Phantom Thieves of Hope - A Danganronpa X Persona 5 Story.

Chapter 47: Smile at Hope in the Name of Despair

Ikoroshia - Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Even without any Phantom Thief skills of her own, navigating the island using her Gamer knowledge alone made the experience pretty handy for Chiaki. Though she lacked any incredible stealth skills that the Phantom Thieves possessed, much less their unique superpowers to fight, it was apparent she didn't need them.

With Makoto's group having cleared the way for her, she found it pretty easy to explore the first island. She even considered stopping by and getting an ice drink at the beach house, before she realized that that would be a waste of time, and she wasn't even sure if it was safe to drink.

Unfortunately, though she looked inside the old building where the first scroll should have been, she found that the chest had already been emptied. She assumed that Naegi-kun and his friends had already been through here and taken it, which was unfortunate. She thought that maybe getting a feel for the game, even if she didn't have the ability to partake in it, would give her some clues.

One thing that WASN'T especially nice was how long it took to actually get to and from the islands, especially without an Usamobile of her own. In the original video game the Palace was based on, the bridges didn't count as spaces, which meant you could cross them in a single turn. But in this world, not only were the bridges huge, but so were the islands. And with the sun beating down on her, this was proving to be an above-and-beyond effort for the introverted Ultimate Gamer.

But it didn't change the fact that this was an important mission for her, so she gritted her teeth and bared it as she finally set foot on the second island, taking a second to catch her breath.

Shortly after her arrival, Chiaki began to explore all the same places that she recognized from the game. The library, the diner, and the beach house.

But that gamer memory definitely did not recognize the large outlier almost dead center in the middle of the island.

"What the heck is this...?" Chiaki whispered under her breath as she approached the tower that loomed over her, casting a heavy shadow down on her, "such a gigantic building...!"

Yet despite its size, its color was faded and it was covered in dirt and moss. It looked like your textbook definition of an ancient ruin.

And yet despite that fact, she most certainly recognized the structure. The ruins bore a striking resemblance to Hope's Peak Academy's Main Building.

I mean, it made sense. This place was supposed to be based on Hope's Peak Academy, and this wasn't the only reference that she had seen while exploring the island. However...all of those previous instances had been some very minor things, like a symbol on a drinks cup that she happened to recognize, or some location names that she had heard before.

But as she looked up at the towering building above her, Chiaki kept thinking about how no matter what, it just didn't belong. She kept thinking about it, and the more she did, something about the structure just felt unnatural.

Comparing it to anything, it was as if a comic book about baseball was adapted into a side-scrolling action game. THAT kind of unnatural.

Feeling weirdly drawn to the ruins, Chiaki approached the out-of-place metal door on the front that she noticed from a distance. It was hard to make out from the rest of the wall with all the dust, but she had a keen pair of eyes.

When she approached, she brushed off some of the dust and cleared away the roots surrounding the door. When she did, the situation became all the more unnatural. The door to the ruin was incredibly hi-tech and didn't feel like it belonged there at all. Like it was a door from a sci-fi movie.