Gundam glances over the twelve filled alpha pods. He sits on the edge of his pod, looking over at Saionji and Komaeda. The woman looks over at him with an uncharacteristically nervous grin. Gundam feels a tug at his heartstrings and musters up a courageous smile for her. Her features harden, and she just nods at him. Gundam turns to the white-haired man, already in his pod, preparing to pull the lid closed. He catches Gundam's gaze and beams at him. Gundam just shrugs. He can't help but still think of them as kids, despite how grown up they now are. Perhaps he wouldn't, had they had been able to be kids.
While he's lost in his thoughts, his friends have already slipped into their pods. The hiss of the lids sliding catches his ears, and he watches through the frosted glass as the insides of the two pods begin to glow green, like the others. The lights within pulse, and Gundam knows he's the last to enter the program. With a sigh, he swings his legs over into the pod and slides down into it. He pulls the lid shut and the pod immediately fills with a green light, as well as a small amount of gas that slows his mind and makes him tired. His vision begins to grow dark, and he can see the light begin pulsing the moment before his eyes close.
Gundam 'regains' consciousness in a black hallway, with a set of double wooden doors being the only other thing there. He shakes his head to get his bearings. Right. He's in the Future Foundation's program, the New World Program. He's supposed to... help the others recover. Somehow. With a shake of the head, he walks forward and pushes the door open. Five other people stand in the room. It appears others haven't arrived yet, for some reason. His eyes sweep over those there. Komaeda and Saionji sit in desks next to each other, trying to appear inconspicuous. A short, lavender haired girl chats up another with short, red hair. Nanami and Koizumi, Gundam remembers. Finally, a rather generous (physically speaking) boy stands at the front of the room, arms crossed. Gundam recognizes him instantly. Byakuya Togami. The five turn to look at him as he enters. Gundam chuckles.
"Ah, mortals. It seems I've been sent to some other plane of existence. Not to worry, I will break free from here yet. But first, I believe I was sent here. Yes, I will wait for now." Koizumi rolls her eyes, Nanami catching the motion and giggling. The AI girl waves discreetly at the trio, and Komaeda waves back. Togami just grunts and goes back to looking at the ceiling. Komaeda motions him over, and Gundam plants himself in a desk in front of Saionji's. He notices the difference in her appearance immediately. She's small, so much more than before. Just like she was in his vague memories of the beginning of his time at the school. The white-haired boy is slender, almost abnormally so, and is wearing that green jacket again.
"So... I guess it worked." Komaeda says, glancing at the door as it opens again. An overly muscled boy, if he could even be called that, marches carefully into the room with a comically small and chubby boy in chef's garb directly behind him. Nidai, Gundam knows, is the large one, but he only has a vague memory of the chef, and doesn't recall his name. Saionji makes a sound.
"Ugh. Hanamura." Gundam nods. That's his name. He ignores the newcomers, addressing Komaeda's statement.
"Apparently. And I assume the fact that we are having this conversation means we three still retain our memories." He speaks quietly, making sure none of the others heard him. Saionji responds with a quiet 'duh' and Komaeda nods. More kids have filtered into the room. A boy in a suit and a girl with silver hair Gundam identifies as Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama respectively. Soon followed by a group of three; A flashy girl, a sobbing girl, and a boy in a jumpsuit. Komaeda and Saionji seem to recognize them. Saionji seems to be rather upset at the presence of the first two, who she names Mioda and Tsumiki. Komaeda tells Gundam the boy is Souda. The last two people Gundam knows are Sonia and Owari, who walk into the classroom together. They seem somewhat disoriented, but easily slot themselves into Koizumi and Nanami's conversation. Gundam thinks this is everyone.
Unfortunately, it's not, and Gundam has no idea what they're waiting for. He remembers a supposed scripted start Naegi mentioned, having something to do with Usami, but the rabbit hasn't show up. Gundam starts to get irritated, and Komaeda tries to calm him down. Saionji had left the little group to go over and carefully wedge her way into the smallish girl's group off to the side.
"I do not understand. Everyone is here, are they not?" He taps his foot impatiently.
"I don't think so. We're still waiting for someone, I think. There are only fourteen people here, not counting Nanami. There were fifteen po-" Komaeda is cut off by the door opening. Everyone in the room turns to look at the newcomer. Gundam, for some reason, has no idea who this kid is. Average height, brown hair, white shirt, green tie. He turns to Komaeda for clarification, only to find the same confused look on the luckster's face. Komaeda tries to ask Gundam, "Who-"
"Well then. Looks like everyone's here." Togami speaks loudly, drawing everyone's attention to the front. Gundam, uninterested with whatever the imposter has to say, zones out, staring at the wall. Komaeda tries to get him to pay attention, but the animal breeder ignores him. They talk of things he already knows about. Why they're here, what happened to them, what in sam hill is going on. His thoughts go lazy, drifting randomly. Mainly, he thinks of these kids. These... are the kids he knew. Before they became monsters, feral beasts that would stop at nothing to please their leader, the wretched Junko Enoshima. Creatures that deserved to be abhorred for every loathsome act they performed. His thoughts are cut into by an unmistakable voice.
"Bingo! It seems everyone's here, so wet's begin!" Usami springs out from behind the podium, prancing around in a show-offy display. She talks to the, he supposes he should say former, Despair. They react somewhat understandably. Upset. Afraid. Confused. He slightly listens to the rabbit, but finds himself becoming bored again. As he daydreams, he hears the 'teacher' mention the words 'field twip'. He grins as Usami swings her stick around, and a blinding pink light appears on the ceiling. Gundam covers his eyes with his forearm and squints. So much more flashy than he remembers. And then the walls fall away, impacting the sand with a dull thud. The heat is the first thing that hits him. And then the sound of the gentle waves. And finally, the gasps and screams of his startled 'classmates'.
"Everyone, pwease calm down!" Usami tries to pacify the upset teens, leaving Gundam to try and pretend he's surprised and shocked. The rabbit launches into another lecture, this one about the island and peaceful living and whatnot. The others still try to pull the 'why are we here, where are we' nonsense. He's getting rather tired of his. Luckily, the AI ends her speech with a 'Let our 'Heart-Thumping Field Twip' begin!' The first response is the gentle 'wumph' of a body hitting the sand. Gundam snorts in humor at the sight of the unknown boy laying in the sand, having fainted. A few other giggles and scoffs resound through the crowed.
"Now now everyone. Wets not be mean! It's vewy vewy stwessful stawting out on a field twip!" The others brush it off, slowly dispersing. Usami offers to lead some people to the hotel, and a few follow her. Komaeda chats up a few people, and Gundam takes the time to look at Saionji. It seems the dancer is attempting to rekindle her prior relationship, if that's truly what it was, with Koizumi, who hesitantly accepts the girl's offers of friendship. Gundam scoffs as Komaeda comes up to him. The white-haired boy smirks when he finds out what Gundam is looking at.
"Jealous?" Gundam glares at Komaeda.
"What would I, the great Gundam Tanaka, have to be jealous about?" Komaeda raises his hands in mock defeat and laughs.
"Alright, alright, you got me. No jealousy here." He chuckles and slaps Gundam's shoulder. "You should go on ahead. I kind of uh... got nominated to wait for that guy to wake up. Heh." The luckster scratches the back of his head and Gundam rolls his eyes.
"Whatever you say." Gundam takes a step forward, but turns back to Komaeda. He notices everyone else has left, and talks. "We must converse at a later time." Komaeda nods seriously.
"We'll figure something out." Satisfied for now, Gundam takes his leave. He already knows where everything is, having been here before, and decides to head over to the airport. Perhaps he will find something to do there.