hopeslastreward | 001 ☆ video

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route 29

001 ☆ video

This is strange. This is very... strange.

[The feed opens on a teenage boy who honestly doesn't look like the picture of health; his hair is a mess, his skin is pale, and even though he's sitting, his posture has a certain slump that doesn't exactly imply "physical strength". Still, even if Nagito Komaeda's body is frail, his mind is still sharp as a tack. ...Well, usually. Sometimes. Depends on the context? Well, it's sharp right now, and that's all that matters.]

[He's silent for a few moments, apparently in deep thought.]

[The first and most obvious conclusion is that this is another ploy by Monobear. Last night, he'd watched the end of the third trial and went to sleep, troubled somewhat by what had happened... and now, not even twenty-four hours later, Monobear had dropped him in a Pokémon region of all places? Was this the motive? If so, why didn't he wait for someone to commit murder on their own first? Honestly, Komaeda can't think of any possible way Monobear could make despair out of the Pokemon world; even if he tried to corrupt it, it would only affect the people who have a strong emotional attachment to the originals. Komaeda could think of no one who might know them except Nanami and himself -- Nanami didn't seem like the killer type, and Komaeda honestly wasn't attached enough to care one way or the other. He honestly couldn't even recall the name of the bull thing he'd been given as a starter.]

[Speaking of Nanami... where is everyone? Komaeda had already tried looking through the network, which raised even more questions. If, again, it was Monobear who did all this, why would he go to the effort of writing so many different entries? Why were there actual people with varied personalities, and not an army of Monobears?]

[...Actually, the bear hasn't shown his face on anything at all so far. And quite honestly, that alarms Komaeda more than if it had. Had something... happened to them? Komaeda plans to find out. Depending on the reaction of the masses, who may be either Monobear's fabrications or real people, he'll get to the bottom of this mystery, just like all the others. First order of business: figure out what's happened outside.]

Oh, I should probably introduce myself...

Nagito Komaeda. That's my name.

Anyhow... has anyone here heard of Hope's Peak Academy? Please tell me what you know.

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[ ...Nanami usually responds immediately to her classmates when they make their appearance to the Pokemon world. Or near enough. She might be slow when she speaks and may pause a few times as she goes, but she always at least hits the option to reply as soon as she sees something from one of them.

She does not do that this time. Instead Nanami spends a good deal of time staring at her gear and trying to decide what, if anything, she's feeling. It isn't like she hasn't told people she'd already forgiven what happened before and during the fifth trial. And it wasn't like that was a lie. It never has been.

...But even though it's been nearly a year, Nanami isn't sure she's prepared for this.

She hits reply anyway, after nearly half an hour. ]

...Komaeda-kun. What's the last thing you remember?

Nanami-san? [The girl's message gets Komaeda's attention pretty quickly, so he responds as soon as he notices it.]

[Finally, another student! Her mere appearance lends weight to the "new motive" theory, since the entire class would have to be somewhere around here in order for a motive to be presented.]

[The question, though. "Last thing you remember"? At first, it seems like an odd greeting, but it makes sense. If Nanami was brought here without explanation, too, she would want to check that their stories matched up. However, the fact that she opened up with that question instead of "what's going on?" indicates that she may have already figured something out...]

Leaving the courtroom after the trial. [He assumes, of course, that Nanami knows which trial he's talking about -- Mikan's.] Do you know why we're here?

[ ...All right, that could be anything from the fourth trial back. Although she doesn't think it'd be the fourth trial, given that he's speaking to her in a calmer, kinder manner. So...anything from the third trial back?

She can't guess which trial with that much information, though. ]

...Which one? "Why"...is a little difficult. But people come here from different times...and places.

[ And she's trying to figure out exactly how worried she needs to be about the others, although as long as he's from before the fourth trial, she can relax a little bit... ]

[...Alright then.]

[Komaeda blinks, clearly surprised by this answer. That is far, far from what he was expecting. At the very least, it shoots down the motive theory, for obvious reasons. So... even though he's got pretty much no idea of what's going on, he responds anyhow, because Nanami clearly does.]

Oh, I see... so you'd need to know which trial. In any case, it was Mikan's.

[ That makes things easier. ...And harder, because there's no way in hell Kuzuryuu wants to travel with Komaeda. This is like the Saionji problem all over again. ]

I see. That means...you're in the middle. A few people...are further ahead. But two people...are further back.

[ ...Also, she has to gag order him, crap. That's why this suddenly went private. ]

Tsumiki-san is farther back. We would appreciate it...if you didn't bring any of that up with her. She doesn't have the fever, but...just in case.

[ "Nagito Komaeda"... Naegi's pretty sure Saionji mentioned him at some point when she was in Johto, and she didn't seem fond of him at all. But Saionji then turned out to be a rather nasty person and a rare case of Naegi not liking someone, so he's pretty sure the guy can't be that bad.

...Right? ]

I'm a student from Hope's Peak Academy. Are you from Nanami-san's class, Komaeda-kun?

If you say so, then I will.

[Honestly, he's still trying to sort out his opinions on Tsumiki's situation himself. It brings up the question of how much hope she really had in the first place, if that persona had been hiding beneath the surface the entire time. At the same time, it might not have even been her fault -- it's almost certain that she fell into despair because of Monobear's fever. But would Tsumiki have committed those crimes without Monobear's influence?]

[Komaeda wants to believe that she wouldn't, mostly because the alternative (accepting that he'd let a nurse, perhaps one of the most hopeful occupations of all, fall into despair) is just too awful for him to consider right now.]

Aside from you, me, and Tsumiki-san... who else is here?

From our class...?

[ Well, she's not sure what their receptions for Komaeda will be. Although Kuzuryuu will probably try to strangle him, so she is...trying to cut that off at the pass. ]

Kuzuryuu-kun, Tanaka-kun, and Pekoyama-san.

Oh, hello!

[Komaeda is smiling benevolently when he responds. He seems pleasant enough so far.]

Yes, Nanami-san is one of my classmates.

...How long have you known her?

Oh, good. At least we're not alone. [Komaeda nods thoughtfully. He is a bit disappointed that Hinata isn't here, but dismisses it as selfishness; how could he ask for another student when they already have several, including two that are supposed to be dead?]

And Pekoyama-san. Does she know?

[He's not asking out of concern for upsetting Pekoyama -- he just wants to be sure he has all the appropriate information, because otherwise, talking to her might be difficult. ...He almost wants to commend her, actually, for her devotion to her job and master.]

Um, since she showed up here last December... So almost a year. I know that probably doesn't make sense, but time works differently in this world.

...Yes. She's after that. Tanaka-kun is after the third trial but before the fourth. Tsumiki-san is after the second and before the third. Kuzuryuu-kun and I are from further ahead than any of the others, but he has me beat.

[ She's not really expanding on who dies when for very obvious reasons, for now. ]

...I see.

[A year. Nanami has been in this world for almost a year, even though Komaeda had just seen her yesterday. And there are other students here, according to Nanami, who were taken from before him -- yet they had not mysteriously disappeared. Does that mean that people are functionally duplicated when they're brought to this place?]

[Komaeda can more or less grasp the concept, from an objective point of view. It's just... alarming.]

Well, in any case, it's nice to meet you. [He smiles. If this unknown student is a friend of Nanami's, Komaeda is sure that he must be a good person.]

[Komaeda mentally files this information away for further study. There is one thing that nags at him, though.] Then, are Tanaka-kun and I from the same time, or does he know something I don't?

Um...I think he's a little further ahead. He's explored the fourth island, I think...and if you just got out of the trial, then you haven't done that, right?

[ At least, she is 99.9% sure he has explored the island. He was talking about metal beasts and riding them and shit, that sounds like the amusement park to her...and he was pre-fourth trial for sure. So, that left fourth island exploration as his potential canon point. ]

...It was an amusement park.

No, the fourth island was still locked when I left.

[Well, this has been... a development. It would be a lie to say that Komaeda wasn't at least slightly uncomfortable with the fact that Tanaka, Kuzuryuu, and Nanami all knew things that he didn't. Even if most of it is probably irrelevant information, it's still irrelevant information that Komaeda doesn't have.]

[But he'll have time to worry about that later, probably. For now, he just needs to get something straight.]

So... this is real, then. The Pokémon are real.

[Even just saying that sentence is weird.]

Yeah! All of them are real! Isn't it cool?!

[ Her sleepy, cautious demeanor does lift a little, here. ]

It's a real-life Pokémon journey...though, Johto is like a bran-new edition, I beat it already. I'm doing the other one, now...Komaeda-kun should probably get a job to earn some money, though, because we don't get a lot to start with. Although you can get a portion from battles, inns and food get expensive after a bit.

It's nice to meet you too.

[ He smiles right back, rubbing at the back of his neck. Komaeda seems like a nice guy, maybe Saionji was just her usual self when she talked shit about him. ]

Oh, um, I probably should introduce myself. I'm Makoto Naegi.

[Chiaki's enthusiasm brings a small smile to Komaeda's face, too.]

I never got around to playing these games as much as I would have liked...

[...ah. Money.]

Yes, that would be a problem, wouldn't it.

Well... I'll see what I can do, then. I can't imagine why anyone would hire me for anything, but if it's that or starve...

It's pretty easy to get a job...I usually work at the Pokémarts. Ah, since...they weren't hiring to run games at the Gaming Corner in Goldenrod...

[ Since she isn't a Team Rocket member. ]

Tsumiki-san normally works at the Pokécenters. It's sort of fun...I think. Like being an NPC...?

Makoto Naegi.

[Komaeda repeats the name thoughtfully, looking at Naegi on the Gear. He was already well aware that his memories of Hope's Peak were gone, but even so, the name and face could have triggered something...]

[...nope. Never mind.]

You said you attend Hope's Peak, correct? You don't recognize me, so I guess we must have attended on different years...

Like being an NPC, huh? Well... alright. If I really do end up doing a worse job than an NPC, then it would be really bad.

[That was probably not at at all what Nanami was getting at, but it seems to have worked regardless.]

Well, anyway... I shouldn't be dragging this conversation down with that.

Nanami-san, you said you beat Johto, right? [He puts down the Gear and begins looking for the map.] So by 'the other one', were you talking about Kanto?

Attended. [ Hope's Peak no longer functions as a school (or anything else, really; once they leave it'll just be an abandoned building) so the past tense seemed like the best choice. ]

And I... kind of had my memories tampered with, so it's possible that I've just forgotten you.

Edited 2014-10-20 21:42 (UTC)

[ ... ]

[Komaeda probably should have expected this.]

So did I. That's why I depended on your memory, and not my own.

[Gundam's not even sure how to react to this. He's uncomfortable with Komaeda being here but since there's this whole timeline thing, he's not really sure how uncomfortable to be. For all he knows, nothing's happened yet or he's from some weird point in the future where everything's happened. He doesn't have a clue, so it makes greeting him appropriately incredibly difficult.]

So this world has called you as well.

[There. He thinks that should do for now. It's not exactly a friendly greeting, but it's...neutral. Let's go with neutral.]

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