Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

[Anonymous]: "It's just so...surreal. And genuinely? I don't know how to feel about this. Like, of course I'm looking forward to enrolling into High School, but here.....?"

The desk side lamp shines so dimly, focusing just on the desk, leaving the rest of the room plunged in darkness. On the desk, lays a single unopened envelope. The wax seal unbroken and the paper untorn. She picks it up, testing the texture of the paper used to craft it. It was like holding a well crafted important movie prop, like a Hogwarts Acceptance letter. But she knows this thing is the real deal, a real, authentic Hope's Peak Academy acceptance letter. Hesitantly, she stops admiring the envelope and the moment and rips it open, pulling out the letter itself before reading the contents of it laid before her.

MARCH 20, 2006

Dear Aisya Lucy Damia,

It is with pride that we invite you to join the 74th batch of Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Musician. Out of millions of students of different ethnicities, backgrounds, & nationalities, you have been selected for this opportunity due to your outstanding talent, accomplishments & feats.

This is not a coincidence, we genuinely chose you for all of the above and nothing more. Though we do hope you use this to your advantage & to experience what a semester is like in this school first-hand.

Should you accept this nomination, after a brief screening, you may choose to attend classes either on our main campus or virtually. Transportation & materials will be provided if you choose to stay on campus. You shall attend until graduation if you pass yearly exams, & obtain the title of High Collegiate Level Musician if you graduate.

Please contact our office if you are interested & we will provide further information.

Sincerely,

[REDACTED]

"Is this it? ....I don't remember the format to be so...disappointing." She shakes her head and sighs, before stretching slightly. Lucy is an ordinary school girl. Except for the fact she's home schooled, and has no friends, and spends most of her time working as a underpaid digital music composer for a certain company. Overall, this has been her life since the start of middle school. No complains.

"Hm, I'd definitely use this to my advantage!"  She sets the letter down and gets on her computer, already prepared to contact their office for further information, already eager to attend High School.

Silence. Darkness. It's as if...she's deep in a coma. No, an immobilizing state. Still conscious, just...paralyzed? You can hear everything, muffled sounds of people's conversations. Her body is being moved. Why can't she move? Now, a state close to death. Time to time where consciousness disappears and reappears, but... always missing something each time. Until.....

"Hey...Hello? Are you awake? Please get up..."

A voice could be heard just right above of Lucy. She sounded almost....concerned? worried? and, She? Yes, it was definitely a voice of a female's. Still, Lucy did not get up! She's extremely conscious now, she can feel the cold hard floor beneath her, and how she could sense the light turn slightly dimmer, as if the person the voice belongs to was looming over her. Lucy could feel her own breathing, and that's when she acknowledges the fact she's definitely not dead. And with that acknowledgement alone, it pushes her to open her eyes and sit up.

"Oh! Thank god you're alive."

The voice is still there, though Lucy chooses not to reply. Can you blame her? Lucy feels as if she had slept for a full year. Her eyes could not adjust to the light and her mouth was dryer than her nonchalant ex's messages. Slow to react, it took her a moment to react and turn to face the figure behind her now, still there and just watching her.

"AH! Sorry, I should've acknowledged you sooner!" Lucy gets up quickly. Surprisingly, she's physically fine and awake. Unlike her brain. The girl in front of her stares up at Lucy blankly, almost judging her.

"It's okay...! uhm, you've been out cold for...longer than me. But that's alright." The girl responded. She looked around Lucy's age, with pale white skin and gray rectangular-shaped glasses. Like Lucy, she too was in a school uniform. And now just acknowledging it, they seem to be at the back of a dark classroom.

"Wait, where are we exactly? A classroom? How...Why, Who, What, When, Where?"  Lucy stupidly asks. Too which, the other girl malfunctioned to.

"Grr...I don't know!...Well, aside we're in a dark classroom and that someone possibly changed our clothes to these school uniforms while we were asleep...." The girl whined in frustration, taking a seat in one of the desks. The idea of not knowing where they were, and especially who changed their clothes did horrors to Lucy's mind. She scanned the uniform clothing her, a dark blue button up shirt, a black skirt, and a red tie. Her uniform was almost similar to the other girls, especially the skirt and red tie. But what really caught Lucy's attention was the Logo on their shirts.

 [Low quality illustration of the logo, a promise for visual presentation shall be kept]

"H.P? Is this...are we at Hope's Peak Academy?"  Lucy questions, though mostly to herself.

"I-I guess so. This means, we're Ultimate students, right?" The girl asks. This is all starting to make sense now, or at least Lucy could hope so.

"Yes! That's definitely what this is. I'm... Aisya Lucy Damia, the Ultimate Musician. Though just call me Lucy."  She awkwardly introduces herself, with confidence. But it was mostly awkward. "And you're an Ultimate too, right?"

   

The other girl nodded, before hesitantly introducing herself as well "Correct. My name's Erina Reyhana, the Ultimate Poet." Surprisingly, less awkward than Lucy. Even though Erina's whole demeanor screamed awkward.

"Well, It's nice meeting you! And... is there anyway out? I'm still so confused as to how we ended up here." Lucy questioned. It's all so odd. There's so much that could've happened before the inevitable start of starting school at Hope's Peak Academy. Yet, she doesn't remember a thing. As if there are chunks missing from her memories and all there are are gaps.

"Hah...you think I know? I'm just as clueless as you" Erina sighed depressingly.

Suddenly, at the front of the class, the classroom door opened. Unfortunately, no figure entered. This confused the two deeply. But before they could brush it off nonchalantly as a ghost, a small creature waddled up to them.

"MIMOU!"

It meowed weirdly up at them. The girls peered down at the creature, which appeared to be a sad looking chubby cat creature. it's large nubby ears folded at the back of its head, as it's large pupils similar to that of a void stared into their souls. It's nothing like they've ever seen before. The little cat creature had white silky fur and an obnoxiously large and fluffy tail. It was roughly the size of a basketball, two basketballs if you count its tail. It also looked kickable, and microwavable too.

 [Illutration of the Mimou creature]

"Aw, what a.....cute kitten?"  Erina cooed, and then questioned skeptically apon further inspectation of the creature. Lucy sighed and shook her head. Just what was happening? Each moment made her more confused than the last. And now this unidentified mammal shows up?

"Cute? Sure. How does Hope's Peak Academy allow such a creature here...." The creature walked around in a small circle a few times, possibly nervous or anxious. Despite it's almost pathetic appearance, the creature looked like it has some sense of superior intelligence. It wobbled over to Erina and licked her shoe, trying to get her attention.To Erina's delight, she rubbed its belly and squished it's tail. The girls then proceeded to watch the mimou run around in more circles, aimlessly meowing mimou! mimou! Over again. 

"Rarr!" The sudden sound caught all three mammals off guard, especially the cat creature. Because a dog suddenly leaped out from the cupboard at the back of the class. It seemed interested in the creature, it's eyes fixated on it.

And before you know it, the dog started chasing the cat. Lucy and Erina could do nothing but watch.

[Weird dog chasing cat]

The cat was chased out of the classroom, followed by the dog creature. With that, Lucy and Erina followed along and ran out of the classroom. They chased the weird looking mammals passed several classroom, down a flight of stairs...and eventually, all of this has lead them to an open hall.

A large, grand open hall, with a wide stage in the front. Unlike the classroom and path they took that was drenched in darkness, the lights in the hall casted down quite brightly. Lucy and Erina stopped in their tracks, as the creatures they were chasing ran into the small crowd of students.

Stood before them, was a small crowd of students. Lucy felt great relief upon seeing so many students. Sure, Erina's appearance was most comforting to Lucy, but knowing she was actually with a group of students now washed away every ounce of fear and confusion from her. Well, maybe not confusion, but she felt more better anyways, more secure and safe.

[???]: " More students? Well, the more the merrier..."

[???]: "And...that's 16 of us now!"

[???]: "So? We still don't know why we're here. More people won't clear anything at all!"

It seems Lucy and Erina were late to the gathering. Lucy wanted to ask them what was up and if that was everybody, but they seemed just as confused and concerned as she was.

"Uhm.....just to verify, we're all Ultimate students, and there's 16 of us, right?" Lucy questions, hoping that someone would speak up and answer her. Obviously, the students did not neglect her questioning.

[???]: "It appears so. I was here first, and yah, everyone of us is an Ultimate."  A guy spoke up, answering her question. It appears that everyone has been here for a while and most likely got to know each other by now.

"Is that so? Does...does anyone know what's going on?" Lucy questions once more.

"Nope. Other than we're all in Hope's Peak Academy, i hope"  The guy responded. Truly, this could not get ANY more confusing.

But then, things TRULY did get more confusing. A sudden bellring of the intercom echoed through the hall, everyone paused what they were doing and tried soughing out the source of the bellring

Which was rather easy, because there was a large screen hanging from above the stage. All the students gathered around closer, eager to ease their confusion. But what was displayed on the screen only confused them further. Still, everyone remained silent and listened intently, what what this black and white stuffed bear on screen was saying.

"Puhuhuhu....Welcome students, to Hope's Peak Academy! I am the headmaster of this here's academy, so listen closely, kids!"

 [???]: "Erm, what the fuck is that?

[???]: "A stuffed bear is our headmaster? hahaha- Guys-, what's going on?!"

[???]: "Some prestigious school this is...."

"Silence!!!!! I can hear all of you veeery clearly, ya know? Please, show me some respect!"  The stuffed bear growls, his obnoxious voice loud and unBEARing. He sighs heavily before suddenly disappearing from the screen, only to reappear in front of everyone's eyes right on the stage.

"Now that I'm in the flesh, I can take in my students looks of dread and fear! and-"  The stuffed bear pauses, staring at everyone's stunned and confused expressions.

[???]: " Uhh...Headmaster...bear thing? just- what is this all about?"

A student manages to ask the stuffed bear, which was both considered brave and insane since they were speaking up to a stuffed animal

"Just what is this all about...? JUST WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT? Either you are all stupid, or my hired staff did not explain ANYTHING!"

The cat and dog creature ran up into view. Actually? there were a few of them. 7 dogs and 9 cats. They seemed to have lost interest in fighting and chasing around, they stare up at the stuffed bear, as if it was their master.

"GAAAHHH! You useless mammals! I shouldn't have let you in here! Now I got to do the explaining all by myself to my dreadfully confused students"

With that, we all went back to listening intently as the stuffed bear cleared his throat

"I am Monokuma, your headmaster! Thanks for nothing to the Mimous and Chou-Bs that explained everything, I'm sure you all know by now that...This is a killing game"

We all were taken a back by that. A.....killing game? Honestly, they all rather be confused than listen to this non sensual rubbish.

"That's right! A killing game. All 16 of you will be living the rest of your lives in this school. It's really that simple! But if you really want to get out of here and graduate, you better start plotting and killing!"

Monokuma started making stabbing motions with his hands, or nub hands, if you will.

"N-no way... we're all trapped here?" Erina questioned, fear and disbelief started dawning over everyone's faces as the realization hits.

[???]: "Nou! I'm sure this is all some joke, no-way, that we're all locked in here."

This guy says, he nonchalantly walks over to the entrance door of the school and opens the heavy doors with force, only to realize that the entire outside was blocked with SNOW, which all came tumbling onto him in a miniscule avalanche. Students rushed up to help him, Lucy was one of them, pulling the guy out of the snow pile that collapsed on him.

"Oh my GOD!!! Is....can anyone help? Like...an Ultimate Nurse?" Lucy questions, as 2 guys helped pull him out of the snow pile. Outside, a raging blizzard could be seen and heard loudly. Beyond that? Was absolutely nothing...

A student in a lab coat, clearly a medical student stood by, he shut the front door, blocking the harsh cold weather from entering further. At first, Lucy felt relieved. Until she realized he was doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help. She was about to call out to him to help, but he responded quickly.

"What? He clearly isn't dead yet. As the Ultimate Mortician, I could only be patient...." He responded blankly and shrugged, staring down at the freezing guy and Lucy.

Fortunately, another medical student rushed by. She quickly went her way to tending the poor guy. Now Lucy was relieved, she got up and stepped back, letting the girl tend to him.

"Puhuhuhuhu! You all can try, but you'll never escape from here!"


[???]: "What- there's a raging blizzard outside! Just-just where are we exactly???"

"The answer is quite obvious, students! The most appropriate place Hope's Peak Academy could possibly be located.... on top of Hope Mountain's Peak!!! puhuhuhuh!!!"

With that answer, the mood suddenly shifted.  Everyone was trapped....a top of a tall, freezing Mountain in a place far away from where they were from.