Chapter two: Memories

*I didn't realize what had happened.... Chiaki was found...? That's...impossible I saw her she- she died....She died! What the hell- what the hell is going on-!*

That was the last thing I thought before everything went black.

...

I woke up to familiar voices.

"Hajime!"

"Hinata wake up!"

"Come on man!"

"Wha....?" I said.

I looked up to see almost my entire batch of classmates and Makoto at my side.

"Hajime-! Are you okay?" Nagito asked.

"Yeah man you totally knocked out-!" Kazuichi exclaimed.

"Well I understand. I mean, a dead girl was walking!" Fuyuhiko said.

*So it wasn't a dream...?*

I thought as I shot up.

"Where is she-!?"

"Shes outside." Makoto said. "She's waiting to see if you're okay."

I ran out of bed, not even questioning where I was before slamming open the door. If this was real life...if she really was...alive, I needed to see it with my own eyes. And when I did, I couldn't help it. My jaw dropped, and I said with a lump in my throat, "Chiaki? Is that really- really you-?"

"Hajime? Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in so long- like since high school! How are you doing?"

The door behind me opened and everyone looked at chiaki.

"Chiaki..."

Everyone was absolutely speechless. But we all did the same thing. We gave her one of the tightest, most emotional, most relieved group hug that had ever existed.

"Its so nice to see you again everyone."

...

So long story short, we had found out that Chiaki had never actually been confirmed dead. At least not by any public. She was missing. But according to Naegi and her, she had heard about future foundation's actions and wanted to find her friends again, and maybe even join one day, with us. So when they received *anonymous* Intel that a captive was being held in the underground space of what used to be Hope's peak high school, They found her. It was shocking, but it didn't matter, she was alive. And even if it wasn't her that went through the killing game with us, she was still my friend. And that's all that mattered.

After catching up for a bit, we were told our training teams.

Team one: Team Kirigiri consisted of; Peko Pekoyama, The ultimate imposter, Gundham Tanaka, And Sonia Nevermind.

Team Togami: Chiaki Nanami, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, Nagito Komaeda, And Hajime Hinata.

Team Yasuhiro: Hiyoko Saionji,

Akane Owari, Ibuki Mioda, and Kazuichi soda.

And Team Komaru/toko: Mikan Tsumiki, Teruteru Hanamura, Mahiru Koizumi, and Nekomaru Nedai.

I was part of Team Togami, me and fuyuhiko recognized him from when he saved us from the neo-world-program. But I don't think he remembered us because when we all gathered, he looked at the list of our names.

"Okay, let's get to the point, I won't bother learning the names of interns. That's something you earn. So, You. He looked at fuyuhiko. Your number one. Brunette, two. Gamer, three. And white hair, you're number four. Now come with me, it may be your first day but that doesn't change all the work we have to do." He handed all of us contracts, papers, and clipboards.

They were papers that needed our approval for agreements to getting our memories back. But of course, Chiaki didn't have any to recover.

"Ah I see." Komaeda mumbled. "Isn't this exciting Hajime? Being put with the Ultimate Affluent Progeny?"

"I guess." I whispered. "But I heard a rumor that he's actually a pain in the ***." I whispered.

"I can hear you." He said sternly.

"Sorry sir!" I shouted quickly. *wow great first impression Hajime.* I thought as Komaeda giggled.

"Shut up-" I told him quietly.

"Ehehe- I'm only teasing Hinata kun."

When we got to the memory center, Naegi was waiting for us, along with about 16 machines.

"Holy crap." Fuyuhiko said, looking around.

Byakuya sighed, "Be professional won't you?"

"Sorry sir its just, I've never seen anything like this before."

"Well it was developed by former ultimates." Byakuya replied.

"Ah, wow. How truly amazing!" Nagito exclaimed as Naegi walked up to Byakuya.

"Okay, this is it. Most of this is gonna be shocking, and you'll only get some of your memories back for now, however the ones you don't get should slowly make their way in your brain eventually, due to the machines ability to open the deeper regions of your mind. You'll need to be prepared for the things you might see, no matter what they are. So, are you prepared?"

I gulped. *Izuru... damn it screw it-!*

"Yes sir!" I shouted, as I defied what I actually thought. Everyone then looked at me and followed as they got ready.

"Good. Then please step into the machine while we get you strapped up."

And when we were ready to begin, the last thing we all heard before the program started was

"Good luck everyone."

....

....

....

At that moment, everything froze. Like I was in the middle of some sort of black purgatory. I felt as if I was falling lower and lower into the abyss of nothingness. Almost just like my reoccurring dream. But after that, I saw things that I couldn't believe. The remnants of the tragedy, Chiaki, the experiments. However, even though I knew the situations, it still felt as if I had no memory to them. All I had were locations in my mind. Little flashbacks of things I had previously seen, people I'd met. Even the people in my visions felt blurry. The only one who didn't was Chiaki. I didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she was still in the back of my mind at the moment. But in the end, it didn't matter, it was the first time that my dream had sunk in as reality. I kept denying it. Denying the horrible thoughts, the horrible things, and the horrible state of our world, just for the sake of positivity. I thought I was ready to face it. But deep down I think I knew it would never be that easy.

As everything I'd seen passed through my mind, and I had remembered some of my locations of memories, my eyes shot open, and a tear came down my face. Even though I didn't remember the memories they related to, it still felt as if I could feel the emotional connection with each image. It hurt. So fucking much. I looked around at everyone else. They all had a look of bewilderment, pain, and of course, despair. Fuyuhiko even shed a tear, and Nagito... he was... balling. He looked in my eyes and ran up to me.

He hugged me. *He had never-*

"Hajime-!" He cried out. I couldn't help but wonder what he saw. But instead of asking questions, I hugged him back. It concerned me deeply however, not only because Nagito was my friend but because I had never seen him actually, cry before. Nonetheless hug me, or anyone for that matter.

"H-hey-! It's okay-!" I told him. He was soft and warm. His tears making a little stain on my shoulder. And for some reason... I felt calmer. Relived even. I felt a type of...bond.

Just then it was as if nagito had snapped out of a trance. He quickly let go of me and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"Ah- I- I'm sorry Hinata-! I don't know what c-came over me I just-"

"Hey. Its cool. Don't worry about it."

He blushed. "Y-yeah....th-thank you."

"Anytime."

At that moment Naegi walked up to us.

"Its okay if you all wanna take a moment... it's hard. I know. We figured you would all wanna go home and get some rest for now. You'll start real business training tomorrow. You'll be informed about your treatment plans later today, but for now, please take the rest of the day off."

We all looked at each other and Thanked him. We all left the room together, Fuyuhiko running ahead.

"Nagito?"

He looked up at me.

"You okay?"

He walked silently for a moment.

"Yes. I really do apologize. I didn't mean to make you touch someone as repulsive as me-"

"No you aren't repulsive... actually... I really needed that too." I admitted.

"You- Wait what-?" He asked.

"I needed that. There was horrible shit in mine too. I get it. But somehow, I always feel... really relaxed with you, if that uh, makes sense. Ahaha-"

I laughed.

"Ah-" His face turned a bright pinkish color. And he almost flinched.

"W-well I'm sure that was just from knowing it was over you know there's n-no way something as nice as that could be because of me-!"

"Nagito-! You're really red are you okay?! Oh crap are you getting a fever again-!?"

"Nonono-!" He cupped his hands over his face and mumbled something to himself. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Shut up Hinata kun-!" It's just really um- hot out here that's all-!"

"Ahaha yeah right, wait did you actually remember something pervy?" I teased.

"No of course nott! Ah jeez my emotions are really getting out of control today!" He said, finally gaining back some composure.

"Heh heh- it's okay. I think I like sensitive Nagito." I smiled.

"Easy for you to say..."

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***