Chapter Text
When Kokichi Ouma wakes up, he immediately knows that something is wrong.
He’s… in a void of black. That, at least, at first makes sense. The Neo World Program is constructing the simulated world around him; the same thing happened in the previous run of the program, after all. It’s jarring, a bit, to be outside of the programming layer of the program. To… exist, physically, even if it’s in a void of black. He pushed down the feeling of uncertainty, the way he suddenly feels like he’s in a completely new world. Alter Ego is nowhere to be seen, and neither is his creator. The urge to call out to them pulsates underneath his skull, but he stifles that, too, because any sign of weakness is one he can’t afford. At least, a genuine sign; pretend is fine, and pretending like it’s pretend is fine, but he’s not exactly a preschooler going to school for the first time, is he? To call out like a lost child would be pathetic– if anyone else did so, he would mock them for it. So he doesn't. Even if the whole thing leaves him uneasy.
Uneasy—and it’s because of the void around him. It shouldn’t take this long. There’s not even a door in front of him, like there was for the other (now former) Remnants; and, not to mention, he can feel the ground under him, so perhaps this is not a matter of the system booting up at all.
Cautiously, Kokichi reached his hands out, pushing against whatever was in front of him—or better yet, he thought, what he was trapped in—and feeling the cold metal under his hands. Ah. Was he really shoved in a locker ? He added more force, eyes squinting in preparation for the light, and the door gave way under him. He stumbled, just barely avoiding falling, getting used to the strange feeling of walking like a newborn fawn. Gosh, he must look hopeless, standing on shaking legs he didn't know how to use. How did Chiaki Nanami blend in so easily? This already felt impossible. Well, he already knew this was a rigged game, so he might as well get used to the feeling now.
“Excuse me, are you okay?”
Blinking at the sudden input, Kokichi turned his eyes to the boy—no, not boy, robot —in front of him. He fought down a scowl at his face; great, the person he wanted to see least . Not that, Kokichi thought, he wanted to see any of his new classmates.
But, Kiibo Idabashi was an especially sore one for him.
Ah, how nice it must be not to be based on a real person. How nice it must be, not to be made with a purpose, but just to be made. And how wonderful it must be, to have a body.
The Artificial Intelligence Program known as Kokichi Ouma could only fight back a sneer.
The worst part was, if Kiibo knew, he'd accept him. A fellow AI would seem like a goldmine to him. Someone who can relate to him, someone who can understand him, someone to make him not so achingly alone . Maybe together they can hold hands and sing kumbaya and pretend for the sake of their sanity that they are just as real as the humans that surround them.
Ha , as if.
Kokichi knew what he was, so it grated that Kiibo Idabashi didn't. They weren't real . Not to the world, and really, Kokichi thinks, not to themselves, either. They won't be accepted by humans, and there's no utopia waiting for them after those humans are gone. People are just people, in the end, and shitty AI's like them could never hope to break the cycle of pain and abuse and death.
Death .
The thought made him want to laugh, because isn't that ironic? Kiibo would never accept the real, human Kokichi Ouma, but he might just accept the crappy copy of him, just because he was like him , just because he liked to play pretend — and act as if they could ever be more than tools.
(Kiibo: a human's plaything that tried so hard to cut his strings, a puppet, always dancing to someone else's tune, even as he tries and tries to get free.
Kokichi: a replica of someone everyone hated, built with a task to fulfill and so tangled in his strings, he'd rather hang himself on them.
They weren't even legally people.
What a goddamn laugh, right?)
Kiibo would be the only one to accept him if Kokichi's role as an AI was revealed. Just for that, he hated him.
( Kill the human me and replace him with a copy? You've got to be kidding me. As if such a story could ever end happily! )
Delusional, Kokichi Ouma concludes, eyes narrowing as his lips burst into a smile.
“Wow, you're a robot!” He gushed. “So cool ! Do you have a rocket launcher? Do you have flight?”
If he was human, Kiibo would blush. “Ah, no, nothing like that,” he denied, “That aside, do you know where we are?”
“What? You mean you didn't bring me here?” He made his eyes go wide. “Don't tell me we've both been kidnapped?”
Kokichi tapped his foot impatiently as he spoke, eyes glancing around and cataloging his environment. A school setting, but not Hope's Peak. He didn't know if it was how it was supposed to be—they did agree to go with a school this time, if only because that is less alarming than a deserted island—but he doubted it, considering how it was crumbling. Unless the school breaking apart was just for the ambiance? Haaah.
It must have been tampered with. If Kokichi had to guess—Miu Iruma had something to do with this.
Not that she'd remember. After all; only Kokichi was supposed to remember. A dead-end lead if he saw any, but he should investigate just in case.
Maybe integrating himself with her would be best? He furrowed his brows, only vaguely paying attention to Kiibo's insistence that they didn't bring him here.
“Let's investigate,” he interrupted whatever inane defense Kiibo was spewing, eyes narrowing at the door, “If they took both of us, they might have taken more.”
Without waiting for a response, leaving Kiibo sputtering, Kokichi walked forward.
“Hey, wait!” He rolled his eyes at the call, opening the door and surveying the world outside of the classroom. There were plants everywhere. Really fitting an abandoned school aesthetic—what was the point in that ? He continued to quickly march forward. “We should stick together!”
Kokichi will give him that—they probably should . Or, well, they would , if Kokichi was a normal student like them. ( Though you can't really call them normal , can you? ) With no memory of the past years and brought to such a strange place, separating would be unwise. Unfortunately for Kiibo, Kokichi knew what was happening here—well, some of it, if not all. He knew what his creator and his tag-alongs wanted, at least, and what they've done to achieve that. That was, after all, why Kokichi was made .
The Neo World Program—which was, if it was not obvious, their current location—was a simulated reality program designed to help deprogram cult survivors. Well , it was touted as a therapeutic program, but Kokichi called bullshit on that; the only thing it was useful for was cults and criminals. And even then, it's primary objective was to deprogram , not heal . To uncorrupt; redeem. A revolutionary technology, the simulation was lovingly crafted by the Ultimate Programer, Chihiro Fujisaki. Kokichi never met them; they died long before Kokichi was even made, though Alter Ego spoke fondly of them as their creator. The other aspect of the Neo World Program—memory erasure—was made by the Ultimate Neurologist Yasuke Matsuda, who heaven only knows where he was now. Went missing sometime during the riots, so Kokichi assumed he was also likely dead. And finally, to top the whole shit-cake off, the whole thing was sanctioned and overseen by the Ultimate Therapist, who came up with the theory, Miaya Gekkogahara.
That one was still alive, actually. Future Foundation member.
(She probably wanted them all dead.)
The theory behind it went something like this: remove the traumatic memories, and replace them with happy ones, simulated in a world without danger. Their real bodies safe in the real world, hooked up to pods and asleep, when their simulated selves frolic about not knowing they're made from code.
Yeah , great. Except anyone with basic knowledge of repressed memories knows that just because you forget a trauma, doesn't mean the effects of it go away. Trauma, after all, literally alters the brain; it's not so easy to just replace bad memories with good ones and suddenly be happy by the end.
The whole thing was transparent: it wasn't to help anyone heal, but to alter problematic people and their personalities.
Hence: cult members. Erase their memories, and you erase their indoctrination. Simple, effective, if a bit calloused and cruel. (He could admire how utilitarian it was, if nothing else.) Kokichi is certain that no one working on the Neo World Program was actually hoping to heal anyone. And if they were? Well, they were an idiot.
The Neo World Program has only ever been booted up and carried out once before—once, on Kokichi's own creator and his classmates.
Kokichi Ouma himself was, just like the simulation, not real. Made by the Ultimate Talent, Hajime Hinata, Kokichi's only role here was to make sure this whole shitshow didn't get too far off the rails. In the previous simulation run, a different AI named Chiaki Nanami had such a purpose. Of course, said AI ended up six feet under with nearly unsaveable code, and was very, very dead. So , to run the simulation again, Hajime Hinata had made Kokichi: an AI scrapped together from the lingering code Hajime could save of Chiaki, and memories of a dead boy. In that sense, Chiaki Nanami was his “Mother”, and Hajime Hinata was his “Father”. Of course , if you count being made from someone's repurposed dead corpse giving birth. Which, apparently, his sentimental creator did . Figures.
(What a shitty way to start a family with your dead crush, right?)
Of course, his sappy, idiotic “Father” had altered the Neo World Program this second go round. After all, the last launch had… problems , so to speak. (No duh. Kokichi's predecessor died . Did he mention the simulation was supposed to be free of danger? Because it was. ) And he, out of everyone, was not too enthused with the idea of memory erasure or personality alteration. So, he made some tweaks. Just a few. To keep the whole thing rolling.
(Kokichi privately thinks he just wanted them to feel bad at the end of this. Like him and his classmates did. Well, even a god of talent can be petty, right? Right. That's why we're in this situation to begin with .)
So! New and improved Neo World Program. Still erases your memories, still lets you form new experiences, but here's the twist! At the end, when you wake up, you remember both . You might think that completely defeats the purpose of the simulation, but you'd be wrong, because Kokichi's creator is cleverer than that . The new experiences you felt in the simulation register as more recent than your old, true memories—and while you can remember both, that distance from those memories keeps you closer to your simulated self. Great. Wonderful. Show stopping.
The reason for this, of course, is because the Neo World Program, last time it was used, glitched during a forced shutdown. Hajime calls it a miracle; Kokichi calls it happenstance. It meant that they remembered both the simulation and the memories Makoto Naegi tried to erase; something that worked out just so great for them. (It's not like the world still wanted them dead , or anything.) And so, they sought to give this gift to their fellow, undeprogramed sister class—that is to say, they sought to uncorrupt the real Kokichi Ouma's class with the admittedly effective cult deprogramming of the simulation. Whether it would work again was anyone's guess, but Hajime was optimistic—probably because, again, despite all his analytical prowess, he was also a sap . Disgusting.
Ah—Kokichi may want to clarify something. The reason the Neo World Program was used on both his creator's friends and Kokichi's new classmates: both of these groups belonged to the same cult.
Yeah. That's right. As Kokichi said, the only use the program even really had was to combat cults, so what the fuck did you think this was?
The cult started by Junko Enoshima during her time at Hope's Peak Academy was called Ultimate Despair, or, after her death, the Remnants of Despair. For this cult, she targeted both the 77th and 79th classes of the school, slowly indoctrinating them to see things her way. If it ended there, then, well, so what? Cults of personality are a dime a dozen.
But Junko Enoshima uncovered secrets about Hope's Peak that really could not be understated in their fucking monstrosity—that is to say, she uncovered Kokichi's creator, Hajime Hinata; or as he was going by at the time, Izuru Kamukura.
Because apparently , that school thought human experimentation was super cool and ethical actually, and tampered with Reserve Course Student Hajime Hinata's brain and body to the point he forgot his identity itself .
Why, you ask? For hope, of course!
Because that's a real fucking hopeful thing to do, yeah . Totally feeling the hope from that .
But because of Hope's Peak's thesis statement being that talent was hope, they had long sought to create what they would call the “Ultimate Hope.” (Something all the survivors to this point decided was stupid as fuck, so Kokichi will be going with the far more accurate title of “Ultimate Talent.”) A being with all the combined talent they've researched over the years, and none of that pesky stuff like human emotion or compassion, no siree. That's surely not a recipe for disaster! He's sure that went great !
Spoiler alert: it didn't. Izuru Kamukura gave Junko Enoshima the exact ammunition she needed to bring Hope's Peak to its knees .
And then, from there, society.
(Izuru joining her cult was probably, honestly, just a bonus. See: there's a reason Hajime, who's memories were only unearthed by the Neo World Program, would find memory and personality alteration touchy. That shit literally ended the world!)
Yeaaaah. That's right. Society was boned, apparently. The people Junko recruited, with their vast talents and influence, went on to wreak havoc around the world and commit, you know, general terrroism. It was a wasteland; a man made apocalypse. Real fun! Kokichi wasn't there; neither of him was there, actually. Probably because his cult-indoctrinated classmates killed him off spitefully when the real him didn't join their cult, but hey, you know. That's just how death cults are!
Does it unsettle him to know that his predecessor, the boy he inherited his name and identity from, was apparently so unlikable to his classmates that they killed him off brutally and without mercy for merely opposing their self proclaimed goddess?
Eh. Like he said: he knew this was a rigged game from the start.
(Ohhh boy. If Kiibo thinks he has it bad from being a beloved AI made for literally no fucking reason, he should imagine being Kokichi! Hah! And if that goddamn robot tries to sympathize with him after everything , Kokichi really will pull out his goddamn simulated hair!)
Sooo. Yeah. Here he was, he guesses. Doomed to try and help protect and redeem the people who fucking killed him. Or, well, a version of him, at least. A real version of him, whereas everything about Kokichi now is fake, fake, fake, fake. Talk about lies! Talk about liars! Kokichi wasn't even real ! Haha! Take that, suckers—he fooled you into thinking he was, because he's the biggest fraud around, even more than the real him!
He thinks he's dealing with this whole thing great , actually.
(If “Father” insists that Kokichi is real one more time, he'll start snapping at him , too.)
(Just because you don't want to admit your dead girlfriend was a fake robot doesn't mean Kokichi wants your goddamn equally hollow sympathy.)
Oh, right . He should probably mention the main reason he was made in the first place: the, uh, complications to the simulation last time.
Turns out! Terrorists don't go quietly! Probably should have expected that, Naegi-kun! Gosh, for as much as “Father” is a loser of epic proposition, at least he's better than Makoto fucking Naegi . Seriously! You'd think the man who bested Junko Enoshima would be a bit more wise , but, apparently not!
No failsafe's? No preparation? The entire simulation at that point was held together by gum and duct tape, they didn't even do a trial run! That's time constraints for you, Kokichi supposed.
So, like. The Remnants totally fucked up the simulation. Because of course they did. Alter Ego, Chiaki Nanami, fucking Kiibo, and Kokichi himself were apparently not enough AI's in the world for Junko Enoshima, oh no oh no, because guess what! She made one of herself! Coded with all her memories, immortalized forever! And the remnants? Well, they went right ahead and uploaded that shit to the simulation! A virus ! Right under Makoto Naegi's nose, trusting fool that he is. And you know what that AI did?
Well, a killing game, of course.
Not to worry! Like Kokichi said, this whole thing is a simulation . No one but Chiaki Nanami actually died; they're all up and about and perfectly fine, except for some extra new trauma! Still , the concerning part of it all is what could have happened. The AI's goal was to upload herself to the dead students' bodies, so that she could live again! Or whatever. Honestly, if she wanted to become immortal forever, Kokichi thought the first step in that probably shouldn't have been killing herself, but what did he know? Maybe what that virus wanted and what real Junko wanted were completely different. They did seem incompatible: for one to kill themselves and for the other to try and become immortal? Yeah, those weren't exactly congruent lines of thought. But what does Kokichi know? Just like her, he's not even real, just a shitty copy of a shitty liar.
The virus failed, of course. Thank God for that; can you imagine if her immature vision of Junkoland actually became a reality? How elementary. He can't believe Hajime ever uploaded her to the simulation.
(Oh, yeah, because apparently the person who did the deed was his creator, which really helps with Kokichi's trust issues, thanks.)
Kokichi's role, here, was… less of an aid for the 79th class Remnants, unlike Chiaki Nanami. After all, she was a therapybot made from the hopeful memories of the Remnants or whatever; made into their vision of “hope.” It just so happened that, well, that hope looked exactly like the real Chiaki Nanami, who, and you probably saw this coming, considering how real Kokichi's life also ended up, was spitefully killed by Junko Enoshima and the 77th Class that adored her. Oops. Apparently being beloved doesn't stop you from being killed by death cults anymore than being hated does. Go figure!
Anyway , Kokichi wasn't made the same way like that, and that wasn't his role; not completely, at least. Kokichi wasn't made from hopeful memories ; he was made from the corpse of AI Chiaki and the memories of the Remnants total fucking disdain for him. Lucky, lucky him, hm? He was made from the memories of a boy everyone hated so badly they killed without a second thought, built on the corpse of his creator's rebound replacement girlfriend, and injected with the analytical power of the Ultimate Talent. And all of it? It wasn't for something as peaceful as helping the remnants, or whatever. Kokichi Ouma was no Chiaki Nanami; he was, in essence, the failsafe Makoto Naegi didn't bother with, but Hajime Hinata did .
Fun, fun, fun!
After all, well. Hajime Hinata knew how the Remnants worked; he was one, after all. He knew he couldn't trust them as far as pre-Kamukura project him could throw them. So! Here Kokichi was! A failsafe. Meant to guard against the very people they sought to redeem. Last time they almost resurrected Junko Enoshima, after all! Who knows what they're trying to do this time?
Why was he specifically Kokichi Ouma, though? Personally, he thinks Hajime just wanted to hurt them. Make them feel guilt. (Of course, that assumes they can.) Make them feel just as bad as him, after his girlfriend died for him twice. It bugged him, itched at him, that Kokichi's classmates felt nothing at his death; that he died hated and alone, when his whole class was drowning in the guilt of harming their precious Nanami-san. Really, the whole thing was quite distasteful! Kokichi's existence reduced down to a jab at someone else. As if a different version of him he will never truly know didn't fucking die at all.
Really, consider for a moment. Really ponder this. Do you honestly think it's ethical to just… replace dead people with AI versions of themselves? As if they're disposable? As if they're replaceable? As if you can truly copy them, as if their life didn't matter? It was a joke—a crappy joke without a punchline that shouldn't have been told. Kokichi Ouma, as he was, shouldn't even exist .
And the reason why he did? Purely to make someone else feel guilty. To make sure Hajime Hinata and the 77th Class wasn't alone in their absolute misery. And if not that, then simply as a redemption round. Another go at Kokichi Ouma, new and improved and hopefully, this time, loved . A stupid, egocentric self indulgence — all because Hajime Hinata couldn't stomach the thought of a sad lonely boy dying unloved. (As if that shit doesn't happen every goddamn day .) Kokichi thought it before, and he'll think it again: Hajime Hinata is a cruel, arrogant man at his best, and an apathetic, unfeeling God at his worst.
(And Kokichi Ouma has inherited the very worst parts of him.)
But still—he will play his role. Helping the remnants, a failsafe against their own self destruction. A copy of someone they never wanted and never will. Only loved by his creator, just as alone as the boy he was made in the image of. Investigating whatever goddamn mess his new classmates have gotten themselves into now, wondering if they will kill him all over again.
Suffice to say: that massive robot charging towards them is not supposed to be here.