"...Ugh... my head... Wait, why does my head hurt?"
This was a very, very familiar situation. It happened to me all the time, didn't it? I open my eyes, my head is pounding, and then some utterly ridiculous situation unfolds. A cliché so obvious it was practically fossilized.
'My head doesn't hurt... My head doesn't hurt... My head doesn't hurt...'
To somehow wriggle free of the cliché, I started brainwashing myself. After muttering that to myself for quite a while, the headache actually eased up.
'Please... just don't let it be an unfamiliar ceiling...'
Once I'd steeled myself, I took a deep breath and snapped my eyes open.
"...?"
I opened them wide, and saw nothing at all. What the hell?
"What is th— Aaaagh!!"
Crash!!
Panicking, I flailed around me, and the wall blocking my way collapsed. A flood of light swallowed me whole.
"Ugh... ow... that hurts..."
After rolling across the floor once, I turned around and saw a locker...
A locker!?
"...No way."
Praying with everything I had that it wasn't what I thought, I looked around—and a painfully familiar classroom came into view. Cold sweat started pouring down my entire body, and right then a deafening noise exploded from the locker beside me as two kids came tumbling out.
"Kyaaaah!!"
"Uwaaaah..."
The instant I saw them, I had no choice but to accept the situation I was in.
Right now, I was...
'Wait. "I"...?'
Who... am I?
.
.
.
.
.
"W-We... were in that locker together...?"
"I-I think so..."
"Sorry... I was so cramped in there earlier that I started groping around without thinking... I crossed a line..."
"I-It's okay... It's not like I hated it, no... I mean..."
Leaving the blonde girl and the boy in the hat to start flirting the instant they got out, I sank into thought.
'I barely remember anything... Why...?'
When I first opened my eyes, there had still been something left—something almost instinctive. But now even those faint, hazy remnants had vanished completely.
Because of that, the only things I remembered—no, the only things I knew—were that this place was a "game world," that my name was K and I possessed the talent of [Ultimate Counselor], and...
...that there was someone named Kyoko Kirigiri.
I remembered nothing else. And even the scraps I did know were pitifully thin.
The memory that this was a game world existed only as a kind of abstract concept. I couldn't even remember what game it was, let alone what kind of story it had.
And yet I accepted that memory as truth with eerie, effortless certainty. Why?
As for my name and talent, I had only managed to dig those up by thoroughly searching something I had on me called an E-Handbook, hoping it might help. Though, come to think of it... what even was a talent? Did I really have some kind of ability in counseling?
And lastly, my memory of Kyoko Kirigiri was absurdly simple.
'...Someone more precious than anything else.'
That memory was burned into my mind even more intensely than the fact that this world was a game world. Right now, the only people I knew were myself—the face I'd just confirmed in the handbook—the two idiots over there apologizing to each other with red faces...
...and Kyoko Kirigiri.
"...Ah, I want to see Kyoko."
If words like that were slipping out unconsciously, then she really must have been someone precious to me.
"Um... hi?"
While I was desperately trying to revive my memories, the blonde girl from across the room walked over and greeted me.
"I'm Kaede Akamatsu. What's your name?"
"Ah, I'm—"
""Oha-kuma~!!!""
The instant I was about to tell her my name, a bunch of bear mascots popped out in front of us.
'...How irritating.'
The moment I saw the bears, a wave of annoyance surged through me. I didn't know why, but apparently the me from before I lost my memory had some very bad history with teddy bears.
"...M-Monsters?"
"Calling us monsters is so mean... the real monster is a heart like yours..."
"A pretty little bear like me is a monster? What a joke..."
"W-What the... the dolls are talking...?"
"We are not the Monokumas! We are dolls!!"
"Monokid, didn't you get your line backwards?"
Yeah. I think I understood why they pissed me off now.
.
.
.
.
.
"Right then! And with that, it's time for Question Corner!"
After chattering among themselves for ages, the bear dolls abruptly opened a Q&A session. Well, I had a mountain of things I wanted to ask, so I gratefully started with the most basic one.
"Okay... then answer this first. Where the hell are we?"
At that, the bear dolls burst into laughter, then immediately huddled up and started whispering among themselves again.
"Puhahaha... that guy really did get neutralized!"
"What a relief... Dad said he was the only one we had to be careful of... so now it'll be smooth sailing!"
"Yep! Smooth sailing from here! Though seriously... that earlier part scared the stuffing outta me... how the heck did he do that to Mother Monokuma...?"
"Monosuke!! Shut up!!"
"....."
Even though they were only muttering to each other, my irritation kept climbing higher and higher, so I threw the question at them again.
"Hey... I asked where this is."
At that, the dolls—who had been whispering for quite a while—slowly turned back around and opened their mouths.
"This is... Saishu Academy!"
"That's right! An academy made just for you seventeen!"
"Saishu Academy...?"
Then the dolls began explaining Saishu Academy.
To boil it down to the essentials, Saishu Academy was apparently an institution that cultivated promising geniuses selected through the Gifteds System. The chosen students were said to become objects of admiration for students all over the world. The fact that I was supposedly one of them was, frankly, pretty shocking.
"Then... are there other kids here besides us?"
"Of course! So you should go find the others, say hello, and analyze them in advance!"
"Yeah... because they're the people you'll be doing 'that' with very soon!"
"That's right! 'That'! My heart is pounding perfectly just thinking about it!"
These idiots had opened a question session and were now babbling incomprehensible nonsense. What the hell was "that" supposed to mean?
"Hey... what exactly is 'that'—"
"See you later~!"
"W-Wait!!"
""Bye-kuma!!""
I still had a mountain of questions left, but the little bastards vanished without warning.
"...Uh, so what did you say your name was again?"
The blonde girl who'd asked my name earlier gave me an awkward smile and asked again.
"My name is..."
I had no idea what kind of situation this even was. I'd been kidnapped to a school with my memories gone, people were bursting out of lockers, and now talking high-tech dolls had shown up...
But something felt wrong. Ever since the dolls started talking about "that" beginning soon, the vague unease I'd felt when I first came to had started creeping back in.
Still, what else could I do? I couldn't just sit here forever. At the very least, I probably did need to go around and introduce myself to everyone, just like those dolls said.
Thinking that, I looked at the blonde girl who somehow felt strangely familiar and said,
"...K. [Ultimate Counselor]."
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"...Yes, everything is proceeding according to plan. Now all we have to do is quietly watch what happens next."
A man sat silently in a dark room, listening to radio chatter pouring in from all directions while speaking to someone over the phone.
"With this, the despair side will gain a 'new leader.' The true successor who will inherit her legacy."
"Of course. Unlike the last killing game and the one before that, we didn't merely erase fragments of memory this time. We completely restructured them from the ground up. The other children as well, naturally."
"...Understood."
"Hoo..."
As soon as the call ended, the man let out a long breath, then irritably slammed the phone onto the desk and collapsed back onto the sofa.
"Matsuda big bro... what's wrong? Are you really tired?"
A young girl looked at him with concern as she asked.
"...Monaca."
"Well, I guess that makes sense... You manipulated all the kids' memories by yourself until just a little while ago... and on top of that, you even adjusted the Memory Flash with Ryota Mitarai, right?"
"....."
"You really did it properly, right? The broadcast's already started! No matter what happens now, we can't intervene directly anymore!"
"...There's no need to worry, Monaca."
When the man called Matsuda answered quietly, Monaca sighed and spoke again.
"Really...? Well, I guess you are the [Ultimate Neurologist]... maybe I don't need to worry after all?"
"The procedure was completed perfectly. You saw it yourself during the test, didn't you?"
"That's true, but this is something we need to be absolutely sure about! It'd be a problem if that counselor guy still had his memories, you know! And you know why, don't you?"
"When I operated on him, I spent twice as much time as I did on the others. So stop pestering me with pointless questions and do your job. I need to rest."
"Matsuda big bro... why've you been in such a foul mood this whole time? Are you still sulking because big sis Enoshima threatened you?"
"....."
"No waaay... that couldn't be it... right?"
Matsuda ignored Monaca's smiling question for a moment and stared at the monitor mounted on the wall behind her. Then, all at once, he asked,
"...Where's Mitarai?"
"Ryota Mitarai just headed to Future Foundation. Something about attending a branch heads' meeting? But wait, in that radio report you just heard, didn't they say something about Kirigiri...?"
"They said she's gone missing."
"Pffft... well, no kidding... the little puppy she doted on so obsessively is being broadcast live to the entire world again with his memories wiped clean..."
Monaca burst out laughing at Matsuda's answer while watching the monitor. Then she stopped, sighed, and spoke again.
"Haaah... once this is all over, I'm going to space. I'll laze around there forever. Well, I guess the successor to big sis that'll be born from this whole mess can handle Earth just fine on her own..."
Riiing♪ Riiing♪
"...Hm? Is that Ryota Mitarai? He shouldn't really have any reason to call..."
Still looking refreshed as she stared at the monitor, Monaca tilted her head at the sudden ringing and picked up the phone.
"Ryota Mitarai, what is it—"
"Are you 'Monaca'?'"
"...Huh?"
Monaca had answered in a bright voice, but the moment she heard a woman's voice on the other end, she began to falter.
"...W-Who are..."
"The wife of the person on your screen right now."
At those words, Monaca looked at the monitor—and froze solid.
"N-No way... b-but how...!?"
"That's none of your concern. I'd like to propose a negotiation."
"...A negotiation?"
As Monaca began the call in a voice laced with confusion and curiosity, Matsuda watched her for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the man on the monitor.
"K... if it's you, you'll probably be able to understand what those memories mean..."
He quietly murmured, the corner of his mouth curling upward.
"...I can't let the final key to curing her die."