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Miyako Morino looked down at the letter in her hands, her eyebrow raised in confusion. She'd read it over and over again, but it still hadn't made any sense. She read the words again, going over them slowly to make sure she truly had read this right.
"We have recently held a lottery to select one ordinary high school student in the country to attend our school. As a result, you have been selected, and you are invited to attend with the title 'Super High School Level Good Luck'."
No, she'd read it correctly just like she had the first four times. This was a legitimate letter from Hope's Peak Academy, telling her that she'd been chosen out of all the other regular high school students in Japan, and she was Super High School Level Good Luck because of it. But that couldn't be right. She wasn't particularly lucky or unlucky. She was just a girl trying to deal with life and liked making Rube Goldberg machines. Hope's Peak Academy was something she'd never even thought of being an option for her. She'd had no particular desire to go there, and even if she did it wasn't like she could pay to get into that Reserve Course. She had no real need to be noticed, she didn't really care.
But she couldn't just turn them down. Hope's Peak Academy was a once in a lifetime chance, she'd be crazy to turn them down. She didn't really believe she had good luck enough to qualify, she just happened to get chosen by random chance. It could've been anyone else in her shoes right now. But perhaps she'd been chosen for a reason? The thought certainly crossed her mind, though she couldn't think of what exactly it could be. If nothing else, going to Hope's Peak would lead to success in whatever she decided to do with her life, and she was bound to meet some interesting people there. And if things didn't work out, she could always opt put and go back to her current school.
So two weeks later she'd stand outside of Hope's Peak Academy, unaware of what was in store for her in the years to come. She'd take a breath to calm herself and walk into the Academy's doors, changing her life forever.
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Slow beeping could be heard throughout the room, the glow of active pods giving the room a somber feeling. The two Future Foundation workers had looked over these pods many times before, and while most of them were empty, a small few still remained active.
"So the last ones left are Minoru Yoshihara and Arata Miyazaki, correct?" One asked.
"It appears so," The second responded, looking down at a clipboard of notes. "They were the last ones to die in the simulation, so it makes sense they'd be the last ones to wake up. Make sure to notify Ms. Nanase the moment Mr. Yoshihara wakes up."
The first one looked over at another active pod, this one containing Shizuka Matsuki. "And we're sure the other five won't wake up?" they asked. "I mean, the Jabberwock Island survivors that came here said they had some unexpected recoveries. Surely it's possible that there might be some in this group as well?"
Their co-worker sighed, not bothering to look up from their notes. "We've been over this already, those five sustained brain injuries in their deaths. The simulation's design makes it impossible to recover from brain or heart damage like that. Those five are brain-dead and won't wake up. Which is why we're here now."
"No, I know all that, but surely a miracle could happen, right?"
"The likelihood of such a miracle happening is lower than one percent," They moved over to Kaito Fujiwara's pod, tapping buttons on the keyboard to begin the shutdown sequence. "Besides, we've been generous in giving them the chance they need to wake up. Keeping these extra pods active is taking up power. We can't wait any longer, our efforts should be focused on the ones who did survive and the two who are left," A final key was pressed, and the light of the pod faded. Kaito Fujiwara's heart monitor slowed down before finally flat-lining. "I understand, you want the best for these kids, but the best for them at this point is to let their souls be put to rest. Now come on, let's get this job done."
A sigh escaped the first worker, but they knew it was true. They couldn't keep them like this anymore. They made their way towards Naomi Willams' pod when a warning siren began to go off. Someone was waking up, the lost souls could wait a bit longer. They rushed over to the main computer, checking on who was waking up and preparing everything. Their co-worker stopped what they were doing as well. "Well then, so much for that," they muttered to themselves. "Alright, it must be Mr. Yoshihara. You know the drill, I'm going to alert the survivors and medical staff-"
"Um, actually, it's not Minoru."
"Oh, so Mr. Miyazaki then? No matter, it's all the same regardless, though Ms. Nanase should be kept away from-"
"No, not Arata either."
The worker was frozen in shock for a moment, finding trouble gathering the words they needed. "What? How can that be, there's only those two left!" They walked over to the computer, convinced this was a joke. "How could anyone else possibly be waking up when they're-" They stopped, looking at the screen and then back at the specific pod which was preparing to open. "But that's impossible..."
"Hurry up and call the medical staff! We don't have much time left!"
"Right, right, I'll worry about this later." They walked over to the intercom and turned it on. "All medical staff report to the Simulation Room immediately! We have another subject waking up and need all hands at once! I repeat-"
The first one looked at the computer screen, a small smile poking through in the chaos. "Miracles aren't impossible after all. You just need luck."
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This was it. With this one bullet, she'd end everything. There'd be no more killings, no more arguing between them, none of that. She took a deep breath, slowly raising the gun to the side of her head. She couldn't hold it off any longer, she had to do it now. The moment she heard the announcement start she pulled the trigger, ready to embrace death.
...
...
She heard noises. Muffled sound that made no sense to her. She tried opening her eyes, only able to squint as she tried to desperately turn her head away from the bright lights. It felt so hard to move, to see, to do anything. The noise became slightly more clear, she could tell it was voices now but not what they were saying. Everything was blurry, she could only see fuzzy shapes moving around. What was going on? Was this the afterlife?
One of the shapes stopped moving, maybe it was looking down at her? It was so hard to tell. It said something, but the sound was still impossible to figure out. Her head felt like it was pounding, making her efforts to focus that much harder. The shapes started to take form, unmistakably human but still fuzzy and hard to discern from each other. She tried to speak, but her throat felt so dry that she couldn't form any words. Unable to handle the lights and sounds anymore, she closed her eyes and tried blocking out the noises.
She didn't know what was going on. Was this hell? Were the classmates she failed to save hanging over her to berate her for not being able to save them? Was this her punishment? She couldn't tell, everything felt strange and her head felt like it was going to burst. Strangely it was around the area where she'd shot herself in the simulation. Was that normal? She had so many questions but knew she probably wouldn't get answers to them. It all felt so overwhelming, perhaps if she got some rest things would make sense. Miyako drifted off into sleep, unaware of what was going on around her.
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The six survivors stood in front of the bed in the medical bay, still trying to process what they were seeing. It wasn't a sight they were unfamiliar with, they'd already seen it three times already with the classmates they saved, the three of them also staring at the bed. In front of them all was a bed, occupied by a young woman. She was lying there sleeping, connected to IVs and medical equipment. The heart monitor by her bed beeped steadily, the only sound in the room breaking the long silence. The clipboard at the end of her bed stated her name in clear to read characters: "Miyako Morino"
"Okay, is anyone else confused here, or is it just me?" Ryouta asked, finally breaking the silence. All eyes turned on him, a reaction he'd expected but didn't flinch at. "I mean, we saw her body. The cause of death was clear as day, but now she's here back in the real world. From how that damn program works, it doesn't make any sense!"
"No, I don't get it either. From what you told us this shouldn't be possible," Ayame said, sitting in a wheelchair. "So why is Miyako alive?"
"Maybe there was a glitch in the Matrix?" Kumiko suggested. "Like, maybe it realized Mimiya was dead, but it didn't register how she died! So maybe it thought she died from blood loss or something like that!"
"I don't know about that," Masaru said, scratching his head in confusion. "I mean, I'm not a tech expert but I feel like that's too much of a coincidence for the program to not register her death properly. And that sounds like a major glitch to me, something that wouldn't make it through a revamp of this system either. Otherwise it should've happened to the others who died."
"What about the upperclassmen?" Hikaru asked, holding himself up with crutches. "If it's a bug, then it must've happened on their end too so they'd know about it. Can't we ask them?"
"Already did," Satoshi replied. I asked Hajime if anything like this happened and he said no. All of the students who died with wounds like that stayed dead. There were at least four casualties from their game too."
"Perhaps it is due to her Super High School Level Good Luck talent that Ms Morino survived?" Chiyo asked, standing with them after a full recovery. "Luck is a very strange force that can not be controlled, so it is a possibility it came into play here."
"I dunno 'bout dat," Kazumi said. "Morino might got dat title, but even she didn' fuckin' get why. She said she ain't been real lucky before. She didn' think she shoulda' gotten inta Hope's Peak in da first place! How 'bout you, Tsukuda? Got any ideas?"
All heads turned toward the journalist, who until now had remained silent. She just kept staring at the girl on the bed. She'd been holding back tears, it was clear to see from the watery look in her eyes. Had she even been paying attention to the conversation? Satoshi walked over and lightly touched her shoulder, snapping her out of whatever trance she was in. "Huh? What?" she said, looking around and seeing what was going on.
"Takara, are you okay?" Masaru asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just shocked is all," she answered, though the looks on the others faces made it clear she wasn't convincing. "Sorry, didn't mean to space out like that. What were we talking about?"
"We were trying to figure out how Miyako came out alive after she shot herself in the resort," Ayame said. She rested her head on her hand. For a moment it made Takara wonder if Shizuka would've compared her pose to a particular statue. "We wanted to know what you thought."
Takara began to think, tapping her foot against the floor as she did. That was an important question, but they didn't exactly have the answers to it. Though another question came to mind as she tried to think of a possibility. "Has anyone considered why she woke up now?"
The others stared at her, trying to figure out her question. "What do you mean?" Hikaru asked.
"Think about it," she began, walking around the room as she spoke. "Up to this point so far, the ones who returned have come back in the same order as they died in the simulation. Chiyo was the first person to be killed in our group, and she was also the first one who woke up, correct?" The group nodded, following her as she paced. "Then after that, Hikaru woke up. Kaito was skipped because his execution pretty much destroyed his head and heart, so Hikaru was the next step in the chain. And after him, Ayame woke up.
"Now, if we go by that pattern, the next on the list would be Naomi. However, she suffered head trauma so she'd be skipped. Then it's Shigeru, but he also died from head trauma. Then there's Shizuka, who suffered both heart and head damage during her execution. So all three of them would be skipped," Kazumi looked down at the floor at the mention of Shizuka's death, muttering something to herself that Takara didn't hear. "So with those three skipped, the next person who woke up should've been Minoru, and then Arata. Seeing as how Miyako died after those two, she should've been last to come back. So then why is she awake and not the boys?"
"...I think spending time with Kyouko has rubbed off on you too much, you talk like a detective. It's reminding me of those damn trials." Ryouma said.
Takara sighed. "Yeah, I guess I do. But seriously, why would she come back first when the pattern has been so consistent?"
Her question was met with silence. It wasn't an obvious answer, so of course they'd need time to think. "Oooo! I know! What if it was a cautionary thingy!" Kumiko answered, jumping up and down and raising her hand in the air. Some things never changed.
"A cautionary thing?"
"Yeah! Okay, so, right before she woke up those Future Foundation guys were in there shutting off the pods of the ones we couldn't save, right?" Kumiko explained. "That would mean Mimiya's pod would've been turned off too and she'd die for real! But the system was still trying to fix her! So it woke her up suuuuuuuper early so she wouldn't die! I've connected the dots!"
"You didn't connect shit," Ryouma said, his hand over his face. "That doesn't make any sense! It's not like the machine is sentient enough to know that they'd turn her pod off!"
"Actually, her idea doesn't sound too far off," Takara added. "It'd explain a lot of things about how strange her awakening was. When everyone else woke up, including the survivors, we were conscious immediately. But when Miyako woke up she was still unconscious, she had to be taken here in a bed. And even when she has woken up, it's only been for brief moments. There's also the fact that when she is awake, she doesn't seem to be aware of her surroundings."
"Huh, wuzzat s'pposed ta mean?" Kazumi asked.
"From what the doctors keep saying, or least what me and Hikaru hear them saying, she hasn't been able to open her eyes all the way," Ayame continued. "Plus she tries to speak but hasn't been able to get words out, and her movements are super stiff whenever she tries to move anything. It's like she came out of the oven half-baked or something."
"So you mean she wasn't ready to wake up, but the system forced her to?" Satoshi asked.
"Pretty much," Takara said. "Think back to when Chiyo, Hikaru, and Ayame woke up. They were all dazed and confused, and weak from being in the machine for so long, but they could talk and take in their surroundings. They've needed physical therapy in order to walk again, but they could still move without much trouble aside from Ayame,"
"And that's just because I died from slamming into a wall. Body ached all over for weeks."
"And even when it took them some time to be fully conscious, they'd wake up aware of things. So Kumiko's theory she was rushed out isn't impossible."
"Woohoo! Score one for Kumiko!" she exclaimed, Ryouta grumbling beside her.
"Wait, that raises another question," Hikaru said, directing attention to him. "Those of us that died, we've all had some effect on our bodies because of how we died. Chiyo had trouble breathing, I've been short of breath and with a stinging feeling in my neck, Ayame's been sore all over, but you guys said Miyako shot herself in the head, right?" The survivors nodded their heads, realization dawning on them. "If Miyako died from that in the resort, what kind of effect is it gonna have on her in the real world?"
Everyone looked back at the sleeping girl. No one knew what she could be afflicted with. Most of them came to the same conclusion, she'd have some form of brain damage. Granted, if the other survivors were anything to go off of, it'd be temporary and fixable, but the worst still managed to take root in their minds. No one wanted to answer the track runner's question, and no one did.
"Hey, since she is awake and all, has anyone gotten to contacting-" Satoshi started to ask, but the sound of the door suddenly opening cut him off. Everyone turned to see Shuuya Kuronaga standing in the doorway, hand still on the door and an expression of absolute worry on his face. Tears were escaping his eyes. It was the most any one of them had ever seen him emote.
"Miyako... She's alive?" he asked. Everyone nodded their heads, quickly stepping out of the way So Shuuya could make his way over there. No one needed to explain anything to him, he figured out the situation with his observational skills. He gently squeezed her hand. "Miyako..."
"Shuuya, not to ruin this moment for you, but maybe you could answer something for us?" Takara asked.
Shuuya straightened up, his usual stoic expression returning to his face. Some tears were still streaming down his face, but they were leftovers. "What is it?"
"We've been trying to figure out how Miyako survived what she did to herself. Do you have any ideas?"
"I don't have an idea, I know how she survived."
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Darkness, that's all she could see.
Miyako still didn't know what was happening to her. She kept drifting into darkness, then sometimes she'd wake up to the bright lights and blurry people. Their voices were getting easier to understand every time, but it still sounded like her ears were in water. She tried to move, but could find that only small movements were possible, and talking was a struggle. She thought she felt things poking into her body, but couldn't tell what they were. What kind of strange hell was she in?
She had to find out for herself. The next time she left the darkness would be her last.
A beeping noise she'd gotten used to began playing in her ears, clear as could be. She opened her eyes fully, the blurriness gone and her location clear to her.
Directly above her was a white ceiling, a set of lights shining in them. That was the brightness she'd seen. With a quiet groan, she turned her head to the right, seeing medical equipment beside her. A heart monitor beeped at a steady pace, an IV connected to her arm. She didn't know what the rest of it was for, but she knew it was all attached to her. But why would she need this stuff? Wasn't she dead?
She sat up, her body feeling stiff from lack of use. She spotted a glass of water on the bedside table and picked it up, taking a long, satisfying drink that emptied nearly the whole glass. She might've been hooked up to IVs and whatnot, but her throat felt so dry. The cold water felt like a relief as she cleared her throat. Hopefully her voice wasn't too hoarse. She cleared her throat, looking around the room to see if anyone was there. The only person she saw was a person in a black trenchcoat sitting next to her bed, their face planted down on the surface of the bed. She couldn't tell who it was, but something about them seemed familiar.
With no one else around, she figured it was best to try and speak, quietly though so as not to wake the sleeping person beside her. "...Hello?" she managed. It felt so strange hearing her voice, it was scratchy from lack of use, but it was still her own. With nothing else to do, she got a closer look at the room, recognizing it more than she expected. This was the medical bay she and her friends had been taken to when they were saved by the Future Foundation. But what was she doing here?
Before she could think of how this was happening, she heard the door open. She turned towards it, seeing a familiar face that made her feel relieved. Takara Tsukuda stood there with a blanket in her arms, gaping at the sight of Miyako awake. "Oh my god, Miyako?!" she said, rushing over to her. "Miyako, you're awake!"
Miyako gave a small smile. "Hi Takara," she said, voice still scratchy. "We have a lot to talk about."
Takara went over to an intercom, calling for doctors to come in and that Miyako was fully awake. She then went back over to the bed. "The doctors are gonna have a lot more, trust me," she said, draping the blanket over the sleeping person. Miyako looked over at him, surprised he was still sleeping. Her staring must have been noticed by the journalist. "Ever since we told him you came back, he hasn't left your side. He's threatened anyone who's tried to make him leave."
"Really?" Miyako asked, hoping she could hide her confusion over who this person was. She knew him, she was certain of it, it was at the tip of her tongue. But that didn't matter, she had a bigger concern on her mind. "Takara, why am I alive? Not that I'm unhappy about it, but I shouldn't be here."
"Honestly, that's what everyone wants to know. By all means you should be dead. But we have some theories," Takara then began explaining what she and the others had discused. Some of them were crazy, others believable, but nothing concrete. Throughout it all, she kept glancing back at the sleeping man, wondering why he hadn't woken up yet from the talking. Perhaps he was just a heavy sleeper? "But then Shuuya told us what was really going on."
Miyako looked back at the journalist. "Shuuya?" That name felt so familiar, it made her heart skip a beat. But why couldn't she place a face to him?
"Yeah, he helped us a lot in our last trial," Takara said, not noticing her confusion was about who Shuuya was. "I'll tell you about that later. The point is, he says that he saw you pull the trigger. And while it was fatal, you aimed the gun in the wrong place. I mean, you did hit your brain, but not in a way that kept you from coming back. He explained it differently, using medical terms and stuff, but I figured the simple version without the huge words was better."
A hoarse laugh escaped Miyako, then another. Before long, she was laughing more than she had in a long time. "Seriously? That's how I'm alive? Because I misaimed?" she asked, letting out more bits of laughter. "The only reason I survived is because of sheer dumb luck. How stupid is that?"
"Not at all. You were Super High School Level Good Luck the whole time," Takara said. "It just took some time to kick in. You're lucky after all."
A groan sounded from the man beside her, causing the girls to go silent. Takara smiled, standing up from her spot on the bed. "Well, looks like he's waking up. I'm gonna leave you two alone now, give you two a moment before the doctors get here. I'll bring the others around later, bye!" And with that, Takara left the room before Miyako could protest.
The man beside her slowly raised his head, and just one look at his face was all it took for Miyako to remember. Shuuya Kuronaga, Super High School Level Assassin, one of the two missing students from Class 79, the man who tried to stop her in the program, and her boyfriend. He looked up at her, dark circles underneath his eyes, with a tenderness that was only ever for her. At that moment, his walls came crumbling down and he began to cry. "Miyako...you're awake..."
Miyako simply smiled. "Morning, Shuuya. Sorry to worry you like that."
Shuuya wrapped his arms around her, gently though as he didn't know how weak her body was, and began to openly sob. "I'm so relieved you're alive! I thought I'd lost you forever! I thought that bitch had killed you!" he shouted, his tone wavering between anger, sadness, and happiness. She didn't need to ask who he was talking about, she knew it was Saemi.
"Is she...dead?" she asked. "I mean, absolutely dead?"
Shuuya let go, looking at her face as he tried to regain his composure. Even though he was willing to be more open around Miyako, he feared he could drop his guard by doing so. The life of an assassin had never allowed him to be so open. "Yes. I made sure of it. I stabbed her in the heart so she wouldn't die on her own terms," He flashed the hidden blade in his sleeve. "Saemi Sasagawa will never return to our lives ever again. And with her, Super High School Level Despair is no more."
"I'm not sure about that," Miyako looked at her hands, they seemed so unfamiliar to her. "I don't think our job is done yet. The world still has to be fixed, their influence spread to the rest of the world."
"I know, but now they're erased from Japan. Which means I no longer have to look for them," He took hold of her hand. "So now I can keep you safe like I should have done all this time."
"You did keep me safe though," Shuuya cocked his eyebrow. "Back in the resort, it was because of you that I didn't aim the gun properly, isn't it? If it hadn't been for you, I truly would be dead now."
"No, I couldn't stop you from shooting that gun. I had no control over that. You were simply lucky."
"I'm not lucky, you and I both know that."
"No, I think you are. Luck works in mysterious ways, and I think that it is what saved you from death. It lead you to Hope's Peak, it kept you going strong when our classmates couldn't, it kept you from dying. You are lucky. You truly are."
Miyako smiled. Perhaps he was right, she should've been dead and yet she wasn't, she should've lost her sanity and yet she hadn't. She'd never seen herself as lucky, but maybe her luck was simply more subtle. "It also lead me to you."
"I think that would be an instance where I am the lucky one."
"Who cares?"
Miyako Morino had managed to beat all the odds, despite them being stacked against her. She was alive, she was with the one she loved, most of her classmates were alive, and the world would improve. And from now on, she'd look for luck in even the smallest of doses, and see how lucky she truly was.