Fwoooosh...
Steam hissed out as the capsule holding me slowly began to open.
"Ugh... my head..."
I pushed myself upright, a dull ache throbbing through my skull. Maybe it was the aftereffect of being sealed inside that capsule for so long. Or maybe it was because, even if it had only happened inside a program, I'd just been shot in the head.
"You're awake?"
"Ah, Kyoko!"
When I got up, Kyoko Kirigiri was already awake and waiting for me. Somehow, she always seemed to wake up before I did.
"More importantly, this place is... ah...!"
"...Be careful. If you touch the wrong thing, there's no telling what might happen."
All around us, the students of Class 77 lay inside their capsules with their eyes closed. Standing among them, I started searching for someone.
"So she really wasn't an AI..."
"...Hm?"
"Ah, no. It's nothing."
Before long, I found Chiaki Nanami lying quietly inside a capsule, her eyes shut. Unlike the original story, Nanami had truly survived.
...I don't know what happened in the past, but at the very least, it looks like I wasn't completely helpless.
"...Wait. Who's the person in here?"
"What? What do you mean by th— ah."
Kirigiri spoke with a puzzled look, so I went over to check. Inside was Kamukura Izuru. Well, that made sense. The Hinata inside the program had been a being that dragged Kamukura's deep consciousness up to the surface.
It felt like the time had finally come to tell Kirigiri everything I knew. There was no Monokuma surveillance here anymore, after all.
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"K!! Kirigiri!! You two were alive!?"
"W-What!? Both of you survived? Don't tell me you used the escape code!?"
"Ikusaba!! Wake up!! K isn't dead!!!"
After explaining the whole truth to Kirigiri and taking a brief moment to breathe, I noticed a video call device in the middle of the facility and turned it on.
Then a flood of familiar faces appeared on the screen.
"You idiot!! If you were gonna use the code, you should've given us some kind of sign first!!!"
"K, you really do have a talent for making people worry themselves sick."
"Honestly, what a nerve-shredding couple you are."
"K... K is alive...? Where... where is he...? Ah, but why is that bitch still ali—"
Seeing the long-missed faces of Class 78 made a smile rise to my lips all on its own. I was about to answer them, full of relief, when the monitor beside us suddenly flickered on and unfamiliar-yet-familiar faces began to appear.
"Kirigiri, Branch Chief of the 14th Division. K, Vice Branch Chief of the 14th Division. Regarding your independent action and insubordination, the hearing will now—"
"Munakata!! Please, read the room for once! They only just made it back alive, and you're seriously going to—"
"K, have you forgotten the promise you made to Jin? That you would never let Kirigiri be put in danger..."
"[Congratulations on your escape.]"
"You kids okay? The students of Class 77 are still safe, right? I'm so sorry... I was their assistant homeroom teacher, and I couldn't do anything to help..."
The executives of Future Foundation all appeared on the monitor at once and started bombarding me with words. Looking at them, I spoke carefully.
"Hello... nice to meet you?"
".....?"
At that, every single person on the monitor froze solid.
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"So the place we were in really was the real Jabberwock Island?"
"Yeah. The Neo World Program was a space reconstructed using data collected from Jabberwock Island."
Our memories were still hazy from the aftereffects of the memory deletion virus, so after asking for their understanding and ending the call, we decided to head outside and take a look around.
Once we stepped out of the facility, the scenery of the central island spread out before us. Aside from the various Future Foundation facilities built there, it was almost identical to the version inside the program.
"Still, they said it would take days to reach this island because of the Remnants of Despair's constant interference..."
"Yeah. We should think about how we're going to spend those next few days. First things first, food, clothing, and shelter..."
"No need to worry about that!!"
We'd been discussing how we were supposed to survive from here on out when, out of absolutely nowhere, Usami popped into view.
"Usami!? It's really you, Usami!?"
"Ah, well, yes, it is, but... unlike the Usami inside the program, I'm in charge of managing the island..."
"Ah, I see...?"
"Yup! I can't share memories with her, but I've been watching the rough flow of events through live video feeds in real time."
"I see..."
I thought I'd be able to thank Usami, who had willingly sacrificed herself for us, but that turned out to be impossible. The disappointment left me quietly downcast, and as I fell silent, island-manager Usami brightened and spoke up.
"You can't mope around like that! If the Usami from inside the program saw you looking like this, she'd be sad too! So from now on, you need to live with a brighter smile, okay?"
"...Yeah."
"And if everything works out... there may be a chance to access the backup data... so there's absolutely a possibility you could meet her again!!"
Only after hearing that did I finally feel some of the weight lift from my chest. While I was letting out a breath of relief, Kirigiri asked Usami a question.
"Right now, we need food, clothing, and shelter. Is there any way to manage that?"
"No need to worry! Jabberwock Island is being maintained top to bottom by my copies! Just like in the program, you can freely use all the facilities!"
Hearing that, Kirigiri fell into thought for a moment before asking another question.
"There aren't any surveillance cameras here, are there?"
"Huh? Um... there are some cameras and communication monitors left over from when the island was remodeled a long time ago... but they're all inactive now!"
"Excellent."
Leaving only that behind, Kirigiri started walking toward [the first island]. I hurried after her, a chill skittering down my spine.
Why... do I suddenly feel so cold...?
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After that, we began what was, in all practical terms, a date disguised as a full-scale island tour.
"Moooo..."
"Baaah..."
"Woof! Woof!!"
When we arrived at the ranch on the first island, we started watching the animals frolicking across the grass.
"...A dog. I wonder if they have a collar too. They didn't have one at the supermarket."
Kirigiri looked at the sheepdog herding the flock and made that terrifying remark with a perfectly calm face. At this rate, was I going to end up wearing a collar around my neck all the time before long?
Then, all of a sudden, I got curious. Did Kirigiri like dogs more, or cats? To satisfy that sudden question, I asked her directly.
"...Me? I... like dogs more."
"Really? Why?"
"Dogs listen well to their owner... and when they make those pitiful little faces sometimes, they're just unbearably cute, aren't they? And if you pet them then, they look so moved... that only makes them even cuter."
"Y-Yeah, that's true..."
"But... when I see a brazen little dog that won't listen, always comes back injured from somewhere, occasionally bites its owner, and even wags its tail at other people... it makes me want to make it mine through strict discipline and training. Completely mine."
Thinking that I should probably never bring up dogs in front of Kirigiri again, I quietly shut my mouth. Then this time, Kirigiri turned the question on me.
"...What about you? Do you like dogs more, or cats?"
"I like cats more."
"Why?"
"Usually they're prickly and proud, but the gap when they suddenly show a cute side is just way too adorable, right? And when you first meet them, they're really wary, but once you get close, they start acting so affectionate it feels like they're melting, and that's incredibly cute too."
"....."
"The first time they get touched, they glare at you like they want to kill you, but little by little, as they start warming up, before you know it they're drifting over to your side and loitering around, and if you look at them they pretend nothing happened. Then if you get even closer, they start purring and rubbing against you a little, and once they finally open their heart completely, they curl up in your arms and go all purrr... and at that point they're so lovable you just want to bite th—"
"...Let's go."
"Huh? Ah, okay!"
Kirigiri quickly turned her head away and hurried out of the ranch. Well, to be fair, the smell of cow dung didn't exactly make it the kind of place you wanted to linger in. I followed after her, silently vowing that one day I'd explain the full charm of cats to her in much greater detail.
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"This place is... pretty fascinating..."
"Yeah. I wonder if the kids from inside the program will come here soon too."
Feeling oddly bare around the neck, we stopped by the supermarket on the first island, picked up [personal alarm]s, and hung them around each other's necks again. Then we headed for [the fifth island], a place our program-selves had never gotten the chance to visit.
Inside the military facility, robots of all kinds were on display. According to Usami, they were prototype final weapons secretly developed to oppose Monokuma.
In the factory, traces of robot assembly still remained everywhere. Apparently operations had been halted for now out of fear that classified information might leak because of the [New World Project Incident].
That said... among the robots being built, there was one that looked strangely familiar. Maybe it was just my imagination?
"...A food stall district, huh? It really has that strong Japanese atmosphere. I'm not used to seeing something like this, so it's interesting."
"Yeah... it's my first time seeing a food stall district too, so this is pretty neat."
After looking around the factory and military facility, we stopped by the food stall district next. Maybe because she'd lived abroad, Kirigiri seemed especially intrigued by the distinctly Japanese aesthetic and started looking around with obvious interest.
As for me, before I came to the Danganronpa world, I had been Korean, so I was also walking along with curious eyes, taking in the unfamiliar Japanese-style food stalls—when I spotted something and muttered in surprise.
"Huh...? A pub? Ramen?"
"Hm? K, what's wrong?"
"Ah, it's just... I saw Korean writing over there..."
"...You can read Korean too?"
"Yeah, of course. I was from Korea— ah."
The sight of my native language for the first time in so long made me blurt out my origins without thinking, and I cut myself off mid-sentence. Honestly, aside from my age, the me from my previous world and the me now were completely identical—but in the Danganronpa world, I was an orphan, so wouldn't it be strange for me to know my own birth background that clearly? Yeah... I should probably just brush it off and say I learned it somewhere.
"So you were from Korea... I didn't know that..."
"Uh, well..."
"Come to think of it, I don't actually know much about your past, do I?"
Kirigiri's expression sharpened with interest as she slowly stepped closer to me.
"And yet... you seem to know me very well."
"Uh... that's..."
"When you're conducting an investigation, an imbalance of information leads to faulty judgment. And... the same goes for welcoming someone into your 'family.' So..."
Kirigiri grabbed the strap of the [personal alarm] hanging around my neck, then pulled me toward a food stall with a sign reading "Pub" as she spoke.
"You sly little K. Why don't we have a drink... and a nice, honest conversation?"
"Uh... but there isn't any alcohol or food prepared, and there's no one working here..."
"No need to worry! You've got me, don't you!?"
As I stood there sweating bullets and trying to make excuses, Usami suddenly popped out again and chimed in.
"The drinks and food are being prepared right now, and I'll handle being the server!! It's a special service for you two after everything you went through in the program!!"
"Looks like that problem's solved, then."
And just like that, pinned beneath Kirigiri's piercing, all-seeing gaze, I had no choice but to walk helplessly into the food stall.
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