Danganronpa Extra Life

Nakajima-san

Being an intern in the Future Foundation meant a huge shortage of free time. If you weren't working, you were you were training. If you weren't training, you were studying for your license. They got exactly one day off a week, and that was all that kept Chiaki going sometimes; she was still an introvert at heart and desperately needed her alone time.

At first, she'd tried to use her evenings to recuperate, but after one too many nights of oversleeping because she'd stayed up 'til two in the morning playing video games, she'd been pulled aside and told, politely, to come in on time from now on. So she shifted things around until she only played for three or so hours in the evening, and all day on her day off and holidays, and that was just enough.

That said, while the bustle of her job was exhausting, there were things she loved about it. Helping people was an obvious one, but she also quite enjoyed getting to practice her marksmanship. There were two main places to train with a gun in the Future Foundation's seventh division. The first was the shooting range, which was an ordinary room with the usual cardboard cut-out targets. That was where the interns had first learned the basics of shooting and gun care.

Beyond the range, on the same floor, was the combat simulation room. It was large, hexagonal, and five of the walls were covered with screens for near 360 degrees. On the sole blank wall by the door, hanging from hooks, were virtual reality headsets, modified from the ones Gekkogahara-san had the interns use for therapy simulations; weapons hooked up to the simulation, so it could register when one was fired; and a small computer to turn the entire thing on.

Rather than burning time and resources on constantly building and rebuilding training drones, the Future Foundation had decided combat simulations were a better way to hone one's marksmanship. The ninth division's R&D department had pulled from similar, existing technology and collaborated with several talented programmers to make it happen. It was ultimately a success; the simulation was even equipped with pain settings to make the experience more authentic, if one wanted, although there were safety precautions in place to prevent the brain from thinking it was dying. Still, Chiaki never used them. There was such a thing as too realistic.

That said, the simulation did have its limitations. The screens could only be interacted with by guns and Hacking Guns, meaning those who preferred melee weapons or even other ranged ones had to train elsewhere. It also wasn't very good for actually testing weapons, seeing as everything, including the ammunition, was virtual. She'd heard that certain branches had access to actual robots, such as the ninth division, for trying out new weapons, and more combat-oriented divisions like the sixth. They also apparently had more elaborate combat training grounds, but she was just fine with this one. It already left her a bit awed as is.

"Watanabe!" was called, jolting her out of her thoughts. Right—they were in a training session. Stepping forth, Chiak took the headgear from Honda-kun and strapped it on. She knew, without looking at the monitor on the wall, that its screen was playing the options available. If she were on her own time, she could choose a number of waves to fight, she could set a timer and aim to 'survive' until it ran out, or she could even play out certain scenarios, like a hostage situation. But today, Hayami-sensei was controlling the program, and she wanted them to do waves. Five in total.

"It's a go," the scarred woman said, stepping away from the monitor. "Ten seconds, Watanabe."

Chiaki took position in the middle of the room, finger flexing around the trigger of the gun as she mentally counted down the seconds. Exactly as she reached ten, the screens all around her lit up, the background a ruined urban area. She turned, watching a Monokuma blink into existence on a screen only three meters away. It immediately fixed its attention on her and, wasting no time, lunged, her headset making its movements appear 3D. It would actually reach her if she let it. The wonders of technology...