On the Beach at Night [Nagito x Reader]

Chapter 14: Future

Makoto Naegi couldn't take his eyes off the screen. Although he knew that watching the broadcast would only fill him with guilt, he couldn't help it. He felt invested in what was going on, mostly because he was directly responsible for it. This time, he wasn't alone in his viewing. Kyoko Kirigiri and Byakuya Togami were standing over his shoulders, also tuning in to the broadcast this morning.

They all watched in silence as (Y/N) played the piano. The monitor's speakers did no justice to the beautiful song they were hearing, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Even Byakuya seemed interested, which was unusual for him. He always said that watching the broadcast was counterproductive and that they should spend their time working on more important matters.

"All of their suffering is because of me," Makoto said sadly, pressing his fist against the desk. "You can hear the pain in that song. It's real, not just part of some game."

"You're too hard on yourself," Kyoko comforted him. "They would be a lot worse off if you didn't save them. We'll get them out of there. We're getting closer."

"But at what cost? They'll lose everything if we manage to perform the shutdown sequence." he raised his voice slightly. "Not to mention if the higher ups find out about this..."

"Makoto, this is the only way we can stop the virus. It's a sacrifice that has to be made." Suddenly, the monitor went black.

"Sorry to interrupt your lovers' quarrel, but I believe we have a virtual world to break into." Byakuya scoffed, holding the remote in his hand.

--

When (Y/N) opened her eyes, there was glowing blue light in every direction. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move any part of her body. Before she could fully take in her surroundings, the glowing in front of her disappeared. It was a door. A face she had never seen before was looking down upon her.

"Hello, (Y/N). Welcome back." the mysterious person extended their hand. Confused, (Y/N) grabbed it. She sat upright to reveal a dark room, only illuminated by the similar blue glow she first saw when she woke up. The source of the light seemed to be from what looked like stasis pods circled around the room, each hooked up to an enormous computer in the center. She looked down to notice she was sitting in one herself.

"What's happening?" she mumbled, still feeling disoriented.

"There's a lot to explain, but we'll explain it all after we wake up the others. If you want to wait in the other room, there's someone else waiting in there as well."

Standing up was difficult, but her legs managed to hold her weight enough to not immediately fall over. She felt like she had been asleep for an eternity. Her head was swimming, trying to recollect what was real and what was a dream. Once she found the strength to move, she made her way to the room as she was directed. It looked like a small conference room, with about twenty chairs surrounding a long table. One person was waiting in the room, as expected. His hair was so long, it looked like it might touch his ankles if he were standing. Most of his face was hidden by his hair, but behind it, she could see one glowing red eye, the other eye seemed to be a soft golden color.

"Hajime?" she asked nervously. She was sure that was his face, but the rest of his features were off.

"I am called Izuru Kamukura...but you may continue to call me Hajime if you'd like." he said politely, but there was little emotion behind his voice.

Izuru Kamukura, she thought. It was still fuzzy, but she tried to remember what just happened before she woke up. She remembered during the class trial, Hajime was revealed to be part of the Izuru Kamukura Project, which involved a surgical procedure that completely erased the personality of the student know as Hajime Hinata and replaced him with Izuru, who was created to be the embodiment of talent.

Wait, I remember that?

"So Hajime is gone now?" her voice sounded slightly disappointed.

"No. There is still a part of him within me. I still hold his memories from the virtual world, and a few from Hope's Peak Academy" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object. Chiaki's hairclip. "I remember her." He wrapped his fingers tightly around the clip for a moment before tucking it carefully back in his pocket.

Chiaki was real, (Y/N) remembered. The Chiaki they knew in the virtual world was an AI programmed to resemble their classmate from the outside world. The real Chiaki died before we came to this island. The despair-inducing memory was starting to come back to (Y/N), but not easily. Her brain was like a string that had been cut in half, and she was trying to reconnect each individual frayed end. It was tedious, and the more she tried to remember, the more overwhelmed she felt. The thought of not remembering what she didn't remember made her uneasy.

"Do you remember everything that happened then? Inside the virtual world?" she asked him.

"Yes. Do you not?"

"I'm not sure...I feel like the memories are there, but they're behind a locked door."

"Do you remember him?"

"Who?

"Nagito."

"I remember..." (Y/N) scrunched her face for a second trying to think, "I remember that he died. Is he really dead?" there was worry in her voice.

"Is that all you remember about him?" he ignored her question.

"Yes, I think so."

"Interesting..."

--

After the remaining survivors were awakened, the three Future Foundation members got them up to speed on their current situation. Now that they were freed from the virtual world, they discovered that they were located on the real Jabberwock Island, inside of the headquarter building set up by the Future Foundation. The island mostly resembled the virtual world, minus anything that was altered by the virus.

After some evaluation, it seemed that the rest of the class had similar gaps in their memories like (Y/N) did. They remembered certain events from the virtual world, as well as their time spent under the influence of the Ultimate Despair. Hajime's avatar was the only one to fully upload to his body, but instead of replacing Izuru's personality, they merged together.

"What will become of the others?" Sonia directed her question at the Future Foundation members.

"We tried our best to restore their avatars, but..." Makoto paused, but Kyoko finished for him.

"If you'd like, we could have some sort of memorial for them." she said calmly.

"So you guys are just giving up like that?!" Fuyuhiko shouted at them.

"There has to be some way!" Sonia also chimed in.

"I'm afraid there's not. We tried but—"

"I will restore them." Izuru interrupted. His voice was quiet but unwavering.

"We won't leave until we do." (Y/N) added. "We created this future not just for us, but for them too."

"Right." Makoto nodded. He was smiling, and his eyes looked proud, almost like he was expecting this sort of response.

The Future Foundation members were finally ready to set off. They promised to keep in contact, but with the secrecy of the operation, it would only be minimal. The rest was up to (Y/N) and her classmates. Although it was a relief to be free of the virtual world, (Y/N) felt incomplete. Her lack of memories left her feeling broken, like she was only a shadow of the person she used to be. The only thing she could do was sit back and watch as Izuru was hard at work trying to revive their braindead classmates.

It took several weeks, but Izuru was successful. His mastery of talent allowed him to do the unthinkable and develop a method for restoring consciousness that would leave even the Future Foundation's best programmers in awe. Everyone who was lost in the virtual world was now alive and well.

Everyone except Nagito.