WOOOO! We made it again! This one's due to be a little shorter than the last, but it DOES have two sections. Enjoy!
The Future Foundation, Part Two
No.
Hinata stopped to catch his breath.
No. This is wrong. You're not going where you have to be, Hinata-kun.
He put his hand against the wall, just to steady himself, but the hand slipped further away from him as he sank to his knees.
You're running in circles and you're denying the truth. You have to follow the path of hope.
He didn't think he'd been away from Nanami's room for very long. A few minutes? Half an hour? Certainly he wouldn't have let himself stray far, even if he'd wanted to explore, which he still wasn't sure he did. And yet his legs ached as though he'd run a marathon. Had he, though? Or was he simply so tired that he couldn't tell the difference?
You're not going to live here, and you're not going to die. Not living or dying is the way of the future. Was I wrong about you, Hinata-kun? Is the future not as important to you as I once believed?
"No," he said aloud, though a second later he couldn't remember why he'd spoken. "No, I'm not…"
He blinked, looked around, and realized he had no idea where he was, or how he'd gotten there. He dimly remembered finding an elevator sometime before he'd hit the wall, but he couldn't remember leaving that elevator, no matter how hard he tried. He'd at least expected to be back on the third floor of wherever this was, but the clashing green-and-lime color on the walls wasn't at all what he remembered.
Wherever he'd ended up was just as empty as the third floor first sight, although he couldn't see any piles of junk or caution tape. The only anything in the room was in the middle, where a statue lay on the floor, as though it had been knocked to the ground.
Hinata couldn't tell what it was from a distance, but on closer examination it was a woman in a school uniform - the most muscular and fierce-looking woman that Hinata had ever seen. He felt a chill as he looked at her, even though she was neither real nor moving, and for that matter had lost her head and right arm in whatever fall she'd taken. But she still looked imposing, even in a state of clear defeat.
He didn't know what to make of her, but he didn't have to wonder too much before the pedestal caught his attention. It stood slightly off the center of the room, and it might have been the one from which the woman's statue had fallen. But it wasn't empty – another statue had taken its place.
A statue of Byakuya Togami.
But it wasn't the Byakuya Togami that Hinata had known, if it was any Byakuya Togami that had ever existed at all. The hair was right, and the eyes, and the scowl. But his limbs were longer and thinner, his jaw sharper and more pronounced, and his silhouette slim and toned. He stood with his arm extended, as though he were some kind of Greek god cast in marble, although the harsh green light on his skin made him look a lot more like a demon.
He's coming, you know.
Hinata clutched at his head. He? Who was he…? He had the vaguest feeling he knew, but he couldn't think. It was impossible… he could barely stand to think of the Impostor, even at the times when he forced himself, and besides, he had other priorities. He had to go… he had to get back to Nanami, and find a way out…
He's not going to like what he sees. He's an Ambassador of Hope, after all, don't you know?
The effort he took to even think of Nanami at a time like this was tremendous, far more than it should have been. But he tried to keep her face in the front of his mind, and tell himself to go back to her, to tell her everything he was thinking and feeling. If there was anyone who would know what to do about it, it was her…
But was he the only thing that drew you here, Hinata-kun? Was his presence in your heart more powerful than mine? Is he really someone you love that much?
The next thing he comprehended was the vague shuffling movement of his feet, followed by a loud thunk as his face hit the wall. Then he was back in the elevator, pressing the button on the wall, and standing perfectly still in the center as he moved down. Or was it up? Or…
Your hope is the only thing that stands in their way.
The elevator doors slid open, and he stepped back out into the pink haze of the first floor. Nanami. He had to focus on Nanami. He had to go up another flight of stairs, and go back into the leftmost room, and beg for her forgiveness, and her guidance, and her help…
But he didn't. Instead he felt revulsion so strong that he doubled over, and by the time he stood again he couldn't remember what he'd thought in the first place.
He started walking. He knew something was wrong. Very wrong. But he hadn't the presence of mind to figure out what it was. He only had the dim awareness that the movements of his limbs weren't quite connected to the impulses of his mind, or at least that those impulses came from somewhere that wasn't the same as usual. As though some other force in his body had awoken, and tried to take control, and succeeded without even trying.
The next thing he knew he was across the room, staring into the eyes of an enormous painted clown face.
He bit his lip to stop himself from yelling, and took several steps back. Clowns were terrifying in the best of times, which only made this one worse. But when he stepped back he saw this one was a lot smaller than he'd initially thought, though it was still pretty big. Not only that… but the clown's mouth was ringed with two iron handles, and bisected in the middle by the gap between two doors.
The entire face was a door, and now that he was further away, he could see the words written above the face, at the top of the door.
Final Dead Room.
The lingering fear in the back of his mind dissipated in an instant. For the first time since he'd left the bedroom, he felt serene. Secure. He could even tell himself he hadn't felt anything strange at all – that all along, being of sound mind and body, he had come to this strange place only to open this door.
He took a step forward, and then another. I should go check on Nanami, he thought. No, another thought said. I should go check on Nanami, he thought again, very firmly.
But he didn't. The clown loomed larger as he drew closer, and he extended his arm long before the handles were in reach. It wasn't very long before he was able to close his hands tightly around them.
Only briefly did he wonder just what he would find. He knew it had to be something to do with death, but strangely he wasn't afraid. He'd already faced death a dozen times, and yet here he was, still living and breathing. Couldn't he believe that the luck of the universe was on his side? Somehow, despite all his fear, that seemed like the most sensible thing in the world at the moment.
He threw the doors open, and stepped into the room.
"You couldn't do it. All your bluster and you couldn't even resist me properly."
Souda slowly opened one eye, and for the fourth time in as many days he braced himself against the realization that he wasn't dead. Of course he'd much rather be alive, but there was little comfort in being alive if he wasn't safe. In that case, being alive only meant that he could die, any minute, without warning.
But he seemed to be in a safe spot now, which took out a lot of the sting. Grasses and the roots of trees stretched out as far as he could see, but there was no sign of the carnival he knew he'd run away from. He'd seen the forest on the island before, when they'd been heading for the castle in the first place, but how he'd gotten there, how far he'd run, and for that matter anything that had happened between the escape and now was a complete blur.
What he would have given to be able to run another step. From his neck down to his chest he was a mess of pains and nerves, matched only by a throbbing in his legs. He could barely sit up, let alone stand. He must've been on some kind of adrenaline rush. Maybe he'd get it back if he really was in danger again. But then again, maybe not.
But the fear remained. He wasn't alone, and he didn't know who – or what – was with him. If he stayed outside for very much longer, anyway, the Impostor would find him. Heck, he was surprised they hadn't tracked him down and sliced him to bits already.
"Is this what I spared you for? To see you turn your back? To make yourself think you had a choice?"
Souda's energy jolted back to him, just long enough for him to pull himself up on the nearest tree. He couldn't tell where the voice was coming from, or for that matter who was speaking. But somehow he knew. Only one person could mess with his head like that.
"I know what you've deluded yourself into thinking. You still want to sacrifice yourself, don't you? Am I wrong? Are you just incompetent?"
He followed the voice around to the back to the tree, swinging himself around by the tips of his fingers – but he stopped himself before he got too far. The carnival path hadn't been out of sight at all – it was only a few meters off. It had simply been where he wasn't looking, because of course he couldn't have run very far. But what really caught Souda's attention was the robot, the one that had broken into the castle and killed Saionji, sprawled on its side in the middle of the path.
He didn't dare move any closer, but he examined it as closely as he could from his vantage point. It only looked a little bit worse for wear, though he couldn't quite tell why it wasn't moving. One way or another it was still a marvel of engineering, one he would've been eager to get his hands on if only…well, if only it wouldn't kill him. If he'd been able to move more quickly, he might have been able to subdue it and break it apart piece by piece, right there in the castle. Then he would've been able to find out how it worked, and given enough time he could have put it back together.
And even if it looked like Tanaka, that didn't matter at all. It was just someone's idea of a joke. It had to be. Even if Nanami had said his name…
And then he saw the Impostor, and his curiosity drained right out of his body. They stood in front of the creature, with their back turned in Souda's direction. Their leg was raised high, and with a jolt Souda realized that their foot was planted firmly on the robot's head.
"What are you thinking, hm?" they said, looking down. "Would you talk back to me if you could? I know you well enough. I know everything about everyone on this island."
A loud mess of whirring gears and clashing metal, the likes of which no human could make with their mouth, cut them off mid-word. The robot hadn't moved, but Souda couldn't think of anywhere else the sound could have come from.
"Oh, it's not just knowing," the Impostor said. "It's being. And I think you understand what I mean by that. I am you when I consume myself with your thoughts and your imaginings, Tanaka. I am you when I feel the desire to crush my enemies and conquer their armies. And when I lose myself in your despair I am more of yourself than you ever were."
CRACK.
The robot was easily twice the Impostor's height and weight, but somehow the kick to the head completely destabilized it. The chassis flipped completely onto its side, and crumpled onto its back. It gave no sign of life, or even of resistance.
A sharp pain ran through Souda's chest, and he clutched his hands close as he bent to brace it. He didn't see any reason why he should be hurting, though. Was it a sympathy pain? He'd hate if it was.
I am you, the Impostor had said. In the moments when Souda had been alone with his thoughts he'd tried to understand just how the Impostor worked, breaking them down to their composite motivations as though they were a machine. But even if they could understand someone to the point where they could claim to know them inside out, the thought of becoming someone they weren't was still completely alien. He still couldn't register them as anyone but Togami…
Except then, for a second, he did register Tanaka on them. He saw the grey-purple stripes in their black hair. The trenchcoat that swept to the ground. The boots that clomped against the road as they closed in again on the robot, slowly but surely…
"You know that I killed before, didn't you?" the Impostor said. "I killed a thousand times and I'll do it again. And so will you. You've killed hundreds. Thousands. Millions. Humans and animals alike. Do you want to kill again? Do you know how you loved when your despair overtook you?"
The robot didn't respond, not even with the metallic noise it had made before. But then, slowly, its arms trembled. With a click and a whirr, it pushed its hands against the ground and tried to sit up –
CRACK.
The noise of metal on metal was deafening, earth-shattering. This time, when Tanaka flew, he stayed on his side, and didn't move again.
"I was there when you laughed," the Impostor went on. "I've seen the glory of your fulfillment. Your joy in your pain. Isn't that something you want again? Is it something I can give you?"
The robot didn't answer, and the Impostor kicked him again, CRACKing over and over while Souda watched, frozen in place. He had to run. He needed to run. He had no idea why he was still there, watching this thing that wasn't Tanaka, putting himself in danger when he could be saving his skin…
And then he heard footsteps.
They were soft, muffled by the grass, but the very fact that he could hear them at all meant that whoever was making them, they were close – uncomfortably close. He couldn't see anyone around, not even when he squinted through the trees, but if they were that close, and that good at staying hidden…
"We still haven't been able to make contact," a voice said.
With a shock Souda realized that he didn't recognize it. It was low in tone, and feminine, but… it was someone besides the seven people still on the island. Someone new, someone else…!
"I'll keep trying," the voice went on, "but Alter Ego's having enough trouble as it is, getting us through what the Impostor set up. It would be so much easier if we could talk to them directly."
"Or find them in an instant," another voice replied. This one was also feminine, but it was higher, and more energetic. "Wait, Kirigiri. They have their electronic student ID maps on them. If we can just find one of them, then we'll know where they all are!"
"It could take us hours to find even one, Asahina-san. That's time we don't have." The footsteps stopped, just behind Souda's ear. "We shouldn't say anything else until the rendezvous point."
"They're not going to do anything to us, though," the second voice, Asahina, replied. "They can't."
"I…" Kirigiri's footsteps stopped, but only for a moment. "We can't make any assumptions about what they're planning. If we do, we'll only end up underestimating them-"
The Impostor chose that moment to speak again, and when they did the footsteps stopped, along with the rustling of the nearby trees.
"It doesn't matter anymore," they said, in a voice that was almost plaintive. "You've broken the rules one too many times. It's not yours to have. No one's despair is theirs, not anymore…"
"It's them," Kirigiri said, pulling Souda's focus away from whatever the Impostor might have said next.
"Are you sure?" Asahina said, just barely loud enough to be heard. "They don't look like they did before…"
"It can't be anyone else." Kirigiri paused. "But the android…"
"That's…!" Asahina said. "We need to do something. Should we wait until Naegi gets here?"
"Naegi-kun wouldn't be of any use to us right now," Kirigiri said. "Stay put, Asahina-san. Don't make any sudden moves."
The pair fell silent, but whatever Kirigiri had planned to accomplish by staying put, she didn't have the chance, at least not as far as Souda could see. Not a second after she spoke the Impostor froze, mid-kick, and stayed frozen for a few moments before they lowered their leg. Then their head turned, slowly, until they were staring at a spot somewhere to Souda's left.
They said nothing, and betrayed nothing in their expression, but Souda could only assume that they'd just found wherever Kirigiri and Asahina were hiding, given the intensity of their gaze. Then, for a few seconds, he thought he could hear one of the others speaking in tones so low that he couldn't understand who she was or what she'd said. But the Impostor must have heard, because a wicked grin spread quickly across their face.
"GET DOWN!" Kirigiri yelled, before a bright, terrible flash filled Souda's eyes, and he heard the crunch of metal twisting and snapping. He shut his eyes against the glare, though it did nothing to stop stars from flashing behind his eyes. When he opened them again, both the Impostor and the robot were gone.
Before he could act, he heard a loud, sharp cry. A woman ran out from the edge of the woods, around the same spot where the Impostor had been looking. Souda didn't have a chance to see her face, but she was tall, with short brown hair tied back into a ponytail. Her long legs covered the span of the path in no time at all, and she slid to a halt a few feet from the path.
Behind her, another woman emerged, much more slowly. The most he could see of her was her long, flowing hair, which waved behind her in the light breeze as she walked.
"He's not…" Even through her tears, Souda recognized the first woman as 'Asahina' by her voice. "They didn't…"
"No, they didn't." The long-haired woman, who had to be 'Kirigiri', came to a stop by Asahina's side. "But we can't waste any time making assumptions about that."
Asahina sighed. "We had them right here. And we could've at least let them know the rest of us were coming, and then –"
"They already know we haven't fulfilled the terms yet." After a brief hesitation, Kirigiri put a hand on Asahina's shoulder. Souda noted, with some surprise, that she was wearing wrist-length black leather gloves. "Until Naegi-kun and Togami-kun get here, we can't guarantee the safety of any of them. At least… not in here."
Togami-kun?! Souda was so shocked that he could barely feel his body. Nanami'd said something about another Togami, hadn't she? The real guy. But how could he trust that what she'd told them about him was true? She could've been talking out her ass to try and save herself. But… these guys had to be the Future guys. There was no other way. And he could trust for sure that the Future guys were there to help, and if they were here to help then they were here to tell the truth…
"Listen, Asahina-san," Kirigiri said. "You know it's not the end."
"I know." Asahina wiped her hand across her face. "I'm just… I don't want to see anyone else die."
"I don't, either." Kirigiri gave Asahina an awkward pat. "That's why we need to find the remaining students as soon as possible. The Impostor has no reason to kill again, not until ten o'clock tonight. But based on their own rules, they very well could."
"Would we be able to stop them, if they tried?" Asahina said.
"That's not a question I can answer for certain right now." Kirigiri bowed her head – and then, to Souda's surprise, she raised it again and looked out into the woods. "But Kazuichi Souda would be able to answer the other questions we have. He's right behind that tree, if you want to talk to him."
Again, see you next Thursday!
- Carth
