Despite everything, there's a part of her still wants to believe that everything is just another nightmare she's having. That once she closes her eyes and opens them again, she'd find herself back in her room, having dozed off after spending the whole night gaming again, and she can forget all about it just like that.
But then, as soon as she woke up in this unfamiliar cottage instead of her room back home, it's no use denying it anymore. Even now, she can still can feel the somewhat rubbery sensation from the band-aid on her cheek.
'If I knew that things would turn out this way, then I wish I never went to Hope's Peak Academy.'
As she continues to do nothing but stares at the ceiling above her, she thinks back on what exactly happened after Monokuma announced…the Killing School Trip. She grimaces for a moment. 'It barely even started, and I already almost died back there. I don't know if I'm going to be as lucky again if next time, something like that happens again.'
She takes her mind off that detail for now, deciding to focus on the aftermath. She isn't exactly sure what the others did, but she knows that shortly after that…incident, she spent the rest of the day in her cottage, sleeping everything away. Pretending that it's all just another nightmare she can laugh off and forget afterwards.
But unlike those other nightmares she had, it's not going to fade away just like that anytime soon. Whether she likes it or not, she's here to stay.
Speaking of that, she isn't sure exactly what the time is right now, but if she were to guess, it's probably at least early in the morning right now. Maybe around three or four AM, since it's still rather dark outside.
With a soft sigh, she sits herself up, grabbing something over the desk right by the side of her bed. Her face softens as she looks over her pink GGA. 'Oh well, at least I still have you.'
Considering how she already lost her hoodie at the beginning of this school trip, she can't imagine just how much worse it'd be if she lost her favorite console too. Very gently, she turns it over a few times to check its condition, and once she's sure it's still a hundred percent okay, puts it back on the desk for now.
Chiaki wonders if she should get back to sleep right now, but weirdly enough, she doesn't feel like doing it. In fact, she's not even yawning or rubbing her eyes out right now like she'd usually do. Since there's nothing else she can do right now, she decides to get up from her bed and look around her new room.
She didn't get to look at it yesterday, since again, she went straight to bed, but now that she has a much better look at the inside of her cottage, it's…very plain, to sum it up in short. There are no decorations that set it up any differently or give it some kind of flair, nothing. It looks like a room that any other average person would have. The only odd thing about it is how for some reason, all of the clothes provided are completely identical with her current outfit.
As she looks over the new room a few more times, she ends up saying her thoughts out loud. "It's not bad, but I think I'm starting to miss my old room even more now."
"Sheesh, after all the stuff I've put in here, this is the thanks that I get? You kiddos are way more pampered than I thought!"
Chiaki nearly jumps back with a yelp as soon as she Monokuma pop out from somewhere in front of her. "How did you get in here?!" She's sure that she locked the doors and the windows yesterday, so there's no way he can just get inside this cottage.
Monokuma's grin grows wider. "Sorry, but no can do! A bear like me can't afford to spill his secrets just like that, upupupupu!"
His cackling got on her nerves even more. At that moment, instinct overrides most of her thoughts as she quickly reaches out, grabs the lamp and then threateningly holds it in front of herself.
He waves his paws around. "Hey, hey, hey, you better drop that lamp right now! No violence against the headmaster, remember? Unless you wanna get turned into Swiss cheese or something," A red vein pops at the side of his head, and he unsheathes some dangerously sharp claws on his paw. "It'd be a shame if the first kill on this trip happened under my own paws, you know?"
Chiaki furrows her eyebrows, her grip on the lamp tightening even more. After several tense seconds go by, she breathes out and then puts the lamp back on the desk. No matter how much she hates it, as long as that stupid rule is in place, she can't do anything against him. Not unless if she wants to end up…like that. She can't help but shudder at the thought of it.
"Is there anything else you want to bother me with?" She snaps.
Monokuma tilts his head, like he's seriously contemplating it, before shrugging it off with, "Hmmm, nope! That's all I've got to say to you for now."
And just like that, he pops off into nowhere. Just like how he managed to get himself in here somehow, Chiaki has no idea how the hell is he doing that and honestly, she isn't sure if she wants to find out why.
As soon as she's sure he's truly gone, she stomps back to her bed, growling and muttering under her breath, "Hmph. Dumb bear." Her breathing a lot shakier than she's ever used to. Despite her mood going sour, she still gingerly takes her pink GGA with her as she lays her back down on the bed.
As soon as the game is booted up, Chiaki closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, relaxing her tense nerves as much as she can. She takes several more deep breaths, and then, she lets a faint smile go over her face, letting the rest of the world fade away from her mind as she shoots down the pixelated AI enemies without a single care. Those 8-bit noises have never sounded so pleasant to her ears until now.
As she kept playing on, it didn't take long before the game's difficulty increased. She pretends that instead of shooting alien invaders, she's shooting that dumb bear over and over again. It made everything a little bit better.
Since then, the only thing Chiaki did is to keep passing the time around until her console's battery started to drain a bit. So for the meantime, she decides to put her console back on the desk, figuring that she should charge it for a bit.
And now, she's back to square one. Back to lying down on her bed, not thinking about anything at all, and maybe, she'll start getting drowsy until she's back into another peaceful sleep. Yet somehow, she doesn't feel sleepy at all despite that.
That feeling of restlessness only got more intense as each second ticks on. Until finally, despite her better judgment, she gets up from her bed. As soon as she got herself cleaned up, with a fresh set of clothes (that are weirdly identical to the ones she's already wearing) and semi-ready for the day, she opens the door and tentatively steps out of her cottage.
She lifts her head up. From there, she can see that the sun is already up, but it looks like the others haven't woken up yet. Or if not that, they're probably wary of coming out of their cottages, and considering their current situation, she can understand where they're coming from.
Not to mention, it's still kinda early right now. It should be around seven AM or so, at least from when she checked the time a while back just now.
Since there's still no leads, she decides look around Hotel Mirai's lobby for now, hoping that maybe her hoodie should finally turn up somewhere. All while glancing over at her shoulder every now and then. She knows how to defend herself if needed, so she figures she'll be fine, but it wouldn't hurt to be a little extra cautious.
She continues to look around, even checking on the spots she already looked at yesterday. The longer she keeps on with it, the fact that there's no one else around her became so much clearer. 'It looks like I really am the only one up right now.' She muses. Other people would probably find it a little eerie, but she'll admit it's a little relaxing for her.
"Nanami?"
Chiaki nearly jumps back, her eyes widening as she quickly turns around to face who what was. As soon as she sees who it is, she puts a hand over her chest to try and calm her tense nerves down. "Oh, it's just you, Komaeda."
Komaeda chuckles. "Sorry for startling you," His serenely cheerful face changes into a more serious one. "Though, what brings you here? I'm guessing you couldn't sleep either?"
She shrugs. "I guess so." She replies briefly, before finding herself facing away from and staring into the ground as she usually does.
Before either of them knew it, their atmosphere is slowly heading off to awkward silence.
Komaeda suddenly speaks up again. "Ah, Nanami. Is there anything you'd like to do to pass the time? It's fine if you don't want to, though."
She thinks about his offer. Though she's unsure about it, she ends up mumbling out a tiny, "Okay." As soon as she said that, she realizes one crucial thing she forgot to think about. 'Wait, what would other people do to pass the time in this kind of situation?'
Her mind is currently out of good ideas for that, so she looks around in search of something that can help her. For a brief moment, her gaze lingers on one of the game machines, maybe for a minute far too longer than she'd like, then she forcefully tears her gaze off it. 'No, I can't suggest that, can I?'
"Do you want to try that?" Komaeda asks, like he saw her looking at it just now. He's even pointing to the game she was looking at a while back, making the chances of her denying it even lower.
Chiaki realizes that there's no escaping it, so she decides to nod along for now. "Sure, if it's alright with you."
Both of them take their seats, sitting at the opposite sides of each other. She looks down, now noticing that it looks a two-player game where they play as a pair of baby dragons and then compete against each other.
"Are you ready, Nanami?" Komaeda asks. His face and voice are still rather relaxed, yet at the same time, there's some sense of competitiveness in him that she hasn't seen until now.
She's not sure if she can say something witty back to him, so she goes along with a simple, "Hmm, I think so."
The game starts.
Gameplay-wise, it looks simple at first; just move their baby dragon character around, jump on the platforms, shoot bubbles at the AI enemies, all while avoid getting touched by them. It didn't take long for her to figure out how the game works, and by that, on how to maximize her score as much as possible.
She has no idea how long she and Komaeda had been playing, but it feels like at the next time she blinked, their game has already ended, and her score is so much higher than Komaeda's by a landslide.
Komaeda looks completely breathless, even as he flashes her a huge smile. "Wow, you're so great at this game, Nanami. I couldn't even get a single hit in. I wonder if you knew any secret tricks for it." He remarks with a slight laugh at the end of it.
She sheepishly admits, "I don't think I know any tricks, to be honest. It just felt natural to me, I think."
"Oh, is that so?" He hums in thought. "In that case, since we still don't know what your talent is, maybe you're the Ultimate Gamer?"
"The…Ultimate Gamer?" Chiaki repeats, suddenly going quiet as she thinks about it, and then she shakes her head. "I don't know. I guess it makes sense, but it also doesn't sound right, for some reason?"
"What do you mean by that?"
That question made her bite her lip. "I...just...it doesn't really feel like a real talent, if that makes sense? I don't really know to explain it either, though."
"That's not true at all. I'm sure that as long Hope's Peak Academy recognizes the talent you have, it has to be a real one, no matter how absurd you might think it is." He leans forward, making sure to maintain eye contact with her. "I think that's what makes it so wonderful, don't you think so?"
If it was anyone else, she might've felt a little intimidated, and yet, for some reason, she doesn't feel that at all. Instead, there's something about that that feels warm, somehow. She nods, a tiny smile going over her lips. "Well, I guess you're right about that, then. Though, I think we should hold off the 'Ultimate Gamer' title until we can confirm it."
Komaeda only smiles at that. "That's fine by me. Until you're ready for it, then."
'It's too early to say, but it looks like Komaeda really does mean well. I think I can relax more around him.' She thinks to herself, feeling strangely happy about this.
At that moment, she hears a tiny jingle from her bag. As she takes her e-Handbook out, she sees some kind of notification on it. She looks at the screen a couple of times and squints, still trying to process if what she's seeing is real or not. From the looks of it, the Hope Fragments she got from Komaeda has been updated somehow.
Around the same time, Komaeda breathes out. "Nanami, look at this."
She turns away from the screen, taking a look at Komaeda's e-Handbook as he presented it to her; she notices that just like hers, his Hope Fragments with her got updated as well. After that, then goes back on looking at her e-Handbook's screen. She feels like she's starting to get it.
'Oh, so that's how collecting Hope Fragments work. I didn't expect it to be pretty similar to leveling up Social Links, though.' She then puts her e-Handbook back in her bag. 'In any case, I guess that means Komaeda and I got a little closer, maybe. I still don't know exactly how any of it works.'
They both hear the speakers buzz and reverberate, and Chiaki barely stops herself from wincing as soon as she recognizes whose annoying voice is coming out of them.
"Good morning, everyone! Looks like today is going to be another perfectly tropical day! Now then, let's give it all we've got for today!"
And just like that, the speakers stop buzzing.
Chiaki groans. It feels like the good mood she just had a moment ago has been soured so quickly, it's not even funny at all.
Both of them hear steps coming towards them, signaling that there's someone else coming in this area soon. Because of the announcement from a few moments ago, Chiaki can't help but be tense and high on guard, getting only to relax as soon as she sees who it is.
Hinata staggers in their view, letting out a loud yawn. At that moment, she winces in sympathy. To say that he looks disheveled would be a…huge understatement. His hair is all over the place, there's stray strands of hair sticking out of his antenna, and there's even dark bags under his eyes.
Komaeda is the first to speak up about it. "Hinata, are you okay?"
Hinata blinks, like he's trying to process what he heard just now. He blinks again, and then rubs the back of his head. "Yeah, I think I'm fine." He yawns once again, and then he starts to rub his eyes. "I just...well, I think I spent the whole night screaming into my pillow. Then that stupid bear snuck into my room too." He grumbles that last part.
"You too, Hinata?" She blurts out.
All the exhaustion and fatigue washes away from him just like that, getting instantly replaced with worry and concern. His eyes widened for a bit, before he swallowed and asked her, "Did…did he say anything to you, Nanami?"
She thinks back on the unwanted conversation she had with Monokuma. "All he did is sneak inside because I mentioned missing my old room. He looks so offended for some reason, and I think that's about it?"
'I think it's best if I don't tell him what happened after that. I don't want him to worry even more than he already is. This situation must be stressing him out so much.'
Hinata doesn't look fully convinced by it, but all he did is sigh and rub the side of his forehead. "I'm glad he didn't do anything worse than that. Still, what's the point of locking our cottages if he can come in whenever he pleases anyway?"
"Yeah, I wonder too." She agrees, not noticing that her voice is a bit sharper this time around.
It didn't take long before the others start coming in too. Just like Hinata, most of them aren't looking so great either; in fact, almost everyone has tons of varying looks of pure exhaustion. A few of them even looks at the worse off of that spectrum, looking like half of their lives have been sucked out of them.
Once everyone got accounted for, they all gather in the dining area for breakfast. As expected, Nidai got himself in charge of preparing it. It took some time until everything got prepared, but once it did, to say that the dishes Nidai has prepared are impressive and intense wouldn't be enough to describe it.
When her turn comes in, she gets a plate and then takes her share. As soon as she did that, instead of joining with the others on the dining table, she starts to head off back to her cottage.
"Nanami, where are you going?" Mitarai calls out to her.
She turns around, pausing from her tracks and tilting her head to the side. "I…I'm going to eat in my room? I think?" She can feel how everyone is staring at her. It makes her want to sink into the ground again. 'It's not that weird, right?'
A weary kind of smile goes over Koizumi's face. "You know, you don't have to do any of that. You should come and eat with us here."
Her grip on the plate tightens. She lowers her gaze to the ground, hesitating for a bit before saying back to her, "Is it really okay, though?"
Saionji palms her forehead. "Okay, the handshake was one thing, but now you're acting like you've never eaten with other people before? Please don't tell me that you've been living under a cave this whole time."
"I…I don't think I did?" Without even thinking about it, she lightly shrugs at the end of that.
Saionji huffs. "Not the point I'm trying to make but yeah, you're not convincing anyone with that."
'You've got a fair point, but you didn't have to be so rude about it, though.'
Nidai nods as he crosses his arms. "They're right, you know? The best part of these meals is to eat it with everyone." He then bellows a hearty laugh. "And then the next best part after that is to take a really good SHI—"
Mitarai puts a hand up. "Yeah, we get it. No need to finish what you're saying." He hurriedly says, maybe a bit too quickly. He then puts a hand over his mouth, clearing his throat before turning to face her. "Anyways, feel free to take a seat wherever you want."
Finding herself outnumbered at that moment, she quickly realizes that there's no other option left to her, other than to nod and give in. "Ah…okay then." Even as she takes a seat on the table, somehow, it's still so awkward for her. She doesn't remember the last time she's eaten on a table, much less with this many people.
As she tentatively takes a couple of bites from her breakfast, she can hear some of the others do small talk here and there. Some of them are even laughing at jokes and overall, just having a good time with each other. She wonders if she should try to say something to them, even if it's something minimal. In the end, she quietly breathes out, deciding not to join in any of them, opting to stay quiet as she always does.
It didn't take long for her to be done with her food, she didn't take that much of it anyway. So, since there's nothing else for her to do right now, she decides to maybe look around and observe to pass the time.
She squints. Now that she thinks about it, Alter Ego is nowhere to be seen.
Around that same time, Souda wonders out loud, "Hey, does anyone know where Alter Ego is? It's weird that he hasn't shown up yet."
"I'm really sorry for being late, everyone." Alter Ego shakily says as he comes running in to them. He puts his hands over his knees, looking like he's completely out of breath.
'Oh, speaking of him.'
Saionji snappily says to him, "Are you really sure you're our TA? You're awfully sloppy for one."
Alter Ego winces. "I…got caught up with a few things, I guess you can say." He bows his head down. "But I know it's not a good excuse for it at all, especially as your TA. I truly am sorry for it."
Saionji's eyes narrows, making it clear that she isn't convinced by that at all. "What the hell have you been doing anyway—"
The speakers begin buzzing once again, interrupting that conversation as Monokuma's grating voice comes through.
"Ahem, attention everyone! I know you kiddos have short attention spans, so I'll cut it right to the point. Come to the park on the Central island, and let's just say, there's a beaaarryyyy special surprise your beloved headmaster has for all of you! I'll be seeing you all there!"
And then just like that, he cuts the feedback off.
Shortly after that abrupt announcement, Owari blurts out, "Are we gonna follow that thing's orders or nah?"
Souda half-whispers, half-stutters, "You saw what happened yesterday, right?"
As soon as Chiaki hears that, she lightly touches her cheek, the same spot where that stray bullet grazed over it. She bites her lip, forcing herself to take a deep breath before she says, "It might be best if we do as he says for now. I think."
The rest of her classmates turn their attention to her, and now, their gazes made her want to shrink back from her seat. She can tell that they're expecting her to explain why they should go along with her suggestion. If she's being honest, there's no way she'll be able to convince them, not if they knew the true reason why she's suggesting to cooperate, even if she hates that bear.
But, before she can get another word in, however, someone else already did.
"Huh?" Kuzuryu raises a brow as she scoffs. "You're going to let him boss you around just like that? I already had a hunch you're weak, but I never thought you'd be this spineless too."
Chiaki tries not to flinch at those harsh words, yet they keep burrowing deeper inside her mind. 'Yeah, I guess she's right. Maybe I really am spineless.'
Kuzuryu isn't done there, looking less annoyed and more like she's completely disappointed in her. "And now you can't even stand up for yourself? Maybe you shouldn't even bother talking at all, then. Honestly, people like you are one of the biggest kinds of cancer there is—"
"That is rather uncalled for, Kuzuryu," Sonia cuts in. "You can't fault her, or anyone for that matter, for being cautious about this."
"But you can't deny that at all either. If we let this stupid bear think he can intimidate us, who the hell knows how much he can start pushing us until someone can't take it anymore?!" Kuzuryu shouts, slamming her fist on the table.
Some of the glasses and plates clatter from the outburst, though none of them spilled or fell off from the table. That outburst causes the others to go mostly quiet, with some of them mostly whispering and murmuring among themselves. Chiaki swallows, too tense and, as much as she hates it, also too afraid to speak up for herself or even look at what's going on.
Sonia didn't seem to be intimidated by it at all, and even if she was, she did a great job in hiding it. "Don't be unreasonable. As much as I don't like it either, our safety is the bigger priority, and frankly, even if we refuse, Monokuma will still find a way to enforce it. This is no different from a hostage situation."
Kuzuryu grits her teeth. "Fine, you and everyone else who are too weak to say anything otherwise can go ahead and see whatever it is. Peko and I won't go anywhere near that place in the meantime." She growls, standing up from her seat as she gestures to her companion. "Come on, Peko. I'm done wasting my time here with them."
Pekoyama nods, standing up from her seat as well. She wordlessly follows her charge, staying close behind her.
Everyone didn't say or do anything, other than to watch as both of them leave the dining area.
Their group goes completely silent for a while or so, until Owari breaks that silence and awkwardly asks, "Do we still go and do what that bear says, or nah?"
Komaeda hums, rubbing his chin in thought before he suddenly turns his attention to her. "What do you think we should do, then, Nanami?"
Chiaki's body stiffens. "I…I…" No matter how much she tries to force herself, her words are caught up in her throat, and it's like her jaw has locked in on itself to keep them from coming out.
The longer she keeps herself quiet, somehow, it feels like the stares she's getting from everyone are getting more intense. 'Why can't you say something? You're the one who suggested going along with Monokuma in the first place, didn't you? Maybe you don't want everyone to know that you're being selfish about this, that you're just afraid of dying.'
More moments pass by, and Koizumi speaks up with a sharp voice. "Hey, you shouldn't pressure her to talk about that. Did you forget about what she nearly went through?"
"Ah, sorry about that." Komaeda awkwardly laughs, putting his hands up. "I didn't mean it that way. I'm just curious about her thoughts about it."
"That doesn't excuse it at all." Koizumi snaps back.
Chiaki flashes a look of sympathy. She still can't bring herself to say anything, but she shakes her head. 'It's okay, Koizumi. It's not his fault at all.'
Alter Ego clears his throat. "This situation we're in is far from ideal," He starts as he steps in front of everyone's view, taking their attention right there. "I don't like how this is going either, but it's as Sonia said. Even if we refuse to go along with what he's asking, there's a big chance he'll make us go anyway."
"And who's to say he won't try to use those Monobeasts again?" Mitarai adds in. "He already did it once, after all."
"Besides, if we all get there together, HE CAN'T STOP ALL OF US!" At that moment, it feels like lightning is flashing out from Nidai's eyes, which further enhances his resolve.
The others start cheering along with him, with Owari and Ibuki being the most prominent ones among them all.
"Then it's decided. We'll all head to the Central Island's park." Alter Ego announces with an unsteady smile.
As their group gets to the aforementioned area, Chiaki sees two familiar faces nearby, and she blinks in confusion. "Kuzuryu? Pekoyama?"
Kuzuryu turns towards her. Her eyes narrow into a glare, but her rosy cheeks have turned red all over. She then yells at her in a very flustered tone, "Hey, don't you dare look at me like that!" She crosses her arms and mutters under her breath, "That stupid fucking bear locked me out of my cottage, and he isn't going to open it up until I get here and listen to his stupid fucking voice."
Despite what happened earlier, Chiaki can't help but feel some sympathy for her. 'Looks like Sonia and Alter Ego are right. We really don't have any choice either way.'
As expected, Monokuma is already there. "Hey there, everyone!" He waves both of his paws at them.
Chiaki fights back the urge to roll her eyes at him. 'Please just keep quiet already.'
Tanaka folds his arms in front of him. "Enough with this idle chatter and reveal your intention for summoning us at this time."
"Sure then," Monokuma nods. "I know you're all here for one thing, so might as well put the elephant in the room outta this. So behold!" He dramatically gestures to the statue. "My beary special surprise!"
Chiaki frowns in confusion. 'The...statue? It broke yesterday when those Monobeasts came out, so I'm guessing he fixed it somehow?'
"Did you just put a freaking bomb on it?!" Souda hysterically shouts, pulling his beanie over his head like he's trying to hide himself with it.
A chill runs down her spine as soon as she heard that. It's just like what Souda said. Upon closer look, there's a ticking timer of some sort placed right on the statue's base. The realization causes everyone to back away out of instinct. Some are screaming and freaking out like how Souda is doing, while the others are quietly denying it.
Alter Ego's face has completely darkened. His hands curled into fists and they're shaking in place. "How horrible…"
"Hmmm," Monokuma hums in an innocent kind of way. "Who knows? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Either way, it's gonna count down your days on this island!"
After hearing what that bear just said, Chiaki has never felt so sick to her stomach, not like this.
It's one thing to make everyone kill each other for some twisted game, but putting a bomb, or whatever that thing might be, right here just to goad them even more to it?
Their days have already started counting down when Monokuma announced the Killing School Trip, but now that he did this, it all solidified that fact even more.
A/N: Not gonna lie, writing this ended up getting a lot longer than I thought it'd be haha. Also, the game that Chiaki and Nagito played during that FTE is (very loosely) based on Bubble Bobble. Speaking of FTEs, I think that'll probably the only one featured in this fic since it's more or less the introductory one; the others are probably gonna be offscreen from this point on. I could still try to squeeze a few in, but no promises there.
