"Hey hey hey." The scientist extended his leg causing Makoto to trip over it. "I hope that I won't have to calm you down Mr. Naegi."
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" He got up to start running again but fell as the black-haired man shot him with a taser. "BzZz-zZz-Zz"
Junko exploded with laughter when she saw the Ultimate Hope shanking on the floor through a webcam. "Are you serious? I'm obviously joking! I wouldn't get used to having small boobies, like duh."
"She's telling the truth, I don't want to modify your friend's mind but to download data from it. As you saw a moment ago the memory reading module works flawlessly, so I'll be starting the procedure now." The four eyes approached a computer-looking machine next to Kyoko's seat. Her helmet was connected to the device by countless cables.
"Argh, argh.." Makoto hardly stood up and grabbed a quick release ratchet off a big steel table behind him. Then he began slowly approaching the stranger who was focused on the machine.
"I already started the downloading process. If I'm not able to stabilize her nervous system in case of an error she'll die so I would rethink your intentions if I were you. My proposal is that we talk in peace, like civilized people." He said while typing on the device's keyboard.
"Whatever you're doing to her, stop it now." Naegi stood still.
"I can't stop it now, if I do she'll become a vegetable." The man wearing a lab coat glanced over at Kirigiri's shaking hand. "I'll need to monitor her heart rate and some other parameters to adjust the transfer settings. It's for her safety." He pulled out five medical electrodes from the computer. "I'm tuning the download speed down for a moment but it's best for her to finish the process as fast as possible, so please place these on her body. I don't want to invade her personal space."
Makoto frowned at first, but after noticing his friend's shivering hand he immediately put the tool away and ran to do his task.
"The instructions with a body map are stuck over here." The scientist patted the left side of his device.
"It's gonna be alright Kiri, I'll disconnect you from this as soon as I can." Naegi whispered to himself and unbuttoned her shirt in a hurry. Afterward, he took and placed the electrodes one by one while avoiding looking at her bust. "Done." Makoto covered his former classmate's torso with her shirt.
"Got it, stabilizing the transfer." He replied when a few continuously updating charts popped up on his computer screen. "Her pulse is a bit high but that's fine since her brain is working at one hundred percent." The stranger told and pushed a nearby desk chair towards The Ultimate Hope. "I surmise that you have lots of questions, so if you want to talk now's the best time."
Naegi kicked the seat away angrily. "You're a remnant am I right? But why are you doing this? Why do you need her memories?"
"I'm not downloading her memories, I'm after Junko Enoshima." The man sat down on his chair without losing eye contact with his interlocutor.
"I don't understand, what does Junko have to do with her?" Makoto asked in confusion.
"Didn't she tell you?" He questioned in a surprised tone.
"Tell me about what?" Naegi's puzzlement kept building up.
"Enoshima left a dying message that described her plan. Its first step was her escape from the virtual world to your friend's mind." The scientist told.
"It doesn't make sense, Kir- Kyoko has not been possessed." Makoto argued.
"Junko did not take control over her nor interfered with her personality. She's staying in Mrs. Kirigiri's brain as a separate being." He explained.
"Who do you think I am to believe your crazy lies?!" Naegi shouted in anger.
"I am telling the truth. A few moments ago I streamed Enoshima on the TV from your friend's mind. Now she's not present because of the downloading process. But don't worry, after it's done I'll erase her from Kirigiri-san's encephalon." The man promised.
"You're just another crazy remnant of despair. Future Foundation will bring this facility down as soon as you disconnect Kiri from that thing." Makoto stated.
"That's brave of you to say considering your helpless situation. But your fate is not for me to decide." He got up and headed towards a metal double door. "The transfer will take approximately forty-five minutes, so in the meantime, I would like to show you something. It'll answer all your questions."
"I'm staying with her." Naegi placed his chair next to his unconscious friend and sat down.
"If anything happens I'll get notified on my watch. I assure you that-"
"I am not taking my eyes off her until you take this thing off her head." Makoto interrupted firmly.
"..As you prefer, I'll leave you here then. I need to get things ready." The stranger left and closed the door behind him.
As soon as Naegi saw him leave, he instantly got up and sat at the computer. "He must be lying. I'm certain that this program is fake.. Almost certain, I just have to make sure, then I'll get this helmet off your head." Makoto minimized the health monitoring windows and focused on a program that showed a downloading progress bar. "There we go, I bet it's actually not working." He started switching between many sections of the application, surprisingly it behaved like a real, responsive program. His eyes opened wide in shock when he chose the memory browser section which began loading more and more video results, each from one day of her life. After a few seconds of staring at the screen, he shook his head horizontally. "No, no that's not possible. They must've worked really hard to make it look so authentic. Let's see how hard..."
Naegi clicked the "random day" button and soon the computer screen started displaying content that he couldn't believe was real.
"Day 2436"
"Loading . . ."
"Ready to read - initiating data stream . . ."
"Preparing codec . . ."
"Opening video player . . ."
"Playing Day 2436"
"You can disable autoplay in the settings"
The video opened in full screen and after a few seconds, the player's interface faded away.
Young Kyoko opened her eyes and saw early sunbeams falling through her room's windows. They covered her white wooden furniture, her violet floral wallpaper, her dolls, and her plushies creating a very cozy vibe. Regardless of the dozens of toys Kirigiri had, she got up and ran past them to her parents' bedroom.
"Dad! It's Saturday!" She climbed up the bed. "We're going to the park!.. Dad? Dad wake up!" Kyoko grabbed her father's shoulders and shook them.
"mm.. W-what is it darling?" Jin asked slowly regaining his consciousness.
"You promised we would go to the park today!" Kirigiri cheered.
"Oh, right. Of course I remember. But mom will have to make you breakfast first." Without opening his eyes he smiled at her daughter's happy attitude.
"Mom it's breakfast time!" Kyoko crawled to her mother.
"Dad volunteers to make breakfast today." She told in a sleepy voice and rolled to the outer side of the bed with a grin.
"Come on dad let's go!" Kirigiri fell off the bed and began to pull on her father's hand.
"Alright alright, I'm getting up." He let out a short chuckle and put his part of the duvet aside.
For the next thirty minutes, Makoto fast-forwarded through his young friend's day. He saw her having fun in a playground, splashing around in the local lake, and eating ice cream with her parents. At the end of her day, Kyoko hugged all of her plushies including a big brown teddy bear, and fell asleep after a kiss on the head from her mother.
Naegi's eyes were already watery when he watched the video, but after it ended he burst into tears.
"If not for the stupid talents we would all be living happy lives! The tragedy would never happen! Kiri wouldn't turn away from her father! My parents would still live!.. Billions of people would still live! There wouldn't be Ultimate Despair or Ultimate Hope! I would rather want everyone to be talentless than for the world to suffer like this!" Makoto thought to himself while wiping away his tears. After a few minutes, Naegi stopped sobbing and looked over at his friend. He cleaned his face with his sleeves and sat next to her. "You didn't even have a choice, you were forced into it. Talent above all, above anyone... Wait... Something doesn't add up, why would Jin use your mother's death to leave the family? He clearly loved both of you! I- I have no doubts! It was Fuhito that didn't let you see your parents! H-he kidnapped you to make you a detective! And since your father despised his obsession, he was forced to cut off your contacts to continue the tradition. Fuhito must've been lying about Jin, he made you hate him so deeply that you didn't even react when you saw his bones. I-it would all make sense!.. I just wonder if your mother's death was a coincidence... I'm not even sure if I should tell you this. It's most likely the truth but, it would just hurt you.. I- I don't know, maybe I should talk this over with Aoi later. Now I need to focus on Junko's case."
Makoto sat down at the computer and selected the day of virtual Enoshima's death.
"I don't fear the truth Junko, even if it'll bring despair." He thought to himself to gain courage. After a few seconds of hesitation, he frowned and pressed the "enter" button which made the video start loading.
