere with this. The thrill of mystery solving... No matter what world I found myself in, no matter how real or fictional the mystery was... This thrill always had a way of making me feel giddy.
After a few moments, my friends had settled down, and we were able to get the discussion back on track. That did not mean that they were ready to just accept this new development, however.
"I have quite a few questions..." Kyoko said. "But the first one to come to mind is... Which Toshihide are you? Are you from this universe? Or a different one?"
"What an interesting question." If he hadn't spoken, there would be no indication that he even heard her. He was locked into a staring contest with Grand Bois Cheri. "I would argue that it's a matter of perspective. I'm from this universe, but I'm also from every other universe I've ever been to."
"And yet... you returned to this one." Byakuya noted.
"Indeed. It's fascinating, is it not? I have seen 11,037 different worlds before this one, and roughly 42,000 more since you saw me last. And yet, when I finally managed to gather enough energy to break free from my endless cycle, my first instinct was to return to this specific universe, at this specific time period. Why do you think that is?"
Something about the way he asked the last part made me feel like he was directing it at me. I didn't have an answer, though. How could I possibly begin to guess at the thought process of a being that's experienced over three thousand years worth of killing games?
Makoto gestured at him. "So... what is this? Did you manage to get your body back, or...?"
"What, this?" He shook his head sadly. "I'm merely using a negligible amount of my energy reserves to project an image into all of your heads, like I did for our final class trial."
"How long have you been watching us, exactly?" Celeste asked.
"Since approximately 1.7 hours after you saw me disappear from this world. In case it wasn't clear, my understanding of time isn't nearly as linear as the rest of you. Of course, I'm not omniscient, so I spent most of my time here following Albert around. I would have made contact with him sooner, but... well, our psychic link had weakened considerably over my time in the loops, and I would have had to spend a considerable amount of energy to repair it. It would have been better to send what few hints I could and let Albert repair the link by figuring out I was back, which is exactly what I did."
"Is... that how that always worked?" Makoto asked.
Toshihide shrugged. "Albert once tampered with a crime scene in a half-asleep stupor because I used our link to try to wake him up. This sort of thing has too many untested variables to account for."
He finally broke eye contact with Grand Bois Cheri and looked to me again. "Though I must say, I'm impressed by how hard it was to pierce your psyche. You have never been very good at being assertive, after all."
I took a measured breath, and spoke for the first time since his appearance. "Maybe so. Or maybe you had trouble with it because you could never accept anything that didn't originate within your own mind."
He let out a single, bitter laugh. "And your wit hasn't dulled either, I see."
"So, how about it?" I pressed. "Can you confirm or deny anything that I've proposed in this meeting?"
"I can definitely confirm that we ran the test twice. There was a malfunction in the machine during the first test, so we had to stop for repairs. Specifically, the malfunction was in the part that would be used to reconstruct someone's body using raw chemicals." His expression turned somewhat sad. "I assumed that the machine wouldn't be able to bring anyone through without that part. I didn't know their consciousness would still make it through. Had I known what cruel fate I had forced upon Alice Kizuki, I would have done everything in my power to correct my error. Though I must say that, no matter how much she likes to brood, I've had it far worse than she has..."
"Far worse? How could you know that?" Chihiro asked.
"Simple. I know she was never stuck in a time loop. That was a circumstance unique to my situation. As is my ability to manipulate matter and send psychic messages. I had practice with that from my original Hope Ascendance Project idea. I'm sure you remember that one, Albert. When I had the seizure?"
I seemed to recall finding a report that mentioned that, yeah. "Right. But Alice never had that, so she can't do the same tricks as you?"
"Most likely not. Her interactions with the Neo World Program, however, are a unique case. Due to the neural interface the machine is built with, subjects like her and I only need to burn a negligible amount of energy to infuse ourselves with the machine. Of course, I doubt she would be able to escape the machine without outside help. In any case, Alice Kizuki has become a ghost in the machine, in the most literal way possible. She likely entered the program simply for the chance that it could allow her the illusion of being able to feel something. I must admit, a part of me desires being able to do that same. Still, I decided that it wasn't worth the risk of becoming trapped in a state where I could be deleted."
"Alice must have been desperate." I said. "She seems so terrified of the idea of dying, so to make herself vulnerable like that... To think, we had to hold a vote over whether or not we would kill her. In another universe, we probably did. And that's to say nothing of the amount of danger being in a killing game poses. Yet she still took that gamble just so she could enter the program..."
"Perhaps she took that risk because she fears death so much." Toshihide suggested.
"What do you mean?" Celeste asked.
"Some people may believe in the afterlife, but there are many such as myself who do not. Whatever death feels like, I have a feeling it's nothing more than what I've been experiencing these last few millennia. While her time with it was much, much shorter than mine, Alice Kizuki would know the feeling just as well. In comparison to suffering in this damned purgatory, she decided her gamble was the better option."
"The only question now is... What can we do?" Makoto asked. "I mean, she can't stay in the program forever, right? We need to get her out of there, and get her some professional help."
"What do you propose? I mean, Albert still has many of the inventions I imparted on him in his mind, so he could theoretically build a machine to reconstruct someone's body. But the problem with that plan is that it took me forever and a fortnight to build my first one, and that was when the world still had reliable trade routes opened up. After the Tragedy? Even the Future Foundation would struggle to gain the resources for such an undertaking."
"I thought you had super-physicist powers." I said. "Why can't you just snap your fingers and create an entirely new body out of thin air? In fact, why didn't you do that for yourself?"
He sighed. "The... energy binding me together- I've been mentally referring to it simply as psychodynamic energy- is limited. I can only generate it by experiencing new events. That was why Naegi's presence in the first 5,110 killing games I experienced was important. He's a natural anomaly, a subject that has slightly different behaviour in different timelines, despite their circumstances being identical. This is also why it was so important that I import someone like Albert, to serve as an artificial anomaly whom I could influence. In any case, the point is that I needed to spend a lot of psychodynamic energy to escape from my loops, and even more to find this specific universe. I don't want to risk spending any more than I have to."
"Why? What happens if you run out?" Chihiro asked.
"I'll no longer be able to hold myself together, and the near-imperceptible atoms making up my consciousness will be torn apart and recycled into the universe, permanently killing me. A possibility that I've considered evoking more than a few times throughout the millennia, I must admit."
"Oh..."
"Okay, so no Toshihide-ex-machina." I muttered. "I guess it would've been too much to ask for you to do something useful for once, huh?"
He scoffed. "Maybe I'll start once you manage to succeed in servicing anyone other than yourself."
"What's that supposed to-?"
"You promised to save your classmates. Ten of them died. You wanted to help me. I've been trapped in purgatory. You want to help the Remnants of Despair, but your best plan is to try the same thing you observed in your home world, letting them butcher each other because they can all recover anyway. You want to help Alice Kizuki, but she's bound for Hell just like every other victim of your incompetence. Face it, Albert, the only person who ever benefits from your actions is yourself."
Most people, when faced with a rant like this, would probably snap and start their own rant about the other guy. Luckily, I didn't need to move a muscle. A chorus of defence came from everyone else in the room, some more enthusiastic than others, but each one still objecting to the basis of the Physicist's accusation.
I smirked. "Really, Toshihide, if you want to insult me, you'll have to do better than what I hear in my own internal monologue. And what was it I told you, back then? Even when I fuck up, my friends can look past that and stay by my side. But you... You're alone. And it seems you didn't take any steps to remedy that in the last two-and-a-half millennia."
"Hm. You've gotten better at mental math, I'll give you that." He glanced down. "Well, the cat seems to appreciate my presence, at any rate."
Celeste's gaze moved down to her pet, as a realization dawned on her. "It was you this whole time, wasn't it? You were the one Grand Bois Cheri was following around. That's why he's been behaving so strangely since we got to this island..."
"Well, no, that can't be it." Kyoko said. "Toshihide didn't arrive here until Al did, but you said your cat was behaving strangely since you arrived, which was long before Al."
Toshihide simply smirked. "I must admit, I do enjoy seeing the rest of you struggle to reach such a simple truth."
"Obviously, Grand Bois Cheri must've been reacting to Alice." I explained. "Remember how he kept crawling under the desk, which happens to be where one of the computer terminals are located. He was following her around... then, at around the same time, Toshihide and I showed up, which made him even more confused."
"But... why would the cat be able to see Toshihide?" Chihiro asked. "You couldn't communicate with the rest of us, but you could with an animal?"
The Physicist smirked. "I believe Albert put it best. Animals tend to have a sixth sense for this sort of thing. It's not quite that he's "seeing" me, more so that he knows something is different about the space I'm inhabiting. Something wrong. As for why I couldn't communicate with the rest of you, the reason is just as simple. You all saw me disappear from this world, so in your mind, you believed that there was no way I could continue to exist here. When Albert called my name, however, it planted the possibility in your minds, however slim and subconscious, that I was still here. I was able to capitalize on that subconscious thought to forcibly reinstate my psychic connection to you all, just like I did when Albert pieced all my clues together."
"What about when I communicated with you before that?" I asked.
He shrugged. "What do you think?"
He was testing me, as usual. It seemed to be the only mentorly thing he was good at. "I think... it has to do with the subjects state of mind. The last time you tried to talk with me, it was when I was sleep-deprived and going crazy. My mind was already susceptible to hallucinations. You took advantage of that. Furthermore, you mentioned earlier that you travelled with me to Towa City, which reminded me of another instance I heard your voice. At that time, I was also extremely exhausted and running on fumes. The best I can extrapolate from these two events is that the amount of energy you need to put into a psychic link is directly proportional to the strength of mind of the target." I folded my arms. "So how about it? Am I in the ballpark?"
"There it is." He nodded, chuckling. "The Albert Wright I know. Despite all your talk of belief, faith, life, friendship, and hope, I know you have something more substantial within that mind of yours."
I wanted to respond, to verbally thrash him, to tell him how those things were all more substantial than everything he'd ever accomplished with his cold logic. But I knew he was just trying to get under my skin, so I held my tongue.
Instead, I simply returned to an earlier subject. "Anyway, while I understand and appreciate your concern, Makoto... right now, worrying about Alice isn't really something we have time for."
"Huh? What do you mean...?"
"Our mission hasn't changed. We need to get into the program and start up the shut-down sequence. If we can't accomplish that... then everything else is hopeless, anyway. We'll be dealing with an entire class of Junko's, we'll all be killed, a second wave of the Tragedy will begin, and everything will be over. Alice certainly needs saving, but I doubt we'll be able to help her until this mess is solved."
"If she manages to survive until then, you know we're going to have to convince her of that, right?" Kyoko asked.
I hesitated, but nodded. "Alice... is difficult. But with the stakes as high as they are, she has to understand the emergency. I know she will."
"And if she doesn't?" Byakuya asked.
"We'll make her. I'm a psychologist, remember? Dealing with the crazies is my specialty, even if I'm not Ultimate-level. Makoto's the Ultimate Hope, his specialty is pulling people away from the ledge of despair. Alice may have given up, but that's all the more reason we have to do everything we can to set things right. No matter what. Who's with me?"
One by one, each of my friends offered their approval and agreement. Toshihide stared forward, saying nothing.
"Alright, then. Everyone, battle stations!"
"What?" Makoto asked.
"I- Th-That's your cue to get back to work. I was... trying to do a cool thing."
Byakuya glanced toward the window. "It's still night out. Most of us were getting to bed before this."
I shook my head. "Y'know what, fuck it. Just get outta here, team."
"Well, I'm inspired." Celeste muttered dryly, scooping up her cat.
"Ask Makoto for inspiration. Ask me for plans."
My friends all got up and left. I hung behind, just to take in the moment. I made my way over and took a seat on the table. That mystery was a massive weight off of my back, but I had to admit that I had a nagging "What now?" feeling. I mean, I answered that question for Makoto not even five minutes ago, but the exact method to go about it eluded me. What was I supposed to do until the final trial? I had done the job that they called me to the island to do. I figured out where Alice came from. I suppose I could just continue to observe the killing game now.
I slowly got up and made my way to the door, but was interrupted by Toshihide. Right. He hadn't left yet.
"You don't give yourself enough credit." He muttered.
I turned to him. "Yeah, I had a whole character arc about that. Still having it, actually. And, if I can be entirely honest with you, I don't really want or need your input. Especially after you dredged up my insecurities in the middle of the meeting like that."
"I did do that. But I'm also Toshihide Tomonaga. You are Albert Wright. So doesn't it strike you as a little odd that your opinion of Albert Wright is harsher, compared to mine? At least, that's what you said. I wonder... between the two of us, who has the harsher opinion of Toshihide Tomonaga?"
I averted my gaze. "...I'm not doing this right now."
"If you insist."
We were both quiet for a long time, before I asked, "Why did you come back?"
"What do you think?" He asked once again.
"...I don't know what to think of you. Everything about you is just so... off. I don't even know if I can consider you human. Is that what you want to hear?"
"It matters not what I want to hear. What matters is what I need to hear. And frankly, Albert, you might be the only person in the omniverse that I can always trust to tell me what I need to hear."
"See, in most conversations, this is the part where I'd sarcastically say, "No pressure, though, right?" but... with you, you've always laid on the pressure. You never let up. My stress is just another resource to you. I'm just another resource to you. You'd spend me and throw me to the side if it meant fulfilling your own goals."
"Is that truly how you think I view you?"
"You've never given me any evidence to the contrary. Unless it benefited you to keep me on your side."
"I see..."
I glanced at the door, but turned my gaze back to him once again. "Listen, Toshihide... I don't know what your agenda is, or if you even have one, but... if your actions somehow get in the way of my mission, or puts anyone on this island in danger... I will be very, very upset."
He smirked. "What are you going to do? Kill me?"
"Worse."
The smirk instantly vanished from his face, and this time he was the one who averted his eyes.
I made my way over to the door again. This time, I was stopped when I was halfway out the room.
"Albert... What am I to you? Am I just another nuisance? Am I a personal enemy? Am I an old friend? Do you hate me? Do you still care for me? What am I to you?"
I tried to answer, but found no words to express myself with.
Without saying anything, I simply stepped out into the hallway, leaving Toshihide all alone.
You may be wondering why I decided to bring Toshihide back into the story. After all, his arc had a pretty satisfying conclusion, right? I mean, as an antagonist, at least. Well, while I can't explain what I plan to have him do here, due to spoilers and such, I can say that this was something I had in my back pocket for a while now. And by a while, I mean that I've been planning to have Toshihide re-enter the story ever since I started planning past the end of Another Hope. Yeah, that long.
I mean, even now, if you go back and reread the final interaction between him and the others, the tone does seem to imply that there's something unfinished left behind. And as we learn here, there really is something he left behind, without even realizing it. Alice Kizuki. Combined with that, there's also the fact that Albert never really had proper closure with Toshihide. So, on his own, he's probably not going to do much, but the way in which he'll affect the other two OCs will be interesting.
You might say that the twist that Alice is an acquaintance of Albert is contrived... and you'd be kinda right! The thing is, that twist isn't meant to be the important part. It was just a method through which Al can figure out part of her past without her just straight-up telling him. The actual important part is what's going on with Alice now, the fact that she's in a situation similar to Toshihide.
In the next chapter, we'll get back to the killing game, and see how Hajime and his friends are planning to deal with Nagito.
