Chapter Text
I was just waiting outside the front gates of the high school I was now going to be attending, Hope’s Peak Academy. I was going in there and I already knew the place pretty well since my Father was the headmaster of the place, and I would finally meet once again with my sister. I had not seen her since the last case we’d worked on, which brings me to tell the talent that got me brought to the school.
I’m Takumi Kirigiri, and my family is usually involved in criminal law jobs. Kyoko, my sister, is the Super High School Level Detective. As for myself I prosecute the criminals that the evidence catches, we’re a pretty great team...when the opportunity arises to work together. And so I waited outside for a few minutes before I had to go in and meet the rest of my class.
That was when I blacked out.
When I woke up I could feel the ground under me swaying, I appeared to be in a bedroom of some sort, but the strangest part of it was the fact their appeared to be a security camera looking at me. Feeling groggy and lightheaded I got up and looked outside the room window to just see an expanse of Ocean out the window, it would have been absolutely beautiful if not for the blatant feeling of unease and dread.
A hideous high-pitched voice played on the loud speaker, and it said
???:“Welcome all you bastards to the Hope’s Peak sponsored Luxury Togami Group Cruise liner! Meet immediately in the mess hall for orientation on our wonderful journey over the shining seas of Hope! Upupupupu”
Ugh, I don’t have a good feeling about the way this voice speaks, or the laugh. I looked around for a map to see if that would tell me where that’s located.
[Looks around room]
[Inspect bed] Looks like this is where I’ll probably sleep, when I’m not getting to the bottom of this.
[Inspect desk] This desk has a pretty crudely drawn monochrome bear on a slip of paper labeled “Map”. Gee, just what I needed. If this is some kind of joke or dream I’d like to leave.
[Exit room]
Let’s see, so I’ve gathered from the multitude of rooms all along this hall that there are most likely more people here. Possibly from Hope’s Peak.
[Enters Mess Hall after following map]
I entered a room full of 15 other people who all seemed to feel as I felt, confused, and many just as curious to find a way out of whatever this is.
An excitable girl with streaks of blue in her hair and a belt that was too big and bejeweled sagging to the side of her pants dragging along a girl with similar facial features in a basketball uniform forward.
Rin: Heeeeey what’s up?! Who’re you? It’s nice to meet you, my name’s Rin, and this is Ayaka my sister!
Ayaka: …Hello.
-Double title card of SHSL Skater and SHSL Basketball Player-
I’ve heard of these two, sisters who were well known in their particular sport and have attracted large fanbases with their contrasting personalities and styles. In the bowls and halfpipes Rin goes all out and has mastered hundreds of tricks. And her sister was calculating on the court all the time, knowing exactly when she should assist and when she could score a basket herself.
The next person I found was bowing in welcome to me when I turned away from introducing myself to the Yonai Sisters. With his shoved head and traditional robes. He introduced himself as the Monk, Akatsuki Ichigo.
-SHSL Monk title card-
Ichigo: It is a pleasure of you to join us, may I ask you for a name?
Takumi: Ah well I’m Takumi Kirigiri, SHSL Prosecutor. Nice to get to know some classmates, even under these...unsettling circumstances.
Up next was a muscular...I assume a high schooler with thick gloves and lengthy black hair tied up above his head., a short androgynous looking person, and a guy with one of those helmets with a light on it and a vest matching his khaki-type shorts.
The one that spoke up was the one with the helmet
Masaru: ‘Ello I’m Masaru Taira, nice to meet you. I woulda more likely ‘xpected myself or the good luck to ‘ave wandered in ‘ere last heh. But anyway I’m the SHSL Paleotologist.
-SHSL Paleontologist title card-
and as for these two the tall one’s Kazuki Yoshimura an the lil one’s Yasu Fukuoka.
Oh yeah, Yasu’s a voice actor, I think I recognize them from some the credits of some of my sh...the cartoons I sometimes tune in to.
-SHSL VA title card-
Yasu: Uh, it’s a real pleasure to meet you!
Takumi: Same to you. I know some of your work. (Oh my god will they sign my posters? No no, calm down Takumi)
-SHSL Blacksmith title card-
Kazuki: ....
Takumi: (Well I guess he doesn’t talk much)
Kazuki: No, you will stay, I have not greeted you yet Sir Kirigiri.
Takumi: Oh, pleasure to meet you!
Kazuki: It quite is...
Takumi: Yes…(May I go now? Other people seem to really want to meet me.)
Kazuki: Yes, you’re free to leave me now, we shall meet again.
After being vaguely intimidated by the fact that he sort of just read my thoughts as if this were a novel of some type, I moved on. Then it was somebody I also recognized, Kazumi Satomi, she was a famous Film Director who had won several awards and even went to Hollywood and won Oscars for best Picture, Director, and Foreign Language film.
-SHSL Film Director title card-
Satomi: Out of all the people here, let me just say you come in my second place of gorgeous potential film stars…
Takumi: Thank you, …. wait then who’d be the first?
Satomi: Aww, you really are cute. So you know what darling you can be the first and a halveth…half… halved. Right under Ryunosuke, his clothes… are just the most glorious thing. You are snazzy but eh, understudy to him you are!
Takumi: Again, an honor to meet you and get complimented as such (A very uncomfortable honor though)
Ryunosuke: That suit… no it won’t do, you need a little change to … the neck area, maybe a scarf? But that’d mean I’d have to tweak it even more to fix the alteration.
-SHSL Fashion Expert title card-
Takumi: Excuse me uh, I’m fine with this look.
Ryunosuke: Oh well fine, I’m only trying to help all of you here by using my talents and nice personality.
Takumi: Thank you, maybe I’ll stop by later! (or absolutely avoid you for being pretentious)
Ryunosuke: I’d be glad to see you again.
Well moving on from those… eccentric characters I go on to some of the others. Knowing this school I’s new students in my class would be exactly like this. I’m okay with this, but interrupting my thoughts all of a sudden is
-SHSL Astrologist title card-
Ai: Hello there Kirigiri-kun, you are a Libra in the western zodiac are you not?
Ai Mikumi is an expert in all fields of Astrology, knows every twist and turn of the zodiac, and can use it to make (usually) accurate predictions and guesses about the past. Many skeptics argue that her talent is easily debunked as superstition, but I’m not too sure.
Takumi: Ah, you guessed correctly on both my name and sign.
Ai: Betcha want to know how I can do such incredible feats, no?
Takumi: Because you have ESP?
Ai: Nope, good intuition from the help of the stars!
Takumi: Of course (there is no other way I could expect that to have been said, maybe I’m the one with ESP)
Then a calm faced girl was sitting at a table, and in between introductions she was looking down at some papers, and she looked European from what I could tell, so I walked up to introduce myself.
It turns out that those papers were sheet music.
-SHSL Pianist title card-
Floria: Ah yes, you came into this room last, did you not Sir?
Takumi: Takumi Kirigiri, a prosecutor. And you?
Floria: Floria Kirkland, from England originally, I’m working on some music, so I’ll just wait until whatever that voice was from shows up.
Takumi: Oh yeah, I was wondering about that, it sounded freakishly high pitched, I know we have a voice actor here but do you think they sent the message as some sort of character? They don’t seem like the kind of person to…
Yasu: I can guarantee one hundred percent that voice wasn’t mine. I know I sound rather high pitched but I know I didn’t make that voice because I don’t know where it came from… Taira-kun, Yoshimaru-kun I’m worried…
And there they majestically ran off to their friends. Leaving us two as quickly as they’d arrived. I honestly should stop thinking about this and move on to the next person.
Approached by someone in a brown jacket and a big breathing apparatus mask around their mouth, and gloves. They take off the gloves and lower the mask.
-SHSL Graffiti Tagger title card-
Nori: Sup, I’m Nori Segawa, heard you were a lawyer dude. Aren’t going to sue me for my talent or anything?
Takumi: Actually I’d be to busy suing you for terrifying me with your huge mask before then.
Nori: Have a sense of humor eh? We can get along, though some of these guys just seem uptight. Bluh. Especially the guy who like, apparently owns this boat. Toga-something.
Takumi: Togami? Someone from the Togami group is here huh? Maybe he’ll know what’s happening.
???: Sorry to interrupt but he told me to quicken the introductions.
-SHSL Baker title card-
Chikako: So hurry it up he says or he’ll make you.
Nori: Jeez, see what I mean. Such an uptighty tightwad.
Chikako: Anyway… I’m Chikako… Sako , SHSL Baker.
Takumi: Well I’m Takumi Kirigiri, SHSL Prosecutor, great to meet you guys.
???: Hey hey. Listen up everybody, almost all of us are getting down and acquainted with the new dude here, so don’t forget to allow me in on this.
I recognized that voice from a few of the radio stations I flipped through sitting around in between cases. He was smooth and his station, yes, he did in fact actually own and DJ his own station. The station played Rock and pop from the best artists in the nation, and some even had exclusive contracts with his studio. It was Eizen Terakado and his unmistakable shades.
-SHSL Radio DJ title card-
Eizen: Besides me there is only our Lucky Girl, Tomako Ginae and the one and only just as confused as the rest of us, Tessai Togami!
Takumi: Wait!? The guy from the Togami group is even stumped by this, what next?! He talks to me and tells me all about how he passed out too?
Tomako: Huh? So it appears if you passed out, and I passed out, there seems to be a pattern emerging here.
-SHSL Good Luck title card-
She really did look like an average high schooler, they were right about the lotteries. She was wearing a regular grey-green school uniform and skirt under a hooded jacket and wore red sneakers, and wore her dark brown hair in a ponytail, the front sort of stuck out in a cowlick as well.
Tomako: Anyways hey. So you’re Takumi Kirigiri-kun then? Pleasure to meet you, I shall be your guide over to Togami, he’d want all of us to gather by the center of the room Y’know?
So the rest of us followed Tomako into the center of the room where Tessai Togami was standing.
He wore a business suit, had thick round glasses, his hair was almost platinum colored blonde and his eyes were blue.
-SHSL ??? title card-
Tessai: Oi, now that all of you have gathered here. We will devise a plan to leave this boat as soon as possible.
Tessai: Considering that many of us here are important, this is probably a devised kidnapping meant to extort money from our families and friends. From what I can gather they have drugged us, and there obviously has to be a large group behind this.
Tessai: They’re possibly a terrorist organization, which have motives that are presently unknown.
???: Do you really think this is a terror plot, and not a school and business funded glorious trip around the world?
Tessai: Where did that voice come from? Show yourself!
And with little warning pyrotechnics shot out of the stage and out popped on the podium the same monochrome teddy bear drawn on the map.
Ryunosuke: W-what is this, some sort of prank?!
Nori: What the-!
The others protest the strange appearance of this bear, but it quickly halts them
???: Calm down you all, jeez a bunch of noisy children you are.
Eizen: And you’re just a noisy stuffed toy!
???: I’m NOT a stuffed toy, I’m your principal and the captain of this luxury ship! I’m Monokuma!
Monokuma: Now let me just inform you that this cruise shall take a bit of a long time.
Masaru: ‘Ow long yah talking about?
Monokuma: Hmm, let me just think….how about… the rest of you bastards lifespans!!
Tomako: W-w-Huh? You can’t just keep us on a boat forever! There couldn’t possibly be enough food for 16 people for the next *counts on hands* 70-ish years!
Monokuma: Oh? Is that how long you think it will take. I guess I could be generous and let you guys in on a secret on how to get out.
Rin: Really? What is it? Tell me now!
Monokuma: Upupupupu, I am so delighted that you asked. The only way of this luxury cruise vacation, but who would want to leave all this? Well the only way is to…kill one of your classmates and not get caught! Nobody can know you did it.
Yasu: K-kill a classmate? *sniff*
Yoshimura: Who would even think about such an unspeakable thing?!
Ichigo: I agree with the honorable Blacksmith, none of us shall be committing murder.
Monokuma: Well if that’s how you want to be fine. Have a fun time reading the rules you’ll be needing to here.
The so called principal of Hope’s Peak and the Captain of this cruise disappeared, as if he poofed out of reality.
Takumi: Now you wait up my dad was the principal at Hope’s Peak! What did you do to him!?
That is how the nightmare aboard the cruise liner of despair began. A thick air of worry, puzzlement, and despair clouded us as we thought about, for probably the first real time in our lives, the possibility that they'd end.
16 Students remain
[/end prologue]