Summary: You still insist on fighting...
A strangled chuckle escaped Owada's mouth. "Man…you are one sick little freak, aren't you?" It was a perfectly understandable reaction, especially with how grisly some of the first few notches must've looked, warped skin and shaky lines briefly sending Naegi back to sleepless nights and a trembling knife held in one hand. The Luckster shrugged, smoothing his hair back over the tally marks.
"In any case, it did end up useful for this particular situation." Naegi switched the topic of the conversation back to its original intent with a sort of blatant nonchalance that had Junko's grasp on his shoulder tightening painfully. He reached back to pat her hand, lone eye staring challengingly at those who watched him with barely concealed revulsion. Well, it was either this or talk about the fact that he was, in some way, connected to a massacre. One which you could see the aftermath of. That classroom looked like it came from a two bit horror movie which splurged more on the fake blood than on a proper script. He'd just have to deal with the fallout from this reveal the same way he dealt with everything else in his life; by pretending it didn't exist. "Was that sufficient proof for you, Togami-san?"
The Ultimate Affluent Progeny was glaring at him with some sort of undiscernable emotion in his eyes. Actually, considering the blond was permanently stuck with a resting bitch face, this was quite the mild glare compared to usual. At least, he believed so. It had been far too long since he had to interact with people outside of his small circle of friends-slash-acquaintances-slash-companions in a way that wasn't awkward staredowns or people clinging to the walls as he walked past. Naegi sighed internally. He was starting to develop a reputation for having a hair-trigger temper. Unfortunate.
"Every time I think I've figured you out, you find a new way to surprise me." Togami murmured, a sharpness to his eyes that reminded him of a predator. "I don't recall a Naegi family…but you're not nearly as normal as you pretend to be." He blinked. "Very well, I retract my reservations. Speak."
Truth Bullet: [The Tragedy of Hope's Peak]
Truth Bullet: [Secret Files]
Truth Bullet: [Naegi's Habit]
…
Truth Bullet Selected: [Naegi's Habit]
"Gee. Thanks." Naegi couldn't help but snark, and was a little weirded out by the way the Scion only reacted with a dismissive shake of his head. Is this how you befriended a stuck up blond rich dude? Beat him up and then impress him with how fucked up you are as a person? For the sake of his deteriorating mental health, the Luckster moved on. "Anyways, there are nineteen tally marks on the back of my neck. Considering the day I make each one on, and the fact that I heal decently quickly, that means we're missing around two years worth of memories. Questions?"
"Self-harm is unbecoming of a—" He raised a hand to cut the spluttering Moral Compass off, grey-green eye narrowed menacingly. Huh. That worked. He filed that away for later. "—my apologies. You claim that we're missing years of memories…but how is that possible?" Ishimaru frowned as he adopted his thinking posture.
"I'm missing my very identity." Kirigiri pointed out, having returned to her seat. Naegi shifted his gaze away from the slightly teary-eyed look Fujisaki was giving him from beside her. "I still have access to my Talent and unconscious memory, but without the memories that would denote how I shaped them. It's essentially a blend between dissociative and retrograde amnesia. Provided one has the right equipment and knowledge, they could easily have taken us by surprise and extracted the memories necessary."
Enoshima grimaced, still standing behind Naegi. In fact, considering her hands were placed on his shoulders, she was probably leaning on him. "Hope's Peak has Ultimates in every field. A couple years ago there was the Ultimate Therapist, who got her title even while speaking through a computer. And there was also the Ultimate Pharmacist, who was able to achieve miracles with conventional medication, even though that seems impossible. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for some Ultimate Neurologist to develop a way to manipulate the brain itself." Her fingers twitched.
"So…" Owada groaned, feet propped up on the table once more. He crossed one over the other. "There's a really good fuckin' chance that some psycho wiped our memories. And that we were all enrolled in this school for two years. Shit." A hand came up to cover his face. "So that means the bear's been encouraging us to kill our friends. Classmates. People we were living with. Fuck." There was an undercurrent of anger in his voice, but that came second to Despair. The air seemed to thicken. Naegi didn't argue. It was true, after all. Killing people you barely knew was still deplorable, but it was easy to see how two people had already made that sort of decision. Four, if you counted the two who had attempted to kill but were still walking around. But imagine the sort of hopelessness one might feel, knowing that those who died were people that they may have cared for. Two years. Assuming that Hope's Peak had been turned into some sort of safehouse, that was a lot of time to spend with only your classmates for company. His eye flicked from individual to individual. Had he cared for them? The same people who treated him like a time bomb could potentially be people he had known and trusted. Even in the midst of his apathy, he felt a pang of guilt.
Had he known her better? Befriended her? Were they close? The questions ping-ponged around in his brain, rattling the four corners of his skull. Terrible, terrible thoughts. Absentmindedly, Naegi recalled the way Monokuma preached Despair. The glee it felt as suspicion continued to grow amongst class 78. His eye trailed up to the camera watching them. He could see the entertainment value. Take a group of friends. Maybe even a couple lovers. Erase their memories, and render them strangers. Lock 'em in a Killing Game, watch as they turn on each other. And when the dust finally settled, reveal the truth. That they were not killing and dooming strangers to the void, but people that they had known and cared for. The final punchline. Despair, for the rest of their lives.
Unbeknownst to the Luckster, his eyes spiralled for the briefest of moments.
He shook his head to dislodge the depressing thoughts that had begun to creep into his headspace. Not the time. He could sign himself up for therapy after this was over. Or just curl up into a ball and die. That worked as well. "That brings us to my next point." His voice shattered the silence, cutting through the thick fog that had settled over their heads.
"T-there's m-more?" Fukawa looked like she was about to be sick.
Truth Bullet: [You Must Not Leave]
Truth Bullet: [Willing Participation]
Truth Bullet: [Dusty Letter]
…
Truth Bullet Selected: [Willing Participation]
Tapping his fingers against his wrist, Naegi resisted the urge to smirk at the clear misery on her face. "We've established that we're missing memories. And that at some point, we came to this school to learn. And from the letter in the library, along with the…renovations…to the rest of the school, we know Hope's Peak had to close down for one reason or another. Which makes this next part a lot worse." He sighed. "We locked ourselves in here. Voluntarily."
"What!?" Asahina stood up abruptly, chair screeching against the floor. "That's impossible! Sure, maybe we're missing memories! Maybe we actually went to this school. But no way in hell would I leave my family! Do you know I have a brother out there!?" She was throwing daggers with her eyes. Naegi was unimpressed. "Maybe someone like you enjoys being in here, but normal people have lives!" Y'ouch.
Owada grunted. "Like the Swimmer chick said, I've got an entire biker gang to lead. Doesn't really make sense to shut myself in here." There was a general murmur of agreement amongst most of his classmates. Naegi winked slowly. Did they seriously think he didn't have a family? His fingers spasmed. Rage burned him gently. It infuriated him. Immensely.
[Influence]: 0
[Error]
[You are not done]
[Influence]: 1
Truth Bullet: [The Tragedy]
Truth Bullet: [Secret Files]
Truth Bullet: [Hope's Peak Academy]
…
Truth Bullet Selected: [The Tragedy]
He took a moment to compose himself before he could say something he would regret later on. "But what if there was a reason?" Naegi paused, something akin to a snarl creeping across his face, an ugly, crooked thing that screamed malice and Despair. "Hypothetically, if the world had fallen into ruin, if the apocalypse had come and gone, if there was no other choice to preserve your own lives…" He shrugged. "Would you lock yourself away, in order to save yourselves?"
"...what evidence do you have?" Ogami questioned, but there was a look of quiet sadness in her eyes. As someone who had been briefly working with the Mastermind, she probably had a better idea of what was going on with the outside world than the rest of them. Too bad there was still a rule in place to prevent her from telling them anything she might know. He made a mental note to try getting her into the secret room on the second floor at some point, or the bathhouse. Although he was reluctant to risk the life of the strongest person alive. That would be quite a loss.
"Monokuma's said it before." He began carefully, knowing that he was about to shatter any illusions they might have had about returning to their lives. Even if he didn't care much for these people, it was still a tough pill to swallow. "Mentioning that by the end of it all, we would not want to leave this place. The fact that some awful thing had happened in the outside world. Those videos we got in the first motive…there's a good chance they weren't staged in the slightest. If the world fell apart in the two years we're missing, it wouldn't be too hard to just go to those locations and film them."
Kirigiri picked up the conversation. "The letter in the library mentions an event that forced Hope's Peak to close. One could be optimistic and suggest it was a scandal…but given the bloodstained classroom on the fifth floor, it's more likely to be something as terrible as Naegi is suggesting."
"The metal plates. Vault door." Fujisaki murmured, looking down at their knees. "They're very specific. If Monokuma wanted to lock us in here, it would've been simpler to wall off any entrances with concrete, or just construct barricades to prevent us from leaving. But a vault door is meant to keep something secure. And these iron plates were screwed on from the inside." They looked up to meet Naegi's eye. "We chose this. Didn't we?"
"N-no w-way!" Fukawa was on the verge of a mental breakdown. "T-that's a sh-shitty plot. It can't- it can't be!"
"It would explain the resources necessary to renovate the school into a fortress." Togami mused. "If Hope's Peak's administration was involved, the construction work wouldn't require any sort of subterfuge that other scenarios would require for long periods of time."
"Hah…" Ishimaru trembled, a shaky smile on his face. "The total collapse of societal order…that's…I must be having a nightmare. What a terrible situation to find ourselves in."
"Are you all seriously buying this!?" Asahina remained defiant, but there was a flicker of instability in her eyes. "Sakura-chan, he has to be messing with us, right!?" She turned to the Ultimate Martial Artist, who stared back somberly. The Swimmer was met with silence. "...Sakura-chan?" Distantly, he noted the tears in her eyes. "No…it can't be! This is a really bad joke!"
Junko scoffed. "This is going straight past disbelief and straight into denial." She was remarkably unfazed by the situation, and he appreciated the calmness. It beat screaming, shaking and crying. The Fashionista was using his head as a chin rest, and the absurdity of doing so while they were discussing the end of the world got a small laugh out of him. "Face it, something bad happened. Big fucking whoop."
"No…" Asahina was clutching her head. "I can't! I won't! I have to— I have to get out of here!"
"Can't handle the truth, huh." He wasn't particularly surprised. The Luckster had reached this realisation so very long ago, and even now he was struggling to come to terms with it. He placed a finger to his lips. "Well, how about we hear it from someone who might know what's going on?"
"Huh—" Naegi sank his teeth into his finger and ripped a jagged wound across it with a twist of his head. Before anyone could react, he closed the distance between himself and Fukawa, cornering the Writer with blood dripping from his wound.
"Awaken!" He laughed, as the Writer's eyes rolled into the back of her head. "Genocider Syo!"
[Locus Standi Has Concluded]
[Success]
Omake: Redo / Undo [3]
Naegi watched with no small amount of amusement as events played out exactly as he remembered them. Monokuma gave a spiel about being invited to Hope's Peak, having to kill each other and now he was squaring off against the Ultimate Pompadour. The Luckster tuned in to that conversation absentmindedly, eyes fixated on Ogami Sakura. At what point in the timeline did she become the Mastermind's spy? Her video? No, too obvious. It would just take one person to look over her shoulder to notice that the contents were suspicious. Then again, Monokuma could just visit her at any point in the night. He timed his grimace to coincide with the bear's explosion. He'd have to follow her around at some point. The Luckster blinked at the sudden cacophony of noise. Ah, the smell of gunpowder. Blah blah blah, outrage, blah blah blah, E-Handbook (he used it more often to kill than to actually check the map), something something…Naegi looked up from his musings, noting the way everyone had gone silent. If they really wanted to know who was going to betray them, he could point out which half of the class was going to stain their hands with blood.
"So? What are you going to do now? Just stand around glaring at each other?" Ah Kirigiri, as cold as ever. Her comment spurred more conversation as Naegi continued to mentally go over the details that would serve the most importance in the coming days. Preventing Maizono's death was first on the agenda. Although that would immediately break the illusion that he was the same Naegi Makoto that Junko and Mukuro once knew. He wondered briefly if this was his universe, or a separate one. Cause that complicated things. Naegi could also shatter the game entirely, but the temporary Despair born from that wouldn't be nearly enough to stop them from killing him on the spot. Or the rest of his classmates. Which defeated the purpose of trying to save them anyways. He sighed. This was why he quit trying to be a hero. Too much effort.
"Out of my way, plankton." Naegi perked up. Turns out monologuing in your head could skip conversations like pressing the "ctrl" key on your laptop. Now, here lies the question…
"Wh—!? The fuck's that supposed to mean!?" To watch Togami get decked in the face, or preserve the continuity of the timeline?
"One tiny bit of plankton, drifting across the sea. So minuscule, so insignificant, they couldn't possibly have any kind of influence on the boundless ocean." He couldn't help but muffle a snicker. Say what you want about the Scion, but he did have a way with words.
"I'm gonna kick your ass!" The Biker Gang Leader stepped forward, and instinctively, Naegi blocked him with an outstretched arm.
"Calm yourself." He stated, feeling Mukuro's eyes burn into the back of his head for some reason. "Now's not the time to fight."
"The fuck you just say?" Owada really needed to mind his temper. "You some kinda goody-goody little bitch?"
Naegi stared him down with an apathetic gaze. It seemed to incense him even further. "Who do you think you are, talkin' to me like that!? You think you're better than me, hah!?"
"I mean, kinda." Oops. Did he say that out loud?
Owada reared back the fist that would send him flying in another timeline. "Fuck you!"
It hurtled towards him like a meteor strike—
"Nah."
—and he caught it unflinchingly, a small smile creeping onto his face as he reciprocated the gesture. "Clench your teeth, asshole."
And with a satisfying collision of flesh against flesh, he downed the Biker Gang Leader with a single blow to the chin. Rubbing his stinging knuckles to soothe the ache, he turned to regard his suddenly silent classmates. Naegi tilted his head to one side.
"Did I miss something?"