Ghosts in the Gym

Well heck how’d I miss this note I wrote myself after hacking into Ice’s account

“Why the hell do you people want to find her? Wasn’t she like, Satan incarnate, or something?”

The language is fairly technical, but she can still get the gist of it. There are a lot of notes on sustaining life support while letting their minds still participate in the program, but nothing terribly interesting.

In less scientific language, there are logs of Mina being the guinea pig for the project; while she wasn’t part of the crash, she was still part of the class, sickly, a specialist in gathering information, and a willing volunteer, so it seemed like the best choice.

The pods went through several more revisions before the comatose class was put in. Several security patches and AI fixes (apparently not enough) had also been introduced before the kids were. It sure looked like everything in there was working fine when it started. Shame someone had to go and break in.

This file is several stapled pages of spreadsheet with consistent columns and some handwritten notes. The first section lists “Whereabouts Unknown.” It consists of several half-unfamiliar names and is by far the longest section in the document. With each name is a last known location, a few other statistics, and in most cases, notes of attempts to contact.

The next section is “Successfully Contacted.” It’s a short list, but again you recognize the surnames of some of your classmates. Aizawa, Mikazuki...

The piece of paper was hastily thrown across the top of the files, some suspicious reddish stains around the corners. Otherwise, the paper was a generally fresh white with wobbly handwritten lines in black ink.

“To whom it may concern,

No sooner have we started the program than it has failed. we had come so close. only one had died, and the vital signs were improving. but its over. too many of us were lost inthe attack. we dont know whats going on in there. we cant keep it running. wesent mina in to see what hd gone wrong in the system. now we wont beable to retrieve her. our energy sources unstable enough. i dont knowifthe whole plce is going to blow. if this note survives if the families finally makeit here., i am so sorry. we told y we could savethem bt we couldnt ,not inthis world. im sorry we faild you”

“We’re right smack dab in the middle of the apocalypse, my guy. And there’s not even any nukes! Just humans at the worst they can be, tearing cities apart with their bare hands... and the Monokuma clones, tearing cities apart with their bear hands.”

Several documents and files seem to have been left behind, but a few papers stick out—they must have been viewed or filed more recently.

“PROGRAM TRIAL NOTES”

“FAMILY TRACKING EFFORTS”

You were too weak. Too slow. Despite Tiffani’s brief efforts to reverse the shutdown, the power flickered out before more than a few pods could be opened.

The lids, of course, could still be forced open. But why disturb any more coffins?

Ohito. Eita. Calypso. Peach. Katsurou. Michael. Koume. Kamiko. Ayaka.

Dumbstruck and exhausted, you lingered at the pods, trying a few more failed revival attempts before sinking to the ground, unsure if you would be able to get up again.

“All right, uh... Guess we’re done here, huh? Don’t really know what to say besides my boss really fucked this one up.”

“They’ll be sending the transport for me pretty soon, so I’m sure we can all cram in there. Just... take it easy ‘til they haul their asses up here, I guess.”

So... This was it, huh? It... could have been worse. The MAB Rehab program had done its job, and nine of you had woken up. This was better than never opening your eyes again, wasn’t it?

Of course it could have been better. You couldn’t count how many ways it could have been better. But... this was what you had. You were alive, and you were going to make the most of it, apocalypse or no.

[[This ends the main plot of Ghosts in the Gym. You may now make any endgaming posts/threads you like, and send in a few investigation asks to talk to the Future Foundation agent or look for whatever information may be lying around the pod building.