Chapter Text
Hyejung's life had not been a particularly good one.
Her parents had a pretty messy divorce, she was a stressed and sleep deprived teacher that was constantly yelled at by the principal, she wasn't pretty nor charming.
In reality, the best parts of her life were her favorite web novels and visual novels. Spending her friday nights fangirling and drinking beer, waiting to see wonderful stories full of romance.
Though Hyejung's favorite genre was romance, she did like one odd visual novel game.
Danganronpa!
Danganronpa is a mystery game where a bunch of specially talented students are locked in the most prestigious school of their country and are all forced to participate in a despairful killing game by a psychotic robot bear. It's suspenseful, comedic, emotional, and weird as all hell! That game had captured her heart harder than any heroine has ever captured a male lead's love! Hyejung would replay all the games over and over again, though her favorite of the games was the first one.
"Hah, guess that story still hasn't been updated. . ." She had commented, currently snacking on chips and in the process of opening a can of cheap beer. "Guess I'll just play Trigger Happy Havoc again!" She smiled brightly and pulled up the game on the laptop that was warming up her lap.
The game started with cheerful music, Hyejung smiled warmly and went to click 'new game'.
But then her vision started swimming.
"H-Huh?!"
Her vision got blurry, the world started to fade.
And then she passed out.
■■■■■■
Her head was resting on a rough surface, she slowly came to and opened her eyes to see. . .
"Ah, I'm in a classroom. . ."
She looked around, still half asleep, lazily rubbing her eyes. "Crap, I slept in class again, the teacher is gonna be so mad. . ."
. . .
"Wait a minute. . ."
Just then, it occurred to her. . .
She suddenly shot up too fast, making the chair she had been sitting on crash on the ground with a loud noise. "I've been out of school for years!"
That's right! She's a teacher, not a student! Why was she sleeping in a classroom? She was just on her bed a while ago! She was eating chips, drinking beer, and playing——
She then looked around and noticed the bolted metal sealing the windows, the cameras looking around the room, she looked down at the paper on the desk she had been sleeping on.
'The Next Semester is about to start. Starting today, this school will be your entire world.'
"Danganronpa. . ." She whispered, and couldn't help but notice one detail.
Her voice wasn't hers anymore.
That voice is——!
She sprinted out of the classroom and made her way to the empty halls, everyone else was still asleep it seems, she's the only one awake.
She burst into the kitchen and scrambled to find something to see her reflection on.
She eventually pulled out an extra shiny knife and looked to see.
Instead of an adult woman with messy hair as black as the circles under her eyes, she was met with blonde hair, blue eyes and glasses, a brown suit and——!
She was a man.
She was in danganronpa and she was——
"Byakuya Togami?!"
■■■■■■
All the main danganronpa games have antagonists. A character made specifically to oppose the main character and cause mischief. These antagonists are:
The Ultimate Supreme Leader, Kokichi Ouma. The Ultimate Lucky Student, Nagito Komaeda. The Ultimate Heir, Byakuya Togami.
While Nagito and Kokichi had pretty split opinions on them, with you either hating them or loving them, Byakuya was actually treated with a mildly bitter to true neutral to slightly warm attitude by the fans.
Hyejung guesses it makes sense, compared to the twists and confusing secret intentions of the other two, Byakuya was particularly straightforward and relatively tame, his biggest transgressions come mostly from chapter 2.
This means that Byakuya had been exempt from the all or nothing reputation of the other antagonists, most people just made memes of him and then moved on.
Hyejung herself had never thought much of Byakuya, he wasn't her favorite rival, nor did she actually hate him, she just liked making edits to his sprite to make his legs outrageously long.
And still. .
Here she—or, well, he—was, now in danganronpa, wearing the face of the snobby rich character. This means——!
"UWAAAAAHHHHH!!! I'M GOING TO DIEEE!! SOMEONE IS GOING TO MURDER ME! UWAAAHHH!!!" He fell on his knees and cried. Byakuya's voice felt extremely strange to hear when he did that.
The killing game! He was going to have to get through a killing game of all things! He wasn't prepared, he was a mere twig that anyone could snap in half like a kitkat! Oh gods, he was going to die!
"I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO READ THE ENDING OF THAT NOVEL! I CAN'T DIE YET! NOOOO!!!"
He was doomed, he'll be a chapter 1 kill at this rate, he won't even last until chapter 5!
"UWAAAAAHHHHH——Wait." He suddenly stopped crying, as he remembered something.
"Kokichi died by chapter 5. . ." He put one finger up, it had been a pretty confusing chapter for her back then. "Nagito died by chapter 5 too. . ." He put another finger up, that death had totally caught her off guard, but why was that again? "And Byakuya. . ."
Suddenly, he gasped and stood up. "Wait! Byakuya didn't die at all!"
That's right! Byakuya was part of the 6 survivors of the first game, he even got to help Komaru break out in Super Despair Girls. He had nothing to fear!
"I'm not going to die after all!" He sighed in relief, suddenly feeling a lot less scared and more giddy. "And also. . ."
He could watch the events of Danganronpa happen in real time! If he were to be honest, he always liked the aspects of drama and inner conflict more than the actual mystery, so now that he could just sit by and watch the show live with a front row seat, he was ecstatic!
"Popcorn! I gotta have popcorn for this! Man, it'll be a blast!" His eyes shone with awe as he scrambled to get popcorn, no show was complete without popcorn after all.
■■■■■■■
After a few minutes and many failed attempts at popping corn, he finally arrived at the fabled hallway where everyone would meet up, still being the only one there. "Huh, guess I did wake up earlier than originally intended." He leaned against a wall, hugging his popcorn bowl closer to his chest.
"Though, I do wonder how things will go, what sort of attitude should I take?" He pondered a bit, it's not like he could act exactly like the original Byakuya.
Still, it's not like Togami was the most likable guy.
"But. . .actually, when I think about it. . ."
He had a point.
While Byakuya was definitely very rude, he had some pretty good points. His whole ordeal was that the whole situation was a game that only one person could win, that playing nice was futile, no one there really knew each other and that everyone would try to kill each other eventually.
"It all sounds very rude and stuck up," He munched on his popcorn. "But he was right."
The killing game doesn't lend itself with teamwork, it's almost like the hunger games in that aspect, making teams only makes you more vulnerable towards betrayal, see: Sayaka.
His way of looking at things was brutal, but it makes sense if you count how he was stuck playing a death game with a bunch of people he doesn't know. There's no discernable reason to play nice, anyone could stab you in the back if they wanted to.
"Most of the reason as to why protagonists win by the power of friendship in these games is because it's just a game where they're scripted to win, I'd imagine that in real life, characters like Makoto would be killed off first." If Makoto were in the squid games, he'd likely get bodied 2 games in.
Hyejung hadn't been the most bitter person throughout her life, but even she had known that Byakuya had a point back when she played the game.
Still, just outright telling people his real intentions. . .
"That's the dumbest thing he's ever done, there's no way I'll do that!" He nodded to himself, eating more popcorn. "I'll just be playful and watch things from the sidelines, if i have to step on other people then I'll do it just like Sayaka!"
After all, Sayaka almost succeeded, her only flaw was going after a guy that was decently stronger than her.
Just as he was about to wonder if Sayaka could have ever realistically gotten Chihiro to accept her invite, the doors to the gym slammed open as a few students walked inside.
Ah, it's the 'model students'.
The type of students that always arrive early, yes those were mentioned already in the game when it came to their breakfast meetings, but to think that it also applied to this. . .
First, comes in Kyotaka Ishimaru the Ultimate Moral Compass, he of course comes in shouting with a disproportionate amount of enthusiasm. "Ah, I see you arrived earlier than everyone else, that's very impressive!" He grinned towards the current reincarnator, congratulating his fellow student in their diligence towards their education.
The blonde, still munching on his popcorn, simply smiled. "Well, I am very dedicated towards my education! Some say that I'm a teacher all on my own!" That's because he actually is (or was) a teacher, but still, Taka wouldn't know that.
Taka, of course,is delighted to learn this. "That's wonderful, it's always nice to be dedicated to learning new things and surpassing your limits! Keep on aiming high my friend!" He gave a thumbs up, before seeming to notice the crunch of Byakuya's constant popcorn snacking. "Though, is it really appropriate to be eating in a school environment?"
The blonde chuckled, it reminded him of when Hyejung would eat chips while still teaching her class, lots of her top students would more or less ask the same question.
'Wonder if he'll swallow down the same excuse I used to give those students too. . .'
"Why, it's totally appropriate, after all, food helps your brain work better!" The blonde pointed towards his head, as if to prove a point. "Empty stomachs facilitate for empty heads, if you don't eat well enough you'll never be able to think clearly, and then how will you ever learn anything?"
Taka's eyes lit up, as if he was suddenly given immense amounts of ancient knowledge by an actual teacher. "Oh! I see, that is a wonderful idea! As long as you take good care of your body, your mind will be in a good enough shape to improve as well!"
"Mhmm," He nodded, humming over his moutful if popcorn. "This is the true ancient learning technique, only experienced teachers could ever tell you all about it!"
"Well, thank you for teaching me!" Taka bowed at a perfect 90 degree angle, before finally extending his hand and introducing himself. "I am Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Ultimate Moral Compass, it's a pleasure to meet you!"
Byakuya took the handshake and smiled casually. "Togami Byakuya, you can just call me Byakuya though." He let go of Taka's hand and ate a bit more popcorn, leaning to look a bit over Taka to see the other students. "And who are you guys?"
Of course, he already knew who those people were. Sayaka, Kyoko, Chihiro and Aoi. All model students, though currently Byakuya had somehow beaten them to the punch.
Aoi was the first to spring up, as expected. "I'm Asahina Aoi, the Ultimate Swimming Pro! Your name was Togami Byakuya, right?" The tan girl smiled brightly, generally bringing in a whole lot of energy.
Oh, here it is. "Mhm, that was it." He grinned unconsciously, he was truly very happy to be interacting with characters from his favorite game.
She nodded. "Ok, Togami Byakuya. . .Togami Byakuya. . ." She kept repeating his name while tracing invisible lines over her hand with her finger.
He chuckled. "Ah, you're doing that trick to remember my name right?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Yep! They say that if you pretend to write the name eight times, you'll definitely never forget it!" She then hummed. "Hey, how did you know that I was doing that?"
Taka blinked in curiosity as well. "That is most curious, I've never heard of that before myself!" He then looked at Byakuya as well, probably wanting to know the answer just as much as Aoi.
He laughed a bit before pulling up his glasses, giving them an ominous shine. "Why, that is. . ."
He suddenly then deadpanned. "I'm psychic."
The mutual response of confusion, shock and a little bit of wonder came from the two as a collective, and the blonde didn't miss the surprised side glance he got from a certain pop idol either.
"Heh, just kidding!" He winked and stuck out his tongue. "I just have very good intuition is all!"
That drew a good natured chuckle out of the two other students, just in time for a certain blue haired idol to approach the trio.
Byakuya looked at the idol with an easy going smile, and she returned it a bit brighter. "Hello, I'm Maizono Sayaka, The Ultimate Idol, it's nice to meet you!" Byakuya felt a bit uncanny when talking to her, mostly because he knew what she would do and where it would lead her, but he didn't let it show on his face, just chewing away as he talked to her.
"Togami Byakuya, nice to meet you, miss idol." He grinned, it came across a bit lazy.
"Wait! You're the idol, Maizono Sayaka?!" Aoi asked excitedly, and Taka himself just eyed Sayaka with admiration.
This launched them into a lively conversation, prompting Byakuya to move on and introduce himself to the last two model students.
"Sooo. . . what are your names?" The blonde asked, extending his bowl of popcorn to offer a bit of it to the two other students.
"Fujisaki Chihiro, The Ultimate Programmer. . ." Chihiro said quietly, taking a bit of popcorn from the bowl. "Thank you, Togami-san."
"Heh, don't worry about it." Byakuya said, internally freaking out over how cute Chihiro is, as he ruffled the programmer's hair. "And you?" The blonde asked Kyoko, offering up his bowl of popcorn to her as well.
"Kirigiri Kyoko, thank you, but no." She spoke monotone and distinctly didn't mention her talent, which Chihiro tilted his head at.
Byakuya himself though? He just shrugged.
"Alright, your loss." He said going back to munching on his popcorn.
He already knew why she didn't say what her talent was, she didn't even remember her talent, but it's not like she'll just tell him that willy-nilly, so it'd be best to let it go.
Slowly, more students trickled in, and Byakuya kept on introducing himself, just overall being less rude and more friendly, maybe a bit nonchalant.
"Oowada Mondo, The Ultimate Biker Gang Leader!" Byakuya just nodded and complimented Mondo on his hairdo.
"Yamada Hifumi, Ultimate Fanfic Creator!" Byakuya grinned and made an anime reference, immediately getting Hifumi to brighten up to the blonde.
"Kuwata Leon, Ultimate Baseball Prodigy." Byakuya patted him on the shoulder and told him to be careful as to not let himself get swayed by any girl who talks to him.
"Celestia Ludenberg, The Ultimate Gambler." Byakuya hummed, offering up to drink tea with her later.
"Oogami Sakura, Ultimate Martial Artist." Byakuya bit back the faint urge to cry and simply offered her some popcorn.
"Hagakure Yasuhiro, Ultimate Clairvoyant!" To which Byakuya bit back a laugh this time and simply promised to one day pay Hiro to read his fortune.
Fukawa Toko, The Ultimate Writer didn't come introduce herself, and Byakuya didn't particularly want to make Toko explode by just approaching her straight up. Though. . . He is curious about her romance books.
Finally, Ikusaba Mukuro, The Ultimate Soldier came up to him and just straight up lied, as always
"Enoshima Junko, Ultimate Fashionista!" She grinned and the differences between Mukuro and Junko were extra obvious to Byakuya, it was no contest.
But even so, he just smiled and told her that he liked her nails. Everything will unfold in due time, there's no need to call her out on it right now.
With only one more introduction to go, he went off to wait for the best boy's arrival.
And arrive he did.
Opening up the doors to the hallway and just sort of stumbling in, Byakuya got a front row seat to Makoto's first ever interaction with his class in the game.
One of the students spoke up. "Woah! Another new kid?"
"Another? Then you guys are. . . ?" Makoto asked, looking rather awkward. It made Byakuya grin a bit, he really grew a lot as the game went on.
"Yes. . .We're all new here. Today was supposed to be our first day of class." A softer, more feminine voice answered Makoto's silent question.
A nasally voice spoke up. "So counting him, that's fifteen. Seems like a good cut off point, but I wonder if this is everyone. . ."
'Nope, you guys will have to wait for that.' Byakuya thought, but didn't actually say out loud.
"Um. . .how's it going? My name is Naegi Makoto." Makoto stated nervously.
'. . .cute.'
Byakuya had always been biased towards Makoto, but something is telling him that he'll be an outright simp by the end of this particular playthrough.
"Sorry about being late. A bunch of stuff just happened, and then all of sudden I was just. . . Asleep."
Some of them looked surprised at this. "Whoa, you too?" One of them asked in surprise, his reaction causing Makoto to recoil in shock.
"This is getting curiouser and curiouser. . ." Celeste mused.
"This is strange. . .beyond any doubt, I declare that this is a strange situation indeed!" Hifumi had, in fact, declared, looking nervous.
Makoto looked at everyone in confusion. "What are you guys talking about?" Makoto asked. "I don't have any idea what's going on right now."
Before anyone could answer, Taka spoke up. "Just a moment! There's something I need to address!" He pointed his finger at Makoto. "Makoto, your tardiness is unacceptable! I'm sure you were told to come to the meeting at 8 a.m. sharp!"
"To be late for your first day is unspeakable! I must report you, and you must accept your due punishment!" Taka declared. This just made Makoto even more confused.
Before Makoto could say anything to that, "Junko" (AKA: Mukuro) spoke to Taka. "What's your problem? It's not like he wanted to be late. He had no control over it."
Byakuya wanted to giggle, Mukuro really wasn't all that subtle, looking back on it. The real Junko would've likely never jumped to defend Makoto, but Mukuro would, as she does have a crush on the brunette.
"Everyone calm down!" Aoi stated, looking upbeat. "Listen, how about we all introduce ourselves to each other?"
Mondo scrunched up his face, it looked rather ugly, even for Byakuya, who actually liked the delinquent. "The hell?! This isn't the time for freakin' introductions!"
"Maybe, but it may be best to find out who we all are before going to the bigger problem." Celeste retorted in a polite tone. "Otherwise, how can we talk to each other if we don't even know each other's name?"
It suddenly hit Byakuya, he had kicked off some introductions a bit too early, even if luckily enough, some still needed to be arranged. It kinda made him shiver, he should really be more careful with what he ends up changing, lest he accidentally ruin any of his favorite scenes!
"Okay, so let's get the introductions out of the way, then we can move on to whatever else. Sounds good?" Sayaka said, and Byakuya vowed to himself to not change too much, just enough so he gets a front row seat to the juiciest events.
The introductions happened around him as he peacefully chewed on his popcorn, he had tried to not finish the bowl too early, he still had to watch for the arrival of the 16th student, after all.
Surely enough, Byakuya's favorite character approached him to introduce himself, Makoto, his sunshine boy.
So of course, Byakuya smiled softly and introduced himself with gusto. "I'm Togami Byakuya, but you can just call Byakuya if you want!" He then extended his bowl of popcorn to Makoto. "Want some popcorn?"
Makoto looked a bit surprised by the friendliness, it only occurred to the blonde now that some sites probably spoke about Togami's past attitude. . .welp, too bad, it'd be a pain to act like the real Togami anyways.
Makoto still smiled back and took a bit of popcorn, it wasn't a lot though, the brunette was too polite to grab a real handful, Byakuya briefly wondered if he could get away with hugging Makoto this early on in the story.
"Thank you, uhhh. . ." Makoto thanked him, but still hesitated to use Byakuya's first name. "Byakuya-san?" He completed like it was a question, and the blonde before him just nodded while giggling.
"Yeah, sure, that works." Byakuya said, feeling a bit lighter, interacting with Makoto is truly an experience. No wonder that so many girls like the short brunette, he's adorable!
Makoto chuckled. "Sorry, I was just surprised at how casual you are, especially since we just met!" Makoto then put up his hands and added a bit more nervous. "Ah, not that there's anything wrong with that!"
"Hehe, it's fine!" Byakuya grinned, Makoto was too cute, maybe he'd tease him in the future. "I just like making peeps feel comfortable, and what is a better way to do that than to just shed all formality altogether?"
It's true, Hyejung was famously informal back in school, to the point where some teachers hated her for it, but she did make friends rather fast.
"Besides. . ." Byakuya smiled a bit more genuinely at Makoto. "You seem really nice, so I guess I wanted to give you more leeway."
Makoto blushed a little, and nodded shyly. "I appreciate that. . .thank you very much."
Awwww, he wasn't at all used to people being so nice to him, huh? Precious, Byakuya had only talked to Makoto for five minutes, but if anything happened to him, he'd kill everyone in this school and then himself.
The flustered Makoto moved on to introduce himself to others and Byakuya just stood back, eating popcorn and bathing in the lingering atmosphere of a conversation with his sunshine boy.
Byakuya vaguely remembered that Togami had been the one to kick off everyone talking about how weird the situation they're currently in is, so when he noticed that everyone had finished their introductions, he spoke up a bit louder.
"Soooo. . .is it already time to talk about the big pink elephant in the room? Cause I'd love to talk about the big pink elephant in the room." Byakuya said, referring to the whole 'woke up in this place out of nowhere situation'.
"Oh, that's right." Makoto then directed his next question to everyone. "I think someone said something about a bigger problem or something? What was that about?"
"Well, you see," Sayaka began the explanation. "Makoto, you said a bunch of stuff happened and then you were 'just asleep, right? Well. . . The same is true for all of us."
Makoto's eyes widened in shock. "What? Seriously?!"
"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?" Leon continued.
"B-But that's just. . . Weird! That every one of us would get knocked out like that." Makoto cried, feeling a mixture of shock and confusion.
'Oh you sweet summer child,' Byakuya thought to himself, resolutely resigned to the insanity that is Danganronpa. 'You have seen nothing yet.'
"Exactly!" Mondo yelled out. "That's why we're all freakin' out!"
"And that's not the only thing." Taka spoke up. "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?!"
"Junko" then spoke. "Plus, all my stuff is missing! Even my cell phone."
"Yeah, you're right." Chihiro said. "I haven't seen my PDA anywhere, either."
"Can confirm." Byakuya himself nodded, looking overly solemn. "I have yet to find my Tamagotchi, at this rate he might just starve to death, the poor thing. . ."
This earned a few odd looks, but Byakuya, frankly, regretted nothing.
"And then there's the main hall here." Taka stated nervously. "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?!"
"Maybe we got caught up in some kinda, like, you know. . . Some kind of crime or something?" "Junko" suggested nervously.
"What, like. . . Kidnapping?" Leon questioned, just as nervous. "You think maybe someone grabbed us and hauled us off and we're not actually in school?"
"Come on, don't think like that. Cheer up!" Hiro stated. "I bet this is all just part of the school's orientation procedure." Hiro then started to sound more confident. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it! So I'm just gonna take it easy for a little bit."
"Oh," Chihiro said with a bit of relief. "So you think they wanted to do something to surprise us?"
"Huh. Well if that's all it is, it's nap time for me." Leon said, relaxing. "I was up way too late last night, so I could use a little shuteye."
The monitor in the room suddenly turned on, revealing static. But soon, something through that static formed. A silhouette. "Ahem! Ahem, testing! Mic check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system!" The image spoke up. "Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then. . . !"
"Ahh, to all incoming students!" The image continued. "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!" With that, the broadcast ended.
'Ah, shit, here we go again.'
First, there was silence after that broadcast. Then "Junko" spoke up, sounding scared and creeped out. "What. The. Hell was that just now?"
No one answered her question. Instead Byakuya just shrugged. "Welp, time to walk straight into death, I guess." As he made his way to the gym. Secretly, he's eager to see the game get started, and to watch the 16th student in action.
Still, "Junko" didn't know that. "H-Hey!" "Junko" called out in shock. "What, you're gonna take off just like that?"
Still, he didn't give her a glance, waltzing into the gym like he owns the place, watching as his classmates one-by-one also came in.
'Oh man, this will be so good!' Byakuya thought, clutching his bowl of popcorn harder.
When Makoto came in, Byakuya could see the boy's wide green eyes as he took in the place, it looked just like a normal entrance ceremony, but Byakuya knew that it was anything but.
"Oh. It really does look like an entrance ceremony . . ." Makoto said in surprise.
"See? Told ya!" Hiro boasted. "It's a totally normal entrance ceremony."
Then a cheerful voice broke through. "Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Good! Then let's get things rolling!" As soon as that statement was finished, Byakuya had to fight himself as to not cheer.
A tiny bear hopped on in front of the podium, and everyone but the blonde looked on with confusion.
(Technically speaking, only the blondes know what was going on at the moment. Huh, how funny.)
Chihiro was the first to speak. "Huh? A . . . Teddy bear?"
To the group's surprise, the bear spoke back. "I'm not a teddy bear!" It told them. "I. . . Am. . . Monokuma! And I'm this school's headmaster! Nice to meet you all!"
'Finally, the 16th student, the real Junko Enoshima has arrived.'
Byakuya was ecstatic to see Junko once more, he can't believe that such an important person was involved, it's almost like fate. He couldn't even wait to start messing around.
"Wh——? Waaaaaah! That teddy bear can talk!" Hifumi cried out in shock.
"Calm down." Taka said, though, he's clearly just as surprised. "I'm sure there's just a speaker inside it."
The bear, Monokuma or Junko, depending on who you ask, spoke up angrily. "I told you already, I'm not a teddy bear!" He then jumped off the desk and stared directly at them. "I'm Monokuma! And I'm your headmaster!"
"Waaaaah! It moved!" Hifumi cried out in terror.
'Oh man, if only the fact that he moves was the scariest thing about him.' Byakuya thought, munching away in interest.
"Seriously man, calm down!" Mondo exclaimed. "It's probably just a remote control toy or somethin'."
That depressed Monokuma, making the bear slump slightly. "How dare you compare me to a child's plaything! You've cut me deep. Deeper than Mariana's Trench." He quickly got out of his depression. "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 said.
"'Bear' that? Really?" Celestia questioned. "You are. . . Unfortunate."
"Now then, moving on! We really must hurry and get started." Monokuma continued, not making any more bear puns.
"Junko" commented on that. "Giving up already? No other stupid bear puns?" She questioned, which in hindsight, is probably scripted.
"Quiet down now, quiet down." The bear said, ignoring "Junko", which in hindsight, is likely foreshadowing. "Ah, okay so. . . !"
"He has abandoned the gag." Sakura deadpanned.
"To be fair, it wasn't that good of a gag anyways. . ." Byakuya added, having some serious war flashbacks to later on Monokuma shenanigans. "Ah, actually, nevermind, he doesn't care about whether his gags are good or not."
'That poor fish. . .'
"Everyone, stand at attention and bow! And. . . Good morning!" Monokuma stated.
Doing exactly as Monokuma said, Taka responded back. "Good morning!"
"Y-You don't have to s-say it back. . ." Toko told Taka in annoyance and mild disgust.
"Now then," Monokuma spoke up once again. "Let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony! First, let's talk a bit about what your school here will be like."
"Now, ah, make no mistake—you few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world." Monokuma began explaining. "And to protect such splendid hope. . ."
Wait for it.
That's when he dropped the bomb. "You will all live a communal life together solely within the confines of this school. Everyone will be in harmony here, and adhere to the rules and regulations of the school!"
Waaaaait fooor it.
"Ah, now then. . . Regarding the end date for this communal life. . ."
Aaaaaand. . .
"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."
There it is.
"Wh-What did he just say? Until the day we d-die?" Toko stuttered out in shock.
"Oh, but fear not!" Monokuma continued. "We have quite an abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences."
"That's the least of our worries right now!" Sayaka squawked.
Byakuya then held one hand up, his class clown instincts from his past life suddenly kicking in. "Wait, wait. I want to hear about our budget." He said, completely deadpan.
Truly, his acting skills are unrivaled.
"Oohh! You wanna know about your school's expenses? How very curious." Monokuma laughed, Byakuya can practically picture the real Junko reacting similarly. "Eh, I'll tell you later, are you free this Tuesday?"
"Yeah, that works." Byakuya replied, face completely straight, earning a few scandalized sputters from his classmates.
"Well then, that's fine. Now then. . ." He spoke again. "As i was saying, since our budget is extensive, living here forever will be just fine——"
"What the hell?" "Junko" cut him off angrily. "You're saying I have to live here forever? You're screwing with us, right?"
"No, I am not screwing with you!" Monokuma denied. "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!"
"Cut off?" Makoto repeated. He then seemingly remembered the metal plates on the windows. "So all those metal plates all over the school are there to keep us trapped in here?"
Monokuma nodded. "That's exactly what they're there for." He confirmed. "No matter how much you may yell and scream for help. . . Help will never come. So with all that in mind, feel free to live out your life here with reckless abandon!"
"Come on, what the hell is this?" Leon questioned, his face pale. "I don't care if the school or whoever else is behind it all, this is just a really bad joke."
"Yeah! Cut this shit out!" Mondo growled. "It isn't funny anymore!"
'Ah, those guys still think it's a joke? Oh dear. . .' Byakuya giggled softly under his breath, munching on his popcorn as things started heating up.
"You keep saying this is a lie, or a joke. A bunch of skeptics, all of you." Monokuma said in slight annoyance. "But I guess it can't be helped, 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." Monokuma continued, to the trepidation of all the students. "And when that time comes, you'll see with your own eyeballs that I speak the undeniable truth."
"Having to live here forever would be. . . Quite the problem." Celestia stated, looking down.
"Come now. What's the matter with all of you?" Monokuma yelled a bit, generally miffed. "You all 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. . ." Monokuma drawled on. "I guess I forgot to mention one thing. There is one way for you to leave the school."
The bear then made a 'check me out' pose. "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." Monokuma explained with a touch of showman-esque energy. "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!"
Byakuya then held up his hand, doing little jumps and calling out like a particularly annoying teacher's pet. "Teach! Hey! I've got a question!"
Monokuma snickered and pointed at Byakuya. "Yes, Togami?" He asked.
Byakuya adjusted his glasses, as they went askew as he was jumping, and then asked a question he already knew the answer to (he'd been doing that a lot lately). "What could we do to disrupt the peace and trigger the Graduation Clause? I'm. . . Uh, asking for a friend."
"You're way too suspicious, man!" Leon yelled, being promptly ignored by the blonde, as no first chapter killers deserve respect (it's commonplace Danganronpa law).
"Great question, my dear student!" The bear then covered its mouth, letting out evil giggles. "Well, you know," He then dropped the biggest and final bomb. "If one person were to murder one another."
"M-Murder!?" Makoto cried out in shock and horror.
"Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, how you do it doesn't matter" Monokuma listed off. "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 giggled once again. "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!" He yelled the last part out.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Leon exclaimed. "To kill each other is. . . It's. . . !"
"To kill each other is to kill each other!" Monokuma stated simply. "I'm sure there's a dictionary here somewhere if you need it."
Of course, local self assigned clown, Byakuya Togami, immediately jumped on that. "Oh yeah, just read the definition to us if you'd lik——"
"Just shut up already!" Mondo interrupted Byakuya, and the blonde snickered.
'Good old Mondo.' He thought. 'Let's see how long he lasts.' He added, already knowing damn well that Mondo only lasts till chapter 2.
"We know what it means, that's not the problem!" Hina retorted back at the bear, either not hearing or ignoring the other two. "Why do we have to kill each other?!"
"Yeah!" Hifumi shouted in agreement. "Stop blabbering on with all this nonsense! Just let us go home already!"
The bear was silent for a moment. But then it spoke. ". . .Blabbering?" He repeated, tone suddenly blank, gone was the joyous attitude the bear once held, now it was clear, the bear had been tipped off.
'Ohhh boy, you got him started.'
"Blabbering, blabbering, what do you mean by blabbering?! Stop blabbering on about blabbering on!" Monokuma stated angrily.
"You guys just don't get it, do you?" Monokuma rhetorically asked. "'Let us go, let us go!' You keep on saying the same thing over and over and over and over! Let me say this to you clearly. From this moment on, this school is your home, your life, your world. Got it?"
"And you can kill as much as you want to kill!" The bear said more eagerly. "So go ahead, go on a kill-kill-killing spree!"
Several looked disturbed at what the bear was saying. Some like Chihiro are close to tears. Byakuya was just looking down in disappointment, as he had just run out of popcorn.
'Man. . . I should've made two bowls. . .'
Oh yeah, and I guess Hiro is here too. "Alright, come on. . . How long are you gonna keep this up?" Hiro asked Monokuma.
"Eh?" Was the response from the bear.
"You got us, okay? You scared the hell out of us." Hiro said to me, "So you can go ahead and reveal the trick now."
"Reveal the trick?" Monokuma repeated in confusion.
"Yeah, cuz I mean. . . Y'know, this is all some kinda trick and all, right?" Hiro questioned. "So uh, like. . ."
Several sighed at that. They couldn't stand more of Hiro's stupidity. Mondo himself was close to knocking out the idiot. Byakuya was just finding it all hilarious.
"Dude, shut the hell up and move out the way." Mondo stated in annoyance. He shoved Hiro away and marched towards Monokuma, standing in front of the bear. When he spoke, his voice began to shake like thunder. "Listen up, asshole! This shit's gone too far! What the hell kinda joke IS this?!"
"Joke? What, you mean like your hair?" Monokuma casually insulted the biker.
Byakuya choked.
That set Mondo off, he yelled and grabbed Monokuma, looking particularly murderous.
"Gotcha, you little piece of shit!" Mondo stated angrily. "I dunno if you're a toy or a stuffed animal or whatever the hell! Either way, I'm gonna rip you to fuckin shreds!"
"Waah!" Monokuma yelped in surprise, flailing his little arms. "Violence against the headmaster is in violation of the school regulations!"
"Shut the fuck up!" Mondo shouted back. "Let me outta here, or I swear to Christ. . ."
Monokuma then went limp, suddenly starting to beep. "What, no smartass comeback this time?!" Mondo grinned. The beeping continued, going faster, annoying and angering Mondo further. "Stop that goddamn beeping and SAY SOMETHING!"
The beeping only got faster.
'Uh oh. . .' Byakuya thought. 'This place is about to blow the fuck up.'
Kyoko's eyes widened in realization. "Watch out! Get rid of it!"
"Huh. . .?" Was Mondo's very eloquent response as the beeping increased in speed.
"Hurry up and throw it!"
Stunned by the fierceness in her words, Mondo silently did as he was told and threw it. And as soon as he did. . .
BOOM!!
Monokuma exploded. Hot damn.
Everyone's eyes widened in shock. "The hell?!" Mondo exclaimed in shock. "Th-That sure as shit wasn't a joke. It blew the hell up!"
"But you know," Chihiro spoke up. "This means that the teddy bear's been destroyed, right?"
That hope was soon knocked down when they heard a very familiar voice. "I told you, I'm not a teddy bear! I'm Monokuma!"
And soon enough, another Monokuma bear appeared.
Leon immediately turned pale. "Uwah! There's another one?"
"You son of a bitch!" Mondo growled, looking very blue right now. "You seriously tried to kill me just now!"
"Well, yes. I was serious about trying to kill you." Monokuma stated, his red eyes glowing angrily and his claws out. "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." Monokuma warned him. "Any naughty boy or girl who violates my rules won't get off with just a little swat on the butt."
"H-Hey," "Junko" spoke up hesitantly. "So does this mean there's like, a bunch more of you around somewhere?"
"Monokumas have been placed all throughout the school, yes." The bear confirmed. "Plus, don't forget about the surveillance cameras installed everywhere."
"And if you're caught breaking any rules, well," Monokuma continued explaining. "You all just saw what happened, right?" He giggled evilly once more. "And I won't be so forgiving with my punishment next time. So don't let it happen again!"
"Th-That's not even punishment. That's just. . . Wrong. . ." Hina stated, looking very disturbed.
"Murder, the word you're looking for here is murder, actually." Byakuya added in.
"Now then, lastly," Monokuma changed the subject. "To commemorate your joyous entry into our school, I have a little something for you." He then brought up a stack of electronic handbooks from under the desk, and held one up. "This is our official student handbook! Pretty cool, huh?"
"As you can see, it's fully digital." Monokuma explained. "So naturally, we call it the e-Handbook!"
His statement was met with silence. "Ahem. Yes, well, moving on," Monokuma said awkwardly. "This handbook is absolutely vital to a healthy school life, so don't lose it!
As he spoke, he started passing the handbooks to the students. "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." Monokuma continued, after finishing passing out the handbooks."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!" Monokuma told them. "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!" Monokuma stated loudly. "Please enjoy your abundantly dreary school life! And, see ya!" With that, he disappeared, leaving the group of Ultimates into a state of shock.
'Oh man, this will be wild. . .' Byakuya pondered, his slack jaw expression being easy to just chalk up to the horrifying news, instead of the truth, that he is still reeling at how he's really in Danganronpa.
At first, everyone was silent. Then, Taka spoke. "So guys," He began hesitantly. "How would you define what we just experienced?"
"How. . .? Why. . .?" Leon slowly spoke up. "I don't understand any of this. . ."
"We have to l-live here forever? Or. . . K-Kill?" Toko questioned, quickly panicking. "Wh-What. . .? What just happened?!"
"Everyone, we need to calm down." Kyoko stated calmly, but firmly. "First, let's just take a second to summarize everything we have just heard."
"Yep, always the summarizing, I almost forgot about it. . ." Byakuya mumbled lowly to himself, they did this a lot in the games, it sometimes would make him feel dumb.
"Based on what Monokuma said, we essentially have two choices." She started. "Choice number one is that we stay here, living a 'communal life' together until the day we die. And the other choice is——"
Celeste then spoke up and continued for Kyoko. "If we want to get out of here alive, we have to kill someone. Right?"
"But. . . Killing someone," Chihiro struggled to get out, close to tears. "That's. . ."
"Bad, very bad, also illegal—well, in most places, anyway." Byakuya completed.
"We were abducted out of nowhere and stuffed into this place meant to look like a school." Hifumi stated fearfully. "And now we're supposed to start killing each other? This is," He then began to freak out. "This is. . . This is just. . .! What is this?!"
"A lie, is what it is." Taka said in denial. "All these ridiculous things we've heard, this has to be all fake!"
Byakuya hummed, it was kinda tiring to always watch the cast go through their little denial phase. So he decided to push things along. "Well, fake or not, I've still gotta ask. . ." He looked at everyone else with a good natured smile. "Is anyone really considering this? Honestly? Like, at all?"
No one answered him, keeping quiet and just looking around in suspicion.
Byakuya eagerly turned to look at Makoto. Oh man! Right now he's probably having his epic inner monologue, right?
'And that's when it hit me. . .' Byakuya dramatically recited Makoto's in-game speech in his head, though his inner voice sounded a lot more like a noir detective then a tiny luckester. 'I realized 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. . .' Byakuya continued, fighting off the urge to do an appropriate chuuni pose.
'Damn, just when are these kids gonna kill each other already?! Ah, wait, no, that's the usual inner monologue of the player, not our dear protagonist Makoto, whoops!'
"Alright alright! Just relax," Byakuya raised his arms to placate his jumpy classmates, taking a couple of steps back. "We're all still sane right? I hope. . ." Hah, hope.
That broke all of the tension. "R-Right. . .he's right!" Taka stated. "Sometimes, even if you're nervous or afraid, you just have to step forward! To forget such a simple fact. . .I can't forgive myself. I'm so ashamed! Please, someone hit me! I can't forgive myself! Somebody hit me! Punish me!"
Mondo scrunched up his face in annoyance, and Byakuya chuckled. "Kinky." Which earned another look of disgust from the delinquent.
"Jesus." Mondo groaned. "If you have time to yell about it, you have time to DO something about it."
"Perhaps," Hifumi spoke up. "But, what is the mission, exactly?"
Leon slapped his forehead. "Idiot!" The baseball player exclaimed. "To look for a way out, duh!"
"And we totally need to find whoever was controlling that stupid bear and beat the hell out of 'em." "Junko" said in anger.
"B-But before we do all that, maybe we should take a look at the handbook." Chihiro suggested shyly. "It's probably best to check out the school regulations Monokuma mentioned before doing anything else."
"True." Celestia agreed. "If we stumble around with no clue to what the rules are, something like before might happen again."
Mondo looks away at that. "Shit."
"Fine." "Junko" sighed. "Then let's hurry up and check out the stupid rules already."
Everyone started turning on their e-Handbooks, Byakuya included, if only because he wants to see if he remembers them all right away. When he turned it on, the first thing that appeared was his name. He then selected the school regulation icon, which caused the first rule to appear.
'Rule number 1: Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.' Byakuya read to himself. 'Rule 2: Nighttime is from 10pm to 7am 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.' Byakuya kept on reading. '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.'
'Oh hey, I really did remember them all on the first try!' Byakuya smiled to himself, nice.
"This is bullshit!" Mondo raged. "What the hell kinda rules are these?! I'm not gonna let them control me!"
Before he could do anything, Celeste spoke. "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."
"But if he got punished like what we saw before, I don't think there'd be a respawn point waiting for him." Hifumi said nervously. Mondo went silent at that, losing his rage.
He stayed silent for a moment before speaking up. "I. . . Ever since I was a kid, I grew up with my older brother pounding this into my head. When a man makes a promise, he has to keep it, even if it kills him."
Byakuya winced at the mention of Mondo's brother, and that "even if it kills him" bit as well, man, talk about foreshadowing.
". . .So what?" Was the response from "Junko".
"I've made a ton of promises that I still have to keep, that's 'so what'!" Mondo exclaimed. "So I can't afford to die here!"
Celeste sighed. "None of that made much sense to me, but you're saying you will follow the regulations, is that it?"
"Huh?" Was Mondo's response. "Oh well, yeah, I guess you're right." With that, all the steam was taken away from Mondo.
Sayaka then spoke. "Hey, um. . . I have a question. For regulation number six. . .What do you think it means, exactly?"
Makoto seemed to know what she was talking about, that rule about the "blackened". "You're talking about the second half, right? Where it says 'unless they are discovered'? I was wondering about that myself."
"It's saying that if you want to graduate, you have to kill someone without anyone finding out it was you." Byakuya explained, trying to not seem like he knows the rules of the killing game like the back of his hand at this point.
"B-But why?" Toko asked. "Why do we h-have to do that?"
"Ehhh, it's probably nothing, i wouldn't worry about that if i were you," Byakuya said, but then just to be cheeky, added. "Well, that is unless you do want to murder someone to get out, which in that case then yeah. You probably should worry about it, at least a little bit." He smirked, teasingly, as he knew that Genocider Syo would love to murder him specifically.
Toko grew to be a bit flushed, always the masochist. "D-Don't jab at me."
"More like a full on stab." Leon countered.
Hah, stab.
"Anywho. . ." Byakuya said, feeling particularly helpful for the day. "Are we gonna explore the school or what? It won't do us any good to just stay here doing nothing, y'know?"
"True." Taka agreed. "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!"
"Damn straight!" Leon had pumped his fist, it's weird to see him being so. . . Lively, still, that's mostly due to hindsight.
Nevermind the slight psychological effects of effectively talking to people who are supposed to be dead, as of now, Byakuya is faced with a difficult choice. . .
'Ahhh, I like all these characters! I can't just choose one!'
He couldn't decide which of his classmates he was going to go explore the school with.
Whilst in the game Togami went off alone, Byakuya wasn't exactly planning on being so rude.
And so came an old problem, where Hyejung could not for the life of her decide which character to spend time with, only now it was exacerbated by the lack of screen between Byakuya and the others.
'Ok, ok, let's think about this, Byakuya, let's use the elimination method!' He thought to himself, looking over his classmates.
Makoto and Sayaka were a no-go, he wanted things to go just like how they did in the game, so he could watch! Also, he'd just hang out with his sunshine boy Makoto later, when he has snacks for them both to share.
Kyoko was already going to go alone, Toko would freak out because of her crush on Byakuya Togami, Mondo is fun to mess with but he's too volatile, Taka is cute but he's a bit airheaded to figuring things out, Sakura and Aoi need to become friends with each other, Celeste is too intimidating right now.
Hifumi and Yasuhiro are funny, but Byakuya isn't feeling like investigating with them, Leon is still a bit too uncomfy. . .
And "Junko" shouldn't even be an option, if she figures out that he knows that she's just Mukuro, Byakuya is as good as dead.
So that leaves. . .
Byakuya smiled and looked at Chihiro. "Fujisaki-san, can we go look around the school together? I think that would be better than doing it alone."
Chihiro stared blankly in return, before quickly snapping out of it. "Wuh?!" He replied. "Y. . . Yeah! That'd be ok!"
Byakuya answered with a grin. "Great! Let's get on it!"
Pulling Chihiro away to give optimal space for his favorite characters to interact and form the bonds that had originally made the game so fun, Byakuya and Chihiro ran off to see what's up with the school.
Of course, Byakuya already knows exactly what's going on with the school. But that's besides the point.