Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The massive beacon of hope stands high among the city, the drab, almost solid grey world around it seems to revolve around the massive building. A government-funded school of privilege. They say that if you come here and manage to graduate, you'll be set for life.

With hundreds of years of tradition in its pocket, it makes the world’s bright and beautiful next generation glimmer like stars. It was built to raise hope in the nation's future. Which makes Hope's Peak a pretty fitting name. In order to be granted entry to the school, you need to be already attending high school, and you must be the very best in whatever you choose to do. At the gates of this Ultimate high school, bustling to the brim with Ultimate students, was one, single, normal, absolutely average and regular in every way, boy. Kinji Uehara stands at the locked gates of Hope’s Peak Academy, his body refusing to let him move.

When it comes to being “Ultimate”, he wasn’t much to sneeze at. Sure, he had an unusual hair color, but...

He looked plain. 

So, how did someone so painfully normal make it into a school for Ultimates? The world needs someone to make everyone else look better, and one student out of millions is selected out of a raffle. Deemed “The Ultimate Lucky Student”, this high school is forced into a school for the best. He got invited by pure luck. Honestly, Makoto probably would have been better off just declining their offer. Average students aren’t made for Ultimate places.

But after hearing how graduating was a "guarantee for success" later in life, no one could just say no. People aren’t designed to say no to something handed to them on a silver platter. But right now, staring at the imposing, infallible form of the High School, Uehara felt small. He felt lost. But before he even knew it, his legs moved against his own will.

The entrance to the school grew closer. And closer. And then, the dull thunk of his loafers on concrete turned to the pleasant squeak of them on linoleum. He was in a beautifully lit and decorated entrance hall, with black floors and white walls with marble arches and pillars. It was perfect, amazing, it was Ultimate. Then, all at once, the world shifted. His head ached and spun. The walls shook, the floor crumbled, and then, it was black. Pitch black surrounded him, there was nothing. Only cold. He felt tired.

He felt... 

S...L...E...E...P...Y...

Uehara awoke with a splitting headache. He felt tired, exhausted, despite the fact that he was just asleep. But I wasn't just laying on a pillow in my bed at home. His face was pressed against a hard, wooden surface. A desk. The lights of whatever room he was in were on, as well. For a moment, he was afraid that he somehow managed the cliche of falling asleep in class, so he tried calmly raising his head, so as not to alert his fellow classmates or, god forbid, the teacher of his lazing.

But there was no one around. And this wasn't any classroom that he'd ever been in.

O...kay. I guess this was just gonna be one of those days. Uehara's first thought after suppressing his panic was to get a feel for his surroundings. The windows of the room had sheets of metal bolted over them, so that was encouraging. The room had a blackboard, a few rows of desks, and a podium at the front, like they have in Japanese classrooms. Hopefully, that wasn't a sign that he was on another continent. There was an insignia on the podium, though. It almost looked like-

Oh. Oh no. Please don't let it be that one school I once went to. That'd be even worse than being on another continent.

Shaking that thought from his mind, Uehara noticed a sheet of paper on the desk next to him. Let's see what it says, shall we?

“The next semester is about to start,” he read aloud. “Starting today, this school will be your entire world.”

Well, that cemented it, then. Either this was a joke taken way too far, or this was real. Uehara was not sure which possibility was worse.

There was also a mirror, so Uehara looked at himself in. He wore a white dress shirt with a grey sweater vest over it, and a black tie. A blue jacket was over it, and he had black dress pants, and black shoes. He had white hair, with a ridiculous ahoge sticking out from it.

He then opened the door.

He was greeted with a hallway painted a garish color of blue, and 15 more classrooms were spread among the hallway. Most of these doors had already been swung open but remained shut. Two doors down, a door shakes as someone attempts to force it open. He takes a few steps to the door, and pulls the door open, just as a girl falls out. Assuming she was located in a classroom, she must be an ultimate, but her appearance didn’t say much.  She wore a lilac blouse, a red ribbon wrapped around her collar. She wore a brown jacket, and a blue skirt. Her hair was down, and she had white flowers in it. White knee socks and black mary janes perfected her look.

"Well, I'm Kanata Inori! Ultimate Pop Sensation!" The girl said.

"I'm Kinji Uehara." The lucky student took a sharp breath.

“Surprised?” She smiled. “It’s how most people respond. It’s either shock or instant recognition.” She rubbed her fingers together. “So how about you? What’s so special about Uehara Kinji?”

And there it was. How would she react? Hatred? Dismissal? “I...don't have a talent. I got into the school by pure luck.”

“Ah. Well, it’s behind us now.” and with that, Kanata turned on her heel and started walking off. “Come on, we should find the other students and try to figure out what’s going on with this place.”

“Good idea,” Uehara stated simply, and followed behind the blue haired girl.

The hallways of the school were all neon colored, massive LED lights glared down on the pair from a checkerboard ceiling, The azure hue of the hallway faded into neon yellow, straining Uehara’s vision. The Yellow hallway opened into a large, plaza esque area, reminiscent of the main hall.

In the middle of the hall stood a large statue of a bear. The massive creature was poised to strike. Water crashing under its massive paws, and the still alive fish in its maw painted a horrifying picture of unmatched strength. And standing in the shadow of raw power, stood a buff boy.

“Kakeru Yamaguchi, Ultimate Child Caregiver.” He said. “Now. Who is your companion, Inori?”

“I’m Kinji Uehara, the Ultimate Lucky Student.” He said cautiously. 

He doesn't like the Ultimate Child Caregiver...

And with that, Kakeru simply went back to the statue. Kanata tugged on Uehara's arm and headed off, going around the statue and down another hallway, located opposite to the one that led them here. 

Chapter Text

This new hallway was invasively red. The lights blared into Uehara’s vision and made sure he knows that this hallway was all RED RED RED. Shouts shook him out of his trance. There, at the end of the hallway, were the sources of the voices. One feminine, one masculine, a girl and a boy stood shouting at each other about something indistinguishable. As Uehara and Kanata grew closer, their forms grew more distinguishable. One had blue hair, and the other had red hair.

"You scare me." The girl said sarcastically.

"I did not!" The boy rebuked. 

“H-hello?” Kanata called to them, and suddenly two sets of eyes were on them. One orange-yellow, one red.

The blue haired boy piped up. He was dressed in all black and had a cross necklace. "Nice to meet you..."

“Hi.” Kinji  tried. “I’m Uehara Kinji.”

"You may call me Tsuguri Kinjo." The boy sighed, swishing the hooded black cloak he wore over his black attire. "Ultimate Exorcist!”

The red-haired girl had her hair tied into lower pigtails with galaxy patterned bows. She wore a black jacket over a cream ruffled shirt, a red ribbon wrapped around her collar with a green gem in the center. She had a reddish-pink tartan skirt and knee high leather boots. She had glasses and a fairly emotionless look on her face. 

"Rei Mekaru." She stated. She didn’t say it like a friendly introduction. Instead, her words came out as a small, sharp fact.

"What talent are you?" asked Uehara.

"I happen to be the Ultimate Astronaut. I came to the United States to learn from the best of the best. I'm actually the youngest person alive to take the training and become an astronaut too. My dream is to fly into space." Rei told them.

Kanata and Uehara introduced themselves.

Uehara then walked off. Kanata was behind him pretty soon after, her movements small and graceful. The two of them quickly found themselves found themselves in a seeming complex of rooms, each one keenly labeled with the purpose of the room. Gym, Bathrooms, Library, etc. Sayaka seemed dead set on the Library, and the pair found their way inside. It was pretty big, to be honest.

No wall space was wasted on books, and a ladder rested on a wall for assistance in reaching the top shelves. There were a few bookshelves separate from the walls, accompanied by a lone desk (equipped with a chair and a lamp), of which was currently in use.

A buff man was resting there. Even more buffer than Kakeru! He was seven and half feet tall.

"I am Shinji Kasai," he said. “I’m the Ultimate Cosplayer.”

"Wait, I think I’ve heard that name before," Kanata recalled. "You’re that red-haired man that made all those web tutorials, aren’t you?"

“Oh yeah, that old thing. Yep, that’s me alright. Are you a fan?”

“Not exactly. I remember you used to put up these guides on how to sew, so I only looked you up because of an incident… that I’m not proud of saying.” Uehara said.

Shinji looked disappointed amid his half-lidded expression. “Ugh, figures. You wouldn’t be the first to only come to me because you split your pants down the middle. That’s kinda how my gig started before it got good.”

“With sewing guides?”

"Yes."

Uehara narrowed his eyes at him. Shinji gave an uneasy smile and quickly pushed past Kanata to leave.

Kanata led him to the room next door, which had a sign reading “Warehouse”. Inside, was walls that were barely visible behind wireframe shelves stocked with any and all items Uehara could dream of. The room seemed to go on forever, and the shelves kept going back.

Three people stood within the Warehouse. One was a tan,  blond haired man. He wore a tennis outfit. This was the Ultimate Tennis Pro, Mitsuhiro Higa. But he told Uehara to call him Mitch.

Another was a very... well endowed girl with short black hair. It was held back with a red hairband, and she wore a loose martial arts outfit with a black belt. To Uehara’s interest, the outfit was tinted a light red.  Strangely, she was barefoot. “Me? I’m Ayame Hatano. The Ultimate Aidiko Master."

And finally, a girl with long pink hair, with a yellow ribbon at the back of her head. She was wearing a black maid’s outfit with bubblegum pink sleeves and a frilly blue apron. On her were also white gloves covering her hands, tights with heeled black ankle boots, and a lace headdress. "Ultimate Maid, Tomori Kizuna, at your service!” She posed.

Uehara wandered out of the Warehouse and followed Kanata across the hall into a room marked with a money sign. Uehara gently pushed open the door to reveal two students.

One was a boy who had short blue hair, dyed an electric purple at the tips.

If the first person looked odd, then the second "person" looked out of this world. She was, frankly, a robot. 

"Um, hello there!" Uehara called out. "Who are you two?" The boy ignored him, continuing to poke and prod at the robot girl's body, giggling occasionally. Said robot however turned and addressed Uehara with a soft smile.

"It's nice to meet you.." she said. "I-I'm K1-Y0-K4, the-the U-Ultimate R-Robot... but y-you can just call me K-Kiyoka."

Now it was the turn of the blue haired boy.

“I’m Yamato Kisaragi, the Ultimate Artist. And I hope we can all get along!” He smiled sweetly. So sweetly, in fact, that it was almost sickeningly so. The two stared at each other for a moment in awkward silence, before Uehara closed the door behind him.

Kanata wasn’t waiting for him when he got back, so he instead headed down the hallway leading to his right, which lead to a bright orange and blue room, labeled AV. Inside were a set of three rows each holding 6 stations.

In the third row, there was a boy.

And near the back was a girl.

Uehara turned to the dirty blond haired boy first. He looked like he'd been digging through the bushes for a while, judging from the muddy state of his clothes, and he had a butterfly net in his hands. "Haruhiko Kobashikawa! The Ultimate Entomologist!"

Uehara then turned to the girl. She had short blue hair in a bob cut.Her outfit was a ruffled black blouse. It was covered in white polka-dots. She was wearing a pleated black skirt along with thigh high stockings, the left one being white and the right one being black. She wore white high top sneakers on her feet, and she also had a checkerboard neckerchief around her neck.

My name is Satsuki Iranami, the Ultimate Supreme Leader. I’m known to rule with an iron fist among my army.”

“You’re… like a dictator?”

Satsuki nodded.

From the AV room, the hallway led into a large doorway marked “Inn”. Curious, Uehara followed the sign and proceeded through it. He ended up in a square, with rooms marked “Bathhouse”, “Dining Hall”, and a large area marked with nameplates. He’d have to check it out later.

He wasn’t even a step in before a young man came tumbling out of the bathhouse.

“YOU THERE!!” he called out, jabbing a finger at Uehara.

“M-me?” he stuttered, cursing that... this guy had noticed him.

“Have you heard??” it was like he was talking about his religion. 

"Of what?" Uehara asked.

"Doesn't matter." The man said. "I’m Syobai Hashimoto, Ultimate Adventurer.”

Uehara then headed to the dining hall. Instead were two people. One was a redhaired girl wearing a trenchcoat over her school uniform, and the other was a green haired boy. He pushed a pair of goggles up his brow.

The red haired girl nodded. “I’m Yuki Maeda. The ultimate detective! So don’t worry about a thing. I’ll figure out what’s going on here, and make sure we’re all safe.”

And the green haired boy was Teruya Otori, Ultimate Inventor.

Uehara and Teruya were suddenly startled by one of the monitors suddenly lighting up.

“Rise and shine, ursine!” a jingle ringed through the speakers.

It was only then that the two realized there were not one, but five voices speaking to them.

“Hiii! Thanks for bear-ing with us!”

“...”

it didn’t take long for Uehara to start getting annoyed at the bear puns. After glancing at Yuki, he realized he wasn’t the only one.

“Kept you bastards waiting, huh!?”

“Everyone, make your way to the gym please.”

“The opening ceremony can finally begin!”

“Phew! We already finished our preparations!”

“... You do realize you just read your lines backwards, don’t you?”

Their catchphrase was already starting to get stuck in their heads.

“So long, bear well!”

The monitors turned off, leaving the trio alone. They looked at each other.

Yuki broke the silence. “It looks like we don’t have a choice.”

Teruya frowned. “I still have a bad feeling about this. You go without asking questions?”

Uehara was not optimistic about the situation either. “I guess all we can do is get there.”

Uehara thought it would be normal.

If only he knew then just how wrong he was.

Chapter Text

After a short walk, they made their way to the gym, finding the rest of the students here.

Some of them were talking about the new academy. But some were also worried about what everything was about.

Their talk stopped when the ground started shaking, only for five huge robots to come out of nowhere, almost crushing them.

“Yoo-hoo! Rise and shine, ursine!”

Some started screaming, telling everyone to run away, but the robots had already them surrounded.

A voice came out of one of the exisals. “They’re exisals, not robots! Highly mobile, bipedal weapons platforms! They got lotsa hometown pride, too!”

“I can’t keep track of these backstories.”

Teruya got the attention of the rest of them back. “It still doesn’t change the fact that we have to run!”

“Wait.”

The voice came from Kiyoka.

“If they wanted to kill us, they would have done it right away, don’t you think?”

The rest of them were septic, but the exisals weren’t doing anything. The robot faced one of the exisals.

“You five asked us to join you here for a ceremony. I assume this isn’t to crush us with these machines?”

Shinji faintly, but surely joined in.

“I-If you took those giant robots, that means you guessed we wouldn’t cooperate with whatever you want to do to us…”

The yellow exisal seemed to react the first. “Aren’t you a wise boy?”

The blue one exclaimed “I’ll start us off! Listen up! Here’s what we want you punkasses to do…”

He paused, then laughed.

“My heart’s goin’ 100 miles per hour! I’m gonna say it! You ready!? Hell yeah! It’s a-”

He didn’t even finish the sentence that the green exisal spoke.

“KILLING-GAME.”

A sudden silence fell on the students.

“A… What??”

“If that’s a joke that’s not funny!”

The exisals started to fight between themselves, blaming one another for ‘ruining’ it.

Some of the ultimates looked at each other. This… Didn’t look like a prank. They were thinking about a strategy to run away until an unfamiliar voice was heard.

“Now, now, now…”

Uehara looked at the origin of the sound, even though nothing was there.

“My cute little cubs… You gotta knock off this awful fighting…”

Something hopped out of the stage.  It appeared to be a teddy bear about one and a half, maybe two feet in height. Its design was unsettling - its right half was pure white with a black button eye and a cute, toothless snout, but its left half was jet black with a glowing, red eye in the shape of a bat wing and a grin that ripped all the way to his ear, full of large, sharp teeth. Its belly was white on both halves, with its bellybutton protruding like a small tumor. "I am the god of this new world... and the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Acadamy!" it continued grandly. "The one, the only... Monokuma!"

And suddenly...

"Rise and Shine, Ursine!"

...A chorus of five new, strange voices chimed in close by. While Uehara was wondering where the heck the voices came from, five more creatures similar to Monokuma hopped out of the exisals. They were slightly smaller than Monokuma, and each seemed to have an unique color scheme and personality. 

"Yes... my dear little Monokubs!" he smiled as he pointed to each one in turn. "Monokid, Monosuke, Monotaro, Monodam, and of course... Monophanie!"
"Wow... those stuffed bears are cute, too!" Kiyoka's "eyes" sparkled.

"We're not Monokubs! We're the stuffed animals!" Monokid roared while haphazardly plucking at his guitar.

"...Psst. Monokid. You're saying your lines backwards," Monosuke stage-whispered.

"No stuffed animals, us! The Monokubs, them!" he yelled even louder as he snapped his guitar in half. He then threw it away after a moment and immediately pulled a brand new guitar out from behind him as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, geez... it's even worse now," Monosuke slapped his paw to his forehead.

“I hope you’re all ready to start this killing game!” Monokuma announced.

The collect shock at the strange doll’s words hit them all hard.

Their silence only seemed to annoy the bear. “Oh, why all the long faces? Are you ungrateful kids not happy to see your glorious headmaster?”

Kakeru seemed unphased. “What was that about a ‘killing game’?”

“Oooooh, you excited to begin already!? I admire your enthusiasm, but don’t you wanna know the prize? If you kill and get through a class trial you get to leave! I don’t care how you kill, but you need to get away with it! It would be boring if you just stabbed and ran, after all. During the class trial the murder, or ‘blackened’, against the rest of the ‘spotless’ class. During the trial, you’ll present your arguments about who you think the blackened is and at the end you’ll all vote to decide who did it. If the majority voted for the blackened, they get punished and the rest of you can continue your school trip but if the blackened isn’t picked… The rest of you get punished instead and the killer goes free!”

Syobai had other questions as most of the students around him were horrified even further.

“What is this… ‘punishment’ you keep mentioning?”

The bear let off another sadistic laugh. “Why execution of, course! You are committing murder, what else would it be?”

“That’s ridiculous! I won’t let anyone do such a thing! Come on, I bet we can take you easy!” Yuki yelled.

Haru and a few others gained back a bit of confidence from his little speech as they began to approach their new headmaster.

Monokuma sighed, “Figures, but violence against the headmaster is strictly forbidden! Isn’t that right my cute wittle cubs?”

The Monokubs then hopped back into their exisals after agreeing.

"Have fun, you bastards!" Monophanie called out cheerfully.

"So long, bear well!"

Uehara’s migraine throbbed harder at the absurd yet terrifying proposal this “Monokuma” was announcing. And then the pain in his head hit its apex. There was nothing more to think about as it became too much and he blacked out.

Prologue End

16 students left

Chapter Text

Uehara awoke to an unfamiliar room. There was simple décor: a table, closet, TV, a few empty shelves and desk. The bed he was in wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever slept in either. All in all, it looked like a simple hotel room.

As he sat up, he noticed his headache from before was gone. Finally.

When Uehara went downstairs, Yuki had gathered everyone in the cafeteria. “Guys, we have to figure out a way to escape soon… otherwise…”

"One of us will die?" asked Higa.

Yuki nodded.

After this meeting...

Uehara decided to have someone to talk to, so he found Kanata.

He and Kanata sat down. 

They had a conversation about fame and popularity, and the downfalls one might not take into account when trying to attain such things. Turns out being a lucky student and a pop star aren't so different after all...

When Uehara had finished talking to Kanata...

"Who'll be our de facto leader?" Kinjo asked.

“I will do it.” Rei folded her arms. “I came up with such an idea because I would be willing to do it.”

“For real?” Higa gaped. “Damn, thanks!”

Yuki rushed up to Rei and clasped her hands. “Thank you! Thank you! Because of you, we won’t have to…” She trailed off.

Uehara woke up feeling like complete garbage.

His head was pounding and his abs and biceps felt like they were composed of 99% lactic acid. Opting not to sit up, he instead rolled off the bed to save his abs the pain. He thoughtlessly pushed open the door to his room and walked to the cafeteria to join everyone for breakfast.

And then it struck him. He was still stuck here. It was like a nightmare he'd never wake up from.

Uehara then went to talk to Yuki.

They had a talk about cases Yuki hadn't solved. 

Suddenly, Yuki sank to the floor. “I have to get out of here!” Yuki stared up at Uehara, her face stained with tears. “Kinji, promise me! Promise me you’ll help me get out!” Uehara stepped forward.

“I’ll help.” Yuki looked him up and down. “I’ll help you get out. If you help me.”

Yuki offered him a hand. “Sounds like a d-deal.”

After this...

"I'm worried about Kakeru." Kanata said. "I'm gonna sleep with him."

Kanata was right, Uehara thought.  Kakeru... he looked nothing like a child caregiver. And acted nothing like one.

For four whole days, they wandered around the first floor of the school, hoping to find an exit, or a clue as to why they were trapped here. Every day they all met up at noon - well, most of them met up - to discuss their findings, and every day they reported the same results.

Every day they reported that they had found no way to escape, but today was the first day since Kakeru had joined them. The idea of murder was always present in their minds; though Uehara truly believed no one here would do such a thing, he couldn't deny the possibility that Monokuma and the Monokubs would force someone to.

Nothing else interesting happened today. Just that.

Chapter Text

Breakfast the next morning had less faces than normal as most had now opted to just skip meeting up with everyone. It’s not like the morning meeting was mandatory after all.

But for those that did show Monokuma had a small announcement for them all as he sprawled across the dining table, ruining any lingering appetite for those still eating.

"Rise and Shine, Ursine!"

The Monokubs dropped down from the ceiling as well, Monokid actually landing in a pot of soup.

"Mmm! I smell delicious!" he howled.

"Dear students! Would you all report to the gymnasium pretty please?” Monophanie asked.

Uehara’s impending fear, piling up was toppled down by Yuki’s hand on his shoulder. The class walked down through the Inn, and into the gymnasium. Monokuma was waiting for them, the teddy bear lounging on the podium. There were no Monokubs.

“Heeellloooo dear students!” He whirred. “I am so happy to see you!”

“Cut the crap.” Rei hissed. “Why do you want now?”

“How rude!!” Monokuma pouted without his mouth moving. “Who raised you, Miss Mekaru?”

“JUST STOP TALKING AND SPIT IT OUT!” Shinji shouted.

“Fine! You’d expect a little respect but noooo! The teenagers have to be temperamental, neh neh neh…”

“Monokuma?”

“Huh?”

“You called us here for a reason, right?” Kanata shook out.

“Thank you Miss Inori! That’s correct! Ding Ding Ding!” He applauded his static paws, then leaned towards the group. “It gets REAL boring when your students don’t do what you ask, so I came up with something to spice up your daily life!”

Monokuma paused, waiting for some kind of reaction. No one said anything. No one dared. “I’ve provided a HI-LARIOUS motive!”

“M-motive?” Kiyoka stuttered. “What, what the hell do you mean, motive?” 

“Motive? Was escape not enough?” Higa sneered.

“Silence.” Kizuna’s voice shouted. “Mr. Monokuma, would you kindly tell us what our motive is?”

“Why thank you Miss Tomori! Finally some respect around here! SHEESH!” Monokuma looked down, in an attempt to seem sympathetic. Something like rage bubbled in Makoto’s stomach. “Your motive is quite simple!” Monokuma splayed his paws out, as he showed off 16 dvds. "Despair Videos!"

D-Despair Videos?! 

“How are we supposed to even watch them?” Rei groaned. “I didn’t see any viewing equipment.”

“Maybe you were too busy being a bastard to notice the AV room,” Yamato hissed, causing Rei to shut up.

“We should just get it over with…” Uehara choked out. “The AV room should have enough stations for us all to watch the tapes.”

“Splendid!” Monokuma collected the DVD's and brought them to the students, waddling from Ultimate to Ultimate. “Here you are, yes, yes, alright!” Upon his completion, the bear returned to the podium, pleased. “See you next time, students! Bye Bye!” Uehara blinked and he was gone. The walk to the AV Room was distressing at best. The room was still annoyingly orange. All the students quickly dispersing to one of the DVD stations. Makoto, taking the disc out of the case, cautiously inserted it, his shaking hands barely lining up the disc.

The video flickered to life and showed him an image that made his heart drop.

An old man was there. And a narrator spoke:

"There was once a young boy named Kinji Uehara. Kinji was not faster or stronger... or more clever... than other children. His family was not rich... or powerful or well-connected. In fact... Kinji Uehara was the... luckiest boy in the entire world. He just didn't know it yet. A GameBoy that Kinji's grandfather gave him as a gift was his first introduction to the world of Pokémon. Pokémon Red got Kinji started on a mission to play as many Pokémon games as he could and even to try writing some fan games of his own. Since then, the Pokemon series has expanded from one 'generation' into 8 and includes over a dozen games on several different consoles!"

Then it showed a montage of games.

"So far Kinji has played Pokémon Red, HeartGold, Omega Ruby, Platinum, Black, Black 2, Y, Ultra Sun, and Sword. And while Kinji enjoyed some of the 2D games more than others..."

It showed him holding a 3DS.

"…holy fuck did it go huge from Pokémon Y onwards. Pokémon Ultra Sun especially is his favorite game. Probably his favorite Pokémon game in general. In fact, Ultra Sun is a game that was so good, it remains his favorite game of all time. Enough about Ultra Sun. Let's talk about Pokémon Sword, a game from last year."

It switched to show Uehara holding a switch.

“Kinji loved Sword, and so far he's enjoying the DLC, Isle of Armor.”

Then it showed the old man again.

“In other words, Kinji had a pretty good life. He was a Pokémon player, and he had a good grandfather.”

Then the screen faded to black. The narrator's voice turned into the most creepy whisper ever: “But Kinji had been lied to his entire life.”

Then it showed the same room, but the old man was gone. And blood was splattered everywhere.

And the narration stopped.

Text told Uehara “find out after killing someone”.

And the screen flickered off. Judging by the other student's reactions, they received similar videos. They all yelled and screamed, furiously shouting for Monokuma. Even Celeste seemed to be giving off an emotion that wasn’t snark.

“Puhuhu…” Monokuma’s voice appeared in the doorway, as the bear itself walked into the room. “Did you all enjoy your motives? They took me so very long to put together, but I pulled through in the end!” Monokuma sighed happily, it’s eye glowing.

“BASTARD!” Satsuki shouted. “How could you do this? How did you do this?!”

“Things get boorrring fast Miss Iranami! Maybe I just wanna spice up the killing game! I just care so much about you! I just want you to have fun…” Monokuma stared at the floor, downtrodden.

“If you really cared about us you wouldn’t be doing this!” Teruya shouted.

“Puhuhu…”

“W-what did you do to them?” Yuki spoke, walking towards the headmaster.

Monokuma perked up. “Find out after Graduation!”

“OH SHUT UP!” Shinji screamed. “YOU DON’T GET TO FUCKING TOY WITH US!”

“But you are quite literally my captives, Mr. Kasai!” Monokuma tilted its head. “I can do whatever I want!” The shouting just kept coming after that. Yelling at Monokuma, and Monokuma yelling back clever retorts. Uehara didn’t say anything. His face froze. He carried himself out of the AV room, and into the Inn. It couldn’t be that late, right? Uehara gravitated towards the Dining Hall. Food Therapy always helped, at least emotionally. The kitchen truly was impressive. But ignoring everything, Uehara went for some sort of off-brand cookie, trying his best to ignore the several sharp implements someone could easily use to kill. He pushed that thought deep down inside of him, instead focusing on the small brown discs of sugar he was shoving inside of him. He sat like that for a few minutes. Uehara was tired. He was tired now, and he would be tired later. He was tired when the door to the kitchen opened and none other than Higa walked in.

"Hey, Kinji? Wanna talk?" Higa asked.

"Here we go..." Uehara sighed.

"I'm the Ultimate Tennis Pro!" Higa bragged.

5 horrible minutes passed. They consisted of Higa bragging about himself.

Uuugh... I'm not exactly sure what Higa's talking about, but I can already tell we won't be friends...

On that ominous note, a cheery tone rang through the room.

Ding Dong Bing Bong!

“Ahem! Attention students! It is now 10 PM! Which means it is officially Nighttime! In a few minutes those dining hall doors will shut, and after that access to that room is strictly prohibited! Goodnight! Don’t let the bedbugs bite!” And with that, the students returned to their dorms, shaken and frustrated. Some stopped to talk, Higa and Yuki sticking around and setting something up, etc. Uehara was tired. His sleep was near non-existent with the image of his grandfather’s possible peril still fresh in his mind. He only fell asleep after lying to himself, saying that tomorrow will be better.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Uehara woke up early. He woke up way too early for his well-being. Still, he figured being early to visiting Kanata would be good for him. Maybe he could help her with food preparations. Maybe he would be more useful than yesterday. He hadn’t eaten a lot recently, it would probably do him some good. The walk to her room was lethargic at best, his hand moving to push open the door and-

There are only a few times in your life that you see something that changes how you act forever. Graduating from college, or seeing your child being born, things like that. This was one of those things. He would always remember how he felt that morning. The morning when Kinji Uehara sobbed in despair as he saw something.

Yuki Maeda, the Ultimate Detective, lay slumped against the wall. She would have almost looked peaceful, if it weren’t for the massive bloodstain covering her head.

Chapter Text

To say Uehara was shocked was an understatement. He took a few steps back, hands on his mouth. He had never been exposed to a dead body before, and even though a part of him expected to see someone dying soon, he was not mentally prepared.

Kakeru noticed him, asking what was wrong, even though he, deep down, knew what was the problem.

The others joined him and saw their friend’s dead body, and the music on the monitors stopped.

The body discovery announcement went off.

“Ding dong, dong ding!”

“A body has been discovered!”

“Everyone, please gather at Kanata's room!”

About a minute later, everyone was there. Monokuma showed up, happy that someone was murdered on time, and announced the beginning of the investigation. He also told them the Monokuma files were available on their monopads.

Monokuma file #1

The victim is Yuki Maeda. Cause of death unknown

The others started investigating.

Kakeru examined her body, to which Higa was about to do a dirty comment but Kinjo told him not to.

He concluded the Monokuma file was saying the truth,.

Unfortunately for them, the murder weapon was nowhere to be seen.

After looking around the part around Yuki's body, they didn’t notice anything that could look like a weapon, nor any other hints.

Uehara, feeling already sick of this, decided to explore the room. 

He found one of the pillow cases on the floor.

He also found out everyone was sleeping before the murder.

And then he found a racket and a tennis ball.

Ding Dong Bing Bong!

“Attention my 15 students!” Monokuma’s voice blared to life from the PA. “The Investigation period has ended! Please go to the Entry Hall to meet with your wonderful headmaster!”

“Save the rest for the trial.” Kizuna spat, and begun  waltzing away to the entry hall. Kakeru and Uehara followed after her, walking to the hall. The bear statue still stood there, with, 15 students-and one headmaster-crowding around it.

“Ah! Now that everyone is here, we may begin!” Monokuma clapped.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Rei hissed.

“Where, will the trial be held?” Stammered Teruya, his face drained.

“Good question Mr. Otori!” Monokuma waddled back and tapped his paw to the paw of the bear statue, and the massive figure of strength, changed. Plates altered, moving piece by piece apart, opening into an elevator.

“Come on in, students! The water's fine!” and Monokuma was gone.

Kizuna was the first to walk in. She stood in the elevator for a bit, staring expectantly at her classmates. “Well?” No one moved. “Monokuma said the water's fine. All we have to do is catch a shark.”

Uehara hated this. He didn’t know what was dropping faster, his heart or the elevator.

I have to discover the truth behind Yuki's death... I have to... condemn one of us to death... But it must be done... if it'll save the rest of us. For Yuki's sake... I swear I'll find out who the real killer is!

Chapter Text

The elevator was poorly lit, plunging the fifteen students into darkness. It kept going and going, to the point Uehara wondered if it would ever stop. After what felt like an eternity, it finally creaked to a halt. The doors swung open, revealing a colourful, atmospheric courtroom. Filled with nervous energy, the students exited the elevator, sticking close together for a sense of security.

In the middle of the room, sixteen podiums were positioned in a circle. At the head of the courtroom was a throne, where Monokuma was comfortably sat, sipping at a Mimosa in a champagne flute. His five Kubs were at his feet, on miniature podiums of their own.

Monophanie was the first to greet them, her smile beaming. “You made it!”

“The shit’s about to hit the fan,” Monokid smirked in delight. “There’s no turnin' back now.”

“This is the ultimate form of entertainment!” Monotaro cheered, practically bursting with excitement.

“Looks like everyone’s here, so we can begin!” Monokuma announced. “Your podiums are labelled, so please find your places!”

It didn't take long for Uehara to locate his spot. To his dismay, it was in between Higa and Kinjo, his worst and most quiet classmates respectively.

“Ahem!” Monokuma began, calling for their attention. “Now then, let’s begin with a basic explanation of the class trial!"

Uehara held onto his podium for some support, as his nerves were getting the better of him again. Could he really do this? 

“During the trial, you’ll present your arguments for who the culprit is, and vote for ‘whodunnit’.” Monokuma explained, recapping the rules. “Vote correctly, and only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person...I’ll punish everyone besides the blackened, and that person will graduate from this academy! Also, refusing to vote will result in your death, so you better vote for someone! Now, let’s get this trial rolling!”

“Well, excuse me, but...” Kanata said. "...What is that?"

Between her and Kakeru was the empty podium of Yuki. Instead of a person, there was a photo of her face on a long stand. The photo was in a large black picture frame decorated with a black and silver ribbon. The photo itself was greyscale, and crossed out with a bloody X.

"I'd feel awful if she got left out just because she died." Monokuma explained. "Friendship penetrates even death's barriers!"

"Friendship... penetrates?" Yamato repeated.

"Okay, that about does it for the preamble. Get ready to get started! First up is the case summary. Now, let the class trial... begin!"

Okay, I've gotta get this right... or we'll all die here!

"If I checked the body, I can lead us," Kakeru said. "Let's focus on what is probably the most pressing issue in everyone's minds."

"The most pressing issue?" Kinjo asked.

"The location of the body, of course. I'm sure none of us were expecting to find Yuki in Kanata's dorm, after all."

"Then... let's start with that mystery." Kanata agreed.

Uehara took a deep breath. The reason why Yuki's body was discovered under Kanata's room... We can start with that... But ultimately, we need to find out who murdered her... If we can't do that... He shook his head. No... Thinking about "if" is a waste of time. We have to do this... No matter what!

Non Stop Debate, Start!

"Why was Yuki's body in a place like that?" Yamato wondered.

"Her body was in Miss Kanata's dorm room." Satsuki recalled.

"After the killer murdered Yuki... they probably moved the body there." Teruya guessed.

"No, that's wrong!" Uehara interjected.

Break!

"No... I don't think the killer moved the body."

"...Huh? Why?"

"According to the Monokuma File, Yuki's cause of death is... unknown." Kanata explained for him. 

"So that's why you think it's impossible that the killer moved the body... I see, I get your point." Syobai said.

"Arghhh! And here I thought I had a genius idea!" Teruya grumbled.

"Too bad you're sooooo stupid and boring and unpopular!" Satsuki shot with a laugh. "Your life is meaningless!"

"I-I respond better to praise, you know!"

"But if the killer didn't move the body, why was it in Kanata's room?" Kizuna wondered.

"Yuki was probably killed... in the room." Uehara explained.

"What...? You think he was killed under the floor!?" Shinji shouted.

"Usually dead bodies are found when they're killed... And we found Yuki's body in Kanata's room." Uehara clarified.

"You... have a point." Ayame admitted.

"But... where do we go from here?" Kiyoka asked. "I mean, how does knowing where the body was tell us who killed them?"

"It doesn't on its own, but it's important to establish a base before jumping to conclusions." Uehara explained. "For now, I think we should interrogate everyone."

"You're right." Kakeru said. "Everyone, give alibis."

Non Stop Debate, Start!

"We were sleeping," Yamato said.

"The murder happened overnight," Rei deduced.

"While we were awake!" said Kinjo.

"No, that's wrong!" Uehara shot.

Break!

"Tsuguri, that excuse doesn't work. We were asleep; Yamato is right."

Kinjo seemed to recoil. However, before the argument could continue, Syobai cut in.

"Objection! Not us of all may have been asleep!"

"But we were all asleep!" Uehara said.

"The culprit was probably awake!"

"Where's your proof that the killer was awake?"

"Because, if they were awake, then they could've killed Yuki, even if she was asleep! I mean, in reality, that's what happened. So, bedtime was planned in advance. The killer... was awake!"

"No, Yuki was probably also awake along with the killer!" Uehara asserted.

"P-Probably...? But why!?"

"Well, the victim and culprit were both probably awake." Uehara said.

"Which means we can assume that Yuki was not asleep..." Rei realized. 

"...and she was killed by our culprit?" Kanata finished for her.

"Some people are able to stay awake using energy drinks," Higa said. "I do."

"So the killer probably used energy drinks," Uehara theorised. 

"All this aside," Yamato said. "We need to talk about the murder weapon. We need to find out what caused the detective's death."

So, they talked about the murder weapon. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found.

"So, I found a tennis ball, and a pillow." Uehara said.

And they had another discussion.

In conclusion, the murder weapon not being on the Monokuma file, there was a high chance it was one of the two, and not something else.

"We should talk about the murder weapon again." Yamato said.

"Again?" Kanata moaned.

"Yup, again." Yamato said.

Non-Stop Debate, Start!

"The murder weapon was probably one of two things," Rei said.

"The tennis ball," Kinjo said. "Or the pillow."

"It almost certainly was the tennis ball!" Higa said. "And the racket, too!"

Yamato shook his head. “Seriously, Mitch, you're an ass.”

Higa narrowed his eyes, the offense evident on his face as he held his podium tightly. “How dare you speak to me like that! I'll let you know that I am -"

"No, that's wrong!" Uehara shouted.

Break!

"It's not the tennis ball that's the murder weapon. What if that was just to create the blood on Yuki's head?"

"Now we have to figure out the real weapon," Kakeru said. "And after that, we have to figure out how they did it."

"Precisely." Kanata agreed. "Because the "how" will lead us to the "who," to the killer."

"Maybe they still used the tennis ball," Higa said. "We don't want to get all split-"

"Hold on!" Monokuma said. "Looks like you're all split down the middle! Hope's Peak Academy is proud to present... its very own morphenomenal trial grounds!"

"Morphenomenal trial grounds?" a confused Kiyoka repeated.

"Can't ya just look it up?" Teruya frowned. "Ain't ya like 50% google?" 

"I'm not a search engine..." Kiyoka replied, somewhat insulted.

Before Uehara even had time to figure out what this meant, Monokuma took action. A brand new mechanism opened up from Monokuma's throne; the Headmaster used a key to get it started. The courtroom came to life, and Shuichi found his podium rising. Caught off guard, Uehara clung on for dear life, terrified that he was going to fall to his death, since the podiums were getting higher and higher. They finally came to a stop, not too far from the ceiling. He snuck a look down and instantly regretted it. The students were no longer in a circle, instead, they had been split into two groups, face to face with each other.

What was the murder weapon? Debate Scrum start!

Syobai: That tennis ball looked suspicious...

Satsuki: But that pillow also looked suspicious!

Haruhiko: The tennis ball killed Yuki!

Shinji: The pillow almost certainly killed Maeda. We can’t rule out that possibility.

Rei: Tennis balls can be used for killing…

Ayame: If the killer wanted to kill Yuki quickly they would have to use something better than tennis balls.

Kizuna: We know the killer prepared their plan in advance, the pillow could have been taken by someone in a rush.

Kanata: If the killer did plan on killing in advance, they could have used both to confuse us.

Kiyoka: The killer prepared their plan early, they would obviously use the weapon they took in advance!

Kakeru: In advance can also mean this afternoon...

Yamato: We were sleeping, we would have noticed someone leaving to take a pillow!

Teruya: Everyone was busy trying to open the door, they had plenty of time to take the knife without being noticed!

Kinjo: Are you saying the tennis ball had another use?

Uehara: Tennis balls aren’t for killing, there could have been another use for it!

Team Uehara: This is our answer!

After that the podiums slowly got back to normal. “Another use” wasn’t something they anticipated, but that was the only option. 

"We have to talk about the murder weapon for a third time," Yamato said. "I know this trial is getting quite repetetive, but still."

Non-Stop Debate, Start!

"So we found out it was a pillow," Kanata said. "The murder weapon!"

"And now we need to discuss how the murder happened." Kakeru added.

"Guys, it was the tennis ball!" Higa screamed. "Whoever killed her has my talent! Who else could be so killed in tennis?!"

"No, that's wrong!" Uehara shook his head.

Break!

"You should have kept your mouth shut, Higa. That's something only the culprit could have.

Higa just shut his eyes and didn't say anything.

"I know the answer." Uehara said. "It's right there, plain as day. The killer... is you!" He pointed across the courtroom.

He felt bad making the accusation, especially when the other person didn't even know they were the killer. But in order to survive, they had to play by Monokuma's twisted rules. And so, Uehara's finger pointed across the courtroom, directly toward...

...Mitch Higa.

Chapter Text

Higa opened his eyes to focus on the finger being shoved in front of him. “...huh…?”

"M-Mitch's the killer... Is that true!?" Syobai asked.

"N-No! Of course not! I can't be the killer!" He argued.

"Of course, that's simply my assumption, so if you have an objection, please speak freely." Uehara continued.

"You can't just expect me to have an objection ready!" He shrieked. "Besides, why do I have to be the killer?"

"Because... you were the Ultimate Tennis Pro, remember?" Uehara asked.

"I am!" Higa screamed.

"That's right," Uehara said. 

"I didn't kill her!" Higa screamed.

"Even though I hate you," Uehara said. "I have to get you through to reach the truth."

Bullet Time Battle!

“C’mon, you’ve got to believe me!”

“I’D NEVER HURT HER LIKE THAT!”

“You’ve got no spirit!”

“DON’T BE A FOOL!”

“I think you need some discipline!”

“Rgh...gah…”

“SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT!”

“This ain’t right, man! This ain’t right!”

“You’re slacking!”

“We’ve just gotta think this through some more!”

“Never mess with a tennis player!”

"Ladies man wannabe!"

Final Strike!

"How could have I killed her?"

Truth Bullet: Pillow

"This is it!"

"You probably suffocated Yuki with a pillow, Mitch." Uehara spoke. 

"H-Hey, just because I said I was gonna do something yesterday, doesn't mean I did it! I'm a little shit sometimes, alright?"

"I agree." Uehara said sadly. "But I'm afraid this might actually be your biggest screw-up yet."

"Wh-What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I'm sorry, Mitch, in spite of the fact that I hate you. I don't know if there's really anyone we can fault for this killing, but by Monokuma's rules, this is the truth of this case."

Higa looked at everyone with watery eyes.

“I’m sorry… Everyone.”

Uehara felt guilty for accusing him. 

"We're going to go over the entire case one more time." Kakeru told Mitch. "When you're ready... just let us know, okay?"

"S-Sure... Whatever..."

Go over the entire incident... Uehara thought. And then, I can reveal the truth of this tragedy... That's right... if we don't do that, we can't end this no matter how much time passes. "So... we need to do it! Here's everything that happened in this case!"

Closing Argument

"Alright then... this began during the time we were all asleep. Nighttime. Everyone was asleep... save for the culprit of this case and the victim, Yuki Maeda.

"For some reason, Yuki got out of bed, and went to Kanata's room. The culprit followed.

"The culprit had used energy drinks so they wouldn't get tired. And then... it started.

"The culprit went to Kanata's room, and got a tennis ball.

"They headed towards Yuki, got a tennis racket, and swung it. For any normal person, that'd be impossible, but the killer had the confidence to take the shot. And that's because the killer... was the Ultimate Tennis Pro. The culprit aimed the racket and swung it towards Yuki's head.

"The tennis ball hit Yuki on the head, causing blood. That injured her, but she did not die. 

"The culprit then got a pillow, and put it over Yuki's face. I don't know how long it took for her to die, though.

"Once Yuki had been suffocated, the culprit propped her against the wall, and left her corpse there to rot. But it didn't rot, somehow. And then I found it the next day. With the talent in mind, there's only someone how could pull this off..."

"...And that’s none other than the Ultimate Tennis Pro, Mitch Higa!" Uehara said, pointing his finger right at Higa.

He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to say his nickname of "Mitch", not the real one of "Mitsuhiro". Maybe it just didn’t feel right to finish without it. 

Break!

"So? Did I get anything wrong?" Uehara asked.

Higa was shivering in his spot. "Yes. Yuki's death wasn't instant."

She must have been in agony...

"Lookie at what I made here! Yamato said, showing what he had drawn on his sketchbook. "What Kinji just said!"

Everything made so much sense now.

“Right, time’s up!” Monokuma exclaimed, eager to move things along. “I need the toilet so you need to hurry up and vote.”

“You’re a robot…” Syobai pointed out. “You can just say you want to start the vote without the stupid excuse.”

“Nobody asked for your opinion,” Monokuma glared. “Well, it’s time for the heart racing moment that you’ve all been waiting for. It’s voting time!”

“I’m so excited, I might shit myself.” Monokid grinned.

A screen lit up on Uehara’s podium, one that he hadn’t noticed before. 

Voting Time

Choose your culprit!

Rei, Inori, Kinjo, Kakeru, Mitch, Ayame, Kizuna, Kiyoka, Kisaragi, Haruhiko, Satsuki, Uehara, Syobai, Shinji, Yuki, Teruya

-> Mitch Higa

The other students registered their votes, which didn’t take long. The answer seemed obvious, but Uehara knew to always expect the unexpected. Thankfully, Monokuma didn’t keep them waiting for long. A monitor came down.

A barchart flashed on the screen, displaying the voting numbers of 15 votes for Higa. Seems like he’d accepted defeat. After that, it changed over to a slot machine, cycling through pixel art icons of all of their faces. It finally settled on Higa’s face. Confetti, flowers and coins rained down upon them, and the screen displayed one word:

GUILTY

Uehara felt a strong sense of relief; he wasn’t going to die. Not today, at least…

“Ding ding ding!” Monokuma exclaimed. “You found the blackened! That’s right! The blackened who slayed poor smarty pants Yuki Maeda is Mitch Higa! I don't think he'll be playing tennis any time soon..."

"Why did you kill Yuki?!" Kanata screamed.

"Yeah, tell us!" Yamato said.

Higa sighed. "Well, I did it because I wanted to go home. I wanted to kill someone."

Everyone was angry.

"That's disgusting!" Yamato said. "I would never do that!"

"You're like Faba!" Uehara screamed, and got confused stares.

"Who's that?" Higa asked. Unlike Uehara, none of his classmates had played Ultra Sun, let alone anything from Gen 7, so they would be unlikely to know about this.

Uehara told Higa all about the Branch Chief of the Aether Foundation.

Higa's response? "He sounds interesting! And I suppose I'm quite similar to him..."

Kanata silently glared as Uehara let go of her hand. Higa turned his back to them. "Dammit!"

"Ahh, that was a close one!" Monokuma teased. "I thought for sure you were gonna give me a good walloping! Just barely avoided punishment, you did! Now then! Since you so magnificently revealed the identity of the killer during the class trial... the blackened, Mitch Higa, will receive his punishment!"

Higa paled. "P-Punishment? You mean... e-execution? W-Wait a second! I didn't have a choice! I HAD to kill her!"

"Yup!" Monokid said. "Punishment time!"

Higa screamed. "I'm a ladies man! What will all the cute gals do without such a cute tennis pro by their side? And warning: This execution will probably get gory, guys, even by the world's standards."

"I have prepared a special punishment for Mitsuhiro Higa, the Ultimate Tennis Pro!" Monokuma laughed.

"I’M TOO PRETTY TO DIE!" Higa screamed.

Monokuma ignored him. "It’s... PUNISHMENT TIME!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Higa yelled.

A large, red button appeared before Monokuma. He grinned with excitement as he pulled out a hammer, hopped and did a somersault in midair, smashing the button as he landed. The screen below the button lit up, showcasing a pixel version of Higa standing in front of a fence as Monokuma slowly walked past, the bear grabbing and pulling the tennis player by his hair as he continued off screen while unfitting music played.

Game Over

Mitch has been found guilty.

Time for the punishment!

As a hazard alarm started to blare, the students backed away from Higa. Before he could react, Higa’s neck was grabbed by a metal claw, which dragged him away through a mysterious door.

The same monitor that had confirmed Higa's guilt turned on.

Everyone was all transfixed by the horror of watching Higa be dragged through old mine shafts and tunnels full of stalactites.

THE HUMAN TENNIS BALL

Higa is dropped into a large room that is one oversized tennis court. He pulls himself up from the ground and attempts to move forwards only to find a large ball and chain keeping him firmly stuck to one spot. He grimaces but looks straight ahead.

A pair of Monokumas come rushing onto the court and one of them throw Higa a tennis racket, which he easily catches by reflex. He holds the racket in his hands and gets into position. The Monokumas on the opposite side of the net start to serve tennis balls frantically, the sound of the tennis balls hitting the racket echoing around the room. Higa successfully manages to serve the balls back despite being stuck in one position.

He hits the two Monokumas in the head with tennis balls and they fall to the floor. As soon as the two bears are gone, another set of bigger bears appear, this time with bigger tennis balls. The game gets more intense and Higa struggles to serve the balls back but is again successful with taking the bears out.

This time, only one bear appears on the opposite side of the court. It stomps loudly into position. Higa’s eyes widen as the floor around him starts to shake, causing him to lose balance. He stumbles to the floor and is confused as his ball and chain disappears. A shadow is then cast over him and he looks up to see a large Monokuma standing over him.

The Monokuma picks him up and Higa finally realises what is about to happen. He closes his eyes as he’s thrown up into the air. A large tennis racket makes contact with his body and he’s hit across the room, flying towards the other Monokuma who hits him with the other racket. He’s become a tennis ball for the bears.

Red hot pain explodes across his body as he’s hit over and over again, the Monokumas frantically hitting Higa to see who can win the game. Pink blood splatters start to decorate the court as blood gushes from the tennis player as he’s knocked from one side of the court to the other. The execution finally ends when one of the large Monokumas trips and miss Higa, causing him to fall towards the floor.

Whilst he's falling, Monokid excitedly bounces from the stands and ends up accidentally knocking over Monosuke, who falls to the floor. Monosuke picks himself up and goes to move back towards the stands when Higa’s body suddenly slams into him, breaking him into pieces.

The execution finishes with Higa face first on the ground, unmoving.

Uehara had practically gone cantionic the moment the monitor clicked off, but screams brought him back to reality. More specifally, the screams of Haruhiko and Ayame.

"Ahhh! Mitch is..." That was Haruhiko.

"D-dead!" That was Ayame.

“A-Are you…kiddin’ me!?”  Kiyoka exclaimed. “Talk about overkill…!” 

“Indeed.”  Kakeru mused sadly.  “I suppose this is one of the blessings of closing my eyes..."

Yamato had ducked under his podium, vomiting out what was left of his breakfast. Teruya wrung his hands, shaking in fear until Rei embraced him and the two quaked together.

Shinji had a hand held to his mouth, pain and no small measure of regret visible in his expression. Even Syobai looked green around the gills.

But Kinjo…

He looked utterly furious. He whirled on Monokuma. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” he thundered. “I expected you to do something quick like… I don’t know, a firing squad or something! Not this god damned torture game of tennis!”

“Seriously, that was fucked up,” Kizuna said, looking even greener than Syobai, though she managed to hold onto the contents of her stomach, just. “That was way, way worse than I thought it would be.”

 “I don’t want to diiiiiiie!” Kanata wailed, hiding behind her podium as if that would save her.

“He tried to tell us, too,” Satsuki said, her face falling into both hands. “God damn it, he tried to warn us how bad this was...”

The Monokubs were also freaking out due to what had happened to their brother.

"Huh? What the…? Wh-Why is Monosuke…?" Monotaro stammered as he tried to reason why one of his own died.

"M-Monokid? What...have you done…?" Monodam asked, not robot this time.

 Monophanie appeared very ill. She swayed gently from side to side until...

"...BLRBLRBLRBLRB!" The lone female Monokub opened her mouth and daintily vomited on the floor in front of her.

"This tension ain't so bad, y'know? Finally feels like a proper killing game. If anything, we could stand to use a little more tension in our lives. Right, dad?" Monokid commented.

"Nooo! My sweet, darling Monosuke… Claimed as collateral damage!" Monokuma cried. "This is a nightmare… This is unacceptable… My precious cub is…" Before he finished, Monokuma lit up with happiness and joy as he smiled. "On second thought, I guess it's okay. After all, I still got four more cubs! Phew! I'm glad you kids came in bulk."

"...Huh? It's okay?" Monotaro asked as sweat dropped from his face.

"I-I'm shocked… Our existence...means that little, huh?" Monophanie whimpered.

"What's done is done, what's dead is dead. No point crying over blown up cubs." Monokuma said with no emotion. "...Unless you wanna end up like these sad sacks." He then said as he pointed at everyone.

"All this adrenaline creates such an exquisite feeling of despair!" Monokid laughed. "It's moments like this that makes all the killings worth it!"

"Shut up! No one else is going to die!" Rei said while pointing at Monokuma. "I… I won't let anything like this happen ever again. That'll be… how I make up for my mistakes this time around!"

"Whatever. Anyway, you guys have a lot to think about…" Monokuma said. "Work hard and do your best to graduate! Cuz the fun's only just begun!" With that, the bear left the trial grounds. So did the Monokubs.

"Y-Yuki…! M-Mitch…!" Teruya cried out as he tried to stop his tears from falling.

“I never thought that the execution was going to be this… brutal,” Shinji says. “Poor Higa…”

“Let Mitch’s soul rest in peace…” Yamato prayed, wiping his mouth.

Kinjo crosses his arms. “How on earth is someone supposed to rest in peace after dying like that ?”

The ride in the elevator was silent. Uehara looked at the spot Higa was when they went to the trial room, now empty. He hated the tennis player, but that was not a reason not to feel bad for sending him to his death. A painful one, that is.

Some looked almost indifferent, but perhaps it was not to show their weakness.

A majority of the group decided to go straight to bed, but Uehara decided to walk for a while, to get some fresh air.

After some time he laid on the ground, staring at the sky beyond the giant iron cage. He almost felt like sleeping here but knew this was a bad idea.

He couldn't help but think about Higa's execution. It had been truly horrible to witness, watching Higa being thrown around like that. While Uehara wasn't sure when Higa had died, he hoped it had been early on.

Tomorrow would be another day.

Chapter 1 end

14 students left

Received gift: Tennis Headband

Chapter Text

 Uehara didn’t sleep. He didn’t dare to. One day, it took one day for 2 people to die. One day. Uehara didn’t move until the alert told him it was morning. 7 AM, Uehara stepped out of his room to find Kakeru Yamaguchi waiting for him.

    “Good. You’re awake. Took you long enough.” Uehara figured this would be easier if he didn’t talk.

     “It’s my job to tell you we won’t be meeting in the Dining Hall today. Because of me deciding to break from the formula.”

     “Ah.” Uehara sighed. “That makes sense.”

     “I’m not done yet.” Kakeru scoffed. “The second floor of the academy has opened up.”

     “The second floor?”

     “Apparently the conclusion of the first class trial opened it. I’m going there now.” Kakeru started off, quickly tripping over untied shoelaces, and trying and failing to maintain his composure. Uehara followed behind, to a staircase he swore wasn’t there two days ago. Uehara took the stairs two at a time, desperate for the floor above to hold escape or answers.

     “You’re here. Finally.” Kizuna said upon his arrival. “What were you, comatose? At least you’re finally here.” She twirled a strand of her hair with her finger. “Come, I’ll give you the tour.” And she was off. She walked to a pair of pink double doors, opening it to reveal an Olympic size swimming pool.

     “KINJI!” Teruya yelled upon his entrance. “Guess what! We got a POOL! Plus! There are tons of exercise equipment in these locker rooms! Ayame’s gonna go NUTS when she finds out!” Teruya wildly gestured to the pair of pink and blue locker room doors. 

 “Come Uehara, we need to move on.” And with that, he was being whisked out the door. Kizuna was on a mission, glancing at doors, walking in a straight line with such efficiency that Uehara could barely keep up. “There are the public restrooms,” Kizuna said, gesturing to a pair of lime green doors. Kizuna continued weaving through the hallways, before stopping at a pair of pink double doors. “This is the infirmary.”

There was also a laundry room on floor 2.

Uehara decided to talk to someone, and that someone was Kakeru.

Kakeru and Uehara did the laundry while Kakeru talked about his life in an orphanage...

"What a tragic backstory," Uehara said as he walked away.

There was also a library on the second floor. 

Entering the library, he saw Kanata, as he had expected.

He wordlessly grabbed a book and sat down across from her, and began reading. Kanata looked briefly up from her own book, said nothing, then kept reading.

They sat there for the next couple of hours.

Chapter Text

At some point, Rei came into the library. Uehara noticed, but Kanata, who wasn’t facing the door, didn’t. Despite this, Uehara just ignored her and kept on reading. He wasn’t about to ruin his moment of peace by talking.

This was a mistake. His moment of peace would be forever lost, regardless of whether he opened his mouth or not. But since he chose not to acknowledge her, he had to suffer a terrible prickling at the back of his neck every time she glanced over at them. He didn’t see her glancing at them… but he knew that it was happening. He was completely sure. Why would he feel so uncomfortable otherwise?

What did she want from them? Did she want to join in? They were friends, kind of. Maybe? Maybe not. If she wanted to join in, she could just grab a book, sit down, and read silently. Nobody would mind.

It had become unbearably awkward, and it was only getting worse. Uehara had to open his mouth, but he was locked in place. It was one of those moments when you’ve been silent for so long, you can’t talk or even move unless you make a huge effort. You can try and try, but unless you really mean it, you won’t go anywhere. And so he remained silent and continued staring at his book, which he had been trying and failing to read for the last few minutes.

As he felt the prickling sensation return, he broke free from his temporary paralysis and whipped around. He saw Rei, sitting a ways away, jerking her head back to her book, caught in the act.

He couldn’t help himself: he let out a chuckle.

“What’s up, Uehara?” Kanata whispered. “Did something funny happen?”

“Yeah, that.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder, back at Rei.

“Oh, I didn’t realize she was here. But what’s so funny about Rei?”

“She’s been staring at us from time to time. Did you seriously not feel her gaze? It was kind of spooking me, to be honest.”

“I… didn’t notice. At all.” Kanata scratched her head. “Should we ask if she wants to join us?”

“If you want.” Uehara said neutrally, though in his mind, he was really saying ‘please yes, just so she stops staring at us’.

Kanata got up and walked over to Rei while Uehara tried to figure out where he was in his book. He had been absentmindedly flipping pages and had lost track of his place.

Oh? Are you curious as to what Uehara is reading? Well, he’s reading a fun David Walliams book by the name of Slime . Give it a read some time, I’d highly recommend it. But enough shilling. Back to the story.

Who to talk to next...?

Yamato was his answer.

"Hey, Yamato." Uehara said. "You love fairytales, right? I do."

"Yes I do!" Yamato said. "But I only love the fairytales like Charles Perrault's "Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper"."

"Why?" Uehara asked, foreboding knotted his stomach.

"Well, in the original yarns, the ugly sisters get their eyes pecked out, the witches get cooked alive, the wolf eats both Little Red Riding Hood and the grandmother, Rapunzel gets pregnant, and Sleeping Beauty is really about necrophilia." Yamato told Uehara. "This is why I can't bring myself to like most of the stories by the Brothers Grimm. I also hate H. C. Andersen's "The Little Mermaid". I only watched the Disney movie. The original story of the Little Mermaid was too dark for my tastes."

"And what about Snow White?" Uehara asked.

"Since I'd only watched the Disney Movie, I was not particularly familiar with that fairy tale before reading this book called Grimm's fairy tales." Yamato told Uehara, giving a book. "It's the first edition that was translated by Jack Zipes. Read it with me..."

So, Uehara read the story of Snow White. He loved it, since he was into the darker side of fairytales, but Yamato... was a different story.

"That was not the Snow White I remember!" Yamato screamed. "It was horrible! If this is the type of fairy tale that Disney waters down, I will continue to stick to the innocent ones, thank you very much."

For the rest of the day, Yamato drew with Uehara.

Then they ate dinner. 

But Uehara couldn’t help but feel a sinking in his stomach. Something about Monokuma’s demeanor made him feel that it wasn’t just an empty threat...

Chapter Text

Bing Bong Ding Dong!

     “Ahem! Attention students! This is a public announcement, please assemble in the gymnasium ASAP! Oh! And have a wonderful day!” Uehara groaned. He wanted to scream. Could he just, stay here? Could he just not go? That would work, right? No, Monokuma would probably pull some bullshit excuse out of it and he’d wind up dead. Uehara slumped his way to the gym, pushing the door open to 13 more students.

     “SHEESH! Took ya long enough!” Monokuma yelled, kicking his legs on top of the podium. “Now that you’re all here, we can begin!”

     “Why are we here this time?!” Teruya yelled. “I wanna go home!”

     “It’s every day with you rubes, isn’t it? You need to shut up!” Monokuma chided. “ANYWAY! Let’s get to it!” Monokuma hopped to the floor. “I got something really special for all of you! Can you guess what it is? Can ya? Can ya can ya can yaaa?”

     The room was silent. No voices, no movement. “It’s, it’s a new motive, right?” Syobai said, taking a step forward.

     “WOWIE! GOT IT IN ONE! You get a gold star, Mr. Hashimoto!” Monokuma whirred in happiness. “Yes! Your generous headmaster has provided some dreadful secrets for your new motives!”

     “When will you just give it up?” Kinjo groaned. “We won’t kill each other again.”

     “This again…” Monokuma whined. “Don’t you know what happened to the last person who said that, Mr. Kinjo?” Monokuma’s eye glistened with every word. “If I remember correctly, she isn’t doing too hot right now!” Kinjo took a step back. “That’s what I thought.”

     “So where are they? The motives.” Kizuna said, running a hand through her hair.

     “Patience, Ms. Tomori! You’re a maid, right? I’d expect better from you.” Monokuma, from seemingly nowhere, pulled out decks of envelopes. “Come get ‘em, everyone!” Cautiously, one by one, each student came and picked a labeled envelope. Uehara picked open the flap, pulling a small piece of paper from the envelope.

Kinji Uehara has a crush on Kantata Inori.

That wasn’t, that bad. What was Monokuma going on and on about? It’s not that big of a deal. But judging by the others, their envelopes shook them to their core. Yamato was practically quaking, Yamato had all but ripped his envelope in half, Kizuna had already crumpled the paper, Syobai’s envelope was nowhere to be seen. But the pained expression on her usually emotionless face told a wildly different story.

     “Soooo? Everyone enjoying their secrets being revealed?” Monokuma cheered.

     “How did you know?!” Shinji shouted, pushing past the other students. “HOW THE FUCK DID YOU KNOW?!” Monokuma put his paws to his mouth.

     “Aww, so sorry Mr Kasai! A true magician never reveals his tricks!” Shinji stomped on the ground.

     “YOU SPONGY ILL BREEDING BITCH!” Shinji screamed, his voice straining.

     “Kasai.” Kakeru hissed. Shinji’s face fell, taking a step back.

     “Where’s your fire gone, Mr. Kasai? Hmm? Too sad to stand up to Headmaster?” Shinji walked back into the crowd, silent.

     “It’s a shame really, but I can already tell this will be an EXCITING few days!”

Uehara woke up and he was already tired. The motive’s from yesterday were enough, but the prospect of the next days being “exciting” to Monokuma was hard enough. He quickly changed and began wandering out into the school. Maybe he should seek out someone. Maybe breakfast would wake him up. It definitely wouldn’t hurt him.

God, how naïve he was.

Were they going to survive? Were they ever going to escape? Would the world accept them back into it? Would they ever live a normal life, if they managed to survive? How could they survive? That was the question. Would they escape and get the sanctuary they wanted? Or would they die, as small and easy as their lives were to snuff out, would they just die? Slumped over the table was the lifeless body of Syobai Hashimoto, the Ultimate Adventurer.

Chapter Text

Uehara stared at the Monokuma file they had been given. Like Yuki, the cause of death was unknown.

As Kakeru did an autospy of the body, Kanata found a gun and a poison bottle.

Syobai was dead.

"It's too much of a pain to try and find the culprit now."