"H-hyaaaah!!"
Pew!
"G-goodbye..."
KABOOOM...!
"I-it really... broke...?"
The [hacking gun] that white-haired man gave me was the real deal.
Because when I fired it at the bear mascot called Monokuma that appeared after opening the tightly sealed door, it let out a shriek and exploded.
"Kyaaaah!"
"U-unnie! Are you okay?"
"Waaaahhh..."
But the kids behind me must have been startled by the explosion, because they panicked on the spot.
'These kids already have enough scars on their hearts as it is...'
They'd all gathered at the orphanage for different reasons, but every one of them carried wounds no one had ever managed to heal.
At least K had personally counseled them. Thank goodness for that... If it hadn't been for him, those kids would've already...
'This isn't the time to be thinking like that... We need to get out of here. Fast.'
Shaking off the dark thought, I shouted at the trembling children behind me.
"You brats...! If you keep this up, I'm leaving by myself and eating with K!"
"N-no fair...!"
"Don't hog K all to yourself!"
"Yeah! That's cheating!"
"I wanna eat with K too...!"
"Then stop crying, get a grip, and follow me."
"....."
The kids glared at me like they were offended, but soon they wiped their eyes and started following behind me with brave little expressions.
'Well... even if they're trying to look brave, there's no hiding those swollen, puffy eyes.'
Normally I would've teased them for that, but right now all our lives were on the line. So I swallowed the joke, raised the [hacking gun] in front of me, and started moving forward with painstaking caution.
.
.
.
.
.
"H-hello!? Is anyone there!? Help meee!!"
"Wahhh! You scared me!!"
I was creeping down the hallway, nerves stretched taut as piano wire, when a desperate cry rang out from the door right beside me.
"W-what was that...?"
"I-it's a ghost!!"
"Idiot! There aren't any ghosts in the worl—"
"I don't wanna die in here!! Help meeee! Please, somebody help meeeee!!"
"Hiiiiiih!!"
The kids behind me clung to each other and started trembling all over at the second desperate scream, while I carefully approached the door.
"Waaaah... O-onii-chan... I miss you... I can't... take this anymore..."
"Um, is someone in there?"
"...I can't hold o— h-huh!?"
"Um..."
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!
"Please save meee!!! There's a person in here!!! Please get me out!!!!!"
Apparently, this person had been trapped here for a long time too. You could hear it in that raw, frantic scream.
"O-okay! I'll help you, so please don't cry!!"
"P-please!! Don't leave me behind!!"
"I said I got it... Okay, then—hiya!!"
"...What did you just do?"
"N-nothing at all..."
I was getting way too addicted to shooting Monokumas, so I accidentally fired the [hacking gun] at the door. Thank goodness the person inside didn't see that...
"Unnie, what are you doing?"
"Why'd you shoot the door with that?"
"Are you stupid, noona?"
"S-shut up!!"
My face burning red, I was trying to figure out how to open the door when, in the distance, a Monokuma came sprinting toward us with its claws raised.
"Upupupu~!"
"Aah! That creepy bear thing is back!"
"Unnie, shoot it!!"
"Y-yeah... okay... wait, what's this?"
I aimed the [hacking gun] at Monokuma and was about to fire when I noticed a slot that let me change the bullet type.
"'Link Up'...? What's this..."
"Upupupu~!"
"H-hyah!!"
"Upupupu... upu... u..."
The moment I switched the bullet to "Link Up" and fired, Monokuma froze in place and started staring at me.
"Synchronization complete. Please issue a command."
"Issue a command...?"
When the mechanical voice came from the [hacking gun], I hesitated for a moment, then shouted at Monokuma.
"Monokuma!! Smash this door down!!"
"Gyao~!!"
The instant I finished speaking, Monokuma raised its claws and started tearing apart the door to the room where the screaming had come from.
"H-hiiik!!"
"Upupupu~!!"
"A-a monster...!"
"It's okay, it's on our side!"
"Hyeeeeh..."
Once Monokuma had completely destroyed the door, the person who appeared was a normal-looking but cute girl, with a distinctive ahoge sticking up from the top of her head.
"Uh... hello...?"
"H-hi...?"
That was how she and I first met.
.
.
.
.
.
"W-what do we do now...?"
"...Ngh."
Right now, the girl I rescued earlier and I were surrounded by Monokumas in the middle of the street.
How had things spiraled into this nightmare?
After I rescued the girl from that building, I realized we weren't the only ones trapped inside. There were other people too.
So I used the [hacking gun]'s "Link Up" ability to hack a Monokuma, sent it ahead of us, and had it smash open every door in the building. Thanks to that, we managed to rescue everyone trapped inside.
"Myaooow!!"
"I-it's a cat...?"
"Bzzzzzz...!"
"That's... a bug, isn't it?"
"......"
"This room only has combat rations in it...?"
Of course... some of the things we rescued weren't people. They weren't even living creatures.
Anyway, once we got outside, the city was in absolute pandemonium.
Monokumas were rampaging through the streets, attacking people indiscriminately, while children wearing Monokuma helmets rode them around and committed grotesque atrocities.
In that kind of hellscape, the people we'd rescued from the building became a huge asset.
There was a pretty-faced girl in flashy gyaru fashion who went around beating Monokumas to pieces with a baseball bat, and a rough-looking guy who picked up a motorcycle lying on the roadside and used it to scout the area.
There was a middle-aged man who pulled a laptop out of his bag and hacked every nearby Monokuma, then marched them around like his own private army. There was also an elderly man in a butler outfit who kept muttering about reclaiming his young master while slicing Monokumas apart.
A martial artist who literally ground Monokumas into scrap with overwhelming combat prowess. And a white-haired old man who, within minutes of being rescued, had already deduced the Monokumas' strategy and the current state of affairs, then started directing everyone...
I hadn't expected much from a bunch of people rescued from one building, but somehow we'd ended up with a lineup that could put most intelligence units to shame.
But...
"U-unnie!!"
"Noonaaa!!"
"W-waaaahhh..."
"G-guys!!"
The moment I looked away, the orphanage kids spotted a place piled high with food, ran toward it, and got caught in a trap.
"If you want to save those children, you'd better get on this airship nice and quietly!"
"M-Monaca... b-but... they're around our age too..."
"Exactlyyy~! That means they're traiiitors who sided with the demons~!"
"D-don't cry, Monaca!! I was wrong!!"
"You demons over there!! You're making Monaca cry!! Get on the airship right now!!"
Then an airship flew over to where the trapped children were. The little brats who stepped out introduced themselves as the Warriors of Hope, then started threatening us by dangling the cage holding the kids from a rope.
"...We don't have a choice."
"Tch... so this is as far as we get..."
"Using children as hostages when you yourselves are children! What an utterly villainous act! Such barbarity is something I, Ishimaru Takiaki, cannot forgi—"
"A-Asahina! Why are you trapped in there too?"
"S-sorry... there was a huge pile of yokan in there... I lost all reason..."
"Yamada? Why are you also..."
"S-sorry... there was a huge pile of shojo manga in there..."
In the end, we caved to the Warriors of Hope's threats and started boarding the airship one by one, but...
"Now then... lastly, Naegi Komaru, and you without a name. Hand over that [hacking gun], and slowly—"
Vwoooom...
"W-wait! Komaeda! Why are you taking off now!? Those two still haven't boar—"
Fwoooosh!!
For some reason, the airship vanished far into the sky without taking us with it.
"I-it left? Without us?"
"I don't know what happened, but something clearly went wrong! Which means there's a high chance they'll come back to capture us again! So we need to get out of here, now!"
"R-right...!"
We stood there blankly for a moment, then finally processed the situation and bolted from the area as fast as we could.
"Upupupu~!!"
"Upupupupupu!!"
"Gyao~!!"
"Kyaah!! We're surrounded on all sides!!"
But while we were running through the streets, Monokumas burst out from every direction and encircled us.
Yes. That's how it happened.
"W-what do we do now...?"
"U-unnie...! Take this!"
"This is...?"
"It's the [hacking gun] I was using! Use it on the Monokumas...!"
"B-but then... what about you?"
"I was saving a spare [hacking gun] to give to someone reliable if I ever met them... ah."
"...."
"A-anyway, just shoot!!"
.
.
.
.
.
"Haaah... I-I seriously thought we were dead..."
"Seriously... that was way too close..."
After a tear-soaked struggle for survival, we smashed every Monokuma around us to pieces and collapsed onto the street, gasping for breath.
"Hey... how old are you?"
"Me? I'm thirteen."
"Y-you're only that old, and you've been massacring Monokumas like that...?"
"Hehe... people tell me I'm really athletic."
The girl lying there and staring at me in fascination scratched her head, then spoke.
"Come to think of it... we still haven't introduced ourselves, have we? My name's Naegi Komaru. Just an ordinary middle school girl... no, I guess I'm a high school girl now..."
Her face darkened for a moment, but then she looked back at me and asked,
"Hey... what's your name?"
"I don't have one."
"Huh?"
"...I'm an orphan."
"Ah..."
After that, silence fell between us.
"S-s-sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you or—"
"Heehee... it's okay. My hobby is telling people I don't have a name when I introduce myself, then watching their reactions."
"R-really...?"
"Yep. Usually they pity me, like you just did. Even though I don't mind at all. Hehe..."
"...."
She stared at me for a long moment, then spoke again.
"Hey... is there some reason for that?"
"Huh?"
"I mean... the reason you still haven't chosen a name."
"Well, if I wanted to, I could just make one up and tell people that. Then I wouldn't get those sympathetic looks, and life would probably be a lot less inconvenient..."
"T-then why...?"
"Because I made a promise. A close friend from the orphanage said she'd give me my name."
"Huh? Then why..."
"A few days after we made that promise, she disappeared."
"....."
Komaru's complexion darkened all over again. Ahh, this is why I usually avoid talking about the past with people I've just met.
"I-I'm really okay! So... please don't look so sad! I made lots of new friends at the orphanage, and a kind older brother counseled me a lot, so I'm not depressed anymo—"
Squeeze...
"...Huh?"
I was flusteredly trying to explain myself when she suddenly came over and pulled me into a tight hug.
"I-I can't breathe...!"
"....."
After holding me like that for a long while, she finally asked,
"Hey... if it's okay with you, want me to give you a name?"
"No, it's okay."
"T-that was immediate!?"
She looked a little hurt, and I couldn't help smiling. This girl was kind of adorable.
"No, it's not because I don't trust you. It's because I swore to myself I'd find my missing friend. That's all."
"Ah... so that's what it was?"
"So until I find her... I'll never take a name."
After hearing that, she thought for a moment, then stood up and said,
"Then... a nickname is okay, right?"
"...Huh?"
"Whether we escape this city or rescue the people who got taken... we're going to be sticking together from here on out, right? But if I don't have anything to call you, that's kind of a problem..."
"Now that you mention it... yeah, that's true."
"Hmm... okay then... let's see... what would be good..."
She scratched her head and thought hard, then suddenly her eyes lit up and she asked me,
"Hey... what's your favorite letter?"
"Mine...? Um... 'K'!"
"Then from now on, you're L!"
"Ehhh? How does that make any sense...?"
"It means taking one step beyond what you like! I saw that line in a manga... and it really stuck with me..."
"...Ha. Haha."
"I-is it bad? Sorry... I messed up! Then—"
"No, it's okay. I'll go with that."
"R-really?"
"Yeah. It's just a nickname, after all. I'll get my real name later, when I find my friend."
After giving me a nickname in that utterly ridiculous way, she started talking about what we should do next.
"First... escaping this city is one option, but... I'm worried about the people we met earlier, and the kids from your orphanage too... so maybe we should rescue them after all?"
"Maybe. Asking for help outside the city is one possibility too... but I'm a little worried about these bracelets those little brats put on our arms."
"Uh... you're also a pretty cute little—"
"...Ahem. Anyway, according to what they said... once these bracelets are on us, we're doomed to never leave this place. And considering the regular beeping sound they're making... what if these bracelets are bombs!?"
"R-really!? Then... I guess that only leaves us one choice..."
Realizing there was only one path left—storming their base and rescuing everyone—Komaru slumped in despair for a moment. Then she lifted her head, looked at me, and smiled brightly.
"Still... I'm really glad you're here! You're super athletic... and from what you just said, you seem really smart too—"
"...Actually, I just overheard that old man who said he was a detective muttering about it..."
"...Oh."
And just like that, another awkward silence descended.
"A-anyway, let's go! If we just sit around all depressed, nothing's going to get done!"
"Yeah... I'm counting on you, L!"
"Y-yes...!"
'My life really is one ridiculous roller coaster... To think I'd end up in some survival nightmare like this.'
When I thought about it, my life really had been one chaotic disaster after another.
I was abandoned by my parents from the moment I was born. Because I was naturally the kind of person who trusted others too easily, I got scammed out of money and betrayed over and over. Then the very first real friend I ever made disappeared right after promising she'd give me a name...
For a while, I truly believed my life held nothing but misery, and that I didn't deserve happiness or love.
If K hadn't kindly counseled me when I was cornered at the edge of the abyss—if he hadn't given my life a purpose—I might not even be here right now.
So for K's sake... and to fulfill the purpose of my life by finding her, the girl who vanished, and receiving my name...
'I'll never give in to despair. I'll keep moving forward.'
"L, let's go! If we stay here, there's no telling when the Monokumas will swarm us again!"
"...Right!"
I stepped forward energetically toward where she stood, and—
'So please... just stay alive.'
I repeated the prayer I'd made over and over again inside my heart.
'...My eternal friend, Harukawa Maki.'