Chapter Text
Silence.
That's all I could hear for a good four minutes. I looked at my current surroundings.
Just darkness.
"I suppose this is what I deserve." I said to myself with tears in my eyes.
My name is Kaede Akamatsu. I'm the protagonist of this crazy story. Or at least, that's what I thought. Myself and 15 other students were trapped in a school which was trapped in a large cage by a bear known as Monokuma and his 5 color-coded children, the Monokubs. One of the students, Shuichi Saihara, had a theory about one of us students being the Mastermind behind this incident. So we acted on it, hoping to save everyone. However, I didn't think the plan would work. It wouldn't be enough to catch the Mastermind in the act.
I wanted to kill the Mastermind. Then there'd be no one else standing in our way to freedom. However, it was this line of thinking that led to my downfall. Instead of the Mastermind, I ended up killing one of my friends. Rantaro Amami. I led my friend Shuichi to the truth, killing me in the process, but also giving my wish of everyone escaping together to Shuichi and the others.
And while it is pretty lonely here, I sincerely hope nobody else joins me.
"Hey, Kaede." A cool toned voice said causing me both to smile, and cringe at the same time.
"Hello, Rantaro." I said somberly.
"Come on, ease up. I've got a surprise to show you." He said as I nodded following him. The point he led me to was a shining green light.
"Rantaro, what is this?" I asked him as he grinned.
"It's your continue." He said simply.
"Like I said when we were alive, you have what it takes to win. And considering my death wasn't your fault to begin with, this world, and I, think you deserve an extra life." He said shrugging.
"Wait, what do you mean, 'wasn't my fault'?" I asked him. "I thought it was my shot put ball that killed you!" I said coughing a bit, feeling the bruise on my neck.
"Don't worry, Kaede. I know you'll find the real truth." He said pushing me towards the light. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I don't see you back here." He said waving goodbye to me with a sincere smile.
I turned back to look at him as the light began dragging me to what looked like binary code. I'm still not quite sure about me not being responsible for Rantaro's death, but either way, I plan to take advantage of this second chance, I will help my friends! That is what I have to do with this second chance at life!
Kaede's POV
"Urk!" I said after falling to the ground. Now this feels all too familiar. It's almost like it was just yesterday since I exited that locker. I picked myself up, and got a better look at my surroundings. However, there wasn't much. The room was green, the portal that brought me here was gone, cutting off my connection to Rantaro, and there was only one real object in the room. I decided to check on it, to get a better idea of what it is. "A, power button?" There doesn't seem to be a game console around here, and it's two tones of green.
"W-Who the hell are you, and how did you get here?!" A woman screamed behind me.
I turned around to see a woman with green hair and a revealling black dress with matching black leggings. However as soon as she saw me, she gasped and ran out of the room shouting, "LADY VERT!"
"Geez, I know she likely lives wherever this is, but why did she just leave?" Oh well, it's not worth talking to myself. I might as well try to follow her. The room I was in is completely different compared to the hallways here. It looked like quite the mansion with a lot of green. "How fancy. I wonder if this place has a piano here?... No! Bad Kaede! The piano can come after the situation is handled! I still have to figure out where I am in comparison to the Ultimate Academy and how to break in to get my friends out!" I continued walking until I found myself in what looked to be a dining room, with the woman from before as well as a new tall blonde woman with an elegant green dress on.
"Is this the girl, Chika?" The blonde lady asked the green haired lady. So Chika must be her name.
"That's right." She said making slight glares at me.
"Excellent." The blonde said with a kind smile.
"Um, hello. My name is Kaede Akamatsu. Before coming here I was known as the Ultima-" I was saying to introduce myself before the blonde lady grabbed me in quite a large hug. Though due to some, assets of hers, I found it a bit hard to breath.
"It is an absolute pleasure to meet you, Kaede! I shall introduce myself as well. I am Vert, otherwise known as Green Heart. The CPU of Leanbox! As well as your older sister!" She said leaving me confused.
"H-Huh?!" I shrieked.
"Oh I have been waiting for this moment for the longest time! I finally have a little sister to call my own!" Vert said with clear glee on her face.
"J-Just wait a second, please!" I sais as she released the hug. A large part of me missed it. "What exactly is going on? What is Leanbox? Is it anywhere close to Japan?!" I asked her as she gained a confused look on her face.
"My dear, I don't know what this "Japan" is, but Leanbox is one of the four nations of Gamindustri." Vert answered.
"That only leaves me with more questions than answers!" I shrieked in my mind. "Let's try something else, Kaede." "Do you know about Ultimates? High schoolers with a great amount of expertise in a specific talent?"
"Unfortunately, I do not know that was a term here. However, the idea does seem quite intriguing." She said putting her hands together. This continued to make me increasingly worried. "Kaede dear, is there something wrong?"
"I-I'm sorry, Vert. You seem really nice, but this is a lot to take in, and I'm not sure if I can handle this right now..." I said holding my head as I began trembling.
"Is there anything I could do to ease your nerves? Perhaps some form of music, or games?" She asked as I dried my left eye.
"Would you happen to have a piano somewhere?"
"My word Kaede! That was beautiful!" Vert said with tears of joy in her eyes.
"Hehe, thank you." I smiled looking towards the piano. "Back where I come from, I was known by two names. Piano Freak, and the Ultimate Pianist." I said with a smile as Vert became quite shocked.
"Back where you come from? This is quite confusing." She said thinking.
"What's wrong Vert?" I asked.
"Normally, CPU Candidates don't have a place they came from beforehand. As they are just born into existence." She said pondering out loud.
"A CPU Candidate? Is that, me?" I asked.
"Oh of course. The younger sibling of a CPU is naturally the CPU Candidate." Vert responded.
"Hey Vert? This might seem quite strange, but, have you ever heard of alternate dimensions?" I asked as she nodded.
"Ah yes of course! The other CPUs and I have done it quite a number of times!" She said smiling.
"THAT'S what she knows about? At the very least it's a start."
"Unfortunately, I do not know all of the details about dimensional travel, but if you are interested, we can meet with someone who does know about it. Plus I can introduce you to CPUs of other nations as well!"
"That sounds like a great idea!" I said smiling.
"I shall make the preparations then. However it is quite late, so I shall show you to your room." She said smiling. "There are also new various clothes in the closet prepared for you." She said as the two of us moved to a different hallway leading to my room. It was simple enough, continuing the elegant green theme from before. "I shall return to my room for the night. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask Chika or myself." Vert finished.
"Got it. Thank you, Vert." I responded with a smile.
"And also, " She began with a softer hug than before. "welcome home, Kaede." She said as she then left my room. I decided to check the closet to see a green sailor uniform with a red tie. I decided to try one on after stuffing my old uniform in my backpack. I got up on the bed wondering what my plan for saving my friends would be. At most, while this new dimension I'm in is quite welcoming so far, I have no idea what a CPU is. I suppose that's what tomorrow is for.
"Shuichi, Kaito, everyone, please wait for me. I'll get you guys out of there, if it's the last thing I ever do."
This was the last thing I said before sleep overtook me.
Vert's POV
I noticed Chika walk into my room while I was playing my game. "Vert, dear, we have to talk. It's about Kaede." She said hesitantly, most likely due to not wishing to upset me. I sighed, paused my game and turned around.
"I believe I know what exactly we are discussing." I responded. "It has to do with the girl's memories?"
Chika nodded at this. "Yes, it's quite confusing to me. Aren't CPU Candidates just, born?"
"This is what I thought too, however, Kaede does seem to be quite the variable to this line of thinking." I said as I pondered some of the phrases she said. "If they were coming from anyone else, especially Neptune, I would've written it off as silliness. However Kaede's tone indicated how serious she was. I must discuss this with her tomorrow morning." "Needless to say Chika, even in this strange situation, Kaede is still my younger sister."
"I understand, my dear, though is it possible that Kaede was just making that stuff up?" Chika questioned as I shook my head.
"Not possible, you heard Kaede's tone when she discussed this, 'Japan' and 'Ultimates'. It's likely that Kaede was telling the truth. Be that as it may. It's quite late to worry about this. At the moment, I reccomend keeping it within the back of our minds." I said with an affirmative tone. "Good night Chika." I said with a soft smile.
"G-Good night Lady Vert!" She said as she blushed and scurried out of the room. "Chika is quite easy to fluster. I hope she doesn't worry too much. Same goes for Kaede as well... It's decided! I shall do everything I can to make Kaede feel more at home! But first, I should probably tell Histoire about Kaede's birth, and her forseeable plans."
Kaede's POV
Ding Dong, Bing Bong
I rose from my bed to look at my surroundings. I yawned as I got out of bed. "Still in Leanbox, I see. It's good to know that I wasn't just dreaming this whole thing." I noticed my clothes and realized something. "These duds, have taken quite the beating." Might as well try on the uniform in the closet. To my surprise, it turned out to be a perfect fit.
"Not bad, Vert. Not bad." I walk out of my room, thankful to be without the voice of Monokuma for a day. "Vert's most likely in her room right now. I should probably talk to her more about these other CPUs or whatever." I took a step out of my room to search for my, sister, man it still feels weird to think. Unfortunately, if I have to give Monokuma and the Mastermind credit for anything, at least the hallways didn't all look the same. It is so easy to get lost in these hallways! I was starting to get frustrated until the green haired one, Chika walked in.
"Having any troubles?" She asked as she noticed my frustration.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. I was looking for Vert. Do you know where she is?" I asked as she sighed.
"You'd be surprised how often visitors get lost looking for her. Third door on the right. If you get lost, just press your ear to the doors and listen for button presses." Chika answered. I was about to respond until I smelt something from that direction.
"What kind of tea smell is that?" I asked nobody in particular as Chika answered,
"Everyone sorta develops their own way to Vert's room, whether by tea scent, listening, or complete random chance. Anyways, I've got paperwork to do." She said waving as we went our separate ways. I knocked on the door as I heard her pushing buttons.
I waited about 20 seconds before just walking in. What I saw was a dark room, with Vert staring at her game, with, headphones on. "Vert? Vert!" I wait like five minutes, and she doesn't hear me still. Puffling my cheeks, I walk towards her window shades, and yanked. Vert's reaction was like a vampire.
"AH! SUNLIGHT! IT BURNS!" She said dropping her controller.
"What a freakout. The Sun wasn't even in her eyes." "Morning Vert!" I said as she adjusted her eyes.
"A-Ah...Good morning Kaede." She said while catching her breath. "How are you this morning?"
"Fine, um, are you okay though? You had a pretty intense reaction to me just, opening the blinds-"
"Think nothing of it. Just lost track of time." She said sort of cutting me off.
"...Vert did you sleep at all last night?" I asked after I paused as she sighed.
"I believe my thirty empty cups of coffee answer the question." She said with a surprisingly small amount of shame.
"Who would've thought my new big sis would be a video game addict." "Are you going to be alright?" I questioned as she soon nodded.
"Fear not. I am quite alright." She said with a reassuring smile.
"I'll just ignore her left eye twitching then." I thought to myself. "Anyways, I was hoping we could discuss travelling between dimensions some more today?"
"Ah yes, of course! I spoke with Histoire, Planeptune's Oracle, about the subject, and she was quite intrigued. We have plans to meet up with her, as well as the other 7 CPUs at Planeptune's Basilicom."
"That's great! When can we go?" I asked, getting excited of being able to accomplish my goal.
"We can leave as soon as you are ready. I've already told Chika about our plans and we are set to leave." She said as I nodded.
"Perfect! How far is Planeptune from here?" I asked.
"Allow me to show you." Vert said as the two of us walked out of her room.
"I...I don't understand. Where's Planeptune?" I asked as we were at one of the beaches of Leanbox.
"On Gamindustri's mainland. Leanbox is after all, an island." She said as I didn't think that part through.
"But, there are no boats or planes here. How are we supposed to get to Planeptune?" I asked as Vert just began snickering. "Why are you laughing?"
"I believe its time I taught you one of the important abilities of a CPU!" She said with determination in her eyes.
"Access!"
Vert's body was enveloped in a bright light with various baby blue binary code circling her. Once the light show stopped, in Vert's place was a completely different person! She was not only a bit taller, her hair was a sea like green, with a pony tail, instead of blonde, also her elegant dress disappeared and was replaced with very small amounts of armor in delicate spots while most of her arms and legs were covered. Not only that but she had WINGS!
"Vert...what is this?" I asked as she gave a small laugh. "Vert I am not a fan of this newfound sense of humor." I said starting to blush from embarrassment.
"Silly Kaede. This is Hard Drive Divinity. This allows me to access my CPU Form. Now I am known as Green Heart." She said with an air of nobility and elegance. It's almost like I'm talking to Kirumi again.
"Wow..." I said completely mesmerized. She then grabbed my waist in a firm yet comfortable hug, which was sorta surprising considering her gloves were clawed.
"At this rate, I believe you can guess how we're getting to Planeptune."
It took me a split second to realize what Vert or Green Heart, was implying. "Wait, do you mean were gonna-FLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!" I tried saying as Vert lifted me up and we began flying in the air!
We arrived at Planeptune, thankfully, right next to a trash can. "If you had air sickness, why didn't you tell me?" Vert asked when she undid her transformation.
"It's kinda hard to get that out when I'm in the process of screaming my head off." I said catching my breath. We began walking towards the large white tower as we continued talking.
"Well nobody said you had to scream your head off." She said winking.
"Well nobody gave me a warning when I could barely answer the question!" I said puffing my cheeks as Vert just began laughing. I don't have time to ask her the reason why as we arrived at Planeptune's Basilicom.
"Ah, nice to see you again Lady Vert! And you must be Lady Kaede." The Basilicom worker said to the both of us. "Lady Neptune is waiting with the other CPUs, please use the marker elevator." He said pointing towards the Elevator with an N on it. "There will be a detection podium to give you entrance."
That part confused me. Vert said this and answered my inquiry. "It's so the Basilicom knows its us CPUs. It detects the Share Energy within us." She said placing her hand on the podium causing the elevator to open. I did the same, with the same results.
As we rose up in the high tower, I felt the need to ask Vert a question. "Hey Vert, when we were arguing earlier, how come you were laughing at the end?" I asked as she smiled.
"I've wanted a younger sibling for the longest time, Kaede. I believe it might be considered strange, but that experience was like near euphoria to me." She said smiling as I gasped.
"I had never seen it that way before." As I was about to say something, the elevator stopped at what looked like the living room of Planeptune's CPU. There were a lot of compliments of purple within the room. "So, is anybody here?" I asked as I looked around.
"Don't worry, I know where she is." Vert said with a smile as she pulled out a small pudding packet from her pocket. Wait, what-"Neptune! I have pudding!" She shouted out. Soon after, we heard some shaking in one of the rooms as we then heard two feminine voices scream,
"Oh no!"
"PUDDING!" A third voice shouted as a lavendar flash of light zoomed past us at the speed of light, snatching the pudding from Vert's hands, only to form what looked to be a young teenager wearing a hoodie. "Man, does the taste of custard pudding just hit the spot! Thanks, Vert!" She said as she enjoyed the pudding.
"You're quite welcome, Neptune." Vert said with a calm smile. "How does she do it?" I wondered as a taller girl with a similar hair color to Neptune walked out of the room sighing next to what could only be described as a fairy riding a book. "What kind of crazy world did I get into after dying?"
"Vert, what the goodness? We asked you not to do that again!" The taller girl spoke as the fairy next to her nodded.
"Pardon me Nepgear, I merely forgot." She said winking to Neptune, showing that Vert clearly didn't forget. "Nevermind that for now, do you remember the CPU Candidate I told you about?"
"Yes, I do, is that her?" The fairy said pointing to me as I suddenly became the center of attention.
"Correct. Go on, introduce yourself." Vert said placing her hands on my shoulder as I nodded.
"My name is Kaede Akamatsu. Back where I came from, I was known as the Ultimate Pianist. It's nice to meet you three." I said bowing.
"Nice to meetcha, Kaede! My name's Neptune! The CPU of Planeptune! I hope we can be pals, and play games, and eat pudding 'til we get sick!" the shorter one said while shaking my hand wildly.
"She seems pretty...excitable. Like a normal, lazy teenager. How is she able to run this nation again?" I thought to myself as I looked at the taller girl and the fairy. "That makes more sense."
"It's nice to meet you, Kaede. My name's Nepgear, I'm a CPU Candidate, like you!" Nepgear said holding out her hand. "I hope we can be friends." She said politely.
"Likewise, Nepgear. So, does that make you Neptune's sister?" I asked.
"Yes. She's my big sis!" She said with a big smile. I just kind of, looked dumbfounded for a second.
"N-Never would've guessed..." I said poorly lying.
"Do not worry about it, these two get that a lot." The small fairy sighed as Neptune and Nepgear both nodded. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Kaede. I am Histoire, the Oracle of Planeptune." Histoire said with a smile as I returned the favor.
"It's nice to meet you as well, Histoire." I said.
"Now that I think about it, isn't this the girl you were talkin' on the phone to Vert about?" Neptune asked, pointing at me with her thumb.
"Correct. I have a fair amount of questions for the newborn CPU Candidate." Histoire said, holding a serious face.
"Got it. Hopefully, you could possibly answer some of my questions as well." I answered as I nodded.
"I see. So you have memories of a time from before you were born into this world." Histoire stated after hearing my story. I nodded in turn.
"That's right. Is there anyway to check on her memories?" Vert questioned as Histoire pondered for a few seconds.
"Yes. Normally these scans are for treating the Virus status ailment, however, it can be modified to work with memories, as well. Unfortunately, this will take me 3 hours. For the time being, the other CPUs are arriving shortly. I recommend saying hello to them." Histoire responded as I nodded as I left to meet these unknown CPUs.