Chapter Text
Makoto Naegi was crazy. Or at least that’s what he got called the first time he’d tried to explain about his dreams, memories, of another life.
A life where he had the same name, a life of Hope and Despair and Luck, a twister of talent and death, with homicidal bears, and Despair. Makoto Naegi was crazy. No one wanted to be near him, after he’d told the class his dreams, claiming them to really have happened. What a weirdo. So Makoto grew up pretty isolated, jaded, and lonely. That was until he found someone to painfully familiar. While he couldn’t actually remember anyone's names from the dreams he had practically every night, faces haunted him, faces he felt he’d known all his life, and the sight of blood, coated every surface of his mind. It wasn’t really a sight any child deserved to see, but really? He never felt like a child, mentally he already felt like he’d lived a lifetime in the space of 17 years of living.
Then he met him.
Makoto had been in a hurry, rain was pouring, and he’d been eager to escape the storm, lacking any form of umbrella, simply donned in a soaked hoodie. Somehow everyone else planned on doing the same thing, people fleeing the streets left right and center, and Makoto, being the clumsy idiot he was, ended up flat on his behind in a puddle, after running into someone or another. Ruffling up his nose in disgust, Makoto looked up to glare at said individual, eyes traveling up, to an outstretched hand, and a painstaking familiar face. All he could do was gasp, gape, and let out a choked noise of shock.
“You- Your-” Makoto couldn’t find the words. Maybe because he didn’t even known the person’s name, or maybe because he couldn’t believe someone existed who looked just like he’d dreamt…
“Ma-Makoto?!” The figure asked, in shock, ducking down, to hold his own umbrella over the soaked teen, who just blinked in surprise, before being tugged to his feet by the figure, and tugged into the nearest cafe, before he could react.
“You- You know my name…?” Makoto asked in confused and the tall blonde turned up his nose at that.
“And you don’t remember mine? I’m slightly offended… I was Togami Byakuya.” The figure replied, holding out a hand. He looked maybe a couple of years older, possibly twenty at most, and Makoto felt a strum of familiarity surrounding the name, taking the hand, shaking it softly. The action sparked something, maybe a memory?
‘Name’s Byakuya Togami’
‘Byakuya Togami...he's the heir apparent of his family's massive financial conglomerate. He's already started managing business operations, and his own personal assets are, well, vast. His title of the Ultimate Affluent Progeny is completely accurate. He's the definition of "exceptional."
‘Go away, I’m sick of looking at you.’
“Oh! The Ultimate Affluent Progeny! I- I’m sorry I can’t remember a lot...I didn’t even know I- I- I’m just...Oh- I’m still Makoto Naegi...” Makoto mumbled, and Byakuya nodded.
“Though, I’m not anymore… I still have a way with languages and words, but I’m from a pretty average family line, I’m no longer a Togami, though my name IS still Byakuya...so you might as well call me that… anything else from your mouth would be odd.”
This Byakuya seemed a lot… more average and...likeable? Maybe the lack of wealth, power and influence had made him more… common and easier to get along with.
“Still… I didn’t expect you to not even remember my name…” Byakuya trailed and Makoto scratched the back of his head, and muttered a quick sorry.
“I erm- to be fair I don’t remember anyone’s names… and until this.. I thought I was just pretty crazy…” Makoto admitted and Byakuya flinched.
“Maybe an idiot, but definitely not crazy. I can’t imagine having gone this long without seeing someone, anyone…”
“You- You’ve met others? Who remember?” Makoto asked, hopefully.
“Mhm. Unfortunately I have, Hifumi Yamada, and one of the 77th Class Students. She was actually quite a few years older, both of them were… so It was a shock to see you so...young?”
“Young? I’m seventeen. Besides you don’t look much older!”
“I’m twenty.”
“Oh… why do you think there’s a difference in ages.. Weren’t we the same age before…”
“Indeed. I had a similar conversation with the girl from the 77th class. She theorised it has something to do about the time difference between how we all… well… died?”
“Eh?”
“Well the two of them ‘died’ a lot earlier on that the two of us. Neither escaped Hope’s Peak… there’s about a year between the two of them, and there was also about a year between their deaths, so that’s what she came up with.”
“But you’re older than me as well…”
“Indeed I am.”
“Then-?”
“To be honest… I don’t remember how… but if there’s three years between us… you might know..”
“I barely remember anything… just faces…” Makoto admitted and Byakuya just nodded.
“I see.”
“Do you think everyone’s out there?”
“Yes. It seems likely…. It’s just a matter of where, and some people might not even have been born yet.”
“I’m not sure… I don’t think there’s many younger than me..”
“Hm?”
“I don’t remember details… but the thing I remember the most is the death…”
“And mine?” Byakuya asked in interest. Makoto shook his head.
“I don’t remember… maybe I wasn’t even there..”
“Hm… possibly.”
A silence befell the two, before Byakuya grabbed a small scrap of paper from his coat, scribbling something down on the paper, before handing it to Makoto.
“It’s my number, I don’t plan on letting you slither back into the shadows…” Byakuya explained and Makoto nodded eagerly, marginally overwhelmed that it wasn’t all just his mind deceiving him.
“I’ve got to go now...sorry about knocking you over… and I’ll pay for a new pair if needs be…” Byakuya added and Makoto simply shook his head.
“It’s fine...Byakuya. You better get off, you’re obviously in a rush…”
And that was how Makoto finally discovered he wasn’t all that crazy… actually, he was pretty lucky. Lucky to have a second chance...lucky to have a normal life this time around….and lucky to have run into Byakuya on that cold stormy day.
~
Makoto didn’t come across someone else for a year. He’d met Hifumi a few times, through Byakuya, the Otaku keeping the same names. He’d also met Chiaki Nanami, the girl Byakuya had mentioned, and meeting her had awoken a few more memories, mainly regarding the Neo World Program, and the 77th class students. He’d also begun to recover names, and the four of them met every few months, to pile together what they could remember, and compose a list of anyone they could remember, names, talents, anything. It was a bit odd this time around though…
“I erm… I might have run into Enoshima…”
“What?”
“I- yeah… this morning actually.”
“And you’re only mentioning it now?” Byakuya snapped and Hifumi just gave a weak shrug.
“Well I mean-”
“Apparently she’s met a few others herself, so she didn’t seem shocked to see me.. And well I mean she apologized as well… I don’t think she’s...that bad...in this timeline?” Hifumi explained, struggling to put the words out, after all, was it not her fault he’d died? That Chiaki sat across from him had died? Caused Makoto nightmares? Thrown the world into Despair?
“Who?”
“Well she mentioned she’d run into a few people from the student council, someone called Murasame and AIko? And she said she’d also met Oowada?”
“Oowada?” Makoto asked, the name familiar on his tongue but a face didn’t register with the name instantly.
“Hm.. his hair was like-” Hifumi made some hand gestures, to replicate the style of said Biker’s hair and Makoto’s eyes lit up.
“Oh!” and he nodded, knowing now which face the name went with.
“Honestly though… it’s pretty lame that you can’t remember names, but you remember so many faces…”
“I don’t really get it myself…”
“But moving back to the topic at hand… are we okay with Junko or not?”
“I mean.. I guess I don’t have an trouble with her? Not if she’s like you described. Besides… I mean it would be better to keep an eye on her…”
“Right.”
And somehow Junko ended up joining the group of four on their irregular meetings….
~
“Oh! It’s...mh...wait a minute…Makoto!” Junko exclaimed the first time she was introduced to the group, eyes immediately darting to the short brunette.
“Enoshima…”
“Meh. So formal… but sure whatever I mean you can just call me Junko…”
“I think we’ll pass…” Byakuya added and Junko just shrugged.
“Still, look at you guys~! Cute little group… I’m envious! When people recognize meeee they run in the other direction… how lame! Laaame~!”
“Well I mean considering…”
“You’d have thought they’d have gotten over it… like c’mon…”
“Er…”
“Still, I love this~ I’ve been looking for Mukuro for a while now, I mean I guess I owe her an apology and stuff… working with you guys might make it easier!”
It was pretty clear Junko was rather..normal...or well, she was still eccentric and spontaneous, but she didn’t reek of despair or what not…
“Hifumi mentioned you’d met Oowada?”
“Hm? Yeah. He tried to punch me in the face...which was a shock considering.. how was he supposed to know to punch me… after all… he died before I was revealed...but he tried to punch me and then ran off…”
“Maybe he’s met others then?”
“It seemed the most likely reason.”
“He’s from the local area then…”
“He shouldn’t be so hard to find…”
“Actually… I was thinking of starting a blog, and using the internet.. I mean surely some of them would have been inclined to try and search that way?” Chiaki added and nods occurred in response.
“I mean, I’m lacking the most in memories...since I died before you guys… and I think...I’d just like to see everyone again..one more time…”
Makoto nodded. Chiaki’s appearance had surprised him, considering Byakuya and himself had managed to faintly remember her as an AI for the Neo World Program...they hadn’t even known she’d been an actual person… Kirigiri probably had though...
~
Somehow, Byakuya’s flat had become the base of operations, and Makoto found himself visiting the blonde more and more, sometimes they’d just sit and talk about what they could remember, and other times they’d simply share about their current lives and the differences. Makoto hadn’t found Komaru. It seemed siblings weren’t...siblings this time around, and Makoto had been forced to search for his sister, much like Junko was for her own. Byakuya didn’t care enough to search for his own large family, mostly because he’d cast them aside for the Togami name.
They’d found Oowada not long after Junko had joined their ‘searching’ group. This time around though, Makoto and Byakuya had been with Enoshima, her leading the way around the area that she’d seen him and BAM. They’d just run into him...alongside Kiyotaka Ishimaru?
“Ah!”
“Look! Look! Two for the price of one~!” Junko pointed happily and Oowada just ground his teeth.
“Oowada! And…” Makoto paused and frowned.
“I’m sorry… I can’t remember names…”
“It was..Ishimaru.” Byakuya managed, after a few seconds of thought and the tall figure nodded.
“Indeed! It’s rather surprising to see you both..especially… well…” both gave pointed looks at Junko.
“Hey! Rude. I’ll have you know I’m a wonderful person! Right? Right guys?”
“She’s… tolerable…”
“Hey!”
“But anyway! You two! You knew about Enoshima? Who’ve you met that told you such a thing…”
“Ah well… we actually got overheard talking about Hope’s Peak by a guy, I didn’t recognize him, and neither did Taka...but he helped us clear up a lot of confusion, and he told us that she pretty much destroyed the world, and was behind our…’death game.’ He also mentioned it was televised and who survived… which is why were surprised to see you both with her…”
“What guy?”
“Dunno.. He was weird… really weird… and I didn’t like being around him...I asked him his name and he just walked off…”
“Damn.”
“But hey- you guys- have any of you happened to find Fujisaki?”
“Nope. But we have met Hifumi.”
“O really?”
“Yup. Actually we’ve been trying to track down pretty much anyone who remembers, we kind of just help each other out with memories too.”
“Makoto is really good with faces~ but he couldn’t remember a single name till he ran into Byakuya!” Junko grinned and Makoto gave a weak blush.
“It’s not my fault…”
“Oh? Do you think we could help? We’re really eager to find him…”
Somehow Ishimaru and Mondo ended up joining them, and suddenly Byakuya’s flat seemed small.
~
“So you’re Chiaki?” Mondo asked and the previous Ultimate Gamer nodded.
“I’m Chiaki, yes, it’s nice to meet you both.”
“Likewise.”
“Byakuya mentioned you met someone else?”
“Yeah a really weird guy, long hair, and red eyes.”
“Oh.” Chiaki muttered, voice overlapped by Makoto’s.
“Oh! I- dammit what’s his name…” Makoto scrunched his eyes shut and placed both hands on his face.
“Oh~ Kamukura ?” Junko supplied and Makoto tilted his head but nodded.
“I guess that was his name… it doesn’t feel wholly right though.”
Nothing else was mentioned on the topic of Izuru Kamukura though.
~
Ding .
A month later, Makoto received an unusual friend request, online, accompanied by a one worded message.
Hope.
He hadn’t hesitated in accepting the request, from a person who lacked a photo, or name for that matter, the name simply read as luck.
‘Hello?’ Makoto hesitantly typed.
‘Hello. You answered quickly... ‘
‘Yeah… your message was kind of... ‘
‘Noticeable?’
‘Yeah? I guess…who are you?’
‘Hm.. we’ve met. Briefly. You might not remember…’
‘I wouldn’t unless I saw your face….’
And suddenly Makoto is bombarded by selfies...and hot damn the guy in them is pretty dang adorable…
‘I’m Komaeda Nagito. I was in the year above you, and I spotted your name…’
‘Oh! I remember actually...I’m not good with names but...I do remember...quite a bit for you.’
‘I’m honoured…’
‘Do you remember much?’
‘Pretty much everything…’
Makoto’s eyes widened in surprise… if he managed to convinced said male to join them, his mass of memories would be of a great help, he could bring names and help search… and.. And…
“What’s up Makoto?”
“I- someone just contacted me… Komaeda Nagito.”
The name caused a sharp gasp from Chiaki before she launched herself at Makoto’s phone, knocking onto the call button.
“Hello?” Komaeda’s voice came through, and he sounded so similar to Makoto’s vague memories that he fell into some… memories that he wasn’t sure made sense, but that he witnessed nonetheless…
“Komaeda! It’s really you?”
“Is that… Chiaki?!”
“It really is you! Oh my God…”
“Chiaki!”
“I- Komaeda I’m so sorry!”
“What for? You didn’t do anything wrong…”
“I… It was my fault you all… and I- and-”
“Calm down… It’s not your fault...It’s her--”
“HEY! Don’t go blaming me-”
“Is that… Enoshima?!”
“Yeah… She’s actually… okay? She’s been looking with us for anyone…”
Komaeda hung up.
And the gang didn’t hear from him again… for a while.
~
Four months later, the group found Yasuke Matsuda… while he seemed… rather neutral about meeting once more with Enoshima Junko, he took a heavy interest in Makoto, and the two somehow ended up as friends. The neurologist was really handy, and had plenty of tips and ways to help regain memories, and slowly but surely the group began to gain memories they’d never even managed to recover in their entire old life, memories Enoshima stole that never returned.
Around the same time, Makoto became more and more aware of his slightly.. okay ..rather large growing crush on the previous Togami heir, and the blonde didn’t miss the hints...eventually Makoto ended up moving in, living with the blonde, much to both their pleasure . Every so often the two would steal a kiss or two, mid discussion and the others would just roll their eyes.
The group ran into Izuru again soon after.
“Oh. You’ve...expanded...and..” Izuru looked at Junko for a moment before blinking.
“This is...unexpected.”
“Haj-jim-”
“No. It appears both myself and Hajime are...not cohabiting a body...actually, we’re twins.” Izuru announced and Chiaki let out a gasp. If they were twins, surely the long haired male knew where Hajime was.
“Still… there’s a lot more of you now…”
Matsuda looked a bit taken aback. He’s been one of the people to help with the whole Hope Cultivation...but he’d never expected to run into Izuru.
“He’s around...somewhere. He was meeting with some people… and I felt… best to stay away.”
“Do you think it’d be possible to meet with him?”
“Sure...I guess. I can lead you to him…”
Kamukura kept an eye on Junko the entire time, almost as though she’d tug a bat from somewhere and knock him round the head if he wasn’t on alert…
Junko seems content swinging beside Matsuda, who lacked interest in her this time around.
When the gang were brought to Hajime, they encountered more surprises, in the form of Souda Kazuichi and Gundham Tanaka.
“Hm… Hajime… I ran into some people…”
And Hajime just gaped for a while, before tugging Chiaki into a hug.
“Ooo it’s cute! Is this...pre-Kamukura? It’s so exciting!” Junko squealed and Hajime looked up, eyes widening when he noticed who it was.
“What’s she doing here..”
“Eveeryoneeee is so mean! Is there no one happy to see me?!”
“Erm… considering what you did…”
“Hey! You’re not helping!”
“Still…”
“I’m really sorry, Chiaki!”
“You have nothing to be sorry about. I swear… you’re both the same sometimes…”
“Both? Who-?”
“Komaeda. We were in contact with him a few months back, for about five minutes before he hung up and vanished…”
“You- You’ve heard from him? He’s really out there-?” Hajime asked.
“Now you’ve set him off… Mr Boring other me has spent years looking for him…” Izuru added and Hajime shot a glare.
“I’m not other you, we already agreed we’re two different people.”
“Whatever…”
Souda and Gundham looked at loss for words, Kazuichi keeping an eye on Junko for most of the time, and the other looking at Makoto and Togami with recognition but uncertainty.
“Ah. Introductions~!” Junko clapped, aware Makoto’s horrible memory for names wouldn’t be helping.
“Erm, I’m Kazuichi Souda… I er- was one of the ones in the simulation that woke up instantly..I think I remember you two..?”
“Oh! I remember…”
“Makoto has a habit of not remembering much without names being supplied.”
“I’m Gundham… Gundham Tanaka.”
“And I’m Hajime Hinata… or I mean, I was, We’ve both ended up with Kamukura’s name, so technically I’m Hajime Kamukura…”
“It’s nice to met you!”
~
Somehow, Gundham and Souda had ended up in a relationship this time around, the two had actually met back when they were really young, and had grown up alongside one another, instead of thinking they were insane, or lonely. Hajime had grown up with Izuru, both with pretty much intact memories, rather than patches missing.
Hajime had managed to find the same account Komaeda had used to contact the group months prior, and called said individual as soon as he got a second away from the group, who were avidly chatting with one another.
Komaeda answered on the third ring, and silence assaulted Hajime, there was no hello or who is this, just silence, waiting for him to make the first move, utter the first words.
“Er...Komaeda?”
There wasn’t a verbal reply, but Hajime was sure he heard a choked gasp on the other end.
“Hi-Hinata?”
“It’s really you, Komaeda!”
“I- I- Hinata.”
“I ran into Chiaki today...she mentioned she’d spoke to you… so I got the number from you..”
“I- I didn’t mean to ignore them all.. But I don’t want to be around her. ”
“Enoshima?”
“Mhm.. yeah..”
“Oh. I mean she’s here now but… I don’t really… Izuru is just kind of keeping her away from me..”
“Izuru? You mean-”
“Yeah… we’re twins somehow… it’s bizarre… hey, would you mind meeting up with me? I won’t bring anyone along… I’d just like to clear some things up…”
“Sure. Hinata.”
“Oh, I’m not Hinata this time either.. It’s Hajime Kamukura.. But Tanaka and Kazuichi call me it still…”
“Then I’ll just have to start calling you Hajime, won’t I?”
Hajime didn’t fail to miss the tone of Komaeda’s voice perk up a bit, and it made him smile slightly.
~
Hajime ended up finding the large house pretty quickly. He’d had to ring an intercom outside two large iron gates, faced a camera and state his intent. It seemed no matter what, Komaeda would always be cursed..or maybe gifted this time? With wealth.
“Er- I’m here to see Komaeda.. Nagito? My names Hajime…”
There was silence for a second before a buzz, and then the gates began to open.
Hajime had to be accompanied from the gates to the door, which made him feel so out of place, before being taken up three flights of large, wide stairs, down hallways upon hallways… this thing couldn’t be called a house… maybe even a mansion was an understatement.
“This is the one. Please don’t hesitate to ask for anything… you’re the first guest the young master has ever had.”
And suddenly Hajime is directed through doors into a massive bedroom, before he can even take in the size of the house. The walls, the ceiling, every surface is covered in drawings, sketches, words, and everything is so painfully familiar. There’s faces upon faces littered on the paper that coat every surface in the room, accompanied by neatly written words, in both Japanese and English. A lot of the sketches consisted of the 77th class and 78th class, but there was one face, a recurring sketch that faced him. His own face that stuck to most of the ceiling, usually with a wide smile, something that ended up on his own face when he spotted Komaeda.
In the center of the room sat Komaeda, upon a large bed, sat sketching in a large pad, when he heard the door close, he looked up, and their eyes met.
“Hajime.”
“I- hello Nagito.”
“Sorry about… well the walls… and everywhere….”
Hajime just gave an awkward shoulder shrug.
“It helps me remember… I don’t want to forget anything… at first I started to forget things, just like you do with any dream...I did think they were dreams, until I met a peculiar boy in school with a similar story to my own… so I guess I started to just draw or write down anything that came to me…”
“I.. it makes sense I guess… There’s a growing group, that are searching for everyone… the one Enoshima is with… apparently she’s very… normal thing time, and she’s just looking for her sister...but it’s quite a group.”
“Mh.. I wouldn’t mind working with some of them, especially Naegi… but.. I don’t really know…. I just know I wanted to find some of you…”
Komaeda had probably grown up alone, in such a big house, and with the power he had this time around, he’d never really been able to make friends.
“His name was Rantaro Amami by the way, the strange kid I met a few times… he said he’d been in a killing game too, in a prison… listed off a bunch of names I’ve never heard, and Monokuma… I guess that’s what made me...more inclined to look for you.”
“I only really managed to find Tanaka and Kazuichi... “
“Hm.. I’ve found a few people but I’ve not really spoke to any, except Naegi. The internet is rather easy to navigate...especially when you know what to look for.”
Komaeda quickly launched a small notepad at Hajime, which he only just managed to catch.
“What are you drawing?” Hajime asked, curiously, as he looked down at the small notepad.
Komaeda just turned the pad around, with a faint blush.
It was him. Komaeda was sat drawing Hajime.
“You’re the easiest to draw… I remembered the most about you...so..”
Hajime just blushed in response and looked down at the notepad he’d been passed, flicking through pages of notes, names, links, anything and everything Komaeda had gathered about an array of people.
“You’ve been looking right? I don’t think you’ve been trying hard… You might remember the name Toko Fuwkawa? She was in the year below…”
Hajime had a think before recalling the writer, who’d visited them on Jabberwock a few times, with Togami.
“She’s written a novel this time around, based on everything she went through, some of the names are different, but the plots the same… like how did none of you notice that…” Komaeda asked, and tossed a thick book from a shelf beside his bed.
Hajime just managed to catch the book, and turned to face the cover, a illustration of a school, Hope’s Peak, on the cover, splashed in pink.
“Oh..wow… I don’t even know…”
“It’s a pretty good read as well…” Komaeda added with a cheeky tone and Hajime just blinked.
“I-er..”
“Take it if you want, I’ve already read it plenty…”
“Thanks.”
“Also you don’t have to stand in the doorway.. Come sit or something…” Komaeda pointed to the bed and the desk, so Hajime could pick.
“I mean, I get the size of this place is pretty..daunting? I had a house like this last time though… I have parents this time...which is nice… I still have pretty shitty luck though… just not as extreme…”
“You do?”
“Yep. It’s mostly good luck though, and sometimes I can’t even tell..”
“This place is really big though…”
“Yep.”
“We all cram into Togami’s tiny flat…”
“Hm… You can just come here you know.. I don’t mind, and my parents are rarely home, they’re abroad a lot. Everyone seemed shocked when I said I was expecting someone...I don’t really want her in my house, but I guess everyone else is okay…”
“Are you sure, I mean… can you try...just once?”
Komaeda stopped and pondered for a second or so…
“Once. Just because it was you that asked.”
“Thank you!” Hajime replied, with a blush.