A translation of the “Recollections” snippets on the Digimon Survive official website. The snippets are in-character short stories from the perspective of the main eight human characters, reflecting on what they were doing prior to the events of Survive.
Note that while these short stories are chronologically prequels, they contain mild spoilers for some of the information revealed in the game.
Takuma Momotsuka’s Recollections
(It was a few days before the extracurricular camp…)
(Back then, I was watching TV and flipping through the camp guidebook so casually.)
Ah, right, we’re gonna be in tents…
Man, I really hope there won’t be bugs or anything…
Oh, we’ll be making curry together for dinner!
Yeah! I might be a little excited now.
(Thinking about it now, I was so carefree about it all, I thought I was just going so I could play around.)
(But can you really blame me?)
(I had no way of knowing just how big of a deal I was going to get into…)
Mmmm…what’s on the news?
Whoa, what’s that?…A landslide?
There’s been a lot of earthquakes and river flooding and all sorts of things like that lately, huh?
Oh, right! Maybe I should try doing some survival training once I get to camp.
Like, skills you can use to survive when you need them most…Yeah, that’ll be some good experience to have, won’t it?
…As if. Haha. Camp’s not supposed to be for that kind of thing. That’s more for hardcores and all.
(…Back then, I really should have paid more attention.)
(That landslide on TV was exactly where we were going for our camping trip.)
Aoi Shibuya’s Recollections
Sigh…
(On my way home one day, I was feeling so gloomy I sighed.)
(A kid in my class had asked a favor of me, so I’d done their class duties for them.)
(Afterwards, I realized the kid had only been exploiting me…)
(And once my teacher found out, I got scolded and asked “why didn’t you refuse?”…)
Sigh…
Why…I just wanted to be helpful to everyone…
I just wanted to do the right thing…
…Ah, come to think of it, I got this today.
This might be fun…
Yeah, I think this would be good.
I should take a breather and do this kind of thing once in a while!
Haha, I wonder what kinds of things I might experience there?
I’m kinda getting excited.
(I might have been trying to escape it all, but I was genuinely looking forward to the camp.)
(And I had no idea of what really lay in store…)
Minoru Hinata’s Recollections
Blehhhhh…Ah…I’m booooored…
…Hm? Huh?
Oh, right, the extracurricular camp is soon, huh?
A-Aaaah! I haven’t even started preparing!
Huh? Wait, what are you even supposed to take to camp anyway!?
Uh, uh, oh, right, I should just check the guidebook.
Uhhhhh…? The guidebook, the guidebook…
Oh, there it is. Hm, what’s this…?
Clothes that are easy to move around in, a bag…a handkerchief, tissues…
…Huuuuuh? Water and emergency rations? A flashlight?
Hey, wait, you gotta be kidding, right? You think we’re gonna get in some huge disaster?
Like we’re gonna go somewhere without water or electricity?
Come on, it’s not gonna be that dangerous.
I’ll just throw in something that makes more sense, like soda.
(In hindsight, back then, I didn’t have any concept of “things I shouldn’t bring”.)
(If I’d tried to get rid of things to keep my bags lighter, we’d have been in trouble later.)
(I didn’t think there’d be a day I’d actually get saved by having soda and snacks…)
Maaaaaan…I’m hungry, maybe I’ll just eat a little of it now, it’ll be fine…
No, wait, it’s almost dinnertime…hmmm…
(In the end, I held back. Seriously though, thank goodness I didn’t eat any of it!!…)
(…If I’d packed differently, things would’ve probably been totally different after that.)
(But then, I wonder what I could have packed to prevent this from happening at all…)
Ryo Tominaga’s Recollections
Extracurricular camp? Sounds dumb.
Who the hell goes to that kinda crap?
(I was grumbling to myself as I looked at a paper on the bulletin board in the hallway.)
(I didn’t see what was so fun about going out to see cherry blossom trees or historic landmarks or whatever.)
(That’s what I really thought back then…)
Ack! Ow ow ow! Hey, watch where you’re walking!
(A girl bumped into me, and I threw such an angry fit at her that she was on the verge of tears as she scampered away.)
(I looked around and saw everyone glaring at me with annoyed faces, gossiping and saying all sorts of bad things about me.)
…Hmph. What?
You think it’s my fault?…
(Yeah. It was. It was my fault. She hadn’t done it on purpose, so I had no place yelling at her like that.)
(But still…they really didn’t have to look at me like that…)
(I already knew they all hated me, so they didn’t have to hate me even more…)
If I go to camp, kids from other schools will be there…
So maybe if they’re from different schools…
(Well, I didn’t really expect anything out of it.)
(But that didn’t mean I wanted this to happen…)
Saki Kimishima’s Recollections
Oh, hello? Mom? Yeah, I’m on my way home!
(Once a month or so, I’d take a bit of a detour on my way home from school.)
(I was totally done with seeing the same results and having the same conversations all over again.)
No, nothing’s changed.
I told you, it’s fine as long as I don’t push myself too hard.
Oh, also…
Can I ask a bit of a favor…?
Today at school, I heard they were gonna be doing an extracurricular camp. So, y’know…
I really wanna go camping with them…
Oh, I got permission from my teacher of course!
We talked about it, I’m allowed to do that much at least!
(Mom was shocked and went nuts trying to stop me, but I had a trick up my sleeve.)
Hey, Mom…this could be my last…
(All it took was that, and Mom clammed up, giving me permission through her tears.)
(Maaaaan…that probably was a totally underhanded move, but I should be allowed this much, right~?)
(…But it really could be my last.)
Thanks, Mom! We’ll talk about the details when I get home!
Yeah. Okay, bye-bye!
All right! I’m gonna have so much fun at camp!
(A camping trip at just the right time…I wanted to make a ton of lovely memories, but I didn’t mean it in this way…)
(Really, just…sigh…)
Shuuji Kayama’s Recollections
Huh…?
Leading a group at an extracurricular camp, you say…?
(There weren’t enough teachers to serve as group leaders, and since I was known for my outstanding performance among the graduating students, they were asking me to help them.)
W-Well, I know I have the highest grades in my year, but leading a camp group is a different story…
(The teacher told me I had a good and reliable sense of leadership for this.)
Leadership…
Right, being a group leader would mean…
(It’d be a chance to show off my real skills.)
(Was I thinking about my father at that time? Or my brother?)
Right, I understand.
I’ll take on a position as group leader!
(On the other side of the phone line, my teacher was showering me with gratitude, and I could feel something swelling in my chest.)
(That was…yes, it was my own conceited pride swelling up within me.)
(If my father had seen me, he’d probably have scowled at me. If my brother had seen me, he’d probably have mocked me.)
(But that’s not the point. At the time, I didn’t seem to have any sense of caution at all.)
Okay! As a son of the Kayama family, I’ll show you how perfect of a leader I am!
(Not even remotely understanding how much danger my life could be in at camp…)
Kaito Shinonome’s Recollections
I’m home…
…Hm?
(It was evening and I’d just gotten back from school, but I’d noticed that my little sister Miu’s shoes weren’t at the door.)
Moooom! Where’s Miu!?
(Mom came out of the kitchen and told me Miu hadn’t come home yet.)
Huh? Still!?
It’s already evening! It’s almost dark out there!
If Miu’s out there by herself, she could easily get caught up in something again!
(I think Mom was trying to tell me I was worrying too much.)
(But I’d stopped listening to her and bolted out of the house, so I couldn’t hear what she was saying anymore.)
Aaaaargh, dammit!
It’s starting to get dark!
Ugh! Why is she like this…?!
(I was annoyed with Miu for not being careful when she went out, but for the most part, I was actually angry with myself.)
(At myself, for not protecting her back then…)
Nobody’ll be making Miu cry on my watch…I’m gonna protect you, Miu!
(That’s right. I’ll protect Miu.)
(Even if it meant the world would end…)
Miu Shinonome’s Recollections
(On that day, I was on my way home, thinking about some words that’d particularly set me off.)
Grrrrrr! They’re all so dumb.
They just don’t understand their fashion sense!
They’re saying my sleeves are too long? That I need to roll ’em up? Hmph!
You’re supposed to wear it like this! That’s how fashion works!
And then they said my hat is too childish!
They said the cat ears are too cutesy!
Why don’t they understand how cool they are?!
(Whenever I was by myself, I’d say whatever I wanted, but when I was at school and in front of everyone, I couldn’t bring myself to.)
(The words wouldn’t come out right, I’d get all flustered, and I’d end up saying something like “I’ll curse you for this!”)
Ughhhh…I couldn’t actually say it…
(I remembered all of the eyes on me at the classroom, everyone looking at me like they were scared of me, like they hated me…)
W-Why…can’t they understand…
(I was scared of being singled out…I was even more scared of being looked at from afar…)
(Because it reminded me of that time…)
Haaaah…I should go home.
If I go too far, my brother’ll never let me hear the end of it.
Geez, I wanna do what I want! I wanna go somewhere far away!
(It was half real feelings and half joke.)
(But maybe someone heard me, maybe the gods heard me…and granted my wish…?)