Chapter Text
First comes the shock.
The air is hotter than any of them remember. The oxygen they were fed had been kept at a significantly lower temperature and humidity than that of a tropical island, so all five fall from their pods coughing and gasping, and all five wait days for the tickling in their throats to dissipate.
It takes Souda the longest to calm down. It takes Kuzuryuu the longest to walk unsupported. It takes Owari the longest to talk again. It takes Sonia the longest to eat. It takes Hinata the longest to emotionally stabilize.
In fact, Naegi keeps Hinata in hospital confinement for seven days after they exit the Neo World Programme. He has him under 24-hour surveillance in the hope that he is doing the same for Kamakura. On the fifth day of insisting he is well enough to re-join his classmates and getting a firm negative in response, Hinata pickpockets a nurse of her medical scissors. Naegi arrives on the scene just in time to witness him do nothing more than hacking chunks off the bottom of his hair.
They give him a proper haircut and release him two days later.
Then comes the relief.
Sitting at breakfast feels like slipping easily back into a routine, and despite the eleven empty spaces, the instinctual, animalistic glee at being alive against all odds keeps them in mostly high spirits. Owari begins training again, and insists that they all exercise together in order to put the physical strength back into their bodies. Souda goes back to modifying whatever junk he finds in (what was left of) Electric Avenue, and suggests that if any of them need anything for comfort or convenience, he could flex his mechanic muscles. Sonia is spritely and optimistic, bringing them tea and checking on them all regularly. Kuzuryuu is trying to piece together a picture of what the outside world looks like politically, and though it’s a grim task, he is losing himself in the research. Hinata spends a lot of time alone, constantly tired from crushing Kamakura down whenever he so much as whispers in his head; exhausted but recovering.
Then comes the depression.
No one is coming. The world they know is dead and all they can do is wait for Naegi to remove his head from the chopping block long enough to argue the Remnants’ case. They sit with baited breath on this speck of land, cut off and unaware, and with the Future Foundation withholding enough of their pre-Simulation memories that all they have to go on is a collective feeling of having done something abominable.
The rest of their classmates are stable but unresponsive. Months go by and hope begins to drain from the survivors. Kirigiri promises an attempt to resuscitate them, but with so much of the Future Foundation’s effort needed elsewhere, it is put on the back burner.
The five students spend a lot of time watching over their comatose friends. An unspoken rhythm begins when they start to notice each other’s visiting patterns, and adjust their own so that they can be alone in the room of the not-quite-dead.
Kuzuryuu sits beside Pekoyama’s pod from sunset to the early hours of the morning, leaving before dawn when he knows Sonia will arrive to talk to Tanaka, or rather at Tanaka. Souda’s time in the lab is mostly spent tinkering cautiously with the pods, occasionally attempting a joke about his friends’ unfamiliar appearances to the silent room, or staring off into space while resting next to a prone form. Hinata visits them all diligently, doing the rounds up to three times a day, but never staying long, just long enough to burn their faces, their stats, their names into his head, and remind himself that nothing and no one is worth losing them again. Owari spends the least time in the lab, but she also always goes uncharacteristically quiet when they discuss their classmates’ future, and seems to be the least hopeful about a recovery.
They all have their own ways of dealing with things.
Then comes the power outage.
Three and a half months in and a terrible storm hits the island. No one sleeps; hunkered down in their cottages with the tempest outside adding insult to injury. When morning comes and the winds die down, the island is in disarray, with trees uprooted and power lines blown over. They rush to check on their friends. A technician grimly informs them that the power flickered briefly during the night, and although all pods were inactive for a few minutes, the backup generator kicked in and all had remained stable.
With one exception.
Before he says whose pod it is, Hinata already knows. It had to be him. It is always him. A glance at his friends affirms that they all seem to be thinking the same thing.
But it isn’t. Komaeda is as deeply unresponsive as ever, his monitor beeping steadily.
They’d managed to get the system working again but the Imposter, inside their pod resembling someone none of them recognise, is showing no signs of life.
Had they ever known them? Was anything they’d ever shared with the rest of the class real? Or was it just a projection of Togami? Hinata knows Togami now, and the only noticeable difference was the Imposter’s cold but unflinching concern for the group as a whole. They were the Ultimate Impersonator, but had not been able to stop their own kindness leaking through the disguise.
And now they are gone. For good this time.
The five students stand in silence around the pod. They look peaceful at least, but disorientating in their mystery. They are allowed a few minutes before the lab technicians remove the body. Hinata half expects an animatronic bear to appear and drag it away.
Sonia opens their pod and they all watch with a palpable awkwardness. The sadness of the loss matches the confusion: who were they in the first place? Hinata is so deep in thought that at first he doesn’t notice the gasp.
A malfunction in the system, triggered by the power outage, works miraculously in their favour, like a defibrillator. The Imposter stirs. They open their eyes. They ask where they are.
And then comes hope.
It is decided that the system’s glitch can be exploited in such a way that it might bring everyone back from the Simulation. The technicians write to Naegi, asking for permission to terminate the support system in the hope that it will resurrect the nine students still comatose. Permission is - hesitantly - granted.
All students are hooked up to life support and the system is switched off.
And then comes the wait.
While the Imposter had woken up after just under eight hours, it seems that the singularity of the system’s weak spot is irregular in its efficacy. The five survivors ask to be immediately notified when their friends start waking up, and an unstable, terrified excitement at the prospect keeps them on their toes all day.
The Imposter is moved to hospital where they are brought up to speed. When Kirigiri arrives to see the miracle for herself, she recoils at the sight of them in their bed. Although she saw the Imposter put into the Neo World Programme, it is apparently easy to forget how uncanny their imitations are.
“Who is he? We don’t recognise him.” Hinata enquires after they leave the room.
“Juzo Sakakura. He’s a member of the Future Foundation. I have no idea why they are imitating him, but I forgot that this is how they looked when we captured them.”
No more is said. The Imposter is incredibly quiet during their recovery, whether a trait of Sakakura or shock from a sudden emergence into a world they forgot existed, it isn’t easy to tell. However, they are keen to get up and assist the others. It seems they just want to plough on ahead instead of wallowing, and Hinata can’t blame them.
Next to wake up is Ibuki Mioda.
She wakes up screaming. It is at 4 am and it causes a panic as the doctor in the on-call room shouts for support and sends a message to the cottages. The other students rush over, and Hinata wrestles with the despair of seeing the always-vivacious Mioda twisting in terror, as well as the wash of desperate affection at simply seeing her alive. She is unhealthily thin and is kept on a drip, her sharp collarbones pushing through the skin of her chest as she gasps in lungfuls of air. Once calmed, she seems happy herself that she is alive. She too is kept for a few days before being brought up to speed, and takes the news of her murder surprisingly well. With her back, the group’s mood lifts immeasurably.
Then comes the next.
Hinata is actually in the hospital, discussing vital signs with the doctor on duty when Nekomaru Nidai wakes up. At first, they don’t notice, as he seems to come to without altering anybody. Once he acclimatises to the fact that yes, he is alive, and no, he is not still in the Funhouse, nor is he a robot, his booming voice reverberates down the corridor as he announces his presence. Despite the constant strain and damage inflicted on his virtual body, he recovers quickly. When Owari receives the news, she runs from where she was training on Chandler Beach, all the way to the hospital, in record time. She flings herself at Nidai, whose raucous laughter makes Hinata grin so hard it hurts. Nidai ruffles Owari’s hair and assures her that his weakened body will need lots of strengthening. Hinata knows her tears are not caused by some disease this time.
After that the process speeds up.
Only a few hours after Nidai wakes, everyone assembles in Mikan Tsumiki’s room.
She is the worst yet for adjustment. Her mania is unpredictable, and she can’t be left unsupervised after two attempts at removing her IV and one attempt at throwing herself out of the window. She screams for Junko Enoshima. She screams for forgiveness. She screams for death. After a very long night, she seems to come back to herself somewhat, and once heavily medicated, they explain the situation and this, counter-intuitively, seems to calm her. On day three, Mioda creeps cautiously into her room. Hinata is with her, as agreed, should things take a turn for the worst. It actually helps, however, as Tsumiki goes from terrifying mood swings and detachment to genuine remorse, sobbing into her bandages (she wears a lot more now than in the Simulation). Mioda, to her credit, is reserved and almost professional, explaining that she bears her no ill-will, and forgives her for her actions in the Simulation. This makes Tsumiki cry harder, but Hinata can see that it’s progress.
As people continue to wake up, Kuzuryuu is the jumpiest of everyone. He is constantly moving, clearly not sleeping, and he spends almost all of his time at the hospital, in one room in particular.
It is no surprise, then, that when Peko Pekoyama wakes up after Tsumiki, he is there with her.
Everything he had wanted to say gets caught in his throat. Pekoyama is silent with shock, and when the medics rush around her, probing her and monitoring her, and when the others gather to greet her, she is still bewildered into muteness. It isn’t until after the excitement dies down that he can sit and talk quietly with her, both stubbornly quelling their emotions to stop them leaking out. He is earnest and she is terrified and embarrassed, but when he takes her hand it seems that perhaps the world ending wasn’t all that bad. Pekoyama adapts well after that, her unrelenting pragmatism making her a perfect patient. She re-joins the group a few days later, while Tsumiki is still under surveillance. She apparently abandons all pretence, and is rarely seen without Kuzuryuu. The others are reluctant to bring up that development.
Next comes Teruteru Hanamura. His heart rate increases at such a pace that he has to be manually resuscitated and for a moment it looks as if he is in serious danger.
Once fully awake, he is miserable. It is jarring to see his usual… colourful personality suddenly extinguished, leaving behind only grief and insecurity. Souda is the saving grace of this case, much to everyone’s surprise. He spends time with Hanamura, talking to him carefully, slowly introducing jokes into their conversations. Hanamura gradually stops crying and starts looking to the future. It seems a friend does him the world of good. Sonia thanks Souda with such honesty that Hinata thinks he might start crying as well. It is good to see him recover, and to apologise profusely to the Imposter, who grunts their forgiveness, if a little coldly. From then on, the food they eat together is exponentially better than it was.
Then comes a dry spell. Their medical consultant assures the group that the remaining comatose students are stable and will wake up in their own time, but some of their classmates are getting impatient. Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama are very invested in Koizumi waking up, so they can make amends and maybe find some peace of mind. Sonia begins to go missing for long stretches of time, and talks less at group meals, often getting caught staring into the middle distance blankly, lost in thought. Souda is also getting antsy, more flighty and skittish than usual, and almost always tinkering with something, although the exact cause of his anxiety isn’t clear.
A major concern is Komaeda. His charts are significantly worse than the others’, and a neurosurgeon informed Hinata that his brain’s wasting wasn’t just caused by the Neo World Programme, but rather is a pre-existing condition. Despite the brain disease being degenerative in nature, it isn’t worsening, but it means that his return to consciousness might be more complicated than the others’. The surgeon also informs Hinata grimly that the chances of the condition worsening increase the longer he remains unconscious.
So he wasn’t lying , thinks Hinata.
Mahiru Koizumi is next, waking up in the evening as the hospital activity is winding down. Once everyone is assembled, the first question she asks is where Saionji is.
Koizumi is exceptionally weak. Her body was not in good shape when she entered the programme, and apparently she is suffering symptoms of severe and prolonged sleep deprivation (the memories of causing this are lost to her). She is medicated and kept stable and resting for several days before they tell her what happened. She does not forgive Pekoyama and Kuzuryuu as easily as they’d hoped, and even asks to have them kept out of her room. She is tired and terrified, and Hinata understands. He comforts the pair with the promise that she will come round once the shock of the real world has worn off. If it ever does. She has developed a twitch in her fingers. He can’t help wondering how many horrifying photographs she has taken in the lost years.
After a few more days of anxious peace, Kuzuryuu bursts into the restaurant where his classmates are gathered for breakfast. His face is flushed, he is panting, but he looks…excited?
By this point, they know the drill.
“Who is it?” Asks Hinata, unable to keep the hope from his voice.
A few seconds of panting in the doorway, Kuzuryuu looks at him and says “Tanaka”.
The back of Sonia’s chair thuds against the ground as it topples with the force of her movement. She is out of the restaurant first, and at Tanaka’s side first.
He is incredibly tense, his muscles seized up and his eyes wide and haunted. He struggles with getting words out, glancing at all of his assembled classmates in disbelief. His gaze lands on Nidai for several, long seconds. It then moves to Sonia as he stutters out questions. She is restrained, almost professional, for a few seconds, before bursting into tears. Her fists are clenched, her body taught with the effort of not reaching for him. She knows the last thing he needs is to be physically overwhelmed. Souda stands at the back of the group, his lips pressed together in a thin line. Tanaka watches Sonia cry, bewildered.
He is cold and distant on waking, uncooperative and disbelieving. He asks after Nidai frequently, but will only allow Hinata and Sonia into his hospital room as he recovers. Sonia rarely leaves him alone, and they spend hours sitting in silence. The news that his Devas of Destruction were not with him when they found him deals a hard blow.
When Hiyoko Saionji wakes up, it's almost routine. She is under medical supervision for body dysphoria, but she apparently adapts quickly to her new figure. After wailing for Koizumi for hours, she finally calms down enough to have the situation explained. She remains a little off, distant and pensive, until one by one her classmates come to visit. As soon as Tsumiki hesitantly approaches the bed, Saionji launches herself at the Ultimate Nurse. It takes several people to prise them apart, Saionji hissing and spitting like a feral cat, Tsumiki whimpering. Clearly not everyone can forgive, no matter how relieved they are at being alive.
Breakfast is busy again. Everyone is thoroughly shaken, but it is a strange sort of terror. Returning from the abyss to a world you destroyed is a complex situation to say the least, but without sufficient memory of their past as Remnants of Despair, some find it difficult not to be jubilant at the return of their friends. Sonia is more chipper than ever, and although Tanaka is even more quiet and closed off than before, it seems that just having him present and conscious is enough to keep her spirits sky-high. The same goes for Kuzuryuu, although he shows it less, and Pekoyama is adapting better than most to abruptly being alive again. The Imposter has yet to settle on a fixed persona, and flits between Togami, Sakakura, and several other members of the Future Foundation that Hinata does not recognise.
They exist, push on, and make do. They bundle themselves up in each other’s company and try not to look further forward than tomorrow and further back than yesterday in order to survive. They have each other again, and that, for now, is enough.
When Nagito Komaeda eventually wakes up, he immediately goes into cardiac arrest.
Hinata considers that for an Ultimate Lucky Student, this is the least fortunate thing that could happen to him. He is in surgery for almost twelve hours. When he emerges and comes round from the anaesthetic, he has all of his classmates waiting for him. Most are at best uneasy and at worst enraged at his newly conscious state, remembering everything he put them through in the Simulation.
He sits placidly while the situation is explained to him, blinking infrequently enough to set Hinata on edge, and smiling benignly at his classmates who practically fizz with confused discomfort. Once it is finished, he looks straight at Saionji and asks “Could I please have some gummy bears?”.
A beat of surprised silence follows.
“N-no. You can’t. Even if I had any, I wouldn’t give any to you!” Saionji replies, working herself up from apprehension to her usual disdain.
Komaeda observes her for a second then laughs weakly.
“I understand.”
Hearing that unique and rasping voice sends a shiver down Hinata’s spine.
Nagito has significantly fewer visitors while he recovers than the others did.
Then they are all awake. Hinata asks Naegi what they can do to help, what they need to do to make amends, to show their gratitude, to justify their existence.
"All you guys need to do is get better." He says, simply.
They are high schoolers in adult's bodies. After the Killing Game, they were older than their years, but now the discrepancy is rectified. They are recognisably the same and yet inescapably different. They are friends twice-over, with a gap in their memories spanning years. They are exhausted minds in broken bodies, learning how to live again.
Now comes the wait.
Now comes the recovery.