Chapter Text
Panic. Panic was all that echoed throughout the student's in Hope's Peak Academy as they all stood in the gym. All this time every ultimate student spent perfecting their craft, harnessing their talents, doing everything in their power to make it to this school. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't how they were supposed to end up. They were supposed to be getting accompanied with their classmates, chatting as the school day began, putting their things in their lockers. Anything normal high schoolers were supposed to do on the first day at their new school. They weren't supposed to be in this situation. Those words the headmaster, Monokuma, said earlier hung in the air like thick heavy fog clouding their thoughts.
"The Killing Game has now begun!"
The...what?
When the students heard those words after the headmaster's long speech, panic set into them all. No, not just panic, despair. This wasn't supposed to be happening. It was almost impossible to wrap their head around. Although Monokuma's speech was over, the students all still stood frozen in place. Finally, after a long and uncomfortable period of stillness, Yasuhiro Hagakure was the first to break the silence. "W-What?" He muttered. "What? W-What!? What!!?" He kept repeating, every word of his getting louder and louder by the second.
"Calm down," Byakuya Togami said, trying to sound strong but in reality being terrified.
"GAAAAAAAAAAH!!" Hiro shouted with his hands on his head.
"K-Killing game!?" Chihiro Fujisaki squeaked.
"This... This is all obviously some kind of sick joke, right?" Junko Enoshima said almost with a twinge of anger.
"O-Obviously it is!" Toko spat, biting her nails. "W-W-What else d-d'you think this is? It's obviously some k-kind of stupid prank! Can you t-think for yourself or is your n-n-nine inch waist cutting off the bloodf-flow to your brain!?"
"What!?"
"Makoto! What's happening-!?" Sayaka Maizono asked, trembling a bit and stepping closer to Makoto Naegi.
Kiyotaka Ishimaru stepped forward in front of all the students. He cleared his throat, but his voice was twinged with obvious fear. "L-Listen up everyone!" He ordered in an attempt at a strong voice, although his voice cracked. "Everyone calm down! Junko... J-Junko is probably right! This all might be some kind of prank! Let's all calm our nerves..."
Mondo Owada's face stiffened, if that was even possible already since his resting face already looked pissed off. He balled one of his hands to a fist. "Calm down!? CALM FUCKING DOWN!? Do you expect us to keep our damn cool in THIS SITUATION??"
Taka recoiled, seeming to almost take offensive to Mondo's outburst. Taka held his finger up at him, recollecting himself after being startled from Mondo's yelling. "Huh? You wanna question The Ultimate Moral Compass!? Well what do you suggest we do!? If anyone, I'm the most fit to be in a leader position here! You should listen to me!"
"You think a little toothpick like you that I could snap in half in a split second is fit to be a leader!?" Mondo shouted, moving closer to Taka with his fists somehow balled even tighter.
"Guys, quit fighting! We have bigger things to worry about here," Aoi Asahina said, stepping between the two. "Aoi's right," Sakura Ogami spoke up, her arms crossed. "We should focus on finding a way to get out of here."
"But didn't you all hear the speech?" Leon Kuwata commented. "They've got us stuck in this damn school with no way out! We're trapped here, hear me? Trapped, trapped, trapped!"
"You don't think we know that?" Byakuya said, his voice slick with contempt. "They're obviously bluffing. I am more than confident there's some kind of way out of here."
Leon huffed, annoyed at Byakuya's grandiosity. "Indeed," Celeste Ludenberg said, seeming almost too calm for this situation. "There's no way someone would do something like this. We best look for a way out."
"But... what if it's not a joke?" Hifumi Yamada asked. "Then-! Then we'll be trapped here forever! And I'll never go back to my save file on my favorite video game 'Cutesy Kitty Angel Demon Girl Dating Simulator☆'!! I can't stay here!"
"Is that seriously your main concern?" Celeste sighed.
"Everyone, please," Kyoko said, speaking up for the first time since they've all been there. "Until we have undeniable evidence that this is some kind of joke, we have to go on as if it isn't."
"What kind of sense does that make!?" Leon asked.
"Yeah!" Junko exclaimed. "This is all some stupid joke! Don't fucking try me, you overstuffed damn teddy bear-!" With that, she marched up to Monokuma, who was still standing on the gym stage and watching the panic spread throughout the students. She suddenly kicked Monokuma, making him fall to the floor. "Ow! H-Hey, what are you doing!?" the headmaster demanded as Junko propped her foot on him, keeping him down. "You're gonna tell us what the hell is going on here, dammit!"
All the students stared as Monokuma struggled under Junko's high heeled boots. "She's... really mad," Taka commented. "Yeah, no shit Sherlock!" Mondo said, shoving him and almost knocking him off of his balance. But suddenly, just as suddenly as Junko snapped on Monokuma, there was a noise. A loud, machine-like noise. It was followed immediately with what sounded like knives piercing something. A clean shing! noise. The noises seemed to register in the student's brains faster than the sight the noise came from. It was a horrid sight. There, in front of all the students at Hope's Peak Academy, stood Junko, now lifeless. Sharp spikes that seemed to have appeared from the ground impaled her body. Blood was splattered everywhere. Monokuma, who was now free from Junko, climbed back to stand up, panting. "Hah... L-let this be a lesson to all students! There will be no violence against the headmaster under any circumstances! Is that understoooooood?"
All everyone could do was just stand there in shock and horror. They just witnessed one of their own murdered. Brutally murdered. This wasn't a joke. There was a killing game, and every single one of them was participating whether they liked it or not.
"Wha- What the-!" Leon managed to get out, breaking the silence.
"There's, there's no way that just happened, right? There's no way!" Yasuhiro stammered.
"Did... Did she just!?" Aoi gasped.
"That's... just so awful!..." Chihiro whimpered, fighting tears.
Hiro shook his head, speaking again. "T-there's no way! It's fake! It's a show! A-A hologram! Witchcraft! Props! Pyrotechnics! Not real!!"
"Are you even aware of what pyrotechnics are...?" Kyoko muttered.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" Hiro shouted again.
"Shut it, doofus!" Mondo demanded. "C'mon! Let's just beat up the damn bear! Its 15... uh... 14 of us against one!"
"What about what Monokuma just said?" Sayaka mentioned. "After all, we just saw what happened to Junko..."
"Now, as I said," Monokuma declared. "The killing game has begun! Assembly dismissed! Now go, go! Get out of my sight! Puhuhu~"
"You really think we'll actually participate in your game?" Aoi shot back. "We're better than that! We won't just go around killing people for fun!"
Byakuya chuckled. "Unless..." He smirked.
"Wha-? What the heck do you mean 'unless'!?" Aoi questioned.
"H-hey!" Toko spoke up. "D-D-Don't talk to Byakuya that w-way!"
"This... this killing stuff is all real... isn't it Makoto...?" Sayaka asked,
Makoto shook his head, snapping out of his trance. He'd completely zoned out, his mind racing with thoughts after what he saw. What they all saw. "I- uhm... I guess so..." Was all he could say.
Sayaka sighed. "This... this is just horrible! How could someone force a bunch of teenagers to do something so sickening!" Then she paused. "You'll protect me, right Makoto?"
Makoto raised his eyebrows, not expecting such a favor to be asked of him. Nonetheless, he slowly nodded. "Yeah... I'll protect you."
Sakura then smiled, content with his answer.
"Grah! Didn't I tell you to all get out of my sight! You insufferable kids!" Monokuma shouted, motioning for them to leave.
"Fine, fine! We're leaving!" Aoi huffed.
"Wow, surprised goody two-shoes teacher's pet didn't force us to do that fucking sooner..." Mondo commented, rolling his eyes at Taka. Taka was still standing there, in shock from the sight. Still though, he grumbled and began to lead the class out of the gym. "O-of course I was about to! I was just... giving everyone a moment to collect themselves..." He responded. Mondo shouldered Taka on his way out the door. "That was sarcasm, dumbass."
"That wasn't exactly sarcasm, but alright..." Celeste mentioned on her way out as well.
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