Chapter Text
Today is the first day of the Neo World’s rehabilitation program. Usami is all a flutter while Chiaki just stands beside her in a digital space.
Usami: Today’s the day! Aren’t you excited Chiaki?!
Chiaki (monotone): Yeah
Usami: We’re finally going to be able to help some people. I hope this first batch likes me. Oh and of course that they all get along!
Chiaki: Their opinions don’t really matter. They’ll only be here for a few weeks then they’ll leave forever. A new batch will take their place, rinse and repeat.
Usami: Um well… The Neo World was made so we could help lots and lots of people! Sure it’s a little sad when they go, but that makes the memories even more precious! It’ll be lots of fun!
Chiaki says her main function as an AI above all is to observe. Yes convincing the others she’s a friend could help, but she cannot risk anyone learning she’s the observer. Her programing simply won’t allow it or so she claims. Usami doesn’t push her any further. Instead Usami notices that half of the patients have entered so it’s time for Chiaki to go in. Usami wishes her luck. Chiaki nods with a serious look. This may be a school trip for the patients, but for Chiaki this is strictly a job. At least Usami will have fun being the teacher, oblivious to the fact they are stuck in this program forever.
…
Chiaki enters the classroom and acts a little surprised she ended up here before taking her seat. She sits in the middle and not the back even though she knows that’s where the real Chiaki would have sat. She sits very seriously eyes focused on the podium where she knows Usami will emerge.
She identifies each patient and knows that this Byakuya Togami is the ultimate imposter. The reports she received before this were very thorough on these patients’ personalities. So she can better predict their actions. Naturally, the reported coward of the group, Souda, starts to panic. Souda wants to know what’s going on but Imposter tells him to wait just a bit longer. Chiaki sees imposter must have guessed 16 desks mean 16 students.
Hajime is the last to walk in. Chiaki sees the Neo World did its job if he’s standing here. That will make her job much easier. Although he was not a part of class 77, Hajime was included in the reports. The reports said he was rather weak willed but kind as long as he wasn’t cornered. Much of his insecurity derived from not possessing a talent, so it was decided he would not remember how talentless he was. Only her and the creator of the Neo world program know who he was during the tragedy.
The others greet Hajime as he questions what’s going on. Chiaki’s says she assumes freshman like them have been gathered in this classroom. Imposter is quick to take control of the situation once the others start to chatter. Chiaki didn’t know he was this proactive, but then the imposter she heard about was impersonating someone else, Izayoi the ultimate blacksmith.
Imposter asks if they remember how they came here, no one has an answer. He explains when he stepped on Hope’s Peak grounds he got dizzy then awoke here. Teruteru tries to open the door and there’s a bit of panic over not being able to escape. Nagito suggests this could be a special entrance exam. Usami chimes in from hiding to say that’s incorrect. Chiaki says the voice seems like it’s coming from behind the desk.
Usami hops onto the desk and waves her wand. Everyone is freaked by Usami’s appearance. Usami introduces herself as their teacher. Fuyuhiko speculates she’s a robot. Usami says she’ll lead their school trip. With a wave of her wand the classroom splits open like a box onto the beach of the simulated Jabberwock island. Everyone freaks. Chiaki tries to act surprised too, but she’s a little annoyed by how overreactive and noisy everyone is. So predictable.
Usami tells them to stay calm. She says they should look at the ocean that it’ll wash their hearts clean and wash away all the bad things. The others are suspicious. Usami tells them to forget about Hope’s Peak. She says she just wants hope to grow in everyone. She reassures them the island isn’t dangerous. Nagito asks Usami if she brought them here to kill eachother. Usami shrieks no. Imposter wants to know why they’re here. Usami says they’re here to relax and get along nourishing their hopes away from pain.
Clearly overwhelmed, Hajime faints. Here Chiaki thought Nagito had the weakest constitution. Then again, out of everyone here, the changes made to Hajime’s brain are by and large the most severe. As expected, the ultimate nurse Mikan rushes to help Hajime. She checks his pulse and confirms he’s okay.
Usami suggests, since Hajime’s okay, she’ll pass out the E-Handbooks. She says it’s vital for the school trip. It’s how they’ll collect hope fragments. The patients are confused. Usami says they’ll obtain hope fragments as they get along with their classmates. That the main purpose of the school trip is to gather the hope fragments and let hope bloom. Usami reccomends they test it out by in introducing themselves.
Sonia introduces herself first saying she’s the ultimate princess but is really just here to make friends. Everyone’s E-handbook buzzes and they see they all got a hope fragment. She’s followed by Nekomaru, ibuki, Imposter. Chiaki already learned everything about them prior to this session, so the introductions are rather boring to her. Gundham introduces himself and his hamsters, which Chiaki knows are just simpler AIs based on reports of his high school hamsters. Then it’s Teruteru who, as predicted, is sure to include a sexual innuendo in his introduction.
Nagito introduces himself and Chiaki recalls the real Chiaki was his best friend. He seems pretty calm and quiet compared to what she heard about him. Mahiru and Souda go next. Chiaki yawns while she introduces herself as the ultimate gamer. She wants them to think she’s weak and slow so she can observe them better. Also so they’ll leave her alone. Then it’s Hiyoko, Mikan, and Peko’s introductions. Fuyuhiko refuses to say his name, so Usami introduces him much to his anger.
Usami says they’re free to explore the island and get adjusted. She’s prepared lodgings and everything they need to be comfortable. She leaves with a love love. Imposter suggests they stay in teams of at least two just to be safe. Since he’s Byakuya Togami that rule doesn’t apply to him. Mikan asks about the unconcious Hajime, Nagito offers to wait with him while he wakes up. Mikan says she could stay with him, but Nagito says he can handle it and she should see if there’s a first aid kit around.
Chiaki doesn’t care that Hajime’s unconscious. No real harm can happen here in this program anyway. If anything it’s a bit convenient for her since she knows Usami won’t introduce the first motive until Hajime introduces himself to everyone. So she has some time before that inevitable cacophony of noise.
…
The patients slowly splinter off to the places they want to investigate. Chiaki has her sights set on the arcade machine she knows is in the lobby. Peko is there, but luckily she isn’t the talkative type, so Chiaki can just play her game. As she games she keeps an ear out in case anyone enters the lobby. She’s a multi tasker after all. Since she’s an AI her 5 senses are sharper than a humans. This allows her to more clearly observe the patients. She even has the ability to see in the dark. Of course her hearing isn’t as strong as Usami’s.
…
Eventually Chiaki hears Nagito and Hajime enter. They talk to Peko and then approach her. Chiaki pretends to be very focused on her games in the lobby when Hajime first tries to talk to her. Nagito shouts her name to get her attention. She apologizes and says she was focused on her game. She sees she needs to introduce herself. She says in a monotone voice that she’s the ultimate gamer and a fan of all genres.
Hajime: Im Hajime Hinata nice to meet you too.
Chiaki: … … yeah, totally.
Hajime stares at her in awkward confusion. Chiaki lies, saying she’s the type of person that needs to gather her thoughts before she speaks, but if she gets used to them she can talk faster. She says all this while her eyes are glued to her game. Then she yawns and says she’s sleepy. Her sleepiness is a facade to make her appear slow and push people away when she’s done talking with them. Plus people often say things when they think no one is listening. Her plan works and the two boys finally leave. So she keeps gaming like nothing happened. Games are more predictable than talking to patients, but they’re not nearly as annoying and she can do whatever she wants with them.
….
Eventually Usami speaks over the school monitors. Chiaki hears the school announcement with Usami saying everyone has collected their first hope fragments. Meaning Hajime finally met with everyone. A shame Hajime wasn’t slower in his introductions. Usami says she prepared a present and asks everyone to gather at the beach. Chiaki already knows what it is and isn’t really looking forward to it. She pretends not to notice the announcement.
Sonia taps Chiaki’s shoulder and tells her they need to go to the beach. Chiaki yawns and says she’ll go later. Sonia says she thinks it’ll be fun. Chiaki hesitantly agrees. Chiaki knows Sonia is a chatter box, so she asks her a question. That way Sonia will do all the talking. Chiaki asks Sonia why she wanted to come to Japan and sure enough Sonia goes off about how amazing the country is. Chiaki thinks that was incredibly easy. All these patients are predictable.
When they arrive at the beach Sonia is still going on about the wonders of Japan. Nothing she says is new to Chiaki. She may be trapped in this virtual world but she learned all about Japan when she was beginning to develop as an AI.
Hajime and Nagito are the last two to arrive at the beach. Imposter wants to discuss before Usami arrives. He asks what the others think of this island. Peko mentions the blocked off bridges. Ibuki says when she tried to cross a bridge Usami said they’re blocked so they don’t get lost. Hiyoko mentions the ranch, Mikan the supermarket, Mahiru the hotel, Sonia the restaurant, and Teruteru says there’s very cute girls. Yet again proving Chiaki’s point that these people are predictable. It’s just a few weeks then she’ll never have to see them again. Togami calls everyone fools since they haven’t noticed the most serious truth.
Chiaki: …The most serious truth?
Hajime asks what the serious truth is. Imposter says the statue in the park reminded him of a story he heard. He identifies this place as Jabberwock island. He says according to what he heard Jabberwock island is. Suddenly he cuts himself off and says nevermind. He says he’ll let them know once he’s learned more. Chiaki can see the Imposter is quite sharp. He likely knows the travel agency for Jabberwock island went bankrupt. It’s good he’s keeping this information to himself, but just to be safe she thinks she should keep her distance from him. It’s a pity since he seems to be the only competent person here.
Akane doesn’t care. Ibuki is excited to be living on this island together. Everyone slowly agrees, minus Hajime who is skeptical saying the situation is weird. Souda says the planes don’t work and Peko says there’s no way to communicate the outside world. Hajime suggests they cut down the trees to make a raft. Usami pops up and says they can’t since it would violate the no littering rule.
Nagito tells Hajime to calm down. Chiaki points out that if they collect the Hope fragments they will be able to get off the island soon. Hajime is in disbelief. Chiaki has no sympathy for Hajime and the other’s concerns. The way she sees it they should be grateful to be somewhere where all their needs will be met and they can just goof off to their hearts content.
Ibuki asks about the present. Usami gives them Usami phone straps. Everyone is disappointed. Chiaki is the only one that pretends to like the Usami strap calling it pretty cute and saying the ears look like a rabbits. Usami says her name means rabbit. Everyone tosses the straps onto the beach setting off the litter alarm. Everyone holds their ears as it is quite loud. Chiaki thinks they’re quite ungrateful and rude, but then again they don’t know for sure if she’s trustworthy.
Usami picks all the discarded straps up and turns off the alarm. She cries a little as she says she prepared a motive, but almost doesn’t want to give it to them. Sonia bites and asks what the motive is. Usami perks up and reveals she brought them school swimsuits. Hajime objects to swimming, but most of the others are down. Luckily Imposter, Hiyoko, and Fuyuhiko don’t want to swim so Chiaki can blend into their group. She’s already swam in this ocean so many times, there’s nothing special about it.
Chiaki takes out her portable device and plays by herself. She overhears Akane wanting to swim but Usami is insistent she has to wear a swimsuit. Hajime asks why Imposter isn’t going to swim. Imposter says his reasons are different. He keeps it vague but Chiaki knows Imposter is intersex. It’s honestly not a big deal, but for a lot of humans it apparently is. Hajime is still verbally confused so Imposter says the ocean is too salty.
For some reason, Hajime asks why Chiaki isn’t swimming. Chiaki says she’s very very sleepy. That’s why she’s not swimming. Hajime says it’d probably be dangerous. Chiaki says she’d probably drown. She’s lying. She just really doesn’t want to participate more than she has to. Plus, no one would suspect her of being the observer if she’s game obsessed and anti social. Hajime gets the message and awkwardly leaves. He’s a lot more sociable than the reports suggested. Maybe because he doesn’t remember he has no talent.
The others return in their swimsuits and enjoy the ocean. Usami is very happy everyone is getting along. Chiaki sees Hajime feels alienated and decides to join in. He asks Usami for a swimsuit. Hajime yells and is about to jump in with everybody after seeing them all have fun. Chiaki thinks he’s loud and a sheep. It’s no wonder to her why he was a Reserve Course student.
Suddenly dark clouds form. There’s never been a storm in this program. Usami is surprised, as is Chiaki. There’s an announcement on the monitor, a voice says they should hustle to Jabberwock park. Usami recognizes the voice as does Chiaki who keeps it a secret. Usami says she needs to do something and disappears. Concerned by what’s going on, Chiaki is the first one to point out they should go to Jabberwock park. She says it as hesitantly as possible so as not to appear suspicious. The others follow her. Secretly, Chiaki questions how this is even happening when Alter Ego is supposed to beat any hacker or AI virus.
…
At Jabberwock park, Usami calls Monokuma out from hiding. Monokuma pops up from the statue and introduces himself as the headmaster. Chiaki wonders how this thing managed to get into the program. The Neo World Program is insular so something like this virus would have to be physically uploaded on the outside through the main computer. It’s possible one of the patients uploaded the virus before they entered the program. The only one she could think capable of that would have to be him. Chiaki looks at Hajime from the corner of her eye. Based on the reports she received she doesn’t know why he would do this. If this Monokuma virus was programmed by him then it’s no wonder how it got past Alter Ego. At the very least Alter Ego is not dead otherwise the program would be falling apart.
Monokuma says this is all lame. Usami can’t believe he’s here. Monokuma says this school trip is boring. The others are confused. Usami prepares to defend them only for Monokuma to sneak up and destroy her magic stick. Soon after Monokuma says she’s too plain and turns her into Monomi. He also says Monomi is his little sister. Monomi tries to talk back only to get punched. She says it hurts a lot.
Chiaki can’t believe this is happening. This world was meant to be peaceful and repetitive. Without her magic stick, Usami can’t do anything. Also she’s not supposed to feel pain. Unless Monokuma added that into her AI when he modified her appearance. Monomi laments losing her magic stick. The others are confused. Chiaki says it’s obvious something bad is happening.
Monokuma declares the killing school trip will begin. He says the others are contestants. Monomi tries to protect them only to get kicked by Monokuma. Monokuma explains they’re gonna kill each other. The others panic. He says if they want to get off the island they have to kill one of their friends. Then make it through the class trial without getting caught. Chiaki asks about the class trial. She remembers the original killing game Monokuma or rather Junko Enoshima prepared. Even though she didn’t witness it personally she’s heard about it from Alter Ego. It’s in the killing game that their creator lost their life. Alter Ego almost died in it too. Is that why this is happening? Just for mere entertainment? Or is this simply revenge?
Monokuma explains the class trial. The survivors have to find the killer. If they vote the right killer they will be executed and the survivors can continue their trip. If they vote the wrong killer everyone but the killer will be executed. The killer will then be able to leave the island. Chiaki thinks that can’t be right. There’s no way the patients can leave the program without collecting all the hope fragments and or going through the graduation exam.
The others are in disbelief and resistant to killing. Nekomaru, Akane, and Peko prepare to fight Monokuma. Monokuma summons the monobeasts. 5 giant robots break out of the statue. Monomi vows to protect everyone. Monokuma is sick of her and says Monomi will be his example to everyone.
Monokuma hops onto the bird monobeast and shoots Usami to death. Everyone is terrified. Chiaki blankly stares at the pile of stuffing that was Monomi. Monomi has spares, so she will be fine. However this is the first time she’s ever seen Monomi die. She remains calm. Monomi will bounce back. Also this isn’t the real world so even if death were to occur the patients’ real bodies would be alive and unharmed on the outside. Right?
Luckily everyone is so disturbed they don’t notice how calm Chiaki is being. Monokuma reminds them they can’t defy him. He updates the E handbook with the new killing game rules he already explained. With a laugh he leaves. The monobeasts run off in separate directions.
The others are in shock. Imposter explains the monobeast and Monokuma are machines likely controlled by someone. Teruteru says he doesn’t believe. He suggests they stop thinking and eat. Chiaki says he can eat first. It’s understandable they’re panicked. They are human beings after all. She’s only really calm since she can’t feel emotions and she knows this program inside and out.
Imposter suggests they be cautious of each other. That doubt creates fear and that desire to escape the fear is their greatest enemy. Chiaki looks at the others and wonders if it’s possible for them to kill. They’re in this program because they became violent terrorists known as the remnants of despair. But the reports were adamant that they were only like that because they experienced tragedy at Hope’s Peak. Most of all they were personally conditioned by Junko Enoshima to take their anger out on the world. Without those painful memories they should be okay.
…
After Imposter’s words, everyone wordlessly returns to the hotel. There’s another announcement by Monokuma to announce it’s 10pm and he’s prepared a cottage for each of them. They each enter their assigned cottage. Chiaki is all too familiar with her room full of gaming consoles and warm blankets.
Once she’s settled, Chiaki goes to write in her diary for Monomi. She writes and draws as fast as she can just to get it over with. It’s so messy that if anyone were to see this notebook they’d likely assume Monomi wrote it. She puts it in her drawer for Monomi to read later. Normally it’s supposed to teleport to Monomi’s house once she closes the drawer. But for some reason it doesn’t. Must be Monokuma’s doing.
A few minutes pass until Monomi appears, crying like never before. She leaps into Chiaki’s arms saying she’s so sorry this all happened. Chiaki calms her down and asks her if Alter Ego is okay. Monomi says she doesn’t know. She explains that before her magic stick broke she tried to get in touch with him. However there was no response. All communication to the outside world was severed at that point. Then when she lost her magic stick she lost control of everything. She can’t use the cameras, can’t modify anything, can’t even go to the other islands that are now blocked by the monobeasts. That explains why the drawer wasn’t working. Monomi says she still has access to her spares, but she only has so many.
Chiaki looks at the camera and asks if the Monokuma virus is watching them through it. Monomi realizes that’s likely the case and berates herself for blowing Chiaki’s cover. Chiaki reassures her it’s fine She whispers in Monomi’s ear that it only matters if the patients discover her true identity. Monomi nods. Monomi feels awful for her failures, but Chiaki says she simply wasn’t programmed for this kind of situation.
Monomi perks up saying she’s right. No matter what, hope will never be defeated. So they should continue to believe everything will turn out okay. Monomi’s confident those on the outside will fix this mess. Chiaki nods. She was forbidden from telling anyone about who Hajime was before he entered the program. For that reason she can’t discuss her theories as to the virus’s origins. She is still curious about one thing.
Chiaki asks Monomi what happened when she died. Monomi shivers at the question, but tries to reassure her it wasn’t that bad. She just forgot herself for a few seconds as her main conscious drifted through the air unseen and settled into the nearest spare. She reassures Chiaki she’s fine and has plenty of spares. Chiaki says that’s good.
Monomi asks if she can spend the night since the others are asleep and she can’t get back to her house on the 4th island. Chiaki nods. She suggests Monomi check her report first. Monomi almost forgot amidst all the chaos. She hops over to the drawer and reads while Chiaki boots up another game. Chiaki doesn’t need to sleep at all so she spends the rest of the night gaming as usual with Monomi in her lap. Chiaki usually likes to play simple arcade style games since they’re the most mechanical and she can play them without interuption. She can just sit and play for hours without moving. No need to eat, use the restroom, or even breathe. It’s serene.