ᴳʰᵒˢᵗ ᴵᶰ ᵀʰᵉ ᴹᵃᶜʰᶤᶰᵉ ⎣ ᶰᵃᶰᶜᵐᶤᶤ⎤
@nancmii
Cognitive dissonance: the psychological stress experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values.
So is there anything like that about memories? What would be the right thing to call conflicting memories? Monokuma had explained that their school memories were stolen by the Future Foundation, but it still seemed somehow unbelievable. Even after what happened with the arcade game or Mikan. But denying a truth is easy until you are faced with it directly. After the class trial, Nagito felt nervous seeing Mikan after her memories returned. The way she spoke of despair, her brutal killing, her entire personality... It scared him to think her memories did that to her.
But he remembered. Once he read the Future Foundation file from the Octagon, it all came back. At first, like some sort of disconnected dream. But it seemed to get more and more real the longer he thought about it. He wishes he could go back to not knowing. To thinking the people around him were symbols of hope, not Ultimate Despair. To not knowing what HE was. God, he remembered the actions he and his classmates had taken. He remembers it. Even if he doesn’t want to believe he actually did such INSANE things... Memories didn’t return all at once, but slowly. He wished he could try not to think about it, but it’s impossible. Working backward. His journey here, being an Ultimate Despair, the Tragedy, and now Hope’s Peak. He could sit in his cottage all night, unable to sleep because of the fear of dreaming about who he was. All Nagito wanted to be was hope, but he wasn’t. That’s what he wanted them ALL to be. But they weren’t. The Future Foundation must be closer to symbols of hope. If anything, it would be better if all the Ultimate Despairs just... Went away forever. Whatever reality this was... He was tired of it.
But one memory that seemed to be drilling a hole into his brain... One classmate of his shouldn’t be here. She was never an Ultimate Despair because she died before he ever even became one. Chiaki Nanami. She was someone kind. He had liked her, she always tried to make him feel welcome. She died. He remembered seeing it. So how exactly is she in the hotel lobby playing that arcade machine? Because this reality isn’t real, right? So Chiaki isn’t a person. Chiaki is the traitor. The one person here actually on the side of hope. Still, she seems so much like his old friend. A little stranger. But... It didn’t matter how or why, what mattered to him is that he found the traitor.
He stayed in the area, hiding when possible. He knew the others were probably trying to move against him now. Still, it was getting dark and Chiaki must be really distracted by the game. She’s the last one inside the hotel. He moves quietly as he uses the outdoor stairs to enter the restaurant. He carries a chair to the door and blocks it. After that, he takes a second chair and moves down the stairs, walking right past Chiaki. If she notices him now, it’s not a big deal. He pushes it against the exit. It wouldn’t be easy for anyone to get in. Finally, he faces her. He only closes the distance a tiny bit.
“This must be my luck. You usually go to bed much earlier Nanami-chan. There’s no one else here.” He says. He’s smiling, but his expression clearly isn’t a happy one. He actually has no idea what he’s feeling. Some sort of mixture of anxiety and sorrow. Though he knows it will pass. Everything’s going to be alright because hope never loses.
“I’m going to be blunt with you because we won’t get anywhere beating around the bush.” He states. “Nanami-chan, you’re the Future Foundation’s traitor, aren’t you?”
