Group Project

Nanami tilted her head, watching me stammer and flounder in open confusion.

"Huh...? Was it, like, a super famous game or something...?"

"...No. No, it wasn't. I think I just mixed something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up for a second."

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠drifted into thought, leaving Kirigiri and Nanami wearing matching looks of bewilderment — until a broadcast suddenly rang out across the entire island.

I'd been so caught up greeting the kids that I hadn't noticed the time at all. Outside, the sky had already begun to darken.

I sorted through my thoughts as the announcement washed over us. I couldn't say why, exactly — the fact that she'd lost her memories at the front entrance, the way she'd mentioned her parents, the complete lack of reaction to the words Future Foundation — but Nanami didn't seem to be an AI right now.

In the original course of things, Nanami was the one Enoshima butchered in the most horrific way imaginable, all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to drive the 77th Class into despair at Hope's Peak Academy. So how was she alive? Had the me from before I lost my memories done something?

Apparently pre-amnesia me hadn't just sat on his hands after all. If she wasn't an AI, then the Nanami standing here was a living, breathing person. Maybe I'd pulled something off at the Academy and managed to save her.

But if Nanami was alive, then how had they driven the 77th Class into despair...? Ah. Right. That damn brainwashing beam. Just thinking about that godawful brainwashing video was still so absurd I couldn't help laughing.

"...Kei. Stop grinning like an idiot and let's get out of here."

"Huh...? Oh. Yeah!"

We reached the lodging, and after splitting off from Kirigiri I stepped into my own room. The first thing that greeted me when I opened the door was a bed so plush it looked like it might swallow me whole.

"Haaaaaah..."

My mind was already running on fumes, and sleep crashed over me almost instantly. I threw myself onto the mattress and sank under.

"...Hey. Get up..."

"Nngh..."

"...Hey. C'mon, wake up..."

"Nnnngh.....?"

"Kei, wake uuup!!"

"Hwah—!! Wh-what!?"

Some noise dragged me up from sleep. I cracked my eyes open to find something sitting on my stomach.

"Y-you've finally woken up! In that case, if I could just—"

Startled half out of my skin, I grabbed the pillow off my stomach and smashed it into the unidentified something.

"GYAAAAAAH!"

"Wh... what the hell...?"

I flicked on the lights, heart still hammering, and found Monomi sprawled across the floor of my room.

"Mo... Monomi...?"

"K-Kei... so you're calling me Monomi now, too..."

"Monomi, what's going on...?"

"...Kei. Did you really lose your memories...?"

"...Looks that way. Right now my memories cut off at the moment we finished the killing game at Hope's Peak Academy and were escaping with the kids."

"Fwaah... so it really is true..."

She scratched at the floor, looking thoroughly dejected. I watched her for a moment before asking,

"What on earth happened? From the Academy escape up until now — what went on?"

"...I want to tell you, I really do, but that wicked Monokuma put restrictions on me... The only thing I can say is that you, Kirigiri, and Nanami are with the Future Founda—"

Mid-sentence, Monomi suddenly seized up, convulsing, and crumpled onto the floor.

"What...? What's wrong...?"

"Fwaah... I didn't think he'd block even that much information..."

"I don't know what that was, but don't push yourself too hard."

"Anyway... you and I are on the same side...!"

Given that Monomi had just named me, Kirigiri, and Nanami in the same breath — and then called us allies — I was probably affiliated with the Future Foundation right now.

So then... had Kirigiri, Nanami, and I entered the Neo World Program as observers on behalf of the Future Foundation, only to get swept up in a killing game?

"...I think I've got the general picture. So what do we do now?"

"If you use the one-time emergency escape code, you can turn this whole situation around..."

"But I lost my memories. Don't you know the code...?"

"I don't have the clearance, so I don't know what the code actually is... but I think I can give you a hint...!"

"...A hint?"

"The escape code is something you set yourself, Kei... and the only—"

"Mo... Monomi...?"

"H-how to uuuuuse iiiit...! NNGHHHHH...!!"

Monomi tried to force the words out anyway, but some invisible compulsion wracked her with pain until she went limp against the floor.

"I really am useless, aren't I..."

She wasn't wrong, but the wretched little voice she mumbled it in was so pitiful I couldn't help offering her something gentle.

"It's fine. Nothing you can do about it. We'll just work with what we've got."

"You really are kind, Kei...!"

"Anyway — we're on the same side, right? Then keep working with me as much as you can. I intend to stop these kids from killing each other, one way or another."

"Understood...! I'll do my very best too...!"

With that, Monomi vanished. I couldn't say I had a tremendous amount of faith in her, but she could probably help... at least a little... maybe?

"Nngh... what... morning already...?"

It felt like I'd barely closed my eyes again, but the day had already broken. I forced my stiff, aching body upright and stretched.

At that, I checked the e-Handbook, and sure enough, the rules had been updated. I skimmed through the whole list, but nothing had actually changed. Losing interest, I tossed the handbook onto the bed and was about to head for the bathroom when someone knocked on the door.

"...Who is it?"

"Everyone is gathering in the restaurant. Don't dawdle. Come at once."

Pigami delivered the message with clipped efficiency, then moved on to the next room and knocked there too. I watched him go, turning it over in my mind.

He was impersonating Togami with the talent of the Ultimate Imposter, but he was exactly what these kids needed right now. He had leadership. He would throw his own body on the line to keep his word about protecting them. With someone like that around, stopping the killing game would be a whole lot easier.

Anyway, everyone would be assembling at the restaurant. I should get ready and head over myself.

I arrived at the restaurant with Kirigiri, and we'd barely sat down to chat when the kids started filtering in one and two at a time.

"Looks like almost everyone's here... anyone still missing...?"

"The guy who doesn't know his own talent, the mechanic kid, and the gamer, I think?"

"The gamer said she was going to play downstairs for a bit until everyone assembled!"

"The one called Hinata was still in his room last I saw, and the one called Soda said his stomach was wrecked from yesterday and to just leave him out of it."

"I did not summon you all merely to have a meal..."

"So that means two people still aren't here? Unreliable men, the lot of them. Well then... someone going to fetch them?"

"I shall bring them."

I watched Pekoyama leave the restaurant to collect Hinata and Soda, and that was when Kirigiri, standing beside me, leaned in and whispered.

"Did Monomi visit you in the middle of the night too?"

"Huh...? Yeah. You too...?"

According to her, Monomi had sought her out as well, explained they were on the same side, and asked for her cooperation. Which raised the question — had she gone to Nanami too?

"For what it's worth, I believe that Nanami girl was originally on our side as well. Monokuma seems to have put some kind of seal on the information, so I didn't get everything — but I was able to piece together a reasonable picture from what Monomi did manage to say."

"Ah... yeah. So what should we do...?"

"Unlike us, it seems her memories have been wiped completely, so I already told Monomi not to make contact for now. Reckless moves could do more harm than good."

That was Kirigiri for you. In a party this starved for intelligence-type characters, if we didn't even have her here, I'd honestly be lost.

"That's our Kirigiri... heheh..."

"...Don't smile like an idiot."

I coughed, suddenly self-conscious, and that was when Pekoyama returned — with Hinata, Soda, and Nanami in tow.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone... I overslept..."

"Urgh... I'm gonna be sick, and you dragged me all the way here..."

"Togami has something he wants to tell us... I know it's hard, but please bear with it a little longer..."

"...It appears we are all assembled. Before we begin, let us eat."

"T-talk first!"

Pigami ignored Soda entirely and started in on the mountain of food piled in front of him. Aside from Soda and his wrecked stomach, everyone was starving, and mealtime began of its own accord.

"KYAAAAAAAA!"

"Wh-what was that...?"

We'd been focused on eating for a while when a scream ripped through the restaurant. I whipped around toward the sound — and there was Mikan Tsumiki, collapsed on the floor in a humiliating, thoroughly revealing heap.

Even with the story twisted this far from the original, I guess the fanservice scenes were load-bearing. Honestly... I would have liked a longer look, but Kirigiri was side-eyeing me from the next seat, so I only got the briefest of glimpses.

"Soo... I think we've eaten enough, maybe we should get started...? I'm... getting sleepy..."

Nanami mumbled it out, already half-dozing.

"Hmph... I have not quite finished, but... this is a matter of importance... Shall we begin? Tell me — what do all of you believe is the most critical thing in our present situation?"

"Hmm... eating well and sleeping well?"

"You cannot omit a healthy bowel movement...! Fine food, fine sleep, and fine feces — those are the three pillars of our current predicament!!!"

As the nonsense piled up, Pigami's face twisted. Komaeda, who had been watching, cut in carefully.

"Perhaps... it's bonds...?"

It was a sound argument, and honestly the thing we needed most — but coming from the mouth of a man who would soon drop the act and become one of the most legendary intelligence-type trolls in the entire series, it landed with a distinctly weird flavor.

"I believe that if every Ultimate here cooperates, there's no such thing as impossible... If we just try, a hope will bloom that can overcome any despair! So... if we want to escape this island, we have to strengthen our unity...!"

"Ugh, he just says stuff like that with a straight face? Does he not get embarrassed?"

"Haha... I suppose it was a bit much?"

"However. He has a point."

As more people started agreeing with Komaeda, Pigami took the opening and made his declaration.

"To overcome our present circumstances, we require the strength of a collective, not of individuals. And for that, we need the ordered command of a clearly defined leader!"

"So... who's going to be the leader?"

Kirigiri asked, and Pigami answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Is it not self-evident? I shall assume that role."

"Wh... what...?"

"Now then, enough preamble. Let us move on to the main subject."

"Hold on a second...!"

Koizumi started laying into Pigami. Why on earth would you stop someone who was volunteering to be the group-project leader? This was where I needed to step in.

"Uh... but Togami's a pretty perfect fit for leader, isn't he? I mean, he is the Ultimate Affluent Progeny..."

"But... if we're going by that logic, Sonia would also..."

"No... I am merely decorative, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'm afraid..."

"...Sonia, you don't have to say it like that..."

Koizumi soothed Sonia while shooting me a look that could have stripped paint. I hadn't done a single thing wrong, and I was still getting treated like a criminal. A little depressing, honestly.

"Haha, Koizumi. Don't get so angry — I think Kei actually has a point."

"That's right! Looking at that big, comforting face of his, don't you just feel at ease?"

"...He's volunteering to be leader. Just let him do it."

One by one, more of the kids voiced their agreement, and the mood settled naturally into Pigami becoming the leader.

He meant every word. In the original, he really did run himself ragged trying to make sure not a single person became a murderer. And in the end, it cost him his life.

"Now, on to the true matter at hand. There is something I wish to show you all."

"Something you want to show us...?"

"It is at Jabberwock Park, on the central island. Follow me."

With that, Pigami strode out of the restaurant, head high.

Feeling a genuine flicker of gratitude toward the man who'd just volunteered to be our group-project leader, I started to follow — only for Koizumi to shoot me a sudden glare, whip her head away, and grumble past me on her way out.

What did I even do wrong?