The Enigmatic Code and a Forecaster’s Awakening

“Uwaah!” The sudden, unexpected tug caught Takagi completely off guard, leaving him no time to react.

“Thump!” Having scanned the surroundings, I swiftly shut the room’s door.

“Uh… well… Kamimura-san, are you alright?”

“Hm? I’m fine, just a bit of discomfort in my eyes… Alright, let’s get down to business. What was Monokuma’s gift to you…?”

“Eh? Oh… it’s this thing…” He pulled out his student ID and opened the ‘Gift’ section. The contents within were merely a code: ‘LTⅠōⅤōⅦⅢōⅠⅠ’. The sequence of Roman numerals and letters seemed utterly inscrutable.

‘What does LT stand for? An abbreviation of an English name? Or a word? And what about this ‘ō’ symbol? It looks like the letter ‘o’ but with a bar above it. What meaning could be hidden within the numerical code “157311,” formed by these Roman numerals? A mere mysterious code, yet it encompassed countless riddles. Unraveling it alone, in such a short span, would be impossible for me.’

“Kamimura-san, have you thought of anything…?” Takagi cautiously inquired.

“I… I don’t understand it. At least for now, I haven’t the slightest clue.” I offered the most truthful reply.

“Is that so…”

“What about you? Do you have any ideas about it?”

“Hmm… that ‘ō’ symbol alone is giving me a headache… However, I’m guessing it might mean zero!”

“Oh? And how did you come to that conclusion?”

“Look… the symbol isn’t directly next to a letter. Instead, it’s sandwiched between Roman numerals. I think it must be related to a number! Furthermore, its shape resembles the digit zero. So, I believe this symbol means the number zero… right?” Takagi, standing beside me, explained thoughtfully. Unbeknownst to him, we had drawn quite close.

“That makes some sense… If it indeed corresponds to the number zero… then it would be ‘105073011’… It looks like a string of code… Takagi, what are your thoughts on the letters LT?”

“Hmm… LT… Little? List? Last? Litter? No, this isn’t working… my English is terrible.” He racked his brain, muttering several English words. Eventually, constrained by his limited vocabulary, he declared his guessing over with a frustrated expression.

“Hahaha… Li… litter? How did such strange things get mixed in there?” Watching him, so earnest yet utterly baffled, offering such odd explanations, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“D-don’t laugh… I genuinely don’t know what it means…”

“Oh, never mind, never mind. If we can’t figure it out now, it’s not too late to think about it later, is it? Who knows, you might suddenly have a flash of inspiration one day~” I gave him a mischievous, teasing grin.

“Why do I feel like… I’m being subtly mocked…?”

“Speaking of which, you seem surprisingly normal, don’t you?”

“Huh?… Was I… never normal in your eyes before?” The moment I uttered those words, Takagi froze. He then made a pained expression, as if having grievances he dared not voice.

“You idiot, you? What I meant was… why aren’t you showing any unusual reactions after watching the video?” I lightly tapped his head.

“Hehe… I’m a positive and optimistic person. Even if something embarrassing happened to me in the past, I wouldn’t let a bad mood get me down!”

“Such as…?”

“When I was in elementary school, I mistakenly bought condoms thinking they were chewing gum…. Ah!! Kamimura-san, are you trying to trick me?!”

“Pfft! That wasn’t my i-intention, you know?” Unable to suppress my laughter, I quickly clenched my fist to cover the slight upturn of my lips.

“H-how embarrassing…” His face flushed bright red within seconds.

“Ah~ your face is as red as a monkey’s backside again~?” Teasing him was becoming increasingly addictive.

“A monkey’s backside?! Why use that as a comparison?!… Please, stop teasing me, Kamimura-san~”

“Alright, alright, I should probably take a break too…”

“Um… Kamimura-san, did you gain any insights…?”

“…” I suddenly fell silent. Noticing my unusual quietness, Takagi quickly spoke up.

“My apologies… If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. It’s not too late to discuss it once you’ve sorted it out, right?”

“It seems you’re learning to apply what you’ve learned…” I smiled faintly, closing my eyes.

“Well then… I won’t bother you any longer. Bye-bye!” Takagi, returning my smile, then left the room.

****

‘In truth… in that moment, I had intended to tell him about the “gift” Monokuma had given me. But for some reason… an inexplicable resistance within me prevented the words from escaping. Even though I hadn’t even seen the contents of the “gift” myself…’

‘I reopened my student ID. The moment my eyes landed on the words “Motive,” a shiver ran through my entire body. My heart began to pound wildly. I would never watch that repulsive video a second time!’

‘I clicked on “Personal Profile.” The instant it opened, I was utterly dumbfounded. Before my eyes, one piece of information had changed: Ultimate “Dream Forecaster.”’

‘What… what kind of ability was this…? A “Dream Forecaster”…? Predicting the future through dreams? What could I predict? Misfortune? Good luck? Or… death?’

‘Wait a moment… death…? I remembered the night before Furuhata-san died, I had heard a continuous “buzzing” sound in my dream, followed by a “clunking” sound. Could it be… that sound was the elevator operating?’

‘By that logic, I should have been able to predict Amagasa-san’s death as well… However, I had absolutely no memory of anything unusual before his death…’

‘Could this ability have certain limitations?’

‘For instance, a “time limit.”’

‘Let’s assume this hypothesis holds true for now. Furuhata-san’s time of death was roughly eleven hours after I fell asleep. Amagasa-san’s death, on the other hand, occurred about six hours after Furuhata-san’s. As for when I predicted Furuhata-san’s death… even I couldn’t pinpoint it.’

‘From this, I could infer that I was capable of predicting events less than eleven hours into the future. Furthermore, this conclusion led me to another limitation: I couldn’t predict someone’s death while conscious.’

‘Even if my prediction window was limited, during the period from when I woke up until Amagasa-san’s death, I still hadn’t predicted his demise.’

‘So, were the subjects of my predictions also limited?’

‘Currently, I had only predicted Furuhata-san’s death. This alone couldn’t prove I could predict others’ deaths… Yet, during the school term, Furuhata-san and I had almost no interaction. We barely exchanged a few words.’

‘Which meant… I could predict the death of anyone I knew?’

‘No, that’s not right… It was true that “I” had not interacted much with him. But what if it was the original owner of this body? What if the original owner and Furuhata-san were good friends?’

‘Still, one thing could be confirmed: I could only predict the deaths of people I knew.’

‘However, there was still one thing I couldn’t confirm… Did my dreams only foretell sounds, or did they include both visuals and sounds…? Given the utter darkness of the environment at the time, I still lacked a clear understanding of my own ability.’

‘After several rounds of confirmation, I jotted down the roughly established limitations of my ability in my notebook:’

‘1. I can predict deaths occurring within a future timeframe of less than eleven hours.’

‘2. The predicted subjects must be people I know.’

‘3. The ability can only be used in a non-conscious state.’

‘4. Currently, only sounds can be definitively predicted.’

‘It seems only through future potential death incidents can I further expand my understanding of my abilities…’

‘Should I tell Takagi about my ability?… What if I accidentally drag him into danger?… What if he…’

‘Tch! What am I even thinking?! He trusts me so much, yet I harbor such suspicion towards him…’

‘As the day was quickly drawing to a close… I planned to head to the dining hall to grab something to eat and check if everyone else was alright.