Epilogue - Part 2
After getting back to Japan proper and being dropped off, it wasnāt long before you were reunited with everyone you cared about, assuming you still had any you wanted to see. Somehow, no one that youād been dreading meeting there had showed up. You wonder if Junichi had managed to take that into account too.
Junichi himself had almost entirely disappeared at least for a little while after everything, though before he had heād told you exactly what he had planned. He was going to be publishing a book, about his life and the people in it, and one about the death game you had all escaped. Even with Natalie and maybe others initially disagreeing, in the end all of you consented with convincing from others among, with perhaps a few details or name changes that youād requested to be present. It seemed like Junichi had finally found his backbone enough to be firm about this one thing.
After that, even before the release of the books that were set to come out, the press had quickly gotten wind of your situation and broadcast it across the nation, even the world. A more firm investigation had started finally, soon aided by some mysteries documents and recordings that had been released to the public that forced the hand of the police to come down hard on Atsushi and his entire operation.
All of you also very quickly seemed to come into a moderately high sum of money and/or access to whatever means of concealment you might need to stay out of any unwanted limelights for you or your loved ones, and you think youāre pretty sure you know who itās from. If you want to be able to slip away and live a new life under an identity change, you certainly have the option.
Itās a month after your escape that the story of what actually happened at the hotel begins to circulate online, for free, rather than as a book for purchase. Donations of free physical copies also quickly become available, and itās clear who the author is. Hotel Discontent, by Junichi Ichihara. You think the title is ironically tame for what happened there, and likely on purpose.
If any of you chose to read it, you find the following that it covers almost every aspect of the games with hauntingly accurate depictions, not just in fact but in feeling as well. All of your hopes, your struggles, the pain, the suffering, the horribleness of it all and the few glimmers of strength and hope youād found in each otherā¦ The picture it paints is not one of glory, or of admiration for whatās happened to you all. It was unsettlingly down to earth almost. It outs every wrong that Junichi Ichihara has committed in a harsh light, as well as the nature of that horrible events that Hopeās Peak Academy had turned a blind eye to in full, and in the endā¦
The message had come through, with all of your actions within the story itself and the undeniable skill of Junichiās writing. For a moment it seemed like the world had come to a pause as the public digested it. It wasnāt an instant cure for things of course, just maybe... it would still make a difference, and all of your convictions would mean something to the world.
- Fin -
