Chapter Text
Chiaki sat at a desk, her head resting in her arms, as she quietly sneezed. Her mind was reliving on loop the events that had unfolded in the last few days and led to this bad ending.
"Hope and despair... I usually don't really care much about these things. I guess the one thing I ever really paid any mind to was my video games, no matter the genre or the console... I was always just very good at them, and I couldn't explain why. I was just born with that talent, and I couldn't really shut it off. Not that I would want that."
The Ultimate Gamer recalled parts of her thousands of hours of gaming. It wasn't just a hobby or a lifestyle for her: it was her whole life. On the days she didn't have school, Chiaki could play for up to twenty hours, only stopping to eat, use the bathroom, and get the bare minimum of sleep.
She was only five years old when she first discovered the joy of video games. Chiaki had always been a reserved child who disliked talking to people, not out of meanness, but mostly shyness. Her life changed when her mother came to her one day, a Nintendo 64 controller in hand.
After countless hours of replaying every star available in Super Mario 64, Chiaki understood that video games would be her salvation. Her passion carried her through elementary and middle school until the day she received that fateful letter from Hope's Peak Academy.
That part was known only by a select few, but the short-haired girl had politely declined at first. In her mind, back then, such a prestigious institution could surely scout someone with a talent more valuable than her genius gaming.
Ultimately, the school convinced Chiaki, who subsequently became the Ultimate Gamer. There was more napping than studying involved, though.
Right now, her current slumber was interrupted by a familiar voice. Not a pleasant one.
"Aw, you poor little thing!" Chiaki heard, interrupting her inner monologue. "Puhuhu... Boy, you sure are a party pooper! Without your precious video games, you really are nothing but a sad sack!"
Chiaki sleepily turned around. She was presented with the vile individual who had played the leading role in putting her in her misery, grinning widely.
"You," Chiaki said with conviction, scowling as angrily as she could. However, that wasn't saying much, as it looked more like a childish pout than an angry glare. Not something that would intimidate anyone, at least.
"Ah, yes, me! Indeed, sweetheart!" the other girl teased mockingly. "It's obvious what you're thinking, Nanami-senpai... 'You're the monster who took away basically all I loved and destroyed it with a swing of her hand!'"
Chiaki's glare actually darkened at the words.
"Aw, are you trying to intimidate little old me, Nanami-senpai? Or should I call you Chiaki-chan?" the other girl crossed her arms disappointingly. "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I give you no stars for this totally not scary glare! You still have a ways to go!"
The two girls remained locked in a battle of stares. The main difference between them was the grin on Junko's lips, whereas Chiaki was far from smiling even a tiny bit. Suddenly, the classroom they were in started to shatter, with the walls crumbling down and taking the floor with them.
"Oh, it appears you're waking up, Chiaki-chan... Heh, have fun returning to your dreadful reality!" the Ultimate Fashionista taunted. "You're actually quite the intriguing girl, you know that? You were supposed to die, but thanks to some pretty damn lucky twists of fate, you pulled through... Puhuhu... I challenge you, Chiaki-chan. I want to see what role you'll play in my scheme. I want to know how you'll live in people's hearts long after my death."
With this, the rest of the room crumbled, and the pigtailed blonde disappeared with the falling rubble. Chiaki stared ahead, keeping her eyes on her enemy for as long as she could. If she was being honest with herself, the Ultimate Gamer didn't know if she was suited to be the heroine of a story of any type.
After all, aside from her gaming skills, Chiaki knew she was a pretty average girl. People like Junko only confused her. Chiaki's inability to understand them gave her headaches. But as she slowly woke up, the short girl realized that not understanding the likes of Junko Enoshima, even in her dreams, might actually be a good thing.
In actuality, Chiaki was fast asleep inside a hospital room, with various and numerous machines plugged into her, and where the only sound was that of the heart monitor beeping along with her heartbeat. The number displayed on the screen was on the low side, albeit still within the acceptable range.
That is, until the machine suddenly started beeping out of control, and the number skyrocketed in a split second.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The hysterical scream Chiaki let out as she woke up was filled with pain so immense it couldn't be measured. It was mixed with an ungodly amount of shock and fear. The sound echoed inside the room and through the doors for endless seconds.
"W-Where am I?!" the girl asked herself, looking around frantically. "T-Those spears! A-Aaah!"
The Ultimate Gamer shook around, knocking over some of the machines plugged into her. Breathing became difficult as a sense of suffocation overtook her. She tried to scream for help, but no sound would leave her throat anymore.
A-Aaaah! A-Am I dead?! N-No... I-I am not!
Someone threw the door open and ran inside the room and to Chiaki's side. The short-haired girl recognized her as Seiko Kimura, thanks to the mask covering her mouth.
"P-Please calm down, Nanami-san! T-There is no need to scream...!"
It was clear the Ultimate Pharmacist was surprised Chiaki had awakened, though the source of her screaming and shaking around was clear. She tried to get Chiaki to calm down but to no avail.
"T-Those spears! T-They hurt! S-Someone help me! I-I don't want to die!"
"Y-You're not going to die, Nanami-san! Y-You're okay now...!"
All Chiaki could feel was the lasting pain of being stabbed by those countless spears. Seiko's voice barely reached her ears, which were still filled with the taunting voice of Junko Enoshima. Her eyes couldn't register the room surrounding her, not yet able to see anything other than the boy with the long dark hair standing before her.
"E-Everyone! I-I need to see my classmates! I-I need to see my friends! I-I need to see Hajime!"
"P-Please stop struggling, Nanami-san! Y-You're in no shape to go anywhere right now...!"
The girl had never gone so wild in her life prior to this moment. Her lifelong streak of lacking energy was broken as she tried to get off the bed, only to be stopped by the wires connecting her to the medical equipment.
"L-Let me go! O-Out of the way!"
Seiko did her best to keep the other girl in place, though her shaking and struggling were tough to deal with. The gamer managed to rip off the wires and push the pharmacist away, making a dash for the door that would have put Sonic the Hedgehog to shame.
However, before she could reach the door, Chiaki suddenly stopped. Her crazy confusion was immediately replaced by an odd feeling of dizziness that outmatched even her usual sleepy state. It was overwhelming, impossible to fight against.
"My... classmates..."
Her next few steps were shaky before she eventually collapsed on the floor. The only thing that stopped her face from hitting the floor was Seiko's quick reflexes to catch her.
"I-I'm sorry I had to do this, Nanami-san..." Seiko said, holding an empty syringe of morphine in her hand. "B-But you need to rest for now..."
Gently, the shy girl carried Chiaki back to bed, finding her to be heavier than expected.
"You've been through major trauma, which we'll need to address later, but for now, you need rest above everything else," she added, reconnecting the wires and tucking Chiaki in. However, the Ultimate Gamer had already gone back to sleep by this point. "S-Sleep well, Nanami-san."
Quietly, the Ultimate Pharmacist left the room. Chiaki lay in bed, snoring lightly, knocked out from a mix of exhaustion, shock, stress, and because of the morphine flowing through her veins. At last, however, her mind was at peace, allowing her body to finally start recuperating.
Two hours later, Chiaki woke up again, her eyes drowsily opening. This time, she neither panicked nor screamed, feeling strangely calm. She looked around the room slowly, trying to better understand her whereabouts.
"Ah, Nanami-san! You are awake!"
Seiko entered the room, her voice seemingly relieved. Chiaki greeted her, though her voice was still a little weak. The pharmacist told her to take it easy and began scanning her face and body for any signs of injuries and/or emotional damage.
"You seem much calmer than when you woke up earlier, Nanami-san. That's good."
She couldn't see it behind the other girl's mask, but Chiaki could guess a smile on Seiko's lips. The Ultimate Gamer could vaguely recall waking up earlier, though it was vague – and not particularly pleasant.
"W-What's... going on, Kimurai-senpai...?" Chiaki asked, her voice showing just how confused she was. "How did I get here...? I was inside this strange room, and then... nothing... I think..."
"Take it easy, Nanami-san," Seiko advised gently. "It's already a miracle you even survived, so please rest for a moment, okay? I am not into religious beliefs, but I must thank whatever God is watching us in this crisis for every life we save..." She sighed. "To tell you the truth... you've been through a lot, Nanami-san, even by this apocalypse's standards."
"A-Apocalyspe?!" Chiaki's eyes almost popped out of their sockets from shock. "I-I remember Hope's Peak being in pretty bad shape with some riots going on, but nothing remotely close to an apocalypse! I-I think..."
Seiko was mildly surprised by her underclassman's words. "O-Oh, my... Y-You really don't know, Nanami-san?" Seeing the video game aficionado shake her head with difficulty, the Ultimate Pharmacist sighed again. "Perhaps the trauma of your near-death experience wreaked havoc on your memory... Y-You were flailing out so wildly about spears hurting you and about your friends earlier..."
The mere mention of spears gave Chiaki a headache.
"Usami? Open the blinds, please."
At Seiko's words, a small robot shaped like a big pink and white rabbit appeared inside the room. "You got it, Seiko-chan!" she said, her voice cheerful.
She opened the blinds remotely. The first thing Chiaki noticed was how little daylight was passing through the windows. For a second, she even wondered if it was the dead of night. And with every passing moment, Chiaki realized how terrible the outside world was. She gasped in horror, her eyes unable to look away from the despair that had swallowed the world, even if they desperately wanted to.
"T-This can't be real... T-There's just no way..."
Chiaki's main feeling was denial. She doubted her own sight, unable to grasp what she was seeing. Her second main was fear. The outside world was in a state comparable to some of her post-apocalyptic games like Fallout or Doom Eternal, with black clouds invading the crimson skies and long winds of black smoke from the burning skyscrapers in the background.
It was truly a vision of hell.
And knowing that it was mankind itself that had caused it, and not some demon, was perhaps the most intimidating fact. There was no doubt in Chiaki's mind about who she was supposed to blame for all this.
Whenever she blinked, the guilty party flashed before her eyes.
"I-I can't believe what I'm seeing... I-I mean... i-it's only been a few days at most... right...?"
"A-A few days...?" Seiko appeared uneasy. "I-I'm sorry, Nanami-san, but your rest was quite a bit longer than that... Y-You, uh... have been asleep for about a month now..."
"A-A month?!"
"Y-Yes, Nanami-san... Most of it was spent here with the medical team working day and night to ensure you would pull through. That's why seeing you awake is such a relief, Nanami-san."
This was something else that the Ultimate Gamer had some trouble believing. However, she had to take Seiko at her word due to a lack of evidence proving otherwise.
"Well... there is some light at the end of the tunnel, I suppose..." Seiko said, though that sounded anything but optimistic. "A familiar face you might recognize has been working alongside me and many others to fight against this chaos... Honestly, she has been the one to put the most trust in your recovery, even at first, when the odds were abysmal at best... It's nothing short of a miracle that you survived with such severe injuries..."
After that, Seiko proceeded to give Chiaki a comprehensive report of her injuries. Of course, the younger girl could feel the scars and wounds on her body, and whenever the pharmacist named one, it was as if it was lit up. Chiaki winced when she was shown the latest analyses of her body. It was covered in stitches, and her stomach area was absolutely gory to look at.
Chiaki wondered if Hajime would find her attractive, looking like this. She dearly hoped so.
"M-May I know who it was that placed so much trust in my recovery, Kimura-senpai?" Chiaki asked, forcing the optimism in her voice to try to move on. Knowing she had someone by her side was good news. At least, it was better than anything she'd heard so far.
Granted, it wasn't difficult, but still. A little bit of light in such darkness tended to shine very brightly.
"O-Oh, if you give me a minute, I can call them here!" Seiko said, pulling out her cell phone. Chiaki gave a nod of approval. She tapped the screen several times, and the gamer heard it ring. After a while, someone picked up, though Chiaki couldn't hear their voice. "G-Great news! Nanami-san is awake! Y-You were right: she survived!"
There was a bit of a discussion between Seiko and her interlocutor, although nothing that allowed Chiaki to figure out who they were. The Ultimate Pharmacist seemed happy, though.
Whoever this mystery person is, I'm happy they trusted I would recover... Against foes like the Ultimate Fashionista, I wouldn't mind having some allies...
"Y-Yes, they even want to see you, so could you maybe-"
Seiko was interrupted as the door automatically opened, and someone rushed inside. They had a bright smile and joyful look in their eyes.
"C-Chiaki-chan!"
It happened instantly, but Chiaki's hope faded as she recognized the voice. She silently prayed to be wrong, but alas, there was no mistaking it.
"O-Oh, my dear Chiaki-chan! T-Thank God you're still alive!" Chisa Yukizome said with such a happy tone that just anyone would believe the scene to be heartwarming. A typical reunion between a teacher and their beloved student, in short.
Seiko smiled at the scene, unaware of the twisted context behind the seemingly wholesome scene. Chiaki's eyes widened in fear, and she shook slightly, recalling her last encounter with her homeroom teacher traumatically. The swirls in her eyes were still there, and her voice was tainted with something that reminded her too much of the life-or-death game that had almost killed her.
Chiaki's face turned blue from fear. However, before she could scream to Seiko for help, Chisa's hand reached for her throat, softly gripping it. It was not enough to strangle her, but it was gesture enough for Chiaki to understand the message: "don't even think about it." This, added to the quick sinister smile she showed her, made Chiaki shiver.
"Say, Kimura-chan... Do you think I could spend some time alone with my student?" Chisa asked, her voice as sweet as a cinnamon roll. "There's so much Chiaki-chan and I need to talk about!"
Unable to sense the deception, Seiko nodded with a smile. "Of course, Yukizome-san." She smiled at Chiaki. "Somebody will arrive at your door shortly with food and water, Nanami-san."
With those words, the Ultimate Pharmacist left the hospital room, leaving the redhead alone with her terrified student... and somebody else.
"Usami-chan, please turn off camera and audio recordings inside this room, will you?" Chisa instructed the bunny rabbit. "Oh, and please enter sleep mode for a while, okay? It's been a long day for you, I'm sure."
The rabbit saluted. "Roger that, Yukizome-sensei!"
The cameras inside the room turned off instantly, and the rabbit's eyes shut. Chisa sighed contently and sat in a chair in the corner of the room. Chiaki felt helpless, left alone at her teacher's mercy. Breathing became difficult. The Ultimate Homekeeper's swirling eyes returned, and her smile was so sweet it became chilling.
"Now, with all the distractions out of the way, let's catch up on what happened and talk about what the future has in store for you, Nanami-san."
To be continued...