Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The massive high school towers over all the other buildings in this bustling urban area. It's like the school stands at the center of the entire world. That day… It wasn't just a typical day for me. It was a day that felt truly significant. And when this long awaited day finally came, I felt proud in a way I can’t really put into words. I felt like I had just become a part of something greater than myself. Does that make sense? Actually, that’s exactly what it was like. I was truly in a dream.

 Hope’s Peak Academy… That place was so much more than a school to me. Kids who love to play baseball will long to join the major leagues. Kids who love to play soccer will long to join a rep team. And ever since I was a kid, I’ve felt the same way about Hope’s Peak Academy.

 Hope’s Peak Academy is a government funded school for the privileged elite of society. It recruits top students from every imaginable field to inspire hope, and in doing so, shape the future. Whenever Hope’s Peak Academy is mentioned, it’s only a matter of time before someone says, “If you come here and manage to graduate, you’ll be set for life.” 

And just so you know, that’s not a joke or an exaggeration at all. Many of the current leaders of various industries are actually alumni of this school. Well, that’s basically what Hope’s Peak Academy is all about. As they say, it’s truly the Academy of Hope. 

There are two criteria you must meet in order to attend the school: One, you must be a current high school student. Two, you must be the very best at what you do. Unlike other schools, there aren’t any entrance exams at this academy. The only way to get in is if the school scouts you itself. That is how Hope’s Peak Academy operates. Now, because of the talents of those who are chosen, the students of Hope’s Peak Academy are called Ultimates.

But even though I’m finally going to Hope’s Peak Academy, the school I desired more than anything else, the truth is, my circumstances are a little different than that of my peers… Well, I guess I can put that aside for now. You’ll find out soon enough, and it’s nothing I really want to talk about right now. 

Anyway, I guess I should introduce myself first. I’m not so special that I HAVE to introduce myself, and formalities are always a little embarrassing… Well, this IS what’s expected, I guess that’s how I should think about it. 

My name is Hajime Hinata and I’m the Ultimate Programmer. It’s not the most exciting talent, I know, but I’ve always had an affinity for technology, and I’ve even recently started to develop my own AI. Honestly, the way I discovered my talent is a bit pathetic.

 Years ago, I searched for any potential talents that I might have, because I wanted so desperately to go to Hope’s Peak that I tried every activity and talent I could think of, hoping desperately for anything that could make me an Ultimate. I was painfully average at every single thing that I tried, until finally I decided to try my luck with computers, and to my surprise, I was finally good at something.

 I practiced my coding skills, working hard and developing systems and programs and games in an attempt to be worthy of Hope’s Peak Academy, but eventually I grew to love my talent and all that it entails. Still, despite getting the letter and being recognized for my talent and effort as an Ultimate, I somehow still didn’t feel worthy of being in the presence of all those other Ultimates that would be in my class.

I’ve always admired the school so much that to me, attending Hope’s Peak Academy is like being a celebrity or a superhero. In fact, instead of calling it admiration, it’s more like it’s always been a dream of mine. That’s why, to feel like a member of society, to become someone I can be proud of, I always wanted to go to Hope’s Peak Academy.

 I might have admired talent over individuality, but I finally achieved what I’ve been dreaming of for forever. I tried my best to become an ultimate, and my wish finally came true. The Ultimate Programmer.

I looked at some online Hope’s Peak Academy fan threads on my computer last night to see who my future classmates would be in preparation for today. 

There's the Ultimate Prince, the Ultimate Fashionista, the Ultimate Aikido Master, the Ultimate Fanfic Creator, the Ultimate Baseball Player, the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, the Ultimate Gymnast, the Ultimate Adventurer, the Ultimate Inventor, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy, the Ultimate Team Manager, the Ultimate Clairvoyant… There were a few students who I couldn't find any info on, no matter how much I looked, but it was the country's finest, top to bottom, and when I saw my name along with theirs on the official looking forums, I couldn’t help but blush.

Now, standing in front of the school, despite how out of place I felt, I felt happy and proud, but also nervous, at the giant building looming in front of me. 

The orientation guide said that there would be a meeting for all of the incoming students in the main hall at 8 am, so I decided that I should probably head in now, even though it was a bit early. It was 7:10 am right now, so I still had 50 minutes until the orientation meeting. There was no one else here, which makes sense considering that I was in the building so early.

It seemed like a good idea to look around the building and explore while I waited, but I never expected the entire world to sway and distort when I took my first step in the building.

My view became warped, twisted. It was like some kind of delusion, melting away and mixing together into something else. Spinning, mixing, melting away, then spinning again… Then, everything went black. 

Huh..? What…? Where am I…? Hajime thought to himself groggily. Hajime had woken up with his head resting on top of a hard wooden desk in an empty classroom. His body felt heavy. What was I doing asleep here just now? This isn't a classroom I've ever been in before. What the hell is going on...?

Hajime examined his surroundings with increasing awareness in shock, confusion and suspicion. Something felt weird about this whole situation, but Hajime couldn’t quite put a finger on exactly what it was. 

There was a tv of some sort mounted on a giraffe-patterned wall, and next to the tv was a big blank chalkboard with a clock hanging above it. Somehow it was already past 8 am. It didn’t feel like it had already been about an hour since he arrived, but he guessed that was probably because of his impromptu nap.

There were huge metal plates bolted onto the wall, probably to cover up the windows, but why? There was also a surveillance camera in the corner, which kind of made sense, but it was still pretty weird. Also, there was a note laying on the desk he woke up on. 

The note was a cheap looking orientation pamphlet, with handwritten words covering the page. “Hey there new kid! The next semester is about to start. Starting today, this school will be your entire world."

Is this a joke?! Hajime thought to himself.

He was confused and wary with no working theory as to how he ended up here, in what was most likely a classroom in Hope’s Peak Academy, with bolted sheets of metal on the windows like it was some kind of prison. It just didn’t make any sense!

Hajime looked at the clock once more and decided to just leave this weird situation for now since he was already late to the orientation meeting and he needed to get to the main hall. The hall and some of its rooms were weird too, but he didn’t have the time to examine them further. 

When he finally entered the main hall, everyone else was already in there. There was a cacophony of voices, one right after another. Hajime barely had any time to respond.

“Who goes there?” An intense looking girl with braided silver hair and red eyes exclaimed.

“Eh?” Hajime muttered, taken aback.

“Um… are you feeling alright? You look quite pale.” A blonde girl with blue eyes asked, concerned.

“Ah, um…” Hajime didn’t know how to respond.

“Hey, could you be… you’re also a freshman at this school, right?” A girl with red hair in a bob and olive green eyes asked.

“Ah, then… you’re all..?” Hajime questioned. 

“See for yourself. We’re all freshmen, too.” A guy with bright pink hair and eyes said casually.

These guys… is this everyone? The freshmen who were accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy… The Ultimates?

“I assume… freshmen like us have been gathered in the main hall, just like the guidebook said to.” A girl with shoulder length pink hair and eyes said.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Hi, I’m Hajime Hinata. Sorry I’m late, a bunch of stuff happened… I was dizzy, and all of a sudden I was just… asleep, before waking up in a classroom.” Hajime explained. 

Everyone else shared glances, surprised and a little concerned. 

“Whoa, you too?” The pink haired boy exclaimed.

“I-it sure is strange. Nobody actually remembers how they came here.” The red headed girl said suspiciously.

“Eh!? That dizziness wasn’t just me? Everyone felt the same dizziness… that’s weird!” A short brunette boy proclaimed.

“E-Even if it’s just a coincidence… it feels too good to be true…” A girl with choppy purple hair stuttered.

“Everyone just calm down! Listen, why don't we all go around and introduce ourselves?” A girl with black, pink, white and blue hair tried.

“Now's not the time for friggin' introductions!” A short babyfaced boy with blonde hair yelled. 

“Maybe, but it may be good to at least find out who we all are before digging into the bigger problems here. I mean, how are we even supposed to talk to each other if we do not know each other's names?” The girl with pink hair and eyes stated.

“That's a good point…” The blonde girl with blue eyes mumbled.

“Okay, so let's get introductions out of the way, then we can move on to whatever else. Sound good?” The redheaded girl declared with her hands on her hips.

I'm still totally lost, but I think it's best to just focus on getting to know each other for now. So I guess this is as good a chance as I'm gonna get.

I already looked everyone up on that Hope's Peak Academy thread online, but… I still don't really know what kind of people they actually are. Time to find out… I'll start by talking to those five over there.

He starts his introductions off by walking over to a boy with silvery green eyes and fluffy hair so pale that it was almost white. He wore a green waistcoat peppered with some small crystals over a white collared button up shirt. His pants were a dull black with crystals lining the bottom seams. A simple red tie and a fancy looking jeweled brooch rested on his lapel. The albino boy stood proudly and with grace, beaming at Hajime with a genuine smile as they spoke. 

“I’m Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Prince. I am a foreign exchange student from a small European Kingdom called Novoselic. Nice to meet you.”

White porcelain skin… sparkling grey-green eyes… and hair like a soft white cloud… It’s like… he has this mysterious charm that I want to gaze at forever. 

Nagito laughs softly at him, though not quite unkindly, as if the young prince can tell that he’s enchanted by his presence. The Ultimate Prince…? Normally I’d be surprised to hear that, but… It’s not just his beauty, he’s just so graceful… I’m completely at ease even though he’s a real prince. 

“Um, this may be rude of me to say, but… truthfully, I feel happy.” Nagito grinned.

“Huh? What… are you happy about?” Hajime asked, still a bit spellbound.

Nagito looked down, saddened. “In my home country, I… did not have a single friend my age whose standing in society matched my own. So to be able to do something like this with everyone is a new experience for me… I shall extol your virtues.” He suddenly proclaimed.

““Extol my virtues”…? Th-Thanks.” Hajime replied, suddenly feeling the urge to drop to one knee and bow to the beautiful prince.

“Now, it is your turn to introduce yourself!” The albino hummed.

“Oh yeah… I’m Hajime Hinata. I’m the Ultimate Programmer. It’s nice to meet you too.” He smiled. 

“Wow, that’s incredible! Ultimates are so amazing, they bring so much hope to the world with their talents, it’s awe inspiring! And programming, too! I could never work my way around a computer’s code so well. I’ve read about some of your programs and accomplishments online. You’re amazing!” Nagito beamed.

Hajime blushed. “Y-you’re an ultimate too, and your talent is even more important than mine. You’re the Ultimate Prince!” He exclaimed.

 Nagito chuckled. “Ah, but that is my birthright, so it does not count. Do not get me wrong, I am proud of my country and my heritage, I just do not believe that I am quite an “ultimate”, although I might admittedly be a bit pessimistic. You have earned your title through great labors and prowess, do not disrespect your own skill. You, Hajime Hinata, and your talent are full of hope. Do not forget that. I can’t wait to get to know you, Hajime.”

“But-!” Hajime tried to argue against the words, but Nagito was already walking away, humming contentedly. I guess that means I’m supposed to introduce myself to the next person.

Hajime decided to talk to a pink haired guy with sharpened teeth next. 

“You and me haven’t been introduced yet, right? Name’s Kazuichi Soda. I’m the Ultimate Baseball Player. Nice to meet ya.” Kazuichi gave a shark-like grin, his magenta eyes looking Hajime up and down like he was measuring his worth. 

Kazuichi’s bubblegum hair was shoulder length, which was pretty long and unusual for a baseball player’s haircut. There was also a black beanie on his head. He wore a jacket that was a disgusting shade of yellow with pink symbols on it, also wearing a plain white tank top underneath. His dark yellow pants matched his jacket. His shark-like teeth also didn’t help him out at all appearance wise. All in all, very strange. He seems very carefree, I’m almost jealous. He seemed to be done with the conversation though, leering at a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes from across the room like a creep.

Hajime then turned to a pale guy with gray streaks in his ashy brown hair, a lightning bolt scar streaking through his silver eye, the other eye a pinkish crimson. He wore a detailed black hoodie with a fuchsia scarf wrapped around his neck flamboyantly. He wore a white shirt beneath the hoodie, along with plain black jeans and combat boots. 

Before Hajime could even speak, the odd guy started shouting at him, “Stop right there. If you value your life, do not come any closer.”

“…Huh?” Hajime replied stupidly.

“Hmph, I said stay back! Oh, very well… I shall accept that courage of yours.” He said solemnly.

Wh-What’s this guy talking about…?

“Kehehe, would you like to know my name? Others may see your courage as recklessness… However… I welcome it.” The guy grinned deviously. “In honor of your courage, I shall reveal to you my name. May you never forget it as long as you live! You may call me… Gundham Tanaka! Remember it well, for it is the name that will one day rule this world!”

R-Rule this world…? He’s kidding, right? If he’s actually serious, that’s pretty out there!

“W-What’s your talent?” Hajime tried.

Gundham huffed, before smirking mischievously. “I have made a pact with the gods of luck. They have blessed me with supernatural abilities. I am the great and powerful Gundham Tanaka, Supreme Overlord of Ice! Fuhahahahahahahaha!”

…What? “What’s your ultimate talent though? What are you talking about?” Hajime was baffled.

Gundham puffed out his chest. “I have been bestowed upon by the great supernatural forces of “luck”, although whether the luck is truly bountiful or devastating in its nature is unknown. As luck is a chaos magic, I take pride in my abilities, so do not dare to underestimate me or assume that the only reason I was accepted into the academy was due to a mere lottery ticket!”

I think I’ve heard of that… ‘The Ultimate Lucky Student’... Through a country-wide lottery, only one ordinary student is selected at random to attend Hope’s Peak Academy as the Ultimate Lucky Student. Chosen by a lottery… is that really okay? I mean… is luck even a real talent in the first place? …How strange. He wasn’t on the online forums, either.

“My selection was not simply due to the whims of a lottery ticket, I was chosen by the fates! The simple minds of the academy themselves begged me to attend, as the gift of luck is a force beyond the school’s understanding!” Gundham objected to the look on my face. 

Gundham doesn’t have a real talent, so he should be ordinary, but he might just be the strangest person here. He seems to have mixed feelings about his talent, however he denies it, but I wonder if there’s any truth to his title of ‘Ultimate Lucky Student’?

A girl with choppy dark mauve colored hair and lilac eyes gazed at Hajime from a corner. She wore a pink and white collared blouse with a periwinkle pleated skirt. She also wore a red haramaki lined at the ends with white ribbons on her waist, along with a white buttoned jacket that hung off her shoulders. 

She’s looking at me funny…!

  Noticing that she’s been caught staring, the girl sputters. “Ah, uhhhh, um… um… you know…” the girl breaks down and starts to cry, “…I-I’m sorry.”

Wh-Why is she crying!? He tries to calm her down. Eventually, she gives a hesitant smile.

“When you introduced yourself earlier, you said your name is Hajime… if it’s okay with you, may I please remember your name?” The girl asks hopefully.

“O-Of course… I don’t mind you remembering it, but…” Hajime starts.

The girl smiles at him, blushing a bit. “M-My name is Mikan Tsumiki. Um… From the bottom of my heart, I hope we can get along. Actually, I see that there’s a 50% chance that we do.” 

Oh yeah, Mikan is the Ultimate Clairvoyant, I saw online that she’s pretty prominent in the psychic community. Honestly, I don’t really get all that fortune telling stuff. It’s pretty much beyond me. Still, I can’t help wondering if there’s any truth to it. 

After a moment of awkward silence, Mikan starts to flounder a bit. “Um… you know… um… um um um um… uhhhh… my mind is drawing a blank… from nervousness… and… I went through all the trouble of preparing 5,000 different topics to discuss after introductions!” She started crying again.

That seems excessive…

She suddenly burst into giggles. “Heh heh, hehehehe…! Ah! I-I’m sorry for laughing so suddenly!” Mikan panicked. This girl was giving him some serious whiplash. “I-It’s just… I can’t help it. I’m just so happy, I can’t remember the last time I made any friends… Ah, not that you actually want to be friends with me! I’m soooo sorry I said something so… presumptuous! I’ll do anything you say… Just… please don’t hate me…!” She started crying again. 

Seriously, why does this keep happening?

“I’m sorry… I’m so, so, so sorry!” Mikan sobbed.

People online speculate that the reason she’s so quick to tears or to put herself down is because some of the futures she sees are dark, scary, and terrible. She herself has said that her fortunes only come true 50% of the time, and that another possibility is that she’s scared of what happens the other 50% of the time that she can’t predict. Maybe she’s just afraid of people, and had some bad experiences with them. Who knows? Either way, there’s nothing that I can do to fix this conversation, and anything I do might just make it worse, so I might as well move on. 

Next, Hajime went to a girl that has long black hair with neon pink, blue and white streaks in it, some of her hair also pulled into black and white horns spiking out of her head.. She wore a white blouse with a sloppily done magenta tie under a black jacket. She also wore a black pleated skirt and black sandals, although her toenails were painted blue on one foot and pink on the other. Her fingernails were painted black, and she had some silver rings and bracelets on.

“Peeking, peeking… Oh haiiiiiiiiiiii! Who’re you!?” The girl asked energetically.

“U-Um… I’m Hajime Hinata…” He mumbled, taken aback by her boldness and energy.

“Hellooooo? Your tension is super low! Are you feeling all right? Ah, that’s right! Introductions are a go-go! “I,” “Buki,” “Mio,” “Da!” Put it together and what do you get? Ibuki Mioda! I am the Ultimate Team Manager, IBUKI MIODA!!!” She cheered loudly. 

Ibuki Mioda... As the Ultimate Team Manager, she’s not on a team, she just manages them. She’s cheery and energetic, but she’s successfully led and encouraged teams to victory and stardom, including a super popular girl band that’s sold over a million copies of their hit single, “After School Poyoyon Hour”. She’s traveled to numerous towns and played an active role in various sports clubs and bands, managing their teams. She’s led a high school rugby team full of delinquents to victory in the national play-offs. She also rescued a baseball club on the verge of being shut down, and led them to national victory as well. Rumor has it that she’s even training that famous Japanese pitcher who plays in the American League. She’s led multiple bands to stardom. She totally deserves to be called the Ultimate Team Manager, but she sounds like she’d be better off cheering a team on as a cheerleader instead of managing it.

“Yahoo!!! All right, introductions are finished!” Ibuki says brightly, before running off to introduce herself to another person. 

Before moving on with his introductions, Hajime looked around the room. He glanced at the door and was shocked. Holy cow, what's with this huge metal hatch? It looks like the kind of thing you'd see in a secret military base or something… This IS the same main hall I was in before, right? This door definitely wasn't here then, though…

Above the door, there were two security cameras, but…! Those surveillance cameras have what looks like guns attached to it. But there’s no way those are real guns… right?

There was also a tv monitor on the wall, but that wasn’t anything new.

Alright, on to the next group… Hajime walked up to a short boy with short blond hair, pale yellow eyes, freckles, and rosy cheeks. He’s wearing an expensive black suit that looks like it’s worth more than everything Hajime’s ever owned combined. There’s a fancy silver pin on his lapel with a silver chain running along the buttons of his open suit, which has a smooth white button down shirt and forest green tie underneath it. He’s wearing smooth black dress pants.

“… Who the hell are you? Don’t talk all friendly and shit to me, dumbass.” This guy is already in a crappy mood. “What are you looking at!? You got something you want to say, bastard!?” 

“Hey, I just wanted to introduce myself!” Hajime exclaimed. 

The boy looked at me suspiciously. “…What? Introduce yourself? Hmph… Name’s Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu… Just so we’re clear, I don’t plan to act all friendly and shit with you guys.” 

Even though he’s got a babyface, he’s also incredibly rude… But there isn’t really anything I can do about it. Even among the ultimates, this one is special. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu… He’s the heir apparent of his family’s massive financial conglomerate. He’s already started managing business operations, and his own personal assets are, well, vast. His title of Ultimate Affluent Progeny is completely accurate. He’s the definition of “exceptional”, although he’s extremely blunt and rude, which is a bit odd for a fancy heir. Apparently, he had to fight really hard for his position as heir against his sister, Natsumi Kuzuryu. Many people think that his sister should be the one with the ultimate title because she’s more charismatic and popular than he is, which probably gave him a complex of some sort. His babyface and height definitely didn’t help anything, and he hates anyone who even mentions it. Despite the cursing, he did definitely work hard to maintain a reputation and earn the title of the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, otherwise known as the Ultimate Heir. That’s probably at the very least contributed to his aggressive demeanor. 

“We’re done with introductions, right? How much longer are you going to stand there? If we’re all done here, how about you dumbasses make like a tree and fuck off?” Fuyuhiko snapped.

His aura says to me, “You and I will never stand on the same level”. Like a king in training, but more short tempered.

Disgruntled by the short heir’s rudeness, Hajime walked away to a freckle-faced girl with tomato-red hair done in a bob and olive green eyes. She wore an olive green school uniform with a white sailor-esque collar and a red and white checkered ribbon hanging from her neck like a tie. 

“Hey, aren’t you the guy who was late because he was off drooling on a desk in some classroom?” She exclaimed with her hands on her hips.

“Uh, y-yeah…” Hajime mumbled, a bit embarrassed.

“Hey… you gotta keep it together, you know? Did you want me to introduce myself? I haven’t done it yet, right? Let’s see… I’m Mahiru Koizumi. I’m the Ultimate Writing Prodigy. I’ll be counting on you from now on.” She introduced. 

Mahiru writes true stories and realistic fiction about stories about people at war or tragedies, likes to record history so it isn’t forgotten, the stone cold truth, no matter if it’s horrible or not.  Her mom was a war photographer who was always going overseas, but when she came back to her family her pictures inspired Mahiru to start writing the stories of people at war and in devastating events or stories based off of them in order to record and document the truth of history for people who deserved it, the good and the bad. She sometimes writes light fiction novels too, but most of her writing is beautiful and can move people to tears. Despite her age, she's won countless literary prizes and all her books are instant best-sellers, which is why she’s come to be known as the Ultimate Writing Prodigy. What else would you call such a young and talented author? She has been known to be a little bit sexist, though. 

“Honestly, I’m a little relieved. You seem decent enough.” Mahiru said absentmindedly.

“…Hm? Decent?” Hajime questioned.

“Well, there’s a lot of weirdos here. I can’t tell if they’re really Ultimates or, like, just insane. I’m eager to get along with everyone so we can have a good school year, but I was worried things wouldn’t go well.” She explained. “Anyway, what about your introduction? I’ve been waiting, like, forever, you know?” She complained.

“Ah, sorry…” Hajime said. Why did everyone forget his name, he already introduced himself when he first came in! “I’m Hajime Hinata. Um… it’s nice to meet you, too.”

“I see… Hajime Hinata, huh? Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve already made a mental note to remember you as “Unreliable Hajime.” It’s gonna be tough for you to change my mind. You better man up and try even harder to do your best!” She exclaimed with her hands on her hips again. “You better man up and do better! Got it!?”

Well, there’s the slight sexism I heard about.

Hajime just walked to the next person, a buff guy with black hair styled in a way that was reminiscent of Marvel’s Wolverine with a slight goatee, thick eyebrows, brown eyes, and thin lines of scars running down his face from above and below his eyes. He wore a black leather jacket with a tight white undershirt, a silver dog tag on a chain around his neck, dark gray jeans, and black sneakers. There was a small compass pinned on his jacket.

“Hm…? That’s right… You haven’t told me your name… My name… I am the Ultimate Adventurer, NEKOMARU NIDAI!!!” He yelled.

“U-Um… hello. I’m Hajime Hinata…” Hajime introduced nervously.

“Hold it right there! Your voice is too soft! Let your voice rise from the bottom of your stomach!” Nekomaru shouted.

“U-Um… I’m Hajime Hinata!” Hajime tried.

“Noooooo! You can be louder than that! Do it again!” Nekomaru ordered.

“My name is Hajime Hinata! Pleased to make your acquaintance!” Hajime shouted.

“I AM NEKOMARU NIDAI! Don’t forget it, even if you go to hell! I am the Ultimate Adventurer, NEKOMARU NIDAI!!!” Nekomaru yelled forcefully.

“Y-You don’t need to repeat your name so much. I won’t forget it…” Hajime said nervously, taken aback by his bold loudness. 

“Gah-hahaha! I agree to your terms!” Nekomaru exclaimed energetically.

H-He sure is boisterous… It’s not just his voice, his whole body seems loud. Nekomaru is known as the Ultimate Adventurer, and with a build like his, I can understand how he would be able to go through challenging tasks and survive the wilderness and go on dangerous tasks and adventures. He’s gone on many journeys and participated in many high stakes situations, and he’s always succeeded and survived on any quest he partakes in. He’s gotten a lot of treasure accumulated from all of his adventures, but he’s in it for the thrills. Apparently, he was born with a heart defect and doctors told him that he probably wouldn’t even live for long enough to turn 20.  He had never participated in sports or PE and was teased a lot, didn’t have any friends, and he had frequent trips to the hospital, but one day he met a boy with a similar illness. The boy inspired him, saying that even though it was difficult and sometimes impossible, he wanted to live and try to enjoy his life, see all the sights, try new things, so that he wouldn’t have any regrets when he died. Even though it was difficult and he risked his life in the process of doing all these things, it was worth it to the boy. However, the boy didn’t have enough money for the trip he wanted to take the most. In the end, he died before he ever got to experience it. Nekomaru decided that he would take that trip and experience the journey, for he wanted to be able to say that he lived, even if it made his life even shorter. He grew muscular, and got into more and more dangerous adventures, but he never gave up. It was a tragic fate however, that despite all of the danger in what he does, he’s not likely to die from any of his exploits, but instead from an uncontrollable disease inside of him. He’s so brave… He definitely deserves the title of the Ultimate Adventurer. 

Hajime hesitantly went over to a girl with intense scarlet eyes, thin framed glasses, and silver hair done up in twin braids. She wore a teal vest with lots of large pockets over a light gray long sleeved shirt. She also wore a teal pleated skirt with red lining on the bottom and a red belt. She wore dusty brown sneakers with long teal socks. She had a large gun strapped to her back. 

“…State your business.” The girl stated monotonously.

“W-Well, I just want to introduce myself. Is that alright with you…?” Hajime stuttered.

“An introduction… Understood, I don’t mind.” She nodded solemnly.

“I’m Hajime Hinata. Nice to meet you.” He stated.

“My name is Peko Pekoyama. It is nice to meet you, too.” She proclaimed. 

Peko Pekoyama… Otherwise known as the Ultimate Soldier. It’s hard to believe someone with a cute name like Peko Pekoyama could be so skilled with weapons. There are rumors that she was even a mercenary for a little bit. She was always successful with all of her missions. Most adult men, most armies even, don’t even stand a chance against her. Well, there’s definitely something up with her… Her eyes are really intense, and is that a real gun strapped to her back!? What’s in her vest?! Are all those weapons even allowed in a school!?

“It is necessary for men and women who live together to respect each other. Don’t try anything inappropriate… I would prefer…not to kill anyone.” Peko proclaims seriously, calmly reaching into one of the pockets in her vest and pulling out a knife from its sheath. Hajime didn’t doubt for a second that she meant it. She was terrifying.

…I’ll keep that in mind, and try my best to stay on her good side. She seems calm and reasonable enough, but that gun on her back and whatever else she has concealed within her vest speak volumes about how scarily dangerous she is. The Ultimate Soldier… Hajime should definitely watch out for her. He didn’t doubt that in a fight, especially against Peko, he would be absolutely useless, despite, well… Anyway, it would be best to stay away from her, and stay on her good side.

Hajime fled to a girl with dusty pink shoulder length hair and pink eyes. She had rosy cheeks, and wore a dark teal hoodie with a white blouse with a teal stripe down the middle around the buttons with a pink ribbon tied at its lapel. She wore a pale pink pleated skirt and a light pink kitten backpack. She wore long teal stockings with pale pink mary jane loafers. She looked unbelievably bored.

“Um, excuse me? I’d like to introduce myself…” Hajime stated hesitantly. She was staring off into space, before she snapped out of it.

“Oh, sorry… I must’ve been… a little bit too focused on my thoughts… I get lost in my head a lot… The world is so predictable and boring, I normally tune it out. Let’s see… Oh, right, introductions. Got it… I’m Chiaki Nanami, the Ultimate Analyst. I analyze every situation, and can predict almost every aspect of life, so I kind of get so bored I either fall asleep, daydream, or get lost in my thoughts… Nice to meet you.” She says distractedly.

“I’m Hajime Hinata. Nice to meet you, too…” Chiaki is one of the students that I’ve never heard of before, she wasn’t mentioned on the online forums. I guess she’s just not famous. Despite her distraction and boredom, she seems nice.

“…Yeah, totally.” Chiaki says after a pause.

“It seems like this conversation is going rather slow…” Hajime mentions awkwardly.

“It’s more like… I’m the kind of person who has to gather my thoughts before I can start talking. And I have a lot of thoughts. Like, I can’t talk that well unless I’ve already prepared everything I want to say in my head, which can take a while… Especially when I’m meeting new people, since I haven’t fully analyzed a person yet… Well, if I get used to them, I can usually talk a little faster. Since I have so many thoughts and possible routes I can take, and I don’t know what direction I want the conversation to go in… I can usually reliably predict what’s going to happen and what’s going to be said, so… It’s kind of boring… Yaaaawn… I’m sleepy.” She mumbles softly, still not really looking at Hajime, lost in her thoughts.

It was clear that after that the conversation wouldn’t go anywhere with how distracted Chiaki was, so Hajime left after that to introduce himself to the next five people. 

He walked over to a very short boy with his brown hair combed in a ducktail style. He had small black eyes and rosy cheeks. He wore a white buttoned shirt with a red tie at the collar under a black sweater jacket, with black pants and a red backpack. He looked almost too short and cartoonish to be a real human.

“Why, hello there. You must be the new guy. My name is Teruteru Hanamura. I’m well known and supremely well regarded as the Ultimate Fanfic Writer… I once sold 10,000 copies of one of my fan comics at a school festival. The event has passed into legend… Some of them didn't get it, of course, saying I'd "tainted" the event. How stupid can you be!? The words of such idiots mean nothing to me. I am like Van Gogh - utterly unappreciated in my time. I'm sure if you were to observe my work, you would comprehend its greatness immediately. For my work is filled with the deepest meaning…” Teruteru implicated smugly.

“What… What kind of meaning?” Hajime asked hesitantly. 

Teruteru smirked. “It’s about embracing our basest urges… Mmhmhm, I hope we get along well.” 

Deciding that he absolutely did NOT want to spend any more time in the presence of the pervert, Hajime went over to a girl with long blonde hair that glitters like fields of wheat loose atop her head, sparkling blue eyes, and rosy cheeks. She wore a loose teal blouse with white sleeves with a red ribbon on the lapel. She wore a teal pleated skirt as well, with teal sneakers on her feet.

“I have not properly introduced myself. I am terribly sorry to keep you waiting! My name is Sonia Nevermind. I am a foreign exchange student from a small European kingdom called Novoselic. I am also the Ultimate Gymnast. I may cause trouble here and there, but I hope we can get along well.” She exclaimed with a sweet smile on her face. She held herself very gracefully.

“S-same here… I hope we get along, too. W-Wait, Novoselic… Isn’t that Nagito’s home country too?” Hajime asked as well, surprised.

“Indeed, my home country’s Prince, Nagito Komaeda, is attending Hope’s Peak Academy as well. I am very excited to be here, but I am a bit unsure as to how I’m supposed to behave around him as he is royalty, and the future ruler of my country. I am here in Hope’s Peak because, despite my origins in Novoselic, I have won many gymnastic competitions, which qualified me to attend. It is an honor to be attending with my Prince, but a bit scary and, how do you say, ‘awkward’, as well. I am unsure if I should even interact with him at all, but he is my classmate.” Sonia explained a bit nervously. 

That’s understandable… it must be weird to attend the same class as someone with so much authority and power over her. Still, she is talented enough to hold the title of the Ultimate Gymnast. She’s very graceful, and an all-around super athlete. Her beauty and friendly personality make her a fan favorite as well. Her athletic ability is off the charts, however, her basics and fundamentals are all over the place because of Novoselic’s interesting culture, so her gymnastic routines are mostly improvised. She’s still very organized and graceful, and her planned routines are just as spectacular as her improvised ones, but she does like a little excitement in all of her routines. She always performs splendidly, and can perform incredible feats. She’s the Ultimate Gymnast for a reason, so her performances must be amazing to see.

Hajime went over to a girl with orange eyes, rosy cheeks, and pale blond hair in crescent shaped pigtails. She was a very cute kid, it was hard to believe that she was Hajime’s age. She wore a dark orange and white bow on one pigtail and a white cat pin on the other. She had scarlet-lensed sunglasses pinned up in her bangs as well. She wore a lacy black choker on her neck. She wore a short leopard print dress that almost looked like a fashionable trench coat dress with a few buttons at the bottom, with a brown belt, and fluffy tan fur at the top. There was some sort of brown braided jewelry wrapped around her thigh. She wore dark brown heeled wedges. She held a fashionable orange-yellow purse. 

“I haven’t introduced myself, right? My name is Hajime Hinata...” Hajime said, resigned to the fact that no one remembered his name from his first introduction.

“Hmmm? I’m Hiyoko Saionji.”

Her appearance and voice are so young… I can’t believe she’s actually a high school student. However, it’d be hard not to know who Hiyoko Saionji is. Anybody would recognize her. She’s got more charm and presence than any high school girl in the country. She’s the Ultimate Fashionista. I’ve seen her on tons of magazine covers, but… I feel like that doesn’t quite match up to reality. She looks so much more mature in the photos… and taller, too. Still, her fans probably like her because she looks so young and cute.

“You look shorter and… younger, than you do in the magazines.” Hajime blurts out.

Hiyoko looks annoyed at him. “Hmph! I’m not that short. Also, those pictures of me are totally photoshopped! It’s totally normal these days to photoshop cover photos.” She turns away haughtily as if to say, ‘this conversation is over’. 

So many dreams are getting crushed today… She's so childish, I don’t really get the appeal. Still, she’s a famous model, and her cute looks and blonde hair probably help, despite her attitude. 

Hajime walked over to a girl with wild brown hair and light brown eyes. She wore a red bandana that stuck out in four directions on her hair. She wore a white blouse with a red bow on the chest and a red pleated skirt. She also wore long white socks with red stripes at the top, along with red loafers.  

“Heeeey! Who’re you, dude?” The girl grinned casually. It almost looked like she had fangs.

“It’s nice to finally meet you… I’m Hajime Hinata. Also, I already introduced myself in the beginning, when I came in.” He explained. 

“Oh, haha! I’m sorry! I pretty much suck at rememberin’ names, and I’ve met so many interestin’ characters today. Anyway, yo! The name’s Akane Owari! Nice to meetcha!” Akane gave a wolf like grin.

Akane is known as the Ultimate Aikido Master, and an all-around super athlete. Rumor has it she’s a wild troublemaker, but her athletic ability is off the charts. She’s very flexible and strong, and knows a lot of techniques that can take someone down in a fight. I… can’t visualize her as a normal high school student. I mean, she’s got the physique of an Olympic athlete… and apparently, she made up and mastered an entirely new, improvised form of aikido. She’s even a bit muscular, and her strength and bold, unpredictable techniques definitely helps her to defeat all of her opponents. She’s definitely impressive, and worthy of the title of Ultimate Aikido master.

Finally, Hajime went over to his last classmate. It was a skinny boy with unruly shoulder length light brown hair and olive colored eyes that were ringed with shadows and bags under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in weeks. He wore a plain white shirt with olive green suspenders and dark gray pants, with olive colored goggles up in his hair and olive loafers on his feet.

“Can-can I help you?” The boy stuttered nervously. 

“Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself to you. I’m Hajime Hinata.” He tried to calm the boy down.

“U-Um, I’m Ryota Mitarai. I-I’m just the Ultimate Inventor, that’s all. I hope we can get along.” Ryota mumbled shyly. 

Oh yeah, Ryota Mitarai, the Ultimate Inventor. He does have his own fans, they think his shy demeanor is cute, and his inventions are really helpful. He makes lots of gadgets, like ones that let you type, eat, and read while you sleep since people waste a lot of time on sleep because he doesn’t really take care of himself when he’s awake, and he’s a bit of a workaholic so he forgets to eat during the daytime, along with revolutionary eyedrop contact lenses that millions of people around the world use, drones for many different tasks, and more. His patents can sometimes sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He has low self esteem, but he can get very passionate about his inventions and gadgets. 

“Hey, you’re the Ultimate Inventor, and I’m the Ultimate Programmer. Maybe we can collaborate on an invention of some sort?” Hajime suggested.

Ryota blushed a bit. “U-Um, maybe, that would be nice. Maybe we could make something really innovative that can make a lot of people’s lives easier. A-Anyway, it’s nice to meet you.” Ryota stuttered.

Alright, now all of the introductions are done. Hmm... Even though they're all "ultimate", they each have their own individual sort of... um... something. They’re all pretty weird in their own ways. 

“Okay, time to get down to business. This is no time to stand around making friends like a bunch of idiots.” Fuyuhiko exclaimed. 

“Oh, that's true. I think someone said something about a bigger problem or something? What was that about?” Hajime questioned.

“Well, you see… Hajime, you said a bunch of stuff happened and then you were "just asleep", right? Well... the same is true for all of us.” Mahiru explained. 

“What? Seriously!?” Hajime yelped, shocked.

“Just after each of us got to the main hall, we lost consciousness. And when we came to, we were somewhere here in the school! That's what happened to you, right?” Kazuichi asked.

“B-But that's just... weird! That every one of us would get knocked out like that…” Hajime worried.

“Exactly! That’s why we’re all freakin’ out!” Fuyuhiko exclaimed. 

“And that's not the only thing. You saw where all the windows in the classes and hallways were, right? But instead of normal glass windows, it was a bunch of big metal plates! What's that about!?” Mahiru questioned loudly.

“Plus, all my stuff's missing! Even my cellphone…” Hiyoko complained. 

“Yeah, you’re right. I haven’t seen my tablet, either.” Ryota agreed. 

“And then there's the main hall here. The front exit is completely blocked by some giant metal hatch. But there wasn't anything like that when I first got here...! What the heck!? What's it doing here!?” Mahiru cried out.

“Maybe we got caught up in some kinda, like, you know... crime or something?” Hiyoko suggested.

“What, like... a kidnapping? You think maybe someone grabbed us and hauled us off and we're not actually at school?” Kazuichi asked tensely. 

“Come on, don't think like that. Cheer up! I bet this is all just part of the school's orientation procedure. Yeah, I'm sure that's it! So I'm just gonna take it easy for a little bit.” Akane said lazily.

“Oh… So you think they wanted to do something to surprise us?” Ryota questioned.

“Huh. Well if that's all it is, it's nap time for me. I was up way too late last night, so I could use a little shuteye.” Kazuichi relaxed.

I could feel everyone’s tension evaporating… But then… It began.

*Ding dong, bing bong* 

The tv monitor turned on. There was a black silhouette of a bear, surrounded by a staticky green background.

“Ahem! Ahem! Testing, testing! Mike check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system! Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then...!“ The mysterious figure exclaimed brightly.

The voice was so laid back and so gleeful that it seemed out of place. It was as if an endless storm of malice could be felt raging behind that laid back voice… The moment I felt it, my body shuddered.

“Ahh, to all incoming students! I would like to begin the entrance ceremony at... right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at your earliest convenience… That's all. I'll be waiting!” The shadowy figure said ominously, before the tv went black.

“…What. The. Hell was that just now?” Mahiru demanded.

“Well then, if you’ll excuse me…” Peko muttered, before leaving for the auditorium. 

“H-Hey! What, you're gonna take off just like that!?” Mahiru exclaimed. 

“Ohh yeah, now I get it! This whole thing was just to get us all pumped for the entrance ceremony! Man, thank god it was all a joke. I'd be totally freaked if this was real! Alright, guess I'll head out, too. Wonder what they got planned for us next…” Akane questioned casually before leaving, unconcerned. 

“Damn, I was totally looking forward to that nap, too. Why'd they have to go and kill the mood?” Kazuichi complained before leaving as well. 

“W-Wait for me! I wanna go with you!” Ryota stuttered before running off. 

“That is that, then. I will see you all there.” Nagito said before calmly walking away.

“N-Not that anyone cares, but I-I'm gonna go, too…” Mikan squeaked before scurrying off.

Everyone took off for the gym, but I was frozen where I stood. That uneasy feeling I'd had before... I couldn't get it out of my mind. And it looked like I wasn't the only one…

“This... this doesn't seem right.” Sonia stated cautiously.

“Yeah, that announcement was totally weird.” Mahiru agreed.

“Maybe, but just staying put doesn't mean we'll be safe. Besides, aren't you guys just a little bit curious to find out what's going on around here?” Chiaki mentioned.

“If we don’t move forward, we learn nothing. The only choice is to push ahead.” Nekomaru proclaimed.

I... I guess he’s right. But still... I'm kinda - no, really nervous. We don't have a choice. We have to go. They said to go to the gym, right?

“What was with that announcement? It was like, totally creepy…” Mahiru said nervously.

“Shit, just what the hell is going on…? I’ll be really pissed if it’s something fucking stupid!” Fuyuhiko stated angrily, before leaving himself. 

“Wh-What the hell? Is this some kind of bad joke!?” Kazuichi panicked.

“Something weird is going on here, right? It's not just me?” Ibuki asked.

“I know how you feel, but... all we can do now is check it out, right?” Chiaki mumbled.

“Are you okay? Is everyone okay?” Sonia questioned worriedly. 

Hajime left for the gymnasium, nervous about what was to come.

At the entrance to the gym, there was a display case with all kinds of trophies and plaques inside. Of course, all of the students who go here are ultimate, so this is probably just a fraction of all their awards. There was another camera and tv monitor in the room, too. Hajime also ran across some of his other classmates in the entrance room. 

“God, I had no idea this Hope's Peak Academy place was gonna be such a pain. It really ain't that much different from the time I spent in juvie. Hell, this place is even worse!” Akane complained.

“And why isn't there anyone here? Walking through the halls, I didn't see a single person…” Ibuki mentioned.

“Isn't that like, seriously not good?” Mahiru worried.

“Th-They're just trying to spook us! They'll take those metal plates down later, I'm sure of it…” Kazuichi tried to convince himself shakily.

“All we can do now is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Nekomaru was surprisingly wise sometimes.

“Well hell, it ain't like I'm scared or nothin'. Let's just get this over with! Hey! Where's whoever called us here!?” Akane shouted aggressively before entering the gymnasium.

“I too shall go.” Sonia stated calmly before going in as well. 

“H-Hey, wait! Don't leave me here all alone!” Kazuichi panicked before running inside. 

Hajime looked at Chiaki, who had a blank look on her face. Total silence… For whatever reason, she's one of the only ones managing to stay calm. Or maybe I'm just imagining that…

“Where are all the other students? Why are we the only ones here?” Mahiru asked with her hands on her hips.

“I'm totally getting a bad vibe right now.” Ibuki said nervously.

Still filled with uneasy dread, Hajime did what the announcement said and went to the gym. And when he saw what was waiting for them there…

“Oh. It really does look like an entrance ceremony…” Hajime stated, surprised. 

“See? Told ya! It's totally normal entrance ceremony stuff.” Akane said smugly.

Akane was right. But in a way, that just emphasized how completely not normal all of us were.

“Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Good! Then let's get things rolling!” A black and white teddy bear with one black eye and one menacing red eye popped up on the stage cheerily.

“What… is that…?” Sonia wondered.

“Huh? It looks like a... teddy bear?” Ryota asked, confused.

“I'm not a teddy bear! I... am... Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster!” The bear proclaimed.

It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen. Right before my eyes, it was… What I was seeing was... It was... utterly incomprehensible.

“Nice to meet you all!” Monokuma cheered.

Such a bright voice and carefree attitude was completely out of place. And all that anxiety I'd been carrying with me suddenly transformed into outright fear.

“H-Huh? Am I hallucinating? Am I the only one who’s seeing this?” Teruteru panicked.

“Nah, I see it too….” Kazuichi muttered.

“Um… What do you guys think? I-I’ve never seen a stuffed animal that can talk before…” Teruteru asked.

“I-It’s probably remote controlled or something… Don’t act like such a pussy over a child’s toy.” Fuyuhiko replied.

“E-Even if it’s remote controlled, doesn’t it look too lifelike? That’s pretty advanced for a toy…” Kazuichi mentioned.

“How dare you compare me to a child's plaything! You've cut me deep. Deeper than the Mariana Trench… My remote control system is so complex, even the folks at NASA can't recreate or even comprehend it! Ah, but don't make me say stuff that might destroy NASA's dreams. I just couldn't BEAR that!” Monokuma punned. 

“"Bear" that? Really? You are... unfortunate.” Peko disapproved. 

“Now then, moving on! We really must hurry and get started…” Monokuma continued.

“Giving up already? No other stupid bear puns?” Mahiru questioned.

“Quiet down now, quiet down. Ah, okay, so...!” Monokuma tried.

“He has abandoned the gag…” Sonia muttered.

“Everyone, stand at attention and bow! And... good morning!” Monokuma cheered. Nobody bowed. “Now then, let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony! First, let's talk a bit about what your school life here will be like. Now, ah, make no mistake - you few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world. And to protect such splendid hope… you will all live a communal life together solely within the confines of this school. Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and regulations of the school.” Huh…? “Ah, now then... regarding the end date for this communal life… There isn't one! In other words, you'll all be here until the day you die! Such is the school life you've been assigned.” The bear said all this in such a cheery voice…

“Wh-What did he just say? Until the day we d-die…?” Mikan squeaked.

“Oh, but fear not! We have quite an abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences.” Monokuma continued. 

“That's the least of our worries right now!” Mahiru pointed out.

“Yeah, what the hell? You're saying I have to live here forever? You're screwing with us, right?” Akane asked angrily.

“I am not screwing with you! I am no liar, of that you can be 100% sure. Ah, and just for your information... you're completely cut off from the outside world. So you don't have to worry about that dirty dirty land beyond these walls ever again!” Monokuma exclaimed. 

“Cut off...? So all those metal plates all over the school… They're there to keep us trapped in here?” Hajime asked nervously. 

“That's exactly what they're there for. No matter how much you may yell and scream for help... help will not come. So with all of that in mind, feel free to live out your life here with reckless abandon!” Monokuma’s voice was bright yet menacing.

“Come on, what the hell is this? I don't care if the school or whoever else is behind it all, this is just a really bad joke.” Kazuichi proclaimed. 

“Yeah! Cut this shit out! It isn't funny anymore!” Akane growled.

“You keep saying this is a lie, or a joke. A bunch of skeptics, all of you. But I guess you can't help it, huh? You all grew up in an age where you're taught to doubt your neighbor… Well, you'll have plenty of time to find out whether or not what I say is true. And when that time comes, you'll see with your own eyeballs that I speak the undeniable truth.” Monokuma said. 

“Having to live here forever would be... quite the problem.” Chiaki stated.

“Come, now. What's the matter with all of you? You decided of your own free will to attend Hope's Peak Academy, didn't you? And now, before the entrance ceremony is even finished, you've already decided you want to leave? Oh, but you know… I guess I did forget to mention one thing. There is one way for you to leave the school…” Monokuma hummed. 

“R-Really...?” Mikan wondered.

“As headmaster, I've crafted a special clause for those of you who would like to leave! I call it... the Graduation Clause! Now, let me tell you about this fun little rule. As I mentioned, in order to maintain an environment of harmony here, we rely on a communal lifestyle. And if someone were to disrupt that harmony, they and they alone would be allowed to leave the school. That, my students, is the Graduation Clause!” Monokuma explained joyfully.

“What do you mean by "disrupt the harmony"?” Peko asked cautiously.

“Puhuhu... Well, you know… If one person were to murder another.” Monokuma stated smugly. 

“M-Murder!?” Hajime shouted.

“Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, how you do it doesn't matter. You must kill someone if you want to leave. It's as simple as that. The rest is up to you. Give it your all to achieve the best outcome in the worst way possible.” Monokuma encouraged. 

A chill shot down my spine… "You must kill someone if you want to leave". As soon as I heard those words, my blood went cold.

“Puhuhu. I bet that got your brain juices flowing! Beats the heck out of a human catching a salmon, huh? Like I said before, you guys are the hope of the world. But you know… Taking that hope and seeing it get murdered creates a darkened shadow of despair. And I just find that so... darn... exciting!” Monokuma exclaimed happily. 

“D-Don’t fuck with me…” Fuyuhiko threatened nervously.

“Th-That’s right! Who on earth would kill someone? To kill each other is… it’s…!” Kazuichi stuttered.

“To kill each other is to kill each other. I'm sure there's a dictionary here somewhere if you need it.” Monokuma replied. 

“We know what it means, that's not the problem! Why do we have to kill each other!?” Mahiru argued.

“Yeah! Stop blabbering on with all this nonsense! Just let us go home already!” Kazuichi shouted.

“…Blabbering? Blabbering, blabbering, what do you mean blabbering!? Stop blabbering on about blabbering on! You guys just don't get it, do you? "Let us go, let us go!". You keep on saying the same thing over and over and over and over...! Listen. From this moment on, this school is your home, your life, your world. Got it? And you can kill as much as you wanna kill! So go ahead, go on a kill-kill-killing spree!” Monokuma exclaims.

“I-I don’t believe any of this… I don’t believe any of this… I don’t believe any of this…” Tereteru tried to convince himself. 

Nekomaru cracked his knuckles. “Hold on… You’ve been running your mouth for quite some time now… I don’t want to get violent, but if I do, I have no idea what might happen!” He warned.

“What, a fight? Do I need to beat the crap outta that black and white bear?” Akane bared her teeth.

“Who would dare try to kill…? I’ll put a stop to it, with force if necessary.” Peko warned, unsheathing a sharp dagger.

“If you keep saying stupid stuff, the athletes in our group are gonna lose their patience!” Ibuki shouted.

“Ah, is that so…? Well, I guess I expected this reaction… If you guys wanna do things by force, then I’ll have to fight back with a little force of my own…” Monokuma threatened, his red eye glowing menacingly.

“Yeah, right! I’ll show you force! You won’t even have the chance to fight back!” Akane roared, before launching herself at Monokuma. She grabbed him forcefully, and the monochrome bear flailed around in her grip. “Gotcha! I dunno if you're a toy or a stuffed animal or whatever! Either way, I'm gonna rip you to shreds!”

“Waah! Violence against the headmaster is in violation of school regulations!” Monokuma shouted.

“Shut up! Let me outta here, or I swear to god…” Akane yelled. Monokuma was silent. Suddenly, the bear started emitting a shrill beeping sound. “What, no comeback this time!? Stop that goddamn beeping and SAY SOMETHING!” 

“Watch out! Get rid of it!” Chiaki yelled.

“Huh?” Akane muttered.

“Hurry up and throw it!” Chiaki repeated urgently.

I dunno if Chiaki’s ferocity stunned her into silence or what, but without a word, Akane did what she was told. She... threw Monokuma. And as soon as she did…! Monokuma exploded!

“The hell!? Th-That sure wasn't a joke. It blew the hell up…” Akane muttered.

There was a painful ringing in my ears, and I could smell gunpowder. Explosions might happen all the time in movies or whatever, but when it's in real life… I'd never seen anything like it.

“But you know... This means that the teddy bear's been destroyed, right?” Ryota commented.

Monokuma popped up into the gymnasium again. “I told you, I'm not a teddy bear! I'm Monokuma!”

“Uwah! There’s another one…?” Kazuichi sputtered.

“You son of a bitch! You seriously tried to kill me just now!” Akane growled.

“Well, yes. I was serious about trying to kill you. You did violate one of the school regulations, after all. I'll let you off with a warning this time, but you'd better be careful from now on. Any naughty boy or girl who violates my rules won't get off with just a little swat on the butt.” Monokuma warned.

“H-Hey... So does this mean there's, like, a bunch more of you around somewhere?” Mahiru asked nervously.

“Monokumas have been placed all throughout the school, yes. Plus, don't forget the surveillance cameras installed everywhere. And if you're caught breaking any rules, well... You all just saw what happened, right? Puhuhu... And I won't be so forgiving with my punishment next time. So don't let it happen again!” Monokuma exclaimed. 

“Th-That's not even punishment. That’s just... wrong…” Sonia stuttered. 

“Now then, lastly... To commemorate your joyous entry into our school, I have a little something for you…” Monokuma gives them all a tablet-like device of some sort. “This is our official student handbook! Pretty cool, huh? As you can see, it's fully digital. So naturally, we call it… The e-Handbook!... Ahem. Yes, well, moving on…This handbook is absolutely vital to a healthy school life, so don't lose it! When you start it up, it will display your name. Always make sure you have the right one! Now, this is not your everyday notebook. It has so many more uses than that! Also, it's completely waterproof. Splash it, wash it, drown it, it'll keep on ticking! And thanks to its space-age design, it can withstand an impact force of up to ten tons. Very resistant! It contains all of our school regulations, so make sure you review them thoroughly! You'll hear me say this a lot, but any violation of school regulations will not be tolerated. Rules restrict, yes, but they also protect. Society, for example, would be utter chaos without laws. The same thing applies here! Which is why it's crucial we have strict punishments in place for violators. Okay, well... that brings our entrance ceremony to a close! Please enjoy your abundantly dreary school life! And... see ya!” Monokuma concluded, before disappearing.

After he said his piece, Monokuma vanished before our eyes… In truth, I… was horribly tired. Everything was just so unreasonable… I didn’t even care if this was the aftermath. Everyone else… looked the same… We all had this tired expression on our pale faces.

“Wh-What just…happened…?” Nagito murmured in shock.

“U-Um…Um…” Teruteru sputtered. “I-I… just won’t believe it… That’s it… That’s all there is to it…”

“I-It’d be one thing if we were up against a human or even an animal… What the hell can we do against something like that!?” Nekomaru shouted.

“I-It’s impossible… Why is something impossible happening…?” Kazuichi muttered.

“Well, it’s not… really impossible. Monokuma is a machine… That means that someone made him, and is controlling him.” Ryota stuttered.

“Who could be responsible…? Why were we put into this unexplainable situation…” Peko pondered.

“Hey, who is it!? Who!?” Mahiru yelled.

“Aha… haha, it could be anyone.” Teruteru sweated. “It’s not like I believe it anyway. There’s no way I’d believe something like that. More importantly, are you guys hungry? Let’s stop thinking about this and just eat.”

“…You can eat first.” Chiaki responded blankly.

“We have to l-live here forever…? Or… k-kill?” Mikan stuttered fearfully. “Wh-what…? What just happened!?”

“Everyone, we just need to calm down.” Chiaki took charge. “First, let's just take a second to summarize everything we just heard. Based on what Monokuma said, we essentially have two choices. Choice number one is that we stay here, living a "communal life" together until the day we die. And the other choice is…”

“If we want to get out of here alive, we have to kill someone. Right?” Fuyuhiko continued.

“But... killing someone... That's…” Ryota whispered.

“We were abducted out of nowhere and stuffed into this place meant to look like a school. And now we're supposed to start killing each other? This is… This is... this is just...! What IS this!?” Kazuichi yelled.

“A lie, is what it is. All these ridiculous things we've heard. This all has to be fake!” Teruteru shouted.

“Right now it doesn't really matter if it's real or fake. What matters is… Is there anyone here who's seriously considering all this...?” Mahiru questions nervously.

We looked around at each other’s faces… It was obvious from looking at their expressions, trying to gauge each other's thoughts. I could almost taste the hostility. And that's when it hit me… I realised the true terror hidden within the rules Monokuma had laid out. "You must kill someone if you want to leave". Those words had planted vicious thoughts deep within each of us. Each of us became suspicious of everyone else. We were forced to wonder, "Is somebody going to betray us?" We had to be honest with ourselves and admit that we also had that potential. Only a student who kills a classmate can leave this school… Which means in order to escape this hopeless situation, we must sacrifice a person… However, there’s a possibility that a killing may never occur. But… Even I’m no different… So can I be truly confident that something like that isn’t gonna happen?…No, there’s no way I can know for sure. In this nightmare of a situation, I don’t have the confidence to say that outright. Once you’re suspicious of something, you’ll start to be suspicious of everything… Even of yourself. That’s why it felt so hopeless. That day became a day unlike any other… A day which held a more significant meaning. It was a special day… A very meaningful day full of despair. That was how my new school life began… This school, which had come out of nowhere to raise my hopes so high… It's not a school of hope. It's… a school of despair.

Prologue: Welcome to Despair Academy [End]

Surviving Students: 16

Chapter Text

As heavy as the air felt...all it took to pierce it was her sharp words.

“So? What are you going to do now?” Mahiru asked, hands on her hips. “Just stand around glaring at each other?”

Her pointed comment was directed at everyone in the room. It helped pull us all back to reality.

“R-Right... She's right! Sometimes, even if you're nervous or afraid, you just have to step forward!” Nekomaru yelled.

“Perhaps, but... what is the goal, exactly?” Sonia questioned.

“Idiot! To look for a way out, duh!” Hiyoko scoffed.

“And we totally need to find whoever was controlling that stupid bear and beat the hell out of 'em.” Akane growled.

“...B-But before we do all that, maybe we should take a look at the handbook… It's probably best to check out the school regulations Monokuma mentioned before doing anything else.” Ryota mumbled.

“True. If we stumble around with no clue what the rules are, something like that might happen again…” Chiaki stated.

“Fine. Then let's hurry up and check out the stupid rules already.” Akane grumbled.

After turning on my e-Handbook, the first thing that appeared was my name, “Hajime Hinata”. So just like Monokuma said, the owner's name showed up front and center. Then, from the Main Menu that popped up, I selected the School Regulations icon. An itemized list appeared on-screen. It was the school regulations. In other words, the rules being imposed on us all.

Rule #1: Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

Rule #2: "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Rule #3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

Rule #4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.

Rule #5: Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

Rule #6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

Rule #7: Additional school regulations may be added as necessary.

Feeling a slight dizziness, I raised my face up from the screen. As I looked around, I saw the same stormy expression on everyone's faces.

“This is bullshit! What the hell kinda rules are these!? I'm not gonna let them control ME!” Fuyuhiko yelled.

“Well then, why don't you wander around the school without a care in the world and see what happens? Personally, I would love to see what happens when someone breaks one of the rules.” Hiyoko taunted.

“Hey, um... I have a question. For regulation number six... what do you think it means exactly?” Ryota asked nervously.

Rule #6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

“You're talking about the second half, right? Where it says "unless they are discovered"? I was wondering about that myself.” Hajime said.

“It's saying that if you want to graduate, you have to kill someone without anyone finding out it was you.” Peko stated solemnly.

“B-But why...? Why do we h-have to do that?” Mikan stuttered.

“I don't see any reason to worry about it. Just worry about following the rules as they've been explained to us.” Nagito soothed.

“Well for now, let's forget all that silly junk about murderers or whatever. Now that we know the rules, let's start exploring the school!” Akane shouted.

“True. We need to find out where exactly we are. Is there any way out? What about food and supplies? There are tons of questions we need to answer!” Nekomaru yelled, determined.

“Damn straight! Okay, then let's all start looking around!” Kazuichi agreed. Ryota looked around nervously.

“Um…S-Someone here might already have started thinking about murdering one of us… I d-don’t really feel like it would be safe to go anywhere alone, or in pairs.” Ryota brought up meekly. The mood dropped again.

“W-Wait, hold on a second. No one’s thinking of killing anyone, there won’t be any murdering! That would never-!” Teruteru tried to deny desperately.

“Don't bother saying it couldn't happen. You can't deny the possibility. That's why you all seized up with fear when that graduation rule was made clear to you. Am I wrong?” Peko challenged monotonously.

“B-But…” Teruteru whimpered.

“Hmph…I can do it, y’know.” Fuyuhiko cut in with an unreadable expression.

“…Huh?” Teruteru whispered with wide eyes.

“Y-You… What did you just say…?” Mahiru gasped in shock.

“Oh? You didn’t hear me? Then I’ll repeat myself just once for you. I said… I can do it.” Fuyuhiko continued maliciously. There was a cold, cruel smirk forming on his face.

Do it…? What are you saying? Don’t tell me… Are you being serious right now?

“Hey, Fuyuhiko… why don’t you calm down for a bit?” Hajime suggested nervously.

“Don’t talk to me like we’re friends or something! I live in a completely different world than you bastards… It’s cutthroat, you do what you have to to succeed. That’s why the term “blood money” exists. The industry isn’t as innocent as you might think. Death is always a possibility, it’s just a matter of if you kill or be killed… That’s the kind of world I live in.” Fuyuhiko stated blankly.

“If you don’t stop it right now…I’m going to get seriously angry!” Mahiru shouted, shaken.

“Don’t treat me like a kid, bitch!” Fuyuhiko growled.

“Just stop already… This kind of fighting will not get us anywhere.” Peko cut in somberly.

“Shut the hell up! There’s no way I’m dealing with this Kumbaya crap! If any of you guys wanna die, step forward… I’ll fuckin’ kill you right now…” Fuyuhiko smirked.

“Sounds fun… Gimme your best shot…!” Akane gave a wolfish grin right back at him.

“Wh-What’s gonna happen if you’re this easily provoked!?” Hajime yelped.

“That is enough.” Peko glared piercingly at Fuyuhiko and Akane. Her voice was filled with such a menacing, cold fury that made them back away a little in fright despite their brave faces. “Now is not the time for fighting. Every soldier knows when to battle and when to concede, but this is not the battle we should be fighting. Our war is not with each other, but with the bear. That is our enemy. Do you understand?”

The Ultimate Heir and Ultimate Aikido Master surrendered. They probably decided that it was best not to provoke the woman with a giant gun on her back and even more weapons that she clearly knew how to use tucked away inside the pockets of her vest.

“Continue.” Peko said simply. This spurred the Ultimates into action after a slight delay.

“R-Right, um… Ryota, did you have an idea for how we should explore instead? You have a point, going alone or in pairs could be dangerous.” Sonia went on hesitantly.

Ryota was shaken, but he continued with his train of thought. “U-Um… We could… Go in groups of three or more…?” 

“That works for me!” Akane gives a lazy grin, quickly recovering from her aggression and fear.

“So we’ll split into 5 groups of three, and one group will have an extra person, or 4 groups of four?” Ibuki wondered.

“That doesn’t matter anyway, your group count is off, because I won’t be joining you.” Fuyuhiko glared down at the floor. “I’ll be doing my own research.”

“And what research is that?” Mahiru put her hands on her hips and stared Fuyuhiko down..

“That’s none of your fucking business!” Fuyuhiko snapped.

“I take it that means that you won’t be doing any exploring or research at all.” Chiaki translated evenly. Fuyuhiko growled and was about to make a snappy retort, but then Teruteru spoke.

“I’m not exploring or researching this place either, because none of this is real! I will walk around by myself, because there is no danger here! I refuse to believe in this murdering stuff, nope, it’s not real, so I won’t be joining any of your groups either.” Teruteru rambled, desperate to deny his reality until there was no choice but to believe it.

“Really? The spoiled brat throwing a tantrum I can understand, but the pervert gets to leave too? That’s not fair! I don’t wanna work either, I’m staying in the gym!” Hiyoko whined.

“Now, listen here, bitch!” Fuyuhiko growled. Kazuichi butted in.

“So we don’t have to do anything and we can chill in the gym? Sweet!” Kazuichi grinned.

Peko sighed defeatedly. “Is anyone else going to stay behind and do nothing?” 

“W-Well, I mean…” Mikan squeaked.

“As I am the Ultimate Prince, I have no talents that can assist you in your endeavor. I wish you the best of luck, however!” Nagito beamed.

“Useless… You’re all useless!” Mahiru glared frustratedly. 

“I’m sure you will all do a wonderful job exploring and figuring out our situation.” Nagito encouraged, posture straight and dignified with no signs of shame. He even had the audacity to give a double thumbs up before backing away to sit regally on the bleachers.

Mahiru buried her face in her hands and screamed.

“Um… I’m also going on a separate expedition… but, not as an excuse… I actually have an idea to help us.” Chiaki stated with an unreadable poker face.

“Can you tell us what this idea of yours is?” Peko asked.

“No.” Chiaki said simply, before exiting the gymnasium alone.

“Great… Just great! We’re going to be stuck her forever, or some idiot is going to die and or kill us all!” Mahiru ranted with a simmering rage.

“Nope! No talk of dying here, no danger, I’m leaving!” Teruteru shouted with his hands over his ears before sprinting out the door.

“You gonna throw your tantrum now too, babyface?” Hiyoko taunted at Fuyuhiko.

“Screw this and screw all of you! I was going to leave anyway, bitch.” Fuyuhiko snapped bitterly before stomping away.

The remaining students watched silently as the door swung closed behind him.

“Anyone else?” Peko glared at everyone. They all shook their heads rapidly. Peko glared at Mikan, Hiyoko, Kazuichi and Nagito even more harshly. 

Mikan whimpered and scurried to join Nagito on the bleachers. Kazuichi let out a nervous laugh that was several pitches too high before running into a corner on the opposite side of the room in fear. Hiyoko tried her best to look unaffected but her eyes darted around the room, avoiding Peko’s gaze. Nagito gave a smile that looked more like a grimace than anything else before staring down at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Moving on!” Ibuki butted in. “Let’s make our groups now.” 

“Pardon me, but what are we supposed to be figuring out exactly?” Sonia questioned.

“Um, we need to try to find a way to escape, right? Maybe we can remove one of the metal plates from one of the windows or try to bust through that metal hatch at the entrance hall with one of the stronger Ultimates.” Hajime suggested.

“Maybe we can find a way to send a message to the outside world! There’s got to be some form of communication in here, right?” Mahiru mentioned.

“Also, maybe if we can’t break any of the metal, we can find a way to open the metal hatch anyways. I can try to invent something, or maybe Hajime can hack into the technology inside the gate that’s keeping it locked and closed, if there is any.” Ryota added.

“We need to actually explore the school and stuff too, obviously.” Akane continued. Peko looked around to see if anyone else had any other ideas, before clasping her hands together to get down to business.

“Now we must assign the groups.” Peko stated. “We have 9 people in total. It is definitely a bad idea to go in groups of two or individually for any tasks, so we should go in three groups of three or in two groups, uneven with four in one and five in the other. Which format would you prefer, and which corresponding assignments will you accept, as there may be multiple tasks per one group.” 

“Well, it would probably be best for me and Ryota to work on that hatch in the main hall together, see if we can figure something out if force doesn’t work.” Hajime said. 

Ryota shook his head. “One of us should work on a communication device of some sort.” 

“Didn’t they say multiple tasks per group? We can multitask.” Hajime reasoned. Ryota bowed his head in agreement.

“I have seen many locked entrances and exits in enemy territory, I can assist you with the gate as well and determine any possible ways I can identify that you can use to open it.” Peko stated.

“Heh heh, did you see those guns on the security cameras? No way you can do this without me, traps and dangerous or impossible to open gates are my specialty! I’ve got a lot of tricks I can put to good use from all of my adventuring, you can count on me!” Nekomaru joined boisterously.

“Okay, so I guess the rest of us are on the other team then. What are the other tasks again? You’ve already taken the communication and the metal hatch, what’s left?” Mahiru wondered.

“Uh, trying to remove the metal plates from the windows and also actually exploring and examining the school?” Hajime mentioned.

“Cool, so I get to break some windows!” Akane grinned.

“Not exactly, you’re going to try to bend, take off, or break the sheets of metal covering the windows.” Hajime explained.

“Whatever, dude, same thing. Hey, what’s your name again?” Akane scratched her head.

“Wh—Didn’t I introduce myself twice to you?!” Hajime sputtered.

“I dunno. Maybe. If you did, I definitely forgot it.” Akane replied lazily.

“Hajime Hinata. My name is Hajime Hinata, and I’m the Ultimate Programmer.” Hajime repeated.

“Got it, dude.” Akane nodded. “Hey, do you know where the food is, Hank?”

Hajime just sighed. “I don’t know, I’d imagine that you would find out if you actually explore the school. Also, my name is Hajime, not Hank.”

“Whatever Harvey. When are we gonna start exploring, I‘m hungry!” Akane’s mouth watered at the very thought of food. Hajime didn’t bother trying to correct Akane again, resigned.

“Ibuki wants to explore too!” Ibuki rocked back and forth on her heels. 

“I am not sure if I would be the best option for bending metal, but I’ll do my best!” Sonia said determinedly.

“Geez, everyone knows that you should document everything when learning important information. I’ll take notes.” Mahiru huffed with her hands on her hips. Suddenly, everyone turned to Gundham expectantly.

Gundham’s been pretty quiet lately. Even Mikan and Ryota speak more than he does. I definitely thought that Gundham would be one of the louder Ultimates with his introduction and how weirdly and dramatically he speaks. Maybe he’s not coping as well as everyone else seems to be with being trapped in the school and the only way of escape being death in one way or another.  I should talk to him about this later.

“I see that you have saved the best for last! I, the Supreme Overlord of Ice, shall leave my decision to the fates! I, Gundham Tanaka, shall spin this symbol of the gods, forged out of metals found buried beneath this mortal planet combined with divine chaos magic, carved with twin faces, to test my fate!” Gundham pulled an american quarter out of his pocket with a flourish.

Everyone stared at Gundham. Even those on the bleachers looked at him judgingly. 

“That entire speech was just for a coin flip?!” Hajime gawked.

  Gundham spoke and gestured dramatically with no visible difference to his initial behavior. It seems like nothing’s wrong with him. Maybe I was misreading the situation? Or maybe… Is it just me, or does his strange speech sound more forced than it did in his introduction..?

Gundham went on, unaffected by the judgment of everyone in the room, and offended by the implication that this was all for a coin flip. “This is no mere “coin flip”! At the hands of the almighty deities of luck, the turning of this metallic symbol is capable of much more than just a simple coin flip! Tyche herself has blessed this “coin”. You should burn in the darkest depths of the underworld for even implying that this is-“

“Just get on with it already!” Akane groaned. 

“Be prepared to witness the fates themselves at work! I shall spin this coin thrice, then allow the results of the events that follow to make my decision for me! If it escapes from this gymnasium, I shall join the exploration team. If it remains in our midst, I shall use my magic to open the metal hatch. I, the great and powerful Gundham Tanaka, call upon the fates themselves to show me my destined path!” Gundham projected loudly. 

“Oh come on, how could he possibly get the coin to leave the gym, he’s spinning it in the opposite direction of the door!” Hiyoko huffed. “Skip the monologue and just spin the stupid coin!”

Gundham glared at her before carrying on as if she never said a word. “Tyche, combined with the fates and the true magic of chaos, unleash your power and bring me on the journey to my future! Silver medallion of fate, show me my destiny!” With that, Gundham placed the coin on the ground and spun it three times before letting it go. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, one of the lights above the stage suddenly broke apart from the ceiling and crashed onto the stage, sparks flying in its descent. 

The force of the crash blasted a gust of wind at a lone volleyball that went flying into a basketball. The resulting impact sent the basketball bouncing erratically around the gym, causing everyone to duck for cover except for Gundham himself who just watched it expectantly. Part of the stage had caught fire due to the sparks from the stagelight that started it all. Eventually, the basketball rammed into the still spinning coin, sending it flying into air. Whilst the coin was in motion, the basketball hit Hiyoko, full velocity, right in the eye. She shrieked in outrage. Gundham smirked. The coin’s aim hit true, sliding right through the gap in the entrance doors until suddenly it was gone. The entire room was silent. 

Gundham hummed. “So the fates have decided for me to venture and explore the unknown lands and attempt to break the window to another reality. I, Gundham Tanaka, accept my destiny.” Sonia looked at Gundham with stars in her eyes, leaping over to meet him. Before she could speak, however, a different blonde piped up in annoyance.

“Your stupid ball hit me in the face!” Hiyoko cried in outrage. “I can already feel it bruising!”

“It appears that fate has intended this. I had no influence over such motions, only the gods themselves could possibly control the acts that the silver medallion creates.” Gundham replies, although a mischievous light twinkles in his eyes as he looks at the blonde model’s forming black eye.

There is absolutely no way that that was an accident.

Meanwhile, some of the others seemed to have noticed the flames creeping slowly from the stage towards the bleachers.

“Oh, my my my, there seems to be a burning problem!” Ibuki gasped, pointing at the fire.

“That was such a bad pun… Wait, there’s a fire!?” Mahiru choked. “Someone put it out!”

“A basketball to the face wasn’t enough, you had to try to set me on fire too?!” Hiyoko yelled.

“Maybe we can use it to escape?” Akane questioned, unbothered by the danger.

“N-No! The building is fire resistant, I read it online, we’d sooner burn alive!” Hajime sputtered. “H-How could we put it out when we don’t even know where anything is?!”

After a few more moments of incoherent panicking, the smoke finally reached the ceiling where the smoke detectors were and the fire alarm went off piercingly. Then the sprinklers rained down on all of them, soaking everyone to the bone, adding on to the shrill beeping sound coming from the alarm. Eventually the fire was put out, but it was at the expense of all the students who were all miserable and dripping with water, ears ringing. Since they hadn’t explored yet no one knew if there was a way to dry themselves off or change their clothes, so they knew that they were stuck like this for the time being. The icy water seemed to sap the energy from everyone and make them more bitter and tired. There was a long moment where everyone stewed in silence.

Well, at least there were no phones or electronic devices to be ruined or electrocute anyone.

Eventually, the students decided that anyone who had extra layers or accessories on that got soaked should take them off so that the teens wouldn’t have as many wet articles of clothing dragging them down or making them more uncomfortable. They hung their other clothes and accessories on the bleachers on the opposite side of the room so that they would hopefully dry off by the time the ultimates were done with their tasks, leaving some of them in just undershirts and such.

“At least my makeup is waterproof…” Hiyoko sulked, her wet pigtails drooping low, bows crooked and falling off. Her outfit, however, was nowhere near salvageable, the short dress’s leopard print and fur matted and drowning. Her open wedges were also not ideal. It clearly was not an outfit made for rain. She didn’t try to take the soggy trench coat dress off, however. Maybe she had nothing underneath it.

Gundham and Peko similarly did not take anything off. Peko had probably dealt with much worse than soggy clothes, plus leaving a bunch of lethal weapons out in the open after a killing game was announced was just a bad idea so the vest was clearly staying on for a reason. Gundham was just weird.

On the other hand, some others, like Ibuki, Mikan, Sonia, Nekomaru, Kazuichi, and Nagito had to take external jackets, shirts, and belts off instead of just accessories and ties.

“…We should get started.” Mahiru pointed out reluctantly after a moment of silence. “We can meet in the main hall again after we’re done with our tasks to discuss what we find out.”

Ibuki perked up. “The exercise should warm everyone up! No more cold Ibuki. Maybe we’ll even dry up faster too!”

Then there was Kazuichi. “Heyyy, so I’m still not going, even if I’m sitting on wet bleachers. I’m not in the mood to like, do anything, ya know? Even less now with all the water.” Kazuichi rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.

“I reiterate that I sincerely wish you all the best of luck! Your wet clothing should not be an obstacle in your laborious tasks, and I believe that you can overcome any additional discomfort on the way. This is nothing that Ultimates like you can't handle, of course.” Nagito’s eyes sparkled. 

It wasn’t even worth the effort but Hajime glared at the useless Ultimate Baseball Player and Ultimate Prince anyway.

With even less enthusiasm than before, the Ultimates split into their decided groups and set off to complete their self assigned tasks, drenched, grumpy, and cold.  

———————

Nothing was accomplished in Hajime’s group by the time everyone was supposed to meet up. 

Hajime, Ryota, Nekomaru and Peko had tried their best to open the huge metal hatch, using strength and desperation to try to open it in any way they could, but even Nekomaru’s strength was no match for a huge hunk of metal. 

Ryota wanted to create a device to help, but with no materials or resources he had nothing to build a device with. The best “tools” they had were picking up large, heavy, or metal objects and chairs and slamming them against the hatch like a battering ram. 

Hajime’s talent was worthless too, not just because there was no way of knowing if there even was any technology in the gate to be hacked, but because he had nothing to hack or program with. His laptop and any and all technology he had before arriving at Hope’s Peak was gone, so the only thing he had was his E-Book which could not be hacked.

They spent hours frustratedly trying again and again to open the gate, at one point considering trying some of Peko’s guns or other dangerous weapons, but Peko refused to take out any of her actual weapons for fear that they would do more damage to themselves than the door, bombs and grenades included. She didn’t want to shoot at the metal and have it rebound into a bullet to the brain for one of them. Deciding that Peko was the expert here and knew much more about the hazardous weapons that the teenagers wanted to wield, we conceded and let the matter go.

Now, the other groups had already joined them in the main hall, Teruteru and Fuyuhiko too (Chiaki was absent however), listening to Hajime’s group’s explanation on how utterly hopeless their attempts to open the metal gate had turned out. 

Unfortunately, it seemed that no group was successful in any way that mattered, and nothing was found that could help lead to their escape or to get in contact with the outside world. Akane, Sonia, Gundham, Ibuki, and Mahiru’s group was not successful in getting rid of the metal sheets on any of the windows.

They had explored the school, however, and despite not finding anything useful for escape or communication, they did find the dorm rooms where they found new sewing and tool kits, also learning that the rooms were completely soundproof. There were also lint rollers, notepads, desks, and trash cans, along with the same metal plates, cameras, and tvs that seemed to be everywhere in the building. The dorm bathrooms all seemed to have locks on them from what they saw, although Gundham’s lock apparently worked differently from the girls’ bathroom locks. 

The dorm rooms also had multiple copies of the same outfits that the individual students were currently wearing in their own rooms. The outfits were blessedly dry, so everyone who had been soaked in the gym immediately went to go change before reconvening in their dry clothes.  

The other group also mentioned seeing gates with metal bars in front of staircases seemingly leading to a second floor of some kind. There were also a lot of locked off areas, but the bare necessities were provided and seemingly fully stocked, food and otherwise. 

The Ultimates had been discussing the layout for the school when Chiaki had walked in and produced a map of the school that she didn’t give an explanation for before practically falling asleep standing up. 

Mahiru quickly shook Chiaki awake. “Sleeping outside of the dorms isn’t allowed, remember? Also, where in the world did you get this map?!”

“It doesn't matter where I found it.” Chiaki yawned. “Look at the map… This building we’re stuck in has the same layout as Hope's Peak Academy.”

“So… this really is Hope's Peak Academy?” Hajime questioned tiredly.

“…Yeah, but I only got a map of the first floor, and they made some strange… renovations to the building from what I can tell.” Chiaki continued calmly. 

“But then... this really is Hope's Peak. We didn't get kidnapped and taken to some other place…” Ryota muttered anxiously.

“B-But if this really is Hope's Peak, where are all the other students?” Mikan squeaked out.

“Hey, come on, guys. Let's just stop talking about all this... you know, negative stuff…” Kazuichi sweated.

“But aren't you worried? Things don't look good…” Hajime pointed out warily.

“Worried? What's there to be worried about? I mean, this was all planned out, right? The people in charge of Hope's Peak put this all together, right?” Teruteru cut in stubbornly, still refusing to see reality. 

“Hmm… It seems splitting up to investigate was a good idea, after all.” Nagito chimed from out of nowhere.

“Haven't you been listening!? Looking around was a total waste of time! We didn't find a way out, didn't find who's behind this. We still have no idea what's going on!” Mahiru exclaimed frustratedly.

“Well, clearly, we’ve been trapped in an unknown location with no way out. You have to have figured that out by now, don’t deny it. That’s what’s “going on”.” Nagito goaded.

None of us had any response to that. We didn't want to accept that reality - but it was staring us right in the face.

“You didn't have to go and say that. I was trying not to think about it…” Mahiru muttered.

“N-No way out... We're t-trapped here. What are w-we supposed to d-do...?” Mikan whispered anxiously.

“It's simple. If you want to leave, you just have to kill-” Fuyuhiko started.

“Don’t even joke about that!” Mahiru snapped.

“Everyone just calm down, please! We need to stop and think about what to do from here.” Hajime suggested placatingly. 

“There’s gotta be something we could do.”

“All we can do is adapt. Adapt to living our lives here from now on.” Nagito calmly stated.

“Live here...? A-Are you saying we should just accept it?” Ryota exclaimed. 

“A lack of adaptability... is a lack of survivability. Survival is not based on who is the strongest or the smartest. It comes down to who can adapt.” Nagito continued.

“Um… I have a suggestion.” Chiaki chimed in.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Akane pondered. 

“Well, we’re kind of trapped here. Which means we’ll be spending the night. But… You all remember the rule regarding nighttime, right?” Chiaki asks.

Rule #2: "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Rule #3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

“So, I was thinking… night time is kinda scary, huh? I mean, it’s kind of worrying if you think about it, and the danger, and everything.” Chiaki explained softly. “So… um, I know it seems a little restrictive, but if none of us have to worry about being killed in the dead of night… we’d all be a lot less paranoid, in the long run. So, maybe we should just all agree not to leave our rooms at night time. That way we wouldn’t have to worry as much, y’know?” Everyone glanced around at each other, gauging each other’s reactions at the suggested rule. Some people seemed more agreeable than others, understanding, while others were a bit more hesitant towards the idea of essentially locking themselves up at night every night for who knows how long.

“Uh, sorry, Chiaki, w-what are you saying? So we just wouldn’t leave our rooms at all once night time comes around so that we won’t be scared about getting killed at night?” Hajime questioned hesitantly. 

“Yeah, that’s right. But… no one can really be forced to go along with it since it’s not officially one of Monokuma’s rules, y’know? We all have to agree on this for it to work.” Chiaki chimed. 

“Huh, I get it. Yeah, that’s probably a good idea so no one gets paranoid or anything. Boys, you better agree to this too or else you’re even more unreliable than I thought.” Mahiru pointedly stated with her hands on her hips. 

“Wh-what?!” Ryota exclaimed. 

“This is an understandable and fair rule, so I agree as well.” Sonia nodded.

“O-O-O-Okay…” Mikan mumbled.

“It does make sense I guess, so I can go along with that.” Hajime added, trying to ignore Mahiru’s misandry in favor of agreeing with Chiaki’s point. 

“If Ms. Sonia agrees, so do I!” Kazuichi chimes in. Sonia looks a bit uncomfortable but ultimately ignores him. 

“Good, so everyone agrees!” Ibuki cheerfully cuts in. 

“Hell no, I never agreed to that!” Fuyuhiko spat. Chiaki stared Fuyuhiko down with a blank expression on her face until he wilted and glared at the ground.

“There are no rules for the Supreme Overlord of Ice…” Gundham sulkily protested. “Order itself fears me!”

“Hmm…” Nagito hummed with an unreadable tone. It was unclear whether he agreed or not.

“Then it is agreed.” Peko stated. “No one will leave their rooms at night time.”

“Whatever,” Akane shrugged unconcerned. “I’m gonna go shower before the water shuts off.” Akane mentions before walking away and out the door without looking back. No one tries to stop her.

“It is almost night time… I guess the meeting’s pretty much over anyway. We should probably go shower and get some sleep too.” Mahiru declares, nodding to herself. 

“We can continue whatever else we have to do tomorrow.” Hajime continues.

“We’re really sleeping here ?!” Ryota pipes up. 

“We have no other choice.” Peko responds solemnly. “We can not go for days on end without rest, especially in this situation, otherwise we would just be needlessly weakening ourselves.” 

“B-But what are we going to do tomorrow?” Ryota questions. 

“Why not just do the same thing we did today, tomorrow! We can split up and look around, try to find stuff and tell each other if we do. Well, after gathering our clothes from where they’re drying in the gym.” Nekomaru proclaimed boisterously. 

It was too late in the day for anyone to be that energetic.

“… Okay… Goodnight.” Chiaki nodded drowsily before stumbling out the door, yawning all the while. 

With heavy movements, everyone headed off to their private rooms. 

Is this really where I’ll be staying for the foreseeable future?

Once Hajime made it back to his room, he started getting ready to sleep. Checking out the bathroom, he was surprised to see that his door had no lock on it. 

Huh? I thought every dorm’s bathroom door had locks on it?

“Why is there no lock?!” Hajime exclaimed. “I thought all the bathrooms had locks on them!”

Suddenly, Monokuma pops up out of nowhere, and Hajime jumps back in surprise, cursing to himself. 

“ Bzzt! Wrong! All the girls' bathrooms have locks on them! The bathrooms in the boys’ rooms don’t have locks! I mean, a lock on a boy's bathroom is kinda pointless, don't you think? Well, it's not that it's pointless , I guess. But I'm no expert on the birds and the bees and all that.” Monokuma rambled.

“B-But Gundham said that his door had a lock on it too!” Hajime mentioned anxiously, voice high pitched and faster than usual. 

“Puhuhu… Gundham’s door doesn’t have a lock either! He just got really unlucky and so his door doesn’t fit in the frame. Did none of you read the notice on the wall?” Monokuma mocked.

Suddenly Hajime noticed the note on the wall and felt really stupid.

 Before Hajime could say anything to Monokuma now that he wasn’t as panicked, Monokuma suddenly proclaimed, “Anyway, I suddenly don't feel like being here anymore. Bye!” before disappearing.

“H-Hey, wait!” Hajime exclaimed. 

…Damnit. 

*Ding dong, bing bong*

The TV monitor in Hajime’s room suddenly turned on. On the screen, there was an image of Monokuma lounging in a computer chair in front of multiple security monitors, with a glass of some kind of cocktail in one of his paws. 

“Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite…” Monokuma announced, before the screen shut off. 

Hajime stared off into space for a bit following the announcement. Looking at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror, he breathed a sigh of relief when olive green eyes stared back at him, before finally finishing up and climbing into his room’s bed. 

Looks like it's nighttime. We all promised we wouldn't leave our rooms now. 

“All I can do now is try and get some sleep…” Hajime mumbled to himself, collapsing into the bed . Still, Hajime was paralyzed in thought. He buried his head in his arms and screamed silently to himself.

I didn’t want to see anyone anymore. I just wanted to be alone forever. I have nobody I can trust… Because, even if I wanted to trust them… I don’t know anything about them yet. The only person I can trust is myself… No, even I don’t believe that. In truth, after I was forced to hear that dumb rule, “You can’t leave unless you kill someone”… I realized that there’s a part of me that really wants to get out of this place…

Hajime screamed even louder, grateful for the room’s soundproofing.

Why…me…!? Why…do I have to go through with this…!?

He began to lose his voice, before it faded soon after entirely, leaving only silence. He buried his head in his arms once again.

Why am I here? What am I doing here?

Hajime forced his eyes shut.

 I wasn’t tired or anything, but… I just wanted to sleep, if only for a short while. I wanted to put an end to it all. And if, by chance, I managed to wake up the next day… It would be awesome if I was back to my normal life. With these meager expectations, I fell into a light sleep. 

———————

*Ding dong, bing bong*

The TV monitor in Hajime’s room turned on to the same scene from last night’s night time announcement. Maybe the announcements were recorded at the same time.

“Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!” Monokuma cheerfully exclaimed before the monitor cut out. 

Hajime groaned to himself, waking up.

Apparently, it's morning... But thanks to the total lack of windows, there's no way to know for sure. 

“So… It definitely wasn’t a dream after all…” Hajime mumbled to himself.

I was forced to acknowledge that yet again… which put me in a bad mood from the get-go.

“I guess for now… I should go pick up my wet clothes from where they’ve been hanging out to dry in the gym.” Hajime continued thinking aloud.

Once Hajime was ready, he headed out the door to go to the gymnasium. 

As he walked through the hallway, Hajime walked past Kazuichi who was standing outside his own room. Kazuichi shrieked in shock and panic and Hajime responded with audible shock before Kazuichi calmed himself down.

“…Oh, it’s just you. Don’t scare me like that.” Kazuichi scolded, relieved. 

“I-I could say the same for you…!” Hajime replied anxiously. 

“Hey, what’s with all the noise?” Peko cut in, appearing from seemingly out of nowhere. Kazuichi screamed even louder than he did before. “I came all the way here to get you both, and now you’re screaming at me.”

“…Eh? You’re here to get us?” Hajime wondered.

“I was told to come get you because we kept waiting and you two never showed up… Everyone is waiting in the gymnasium… hurry up and join us.” Peko explained before turning away to go back to the gym. 

“Everyone’s waiting at the gym?” Hajime pondered. “I knew everyone would go there to pick up their wet clothes, but why are they still there?”

“Ugh… Whatever, man… I don’t care… I don’t care at all…” Kazuichi muttered with his head in his hands.

“Come on… we should head over to the gym.” Hajime prodded, trying to get Kazuichi to move.

“I’ll make my way over in a few minutes.” Kazuichi groaned before going back into his dorm room and shutting the door.

“…I guess I should just go to the gym now.” Hajime thought aloud, beginning to move again.

As he made his way through the school, he saw Chiaki standing in the area outside the school store. Hajime went to go talk to her.

“Huh? I thought everyone was waiting at the gym?” Hajime questioned.

Chiaki was silent for a moment before slowly responding. “…I thought I’d look around a little more until everyone else arrived. I wasn’t there when the sprinklers went off yesterday so my clothes didn’t get wet, so I didn’t really have a reason to go to the gym anyways… I’m bored… But… I guess I should get going, too.” She quietly started making her way to the gym before Hajime could even say anything.

Hajime tried to catch up, and they walked the rest of the way in relative silence until they reached the gym. In the entrance to the gym, Chiaki paused for a second at the display case and eyed the golden sword, puffing out her cheeks and giving a low negative sounding hum, before walking into the gym. Hajime quickly followed.

The gym looked pretty much the same as it had yesterday. Some of the puddles had dried up already, but it was still relatively flooded and slippery. Most of the clothes hanging to dry were already taken from where they were yesterday by their respective owners. Hajime went over to the bleachers where they were to pick up his.

Everyone but Kazuichi was already in the gym. Sonia looked upset, and some of the others seemed to be comforting her or upset right along with her, but everyone who wasn’t seemed either bored, uncomfortable, or indifferent.

Mahiru marched over to Hajime. “You’re late, Hajime… And where’s Kazuichi?! I thought you were together.”

“He went back to his dorm room, but he said he’d only take a few minutes before coming over.” Hajime explained. “Why is everyone gathered here?” He asked curiously.

Mahiru glared at the floor. “I’ll tell you when Kazuichi gets here.” 

After a few more minutes, Kazuichi finally arrived, practically dragging himself in.

“Hey, straighten up a little more! Shouldn’t a man like you be embarrassed to walk like that?” Mahiru reprimanded him with a hand on her hip. Kazuichi just stared at the ground pathetically in shame. 

“Kyahaha! Even though you look all flashy, you’re actually a big coward!” Hiyoko mocked. “Are you gonna be okaaaay? People like you are usually the first victim, you know?”

“I-I just want to go home already!” Kazuichi whined, tears in his eyes. 

Mahiru rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Now that you’re all here, I’ll tell you what’s been going on.” She looked around the room, glaring at all the guys she saw. “Some pervert snuck into the gym last night before any of us grabbed our drying clothes from the bleachers, and stole all of Sonia’s clothes and accessories!” 

Hajime turned to look at Sonia in surprise. She straightened up and tried not to look too bothered by it, but she still seemed a bit stiff and uncomfortable. 

“Yes, it is true. I came into the gym this morning to take back my top and accessories, but they were already gone. I understand that our dorm rooms have identical clothing, but I do not like that they were taken in the first place. We already have limited supplies, and going so far as to steal some of my only accessible clothing…” Sonia looked down.

“Is disgusting and wrong.” Mahiru continued aggressively. “So who did it?!” She stared everyone down heatedly, and Peko glared as well, intimidating those around her. . 

Hajime looked around at everyone, trying to figure out who did it, but couldn’t see anyone who seemed affected by it. Some of them looked like they didn’t care, others seemed to be on Sonia’s side, but no one looked really involved. It was when he turned to look at Kazuichi and saw his face that everything made sense. Kazuichi was pale.

“Kazuichi, did you do it?” Hajime accused hesitantly, bringing attention to how guilty he looked.

“H-H-Hey, hey! I’m not guilty, I didn’t do anything, and if I did I didn’t mean to!” Kazuichi defended anxiously. The glares on him got more heated. Kazuichi picked up the pace of his words. “Okay, so I did mean to, but I didn’t mean to make Ms. Sonia upset! I would never want to make her upset! I just wanted something to comfort me, after the whole killing game announcement I couldn’t sleep at night, y’know?! So I went to the gym early to get my clothes, and I saw Ms. Sonia’s clothes there too, and I knew she had spares, so I just didn’t think it was that big of a deal! I’m so sorry Ms. Sonia!!!”

…Well, mystery solved I guess. He’ll get what he deserves based off of the way the girls are closing in on him.

“Kazuichi! Return my belongings to me at once!” Sonia demanded. Hajime started walking away from them, not wanting to really get involved with this since he had nothing to do with it. 

Kazuichi cowered in fear as Mahiru began to aggressively scold him without pause. Peko gave a piercing glare. Gundham looked at him in disdain. Akane wrinkled her nose at him in disgust from the corner of the gym, rolling her eyes. Mikan quietly left the gym to avoid the confrontation. Hiyoko just called him a nasty pervert before leaving the room now that the problem was solved. 

After all of that, Hajime decided to just go back to his dorm room with his still wet clothes to finish drying them off by hanging them over a desk. He didn’t want to use the clothes lines in the laundry room after this incident. Some of the other people in the room followed his and Hiyoko’s example and left since they had nothing to do with this.

After he finished hanging his clothes, he went over to the dining hall to eat. A few other people were there, some gossiping about what just happened in the gym, but Hajime didn’t care enough to really join them. 

Hajime ate, explored for a little bit more to see for himself where everything was located in the school, before going back to his room. 

There’s still plenty of time left in the day.

I really don't feel like just sitting here. Maybe I'll take a look around…

Chapter Text

I really don't feel like just sitting here. Maybe I'll take a look around…

Hajime wandered around the school a bit more, examining the locked doors and areas and noticed that Nekomaru also seemed to be doing something similar. Hajime walked closer to where Nekomaru was attempting and failing to lift the gate in front of a staircase.

“What is it, Hajime…? Is there something you want to talk to me about?” Nekomaru questioned.

What should I do? Should I invite Nekomaru to hang out?

“Want to hang out, Nekomaru?” Hajime asked.

“No problem! Talk to me about anything! As an adventurer, I’m ready for anything!” Nekomaru boasted.

I spent time today discussing many detailed things with Nekomaru. Looks like Nekomaru and I grew a little closer…

“Hey Nekomaru. There’s something I’ve been wondering about ever since we first met…” Hajime began. 

“Hm? You’ve been thinking about me that much!? I see… then I guess I must accept it. C’mon, BRING IT ON!” Nekomaru yelled.

“D-Don’t misunderstand!” Hajime panicked, crossing and waving his arms in ‘no’ motions.

“Fine then…” Nekomaru calmed slightly, “so, what were you going to talk about?” 

“Y-Yeah… I wanted to ask you why you chose to be an adventurer, even with all of the dangers…?” Hajime asked nervously. Nekomaru stared back at Hajime determinedly as he answered.

“Hajime, you don’t know anything. Adventure is a part of life! I go further than most would dare because I don’t want to waste a single second of my life. I want to see and experience the best parts of this world, venture where many would never go, learn of the various cultures and histories and make my own adventure, life, worthwhile.” Nekomaru passionately explained. 

“But what about all of the danger…?” Hajime wondered. 

“Hesitation to take risks only holds you back from really living life to its fullest potential! Every decision you make can be an adventure if you let it. There will always be danger, even to those who take minimal risks. Do you want to die never having taken any risks when the chances you never took had the potential to change your life for the better?! Your life is an adventure, Hajime.” Nekomaru continued fiercely.

I-I never really thought of it that way… Hajime was a bit cowed in the face of Nekomaru’s bold speech.

“Now that you understand, don’t underestimate the power of an adventure. As long as you don’t do that… your life will certainly be more interesting, at the very least!” Nekomaru gave a wolfish grin..

I’m not an adventurous person anyway… But more importantly, he’s got a lot of confidence. And… I can understand how proud he must be to never hold himself back from going after what he wants and doing the things he loves. Just as I thought… Nekomaru is an amazing guy.

“Hm? Did you just praise me in your heart?” Nekomaru questioned.

“Huh? How’d you know!?” Hajime yelped, shocked.

“When you and I face each other like this, we are one in both body and mind. I CAN EASILY SEE WHAT YOU’RE THINKING!” Nekomaru shouted.

O-One in both body and mind…? I really don’t want that. Hajime sweatdropped. 

Nekomaru chuckled boisterously. “Hey, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm used to being showered with praise! I’ve recovered so many lost artifacts over the years that people fight over the chance to go on an adventure with me!”

…That's crazy in so many ways, but there's no denying that he's an amazing guy. I feel like I got to know Nekomaru a little better.

After listening to Nekomaru’s talk about his heroic escapades for a while, I went back to my dorm room…

*Ding dong, bing bong*

“Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite…”

Today's already come to an end… But I swear... tomorrow I'm going to find some kind of clue! I swear!

*Ding dong, bing bong* 

“Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!”

… Morning has come. What should I do today?

Hajime looked around for someone to talk to until he spotted Gundham lurking in one of the halls. Shrugging to himself, Hajime walked over to him.

“Stay back, human… I must commune with the Gods of Fortune until we are freed from this prisonlike reality.” Gundham warned.

What should I do? Can I even hang out with someone like Gundham? Will I spontaneously burst into flame?

“Hey Gundham, want to hang out?” Hajime asked.

“I’m warning you… if you are out of line, it will be the end for you.” Gundham glared, before breaking into a devious grin. “However, my interest is piqued…! Fine then, I shall give you my precious time!”

I spent time with Gundham today listening to him enthusiastically talk about fate, destiny, and darkness. Looks like Gundham and I grew closer today…

“…Whoa there. It’s better if you don’t get any closer than that. An automatic barrier is generated independently of my will.” Gundham huffed with his arms crossed.

It’s not like I’m getting close…or even planning to get close…

“Which reminds me, there’s something I haven’t asked you yet. It doesn’t matter that your temporary name is Hajime Hinata. Tell me your true name, fiend.” Gundham accused.

“What the heck is this “true name” thing?” Hajime asked confusedly.

“Hmph, so you’re not foolish enough to tell me so easily… Then tell me your hidden name.” Gundham continued darkly.

Hajime shuddered. “I-I don’t have anything like that…”

Gundham didn’t look like he believed him but continued on anyway. “Then what is your special ability?” 

“There’s no way I have one of those!” Hajime protested.

“Hmph, so you really are just a mere human. I suppose it can’t be helped… Then let me talk to you about something that even a mere human can understand. Ask me anything.” Gundham indulged smugly.

Oh, so I have to ask…

“However, it’s free for you to ask, but make sure you try not to understand. After knowing my true terror, it’ll be quite a sight to see how long your sanity will last.” Gundham challenged.

Does he want to talk or not…? Which is it…? Talking to him is starting to get annoying, but he’s totally ready and waiting for me… I guess I have to ask something…

“Um… What do you do with your free time usually?” Hajime questioned.

Gundham smirked. “So you’re interested in my lifestyle? Fine then… I shall reveal a portion of that to you. Training, human hunting, craft spell components, etc… Despite my looks, I’m quite the busybody. However, managing my website takes up the bulk of my time.”

“…Huh?” Hajime wondered.

“Obviously, sorcerers around the world are waiting to see my research results. Of course, my website has been magically enchanted so only the chosen ones can view it. A mere human like you will only be able to access the dummy site called “The Findings of the Dark Fortunes of Fate”.” Gundham continued smugly.

“I’d rather check out the Ultimate Lucky Student’s research into luck anyway…” Hajime mentioned.

“Then… I will make sure to show you. Well, if we ever get out of here, that is.” Gundham mumbled shyly into his scarf, before glaring aggressively at Hajime, annoyed at his own moment of vulnerability. “Well? Are there any other questions?” 

“…What’s your favorite food?” Hajime asked.

Gundham tilted his head in acknowledgment. “Hmm… You’ve certainly hit the mark well. I’m fond of the orange melon which bears the face of the devil.” 

Um… are you talking about a pumpkin…?

“There is no other food as high in nutrients nor as versatile to a variety of cooking methods… More importantly, it is prevalent in the season of samhain and may be placed on a carefully built altar as a symbol of the harvest’s end, which may be used as an offering to appease the spirits, which in turn may please the gods which pull the strings of fate for and against my whims.” Gundham grinned to himself.

“I see… that sounds pretty difficult.” Hajime noted.

“Is there anything in this world that isn’t difficult?” Gundham glowered. “Pleasure and pain are irrelevant as long as you have a purpose, and take action for that sake.”

You’re right… That’s exactly right. Gundham is hard to understand sometimes, but I do understand the intent behind his words. Somehow… even though it’s only a little, I feel like I’m starting to get to know Gundham better. 

After showering Gundham with questions until he was satisfied, he finally let me go. 

Hajime headed back to his room and flopped onto his bed, staring at the ceiling.

There's still lots of time left in the day. I really don't feel like just sitting here. Maybe I'll take a look around…

Hajime walked over to the kitchen to grab an early dinner, making a sandwich and brewing some tea for himself before sitting at one of the tables. He saw Mahiru quietly eating at another table nearby by herself. She noticed him looking and hit him with a piercing stare.  She seemed to take my hesitation as a cue to start a conversation.

“All this talk about murder and being trapped here for life is really worrying. I’m not like Nagito or Fuyuhiko. I’m just a regular person…” Mahiru looked lost in thought.

What should I do? Should I try to hang out with Mahiru?

“Hey, do you want to hang out while I’m here?” Hajime asked awkwardly.

“You’re probably a regular person too, right? Well, I guess I can hang out with you.”  Mahiru shrugged.

I spent time today sipping some tea and listening to Mahiru vent her frustrations. It looks like Mahiru and I grew a little closer…

“Ah, Hajime. Hold on a minute!” Mahiru exclaimed once he was done eating, pulling out a notebook and pencil.

“Hm?” Hajime wondered.

“Okay, so I found some notebooks and school supplies in the school store while I was exploring… I wanted to document everything about our situation.” Mahiru stated determinedly. 

Mahiru started rapidly jotting stuff down in the notebook, occasionally looking up at me. I couldn’t see much of what she was writing, but it looked like she was making a profile of me of some sort, documenting my appearance and mannerisms.

“Well, I guess this is good enough. Yep, that sure is a dumb-sounding description.” Mahiru smirked.

“Dumb-sounding description…? That’s only because you profiled me so suddenly, you haven’t even gotten to know me.” Hajime retorted.

“Just so you know… it’s not like I want to write a full document about you or anything. I swear to every god who’s listening that that’s true. This… is just a record.” Mahiru stated absentmindedly. 

Y-You don’t have to go that far…

“But what kind of record?” Hajime questioned.

“A record is just a record. I want a record that right now, we’re all living together in this place with no problems other than the obvious trap that bear set for us…” Mahiru stated determinedly.

“We’re just… living together almost normally right now.” Hajime thought about the situation to himself a bit more, a bit surprised at the realization hitting him that this would almost be like a normal dorming experience other than the whole Monokuma situation and the lack of adults and classes.

“It’s pretty simple… but in this kind of situation, because of what that stuffed animal said, it’s easy for us to think that we’re just imprisoned with a bunch of strangers or enemies, you know? So I decided to make a record of everyone each day so we won’t forget that we’re all just people who can live together and get along, and cohabitate in relative peace. Or, if things escalate, we can at least remember how everything was at the beginning, document this situation in detail from start to finish. That’s pretty much the only thing I can do right now.” Mahiru explained optimistically.

“I see… That’s a good idea…” Hajime replied, surprised.

I seriously wouldn’t have thought to do something like that… Mahiru seems like a pretty solid person.

“But… maintaining documentation of guys isn’t fun, so I guess it’ll be fine if I only update my records of you once every three days…” Mahiru pondered to herself.

“… You’re already contradicting what you just said.” Hajime deadpanned. “Well, aren’t you “commendable”? It’s so “awesome” that your priorities are in check.”

“What does that mean…?” Mahiru wondered.

“Hm…?” Hajime hummed in question.

“More importantly, we’ve got this great school with a great opportunity for our futures, but that weird stuffed animal just ruins it.” Mahiru complained. “No matter how detailed the memory is, you still can’t properly document something if it isn’t properly witnessed and remembered… Ah, I know. If you ever see Monokuma again, question him, and tell me what he says and does. I can document everything else just fine, but he avoids giving me any useful information about him or his motives, he ignores me if I try to interrogate him about anything. One day, I’ll definitely figure out what he’s doing and who he really is and document it so thoroughly that he’ll be caught and go to jail! I’ll be world famous for landing such a huge scoop and get justice served for all of us having to go through this stupid situation by using my thorough investigative journalism skills… If I ever get out to report this, anyway… Well then, I’m busy so I guess I’ll see you later.”

After controlling so much of the conversation, Mahiru suddenly changed the subject and walked away.

“Was she angry or something…? Did I say something weird…?” Hajime wondered nervously.

This is bad… I have no idea what’s going on… it’s almost nighttime, I should return to my room at once…

Hajime went back into the kitchen, washed his dishes, before hurrying back to his room to shower before the water turned off.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

“Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite…”

The third day here has already come to an end. When will I - no, we… When are we gonna get out of here? I laid on my bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. And before I knew it, I'd fallen into an uneasy sleep.

*Ding dong, bing bong* 

“Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!”

I woke up to the irritating sound of Monokuma's voice; I slowly pulled myself out of bed. Gh… Another night of restless sleep. Day after day, I can feel the fatigue piling up… As soon as the thought had crossed my mind…

*Ding dong*

... the sound of the doorbell forced its way into my room.

The doorbell was being pressed over and over again, ringing repeatedly and annoying Hajime. He went over to open the door and was surprised to see Ibuki standing in front of his door with a cheerful grin, his appearance causing her to stop spamming his doorbell.

“Good nom-nom-noming!” Ibuki beamed.

“I-Ibuki…?” Hajime squeaked, taken aback as Ibuki let herself into Hajime’s dorm room. 

“I thought up a greeting for when we all eat breakfast together! It’s a revolutionary new phrase that combines “Good morning!” and “Nom-nom-nom!” at the same time!” Ibuki announced excitedly, waving her arms around.

“…What?” Hajime asked bemusedly. 

“Oh, right, that’s why I’m here! I’m here to announce that starting right now, every morning from now on, after the morning announcement, everyone will eat breakfast together! You should definitely go to the dining hall! Also, make sure to remember my phrase! It’s definitely the new, hip thing to say! In fact, I’ll make sure it’s the new, hip thing to say!” Ibuki put her hands on her hips proudly. “Good nom-nom-noming! Sooooo… I’m gonna go tell everyone!” With that, Ibuki ran out of the room, probably to ring the doorbell of the next person. 

Ibuki didn't even wait for a reply. She turned and left, before I could say a thing... Even if she makes the phrase popular, it’ll still be limited to this school and maybe any teams she works with. Well... I guess I'd better head to the dining hall.

Hajime got dressed and quickly got himself ready before walking over to the dining hall. Pretty much everyone was already there, impatiently waiting or already eating, except for a select few who Ibuki was retrieving. 

Mahiru and Hiyoko were chatting together, Chiaki, Peko and Ryota were quietly keeping to themselves and picking at their meals, Akane and Nekomaru were sitting together, both shoveling huge amounts of food into their mouths, especially Akane, and Sonia and Gundham seemed to be in their own little world together that Kazuichi was trying to get in on with little success. Hajime decided to get some food while waiting for everyone else to arrive.

Nagito was in the kitchen, and it seemed like he was trying to make an omelet of some sort, although he was adding random ingredients that don’t really belong in omelets to the pan. The heat was on the highest setting possible, and there was a sticker of a tiny monokuma engulfed by a large flame laying right next to the dial setting.

“Hey, Hajime!” Nagito greeted cheerily.

“Hey, Nagito.” Hajime nodded back at him. Nagito tossed an uncooked and uncut carrot and pickle into the pan. The carrot still had the leaves on it. Hajime wrinkled his nose. “Have you ever had an omelet before?”

“Of course!” Nagito eyed Hajime innocently. He threw in a couple raw mushrooms. Looking in the pan Hajime saw pieces of egg shells mixed in with everything else. His omelet was getting overcooked already, the heat was set too high.

“Have you ever made omelets before?” Hajime questioned.

“Oh, definitely not!” Nagito beamed. “But I’m sure even someone like me could learn! You know, I’ve never really cooked anything for myself before, there were always people to cook for me, so I never had the time to learn! But I suppose it’s about time I do, since we’re all trapped here and everything.” Nagito gave a lighthearted shrug.

That’s right, he’s the Ultimate Prince. He probably had servants to do chores and make meals for him. And now that he’s out of his kingdom he doesn’t have anyone to help him like he’s used to. 

“Well, if you don’t know how to cook, why not have some fruit instead?” Hajime suggested.

Nagito gave him a look. “I’m not a fan of sweet things, so why would I subject myself to eating that?”

“Alright, fine.” Hajime raised his hands in a show of surrender. “But I really don’t think that that’s edible.” He pointed at the very much charred omelet. It was burnt to a crisp. The carrot’s leaves, which had been sticking awkwardly out of the pan, had caught on fire. Slowly, it spread to the rest of the pan’s contents.

“Of course trash like me couldn’t get it right, what was I even thinking?” Nagito sighed depressedly. The other ingredients that Nagito hadn’t added yet were on the counter next to the pan, and as the fire grew Hajime worried that it would become an actual issue. 

A sweatdrop ran down Hajime’s face. “Um, Nagito, you should probably put that fire out before the sprinklers and alarms go off again.”

Nagito blinked in confusion before his face broke into understanding. “Ah, of course.” He turned the dial of the stove until the flame turned off before pouting again. “Now what am I going to eat…” He frowned.

 The fire reached a tomato that slowly began to burn. Smoke was filling the air. Giving up on getting Nagito to put the fire out, Hajime grabbed a potholder and used it to grab the handle of the pan and throw the whole thing into the sink before filling it with cold water from the faucet. He waved desperately at the smoke in the air, and it luckily dissipated enough that the fire alarms didn’t go off. Nagito didn’t seem affected or bothered by the almost disastrous fire, he was just calm.

 Hajime turned back to Nagito with an accusing finger pointed at him. “You are not allowed to touch that stove again.” Nagito pouted. 

Eventually, everyone was sitting around the table. Hajime was eating orange slices and Nagito was chewing on a bagel. Everyone else had finished eating by then except for the people who came in after Hajime or those who didn’t eat anything at all.

“Good nom-nom-noming everyone!” Ibuki waved energetically. “Hellooooo! Welcome to our very first breakfast meeting! From now on, we’ll be building our bonds every morning until we can work together as a team and be friends and stuff!”

“Trust, hope, and cooperation are indeed important, especially in a game built on distrust and murder.” Nagito agreed.

”I didn’t agree to any of this, dumbass.” Fuyuhiko scoffed. 

“…It’s probably best that we do meet here every morning. We can exchange information and check in with each other. Make sure everyone’s okay.” Chiaki chimed in softly.

“I-I’m not used to eating with other people…” Ryota mumbled uncomfortably. “I-I guess I can try to get used to it.”

“Speaking of exchanging information, did anyone find anything?” Mahiru wondered.

“ I learned that Kazuichi is a nasty pervert.” Hiyoko immediately sneered. 

“H-Hey!” Kazuichi complained.

“ And that Mikan is a trashy skank.” Hiyoko continues.

“T-t-trashy skank?! Wh-why… are you being so mean!?” Mikan whimpered. Hiyoko giggles.

“You should stop now.” Peko warned.

“Um... Other than learning the fact that Nagito is completely unable to cook,” Hajime began, trying to ignore Hiyoko’s insults. Nagito sent him a light glare. “I found out that not all bathrooms have locks, just the girls’ bathrooms do. There was a notice that said this in everyone’s rooms, I guess nobody read it when the exploration group first checked out the dorms. Also, Gundham’s door has no lock, it just doesn’t fit in the frame.”

“R-Really?” Mikan wondered.

“Yeah, I-I already figured the lack of lock out for myself. I read the note.” Ryota mentioned.

“And how did your mortal mind gather this information about my lair?” Gundham squinted suspiciously at Hajime.

“Monokuma popped up from out of nowhere in my room when I was wondering about the absence of a lock. He explained about the locks and mentioned that there was just a problem with your doorframe and that it only seemed like a lock and then suddenly disappeared before I could respond.” Hajime explained. 

“He appeared and disappeared from out of nowhere…?!” Sonia exclaimed in surprise.

“He did that with me too,” Mahiru admitted. “When I was exploring the kitchen he told me that the kitchen will be consistently restocked and so we won’t have to worry about running out of food.”

“It is worrying that Monokuma has that ability.” Peko frowned.

“Mhmm…” Chiaki nodded sleepily. 

“Any ideas on who’s behind all of this?” Hajime asked.

“Someone who’s totally weird and messed up. Why else would we be trapped in here in the first place?” Mahiru pointed out with a hand on her hip.

“U-Um… If you think in terms of people who are really abnormal or bizarre… Do you think maybe the person responsible for all this could be that brutal serial killer?” Ryota wondered.

“Are you talking about The Ogre?” Sonia asked with wide eyes. Ryota nodded. “I followed the news on his case, serial killers are intriguing to me. Whoever the Ogre is, they are considered absolutely monstrous. I have heard that they are so massive and muscular that they kill people with their bare fists! Thousands of people murdered, beaten to death, sometimes with only a single blow! They seem like a bit of a brute, so I really do not think that they are capable of large-scale planning and kidnapping like this, or that they would have the motivation to want to do so.“

“Yeah, what are the odds that some unknown serial killer would be personally involved in our entrapment?” Mahiru continued.

“Y-you’re right,” Ryota conceded, “I j-just wanted to bring it up i-in case it was relevant.”

“So who do you think is going to help us?” Akane wondered. “And how?”

“D-do you think the police will get here soon? S-somebody had to have c-c-called them about us when they found we w-were missing, r-r-right?” Mikan squeaked.

“AHHH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Monokuma popped up, maniacally laughing. Several students jumped back in their seats at his sudden appearance. “The police? You're putting your faith in the police!?”

“What are you doing here!?” Peko glared.

“You guys, seriously... Do you understand what role the police exist to fill? All they're good for is being a foil, playing against a villain or anti-hero or evil organization. The bad guys come along and destroy them, and that shows just how badass they really are. Are you sure you wanna rely on such an unreliable group of losers? I mean come on! If you really, REALLY wanna get out of here, all you gotta do is kill!” Monokuma joyfully reminded them.

“Heh, heh…” Teruteru nervously laughed, trying to reassure himself. “This isn’t real… Everything’s fine, there’s not gonna be any killing…” 

“...You're still going on about that?” Mahiru deadpanned.

“Okay, okay, let's get back to business. Your life here has already begun and a couple of days have gone by, and nobody's killing anybody! I thought all you kids were lazy and selfish, and here you are working together. But I'm totally bored!” Monokuma complained.

“There's nothing you can say that'll make us start killing each other!” Sonia protested.

“Wait, I think - yes! Ding ding ding! I figured it out! All the mystery ingredients are here - right people, right place. So why hasn't anyone killed anyone yet? That's what I couldn't understand. But I just realized there was one very important piece missing!” Monokuma continued.

“Wh-what are you…?” Hajime began to question hesitantly.

“If you wanna know, I'll tell ya! It's motive! Puhuhu! It's so simple! I just have to give everyone a motive!” Monokuma cheered.

“Motive? What the fuck are you talking about!?” Fuyuhiko shouted.

Monokuma ignored him. “Oh, by the way! There's something I wanna show you guys! I have a little video I'd like you all to see. Oh, but don't worry. It's not some pervy "adult" video or anything. Seriously, it's nothing like that! It's a special video for each of you showing what's going on outside the school.” Monokuma continued smugly. 

“O-Outside the school...? W-W-What are you talking about?” Ryota questioned.

“Hehe-heh! Ooh, Master's so impatient today! Why don't you just watch it and find out? Here in the school, there's a specific place you can go that has everything you need to watch the video.” Monokuma teased. 

“…Good, then we can go watch the video right now. But before we do that, I'd like to know… What are you? Why would you do something like this? What do you want from us?” Chiaki asked.

“What do I want from you...? Well, if you must know... Despair. That's all. If you want to know more than that, you'll have to figure it out for yourselves. Do whatever you need to to uncover the mystery hidden within this school. I won't try and stop you. Cuz to be honest, it's entertaining as heck watching you guys search so desperately for answers! So I guess I want amusement from you, too.” Monokuma announced before disappearing out of sight. 

“He's gone… And once again, he left before we could find out anything useful.” Mahiru frowned.

“…No, we did learn something useful. He doesn’t have any intention of preventing us from learning the truth.” Peko stated. 

“Perhaps, but what about the video he mentioned? I'm very curious to see what's on it.” Nagito pondered. Several others nodded in agreement. “Hajime, would you come with me to check it out?”

“Wh-What…?!” Hajime asked in surprise. “Why?”

“Because it’s not safe to walk around alone, obviously. Plus, you need to make it up to me for the kitchen fiasco earlier.” Nagito responded.

“ I need to make it up to you?! You set your breakfast on fire and almost set the entire kitchen on fire with it! I put the flames out, for your mistake , and you volunteered to clean everything up since you said you were good at it. How was it my fault…!?” Hajime spoke incredulously. Nagito blinked with faux innocence back at Hajime. “…Fine. Let’s go.” Hajime grumbled. Nagito smirked victoriously.

In the AV room, Hajime and Nagito found a cardboard box full of dvds. Each dvd has someone’s name labeled onto it. 

“This must be the "video for each of us" he mentioned…” Hajime pointed out.

“Hmm… I should go get everyone else.” Nagito replied before walking right back out of the room. 

You’re the one that brought me here in the first place... Whatever. I should probably watch mine before everyone gets here. 

Hajime looked through the box until he found the dvd with his name on it. Once he had his dvd, he slid it into the dvd player. It was dark for a moment, before suddenly the screen flickered to life. 

It seemed to be security footage of some kind. Hajime’s parents were on the screen. They were in their home, alone, just talking to each other in their kitchen. It would have maybe been peaceful to watch, to see them again, if not for the fact that this whole video seemed so ominous. It had to be a motive for a reason.

Suddenly, the footage glitched, and cut to a scene that made Hajime gasp out and yell. 

His parents were still on the screen, but they were no longer able to speak. It wasn’t hard to see why.

Blood, so much blood underneath them, they have to be dead, there’s no way they’re not-

They were gazing unseeingly at the ceiling. There was so much blood pouring out of their bodies, they were bleeding out, had probably already lost too much blood, were already dead, dying…

Hajime couldn’t even make out the cause of the wounds or their location, just that my parents are still bleeding, is my mom still breathing, why did they have to suffer like this, why are they dead and my parents may not have been the best parents, they didn’t even really care about anything but my talent and they might have been a little neglectful and sometimes even abusive, but they never deserved this…! I want to yell, I need to throw up, I want to scream, I want to cry, this never should have happened, why are they dead just for a stupid motive video, did Monokuma do this to them, why why why why why why why why why why why

A shadowed figure appeared on the screen, blurred so Hajime couldn’t see their face or features, and slowly began dragging his parents away, the glint of a knife at his side, dripping with his parents' blood. 

No no no no no no no what are they doing with my parents’ bodies, stop, you already killed them haven’t you done enough—

Then, the video froze, and as if that weren’t enough, the voice of Monokuma rang out of the speakers that had so far been eerily silent as he watched his parents die. “Hajime Hinata, the Ultimate Programmer, dutiful son to uncaring parents. You thought they would always be there, and now they’re not. They’ll never take another breath ever again, abandoning you to life as an orphan. You have no more family, nothing and no one you can turn to left. You’re all alone now. So here's the billion-dollar question—what happened to your parents’ bodies? Who killed them and why? Will they ever even get a funeral?” Monokuma prompted. “Want to figure it all out and avenge your parents' murders?” 

Suddenly, the words “ Find out after Graduation ” appeared on the screen before it went black.

…

…

…

Hajime collapsed to his knees before falling onto the floor, gasping, sobbing, trembling.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, a minute, an hour, or a day, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered right now. 

My parents are dead.

Someone killed them.

Someone killed them.

They suffered. It was painful and drawn out. Their bodies were taken away. They’re dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead

“Hajime…?” Nagito asked hesitantly. Hajime blearily raised his head from where it was buried on the ground. Everyone else had arrived some time during Hajime’s breakdown grieving a family he never truly had and now they were looking at him in confusion. Exhausted, Hajime simply pointed to the box of dvds without a word.

 He tried to pick himself back up and make himself more presentable, or at the very least stop sobbing onto the floor, but the tears kept streaming down his face against his own volition until he just felt drained.

It felt like all of the emotion was seeping out of Hajime until everything felt numb. He couldn’t feel anything, it was like he wasn’t even there anymore. He couldn’t cry when he’s just an empty shell, so he felt absolutely nothing. He didn’t care about anything anymore, at least not right now. It was almost freeing except the emotions kept trying to flood back into him, pain, misery, horror, and despair attacking at the walls of his dissociation. 

I have to hold myself together. I can’t break down right now. But I’m falling to pieces…

Distantly, Hajime registered that the others were panicking and fighting over their own videos, but it was like their voices were traveling underwater. The words didn’t process with him.

Mahiru ran out the door in a panic. No one went after her.

Eventually, the room was empty. Everyone seemed to have left when Hajime hadn’t noticed. He felt dizzy. Monokuma’s words echoed through his mind

  I’m alone alone alone 

Hajime stumbled slowly across the school until he somehow made it back to his room. He didn’t feel like he was really there, his body distantly going through the motions of movement until he locked his door. 

He doesn’t even take another step. Once the door is locked, he collapses to the floor and screams . He screams and yells and cries, over and over again, until he can’t anymore. 

His eyes roll up into his head, and the last thing he sees is the reflection of his face in a metal sheet on the wall. His left eye is a deep crimson red…

Everything fades to black.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

“Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!”

Hajime wakes up in his bed.

I slept through the nighttime announcement… But wasn’t I on the floor before? Why am I in my bed…?

…

Oh no…

Sharply turning around to look at his reflection, Hajime’s eyes were green, as usual.

Hopefully I just forgot getting myself into bed. I was dissociating pretty badly, so it makes sense… 

But what if it wasn’t me…? And what if Izuru… Did something… while I was unconscious…

Hajime shudders. 

Forget it. It’s morning, so I need to meet up with everyone for breakfast.

Quickly getting ready, Hajime walked over to the dining hall. Only Sonia, Chiaki, Mahiru, and Hiyoko were there. It was clear that everyone was still traumatized by the motive videos, although he didn’t know all the details of what occurred in them, and even though he was standing in the same room with them yesterday, he had no idea what they were arguing about after they watched the dvds. Hajime was too out of it to remember.

Hajime sat down heavily at a table, not bothering to grab food. He wasn’t hungry anyway.

Hiyoko was in the kitchen. Chiaki was sitting alone at one of the empty tables.

Mahiru and Sonia were quietly telling each other about their videos.

“—My friend, Sato, looking pathetic, frightened, and weak, crawling on her hands and knees to get away from… something . Then it cut to my mom, shot and bleeding out on a battlefield… It said I had nothing left to live for—“ Mahiru explained in low tones.

“—My family, bound in ropes, bombs connected to instant detonators secured on to each of their chests, held at gunpoint—“ Sonia solemnly stated, voice in a hush.

Hajime picked himself up and went over to Chiaki. “Where is everyone?” He rasped, his voice scratchy and faded from all the screaming and crying he’d done yesterday. 

Chiaki’s face was masked in emptiness to hide any inner turmoil she might have been feeling. “…Not many people felt up to “bonding breakfast” after discovering that our loved ones are in severe danger or newly dead.” Hajime flinched at the reminder. “If you want to be the one to go get everyone, be my guest, although you might find or become a dead body on your search.” Hajime’s blood ran cold.

“Wh-What!?” Hajime panicked.

Chiaki just gave him a dead eyed stare, voice monotone. “Everyone just went through extreme emotional turmoil that can lead to unstable actions. Tensions are high and the motive videos provided an extra incentive to get us to want to escape. The only method of escape is murder. The emotional and mental instability from watching our loved ones suffer and die can lead people to do unlikely things, like murder. So, I’m waiting here until the body is discovered so that I can make sure I’m safe. Got it?” Chiaki murmurs robotically. Hajime looks back at her, stricken, but unable to voice a reply for over a minute. 

And she’s the Ultimate Analyst, so she’s probably right about that… But how can she be so apathetic to the idea that someone is or will soon be dead…? I have to go find everyone and make sure they’re okay… It can’t be murder, it obviously can’t be. There’s no way that’s gonna happen!

He clears his throat. “I’ll go look out for that.” Hajime’s voice breaks, and he practically runs out of the dining hall. He went around the school at a rapid pace, searching for everyone as fast as he could. He hoped that Chiaki was wrong.

He rang everyone’s doorbell and found that pretty much everyone else had locked themselves away in their rooms except for Nagito, Kazuichi, Nekomaru, Akane, and Ibuki. Once he explained his case to those who asked why he was checking in on everyone, some of them agreed to help him look.

“I shall offer my power to aid in your search!” Gundham proclaimed to Hajime.

“I’ll help you look as well.” Peko gave a determined nod.

So the three of them split up to cover more ground around the school. 

 Gundham found Nagito, he was just doing his laundry. Hajime and Peko saw Ibuki purchasing things from the monomono machine in the school store with some monocoins that she found around the school.

The group was searching the school area, Gundham searching the classrooms, while Peko and Hajime looked around the main hall.

Walking into the entrance to the gym, Hajime gasped. The glass display case was shattered. A large plank of wood lay off the side, likely what was used to break the glass. Trophies were laying haphazardly on the floor and out of place. One of the trophies had blood on it. Something happened here. Hajime panicked and ran into the gym, Peko hurriedly following, careful not to disturb the scene. 

When Hajime opened the door, Hajime cried out, horrified. Peko let out a quiet gasp.

For the rest of my life… I will never forget what I saw. What I saw… I saw the Ultimate Aikido Master, Akane Owari… already dead… and beyond recognition. I… couldn’t understand anything that was in front of me… And I couldn’t believe in anything. 

Akane Owari, the Ultimate Aikido Master. I didn’t know her very well or for very long, but we could’ve been friends. She may have been a little blunt and reckless but that didn’t mean she was a bad person. Why her…? Wh-Why did this happen to her!? 

The muscles in my face stiffened and grew hard… Darkness clouded my vision. My legs started to wobble… and I instinctively placed my hand against the wall.  

Who killed her? Was it Monokuma…? Was it one of the students…? 

…Was it… Him…?

…

…No, it couldn’t be…

Ibuki suddenly ran into the gym.

“Ibuki has good ears and heard screaming, what’s going… on…? U-Uh…” Ibuki looked down. “This… can’t be real blood, right? It’s gotta be something like jam or sauce…” Ibuki deluded herself for a moment with crazed, widened eyes. “C-C-Cause… if not, th-this…” It took a moment for the scene to register, Akane’s limp body impaled by a large piece of broken wood on the stage, blood pooling around her, a look of shocked resignation etched onto her lifeless face, but when it did, Ibuki’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she started foaming at the mouth. “…A-blub-blub-blub-blub-blub-blub-blub!”

*Ding dong, ding dong*

“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!” 

Chapter 1: To Survive - Deadly Life

Surviving Students: 15

Chapter Text

Once the announcement was made, the other students soon arrived, rushing into the gym at the news. Hajime barely registered it all in his dissociative state. Sonia and Mahiru ran in together, probably having still been hanging out together before this happened.

“Ak…ane…?” Sonia whispered, horrified at the sight greeting her when she entered. “Wh-Why is Akane…?”

“N-No…” Mahiru whimpered, before suddenly screaming out, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

I just stood there, horrified, as showers of screams rang out behind me… as I gazed quietly at the body of someone who could have been my friend.

“…Wh-Why!?” Mahiru shouted out, shaking and pale.

Nekomaru suddenly burst through the doors and yelled out in agony at the sight of Akane’s lifeless body laying on the right side of the stage, “WHAT IS THIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!?!? AKANE!!!!!”

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Teruteru cried.

“Th-This… It’s impossible…!” Kazuichi panicked. “Don’t mess with me! This must be some kind of mistake! Are you kidding me!?” He yelped with wide eyes, sweating.

All of a sudden, Monokuma popped up out of nowhere, malicious glee on his face.

“Good gracious… Things quickly took a turn for the worse… My my, now this is interesting! The very first murder in Hope’s Peak Academy has finally occurred!” Monokuma cheerily spoke.

“M-Murder…?” Hajime repeated nervously.

“H-Hold on! Then, does this mean…!?” Nagito panicked.

“Puhuhu… Of course… Akane… was killed by one of you.” Monokuma stated menacingly.

“Wha-…!?” Hajime exclaimed.

“If you look at the body, you can tell instantly. She was obviously murdered. Look, she has such a shocked and resigned look on her face, don’tcha think…? A face filled with regret that her life was ended by force, all thanks to someone else’s selfish desires… To have a dying face such as this… If this isn’t murder, then what the heck could it be?” Monokuma explained. “Akane was most likely sacrificed… by someone who reaaaaaally wanted to leave this school and figure out what happened with the people they saw in their motive videos.”

“L-Lies… It’s all lies! You’re lying that she was murdered!” Hajime cried out, almost in denial.

“Murdered”… The moment I screamed that word… A thick, muddy feeling of despair swelled within my body. Which means… that… that I’ve accepted the fact that Akane was murdered. 

“Wh-What… is this!?” Ryota sucked in a sharp breath, trembling a little. “I-Is that… really Akane?”

“Why… why did this happen? Why… Akane?” Mahiru pondered worriedly.

Chiaki just looked at the body and then at the ground, the gruesome sight pulling her lips into a frown, sadness and regret touching her expression. Gundham’s expression was grim as well. Mikan looked like she was going to faint. Hiyoko tried to look unaffected but she seemed nervous. Fuyuhiko similarly feigned apathy with more success.

“Soooo… Now that you’re all here and you’ve got all of your reactions to the body out of the way, I’m gonna tell you a little more about the classic ol’ Rule #6 in your E-Handbooks. I’m only going to explain it one time, and this is a matter of survival here so pay attention! Or don’t, and you all die from your own incompetence while the killer gets off scot free. Puhuhuhu!” Monokuma giggles gleefully. “If one of you gets murdered, the rest of you have to have a huge debate on who you think is the blackened. A class trial to catch the killer! And in order to debate, you first have to investigate~! Figure out all the juicy details before pinning down the sinister blackened and their plot. After a certain amount of time collecting evidence you all have to meet me by the elevator to go to the trial, I’ll announce when your time is up. And everyone has to participate in the trial, no excuses b-t-dubs! Well, everyone still alive, that is. Puhuhu… If you get the killer right during your class trial, then yay, you win! You all can live another day, except for the blackened of course. But if you don’t pick the right person as your blackened… Well then, everyone but the killer dies a horrible and inescapable death and the blackened frolicks happily into the sunset as a free student!” Monokuma explained cheerfully.

“Y-You’re telling us… to figure out who the killer is…?” Hajime asked hesitantly. 

“That’s right! From this point on, you guys must investigate and uncover the blackened culprit!” Monokuma confirmed.

“It can’t be… Someone actually killed… There’s no way!” Mahiru denied, horrified and shaking.

“Puhuhu, if you make an outburst like that, you’ll end up being a suspect…” Monokuma reminded her smugly.

“I-I won’t believe it… One of us killed Akane… There’s no way… something as hopeless as that would ever happen!” Nagito defended disbelievingly. 

“No, no, no! If you’re actually thinking that way, it means you guys are already being conned by the killer. C’mon, c’mon! Let’s hurry up and begin! An impassioned, life-risking battle between you guys and the blackened! Annnd… it’s already started! It started the moment one of you plotted to kill someone!” Monokuma declared dramatically. “Now then… in the spirit of lovey doubt and dovey deception, put your heart and soul into investigating! Yahooooo! I wish you the best of luck!” 

And with that, Monokuma vanished, leaving those of us who were grief-stricken alone with our despair…

“Wh-What does this mean…? I don’t understand this at all…!” Mahiru worriedly exclaimed, looking disheveled.

“A search for Akane’s killer… Why did it turn out like this…!?” Peko grimaced.

“Ugh… Gimme a break… Why do I… have to be involved in this horrible situation…?” Kazuichi complained, pale.

“The Ultimate Aikido Master wasn’t much of a fighter after all and got herself killed, right? And if we don’t find out who the killer is, we’re all gonna get killed, right?” Hiyoko tilted her head with a dark, menacing expression on her face. Kazuichi nervously glanced at her before immediately looking away. “Then you’re going to get involved whether you like it or not, cowardly pervert.”

“That being said, I cannot abide by this accusation and distrust!” Sonia exclaimed tearfully. “There is no way that I can doubt any of my new friends…!”

“Seriously? Did you even listen to what I said? It doesn’t matter if you can “abide” by this or not… We gotta do this to survive, right? Then we have no choice but to do it.” Hiyoko glared at Sonia who still looked troubled.

“Do we… really have to do it…?” Hajime weakly protested, already mostly just resigned.

“No… I don’t want to do something like that…” Mahiru clenched her fists, upset.

“Oh no! I don’t want to do it… either! I-It sounds so scary!” Mikan squeaked fearfully.

“However, it is just as Hiyoko said. If we’re going to get killed for not doing it… then we must do it.” Peko solemnly reminded everyone.

“…But still… I can’t believe one of us killed Akane…” Nagito looked down at the floor. “There’s no way I can believe it… there’s no way… So, for that reason… I’ll do it! I’ll investigate Akane’s death… I will do my best to prove there is no killer among us. There is no need to deceive or doubt each other. What we need to fight is not ourselves… but that which is trying to crush us… This despair!”

A princely speech, with princely naivety… Still, there might be some wisdom and truth in his words... This hopeless reality… That’s the real enemy we need to fight… If I’m going to survive this… Then I have to fight it.

“Ah, before you start, can I mention something?” Chiaki awkwardly pipes up. “…Someone, preferably more than one person, needs to guard the crime scene or else the area may be… tampered with.”

“Oh yeah, it would be bad if the killer destroyed the evidence and got away with it.” Hiyoko agreed.

“D-Destroyed the evidence…?” Mikan gasped.

“Look, over there! That big, bulky, brawny guy who’s practically in tears for a girl he just met is perfect for the guard job!” Ibuki pointed to Nekomaru who still looked devastated.

“…AKANE!!!!!!” Nekomaru yelled out. “Though I’ve only known you for a few days, it feels like I’ve known you for a lifetime… I will protect what remains of you so I can bring your killer to JUSTICE!!!” He shouts determinedly.

“Wh-What the heck? What happened?” Hajime questioned.

“That guy… has a sensitive heart, despite his looks…” Kazuichi winced, scratching at his jaw with his pointer finger.

“I-Is that what that means?” Hajime hesitated.

“Um… I can also watch the crime scene with him… I don’t have enough confidence to investigate the body… I document tragedy and war from people who survived their tragedies, I don’t have any experience with investigating crimes hands on and in person. I’ll just stay by Akane’s side. That’s the least I can do. That’s what guard duty is, right?”

That’s right, Mahiru is known for documenting war among other things. Still, despite her words Mahiru may be the most qualified of us all to investigate and collect evidence and information for this case other than maybe Chiaki or Peko. I wonder why she’s downplaying her skills like that and sidelining herself. She does seem rather shaken from Akane’s death, but she doesn’t seem like the type of person to back down from a difficult situation. It could be that she’s still devastated from her motive video and the murder is just the cherry on top of her trauma…

“…As a soldier I have field medical and identification training. I can perform an autopsy on Akane’s body.” Peko states monotonously. 

“So you’re going to stay as well… Is that okay? Three people staying at the crime scene seems…. Excessive. Especially since we have an unknown yet limited amount of time to investigate… hmm… I guess it’s fine, I think. Probably.” Chiaki mumbles.

Chiaki probably realized that Mahiru’s talent would be useful for this too. Still, it doesn’t look like she’s budging. Nekomaru’s skill with adventuring would probably also help to discover things in the investigation since he also is likely skilled at cataloging his surroundings in unknown areas. He also seems too upset to be efficient however. I don’t understand why or how he got this attached to Akane in just five days, but I guess I can’t fault the guy for having a lot of empathy, and they did seem to be fast friends.

“And what, specifically, should we be doing now? I have nooooooo idea!” Ibuki announced.

“It’s pretty obvious we’re all just amateurs.” Nagito pondered, resting his pointer finger on his chin. “Looking under every floorboard in the gym just to find a clue would be a waste of time. The only ones who can do that are the police… There’s no way amateurs like us would be able to do that! So… Let’s first rely on our intuition. We’ll start from there and prove that none of us could have killed Akane.” Nagito gazes out at the other students determinedly.

Teruteru cowers, sweating. “I-I won’t believe it… Akane got killed… I don’t believe that at all… F-Fine… I’m in…”

“If we are to survive… this is our only path.” Sonia states solemnly, holding her arm to soothe herself through the upsetting reality.

“One must carefully examine even the smallest of things closely to determine what was caused by the whims of fate and what acts were performed with the intention of a more sinister plot… As the Chosen of Fortuna, I, Gundham Tanaka,  would never dare to back down in a game of survival and chance such as this!” Gundham boasted determinedly. Sonia smiled at him weakly, comforted by his confidence.

“Something like this… is the only thing we can do in order to stay alive…” Mahiru confirms to herself miserably.

Finding out who the killer is… That’s our only hope for survival… Something like this… is hope…? I mostly hope… that it wasn’t Him…

“Even so… I still gotta do it.” Hajime murmurs to himself. 

~{ Investigate }~

Monokuma suddenly popped back up, everyone getting an alert notification on their E-Handbooks. “I have something I'd like to give you to help you in your search for the blackened! This little file has all the information I've gathered about the death in question. I like to call it... The Monokuma File! The Monokuma File contains precise and detailed information regarding the dead body, the circumstances, and the cause of death. I know all that because I saw the murder riiiight from the security cameras, so the information in the Monokuma File is 100% accurate. I’ve brought it to ya so you guys can smoothly proceed with the investigation. Have fun investigating, puhuhuhu!” Monokuma cackled before disappearing again.

At least he’s finally gone…

“The Monokuma File, huh…?” Hajime muttered to himself as he opened his E-Handbook. The new notification went under the Truth Bullet section of the Handbook, which you can manually input evidence into for the trial. Sure enough, Monokuma File #1 was logged in Hajime’s Truth Bullets. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Monokuma File #1” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

I guess I should look it over just in case.

Monokuma File #1: The Victim was Akane Owari. The victim’s body was discovered in the gymnasium on the stage. The death took place in the gymnasium. The estimated time of death is around 2:00 a.m. The cause of death was a stab wound to the neck, and the body appears to have also experienced slight head trauma. No chemicals such as poison were detected.

So… Akane is really dead… With how athletic and good at fighting she is, I’m surprised someone even managed to touch her, let alone kill her… She is the Ultimate Aikido Master after all. It’s strange that one of the most capable fighters was the first to die, especially since Aikido is a martial art style mostly focused on self defense by using moves that redirect force from the attackers against themselves. There’s only a limited number of people that would be able to kill someone like that, especially when Akane likely has an advantage by training and performing in gyms similar to this one. The only people I think who could maybe beat her in a fight are Peko or Nekomaru... Or Izuru…

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Akane’s Physical Prowess” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Anyway… we need to carefully examine everything. That’s right… I need to do it… If we’re gonna survive this, we need to do it… I have to prepare myself for the worst.

~{ Investigate }~

First, Hajime went over to the stage to examine the setting where the murder took place. Most of the other students left the gym to look around the rest of the school for clues about the crime. The scent of blood permeated the air of the gymnasium, growing stronger the closer Hajime got to the stage. He had to stop himself multiple times from gagging, running away, or crying. As he continued onwards, Hajime tried as best as he could to ignore the disturbing smell haunting the gym, as well as trying to ignore thinking of the reason why the gym smelt like that in the first place.

The stage was still a bit damaged from Gundham’s luck stunt a couple days ago. Gundham’s luck had caused a chain reaction of chaos where a stage light had fallen down from above onto the left side of the stage, making a medium sized hole through the stage and breaking and loosening some of the wood off where it crashed. About half of the wooden planks on the left side of the stage and some of the middle of the stage were charred, burned, and damaged from when the stage had caught fire from the broken stagelight. The sprinklers that came after only worsened the damage to the wood. Gundham’s luck sure is powerful. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Damaged Stage” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

There are also some scuff marks on the stage, displaying that there was some movement on the wood. Maybe Akane tried to fight back against her killer, or run away. Something definitely happened here on different parts of the stage and not just near where the body is now, so the murder probably wasn’t instant. Akane likely noticed and dodged the attacker before they killed her. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Shoe Marks on the Stage” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

When further examining the stage, Hajime noticed that there was a new dent in the wood a few feet from Akane’s body on the middle part of the stage that wasn’t damaged from the fire. That means that the dent had nothing to do with Gundham’s luck showcase and happened afterwards, likely during the attempted murder of Akane. That part of the stage looked damaged, like something crashed into the wood with force. Maybe something big was thrown into it?

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Dent on the Stage” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Alright, I’ve delayed examining her body for longer than I should have… I have to look carefully at everything if I want to survive, even the dead body of a person that could have been a friend if only she had more time. On the stage… just several feet away from me… Akane was…

“Now’s not the time for me… to flinch…I gotta do it!” Hajime scolded and motivated himself under his breath. 

I let out a shout, as if to encourage myself, and got closer to the body. The pungent scent of blood revolted me. Enduring the stinging pain in the back of my eyes, I slowly shifted my gaze towards Akane’s body. Akane Owari, the Ultimate Aikido Master… She was the type of girl who wasn’t afraid to tell you what she thought, not one to mince words for anyone. Akane wasn’t afraid to take any risks, either. She was brave… spirited… energetic…

“Why… why did she have to end up like this…?” Hajime whispered mournfully to himself.

The only thing I can do right now…

“…For Akane’s sake… is to uncover the truth behind her death!” Hajime promised himself determinedly.

The body is crumpled on the stage, one arm limply bent close to her neck wound and another arm reaching out, perhaps as if she were attempting to stop her murderer. The look of horrified shock on her face only amplifies the tragedy of the situation. According to the Monokuma File, Akane’s cause of death was the stab wound in her neck. The wooden plank embedded in her neck is split into wooden spikes as sharp as stakes at the end where it stabs her, meaning that the murderer likely spent time sharpening it since none of the other broken pieces of wood from the hole in the stage are anywhere near as sharp as the murder weapon. Akane also suffered from slight head trauma which means she could have been concussed when the murder occurred, impairing her judgment and abilities. There also appears to be several bruises on her body. All of these signs of murder…

Would one of us really… do something so horrible?

Updated Truth Bullet! “Monokuma File #1” has been updated in your handbook.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Splintered Wooden Plank” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

There are small puddles of blood trailing to Akane’s body on the stage, likely originating from her wound. This means that either she was moving while actively bleeding out or the killer dragged her body down this path. There’s also a significant amount of blood surrounding Akane’s body near the wound. Akane bled out so much that it’s highly unlikely that the killer walked away from the murder without any blood on them.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Blood Trails” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Puddles of Blood” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Hajime then went over to talk to Peko to see if she noticed anything. 

“Hajime,” Peko stated, “I have not yet finished my autopsy. Come back to me in several minutes if you wish for the results.”

“Um, actually Peko, I was wondering if you had noticed anything off about the crime scene since you probably have experience with noticing unusual terrain and potential causes of damage.” Hajime hesitantly brought up. 

Peko hummed tonelessly in thought before nodding her head once at the stage. “That dent on the stage looks like the point of impact of a body being thrown into it with force.” 

“So you think Akane was thrown into the stage there?” Hajime questions.

“Hmm…” Peko ponders. “That may be the case...” Her tone indicates that she isn’t sure if that’s entirely correct.

“Well, I’ll just keep that information in mind anyway. Thanks Peko, I’ll come back for the autopsy results when you’re done.” Hajime continues. Peko nods once in acknowledgment before resuming her examination of the body.

Updated Truth Bullet! “Dent on the Stage” has been updated in your handbook.

Hajime walked over to Mahiru who was diligently documenting the facts of the crime and potential avenues of investigation to uncover.

“Hey Mahiru, have you noticed anything suspicious about the murder?” Hajime asked. 

Mahiru’s eyes narrowed. She glanced around, eyeing Nekomaru to make sure he was out of earshot, before whispering to Hajime. “You want to know something suspicious? I think Nekomaru is definitely suspicious. He may be acting devastated now, but just a couple days ago after hanging out with you, I saw Nekomaru and Akane beating each other up!!! Me and some of the other girls here, Peko, Mikan, Hiyoko, and Ibuki, we went over to the gym together to hang out and get to know each other, but when we opened the doors it was a full on brawl! Blood and bruises and everything! They both seemed okay with each other at the time despite their battle, but I should have known it wouldn’t end there! Nekomaru has to be the one who killed her because I don’t think anyone else is capable of fighting with and getting rid of her! At least, in that kind of combat, y’know?” Mahiru explained in a rush, brows furrowed. 

Hajime frowned. “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

Is Nekomaru really capable of committing a murder like that and lying about it? I know I don’t know him that well, but he just doesn’t seem like that kind of person. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Mahiru’s Account” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Hajime went up to where Nekomaru was standing vigilant over the crime scene. 

“Hey Nekomaru.” Hajime tried to greet somewhat casually.

“Hello Hajime…” Nekomaru greeted back with a heartbroken and outraged look on his face. “I can’t believe that Akane’s DEAD!!! She had a real FIRE to her. I don’t know how or why anyone would, or even COULD, put that out.” Nekomaru’s eyes blazed thunderously. “AND WHOEVER KILLED HER IS GOING TO RUE THE DAY THAT THEY DIIIIIDDDD!!!” 

Could Nekomaru really have killed Akane…? They seem to have bonded, I really don’t think Nekomaru is the type of person who could fake this kind of emotion or bond. Wait, is that a hammer in his hand?!

“Hey, Nekomaru, why do you have a hammer in your hand?” Hajime asked cautiously.

Nekomaru furrowed his brow, glancing at his own hand in surprise. “Oh, I forgot I had that!” Nekomaru stuffed it in his pocket uncaringly. “Yeah, Ibuki wanted to borrow a hammer yesterday morning, she gave it back about half an hour ago, kinda forgot about it with everything going on.”

“What did Ibuki want to do with the hammer?” Hajime frowned.

Nekomaru shrugged. “I dunno, I didn’t ask. The motive wasn’t announced yet when I gave it to her so I don’t think there’s anything to be worried about.”

Hmm… Ibuki doesn’t seem like the type of person who would be willing or able to kill Akane, but it’s definitely weird that she had a hammer all this time. I’ll have to ask her about what she used it for. There’s no blood on the hammer so it wasn’t used as a weapon.

“We’ll find out who did this and bring them to justice.” Hajime assured Nekomaru.

“OF COURSE WE WILL!!! THERE’S NO OTHER OPTION! WE’LL FIND AKANE’S KILLER AND PUNCH THEIR FACE IN OR MY NAME ISN’T NEKOMARU NIDAI!!!” Nekomaru yelled out, punching his own hand in anticipation. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Nekomaru’s Account” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

I think I’ve looked at everything here for now, I should go talk to the others and look at the trophy room at the entrance of the gym and other places that might be relevant. 

Hajime walked out the doors to the gym, into the trophy room. Kazuichi, Mikan and Hiyoko were there. Hiyoko was busy bullying a cowering Mikan but Kazuichi was staring at the broken trophy case display in confusion.

 Hajime went over to examine the trophy case, carefully stepping around any shards of glass on the ground. The glass window surrounding the trophy case was shattered and some of the glass had blood on it. The trophies were in disarray, some on the ground. One trophy on the ground had blood on it and another one closer to the door had a slight dent in it. Near the trophy case on the ground there was a large wooden plank that seemed completely undamaged. Hajime noticed a glint of silver underneath it. 

It looks like it would be too heavy for me to lift on my own, I should ask for help.

“Hey, would any of you be able to help me pick this wooden plank up? There’s something underneath it.” Hajime gestured to the wooden plank.

“Sorry man, I need to think some stuff over.” Kazuichi rubbed the back of his neck.

Hiyoko wrinkled her nose and scoffed.

“I-I-I-I’m sorry, I’m just so weak, my pathetic arms wouldn’t even make a difference!” Mikan cried out tearfully. “A-A-And, I hurt myself falling into a really embarrassing position the other day, so–”

“Yeah yeah you filthy pig, and you just so happened to fall into indecent positions by coincidence, sure.” Hiyoko taunted with a taunting smirk.

“R-R-Really, it’s not my fault, I tripped, I-I don’t mean to–!” Mikan panicked.

Hajime rolled his eyes. “Hiyoko, can you help me pick this up?”

“I thought my look of disdain was enough of an answer, nerd.” Hiyoko retorted.

“Just do it and I’ll leave you alone.” Hajime sighed.

“Hmmph. Only because just looking at your boring face is making me fall asleep.” Hiyoko strutted over to the other side of the wooden plank and started lifting it without waiting for Hajime, picking it up on her own and lifting it without much effort. “Huh? You didn’t even need my help in the first place idiot, this thing is so light even a baby could pick it up!” Hiyoko threw it back down and stomped away, somehow looking graceful while doing so.

What? But the wooden plank looks so heavy.

Hajime went over to the piece of wood and picked it up, surprised to find that it’s lighter than it looks.

Huh… I guess anyone would be able to pick this thing up, even Hiyoko. This is about the same size as the plank that Akane was killed with, so that means that anybody could have used it. Still, to be fast enough to get Akane with it they would probably have to be at least a little athletic. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Broken Window Case” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Dented Trophy” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Blood-Covered Trophy” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Mikan’s Indecent Positions” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Wooden Plank” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Updated Truth Bullet! “Damaged Stage“ has been updated in your handbook.

I should also go see what the silver thing on the ground is now that it’s uncovered. Hajime went over to examine the silver thing on the ground. It’s a silver ring. Who wears silver rings…? 

“O-Oh! That looks like one of the rings that Ibuki wears!” Mikan exclaims in shock before shrinking back at Hajime’s attention. “P-Probably, other people might wear rings too, I’m s-s-sorry!!!”

“It’s alright, thank you Mikan.” Hajime tenses awkwardly, unsure how to respond to her. Mikan remains flustered.

What could Ibuki have been doing here?

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Silver Ring” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Hajime went over to talk to Mikan. “So, what was this about you getting injured by falling in indecent positions?” Hajime asked in concern.

“Kyaahh!!!” Mikan shrieked, startled, before curling in on herself in shame. “O-Oh, n-n-no, i-it’s so e-embarrassing!!!” Mikan glances over at Hiyoko nervously, Hiyoko glares at her and she cowers. “W-Well, sometimes I can’t help it and I just tumble to the ground, I-I-I’m so c-clumsy, a-and I got t-tied up on accident in these sh-shameful positions, it’s s-s-so embarrassing, I’m so a-ashamed!!! B-But, u-um, H-Hiyoko, she, a couple times sh-she’s u-um, t-t-t-t-tripped me… a-and, now I have a limp, a-a-and, and, I-I-I don’t know why she h-h-hates me!!!” Mikan sobs.

“U-um, well, I’m sure she doesn’t hate you…” Hajime tries to console her unconvincingly.

“No, she’s right, I hate her, she’s a trashy loser without a real talent and she should have been the one to die instead.” Hiyoko mocks her smugly. Mikan breaks down into further tears, wailing loudly. “Crybaby.” Hiyoko mutters disdainfully. 

“Hiyoko, don’t say that!” Hajime reprimands.

“Whatever, computer nerd.” Hiyoko rolls her eyes.

Updated Truth Bullet! “Mikan’s Indecent Positions“ has been updated in your handbook.

Hajime ineffectively tries for a few minutes to calm Mikan down but his efforts don’t seem to help and in some cases seemed to make the situation even worse so he walks away in hopes she could calm herself down, going over to talk to Kazuichi who still looked puzzled at the trophy case.

“Hey Kazuichi, what are you looking at?” Hajime questioned.

“Yo, something happened to the trophy case.” Kazuichi explained.

“…Yeah, I can see that.” Hajime raised a brow, gesturing at all the broken glass.

“No, I mean, the trophies are all out of place, they weren’t like that yesterday.” Kazuichi continued.

“Wait, you came in here yesterday?” Hajime wondered. “Why?”

“Listen, I was going to the gym to look for Miss Sonia’s…. Nevermind!” Kazuichi laughed awkwardly, wide eyed and slightly panicked. Hiyoko giggled to herself a little before looking away and pretending she wasn’t eavesdropping. He continued, “Anyways, it was weird, the window thing was broken and some of the glass and one of the trophies had blood on it, but all the trophies were still in place! Now they’re all on the floor and everything.” Kazuichi rambled.

“Are you saying that everything was already like this before the murder except for the trophies’ positions?!” Hajime exclaimed.

“Yeah, it’s so weird! I wonder what happened.” Kazuichi hummed thoughtfully.

I wonder… 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Kazuichi’s Account” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Hajime went over to Hiyoko. 

“Hey Hiyoko.” Hajime started.

“Don’t talk to me, nerd.” Hiyoko glared.

“Would you happen to know what Kazuichi was looking for in the gym yesterday?” Hajime raised a brow.

“He was probably looking for more of Sonia’s clothes, probably trying to do pervert things.” Hiyoko scoffed. 

Hajime’s eyes narrowed. “Didn’t he already take some of Sonia’s clothes? Why would he need more?”

“Tch, who knows why perverts do anything.” Hiyoko suddenly smirked. “Although, I heard he tried to return almost all of Sonia’s stolen clothes. I saw the pile he put in front of her door in the hallway, it’s pathetic he thought he could get away with that.” Hiyoko giggles mischievously, “‘Miss Sonia’  is not happy with him.”

Of course, I should have expected that.

“Thanks Hiyoko.” Hajime sighed reluctantly.

“Keeyahaha! I don’t care about your case, I just want the pervert to get justice.” Hiyoko gave Hajime a look of faux innocence before cackling evilly to herself. Hajime looked at her suspiciously.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Sonia’s Stolen Clothes” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

I should go see where everyone else is.

Hajime took out his student handbook and checked the locations of everyone else. Fuyuhiko and Ibuki were in the hallway, Sonia and Gundham were in the School Store, Ryota was in the A/V room, Teruteru was in the laundry room, and Chiaki and Nagito were in their rooms. Hajime walked out into the hallway and started walking towards the school store. As he walked, he ran into Fuyuhiko. 

“Get the hell away from me.” Fuyuhiko glared defensively before continuing on his way.

“Wait, did you notice anything that could be useful information about the murder?” Hajime called awkwardly.

Fuyihiko stuck up a middle finger at him, “No, idiot, I was in the shower since I wasn’t able to shower on time last night.” Hajime just let him go, accepting that Fuyuhiko wouldn’t be cooperative.

Oh right, there’s no showers or water at night time. I guess that means that the killer couldn’t have washed the blood off themselves until this morning.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Night Time Rule” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

When Hajime arrived at the school store Sonia and Gundham were already inside. Gundham was using the monomono machine disinterestedly, although he seemed invigorated by Sonia’s presence, the two making enthusiastic chatter with one another. 

“Oh! You have received a Gugelhupf Cake from the machine, how exciting! Those are my favorite!” Sonia cheers excitedly as a capsule with cake in it falls into Gundham’s hand.

Gundham smirks and boldly presents it to her with a flourish. “And your favorite cake you shall receive! Fortune has gifted me with the perfect gift to bestow upon you, Dark Lady.” 

“Gundham!!!” Sonia looks at him with stars in her eyes. “Is it really all right for me to accept such a wonderful item…?”

“Indeed.” Gundham nods confidently.

“Thank you very much, Gundham! I am truly happy!” Sonia hugs him. Gundham blushes into his scarf. 

Hajime awkwardly stands off to the side, waiting to cut in. “Hey, um.”

“Oh hello Hajime! I am so sorry, I did not notice your arrival!” Sonia blushed lightly as she let go of Gundham and apologized. Gundham took a moment to regain his composure, his face still red.

“Sorry for interrupting, but, um, I just wanted to ask you some things.” Hajime slowly explained.

“Oh, it is alright! Gundham was just trying to cheer me up!” Sonia smiles thankfully at him before frowning solemnly, eyes sorrowful. “I cannot believe that anyone here would kill another person. It is too much to bear! I can not believe that Akane is dead…!”

“Indeed. My luck can cause great disaster or great boons, not always to my will as the gods of fate may choose against my desires. I shall will the tides of fortune to my favor as best as I can in hopes of our survival, Dark Lady.” Gundham assured her softly.

“Gundham…” Sonia gazed at him adoringly.

“Um, okay. Sonia, I heard you still haven’t gotten all of your clothes back?” Hajime interrupted. Gundham clenched a fist in anger, Sonia’s brows furrowed.

“Indeed. Kazuichi still has not returned to me all of the clothes in which he stole from the bleachers when they were set out to dry. It is disappointing. I thought that once confronted, Kazuichi would return my clothing, but when I retrieved the clothing he set outside my door, I discovered that certain articles of clothing were not returned to me. This is deeply uncomfortable for me, that he may have withheld some of my clothing for his own perhaps ‘perverted’ motives. I confronted him after I discovered the still withheld clothing and he attempted to deny that he kept any of it. Still, he is not ‘worth the effort’ to worry about.” Sonia frowned.

“Right. Out of curiosity, did you check the bleachers to see if every piece of clothing was taken initially?” Hajime asked.

“Yes, I did in fact check. I was thorough, as at first I did not think that my clothing could have been stolen, I at first assumed that it must have simply fell between the bleachers. Nothing remained, Kazuichi took every article of my clothing that was set out to dry.” Sonia confirmed. 

“Hmm…” Hajime hummed to himself thoughtfully. “Anyways, do you have any information that might be relevant to know?”

“Not particularly. I was talking with Prince Nagito last night and the rooms are soundproof, I would likely not be of any assistance in solving Akane’s murder.” Sonia explains apologetically. What could she have been talking to Nagito about in the middle of the night?!

“That’s alright. Hey, at least you have an alibi, that’s useful to know.” Hajime nudged her lightly, beginning to type the truth bullet into his handbook. 

“Oh! So I do!” Sonia brightened.

I forgot that you’re supposed to ask people about alibis for murders. A lot of people were probably asleep at that time so Nagito and Sonia are probably the only people with an alibi.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Sonia’s Alibi” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Hajime turned to Gundham. “Do you have an alibi for last night?” 

“I was communing with the fates in where I am to reside.” Gundham responded.

“So no. Alright, have you discovered anything with that luck of yours?” Hajime asked curiously.

Gundham frowned. “Not yet.” He turned to Sonia. “My Lady, may I sacrifice the lid to the orb of fortune?”

Sonia nodded diligently, “Of course, Supreme Overlord of Ice.” She opened the capsule from the monomono machine and handed him the lid.

“Observe!” Gundham yelled as he threw the lid up into the air. It fell pathetically onto the ground, weakly rolling until it hit one of the lidded baskets on the floor and then falling flat and stopping short.

“Um.” Hajime looked at it doubtfully.

“Do not doubt the supreme power that is luck!” Gundham shouted.

Hajime shrugged and walked over to the basket the capsule lid hit, examining it. Hajime noticed that the basket’s lid was ajar so he bent down and fully opened the lid. Inside there was an empty bottle of mineral water someone must have gotten from the monomono machine. 

I guess that’s probably a clue?

“Thanks, Gundham.” Hajime nods at him.
“Fwahaha!!! ‘Tis not a problem for the Supreme Overlord of Ice!” Gundham crows.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “School Store Basket” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Alright. I should go talk to the others. I know that Nagito has an alibi but I still want to talk to him in case he discovered something.

Hajime waves goodbye at them before exiting back into the hallway and heading into the A/V room. Ryota is there, hunched over a screen. On the screen, several kids of varying ages are shown to be in a bad state in some kind of warehouse. Some are hurt, some are crying, there’s a knife being held to one’s throat while two are already dead. 

“Akane Owari, the Ultimate Aikido Master, Loving Sister.” Monokuma’s voice echoed in a malicious coo. “You’re not there to get enough money to feed them, protect them, or save them anymore. They’re in such terrible danger, only their Strong big sister would be able to save the ones that remain. The time is ticking, who knows who will even be left if you aren’t there to save them. You’d better hurry if you even want a chance to try. Your ‘parents’ won’t do anything, as usual, they haven’t even noticed the kids are gone. You’re their only Hope, puhuhuhu! Will you escape Hope’s Peak Academy and save them, or leave them all to die? Are you a good big sister?” Monokuma questioned with audible glee. The words “Find out after Graduation” appeared on the screen before it went black.

Those poor kids.

“Ryota! Why were you watching Akane’s motive video?!” Hajime panicked.

“W-Well, it can help us figure out more about the victim of the murder, I thought it would be useful information!” Ryota cried defensively.

“I guess…” Hajime admitted reluctantly, feeling guilty. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Akane’s Motive Video” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

“Did you notice anything strange that might help us solve the murder?” Hajime questioned.

Ryota frowned. “Hmm… Maybe. Speaking of Motive Videos, Mikan kind of watched everyone’s reactions to their motive videos before putting hers in. I guess she could have been nervous to see hers since everyone was… upset, but I don’t know.”

“She’s quick to panic.” Hajime commented.

“I could tell.” Ryota deadpanned. “Still… It looked like she was looking for something in people’s reactions, and when she saw whatever it was she was looking for, her eyes filled with dread before putting on her motive video.”

“Hmm… Strange. Do you think she could have predicted Akane’s murder? That her clairvoyance is real and that’s why she was nervous?” Hajime wondered.

“Maybe… I just don’t know how much I believe in her visions. 50% accurate visions is something but it could still be a very bad call if they’re not correct. I don’t really trust a coin flip.” Ryota explained.

“Still, if Mikan seemed scared about something…” Hajime frowned.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it but you can keep it in mind if you see her again before this class trial thing.” Ryota comments.

“Alright.” Hajime shrugged it off. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Ryota’s Account” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Hajime left the room and walked towards the dormitory entrance. He noticed Ibuki going into one of the classrooms and went in after her. She perked up when she noticed him.

“Oh, HelloOo!!!” Ibuki sang out.

“Hi Ibuki, what are you doing?” Hajime asked curiously.  She was putting her head eye-level against the desks, looking for something.

“Ibuki is looking for monocoins! They’re so fun, I want to collect them all!” Ibuki cheered.

“How many have you gotten so far?” Hajime asked, amused.

“Juuust one! But I heard that Gundham found one in his room, and so I thought: I must. Check. Everywhere! Even the boring rooms!” Ibuki went up to examine the chalkboard and cheered, snatching a coin that was taped to it. 

“Congratulations then. Where did you get your other monocoin?” Hajime inquired. 

“Oh, I found it in the trophy case!” Ibuki replied.

“Uh… huh… When did you get that from the trophy case?” Hajime continued.

“Yesterday, I don’t remember when.” Ibuki shrugged. “I redeemed it sometime last night.”

“Nekomaru said he lent you a hammer.” Hajime mentioned. “Did you use it on the glass of the trophy case?” 

“Obviously!” Ibuki puffed out her cheeks, doing a random cartwheel, wincing slightly but ignoring it.

“Hey, Ibuki, are you okay?” Hajime frowned.

“Ugghhhh, yesss, Ibuki is fine, I just got a teensy cut on my arm from the glass.” Ibuki pouted. 

“Ibuki, you should get that patched up.” Hajime responded worriedly.

“Eh.” Ibuki shrugged. “Maybe later.”

…… Fine. I need to focus on solving Akane’s murder for now, but I’m still getting her patched up later… If we’re all still here later, I mean.

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Ibuki’s Account” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Hajime exited the classroom, walking through the gate and into the dorm area, going over to the laundry room. Teruteru was looking in the washing machines.

“Hello there Hajime.” Teruteru smirked.

“Hi Teruteru.” Hajime replied. He looked at Teruteru in suspicion. “What are you doing in here?”

“I was just checking to see if anyone had done their laundry recently, and as you can see, someone has.” Teruteru gestures to a visibly damp washing machine. 

Based on how the washing machine looks… “Someone must have done their laundry early this morning.” Hajime concluded, eyes narrowing. “Why were you looking to see if anyone had recently done their laundry? Looking to pull a Kazuichi?”

“Mmmm… Tempting, but I’d rather just look.” Teruteru sighed. “The clothes are already gone though, so I can’t discover what anyone wears… underneath, you know? It’s a shame, truly…”

“Ugh…” Hajime squinted his eyes in disgust and put more distance between them. Suddenly something caught his eye. “Wait…” Hajime crouched down, squinting at a drop of something red on the floor. “I think that’s blood.”

“B-B-B-Blood!” Teruteru panicked. “No way, no way, no way! I wanted to get away from this murder stuff, not look for clues! I-I only like fictional blood!” Teruteru scurried off.

“Hmm…” Hajime examined the small area of red. “Yep, definitely blood.”

So the killer must have come in here…

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Laundry Room” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Well, I should go see Nagito and Chiaki and then check on Peko’s autopsy. 

Hajime walks over to Nagito’s room and rings the doorbell. The door opens.

“Ah, greetings Hajime!” Nagito waves cheerily. Hajime can’t help but notice a lot of  prescription bottles in the room behind him for medications Hajime’s never heard of. “Oh, are you curious about my medicine? I have a bunch of chronic illnesses, some meant to be terminal.” Hajime can’t help but gasp, shooting Nagito a worried look. “Oh, no need to worry about someone as worthless as me, Novoselic has some remedies that the rest of the world hasn’t discovered yet so I’m fine.”

Hajime’s conflicted. “So… you’re alright?”

“No, I still have awful symptoms. I just won’t die. At least, not from this.” Nagito explains uncaringly.

“That’s terrible!” Hajime exclaims, alarmed. “I mean, it’s not terrible that you won’t die, I just mean the fact that you’re suffering…!”

“Oh, believe me, I get it, I’m in a very hopeless situation.” Nagito sighs heavily. “No matter. Why have you come to visit me?”

“Um,” Hajime continues distractedly, “I wanted to see if you had discovered anything that might be relevant.”

“Oh. I don’t know about relevant, but I think someone used the incinerator recently.” Nagito shrugged.

“There’s an incinerator?!” Hajime’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Yeah, in the garbage room. There’s supposed to be a person on garbage duty but whoever got assigned to it just left the key in the gate for anyone to use it.” Nagito mentioned casually.

“Wait, that could have been an attempt to dispose of evidence!” Hajime rushed over to the garbage room, Nagito following at a leisurely pace.

The gate was unlocked, as expected. There was no evidence of a crime, but…

“Is that one of Sonia’s ribbons?” Hajime wondered, looking at the charred ribbon hanging lazily over the edge of the incinerator.

“I believe it is.” Nagito confirmed. 

“I wonder who would do this?” Hajime frowned.

“Who knows?” Nagito shrugged.

“It’s probably not related to the murder, but I’ll log it anyway.” Hajime commented. 

Obtained Truth Bullet! “Incinerated Ribbon” has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your handbook.

Hajime left to go see Chiaki, Nagito trailing behind him. Hajime rang on Chiaki’s doorbell. Chiaki slowly opened the door.

“Hey Chiaki!” Hajime greeted.

“...Hey hey, Hajime.” Chiaki gave a slow blink. She glanced behind him. “Nagito.”

“Has your Ultimate Analysis given you insight into who the killer could be?” Hajime inquired curiously.

“...Yeah.” Chiaki nodded.

“...Who do you think it could be?” Hajime asks awkwardly.

“...” Chiaki doesn’t say anything for a moment. “Hn…Speculation won’t help anything. Let’s go to the gym.”

“...Okay.” Hajime shrugs. “I need to ask Peko about her autopsy report anyway.” 

Chiaki nods as if she already knew that.

So they walk back to the gym. When they arrive, Chiaki goes over to examine the body, frowning. Every so often she says a few words to Mahiru, and Mahiru nods and writes whatever she’s saying down. Nagito walks over to talk to Nekomaru. Hajime heads over to Peko.

“Hey, are you finished with your autopsy?” Hajime questions. 

“Indeed.” Peko nods at him. “Not much differs from the Monokuma File, but I determined that the head trauma Akane suffered likely gave her a minor concussion, but it was not enough to knock her unconscious. She had minor bruises, she likely fought until the end as an honorable warrior should.”

“Fighting until the end, huh? That sounds like her.” Hajime nods.

I only knew her for a short period of time but it feels like I already understood her. I wish I could have gotten to know her better… I hope she didn’t die by my hands.

Updated Truth Bullet! “Monokuma File #1” has been updated in your handbook.

*Ding dong, bing bong* 

The tv monitor turned on, Monokuma on the screen as usual.

“Erm, so ah... I'm getting tired of waiting. What say we just get started, hm? It's time for the long-awaited… Class trial! Now then, allow me to appoint a proper location for the proceedings. Please go through the red door on the 1st floor of the school! Puhuhu. See you soon!” Monokuma bade them all before the monitor turned off.

The red door on the 1st floor…? That's where I should go....No, where I *have* to go.

And so Hajime and everyone else in the gym walks trudgingly over to the designated door as a group. The room was pretty empty other than a monitor and an elevator, but it soon filled up with all of the students. Hajime waited around anxiously. Nagito seemed to want to talk to everyone, even though barely anyone was in the mood for any talking other than worrying or being upset in general. 

“Hajime, how are you feeling?” Nagito inquired.

“Nervous… What if we get it wrong?” Hajime fretted.

“Don’t worry about that.” Nagito reassured him. “I’m sure everything will go perfectly. As a prince, I can tell.” Nagito winked. Hajime was not reassured.

As Nagito was still making his rounds talking to everyone around the room even if a couple cursed him out or ignored him, the monitor turned on.

“Puhuhu... Is everyone here? Okay then… Please board the elevator in front of you, which will transport you to the courtroom......where all your fates will be decided. Puhu. I'll meet you all down there. I'll be waiting…” Monokuma chimed ominously before the monitor turned off again. 

I guess I have no choice but to get on this elevator…

The Ultimates glanced at each other before reluctantly boarding the elevator. Nagito boarded last after trying to talk to every single Ultimate in the room. There were some hushed whispers and worried glances as the elevator went down.

…I heard an unnerving chattering sound inside my head. I soon realized… it was the sound of my teeth. All I could do was purse my lips tightly so everyone else couldn’t hear it…. There we were, listening to the heavy clunking sounds, as the elevator plunged down to the basement… Some time passed before the elevator finally finished descending. And then, the elevator door slowly opened…

Monokuma was already there, waiting for them. “Nyohoho! You've finally arrived! What do you think? Doesn't it feel just like a real courtroom? It's like a Hollywood movie set, right!?”

“Not even close.” Hiyoko glared at Monokuma unimpressed.

“Okay, okay, everyone find your assigned seats and sit down! Hurry up now, hurry up!” Monokuma urged them excitedly.

It looks like everyone knows… even if we try to resist, it won’t change a thing… Just as Monokuma ordered, we walked towards the seats we had been assigned. The seats were arranged in a giant circle. It was set up so that everyone could see everyone else. Which also meant it'd be easy for anyone to transfer their tension and unease onto anyone else… The air seemed to grow heavy as we sat there. From this point on… we need to find out who killed Akane. The Ultimate Aikido Master, Akane Owari… She may have been a little blunt but she was spirited, fearless, courageous, and strong. A girl like that… got murdered. The person who did it… is one of us? I can’t believe it… There’s no way I can believe it… But… if it’s really true… We need to find out, by any means possible… Because… That’s our only option. There is no way for us to survive unless we sacrifice the killer… And so… This life-threatening trial billowing with hope and despair… has begun.