The first thing I felt was a profound sense of vertigo. The world around me lost all focus, swirling into a nonsensical mashup of colors that I could spend hours trying to decipher without success.
I put a hand to my throbbing head, shutting my eyes tightly as the suddenly overwhelming brightness of the sun made my brain feel like it was on the verge of exploding. Soon, my other hand joined the first, and I felt more like I was trying to forcibly keep my brain from leaking out of my ears than anything.
My ears picked up the sound of what must have been voices, but I couldn't understand a word they were saying. I didn't dare to open my eyes to see if I could single out who was speaking, fearing the pain that would surely follow. Their voices were wrong, anyways, and sounded nothing like what I would expect to hear out of a person's mouth.
A hand made its way to one of my shoulders, gripping tightly enough that I was firmly held in place. With the limited mental processing power I had at my command, I thanked them.
I also noted that, whoever had helped to stabilize me, they must have been massive. Their singular hand felt like it was likely larger than my head.
Eventually, after what felt to me like an eternity of my own body trying its absolute best to throw me off, my hearing began to return to normal. There were fewer voices around me now, and when I finally worked up the courage to open my eyes, they were all looking directly at me.
My headache was still there, albeit mercifully muted in comparison to the agony I was in beforehand. I pushed the pain down and focused on my surroundings.
I didn't know quite what I had expected to see, but a beach was definitely not it. The sand beneath my feet shifted, as I had stumbled a bit after brushing the large hand off my shoulder with perhaps a bit too much force.
I'd have to apologize later. There were more pressing issues at the moment. Chiefly, figuring out just where in the world I was.
The expression on my face must have been hilarious, as I heard some of the people around me laughing, or failing to hide said laughter. I didn't care, didn't bother correcting my no doubt gaping mouth.
Wherever I was, it was beautiful. Blue, sparkling ocean stretched out as far as I could see, the waves gently lapping against the sand not five feet away from me. All around me were palm trees stretching up into the sky, laden with coconuts.
There were several things that broke me from my trance. The nausea returned with a vengeance as the gears began to turn in my head.
First, there was an almost innocuous security camera planted on the beach, facing directly towards us. We were being watched, but by whom, I didn't have the mental faculties to guess.
Second, there was a monitor of all things on a branch of a particularly large palm tree to my right. There was no visible power source, and it being in a tree was not exactly what I would consider normal.
Finally, my body. It felt wrong, like I was wearing the skin of someone else instead of my own. I eventually realized that my sense of balance was shot, but not due to vertigo this time.
My legs felt too short compared to what I was used to. When I tried to take a few steps, I nearly fell flat on my face. Thankfully for my dignity, I managed to catch myself.
The most worrying fact of all, in my opinion, was the fact that I felt cold. Not so much that I was shivering, but enough to make me thankful for the jacket I was wearing. To feel cold while standing on a tropical beach with a jacket on definitely wasn't normal or promising, but nothing I had experienced since waking up was.
I heard the sound of a throat clearing to my left. When I turned to face them, I had to resist the urge to scream until my throat was raw.
I recognized them. How could I not? I knew them very well after all.
Nekomaru Nidai stood before me in all his glory. His towering frame made me feel like an ant in comparison, and his arms looked like they could break me in half without effort.
Whatever he said next was drowned out by yet another mental shutdown as I attempted to process just what was happening. This whole scenario seemed familiar. The glimpses I had seen of the others besides Nekomaru seemed familiar. And, most of all, the clothes I was wearing seemed familiar.
The monitor and camera also made a lot more sense when I came to my conclusion.
Danganronpa. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Somehow, someway, I was on Jabberwock Island. Standing before me were fictional characters, people who only existed within the boundaries of a game.
And I was one of them. The green jacket I was wearing, the wild white hair that I managed to glimpse from my reflection in the water, they pointed to a conclusion I desperately didn't want to come to.
I had been thrown into the body of Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student. I attempted to remember what had led me to this point.
The memories I did have were broken, fragmented, scattered like so many shards of glass. I remembered my name, but not my name. I was not Nagito Komaeda, despite the information my mind was feeding to me. I did not belong on Jabberwock Island, among class 77.
And, I hoped, I did not belong in a killing game. Was this island mode? I never played it, but I hoped it was.
My memories of the, now real, game were fully intact, thankfully. Beyond that, I drew nothing but blanks as far as anything not related to Nagito was concerned. The only information I could recall about myself was that my actual body (a phrase that made me nauseous to even think about) was several inches taller than my current one.
Also, I had not switched genders upon hijacking Nagito's body. I didn't know what I would have done if I had woken up in a brand new body, that was not completely new to me at the same time, with my gender switched as well.
"Hey, are you even listening to me!?" I jumped as a positively thunderous voice nearly burst my eardrums. It was so loud that the branches of the palm trees around me shook. A few of the coconuts fell to the ground and sent sand flying.
I did my best to not look like my reality was currently collapsing and plastered what I hoped was a convincing smile onto my face.
"Ah, yeah. Sorry about that, I guess the trip here took a lot out of me." Nekomaru's eyes, which still radiated electricity even outside of the game's coding apparently, looked down at me with skepticism.
Now that I got a better look at him, he was terrifying. If I didn't know he was a big softie underneath the mountains of muscle, I might have just fainted at the thought of him being so close to me.
Eventually, he shook his head. "If you say so. You've been spaced out for a while, everyone else but you, me, and that other guy already left."
I was confused for a second about who this "other guy" was, but the answer was obvious as soon as I looked around a bit more.
Hajime Hinata, ahoge and all, was slumped against a palm tree not far from us. He was completely unconscious, and didn't look like he'd be waking up any time soon. I resisted the urge to shake him awake, since he would be the absolute last person to have any answers as to what was happening.
Still, it was good to see that some freak accident hadn't happened with him. If the universe really hated me, he would have somehow been in the Neo World Program as Izuru Kamukura.
"Really? Everyone just left him there?" I tried not to make my words sound like an accusation, but they sounded like it anyway. Nekomaru winced.
Great. My first impressions with Nekomaru were me flailing around and then accusing him. If Hiyoko had been in his place, I probably wouldn't have gotten away with my life, or my kneecaps for that matter.
"Yeah, sorry about that." I didn't know why he was apologizing to me, but let it slide. "I was gonna wake him up after you came to your senses but…" Nekomaru suddenly looked alarmed. His eyes widened, the electricity he somehow generated from them growing more intense.
"But…?" I asked, still getting used to hearing Nagito's voice coming out of my mouth. Nekomaru didn't respond immediately, instead choosing to settle into a running stance.
"Sorry, but I gotta go! I need to SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Screaming at the top of his impressive lungs, Nekomaru abruptly sprinted away. He was so fast, I saw nothing but a large blur speeding away from me.
I was at a loss. Nekomaru's presence might have made me uncomfortable, what with him being someone who wasn't supposed to exist, but at least I could talk to him. Now, after barely even speaking to him, he was gone.
With nothing better to do, I decided to recreate the events of the game from memory. Hajime was bound to wake up soon, and the last thing I wanted was to go running around the first island without someone to anchor me to reality.
Reality was probably not the best word to use. The less I thought about how I was in the Neo World Program, the better. All of that could be left for later.
Of course, my brain immediately rebelled against me and forced me to think about it anyway.
How had this even happened? Was there some kind of freak accident with the Neo World Program that ejected Nagito's consciousness, somehow? But if that were the case, why was I here?
I didn't even exist in this world. At least, as far as I knew, I didn't. It would have been a great time to remember some actually useful information about myself.
Nothing. Not a single bit past useless information like how tall I used to be and my gender. Figures. I sighed and played with a dangling strand of off white hair that was already beginning to feel less alien to me.
I didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Another thing to push down for the time being.
I also violently squashed down the thoughts of whether or not Junko's AI was hanging around, waiting for the right moment so Monokuma could pop up out of nowhere. I then mentally compressed those thoughts into a ball and set them on fire.
"Ugh…" I nearly sagged in relief as I heard Hajime stir. Any longer and I felt like was going to go insane from my own thoughts. I crouched over him, trying my best to put on a concerned face.
I was concerned, in a way, but I already knew he was fine. He didn't seem to notice as his eyes opened, glazed over at first before they focused on me.
Did he see me the same way he saw Nagito in the game? That initially unassuming, friendly looking boy who was just looking out for his health?
Or did Izuru leak through somehow, influencing his thoughts to the point where he noticed something was off about me? Hajime was already pretty sharp, but Izuru was a worst case scenario.
I blamed Nagito's brain for my paranoia.
"You okay?" I eventually said as Hajime propped himself up on his arms. He looked around, eyes wide as he took in the sights. I probably had a similar look on my face not too long ago, and looking at it from an outside perspective, it was pretty funny.
"Yeah, but, where are we? Who are you?" Hajime looked at me with suspicion, poorly hidden suspicion at that. I had forgotten how cynical he could be, even without the Izuru thing going on in his head.
I held out a hand to help him up, which he accepted after a few seconds of hesitation. I was surprised at how easy it was to hoist him up. Apparently Nagito was a little stronger than I thought.
"I'm…" I stopped for a second, wondering what to say. I tried desperately to recall what my name was, but came up with nothing as usual. "...Nagito Komaeda, Ultimate Lucky Student."
For your sake, I hope you never have to experience introducing yourself as someone else, in their body, with their voice. It was violating in a way I still struggle to describe. It was like being forced to leave my actual identity behind against my will.
I didn't want to be Nagito. Hell, I didn't even like him all that much when I played the game. All I even knew about him was a bit about his luck, and that he was apparently rich.
But here I was, in his skin. I regretted never doing his free time events properly. Especially because, for some reason, I didn't quite know everything Nagito should know.
For instance, why I was so damn cold despite it probably being the middle of summer. I knew the aforementioned things about him - his odd luck cycle and his financial situation - but everything else was blank.
Hajime's suspicion seemed to only increase for a moment as I hesitated, but eventually his eyes softened. "Hajime Hinata." Was all he said as he finally let go of the arm I had pulled him up with.
He didn't mention his talent, not that I expected him to. The others would probably give him grief for it, but he'd have to deal with that himself.
"Everyone else went ahead, from what I was told at least. You wanna go meet everyone, get a look at the island?" I asked. I shoved my hands into the pockets of Nagito's - my - jacket.
"Why are you so laid back about this? We just wake up on an island in the middle of the ocean, nobody around, and you're just cool with it?" Hajime's expression was one of the most incredulous I could remember seeing in my life.
Despite that look, however, he kept pace with me as I left the beach and followed the path that I assumed would span the island.
I thanked whatever deity existed in Danganronpa, Atua probably, that there was just one straightforward path. I had only ever navigated Jabberwock in 2D, and now that it was very much 3D, navigation would have been a nightmare otherwise.
"I'm not cool with it, Hajime. Just don't see any other options, is all. What else are we supposed to do?" I eventually said. I stumbled slightly, still not entirely used to my shorter legs, but I was getting used to it.
Hajime was apparently too deep in thought to notice though. "I guess." Was all he said at first, obviously not happy about it.
An awkward silence descended upon us. I wanted to say something, anything, but of the very few things to follow me into this weird body swapping, my social awkwardness just had to be one of them.
Instead, I felt around my jacket and pants and eventually found an e-Handbook stuffed into one of my many pockets. It was essentially a glorified tablet,, but it was still nice to have.
The layout of it was the same as in the game, minus a few differences. Mine didn't have a pet, and the Truth Bullet section was completely missing. That was either a very good or very bad sign.
I checked the report card section but it was mostly blank. There were squares representing everyone's faces, but besides mine, Hajime's, and Nekomaru's, everything else was all blank.
Even then, Nekomaru's just had his picture. His name didn't even show up, nor did his talent. Were these things listening in on conversations or something? How would they even be able to fill out the report cards like this?
Oh. Yeah. Simulation.
But, wouldn't Nagito have already introduced himself, and therefore he would know everyone? Even if he didn't, he already researched them beforehand if memory served. Did the thing react to me being here? But in that case, wouldn't it know that I already knew who everyone was and what their talents were?
This was getting confusing.
I violently got rid of those thoughts and spent the rest of the mercifully short walk to the airport reading the rules, which were just the same ones Usami had come up with.
No violence, no littering, everyone should get along and collect hope fragments, blah blah blah. I wanted to believe that these would be the only rules, but that was just wishful thinking.
As Hajime trailed behind me into the airport, I wondered what would happen if I actually did litter. Usami, or Monomi, said that a siren would go off if you did, but some weird part of my mind wanted to test it out. Probably Nagito.
That could wait for later, though. First came introductions.
I tried not to show how suddenly anxious I was as I walked up to Kazuichi. Gundham was off in the corner, fiddling with his scarf, so I left him alone for the moment.
Nekomaru had snapped me out of my initial trance, but he barely said a few sentences to me before his indigestion started to act up again. Hajime, for some reason, didn't really freak me out when I talked to him.
Maybe because he was more "normal"? Discounting the… everything that was the Izuru Kamukura Project at least. Or maybe because he was the protagonist, so he was the one people could easily relate to.
Everyone else, on the other hand, was a completely different matter. Nagito had already introduced himself to them before someone went all Freaky Friday with his and my body.
Do I act like Nagito?
Yeah, no. He was an interesting character, but I didn't really fancy looking like a lunatic by ranting about hope and despair every five seconds. I already would get locked up in a nice padded cell for suggesting the body swapping theory.
I was immensely grateful that, if I had to be Nagito, I got switched before he snapped.
Kazuichi, of course, was completely oblivious to my struggles. He just grinned, showing off his insanely sharp teeth.. "Yo! Good to see you back with the living, man!"
"Uh…" Was my eloquent response. I pointed between myself and Hajime. Kazuichi groaned.
"I meant you, Nagito, but I guess it works for him too." Well, that at least confirmed that the actual Nagito had given his name to everyone. Hopefully he didn't say anything weird already.
I pushed Hajme forward. He'd been hanging around behind me, not looking at all in the mood for introductions. Too bad for him.
Hajime shot me a dirty look that I pointedly ignored. "Hey, I'm Hajime Hinata. It's… good to meet you, I guess." Kazuichi didn't seem to mind how unsure he sounded.
"Name's Kazuichi Soda, Ultimate Mechanic!" He pressed a thumb against his chest as his grin somehow got wider. And then he asked the question. "What's your talent, man?"
I watched as Hajime winced. His mouth formed a grim line as he thought about what to say, before he finally came up with something.
"Honestly, I have no idea. It's just one big blank." The pained look on his face made me want to say something.
I decided not to. If I just blurted out that he was technically the Ultimate Hope, he'd probably think I was making fun of him.
Whatever Kazuichi and Hajime talked about after that, probably the lack of engines in the planes if memory served, was completely tuned out by me, and for good reason.
Ultimate Hope!? The hope that can overcome even the deepest, darkest pits of despair! I have to see it. I need to be the stepping stone for an ever brighter hope to prosper!
I held my head with one hand and shook it, trying to dispel the thoughts that came out of nowhere.
It felt like someone was forcing me out of my own head. I had lost all control for a brief moment, but it was enough to terrify me.
Nagito was still around. Maybe not fully, not to the point where he could take control yet, but enough to worry me. If me even thinking about the Ultimate Hope was enough to trigger that, there was no telling what might set off another reaction like it.
I did have his brain, so some of the way he thinks leaking over shouldn't have been that much of a surprise. Was my personality going to turn into some weird amalgamation of Nagito's and my own?
I'd throttle whoever put me in Nagito's body personally if I ended up in a Toko/Genocide Jack situation.
Could his thoughts influence my actions? How much of him was still lingering in my head, waiting?
Did this explain the missing memories that Nagito should have, but I didn't, despite having his brain? But then, why would only that information be missing instead of everything that Nagito knew?
Was it even right for me to resist it if he tried to take back control at some point? I was a parasite, an unwanted guest that hijacked his whole existence.
I bit my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. It snapped me out of it before my thoughts turned existential crisis could really spiral, and since Hajime and Kazuichi were still talking, they didn't even notice.
I made a note to try my absolute best to not ever mention hope or despair. But, considering the fact that I was now in Danganronpa, I doubted that would last long.
Anyway, Hajime seemed to have wrapped up his conversation with Kazuichi. He gave me yet another weird look.
"Are… you okay, Nagito? You haven't said anything in a while." And of course he noticed. I waved my hands around, trying to imitate Nagito yet again.
"No, no, I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all." He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, now you're thinking about things?"
"Are you always this sassy or is it just the memory loss?" I couldn't help but ask. He just sighed.
"Sorry, but this whole situation's weird. We're stuck here, no way out, nobody but us around from what I can tell, and everyone just seems fine with it." He vented, thankfully without Kazuichi overhearing.
Gundham did look at us though. Maybe his hamsters - sorry - his Four Dark Devas of Destruction heard us and told him.
Unless the whole "speaking to animals" thing was made up.
"I get you, but being like this isn't helping either. For now we should just go along with it. We're not going to make things any better by being overly cynical." I didn't wait for his response, not that he had one given his silence.
Instead, I braced myself. Gundham was one of my favorite characters, but I didn't know how his Chuunibyou tendencies would translate to actually speaking with him. Still, I felt a little excited at the idea of meeting him.
"Come no closer, knaves! If you do, I will strike you down and send you to a watery end!" This, of course, was how Gundham opened the conversation.
"Maybe we should just leave this guy alone." Hajime said with a baffled look on his face. I, on the other hand, would do no such thing.
Might as well have some fun with this weird situation.
"Oh, really? And who are you to make such claims?" I tried my best to mimic his tone, dramatically posing for added effect.
Gundham got into what must have been his battle stance, complete with his Devas running out from his scarf and glaring at me. It just made them look cuter instead of more menacing.
"Do not take that tone with me, sickly one. For before you stands Gundham Tanaka, Supreme Overlord of Ice, and the Ultimate Breeder of evil!" His Devas even hissed at me to emphasize his point.
Could hamsters even hiss? Also, sickly? I decided against asking about either of those things.
"Truly? My apologies then, I was unaware I was speaking to a man of your stature." I bowed slightly. He relaxed, though his Devas still looked at me warily.
"As long as you recognize your folly, I will not punish you. Thank whatever deity you pray to for your good fortune."
Hajime introduced himself, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but there at the moment. "Ultimate Breeder?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"Ultimate Breeder of evil, yes. Were you not listening?" Gundham emphasized the "of evil" part, sounding almost offended. I stepped in before anything else could happen.
"He's basically the best of the best when it comes to breeding and taming animals. I think he even learned how to speak to them, somehow." I explained to Hajime.
"So, the hamsters…" He trailed off. Gundham rolled his eyes.
"They are not mere hamsters, they are my feared Four Dark Devas of Destruction, and you will show them the proper respect, lest they burn your soul in the fires of pandemonium!" Hajime didn't look amused, but he soldiered on.
"So you can speak to your Dark Devas of Destruction then? And you understand them?" Gundham nodded.
"Of course. I would be a poor Supreme Overlord if I could not understand my most fearsome warriors, wouldn't you say?" The Devas puffed themselves up, looking proud at his words.
Hajime looked fed up. It wasn't an "I'm going to keep talking to you, but I'm not going to like it" fed up, more of an "I am leaving this conversation right this instant" fed up.
It confused me almost as much as the body swapping.
"You know what, sure. This is fine. See you later, Gundham." He proceeded to walk off, briskly exiting the airport through the same doors we entered from without even saying anything to me.
Gundham nodded sagely.
"Hmph. Of course, a mere mortal cannot bask in my presence for too long. He would surely have perished if he stayed." He completely misunderstood his reaction, but that was probably for the best.
I decided to let him go on his own. Sure, I wanted to stay around the protagonist, but he was also acting differently than how he was in the game. I must have messed something up along the way.
I was worried about how much more agitated he was though. Sure, in the game he was skeptical and maybe a little rude sometimes, but he never just stormed off from a conversation to my knowledge.
Best not to worry about it. I already had enough on my mind. Right now, I had to at least try to act normal.
"If that's the case, why am I still fine?" I asked Gundham. He mulled it over for a moment.
"You said you were the Ultimate Lucky Student before, correct? Perhaps Fortuna has blessed you with the good fortune to not fall victim to my power." He looked at me with some caution. "Truly, a potent blessing."
I laughed, not in a condescending way, but a true laugh for the first time since I woke up in Nagito's body. Gundham was weird, but a breath of fresh air for me right then.
I left the airport soon after, since I still had plenty of people to meet, and I was running out of time to do it.
Up next, the supermarket.
Rocketpunch Market was much bigger in person than in the game, and it was already huge there. The most glaringly obvious thing wrong with the place, other than the lack of people, was the fact that there were no registers.
In other words, no way to pay. It made no sense for an actual supermarket, but knowing what I knew, it made a lot more sense.
The shelves were absolutely packed to bursting with everything you could possibly need. Food, clothes, hygienic products, even specialty items like the display with night vision goggles and other military gear was there.
I thought about swiping them for a second, but they were in full view of Mikan. She might not have asked any questions about it with her personality, but it might still get brought up at some point.
Also, the cola bottles were just as exaggeratedly huge as they were in game. I took a look at the bottle and found out each one was over twenty liters.
It wasn't important information in the slightest. Just some information I was always a little curious about. Who even made soda bottles that big?
Mikan and Ibuki were accounted for, but Hajime was nowhere to be seen. I figured he had probably just dropped by, introduced himself, and left in a hurry. Unless he went the other way around and looped around to the ranch, or even the bridge to the Central Island for some reason.
Mikan looked at me with an odd combination of emotions that I could only barely figure out. Mainly concern, but there was still her signature extreme anxiety there too. She made no move to approach me, so I left her alone for the moment.
Instead, I looked around the store. The game only showed a small part of it, and I wanted to see if there was anything else interesting besides the military gear.
As it turned out, there were several things.
The main one that caught my eye was a door that I assumed led to some kind of manager's office. I tried to open the door, but only noticed the keypad keeping the door locked after it refused to open.
There must be something in there. Why else would there be a keypad needed to open it? Finding the combination was a whole other issue, but at least I had something to look out for.
Just out of curiosity, I tried entering 11037, hoping it was some kind of master code. It wasn't, and all I got was a big fat ENTRY DENIED message on the screen.
After that, I walked the aisles and made a mental map of the store's layout. Unlike the game, there was an entire section of the store dedicated to sporting goods. Or maybe it existed in the game and it was just never shown.
An important thing to note is just how broad the term "sporting goods" is. The goods on display ranged from equipment for playing football, basketball, etc to fishing equipment to… weapons.
Not guns, thankfully. There was a wide assortment of hockey sticks, baseball bats, and golf clubs, among other things. This was probably where Peko got the bat in chapter 2.
There was also an assortment of knives, from pocket knives to large survival knives, inside a glass counter. Said counter was completely unlocked, so it would be easy for anyone to just open it and grab one.
Which I did, after making sure nobody was looking. I tucked the survival knife I grabbed, inside of its sheath of course, into one of my inner jacket pockets. I wasn't planning to kill anyone, but it would definitely help for self defense.
That brought up another interesting question. Why were these even there at that moment? Monokuma hadn't shown up to hijack the school trip, and there was no Killing Game going on.
Was it just an oversight? It was a large one, given how insistent Makoto, Kyoko, and Byakuya were about how violence was never expected in the Neo World Program at all.
I really needed to start writing things down to make sense of everything going on at some point.
Finally, I found a pharmacy, unstaffed obviously, in another corner of the store. I had no clue what to really look for, but everything there was mostly over the counter medications. Headache medicine, cough syrup, things like that.
I guessed that, if there were anything too strong in the store, the pharmacy on the second island would be redundant. Still, I grabbed some of the headache medicine. I'd probably need it.
All in all, the place was even more impressive than I thought. After I was satisfied, I decided to finally talk to Mikan and Ibuki.
Mikan was closer, so I got her introduction out of the way first. If it even counted as an introduction, since I knew her and she knew me. Or, she knew Nagito, which was close enough.
"A-Ah! You look better than you did before, N-Nagito!" She stuttered out, already shaking from my presence alone.
The game really didn't do her justice. There was only so much a sprite could do to convey emotions after all. She was shaking so much, she could probably generate electricity from the friction alone.
I chuckled as she inspected me for any injuries. Upon finding none, she nodded and I could see tears forming in her eyes.
"Sorry to worry you, Mikan. I'm fine, just had a delayed reaction before, I guess." I somehow came up with a lie that she didn't question. She frantically waved her arms around.
"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to make you apologize to me! Please don't hate me!" I winced as she started crying in full. I wasn't exactly the best with crying people, let alone someone as traumatized as Mikan, but I tried my best to appease her.
"You didn't make me do anything. Of course I don't hate you." I fumbled as I thought of what to do. Getting closer to her didn't seem like a good idea, I'd probably just set her off even more. If I stayed too far away, she'd take that badly too.
Basically, there was no right answer. Nonetheless, Mikan calmed down a little. She was still crying but at least she wasn't yelling anymore.
"Really? You mean it?" God, she sounded like she was afraid I'd hit her or something.
She probably was. Bad thoughts.
"Yeah, I mean it." I let her recompose herself before I asked her what I originally wanted to. "Might be a weird question, but have you seen Hajime anywhere?"
"Hajime? Is h-he the boy who was a-asleep on the beach?" So, he did go around the other way, then. Or he just skipped the market, but he'd have to meet everyone regardless, so that was pointless.
"Yeah, I wanted to show him around but we got separated. He must have gone somewhere else…" My voice conveyed no disappointment, anger, or anything negative, but Mikan still took it the wrong way.
"I'm sorry! I should have seen him! Please don't be mad at me!" Her tears came back with a vengeance.
Of all the casts, this one really needed an Ultimate Therapist, or Ultimate Psychiatrist, or something. I would say a doctor or nurse would suffice, but seeing as how the Ultimate Nurse was the one in the most need of therapy, that was a no go.
After finally reassuring her that she wasn't at fault and that no, I didn't hate her for something completely out of her control, I moved onto Ibuki. I felt Mikan's eyes on me for a few more seconds, but thought nothing of it.
She just did that all the time, from my knowledge. Best not to read into it.
Ibuki was rummaging through the shelves, humming loudly and looking like her body was having a hard time holding back her infinite energy.
"Hey hey, Nagito!" She called out without looking at me at first, probably hearing my footsteps with her abnormally good hearing. "Ibuki was wondering if you were okay! You totally spaced out on us!"
Her voice was loud, but nowhere near as loud as Nekomaru's. His had just about deafened me.
"Man, I'm never gonna hear the end of this, am I?" Everyone besides Gundham had brought up my little episode, which, while fair, was getting a bit old.
Gundham did call me sickly though. Was he talking about the episode, or just how Nagito looks in general?
"Nah, don't worry about it! Ibuki thinks everyone's just worried, that's all!" Her smile didn't drop one bit, and I couldn't help but return it. Though, I did raise an eyebrow.
"Really? Even Hiyoko? Fuyuhiko?" She hesitated.
"Well… maybe not them. But everyone else is! Ibuki knows it!" She suddenly gasped and pulled something off of the shelf.
For some reason, on a shelf filled with food ranging from ramen cups to chips, there was a CD. I didn't question it. She cradled it like it was the holy grail.
"Uh, Ibuki? You alright?" She didn't say anything for almost a minute. I was worried she had fainted standing up, somehow. I wouldn't put it past her, considering that she could foam at the mouth on command.
Speaking of which, she did just that. "Ibuki's…Ibuki's been looking for this for ages! It's super, super rare!" She showed me the CD after calming down a little.
I didn't recognize the band name, or the album name. The most curious part was that both were written in Japanese, which I could now read. I had never learned to read a word of Japanese in my life, according to my still limited knowledge of myself.
At least Nagito's brain was useful for something beyond giving me weird intrusive thoughts about hope and despair.
"Well uh, I'm happy for you Ibuki.I should… I should go talk to everyone else." I backed off, though she seemed too absorbed into her own world to care much. She just waved me off and continued devouring the CD with her eyes.
I didn't have the heart to tell her that there was no way to play it yet. There was no source of functioning electronics until the third island, and even then, most of them were junk.
Now that the market was taken care of, it was time for the hotel.
Hotel Mirai was much more beautiful in person than it was on a screen. I stood and took in the sights, with the cottages on either side of me and the pool and main building straight ahead.
The grounds were much bigger than they were in the game, and so were the cottages for that matter. Another difference was that they had keypads beside each door, which I assumed allowed each student to make their own code for their room.
I didn't remember the exact layout from the game, but it all seemed about right. My cottage was next to Byakuya's, or the Impostor's, which was next to Hajime's. Nekomaru's cottage was directly across from me, and my other neighbor was Gundham.
I found a note inside my mailbox. It was short and to the point.
Welcome, students, to your very own personal cottage! Feel free to relax and take a load off as you continue to gather Hope Fragments! Remember, each student has their own keypad, so don't forget your code once you set it!
At the bottom was a poorly drawn Usami with a heart around it. I snorted and stored the note away. Part of me wanted to just throw it on the ground, but testing the whole "litter = siren" thing could come later.
My chosen code was 11037. No surprise there. Originality was never really my forte.
I searched my cottage, but found nothing out of place. The bookcase was there, packed with thick books that I had never even seen in my life. There was also a mini fridge, stocked with drinks, which was new but welcome.
As soon as I shut the door behind me, I heard the lock engaging and the keypad beeped once. There were never murders in the cottages before, but the keypads and codes would definitely hinder them if one was planned.
Nekomaru was standing by the pool staring off into space with his eyes still producing electricity. I tapped him on the shoulder, staggering back as he whirled around fast enough for me to feel the wind on my clothes.
"You startled me! Where have you been, Nagito!?" And he was still shouting. I liked him, but he was really not helping my headache that had been festering for a while.
"I was checking in on everyone else, but I lost Hajime along the way. You didn't see him, did you? I asked Mikan, but no luck." For some reason, the word luck left a bad taste in my mouth.
Such a disgraceful talent. It's hardly worth being called a talent at all. To be placed alongside these Ultimates is nothing but an insult to them.
Nekomaru steadied me for the second time that day as I reeled from the sudden intrusive thoughts.
He frowned as he looked me over. "You look terrible. Maybe you should go rest for a while." His frown deepened after I shook my head in response.
"It's nothing. Just the trip here getting to me is all." I hoped I wouldn't have to keep explaining my weird behavior.
Nekomaru was unconvinced. "You've been acting weird since the beach earlier. Don't sit there and tell me nothing's wrong, I'm the last person you can lie to about this stuff, ya know."
Ultimate Team Manager. Right. I didn't give him enough credit for how observant he was.
"Fine. I'll go rest in my cottage later. Can I at least check in with everyone else first, Coach?" I didn't even notice I called him Coach until it was already out of my mouth.
He took it in stride. "I'll allow it, but you better head straight there if you feel any worse, got it!?" His voice was suddenly booming again, the chain wrapped around him rattling from the intense volume.
I wondered if this would just be a thing from now on. His cottage was directly across from mine, and since I called him Coach he might start thinking of me as one of his trainees.
It didn't sound like such a bad thing, in all honesty. Still, it was time to move on.
I grimaced at the scene before me, on the other side of the pool from Nekomaru. Mahiru and Fuyuhiko were arguing about something. Loudly.
Nekomaru's voice was just so loud naturally that it probably blocked them out. As I got closer, approaching them like I was walking up on a sleeping bear, I managed to hear snippets of the argument.
"Are you even trying, Fuyuhiko? You're a boy, right? You're supposed to do better than this!" Mahiru nagged, hands on her hips as she looked down at Fuyuhiko.
He snarled, near foaming at the mouth in anger. "What the fuck makes you think you can talk to me like that, bitch!? You better watch your mouth around me or you're gonna be missing a few fucking fingers!"
Mahiru wasn't phased in the slightest. "Uh-huh." And of course, this only made Fuyuhiko angrier somehow.
I cleared my throat with great hesitation, stopping both in their tracks before they could kill each other. Or before Fuyuhiko had a stroke from rage. Whichever came first.
"Hey guys." My voice was weak even to my ears. I really didn't want to set either of them off more than they already were.
Fuyuhiko huffed and crossed his arms, looking marginally less pissed off. "The fuck do you want, Nagito?"
Mahiru looked like she wanted to smack him upside the head but thought better of it. She started fiddling with her camera, throwing me a look.
"Shouldn't you be resting or something? I heard Nekomaru yelling at you."
"Really, even with your… thing going on?" She rolled her eyes and huffed.
"The whole island could hear Nekomaru. It's a miracle your ears aren't bleeding, Unreliable Nagito." And she already thought I was unreliable.
"That's kinda harsh, Mahiru." I defended myself. It wasn't like I chose to have all of this happen.
If it was my choice, I'd be literally anyone besides Nagito. I'd even take Teruteru if I had to.
Actually no, that was a lie.
"What, gonna cry about it?" Fuyuhiko spat. Was he always this hostile at the start? It was hard to reconcile the Fuyuhiko standing in front of me with the person he becomes. Right then, he sounded like a middle school bully.
A middle school bully in line to lead a Yakuza clan with 30,000 members. Maybe there was a bit of a difference there.
And of course, my mouth worked faster than my (stolen) brain.
"Maybe you should be the one crying, Baby Gangsta." I couldn't help the jab at his height. He was short and so was my temper, all of a sudden.
I'd never seen someone look so angry in my life. If he could kill me with his eyes, I don't think even Nagito's stupid luck could have saved me. He settled for the next best course of action next to killing me.
He lunged forward so fast I barely even saw him. I felt him push me, and with me being caught completely flat footed I stumbled and fell.
Directly into the pool.
For a second, I panicked. The water was freezing, not helping my already chilly body temperature, and I had been pushed right into the deep end since I kept falling and falling.
Eventually I got my bearings and managed to swim back up, desperately gasping for air as I resurfaced. I heaved my body up out of the pool and laid on my back, looking up at the sky.
My jacket was kept close to me. It didn't help my body temperature but it did ensure that nobody saw the knife that would have otherwise been on full view in one of my pockets.
I was still coughing up water, which probably wasn't good. Mikan would have a heart attack if she saw.
Fuyuhiko, thankfully, had apparently decided that nearly drowning me was enough for the day.
"Let that be a fucking lesson, bastard. You can't just say shit like that to me whenever you want! Next time, you ain't coming back up!" He spat, storming off towards the cottages.
Mahiru took pity on me and helped me up after I was done hacking up liquid.
"You're really unreliable, you know that? What made you think that was a good idea, huh?" She said, poking me in the chest for emphasis. I swatted her hand away lightly.
"Oh, and it was fine for you to piss him off?" I snarked back. She didn't like that.
"You brought up the one thing everybody knew to not bring up. It's your own fault." She argued. "Also, Baby Gangsta? Really? Where'd you get that from?" For the first time since I met her, she actually cracked a smile as she said that.
It was good to know she had a sense of humor. I hadn't really gotten to know her all that well in the game.
"Eh, just came up with it on the spot. You like it?" I teased, finally having fully calmed down from the ordeal.
My clothes were still soaking wet though. Did I have time for a shower and a change of clothes? Probably not.
Great. I was actually shivering now from the cold, wet clothes and my already abysmal temperature. Just what was wrong with Nagito's body? I had heard about him being sick at some point, but never paid much attention to it.
Maybe I could ask Mikan about it? Doctor-patient confidentiality was a hell of a thing, and I doubted she would break it unless it was necessary. Maybe after she calms down a little more.
If Mahiru noticed the shivering, she didn't bring it up. "It's pretty good, I'll admit. Don't ever say it to his face again though. I'm not in the mood to be a funeral photographer."
I tried not to wince at the idea.
"Yeah, I like living, thanks." With that, I left Mahiru behind. Introductions, or "me meeting fictional characters I would have otherwise loved to meet but currently caused me existential terror", were taking longer than I thought already. She waved me off and went back to fiddling with her camera.
The air conditioning inside of the hotel lobby should have felt nice, and on any other day it probably would have. For me, it was torture. Cold air blowing on cold, wet clothes was always a recipe for disaster.
I managed to wring out some of the moisture outside, but my shoes still made wet squelching sounds as I walked across the hardwood floor. Peko looked up at me, an odd look in her eyes.
Had she seen the situation outside? If she did, she didn't confront me about it. She just gave me a nod after looking me over, which I returned.
I was glad she was more of the reserved type. I didn't know what to say to her anyway. It wasn't that I disliked her, but I had no idea how to even start a conversation with Peko.
That added onto the fact that her "Young Master" was probably scheming about how to get away with brutally murdering me made me give her a wide berth.
Chiaki was off to the side, completely absorbed into whatever game she was playing. I never actually knew what game it was, so my curiosity was piqued.
I peered over her shoulder, which she didn't even notice, and got a good look at what she was playing. To me, it looked like a knockoff of Space Invaders. I could only barely keep up with what she was doing.
She wasn't the Ultimate Gamer for nothing. I thought of myself as pretty good at games, but I couldn't even comprehend some of the moves she was pulling off.
After a few minutes, she seemingly let herself lose and swiveled around to face me. I checked her score out of the corner of my eye.
300,000 points. That had to have been some kind of world record. I felt whatever pride I had in my gaming skills die a humiliating, painful death.
"Hey, hey." She said, her facial expression unchanging minus a small smile. "Good to see you… I think."
I raised an eyebrow. "You think?"
"...Nope, I'm sure of it. You had us all worried earlier, Nagito. Where's that other boy, the one who passed out?" She asked, messing with the hood on her jacket.
I shrugged. "His name's Hajime Hinata, but that's about all I got from him. I tried to help him meet everyone but he stormed off on me a while ago."
"I see… well, if you see him, tell him I want to talk to him. Okay?" She asked with a slight frown. I wondered what was going on, and decided there was no harm in asking.
"Sure, but you mind me asking why?" She was already acting differently. Not in terms of her general attitude or behavior, but she looked unusually interested when she brought Hajime up.
Wasn't this way too early for all of that?
"It's… nothing, really. I just wanted to check up on him." Chiaki reassured, her face still mostly blank. She'd make a killing at poker.
I noticed her carefully looking me over as well. It was hard to see, considering the fact that her eyes barely moved, but I saw it. A miniscule frown adorned her face for a second before it vanished.
Chiaki was definitely one to watch out for. Her circumstances aside, she was incredibly sharp, almost as much as Hajime and… the real Nagito.
"If you say so. I'll let him know if I see him." I finally answered. She turned back to her game, flashing me a thumbs up over her shoulder.
"Cool. Thanks." And then she was lost to the world again.
I was in the home stretch now. Just five people left, and then I'd finally get some kind of resolution to the tension I was feeling. It had been building all day, in the background, though I tried to ignore it.
Five more people, and I'd see if it was Island Mode, or the Killing Game.
I trudged up the stairs to the restaurant and immediately regretted it. Sonia and Teruteru were there, just as I expected.
Sonia was fine. Her eyes sparkled as she looked around, drinking everything in. The problem was Teruteru. He had an expression on his face that I already knew meant trouble.
"Miss Sonia, it's terrible. My loins are just… full of poison, you see." Teruteru was drooling a little, which Sonia was thankfully oblivious to. She put a hand to her chin.
"Hmm, I'd like to help you, Teruteru, but I'm not sure what to do. Please accept my apologies!" Teruteru's leer widened.
"Well… you could suck it out. Pretty please? It'll be our secret." I shivered. This time it wasn't from the cold, just sheer disgust.
If the Killing Game did happen, I hoped he was first to go. I didn't necessarily hate him, but I'd be the least broken up about him. But that would also mean someone else would have to die…
Plus, thinking about the Killing Game like that made me nauseous. It was a bit too serious to be joking around like that.
That could wait. For now, I had an idea.
I snuck around them easily, considering how wrapped up they were in what could generously be called a conversation.
There was a soda fountain off to the side, which wasn't there in the game, but I was glad for it. I grabbed one of the cups sitting off to the side and filled it with ice cold water.
Teruteru didn't know what hit him. Or, more precisely, what was poured right over his head. He howled and spluttered, backing up into one of the other tables. His elaborate hairstyle came undone and his face reddened dramatically.
"Now what the hell you gone and done that for, huh?" His true accent slipped for all of one sentence before he hurriedly clamped down on it.
"You seemed pretty worked up. I figured the heat was getting to you, so I wanted to help you cool off." I lied through my teeth, putting on what I hoped was an innocent smile instead of a shit eating grin.
Sonia bought it completely. "Ah, how nice of you, Nagito! You should thank him for his assistance!" She struck one of her regal poses in Teruteru's direction.
I wasn't even on the receiving end of it and I felt an urge to bow. Teruteru stood no chance at all. He bowed so deeply that, due to his height, he was almost touching the floor with his forehead.
The absolute oil spill of a human straightened after a few seconds and looked at me with another of his leers. I tried to abort the mission, even if it took leaving Sonia to deal with him alone again.
There was one problem.
"Are you leaving already? But you have only just arrived!" I couldn't say no to the look on Sonia's face though. My own body rebelled against me; such was the power of her regal aura.
"Sorry Sonia, but I've got other things I need to do right now." I tried to convince her, but she remained unmoved and just stared me down.
Teruteru looked me up and down. My nausea increased tenfold.
"My my, Nagito, you're all wet. Naughty." Teruteru purred. I was glad I hadn't eaten anything yet.
How was he worse in reality? I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt at first but he threw that plan out the window in a hurry. The fact that he was an all purpose pervert instead of just perving on the girls wasn't that much of a comfort.
"I will pay you to never say that sequence of words again. Seriously. I have the money." Not on me, but he didn't have to know that.
"Aw, don't be like that." Teruteru attempted to fix his wet hair with his comb but eventually gave up and let it hang down. "I'm not that kind of lover, you know."
I ignored him and turned to Sonia, desperate for some normality. The princess was the one I was turning to for normality.
Had I already gone insane?
"How shameful! I did not even notice your wet clothes! Tell me what is the haps!" She all but commanded. I didn't bother correcting her ancient slang. It was just part of her charm.
"Don't worry about it. I just fell into the pool, that's all." Ratting out Fuyuhiko to Sonia might make for a funny confrontation between them later on, but I had already rattled that hornet's nest enough today.
"You simply must watch where you are walking, Nagito!" She scolded me like she was talking to a child. "You are even shivering. Is the pool's water truly that cold? I will reprimand Usami about it at the soonest opportunity!"
I shut down that avenue of conversation fast. "Sorry but it's not that, just my body expressing its sheer revulsion." For some reason, she nodded sagely. Maybe she was less oblivious than I thought.
"I see. Well, I shall not take up more of your time." She froze in place for a second, as a lightbulb seemed to have gone off in her head. "Teruteru, you have not thanked him yet!"
"Thanked him?" Teruteru asked with a tilt of his head. At this point even I didn't know what she was talking about. The whole conversation had already derailed so fast.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm with the oil spill." I… didn't mean to say that out loud. They both looked at me with baffled expressions.
Teruteru recovered quickly. "Ah, I see, because I'm so slick that you can't help but fall?" I rolled my eyes.
"No, because you're toxic to the environment and a general nuisance." I said as dryly as I could manage. He raised his hands in defeat, but was still smiling.
"We have digressed. Teruteru, thank him. He was gracious enough to look out for your health earlier!" Sonia said, striking a pose again. Teruteru instantly crumbled.
I raised a hand before he could speak again. "I appreciate it Sonia, but really, no thanks necessary. I don't need to be thanked for keeping an eye out for my classmates, right?"
It was complete BS. And because Sonia was the one on the receiving end, she took it in stride.
"I see. That is very noble of you, Nagito. Now, I believe you said you had other things to do."
"Yeah, I still need to check in on some people and it's getting kinda late." I checked the time on my e-Handbook. It was a little after 4 PM.
Considering that Monokuma's arrival happened in the evening, I had a bit of time, but not that much.
All that was left was the ranch and the park on the central island.
The ranch held very little of interest, in all honesty. I did note that the cow was already there, so either it had been a cow the entire time or Usami had already changed it from a chicken.
Akane and Hiyoko were still loitering around, though I had no clue what Akane was doing. She just stood there, arms crossed as she stared at the cow like it held all of the answers in the universe.
Hiyoko was squashing bugs. Ruthlessly at that. I actually felt bad for the bugs for a second.
I felt weird looking at her. She looked like she was maybe 12 or 13, certainly not high school age, and that had always been something that bugged me about her. I pushed that aside.
She looked up at me, her face breaking out into a vicious grin. "Oh hey, you're acting like a person again! Did the heat bake your stupid brain or something?" Ouch. I didn't expect her to care or have tact about anything, but still.
"Uh… no?" I honestly had no clue how to deal with her. I was more incredulous than angry with how immediately hostile she was.
Fuyuhiko had made me lose my temper a bit, but he also looked less like a child and more like an unfortunately baby faced teenager. He was also a yakuza.
"God, you're still out of it? You want me to bop you on the head, huh? Huh?" She prodded, literally and figuratively since she was now in my personal space and poking at me.
The urge to tell her that she couldn't do that even if she tried was strong, but mentioning someone's height had already landed me in cold water earlier.
"I'll pass, thanks." I lightly swatted her hand away. "Anyway, what's up with the cow?"
She looked at me like I was stupid. "Uh, it's a ranch? There's cows on ranches, dumbass."
That answer could mean that the cow was just always there, so Usami hadn't ever changed it from a chicken to a cow. Or she did it without anybody noticing.
Why was I so interested in the cow? Mainly because it was one of the first signs that something was very wrong about the school trip. Everybody had basically forgotten about it due to the shock of Monokuma showing up, but it was important.
Obviously you can't just wave a stick around and change an animal to a different species. In a simulation like the Neo World program though, with special privileges like the ones Usami would have as the teacher… many things were possible.
If only Usami were actually there to answer questions. Not that I thought she would, but it was better than running in circles in my head. She was a terrible liar, and I might be able to get some clues out of her.
Or she'd just leave instantly.
"I mean, yeah, but it's the only animal out here. Why is that?" I asked in return. She looked surprised, as if she had only just noticed herself.
The cow was the only animal in sight. There was a barn, a coop for chickens, stables, the works, but the only animal there was the singular cow. Not exactly normal for a ranch.
"You're right… that's kinda weird." She rubbed at her chin with one hand but eventually just shrugged. "Eh, it's probably nothing."
"It's pretty odd though, don't you think? Why even call it a ranch if there's just one cow in the entire place?" Hiyoko groaned at me, stomping her feet which only resulted in more dirt getting on her kimono.
"God, what is with you and the stupid cow!? I. Don't. Care!" She kept stomping for emphasis, looking exactly like a little kid throwing a tantrum. I decided that she wouldn't give me anything else of use.
"You're right, you're right. It's probably nothing, sorry." I scratched the back of my head, doing my best to put on a sheepish smile so she'd calm down a little.
She huffed and puffed, but eventually squatted back down to resume her bug genocide. I left her alone without another word.
I left Akane alone as well, like I did with Peko. Something told me that she wasn't in the right headspace for me to talk to her at that moment.
She was drooling waterfalls, still staring at the cow that was none the wiser. I pitied it, but decided not to place myself between a hungry Akane and her food. I didn't have a death wish.
Byakuya was the only one left. Or, maybe I should say "Byakuya", the Ultimate Impostor just didn't have a name of their own.
As I left the ranch behind, my thoughts centered on Hajime more than anything. His behavior was still bothering me, and the fact that I hadn't managed to find him yet worried me even more.
I hoped that he would be at Jabberwock Park with Byakuya.
He wasn't. Byakuya was there, staring up at the statue in the center of the park, but nobody else.
He didn't seem to notice my arrival, probably too wrapped up in his own thoughts and deductions about our situation. I took some time to observe the place.
Once again, it was scaled up compared to what I knew. The statue itself was also incredibly large; by my (likely inaccurate) estimation, it had to have been almost 100 feet at its apex.
The design of it was also intricate, much more than what could be conveyed in a game. Various beasts were intertwined, from a tiger, to a snake, to a horse complete with a rider. It loomed over me, even blocking the sun due to its sheer height.
Besides the statue, there was little of note. Some benches were placed all around, a few flower beds, and a water fountain or two. The place was mostly barren.
Byakuya perked up, turning to face me with an oddly relieved expression on his face. "I see you have recovered, Nagito. How fortunate for you." His somewhat condescending tone clashed with the look on his face.
"Aww, were you worried about me, Byakuya?" I teased with a grin. Byakuya just nodded, which caught me off guard.
"Of course." Was he just a lot less arrogant now for some reason? I knew he was just acting like Byakuya but still - "As the heir to the prestigious Togami name, it is my duty to watch over the commoners and all others who are below me."
There it was. Still, even with some of Byakuya's arrogance, his (their?) true personality slipped through. Maybe I'd be able to help the Ultimate Impostor with his sense of individuality?
"Have you found anything interesting?" I asked after a moment of silence passed between us.
Byakuya looked down on me, quite literally, since he was several inches taller than me now. "Must I spell it out for you? I would have thought the answer would be quite obvious, but it seems I must guide you all in this as well."
"It's about the island itself, right?" He looked stunned, and I took that as my cue to continue. "I've heard about this place before. A central island surrounded by five other islands, situated in the Pacific Ocean. It was called Jabberwock Island."
Poor Byakuya looked like his brain had crashed and was in the process of rebooting. He finally shook it off and did his best to look like his usual, arrogant self. Pushing his glasses up, he looked down on me once more.
"Perhaps you aren't quite as foolish as I thought. You are correct. This situation is odd as it is, but if this is truly Jabberwock Island, it only serves to make things more baffling." He explained. I took the backhanded compliment without complaint.
"We should tell the others. Sixteen heads are better than two, don't you think?" He thought it over for a moment before nodding.
"There is truth in your words. However, I am not sure how much will come of telling everyone at this point in time. For now, this seems like a leisurely school trip, albeit a strange one." I got the gist of what he was getting at.
Unfortunately, the period of this being a leisurely school trip was almost over. Or maybe it was just beginning. I'd be getting my answer soon, judging by the time on my e-Handbook.
5:30 PM. Every passing hour drew me closer to said answer, whether I would end up liking it or not.
"If you think that's best, I'll go along with it." My words drew a satisfied grunt and a small smirk from him.
"I am glad that you seem to know your place. Continue to do so." His words were harsh, but not his tone.
I realized I had forgotten to ask him something.
"Did Hajime come by here earlier? The last place I saw him was at the airport." Byakuya nodded.
"He did. He introduced himself, but looked agitated about something or another and left soon after. I decided it wasn't worth the energy to pursue him." He explained, which removed some of the tension I was feeling.
So, Hajime had gone to Jabberwock Park at some point. I still didn't know what he did after that, but it at least confirmed that he hadn't just disappeared somewhere. Not that there were many places to disappear to on the two islands available to us, but still.
It also occurred to me that I forgot to ask Hiyoko or Akane if they had seen him. Maybe he had gone the reverse route of the park, followed by the ranch, hotel, and the market? Had I somehow missed him on the singular path around the island?
Too many questions, not enough answers. Typical.
I thanked Byakuya and was about to ask him more questions when the monitor in the park flared to life.
On it was Usami, a wide smile on her face. She still had her magical girl outfit, complete with her magic stick. She cleared her nonexistent throat.
"Hello everyone! You've all worked very hard today gathering hope fragments. Your teacher is so proud of you all!" She took a second to cry before gathering herself. "You've done so well that I've prepared a reward for everyone! Come to the beach on the first island as soon as you can! Love love!
With that, she was gone. The monitor powered back down. Byakuya and I stood in silence for almost a minute before he snapped out of it.
"It seems our… teacher is requesting our presence. Come, quickly. It would not do for you to keep me waiting." With that, he was off. I scrambled to follow him, which was more difficult than I expected.
His weight seemingly did nothing to affect him. His considerable speed and longer legs made it difficult to keep up with him, but I managed.
He shut down any attempts at conversation along the way without even pausing. In no time at all, we arrived at the beach, being the second group to arrive. The first was Gundham and Kazuichi, who I guessed had just loitered around the airport.
We exchanged greetings, and by "we" I meant myself, Gundham, and Kazuichi. Byakuya stayed silent and stoic in the back. Eventually, everyone else started trickling in.
First came Akane and Hiyoko, then Mikan and Ibuki, and finally, the seven from the hotel.
Hajime was still nowhere to be seen. The last person from the hotel group to arrive was Chiaki, but she told me she still hadn't seen him.
We stood around, making small talk for what felt like half an hour before Hajime finally graced us with his presence. He looked disheveled, his ahoge had even slumped down a bit from where it was before.
He panted, bending over and grasping his knees as he struggled for breath.
"Sorry guys! I came as fast as I could!" Hajime struggled to get out between breaths. Since some of the others looked annoyed, I stepped in before they could say anything.
"Where were you, anyway? I asked around, but Byakuya was the only one that saw you." He looked down, seemingly embarrassed about something.
"Uh, well, I went to the park after I left the airport and met Byakuya. After that, I went to the ranch and the hotel." He recounted. I raised an eyebrow.
"What about the market?" I figured he must have gone to the hotel after I left, but if that was the case, why had Chiaki not seen him?
"I… I fell asleep. I went to check my cottage out and… yeah." He blushed, scratching the back of his head. "Usami's announcement woke me up."
"Well, you're here now. Finally. Do not make this a habit, Hajime." Byakuya scolded with a deep frown. Everyone else accepted the explanation and mostly shrugged it off.
Everybody but Fuyuhiko and Hiyoko, that is. Fortunately, they didn't drag things on any more than necessary this time. The most I heard from them were a few choice words about Hajime's character.
As for me, I thought something about the story didn't add up, but I wasn't sure what. It was mostly a gut feeling, spurred on by knowledge of how Hajime actually was as a person.
He was more freaked out about appearing on Jabberwock Island than anyone else, and he was by far the most skeptical about Usami's original idea for the school trip. The idea that he just crashed in his cottage just didn't sit right with me.
There was no time to ponder on it, though. For now I'd just have to accept it and hope I could get the truth out of him later. Part of me wondered if some of Hajime's paranoia had rubbed off on me instead.
Hajime shot me a look that I only barely noticed, but he looked away before I could really tell what kind of face he was making.
Of course, Usami interrupted me before I could ask him about it. She popped up out of nowhere. There was no trap door or anything else for her to exit from. She simply appeared on the beach like it was a normal thing.
I paid her no attention as she went on about the Hope Fragments, the school trip, and everything else I already knew. I did pocket the gift she gave out though, whereas pretty much everyone else threw it out.
Did they have to be so harsh to her? Sure the gift wasn't great but some of them were vicious.
Usami cheered up quickly though and my heart started pounding when she mentioned her motive for us to get along. My mood switched in a hurry.
It was almost time. I started shaking and sweating as I mentally prepared myself for whatever would happen next. My consciousness suddenly felt like it was separated from my body, like I was just a spectator along for the ride.
It was easy to push the thoughts of my situation down for most of the day. Sure, they lingered in the back of my mind, flaring up every now and then, but I could mostly suppress them.
Now? Not at all. They consumed me.
I was still out of it when Usami handed out the swimsuits to everyone willing. I vaguely noticed Hajime and a few others trying to get my attention, but I ignored them. Even when everybody came back, I still stood rooted to my spot.
I got more and more nervous as time went on. How long would this go on for? How long until I could finally get some answers as to my actual situation on this island, in this body?
How much longer until either despair or hope flourishes on Jabberwock Island?
It scared me more that it wasn't Nagito taking over my brain again that made me think of that. It was all me this time.
Time passed. I didn't know how long. It could have been hours, for all I knew. The sun set, bathing the beach in a beautiful orange glow that I would have killed to see under different circumstances.
Everything was still normal.
Gundham made a sand castle, with four separate towers for each of his Four Dark Devas. Kazuichi made a rival sand castle, much larger and more extravagant than Gundham's own, and declared war.
Hajime had joined the others in the water, laughing as Teruteru got chewed out by Mahiru for something.
Everything was still normal.
Even Byakuya ended up joining them in the end, though he still refused to put on a swimsuit. He ended up joining Gundham and Kazuichi's sand castle kingdom war.
Hiyoko was off to the side, stomping on every crab in sight with a gleeful smile on her face. Sonia tried to coax her out of it but there was no convincing her.
Mikan looked at me with an intense amount of worry dripping from her expression.
Everything. Was. Still. Normal.
I waited for the other shoe to drop. This was going on for much longer than it should have. Was it alright to just let the idea of the Killing Game go? Was this really just a peaceful school trip simulation?
Usami was nudging against one of my legs. I looked down at her and finally came back down to reality after being out of it for so long.
That was another worrying thing. That sense of… disconnection was something I had never felt before.
"Nagito, snap out of it! Please!" Usami yelled, now tugging on one of my pant legs with tears coming out of her eyes. Somehow, despite being a stuffed rabbit, she looked worried to death.
"I… have a weird question to ask, Usami." I finally spoke, voice low and slightly rough. She perked up instantly.
"No question is too weird for your teacher! Ask away!" If it were any other time, I would have challenged the first part of what she said.
"Is this real?" Instead of looking confused, or worried, she just nodded with a smile on her face.
"Absolutely! You're worrying too much, Nagito! Go on, have some fun with your friends, it's almost nighttime!" I hurriedly checked my e-Handbook as she said that.
9:00 PM. Had I really been out of it for that long? It was somewhere around 6:00 when Byakuya and I had first gotten to the beach, and with some rough math, I could guess that it was around 6:30 to 7:00 when Usami showed up.
I had been like that for two hours, at least. How had I just lost track of time that badly?
It didn't matter. Not at that moment. I sighed, a sigh filled with more relief than I had ever thought possible to come from my mouth. Usami's smile widened as I placed a hand on her head.
"Do you think you could hand me a swimsuit? Better late than never, I guess." I gave in and let my worries go. It felt like the weight of the world had been taken off of my shoulders.
Usami didn't say anything. She just handed me some swimming trunks without a word and waved me toward the others.
A few of them waved at me, smiling all the while. I waved back, a smile on my face so wide it started to hurt.
The trunks were clenched tightly in one of my hands as I walked off to get changed. I felt liberated, even though some of my preparation was for nothing, like me grabbing a knife from the store.
And then, just like that, I remembered.
Despair always comes without warning. Without mercy or care. It was an unfeeling entity that drew no pleasure from seeing you suffer. It was just in its nature.
The monitor to my side flickered to life. The figure on the screen was shadowed, but obviously wasn't human. All noise from the others stopped on a dime, and I watched as Usami's face somehow lost all color.
"Ah, testing, testing. Mic check! Can everybody hear me? Good!" As usual, the owner of the voice was cheery beyond reason. "Man, things are getting boring! But not anymore, students! Head on over to Jabberwock Park at your earliest convenience, and we'll get the real show started!"
And just like that, he was gone from the monitor. The picture disappeared, and a deathly silence hung over the beach.
Of course. Monokuma, and the one controlling him, were always keen on spreading as much despair as possible. And I had walked right into that trap.
But for a moment there, I wanted to hope that everything was fine. That the Killing Game was just fiction. That Monokuma was nothing more than a made up bogeyman.
I had forgotten that the things I thought were fictional were suddenly very much real. It wasn't a lesson I'd forget again.