Chapter Text
Whether it had only been a few minutes, hours, or days in the time Rantaro Amami the ultimate adventurer had been killed, he honestly couldn't tell at this point. He wasn't heavily religious or knew much about the various types of versions written when it came to describing limbo but he didn't think it would be this sparkly or dark blue.
It could likely all be just his own imagination dreaming it but for the longest time since his death, all he'd been doing was floating forward in a dark blue glowing tunnel. The seemingly endless void would flicker green light occasionally but not much else happened. With nothing better to do he wondered about how the others were fairing back in the game. A sick game that made no sense for any person to be forced into.
"Why did I even want to be in that game again? When and why would I of signed up for it the first time?" he thought to himself.
There was a lot about himself he still didn't really recall and even after getting the "survivor perk" as it was called, he couldn't make a lot of sense of his own actions. People usual entered normal game shows if they wanted something like shallow fame or money. From what little he could recall of himself he wasn't the type going through any major money troubles and he wasn't really an attention seeker either. Neither of those reason for entering that "game" applied to him. On the other hand it might of been possible some majorly desperate part of himself in the past was erased that made him want to enter. Everything just had to many questions with not nearly enough answers.
He was so lost in thought he almost didn't notice the number of green flickering lights streaking by increase in number around him. Thankfully he didn't have epilepsy and being dead meant he wouldn't have to worry about having a stroke from the spaz of lights anyway. The giant light pink and white fan looking thing he was suddenly approaching however was concerning. He felt his body involuntarily increase in speed as it got closer to it. Rantaro closed his eyes and braced for the impact but all that happened was a sudden tingly feeling flowing throughout his body. Gravity once again shifted but this time moving him slower, he could feel his body suddenly lowering at a leisurely slow pace.
When Rantaro's feet touched what felt like sold ground he finally opened his eyes to see what at first he thought was a spirit realm of some sort. Transparent and faceless human shaped figures with blue bodies walked around what looked like a large water fountain. The fountain had a weird large bunny head on it. Sitting on one of the benches in front of the fountain was a girl with mid-length creamy light brown hair and green hoodie. The girl was looking at a laptop for a few seconds but the second she looked up and spotted him she started waving at him.
"Hey, hey you with the green hair, come this way!"she hollered.
Seeing no one else around with green hair besides himself he walked over to the strange girl and cautiously took a seat on the bench beside her.
"Hi there, so um is this really the afterlife, limbo, or something? Also why are we the only non-all blue people here?" Rantaro asked.
She didn't answer right away and just seemed to stare at him for a few seconds before answering.
"Oh, I'd explain everything to you now but first we should wait for the next arrival. It'll be better time saver if I don't have to say everything twice." said the girl.
"How long have I been dead?" the adventurer asked
"Only about 5 hours and your not truly dead but again I'll explain more later." she replied.
"Can you at least tell me your name while we wait for whoever this next arriver is?" he asked.
"I'm Chiaki 2.0 or C2 if you want to go by that." Chiaki 2.0 smiled as she introduced herself.
"No offence but that sounds more like the name of a video game character rather then an actual person." Rantaro commented
"I'm not a video game character but I am based on an actual girl. Like I said I'll explain everything when second arrival comes so don't worry." Despite her saying this,it put him at even less ease.
"Based on a real girl? What the heck is that even suppose to mean?" he thought.
Before he could ask this question out loud or any other questions Chiaki stood up and started waving over at someone behind him.
"Well, looks like you didn't have to wait long for your questions to be answered. The second arrival is here now." she beamed
Turning around he saw a face he had only seen hours ago but with how long he was in that weird tunnel it felt like ages.
Kaede Akamatsu was a nice blonde girl, positive, friendly though blunt when she needed to be, and a good person as far as he was concerned but for her to be here,even if he didn't get where this place was, he knew at least partly why they were there. It looked like she had been crying a while ago from the faded lines on her face. She moved toward them in an almost trance like state before seeming to suddenly realize he was there until he spoke.
"Did you set up that trap?" He hadn't meant to ask it without thinking but he to confused to think it over properly.
Instead of answering right away she looked at him in surprise for a long second before falling to her knees and looking like she wanted to cry all over again. Rantaro could faintly hear her muttering something over and over until he knelt down to try and comfort her with a hug.
"I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, please forgive me, I'm so-" She was starting to shake a bit as she chanted this.
"Kaede, I'm not mad at you. Please try and calm down a little. Your trap failed anyway so it's not your fault I'm dead." He tried to sound as comforting as he could.
"Y-Y-yes it is! I set up that horrible trap even after all my talk about everyone working together and trusting each other. I thought one of us was the mastermind and that I could end the game if they were dead. I'm a big, dumb, fat hypocrite who got you killed because I couldn't control my own paranoia!" the blonde cried.
"Like I just said Kaede, you didn't kill me. I don't recall who but I recall that much. I remember being in the library, watching the door shift, the camera flash, and a ball landing at my feet. It was only after I bent over to pick it up that something or someone smacked me in the back of the head. Did you know of any secret passage ways or places a person could hide in the library?" Rantaro asked
Kaede had started to control her breathing a little more as she listened to him talk then paused to process his question for few minutes. Being executed even with almost everyone's forgiveness was a lot to take in and to be getting comforted by the very boy she thought she'd slain was even more to take in. Regardless she tried to get her head together enough to remember the layout of the library before she answered. She owed him answers to anything he asked her.
"No, I don't think there was anything like that in the library from when me and Shuichi inspected it. At least not one besides the black and white door behind one of the shelves. I think I originally wanted to stake out inside the library to watch it, but he was worried the mastermind might attack if we were spotted." She tried to recalled.
"Okay then in that case I definitely know it wasn't you cause even though I don't know where it might of been I'm pretty sure someone came up behind me from some hidden door or another. The place was completely empty as far as I recall so that's the only way I can think of. I also believe it when you say you didn't know and that you regret your trap cause no one who'd purposely want some else dead would be acting like you are now." Rantaro explained.
Chiaki 2.0 had been watching the scene between the two teens in silence for a bit but then decided to speak up upon that last comment.
"I wonder why it seems the mastermind chose you specifically to do it." She wondered out loud.
Kaede had almost forgotten the bunny backpacked girl that waved her over until she spoke.
"What do you mean by chose me to do it and who exactly are you?" asked the pianist.
"I'm Chiaki 2.0 and I already know who you are Kaede Akamatsu and Rantaro Amami. You both look mostly like you did in your missing person's reports." Chiaki replied
"Missing person's report?!" both exclaimed.
"Yes, you as well as the others were kidnaped and have been reported missing a for a while now. Don't worry though cause none of you for the time being are dead." She then showed them a newspaper article with their faces on it.
"Alright, you said when Kaede arrived you'd explain everything right? We're both going to need a more thorough explanation then that." He didn't want to sound to demanding but he wanted her to get straight to the point.
Kaede's sadness and confusion was starting to turn into irritation with the confusing things the girl was saying. She stood up and walked closer to her.
"You also didn't answer my question about what the mastermind choosing me meant. None of that along with you saying we aren't dead makes any sense unless your saying this isn't the after life." She hoped the
Chiaki 2.0 paused to contemplate in which order she should answer the pair so as to not confuse them further. She at least had a bit of evidence that would make them believe her.
"I'll try to at least explain what's going on here and now but for more info I'll have to let the one who sent me here explain the rest okay? It's going to be a bit hard to believe. You two have already been through something that on paper is pretty out there though, so try and keep an open mind alright?"
When the teens just nodded in response she began talking while showing them files on her laptop as she did so.
She explained to them about a group called the last remnants of despair who were thought to be all but completely defeated in the aftermath of the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history. Although most of them were de-brainwashed there were some that suffered relapses. These people knew they were outnumbered by those on the side of hope.
Because of this, instead of continuing grand large scale attacks they simply stayed docile while causing despair in secret. They did it discreetly enough on and off through the years that normal local authorities didn't know whether to assume what type of person committed their crimes. A special government security task force called the future foundation would cover up these attacks as just those of your run of the mill ex-convict or street gang thugs.
One particular crime that the future foundation had been keeping extra secret was that the despairs had stolen some of the same technology used to de-brainwash. They'd use it to put those on the side of hope who either attended or graduated from hopes peak into random killings games. Their targets would be strapped into a machine and sent to a virtual world called the Neo world program where they'd be mentally manipulated into thinking, acting, and feeling in ways they wouldn't normally to make things entertaining. They'd feature the games on a secret website with a practically untraceable link only fellow remnants knew how to access and would change the location of where they held each game to make tracing harder.
Luckily for their batch,a mole was able to give them the location of the current game happening now and they were able to trace then hack in via sending 2 people to spy inside the place.
At the end of her explanation of things Chiaki waited patiently for them to respond. All of the things she said were likely a lot to digest. With how emotionally shaken up she was when the blonde pianist arrived, it surprised Chiaki that Kaede that was the first to eventually respond.
"Okay, so just trying to sum all this up but your saying a bunch of these remnants have kidnapped use all, currently me and Rantaro are inside this Neo world thing. When the remnants are done with this sick game they'll kill us all in the real world and dump our bodies somewhere. All that and your not an actual person but a program that's been sent here to rescue us somehow. Is all that right?" asked the pianist.
"Well technically we're in a hacked loading terminal so I'm not detected but all of the rest, your pretty much right." Chiaki agreed.
"I'm not gonna lie that sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie but considering everything around us right now I don't think we have much other choice then to believe you." said the green haired boy
"How exactly do you plan on rescuing us all anyway? Also, if two people are already in the place couldn't they of just uploaded a virus or something and force them to stop things?" Kaede questioned
"Trying to force the program to shutdown too quick might cause permanent mental damage to those still in the game. All your real memories have been mixed with fake ones that resemble your real ones so closely that your minds can't tell the difference. Some of your real memories have been change so majorly that you wouldn't even recall the real people in your lives that shaped who you are. Not even if they were standing right in front of you. Now that we know where you are we just need to stall for time."
Chiaki 2.0 then spoke into a small speaker on the side of the laptop.
"Alright, I've made contact with both Rantaro and Akamatsu. They got killed off first and I've explained everything they needed to know about where they are and why."
"Good work C2, I'll take things from here so just turn me around so I can see them." A male's voice was coming through the small screen.
When the screen was presented to them a chubby looking redheaded man with curly hair, almost comically thick rimmed glasses, and lots of freckles appeared on it. From what little they could see of his upper torso he was wearing what looked like a some sort of security uniform and matching hat. He spoke in a low hushed voice so they had to lean a little closer to the screen to hear him properly.
"Hello, I'm the Zetsu Supai the security guard plus tech support assistant and I'll be making sure that nobody notices anything funny while your in there. My cousin here will explain things further while I watch out for possible ease droppers." said the man supposedly named Zetsu
The camera rotated to a young cute mousey looking women with short blue hair and an oversized red scarf around her neck. Instead of speaking she started typing quickly and using a computer voice to speak.
"He's actually the ultimate imposter but he's gotta stay in character while the both of us are undercover. Hello, I'm Miaya Gekkogahara and I use to be the ultimate therapist back when I was in hope's peak. I wasn't able to do much the last time I was asked to help take on the worst of the remnants when they stole technology from the future foundation but I'm making it my personal promise to get you kids out of there. This might sound like the last thing either of you want to do but I'm going to need you to go back into the game." Miaya explained.
"Go back?! Even with everything we know now I don't think any of them would believe us. Plus I really doubt they'd believe anything I'd have to say regardless of if I was manipulated or not." Kaede said.
"Don't worry, I completely understand what you mean or at least about them believing you without evidence part. I've re-watched the events over the last few hours and with the exception of a small few they all still seem to believe in your words. After your execution they made a promise to try fulfill your final words. Even with those small few who have doubt in their hearts they don't hold any ill malice toward you. The young detective seemed especially inspired." Miaya said
"Do they really not hate me? I mean I know they said they didn't but I didn't fully think it was true. Shuichi was really inspire by me in the end?" Kaede pondered internally.
"So what exactly would this evidence be that would convince them what we say is true? Also, wouldn't the guys running this whole thing find it fishy 2 people who they killed off just randomly re-appeared?" asked the boy.
"Your evidence will come in the form of keywords that will reawaken yours and their real selves. Your group are the kinds of hope that despairs hate the most. Either you've already been through something fairly despair inducing in your lives that made you almost immune into being easily tempted into it or you haven't been through anything to bad that you'd be to bland for the viewers. Some of you have been changed in attitude and appearance minimally while some much more majorly. A few of you don't even have the right talents or recall how you got them. That's what the keywords I send you will help each person remember overtime when I can hack and find them."Miaya explained
"That sounds great but again how would we explain just randomly being back?" he asked again.
"Simple, you just won't look like yourselves. We premade some monokub avatars for each of you since we didn't know which of you two might be killed off first. You'll get rings that when activated will hack the main cameras and mini cameras into showing nothing but the frozen looping image of whoever you have in the room. Once there you can try and convince them to hold one of your palms and then say the word I give you for that specific person. Getting 2 keywords per person at a time will take a while for us but once the people start remembering themselves, you should be able to get them to help you stop those still mind washed into playing along with the game." She said it like it was the most obvious thing.
Rantaro looked at her skeptically. "And your sure this will work?"
"Yes, not only will your classmate start remembering each other and the past hopeful bonds you all shared but with how fickle the despairs are, their viewers will start losing interest if no more blood shed happens. " said the therapist
To go back in the game was something that scared them both but neither could deny a second chance to save their friends was something they couldn't back out of doing. For Rantaro it would be a chance at payback and for Kaede it would be a shot at self-redemption. Even if it was true that the others didn't hate her and she wasn't in total control of herself back then, she wouldn't feel like she honestly earned their forgiveness until she did something for them.
"Hey, there was something in the beginning chiaki didn't clarify and I've been curious about since Rantaro explained his death to me. If I didn't kill Rantaro then who exactly did? Even if it's being controlled by viewer votes or the remnants randomness aren't they bond to their own rules on who gets executed? " She almost forgot to ask what with listening to Chiaki explaining things.
"Yeah, I'm curious about that myself. You guys have been keeping watch on everything so you should know who killed me right?"
"I'm actually glad you asked that! According to Zetsu, the editing department messed with the footage so the audience along with almost none of the staff would be spoiled on how it happened. They want the final trail with the last of the survivors to be where the big twist reveal on your deaths happens. Luckily he heard two guys talking at the end of your trial saying: "It's sure sad the boss had to get their hands dirty but it made for good TV. A game that ends to early would of been boring." She used a voice clip of the imposter saying this for the last part.
"So me and shuichi were right?!" It was hard to know whether she should feel good or bad about being right at this news.
"And it was the mastermind that took me out before I could open that weird door. I must of been to close a big clue in there for them to go that far." he figured
"Yep, the mastermind is someone among your group so you need to be extra cautious on who you tell anything to. On that note remember to let those awakened know they have to pretend to still be a bit brainwashed so they don't raise suspicions. We'll try to help them on that end with C2." Miaya warned them.
Miyaya started typing rapidly one her computer on and soon not to far away near the 2nd bench two blue circular platforms appeared and they started glowing.
"Go stand on one of the platforms and we'll start reloading you in. I know it's not going to be easy to get everyone to cooperate even when they regain there memories."
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Okay everyone! Now that you know what's going to go down this is how the story will progress:
I'm going to assign you to vote for things ranging from the awakened to future killers throughout this story for certain chapters every few chapters. For those who have played or watched let's plays you know how the story plays from chapter 2 and onwards so its up to you if the original in-game killers remain psycho or someone else does.
I'll assign bonus things later but for now your first votes will be titled: Odd duos: Name 1 guy and 1 girl of the remaining in game characters you want to see stop the next murder involving the motive videos next chapter. It's optional but if you want to then make your argument on why you think those 2 characters would be interesting in working together. I'll have this story posted on Achieve of Our Own so if I use a pair you don't see asked for in reviews here then that might be why.
No doubt there are going to be a lot of combos to chose from and I'm including Kaede or Rantaro as options as well. How I'll decide is by either the number of times I see either: 1.) The same pair asked for.) 2. The number of times I see a certain persons name) or (3. The person who can make the most interesting of reason for their picks to me. I'll update with my decision before actually writing the chapter.
If you vote for the original in-game victim or killer of that chapter it won't matter since I've made alternate options for each. If you want to awaken BOTH the original in-game killer and victim in that chapter then tell me who you'd like to see attempt murder. I'll judge that as well on how interesting your reason is.
Kudos, follow, sub, and give it everything you've got in the comments if you want this to continue!