Work Text:
I can’t see anything.
What’s going on?! Why am I… lying down right now? Shouldn’t I… wait, what day is it? Where am I?!
As my vision clears, I notice that I’m in a sterile white room that’s probably a hospital. There’s a vase of flowers and a newspaper on the table near me, and I pick the paper up and begin to read.
Hope’s Peak Academy Closing Due To Formation Of Terrorist Cell.
After the deaths of over 2,000 students, headmaster Kirigiri Jin and first-year Enoshima Junko have been taken into police custody and charged with multiple counts of murder. Both will stand trial later this month.
“Hajime?” someone asks, pulling me out of reading an incredibly despairing news article. There’s a girl with pale violet hair in a school uniform standing near me, and did I know her before I ended up here?
That’s not my name… or is it my name? Who the hell am I?!
“Who on earth are you?!” I exclaim, and I probably shouldn’t have yelled at her, but she is playing a video game right now and probably immersed in a fantastical world where everyone is amazing.
“...my name is Nanami Chiaki. Hajime, what do you remember?” she asks, as she sets the console on my side table and grabs my hand.
She’s so cold, yet cute... I don’t want to disappoint her by telling her that I remember virtually nothing.
“It’s… very nice to meet you, Nanami.” I answer, hoping to deflect her question. She brushes a strand of black hair out of her way before picking up her console, and that should be my hair, but I know that I have brown hair which is nowhere near that length…. or at least I think my hair is brown?
Who am I?! Nanami says that I am Hajime, but… considering that that’s all I know, I’ll have to got with that.
I wouldn’t mind being renamed by an adorable girl, though.
Kuzuryuu Natsumi and Satou Yukira’s bodies have been returned to their families, and the rest of the living students and teachers have been taken into counseling, with the exceptions of Ikusaba Mukuro and Matsuda Yasuke, both of whom accepted plea bargains in exchange for reduced sentences…
Something about this article is freaking me out, and I’m not sure if it’s the fact that thousands of people have recently died or that all this feels familiar, even though I’ve never been to Hope’s Peak Academy.
It sounds like a made-up school. A sort of demented talent refuge.
Nanami is still eagerly playing her video game, and I probably shouldn’t disturb her when she seems so happily engrossed in it.
“...hey, Hajime… if a girl told you that you were cute, what would you do?” she asks.
“I don’t think anyone’s told me that, and I have no idea why you’re asking me this.” I answer.
“...I want to get on a romantic S-Link with this guy, and I have no clue what to do…. do I say that he’s a good chef, or tell him that he’s cute?” she asks, and I have no clue what the hell she’s talking about.
“Why are you asking me this?” I ask in return.
Nanami, you are aware that I’ve never dated anyone nor played most videogames?
“...you’re a guy, aren’t you Hajime? Shouldn’t you know which one makes you happy?” she asks, and she’s so cutely oblivious to who I am, it makes me want to embrace her…
“Nanami, I cannot cook to save my life and don’t remember anything about my life.” I answer.
“...so, you’re like a protagonist? And I’m your companion, I guess…” she says.
Um… Nanami, the world doesn’t revolve around videogames, and I would make a crappy protagonist, for I suck at pretty much everything.
Wait, do I really? What was I doing in Hope’s Peak, anyways?
“What game are you playing?” I ask, for I don’t want to think about strangers and signing away all rights to bodily autonomy…
“It’s about a bunch of high-schoolers who save the world from getting destroyed by Shadows, and I’m trying to actually get someone’s romantic S-Link. I’ve already tried eighteen times… do you want to help me, Hajime?” Nanami answers.
“I guess?” I answer, but she’s already gone back to playing.
Matsuda’s surgical techniques are currently being used in treatment of mental illness, brain damage, and plastic surgery, yet many are questioning the ethics of this decision, for several of the techniques were tested on an unknown human subject….
“Do you want to be talented?” the headmaster asked, and I said yes, because I was desperate....
“Why are you here, Nanami?” I ask.
Who am I, Nanami? Hajime, or someone else entirely?
“...my father told me to help you, Hajime. Do you think I should spend a long time with a ten-year-old?” she answers.
“Define spend a long time.” I respond, for that came entirely out of nowhere.
“...no? Okay… Hajime, what kind of girl would you like to date?” she asks, and that also came completely out of nowhere…
Someone… I could talk to easily?
“I don’t even know who I am. Why do you think that I’d know about my romantic preferences?” I ask in return, for she’s put down the console and is walking towards my bed.
“...you could just Hajimake your own self, couldn’t you? Like in those games where you design your avatar, right?” she answers as she takes my hand again, and I can’t help but smile.
If only it was that easy, Nanami… the avatars in videogames have talents, yet I have them too, according to the contract, so what the hell’s going on…
“Can I talk to your dad?” I ask, hoping to stop thinking about needles and knives and incisions.
“...he’s in the hospital, but my grandfather’s coming tomorrow. They won’t care about me dating you, Hajime.” she answers.
What? Nanami, do you love me? Is that why you asked me all of that romantic stuff?
In the very least, I like spending time with you, Nanami. Does that count?
I’m able to muster enough strength to get out of bed when Nanami’s grandfather shows up in my hospital room. He’s about Nanami’s height, has light brown hair and glasses, and looks really young.
How the hell does he have a granddaughter my age?!
“Hinata, I take it that you’re doing well.” he says as he places a pile of folders and newspapers on my side table.
Enoshima Junko Found Guilty Of All Charges. Execution Date Set For Later This Month.
But she’d only enjoy being hung, for that’s how she reacted to all types of pain… yet what reason do I have to know the leader of a terrorist cell?
“What’s your name? Why-” I begin, before he gently cuts me off.
“I’m Fujisaki Taichi, and Nanami is a robot created by my son to help people recover from severe trauma.” he answers.
Wait, what?! But… she seemed so human, so much like a girl I could’ve befriended….
“Hajime… I’m like… Aigis, I guess? I can become more like people, and I like acting that way and helping you.” Nanami says, and I shouldn’t have thought that, for she’s still her and I’m still me…
Hajime Hinata. Hinata Hajime. That’s my name, and I am a person whose closest friend is a robot who is really adorable named Nanami Chiaki who plays videogames and has me give her dating advice.
But that’s not my name.
“Hinata, I’m really sorry if this bothers you, but do you know who Kamukura Izuru is?” Fujisaki asks, and that… is my name, or at least supposed to be my name, but that doesn’t make sense either, for I wouldn’t have signed over my body to complete strangers and let them play with my brain, all because I wanted to go to Hope’s Peak and be talented….
What the hell did I do?! Was I insane?! Is that why I don’t remember anything, because they wiped my memories and turned me into a fucking science experiment?!
“Hajime, everything’s fine. We’ll make it through this.” Nanami says as she hugs me, and I let her take complete hold of me and wrap her in my embrace, for she is real and keeping me from completely falling apart.
Thank you… Chiaki.
Chiaki’s grandfather hands me a cup of orange-flavored tea as I collapse onto my bed. Chiaki sits next to me, and passes me a folder.
“Is this the big reveal, Hajime?” she asks.
If only my life was a videogame, Chiaki. It wouldn’t be real then, but I also would’ve never met you…
“I suppose it is, Chiaki.” I answer, as I begin to read about what the hell Matsuda Yasuke and the SHSL Hope Project did to me before I was rescued…
Kamukura Izuru was designed to be a man who was capable of performing any type of talent, no matter how obscure. To do this, the experimenters took a random Reserve student, and destroyed their personality, for they believed that having any sense of self would hinder the experiment.
When the police arrived, they were mid-way through conducting surgery on the student, who has been transferred to the hospital due to their likely weak state. It is unknown if the student will recall who they were before the surgery, but it is highly unlikely….
I am Hinata Hajime. I am Hinata Hajime. I am human, and I am real.
“...I’m sorry if this is traumatic, Hinata.” Fujisaki says, as I grab onto Chiaki’s hand.
“I… don’t want to read any more of this report.” I tell him, and he removes the files from my room as he exists.
The past is in the past, and it doesn’t matter. I can become myself again, with the help of this amazing girl….
“Hajime, do you want to play a videogame?” she asks.
“Actually, I do. Thank you for existing, Chiaki.” I answer, and she enthusiastically passes me the console and opens up a new save file.
Today is the first day of my new life. I’m going to rebuild myself, and…. Chiaki, I would love to date you.