To say Komaru was confused was the understatement of the century. Her life recently had already been bizarre, from her kidnapped isolation being broken by these strange Monokuma robots, to her encounter with the "Warriors of Hope", to meeting Toko, nothing really made all that much sense anymore. This, though, this was a whole other level. While exploring the city with Toko, she suddenly found her consciousness fading, and when it came back, she was in a completely different location, in a completely different body. It was a little difficult to tell exactly what was going on with the way the Monokuma kids were dragging her away the moment she regained consciousness, but it seemed she'd been put into the body of one of the Warriors of Hope themselves, specifically Masaru Daimon, Li'l Ultimate P.E.. This entire situation had somehow progressed from bizarre to downright impossible.
Though she struggled against the grip of the Monokuma kids, she was ultimately unable to do anything, and found herself being tossed into some sort of jail cell along with what appeared to be four other members of the Warriors of Hope. Did they have other people in their bodies as well? The kid in the mask, Jataro she was pretty sure he was called, seemed to be shouting the most, demanding answers and screeching about some sort of "Master", in stark contrast to his usual behaviour. Only after the Monokuma kids left, leaving the group alone in the cell, did he finally quieten down. Glancing around at the other Kotoko, or the body thereof, seeming to have a similar expression to what Komaru assumed her own face must look like right now; uncomfortable and confused. On the hand, the body of Nagisa seemed to be a little confused and irritated, but still seemed to be significantly calmer than the rest of them.
Komaru was fairly certain no one here knew anything more than she did, but with Jataro's body still very clearly upset, and neither of Kotoko or Nagisa's bodies seeming to be ready to speak up yet, she felt the need to take control of the situation as best she could. "Hey, um," she mumbled, finding it incredibly odd to hear a young boy's voice coming out of her mouth. That was probably the least of her problems right now, though. "Does anyone know what's going on here?"
"Does is l-look like I know wh-what's going on!?" Jataro's body spart back, stuttering its way through its words.
"Um, pardon me," Kotoko's body interjected as she approached, awkwardly fiddling with the hem of her skirt. For the time being, Nagisa's body just stayed back and watched. "Would I be correct in assuming you're not really who you look like either?"
Komaru resisted the urge to let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't the only one who was going through this weird out-of-body experience. She gave a small nod before replying. "That's right. My name's Komaru Naegi. I was just exploring Towa City when-"
"Wait, Omaru!?" Jataro's body interrupted, staring at Komaru with wide eyes.
It took but a second for Komaru to recognise to recognise that nickname, or rather that mispronunciation of her name that she was chosen to accept as a nickname. "...Toko?"
Toko let out a small sigh and looked away. "I sh-should have known it was you who g-got me into this m-mess."
"Hey! How is any of this my fault?" Komaru shot back. Toko had alreays been a bit prickly in the short time they'd known each other, but despite that, she was still glad Toko was here.
"Hold on, you two know each other?" Kotoko's body asked, looking back and forth between Komaru and Toko.
Slightly embarrassed at leaving them out of the loop, Komaru filled them in to the best of her ability. "Yeah. Like I said, I'm Komaru Naegi, and this is Toko Fukawa. We were searching Towa City for a way out and Toko's, uh, "Master." I suddenly passed out, and then when I woke up I was here."
"The same th-thing happened to me," Toko added, taking on her usual standoffish attitude now that she had calmed down a little.
"I see. I guess I should introduce myself, then." Kotoko's body gave a small, polite bow, though it was clearly a very awkward one. "My name is Taichi Fujisaki, and I'm in a similar situation to you two. I was investigating Towa Tower when I passed out, and now I'm in the body of this young girl for some reason."
"Fujisaki?" Toko quietly mumbled to herself. "It c-couldn't be..."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Fujisaki." Komaru wasn't entirely sure what Toko was on about, but decided to refocus her attention on the one person who hadn't said anything yet. "What about you?" she asked, looking over at Nagisa's body. "Did you get swapped as well."
Still looking a little too calm for the current situation, Nagisa's body gave a small nod. "That's right. I'm Hiroko Hagakure. I also experienced something similar to you three."
"Hagakure? That c-can't be a coincidence, c-can it?" Toko continued mumbling to herself, confusing Komaru further.
For the time being though, she chose to ignore Toko's mumbling, and instead tried to sum up the situation so they could try to figure out where to go from here. "Okay so, all we know is that the four of us were somewhere in Towa City, when we all passed out and woke up here... somehow." Komaru was feeling the urge to pace around while she thought it through, not helped by the sheer amount of excess energy Masaru's body seemed to have, but decided against it. Having a male body, even one that was this young, was weird enough while sitting still.
"Th-Those kids are probably b-behind this," Toko added, idly kicking at the bars.
"Undoubtedly," Hiroko stated, still seeming to be calmer than the rest of the swapped group. Somehow, this wasn't fazing her all that much. "Say, did any of you three happen to have some sort of strange bracelet on before you got switched?"
"Er, yes actually," Taichi replied with a nod. "I tried removing it, but I couldn't find a way to interface with it.
"I didn't have one, b-but Omaru did," Toko answered.
"Hm, so it's not all of us, then," Hiroko mused, putting a hand to her chin.
"What was up with that thing anyway?" Komaru asked.
"They signify that we're part of this "demon hunting" game the kids are doing. ...And they prevent us from leaving the city."
"...Oh," Komaru mumbled. All that time looking for a way out, only to be told that it would be useless anyway.
"But..." Hiroko paused for a moment as she held up her arm. "Now that we're in these bodies, we don't have them anymore."
"Are you suggesting what I think you are?" Taichi asked, his expression twisting into something deeply concerned.
"It's just an idea, but if we manage to get out of this cell, we might be able to leave the city."
"What!?" Toko shouted, seemingly clenching her fists under Jataro's sleeves. "N-No way! I'm n-not leaving here in some w-weird kid's body!"
"I can't say I'm too happy about the idea either," Taichi said with a small nod. "I know the world isn't exactly in the best of states right now, but I doubt my wife would appreciate me coming home looking like this."
Komaru briefly thought about the idea. Would she be okay with escaping, even if he meant she had to keep this body? What would her parents think? What would her brother think? Was it really worth escaping if she couldn't return to her own body ever again? She wasn't sure. That said, it didn't change the fact that there were more pressing matters at hand. "Well, we can discuss that later," she said, trying to take charge of the conversation again. "We won't be able to escape or get our bodies back if we're stuck inside this cell. We should probably figure that out first before we figure out what we're going to do about... well, this." She gestured down towards her body, or rather the body she'd been placed in. Something told her things weren't going to get less confusing any time soon.
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