Big Book of Writing

New Game+ (Sannosora, SDRA2)

I think Johnny Youngster's April Fools joke actually had AU potential, so I needed to fulfill it. Also, happy birthday, Kuro!

Warning: alcohol/drug use, spoilers for chapter 6

***

Sora marched into Utsuroshima Park with Yuki hot on her heels, confused about her recent actions. But just as she paid Syobai to do with the money found underneath a palm tree, he had gathered everyone at the park without a hassle.

Syobai was the first to spot the white-haired girl, and called over to her, "Welp, I did my part. Everyone's here."

Yuki looked around in a confused panic at all the other people around their age at the park. "Wh-Who are all these people?!" he exclaimed, looking to Sora for any kind of explanation.

Sora never answered his question, instead looking at someone else. Nearby, Mikado met her gaze as she glared at him. She remembered him, either in a dream or a faint memory, and what he did. She couldn't let that come to fruition.

All of a sudden, Monocrow appeared at the centre of the park. "What is going on in here? You're not supposed to be here yet!" he exclaimed, looking around at the students in the park. From what he could see, most of them were just as confused as him, especially the Voids.

Hibiki whirled around on her heels when Monocrow spoke. "D-Did that crow just talk to us?" she questioned as Kanade tried to soothe her.

The park erupted into chaos at these events, with the students demanding answers from Monocrow, Sora, or each other. "...what is going on..." the corvid sighed, looking over at Mikado. 

"Perfect timing," Sora spoke, walking past Monocrow and over to the statue at the center of Utsuroshima Park.

"What are you-" He stopped his words when he saw Sora go behind the statue where he jumped out from, taking the piles of handbooks laying there and sitting down on the statue. "Hey, I was going to give you those later! And it's only one per person, give the others back!"

Sora ignored his complaints and opened the handbooks one at a time, typing in a random string of numbers to activate the reset code panel, then putting the handbooks with their codes activated beside her in a pile. As she finished entering the codes into the handbooks, she looked up at the appalled Monocrow with a satisfied look on her face.

The entire park went quiet as everyone watched Sora and Monocrow at the statue. "Did you just..." Mikado trailed off, processing the situation.

"Wait, how did you even solve all the codes?" Hajime exclaimed, letting his façade drop in his panic.

"Oh shit! She must be on New Game Plus!" Nikei yelled out. Sora didn't know what he was talking about, so she assumed it was a joke.

Regardless, all of the reset codes were activated. One by one, a strange light followed by an electrical sound enveloped each student and logged them out of the virtual world. All except two, who weren't human in the first place.

"...You think you're so clever, don't you?" Mikado grumbled, his mask showing his displeasure. "How did you even know about this at all, huh?"

"I'm not sure. It was either some sort of dream, or maybe a memory. Either way, I couldn't just let you do as you please," Sora declared, and turned around to head out of the park.

Temper flaring, the wizard yelled after her, "You know that Mr. Maeda can't be saved like that!"

"Don't bullshit me, he's in the machine! You can log him back in anytime!" Sora called back before leaving the park.

Grumbling to himself all the while, Mikado sat down beside the statue. Monocrow cautiously approached the fuming wizard and sat down beside him. "...Maybe she knew your plan because of being an algorithm, she could predict things faster than normal humans," he suggested.

"That only applies to having access to a database, which she does not. You're referring to split-second decisions, but her programming does that for her. She shouldn't have been able to predict anything," Mikado sighed, taking his mask off and rubbing his forehead.

"At the very least, it should be a while before the Kisaragi Foundation turns off the program- Wait, where are you going?" Monocrow asked, watching Mikado get up and walk a few steps before teleporting away.

Meanwhile, inside the Monocruise, Sora had gone to the game room and sat at the bar counter. She had taken a whole wine bottle from the shelf, drinking straight from it instead of getting a glass.

She had been there for a few minutes before she heard footsteps behind her. "I didn't expect you to come here, Mikado," she spoke, not even turning to him.

"Between you and I, the liquor at the mart is shit," he sighed, going behind the counter and picking out a bottle for himself. Being an Alter Ego, he couldn't get drunk off anything in the virtual world, but at least he could hope a placebo effect might occur.

He sat down beside her, and they drank in silence for a few minutes. Sora eventually broke the silence by asking, "Hey, is there really any need to mope anymore? Even if it's all over before it began, there's nothing left for us."

"Shut up and drink your wine," Mikado grumbled beside her. "I've spent years trying to revive Utsuro and the Divine Luck, but when I've finally been cornered, I get stopped out of the blue by the algorithm I created."

Sora didn't have the heart to tell him that he wouldn't be able to revive the luck in the first place, as it was in her instead. But if she told him that truth, he would upload himself into Akane's body and possibly wreck havoc.

"It'll probably be a while before this place gets shut down. Wanna play billiards until then?" she chose to reply instead.

"If you think the timeflow allows the program to shut down before we get bored, you must be stupid. But hey, we can entertain ourselves on the different islands until then," Mikado suggested. Sora figured if it kept Mikado distracted enough to not lock the lab doors electronically, then she might as well supervise him.

Sora woke up on the beach of the first island, and rubbed her head as a headache set in. After the killing game had ended, she ended up resigning herself to spending eternity with Mikado and Utsuro in the virtual world.

She had made Mikado restore the virtual world to how it was before it was shut down, and she did her best to keep herself entertained while she talked with Utsuro and occasionally Mikado. Last night, she suggested that Mikado bring some kind of drug into the virtual world for them to try.

She ended up dreaming a whole fantasy of what she wished would have happened instead, and now was dealing with a terrible headache from the after effects of the drug. "Damn it," she groaned, "I'm getting a painkiller and going back to bed."

On her way back to the Monocruise, she spotted Mikado on a bench recovering from his own headache. She grabbed him by his shirt and began dragging him with her despite his protests, planning to force him into being her teddy bear. It had been so long in the virtual world with just she, him, and Utsuro that she had lost her hatred.

From a distance, Utsuro watched Sora drag a protesting Mikado while taking headache pills for the first time in his life.