Chapter Text
It wasn't too abnormal for you to be the first in class. The lights were dimmed and the teacher was out, most likely in the bathroom, you think. Some of the friends that you'd usually talk to in the morning were out too, on a trip of sorts for some class that you don't take. Because of this, you didn't really hold much motivation other than to sit in your desk and wait for the first bell to ring. The sound of setting your backpack down almost echoes throughout the empty classroom. So boring, school is so boring. You lie your head into your arms, preparing to get in a few moments of rest before class starts. Closing your eyes, hiding your face completely in your forearms, you escape reality. How boring.
You think about your current obsession: the world of Danganronpa. You're the type of person to do research on your interests, and the timeline and characters of Danganronpa are exactly the kind of things you love. Especially in the sense of imagining how you would deal with the situation; not that you'd ever wish for that kind of horror to be bestowed onto you. Although, you do suppose it'd be infinitely more interesting than the monotonous life you lead at school.
"You. Girl. Wake up. Do you know what's going on?" A rude voice breaks you from your train of thought. You shift your head a bit; you're fully conscious, but you don't want to lift your head.
"What do you want?" you ask, irritated and muffled. "Class is gonna start soon isn't it? Just let me sleep."
"Class? Get up and tell me what's going on this instant!" Clearly annoyed, he moves to shake you awake, but before he touches you your head turns to give an agitated response.
"What do you mean what's going o-" You notice your surroundings. "Huh?" The first thing you notice is that the classroom you had entered and the classroom you're sitting in right now are completely different: the teacher's desk replaced by a wooden podium, the whiteboard and smartboard replaced with a (green) blackboard, and the desks made of a noticeably higher quality wood. The second thing you notice is that the voice that had been pestering you belonged to a tall and large blond guy dressed in what seems to be an amazing Ultimate Imposter Byakuya Togami Cosplay. Even his voice and fluctuations are pitch perfect to the english voice acting; you're wondering why you didn't notice that earlier. The third thing you notice is that your backpack is gone. Which means your phone is gone too. "Huh?? What's going on??" A cold feeling climbs up your spine to the back of your neck.
"Ah I see, you're just as confused aren't you? How useless," he says as he crosses his arms and looks to the side. You know he's just acting in character, but you take offense to his words anyway.
"U-useless?? Well, at least I'm not some Togami wannabe! Why are you dressed up like him anyway?" You say it as a passing comment, but when you do his eyes shoot at you, glaring with a sort of fighting fire.
"'Dressed up like him,' you say? Now what would bring you to say that sort of thing?" Under his height and intimidating stare, you can't help but feel completely under powered.
"Um well, I don't mean any disrespect! You're doing a great job, you know! Your hair and eyes look spot on! And you're more than 100% in character right now. Ahahah..." you laugh nervously. He doesn't seem satisfied by your answer, but before he can respond the door opens letting two more people in. Two amazing cosplayers of Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu and Peko Pekoyama. They look confused and disorientated.
"What, what's this bullshit?" the Kuzuryu cosplayer remarks. "Where are we?"
"Looks like a classroom," says the Pekoyama cosplayer, "but it doesn't look like many people have arrived." You don't get it, all these people's costumes, features, and voices are completely spot on. Was there a live action Super Danganronpa 2 reenactment going on?
"Is there a convention nearby or something?" you unwittingly ask aloud. Pekoyama flashes a glare at you.
"It may not look like it, but I really am trained to use this sword," she says seriously, motioning the wooden sword strapped to her back. Her glare intimidates you; you make a mental note to not mention it again. You, personally, are amazed that someone had put in that much effort into their cosplay like that.
"Wow, you must be really dedicated," you say genuinely impressed, "but isn't carrying something like that a bit heavy?" She doesn't respond. It may have been just her trying to stick to her character rather than arguing with you, or it may have been that another person came into the room and took the attention.
"Um, hello." Another beautiful cosplay, Chiaki Nanami comes in easily breaking the bad air. "Who are you?" she asks, looking directly at you. You shift uneasily, clearly realizing how out of place you are. This is a gathering of characters from Danganronpa right?
"Me? Aha I guess I'm someone who missed the memo," you mumble, rubbing the back of your neck. "I really feel out of place here, but at least you guys are confused too, right?" The Nanami cosplayer puffs her cheeks and takes a seat, unable to come with a response.
This is strange though, these cosplayers aren't giving any indication that they're in cosplay, and they're not breaking character at all. Their outfits are perfect (Kuzuryu and Togami's suits look perfectly tailored to them), their hair is perfect, their voices are perfect. It's been sitting in the back of your mind, but it was too surreal that you didn't consider it as a possibility. But could it be that something supernatural is happening right now? Some sort of dimension hopping? Something like that is impossible, right? Your life isn't that interesting, right? As the rest of the Danganronpa cast slowly trickled in, all of whom were equally amazing and confused at the situation, you began to entertain this impossibility more and more. The cosplayers talked amongst each other, having characteristically fitting reactions and conversations. You take note of the fact that there have been no doubles so far in cosplays; there is only one of each character. Maybe.... no, it couldn't really be possible for something so fantastical to happen to you. You may or may not have been a naive and gullible person, but in this situation you have to hold on to some skepticism.
It seems most of the students have arrived, save for Hinata Hajime, Teruteru Hanamura, and Mahiru Koizumi.
"This sure is strange isn't it?" A voice interrupts your train of thought. You immediately recognize it, recalling the distinct sound of Bryce Papenbrook, the English voice actor of Nagito Komaeda. "You don't know what's going on either, right?" You turn to look at him. Not only is his cosplay beautiful and accurate, he looks beyond stunning.
"Yeah..." your voice trails off. You've always held a sort of fondness for his character, but this has you practically awestruck. The cosplayer has found perfection in portraying Komaeda's balance between feminine and masculine beauty, his impossibly bizarre hairstyle, and his endlessly calming presence. Maybe it's shallow but you find yourself wishing to become closer to him. "What's your name?" you ask.
"Me? Ahah, I'm nobody important," he says, waving his hand dismissively, "but since you asked, my name is Nagito Komaeda. It's nice to meet you." He smiles and looks at you expectantly. You realize he's waiting for you to give your name as well, but you hesitate. You're slightly upset that he only gave you the name of his character. You already knew who that was. You wanted to know the name of the person behind the costume. You pout, but just as you were about to oblige the attention shifted somewhere else.
"Now that it seems we're all here, I think we should discuss the matter at hand," announces Togami with authority. The last few people must have come in without you noticing. You glance around to find Hanamura and Koizumi, but not Hinata.
"Eh?! This is everyone?! How'd you figure that, huh?" interrupts the Ibuki Mioda cosplayer, making exaggerated motions with her hands. Everyone... Everyone? This isn't everyone at all; the protagonist isn't here!!
"There are sixteen desks in this classroom. Now that he’s here, there are sixteen of us," Togami remarks, most likely referring to the Hanamura cosplayer who was the last person to come in. "It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out."
"Um, aren't we missing someone important?" you ask. Komaeda looks at you strangely. If these guys are such die hard fans of Danganronpa as their cosplays say they are, shouldn't they recognize that the protagonist isn't here yet? Unless... no, that's still too much of an impossible scenario.
"Really? And who may that be?" Togami asks, approaching you, towering over you, looming over you. A cold feelings crawls up your neck. Ah, what an intimidating person, you think to yourself. And yet it's so fitting for him. You notice a cosplayer for Mikan Tsumiki nervously contemplating whether or not to defuse the tense situation. But before you could respond, before Tsumiki could act, the door opened, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.
"...Huh?" It's Hajime Hinata. Well, Hajime Hinata's cosplayer. Just like everyone else, he looks amazing. He looks precise in his cosplay, so much so that he looks almost just as plain as the game had made him out to be.
"Who are you?" Pekoyama asks directly.
"Eh?"
"Um… are you quite alright? Your face appears most pale…" Sonia Nevermind's cosplayer slightly tilts her head.
"I... I'm..." Hinata stutters. He looks more disorientated than anyone else who had come, and yeah, he really does look pale.
The Mahiru Koizumi cosplayer speaks up. "Hey, maybe… Did you also just enroll here?" Enrolled? Huh?
"Ah! Are you all..?"
"Yep! That’s what it looks like. We’re the new students here," a cosplayer for Kazuichi Souda finishes. Hinata's disorientation definitely plays into his slow acceptance of new information. However, your confusion begins to mimic his as some things just don't add up to you.
The others continue with their conversation, becoming background sound as you think to yourself. They say they enrolled here. That they are all students here. Here? Here in your stupid public school where it's so boring and pointless that half the kids skip class? No, that isn't where Here is. These cosplayers, are they referring to the fictional Hope's Peak Academy? It's impossible for that to be here, right? They must be reading off of some sort of script, right? You must have been dragged into some sort of elaborate prank, right? You feel your heart beating faster and a hot wash going from the back of your neck to the sides of your face. Doubt and skepticism start to slowly seep out of your grasp, but you're clutching as tight as possible.
"Or maybe, maybe this is some kind of an 'entrance exam?'" says the closest person to you, Komaeda, draining your focus from your own thoughts to his words.
"An entrance exam? At Hope’s Peak Academy?" Hinata says. They have to be reading off a script.
"But I had thought Hope’s Peak Academy was beyond such…" Nevermind says. They must be, there's no way that they're not.
"Maybe that’s just what they say publicly, and there’s actually a special secret exam once the students enroll…" Komaeda says. This conversation, this dialogue feels almost word for word to the prologue of the game. Right?
"Ah! That’s not it! This isn’t an entrance exam!" Someone with an infinitely cute and feminine voice speaks up. Although, you know who it is.
" …What was that, just now?" Togami reacts; he looks around, but his expression is neither annoyed or concerned. Halfway across the room Kuzuryu clicks his tongue.
"Hey, Fatso…" he starts, "Don’t go making baby voices…" He looks away, unsure of himself. You notice that his confusion and conviction seems so genuine.
"I don’t feel like arguing about my body weight right now," Togami cooly responds, "but that voice wasn’t coming from me." He crosses his arms. You make a face, unable to decipher everyone's perfectly performed confusion.
"…Huh? So, who was it?" asks an Akane Owari cosplayer, annoyed.
"Um, it was me!!" responds the baby voice.
"WHO IS IT? WHERE ARE YOU!?!" yells the cosplayer of Nekomaru Nidai, bawling his fists and projecting his deep voice to all corners of the room. At this point, you remember what happens next.
"Isn’t it coming from behind that podium?" suggests Nanami, directing everyone's attention to the front of the classroom. As everyone else's eyes went to the podium, you notice Nanami let out a shy smile. You remember, this is the scene where Monomi is introduced as Usami.
"Bingo!" the baby voice starts. "It seems everyone’s here, so let’s begin!" As soon as the voice finished that announcement, bright pink ribbons of light beamed from the podium followed by cutesy sound effects and heart shaped light effects. Finally the source of that voice, Usami, pops from light. Her movements are fluid and cute, each step of her toe letting out a sort of plush toy squeak. She spins her magical wand twice before landing one leg in a sort of "Ta-daa!" motion. Despite knowing and anticipating this, you are just as dumbfounded as the rest of the students.
Nevermind was the first one to react. "What is that thing…?" You furrow your brow and make a decision.
"Um… I think it’s a stuffed doll…" Koizumi hesitantly responds. You remember what's supposed to happen next in the game.
"That’s right!" says Usami in a congratulatory tone. "I’m a stuffed doll. I’m made of felt. My name is 'Magical Girl Miracle Usami,' but you can just call me Usami!" She smiles and dances slightly, making a twirl before continuing, "I’m your teacher, everyone. Pleased to meet you!"
You let everyone's reactions to the situation fall back as you think to yourself. You know what happens next. The walls come down to reveal that we were never in a real classroom but on an island beach. You make the decision that if that happens, you will accept this situation as reality because that would be truly impossible. You will accept that you really have gone through a sort of world hopping experience. This is because everything that's happened so far could be possible. It's possible that you were so disorientated this morning that you went into a weird place instead of your class. It's possible that you stumbled upon an amazing live action roleplay session or reenactment of Super Danganronpa 2. It's even possible that there's this amazing robot with unbelievably fluid movements.
As if on cue, Souda seems to respond to your thought. "That kind of movement? From a remote control?" His palm presses against his head. "This isn’t toy-level technology…" He's sweating and shaking, clearly doubting the reality of this situation.
"The problem isn’t how this thing is moving," Togami declares, "It’s what it seems to be saying." His expression and posture become accusatory, directed at Usami. "You know, don’t you. You know what kind of situation we’re in."
"Of course I know!" Usami says, giggling. "I’m the supervising teacher for this field trip, after all!" She smiles, seeming content and proud of herself for her position.
"Field trip..?" Togami is taken aback. "What do you mean, 'field trip?'"
"It means a school event where students go on a trip and perform group activities under the supervision of a teacher!" Usami answers, smiling to herself.
Hinata hesitates to react, saying under his breath, "W, we weren’t asking for a definition…"
"Let’s get going!" Usami raises her paw and wand with a smile. "Your fun field trip starts nooow!" Her wings flutter, and the room begins to rumble as pink lights shine across the room.
This is it, you think to yourself. This will be the proof that you are no longer in your world. You're sweating, that hot wash from earlier is back and ten times worse. But also you're incredibly cold, goosebumps cover your arms and a chill feeling crawls up your spine. This is it, you think to yourself.
The roof opens up, the walls fall down, revealing a blindingly bright sky with a tropical backdrop. Crashing waves and swaying palm trees fill in your eardrums. It's a truly beautiful scene, but how do I say this? You fainted.