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Rhythmatic beeping woke up my ears before anything else. Relaxingly steady like a metronome. I didn't mind the noise. My dazed mind wanted to go back to sleep. A sleep that could last forever. However, I knew I couldn't. The goosebumps lining my skin made the cold impossible to ignore. I barely registered how to move my heavy body as if I'd been laying here for weeks. Once I convinced my body to listen, I opened my eyes. Blindingly bright tiles greeted me. Who could sleep in a room this bright? Groggily sitting up, I looked around. A machine hooked up to my chest caused the sound. An IV ran clear liquid down my veins.
How did I get in the hospital? I tried to think of what happened. Any possible lead or clue completely swiped from my mind. Ideas of what flooded my logic, mostly drastic ones with no real evidence. The only emotion I could feel about all this was confusion. I went to scratch my head as I pieced it together, but bandages blocked me. A flash of a memory came through. My own voice desperately calling out: 'Please stop! For the love of God, please stop!' Horrified and pleding from the soul. That only made me try to remember what happened more intensely. I got up to look in a mirror. Where would one be? There should be a bathroom somewhere. I guess I could wander until I found someone or something. Before I completely got out of bed, an elderly man in glasses came from a door I didn't notice. "No, no, no. You need to rest!" His hands were out in front of him as he hurriedly stepped closer like that could stop me. I obediently get back down. I eyed him carefully. A clipboard between his upper arm and side. His suit brought who he was into question. A doctor wouldn't wear that to work, right? Either way, I asked something. "What happened?"
The man replied with a question, avoiding what I wanted to know. "Oh, you don't remember?" The tone came off as slightly unexpected, but not upset. I took a moment to retread my brain. Nothing other than those pleads. Not that it told me anything about an actual event anyway. "...no. That's why I asked you." His lack of a real answer revved up my anxiety. Maybe those illogical, drastic possibilities weren't that illogical. Especially with how my voice sounded in that blurry memory. "Interesting. We worried this would happen." Another person came in as he talked. Some teenager. I eyed him too. His messy appearance made me wonder if he was involved somehow. The kid stayed silent as he watched me. His eyes glued to reading my every movement. Kinda creepy...
The older man clicked his pen, so I turned my attention back to him. "Let's test your memory. We're going to ask you some questions. If you don't remember, just say you don't remember. Okay?" His friendly smile contrasted with the other's serious face. Maybe he felt guilty for being involved in why I was in here. Why else would he stare like that and look so... disheveled? "You think it's that bad?" More or less to confirm they were still there, I touched the bandages wrapped across my forhead again. "We don't know until we test it." An old sing-songy voice in that reply. Ugh. "Well, fire away." Guess he wouldn't tell me more details until this 'test' was over.
"Do you know how you ended up here?" That question again? "No. Otherwise I wouldn't've asked earlier." I laid back into the bed. The coldness still rampant. I tried to burrow into my thin robe. "Do you know what date it is?" I shook my head. "How could I when I don't know how long I've been in here?" Despite that perfectly valid question, I thought about what day it was last I could remember. No time to think much about it. "What's your mother's first name?" That left me stunned. My mother? I forced myself to picture her. A face, a memory, a name. Nothing popped up. "I... don't remember her." How shitty to forget something like that. Spoke volumes of my role as a son.
The man wrote something on his clipboard. The ticks he used before weren't covering whatever he just marked off. "What's your father's first name?" Why were we focused on parents? Again, I combed my thoughts, but nothing came up. Nothing. Not even a vague outline. Made me feel like a terrible person to put it lightly. "...I don't know." I fidgeted with my hands. Partially out of a search for warmth and partially out of this itching anxiety. If I couldn't remember them, then whatever happened had to be pretty damn awful. "Do you have any siblings?" Oh, maybe that was who the teenager was. I pointed at him. "Are you...?" He shook his head. No words. As if he was above talking to me or possibly too tired. Then why was he here? "I don't know." How much further confirmation did I need that whatever brought me here couldn't be any good?! This 'test' should be over soon with how little information I could give.
"Do you know where you are?" I took another look around. "Specifically, no. Some hospital, obviously." The old man scribbled more down. That had to be a sign of something. "When is your birthday?" Such a normal question. Even so, I had to think about it. Nothing clicked. No hint of the month or anything came to mind. Seriously, what the fuck happened to me? "Don't remember." I curled up more while still staying sat up. Out of cold. Out of anxiety. Shaking slightly due to the unknown, but I chose to blame the temperature. "What's your name?" Another normal, common question. My name? My name is... Uh, it's um. Shit! The fear of what could've possibly happened boiled into my speech. "...I don't know. Just tell me what happened. You're freaking me out!"
The old man adjusted his glasses while 3 others came in. All in suits. What the hell? Who were these guys? Government agents? Did I commit some intense crime spree or something? "It's a lot to explain, kiddo. Feel free to ask questions." One of the new ones, the tannest of them, started with a friendly tone. "Do you remember anything about Hope's Peak Academy?" At this point, they should know I didn't. If I couldn't remember my name, why would I remember anything else? "No." I played nice since I knew he was getting to what I wanted to know. Yelling out 'obviously not, dumbass' wouldn't get me anywhere. Might piss them off. The clear youngest of the adults handed me a pamphlet.
Hope's Peak Academy. Unfolding the paper to read all about it felt like a waste of time. A prestigious school where students with amazing talents are scouted throughout the country. Promises of success and care painted in every short paragraph. Graduated students were 'set for life.' "Sounds great, but what does this have to do with me?" My eyes studied the picture of the building. The way it towered over all the others around it felt exaggerated. Did they Photoshop this? "You go here, kiddo. The most talented student this school has ever seen!" The tan one grinned like some salesman as he spoke. Most talented? How? This still didn't answer why I couldn't remember anything. 'You go here' played over in my head. Wait, am I at the school now? Why?
"Here? Where am I?" My gaze darted around the room for a window. Strangely, none in sight. "Yes, Kamakura. See, you were in an accident that led to you needing brain surgery that had a possibility of amnesia. Due to how valuable you are as a student, we offered to pay for your medical treatments as well as rebuild all those talents. We know you're capable. You're such a special case we decided to turn an unused area to a hospital room to ease this process." The bearded one told me this horrific story as if he rehearsed how to tell me. Seriously? I had an amazing life if I was talented enough for all this! "Wow... I-" A million different questions popped up in my dazed state. Despite being rude, I asked as many as I could. Hey, they said to feel free to ask!
"What happened in the accident?"
"Car accident. You got hit by a drunk driver while walking home. It's a miracle you survived."
"How long has it been?"
"8 days."
"What were all these talents?"
The men laughed amongst themselves. That teenager no longer watching me. Instead, he got out a clipboard of his own. Ready to fill out whatever the men said next. "Oh, plenty of talents, buddy. You seem naturally amazing at everything. To name a few: ultimate analyst, ultimate biologist, ultimate musician, ultimate mathematician, ultimate gamer, ultimate luck, etc." The youngest of the men replied. How was luck a talent? I gave a confused face as I let this soak in. "I believe we should properly introduce ourselves. We're the Steering Committee of Hope's Peak." The oldest in glasses remarked. I waited a moment for them to say their names, but they didn't. Strange... Either way, the memory questions started to bug me even more. The blurry pleads echoed in my head again like a warning. Was that memory involved with something else? I couldn't think of why I'd do that in a car accident. Maybe I said that before getting hit. Not so sure. I couldn't help but think about where my family was. Were they hurt? Where were they? I assumed they knew where I was if they were fine.
Before I had the chance to ask about any of that, the bearded one chimed in."Is there anything you can personally remember being good at? You have options, Kamukura Izuru." I mentally echoed my own name so I couldn't forget it ever again. Kamukura Izuru. Kamukura Izuru. Kamukura Izuru. It seemed so unfamiliar. Goes without saying that I didn't remember being good or bad at anything. Even if I force myself to think of the past, only blurry flashes came up. In one of those flashes, I saw a heldheld game. "Um, I can somewhat recall playing video games. I don't know if I was ever good at them or not." No specifics or scores. Only my thumbs smashing buttons. "No problem. Give me a moment." The bearded one went to get something. I took this moment to look at the kid in the corner. Lack of words or a change in facial expression made his appearance here to be that much weirder.
"Who are you?" I pointed at the teenager as I asked in neutrally casual tone. The 3 men faced him. "Matsuda Yasuke. Ultimate Neurologist." He didn't get up, look at or properly greet me. The introduction shot out like a grouchy kid being forced to do it. Hm, what's his problem? "Matsuda here did your surgery. Don't mind him, he's just tired." Huh? HE did my SURGERY?! "But you're a teena-" Finally chosing to speak for himself, he cut me off. "Yeah, yeah. I know what I'm doing, alright? Don't freak out about it too much, Hi- Kamukura." The tannest of the men flashed the neurologist a look, probably for his attitude before his own phone went off. One glance at it and he motioned for everyone to come with him. "Apologies. This is really important." They all head out the same door, shutting it behind them quickly.
Weird. Guess being part of such a school meant a lot of important phone calls. I took a breath, taking the story in. Was I really that cool? I had no reason not to trust these people. Still the idea of me being so talented was mind boggling or maybe I was still groggy from surgery. The questions I wanted to ask earlier weighed heavier on my mind by the second. I assumed if something happened to either of my parents, they'd tell me. Right? Either way, I should ask when one comes back in. I had no reason to believe I should worry, so maybe I'm being paranoid.
Waving it in his hand like he was showing it off, the one who left first came back after a minute with a Nintendo DS. "Alright, Kamukura. You have some options about which game so have fun! You're still on pain medication, so don't feel pressured to make a perfect score like normal." I nodded with a smile. "Before we start that, can you tell me about my parents? Are they okay?" When the questions left my mouth, I suddenly felt like I was definitely being paranoid. Why wouldn't they be okay? "Oh, of course! They're very busy people, so we couldn't get ahold of them yet. We'll update them as soon as possible." Phew. Thank God. What a weird feeling being so worried about people you can't remember. I wanted to ask this man more, but figured I should start playing the game.
He was right about all the options. SimCity, Kirby, Gala Omega, Animal Crossing, Pokémon, Rhythm Heaven, Mario. Possibly more. Gala Omega stuck out to me. A retro game mixed in with all these modern ones. Without a word, I started playing. Level 1 being way too easy, I couldn't help getting a perfect score. Each level got slightly more difficult, but my score barely changed. Didn't the younger guy say something about an analyst talent? Maybe that's why I figured out everything so quickly. Time flew by as I beat the game. Uncovering little Easter eggs along the way. Every excruciating detail of the game revealed as I played for who knows how long. A score of 999,850! Only 50 from perfect. Guess I really am the ultimate if this was how good I did fresh after surgery.
