Chapter 1: Goodbye, High-School Life

[hopefullyyours]

Who: Nagito Komaeda and anybody else
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: On the Marsiva
When: 1/30

[Komaeda shows the stars before himself, arranging his bad arm one last time to make certain nothing is showing. It's a wasted effort- his hand is already tightly bundled up under multiple layers of bandage and clothing. He switches the view so he's fully visible.]

Hello, hello! What an interesting setting we're in now. I don't suppose Monokuma has given us any announcements to explain why it looks like we're in space?

[He smiles, eyebrows quirking up. It's an expression that seems to beg forgiveness, though there's a shadow of another expression, a colder one, behind his eyes. The combination of those two layered expressions reads as contempt, but is it just that?] And, goodness my, but it's quiet here. Have I been locked up again? In punishment? I promise you all, I did what I did in order to further you-

... To further hope.

Comments

video;

[ladiesss]

Uh... Hi?

[yeah, that's it. that's all she has to say to any of that.]

Re: video;

[hopefullyyours]

Hello! Apparently this is a different situation than I'd originally anticipated. Isn't that interesting? I still feel like space is a bit hard to swallow, though...

[ladiesss]

Uh... Yeah! It is actually space, though, and not whatever you were talking about.

[she continues talking, looking kind of weirded out by him... she's also whispering, but it doesn't appear to be for any... particular reason...]

But anyway, welcome to the weird intergalactic space TV show, I guess.

[hopefullyyours]

How do we know this isn't some kind of elaborate setup, though? That's the thing I'm still stuck on. Even a lack of gravity can be feigned.

[KOMAEDA WILL NOT EVEN REACT. He's so used to people acting oddly towards him, or just being odd in general, that it would really take a lot for him to comment on an oddity.]

Thank you, I suppose. I hope nobody encourages us to kill each other! [SO CHEERY<3]

[ladiesss]

Ha ha, yeah, being encouraged to kill each other would be pretty terrible.

[she says this in the completely humorless way that comes with vague horror. yeah, she's not feeling any better about this guy.]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is definitely real, though. I mean, no one's shoved anyone out the airlock, but it seems pretty hard to fake.

[hopefullyyours]

The rule of Occam's Razor holds true regardless of the situation, I suppose. It would definitely be harder to fake at this point than to actually do it... Maybe.

Has anybody actually been outside a ship, though?

[ladiesss]

They've been out in shuttles... And I guess we've shot self-destructing sweaters out into the empty vacuum of space, and that was kind of a thing.

There's also the part where this... Show, thing, put all of us together in the first place, you know. I don't think everybody's faking being from different worlds.

[hopefullyyours]

Self-destructing sweaters? [He really wishes that he could pretend he was mature and sophisticated enough to be more interested in the logical conclusions arising from her statements. Instead all he can think about is self-destructing sweaters.] What- is that??

Theoretically, couldn't they just brainwash some people to think they were from different worlds?

[ladiesss]

They were sweaters. That self-destructed. It's okay, they're gone now.

[she is very helpful. also... kind of taking on an annoyed tone!]

Now hang on a minute, buddy. I am not going through this trip worried that I'm fucking brainwashed or something every twenty minutes, so don't you start.

[hopefullyyours]

I... see. [He looks sort of blankly at his own sweatshirt for a moment.] How could you tell they were going to self-destruct?

[KOMAEDA IS COMPLETELY IMPERVIOUS TO SUCH TONES.]

I don't mean to say that you should spend every single waking moment worrying about it! But rather, as a possibility, you can't deny that it's there, can you? [It's a genuine question. He's fairly certain he hasn't been brainwashed either. Maybe. He thinks.]

[ladiesss]

They were itchy and terrible. And given to us by that Atroma, so, I think you're good.

[good 'cause she's gonna keep being mad!]

I can deny that it's there. For my own mental health.

[hopefullyyours]

Hmmm. Maybe you just don't like wool sweaters to start with?

[And Komaeda is going to keep on being cheerily unsettling! Fun for all!]

But is it really mental health if you're potentially wrapping yourself further in delusion?

[ladiesss]

Well... Yeah I don't like wool sweaters. Does anyone like wool sweaters? They still exploded, though.

[SHE SOUNDS SO FIRM. so sure of herself:] Yes.

[hopefullyyours]

I think I like wool sweaters. Doesn't it depend on what kind of wool it is?

[He shrugs. DO WHAT YOU WANT LADY.