Chapter Text
Shuichi grabs at the air in front of him, pushing up the visor on his face. What is this on his head and why can’t he take it off? Why is he laying down? He was just climbing out together with Maki and Himiko, but where were they?
He sits up, looking around at the circle of unmoving bodies around him. The others are wearing helmets on their heads that look almost exactly like the ones Miu made for them so long ago, and for a moment Shuichi wishes he was back in that room. Maybe he could’ve stopped it...
“Where are we?” He recognizes that voice. He glances across the room at Himiko, wearing a helmet similar to his own, and then to Maki, who’s sitting up silently.
But he doesn’t know where they are… Or why they’re here… Everyone else here is dead! With Miu to his right and Kaito to his left--both unmoving--both dead--he can’t make any sense of it. Why does everyone look so peaceful? They’re dead! Why are their bodies still here?
Only one body is missing; Tsumugi. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that she isn’t here, but why? Why is she the only one?
Shuichi tries to move, to get out of this room full of the shells of his dead friends, to make some sense of this on his own, but he’s stuck in place. Wires hold the helmet connected to his head in place while needles stick into his veins in both arms. He follows the tubes protruding from his arms to bags hanging nearby. Is this an IV? The liquid slowly dripping isn’t exactly clear, but he can’t pinpoint a specific color. Had they died and this was just a large shared hospital room? That wasn’t likely.
A large door in the wall to Shuichi’s left opens a moment later and a man walks in, with messy brown hair and carrying a clipboard. He stops in the doorway when he notices the three sitting up.
“Ah, so the three of you did log out successfully…”
“...Log out?” Shuichi asks.
“It’s… complicated. Would you mind coming with me? It would be safer for everyone if we left this room.”
“Why should we? Who are you?” Maki questions. She’s clearly more suspicious of him than Shuichi.
“Oh, that’s right. You don’t remember when we were introduced. My name is Makoto Naegi, and I’ve been watching over you all this time.” He begins to make his way over to Shuichi, quickly pushing buttons on the monitor behind his… bed? Cot? “Hold your head still.” He says calmly, before disconnecting the wires on the back of Shuichi’s head and gently removing the helmet, setting it behind him. He then silently pulls the IV(?) needles from Shuichi’s arms, and Shuichi nearly gags at the sight. I didn’t need to see how long the needles were…
Makoto leaves to do the same for Maki and Himiko, and Shuichi can’t help but think he’s heard that name before. Was he someone from before they were thrown in there? Did he do their auditions? What if he’s the mastermind?
He finishes quickly and gestures for the three to follow him, and they do as they’re told without complaint. He leads them quietly through a dimly lit hallway and into a small office. From the looks of it it reminds Shuichi more of a funeral parlor than anything. After closing the door behind them, he sits at the desk and tells them to pull up chairs.
Makoto sighs. “I’m sure you’re all confused, but I promise I’ll explain it all. I saw what happened in there. It wasn’t supposed to go this way…” He grimaces. “I want to apologize to you for what you had to endure… We tried to do the same for another group and it nearly went horribly wrong… So we brought the sixteen of you here but someone resisted and now we have this disaster. I know you all know who, and I just want you all to know that she was lying.”
“What are you talking about?” Maki asks.
“You’re not really making any sense…” Himiko admits.
“To put it lightly… You were… in a simulation of sorts.”
The three look at him with blanched faces and he continues. “What you saw in there, in that school… None of it was real. The ‘audience’, the ‘killing game’, ‘Dangan Ronpa’, the memories you got from Flashback Lights… It’s not real. The only ‘true’ memory you remembered while in the simulation was your desire to die beforehand. There is no ‘end of the world’ right now. We’re in a state of recovery.”
He continues while they listen on in stunned silence. “And it may come as a shock, because you saw it all happen, but… none of your friends are truly dead. They’re only… asleep.”
Shuichi suddenly gasps. “No one’s dead?!”
Makoto nods. “Only their avatars died. Each of you were put in comatose-like states so that you couldn’t accidentally wake up and be logged out, potentially killing your brain from the shock. The others will stay in those states until we can figure out a way to wake them up without shocking them.”
“Why can’t you just wake them up now?” Himiko asks.
“It might kill them. Their brain thinks they’ve died and so do they. If we wake them up; removing them forcibly from the simulation, their brain thinking they’ve died will pass on to their still-living bodies and kill them.”
“Then what can we do?”
“Our best bet would be to speak with them within the simulation without overloading them.”
Maki isn’t convinced. “But aren’t they dead in there?”
“They are, but…” Makoto stops for a moment. “Right now they believe that everything they’re experiencing is real, like you all did before Tsumugi falsely told you that you’re in a fake world.”
But that still leaves opportunities. “Um… Can I make a suggestion?” Shuichi asks.
“Please do.”
“Is there a way to talk to them in the simulation like we did with Gonta before?”
Makoto nods, but then tilts his head. “We could temporarily load their consciousness, but not their bodies.”
“But we can still talk to them?”
“In theory, yes.”
“Then… What if we told them they survived?”
Makoto eyes him, considering the idea. “What do you mean?”
He isn’t certain on his idea, but it was worth a shot, right? Shuichi continues. “Well… If their bodies are still alive and their consciousness is still in the simulator, and all we have to do is get them to believe they’re actually alive and log them out calmly… What if we convince them that they didn’t really die? It wouldn’t really be a lie…”
“You might be on to something there…” Makoto takes a notepad out of the desk drawer and starts to write. “We could have you three speak to them… You would have to speak directly to them from the control panel back in the main room, but it might work.”
“We can really talk to them?” Himiko starts to cheer up. “I might be able to apologize to Tenko…”
“No, I don’t think that’s the best idea. No matter what you say, you can’t tell them that you three survived, or that anyone else died. If they ask about anyone, tell them they’re alive. You can’t let them believe anyone actually died.”
“And then what?”
“I can force their logout. As long as their brain believes that they’re alive, it could work. I can’t guarantee how long it’ll take for them to wake up afterwards, though. It’ll just depend on their willingness to get out.”
Shuichi nods. “Is that why we all woke up so fast?”
“Exactly. You all wanted to get out as soon as possible, and that’s why you woke up so quickly. Now this might work, but you have to be careful with it. These are your friends’ lives you’ll be dealing with.”
Himiko shifts, visibly nervous. “I don’t think I can do it…”
Maki turns to Shuichi. “Shuichi, do you think you can do it?”
“You too, Maki?” You really overestimate me...
“Everyone always listened to you in the trials… Maybe they’ll be willing to listen again.”
“And you think I can do it…?”
She nods. “Out of the three of us, yes. And it was your idea.”
“Okay…” Shuichi only agrees in spite of himself.
“You’ll speak for the three of you?” Makoto asks.
“I guess so…”
“Alright.” Makoto stands with his notepad and clipboard, and smiles at the group for the first time. “There might be hope here. Thank you, Shuichi.” He starts to walk to the door, but stops himself. “Ah, I’ll be back, I just need to go over this with the others. If you’d like, you can take a minute to relax in our rec room about three doors down before we get started. I’m sure you all want to talk…"
"Thank you," The three mumble together as Makoto leaves.
The silence that follows between them is awkward, but not stifling.
"Um," Himiko starts after a while, "Do you think it'll work? That we'll be able to see everyone again?"
"In the best-case scenario, yes." Maki sighs. "But they died. Real or not, they stopped breathing. We can't--"
"Maki…" Shuichi interjects. "Try thinking of it like this; if you play a video game and you die, do you die in real life? I'd like to think it's the same here, they're just a little bit more closely related."
"You're right… I'm sorry." Maki sighs.
"Maybe we should get some air?" Himiko suggests, getting up. It's obvious to Shuichi that she's nervous too. "Maybe the rec room has a fridge with someone's lunch in it… I've always wanted to see what kind of stuff people bring to work."
Maki stretches in her seat. "And if it doesn't?"
"We'll just have to see, won't we?" Shuichi replies, trying to be more lighthearted. "And maybe, just maybe, we'll get to see the others again when this is all over."
What they didn't know, though, was that the events of the fifty-third killing game wouldn't be over with so easily.