Entertaining a Small Thought

Arc 6 Part 8: Perfect Fiction

"Explain how you could have possibly met a man who died years ago." 

That should have been their first indication that whatever 'truth' they were about to discover would be the most painful thing they would ever have to face. None of them could even process the prompt Izuru gave them as they tried desperately to deny that they saw what was shown in the first place.

Because it was impossible.

Rin Wakuri was dead, yes, but he had died last night, not years ago when he was a teenager.

He had died in the Ultimate Academy, his body still within the Ultimate Survivor's Research Lab as this very trial went on, yet the video showed Rin being crushed beyond repair.

It was impossible. This entire thing was impossible. It was all fake. It had to be. Everything they were just shown...

"It's all...just fiction..." Shuichi spoke in a voice so broken it took a minute for people to realize that it was him who spoke those words. "It's all...fictional..."

Those were the words that he had said in response to the question about Tsumugi's cosplay of Rin and his friends. That was supposed to be the answer to this current dilemma the students currently face. It was all, supposedly, fiction. Their friend whom they had gotten to know throughout the course of the killing game was supposedly fictional.

That's what they were told and were now expected to believe, but even after seeing that footage, recorded as seemingly irrefutable evidence, how could they ever believe that was the answer?

"T-There's no way. That...couldn't have been Rin." Tenko muttered as her shaky eyes darted around to the others. "That all...was just a lie, right...!? That couldn't have been the Rin we knew, right!?"

No one answered. They all remained frozen in place as they stared at the screen that had shown them the brutal death of who they had believed to be a friend.

A friend, they were only now realizing, they knew shockingly little about.

"I...I don't get it. I don't get it at all." Kaede let out a soft whine as she slowly moved her hands towards her head, grasping at it as though she was enduring an endless headache. "Just...who was Rin? Who did we spend all that time with here?"

"It...was Rin Wakuri, wasn't it? It...had to be." Kokichi let out an empty laugh, even as his eyes showed genuine confusion and denial as he slowly shook his head. "Who else could he be if not that?"

"But he wasn't. He never was the real 'Rin Wakuri'. The real Rin Wakuri died before he hit eighteen." Izuru said in an emotionless tone.

"Then who the hell was that!?" Kokichi screamed. "The person we spent all that time with looked and acted just like Rin Wakuri! Everything we've seen here showed that! There's no way that was a lie!"

"That's right. Even if he was a fake, there's no way you could fake his appearance to that extent." Rantaro nodded, clearly still shaken by what happened. "That...had to be the real Rin Wakuri."

"But you've never known 'Rin Wakuri'. Not the real one. You've only known that fake who shares the same name and face. Can you honestly say without a single doubt in your mind that the person you've spent all this time with was the real genuine article? The true Rin Wakuri?" Izuru asked. "Didn't your 'friend' even say so in the very beginning?"

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"So far the only name I can think of that might be my name is Rin Wakuri."

"You can call me Rin Wakuri. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, well, if you have to call me anything, call me Rin Wakuri."

"Anyway, I should introduce myself. I think my name is Rin Wakuri. I don't really have any memories about myself, so could I ask if you've ever heard of me?"