Part 1

April

The first day of the school year at Hope's Peak Academy started off better than it had in years, with the April sun shining warmly and not a cloud to be seen in the sky. The older students were smiling and happily greeting their friends while the new students cautiously took their first steps into the academy with a look of awe on their faces. A good first impression can fool even the most cautious of people, and the students of the seventy seventh class imagined that this year would be even better than the last. Sadly, their hopes would be unfulfilled.

Junko Enoshima, Ultimate Fashionista, Analyst and, most importantly, the soon to be ultimate Despair. How someone with so many talents as varying and dubious as these managed to get past the initial screening process of Hope's Peak Academy is a mystery to everyone, and is likely to remain one forever, had just entered the main hall of the academy for the first time. Many only dream of doing what she as just done, but for her, it was a Monday. Not just any Monday, however, this day was the start of a dream she had since she was a child.

A dream where the entire world would feel the cold embrace of despair, just like her.

At any ordinary school, the mere sight of Junko Enoshima would attract all eyes in the room. Hope's Peak was not an ordinary school. People with talents from all over came here to learn and specialize their superhuman skills to bring hope to the world, many of which can only be described as "eccentric".

For the time being, Junko couldn't care less of what people thought of her. The only thing that mattered to her at this point was her plan. Unfortunately, the plan needed more than just herself and her sister, Mukuro Ikusaba. Junko needed enough people for a small army, or at the very least, to be able to function like a small army. What was fortunate was that Hope's Peak was full of exceptional people, maybe not enough for her army, but definitely better than anywhere else.

Which brought her to where she stands now, with her sister along side her, in the middle of the entrance hall of the academy, eyes peeled for anyone with potential. Finally, she spots not one, but two people that look easy to manipulate: a bully and her victim. The bully in question was a small girl, child like really, clearly tormenting a girl with bandages and a medical apron as she begged for forgiveness.

A slight grin formed on Junko's face. The victim would be easy, she concluded. But the bully had potential as well, she just needed to wring out all she needed from the victim before moving onto the bigger fish. All she needed to do was strike while the iron was hot.

"Mukuro, give me your knife."

Mukuro, blinked once in confusion, then removed a knife that was hidden in her skirt and handed it to her sister.

If she had not been as devoted to Junko as she was, Mukuro may have questioned her sisters logic. But after many years of not being able to see her, couple with a recent reunion, all Mukuro wanted was her sister to be happy. Not matter what it was, she would follow her sister's wishes.

Meanwhile, Junko had slashed open the palm of her left hand and slipped the knife into her uniform before running over the crying girl.

"Does anyone have a bandage? I'm bleeding!"

Mukuro raised her eyebrow. Usually her sister was a far better actor than this, not that it mattered this time as the medical girl immediately rushed over to Junko and began tending to her wound. In the span of about half a minute, it seemed that the girl had completely treated Junko's hand.

"Thanks, you're the best!" Junko said smiling, "I don't know what i would have done if you weren't here!"

The other girl blushed, "W-well I-I'm a n-nurse so-"

Junko cut her off with a bear hug. "You're so cute! What's your name? I'm Junko Enoshima."

"I-Im Mikan Tsumiki," said the now flustered girl.

"Really? Well it's a good thing i found you then! You saved my life!"

Mukuro sighed, it was a little painful for her to see her talented sister put on a show this corny, but she seemed to be pushing all the right buttons with Mikan. After a moment Junko waved Mikan farewell and walked back over to Mukuro. By the time she had gotten to her, Junko's face had twisted from a serene smile into a spine chilling grin.

"She's perfect."

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Chiaki Nanami loved video games. The earliest memory she has is when she beat Metropolis Android in record time. From that point on her life was all about video games, which eventually led to her being scouted as the Ultimate Gamer and admitted into Hope's Peak Academy.

Chiaki didn't really care about that, though. To her, Hope's Peak was just like her last school, only her classmates were a lot more lively. Usually it took most of her energy to avoid getting hit with various objects ranging from cooking utensils to parts of the room being thrown around.

Despite all that happening on a daily basis, as she sat in class she did what she always did: she played video games on her gamegirl. For a brief moment she thought if she was supposed to do her morning duties in the class. Late in the previous year the teacher had decided to make her the class representative. Something about helping her "break out of her shell". She didn't really understand what her teacher was talking about. First off, it was a backpack. Second, it wasn't that she didn't want to talk with her classmates, it was that she didn't really know what to talk about.

She sighed quietly. She did want to get to know her classmates better, she really did, but at this point it looked impossible. Mahiru, Ibuki, Hiyoko, Mikan and another girl from a different class were all good friends and probably didn't need someone else in their quintet of sorts, Akane and Nekomaru had their own coach/ apprentice thing going on, Gundam and Sonia had their little evil overlords game, Kazuichi, Teruteru and Ryota got along fairly well, Fuyuhiko and Peko were pretty close despite how different they were, and Nagito was… Nagito was just kind of around most of the time.

If she was put on the spot with the question "Who are your friends?", she would only truthfully be able to respond with "Hajime Hinata".

Hajime Hinata. A rather strange friendship, what with him being in the reserve course and being somewhat of a downer at times. Chiaki did enjoy his company, though. Often the two of them spoke about games they both liked, games they should play together, games they were looking forward to…

Was it really just games they talked about? Chiaki frowned, she was sure Hajime told her about things in his life before. 'I know he really admires Hope's Peak', she thought. But that couldn't be the only thing about him. She knew he was strong, as from the few times he stopped her from falling when he just grabbed her back upright. He was smart enough to figure out some of the more challenging puzzle games they played, so he has decent problem solving logic.

As Chiaki continued to mull over her and Hajime's friendship, she was interrupted by the teacher.

"Chiaki, please try to pay attention."

Chiaki jumped slightly as she was removed from her thoughts. She looked around and saw the rest of the class staring at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

The teacher nodded, at least it was something. "Is something bothering you?" they asked.

Chiaki shook her head, "No, i'm fine."

The teacher nodded again, then resumed the lesson.

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As the first day back at Hope's Peak Academy drew to a close, Hajime Hinata found himself sitting in his usual spot at the end of the day: the bench by the fountain in the courtyard between the main building and the reserve course building.

Normally he sat here waiting for Chiaki to arrive, or vice versa, but today, he came here to think about an offer he was given by a high ranking member of the Hope's Peak staff and former headmaster, Kazuo Tengan. A life changing offer.

According to the former headmaster, if he accepted to participate in something called the "Kamukura Project" he would be allowed to join the main course. Hajime had almost accepted to the offer right then and there, but was stopped by Tengan. He was warned that the resulting project will have "consequences". Although the exact details of said consequences were left vague, Tengan did say he may be separated from those he cares about. He also told Hajime that he has until the end of June to make his decision.

It had been his dream since he was a child to be enrolled by Hope's Peak, although his parent had some part to play in that as well, so this offer weighed heavily on his mind. Accept the offer and face the consequences? Or refuse and remain in the reserve course and with those he cares about?

Hajime continued to wrack his brain until he felt somebody poking his cheek.

"Huh?"

Hajime turned to his left and saw Chiaki sitting uncomfortably close, staring directly into his eyes.

Hajime returned the stare and blinked. "Chiaki?"

Chiaki continued her stare for another half second, then pulled back into a more traditional sitting position.

"You were staring into space for a really long time," she told him, "What were you thinking about?"

Hajime let out a small laugh, "It's," he paused, 'Should i ask what she thinks about it?' he thought, 'No, she has enough to deal with right now in the main course.'

"It's nothing."

Chiaki stared at him again, then nodded before turning away into her backpack and handing him her spare gamegirl.

"So, what game do you want to play today?"

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It was a rare day when Mikan Tsumiki looked genuinely happy just on her own. It had been three weeks since she had met her new friend who was just a year younger than she was, Junko Enoshima.

Since she had met her, Junko had been encouraging her to be more assertive with people. This was a huge task for Mikan to overcome, and she wasn't certain that she would be able to do it.

But at the same time, Mikan knew that Junko believed in her, and that belief alone would make her try her hardest to overcome her submissiveness. Maybe one day she will finally be able to stand up to Hiyoko and tell her to stop bullying her.

The thought of that made her smile. When the two of them finally become real friends, maybe they can look back at this and laugh. That smile continued until she arrived at her after school destination: the front entrance gates of Hope's Peak where her friends Mahiru, Ibuki, Hiyoko and Sato were waiting.

"It's about time you arrived, Pig Barf."

And there went her smile, "I'm sorry!" she cried.

Mahiru rolled her eyes at Mikan and Hiyoko's antics, "Anyways, where are we headed today, Sato?"

Sato grinned, "Well, i was thinking-"

Before Sato could finish speaking, a new voice cut her off, "Really? Well i guess there's a first time for everyone."

The five girls turned around to see the owner of the voice: Natsumi Kuzuryu. This wasn't the first time they had encountered this girl. Seemingly right after the new school year started she had been dedicating her spare time to make theirs as miserable as possible. Although none of them knew why exactly Natsumi had picked them to be the victims of her ire, it seemed that Natsumi disliked Mahiru in particular.

"What do you want, Natsumi?!" Sato snapped.

"Oh, nothing really," Natsumi told her in a somewhat aloof tone, "Just wondering why a bunch of lowly skanks are standing in my way."

Ibuki tilted her head quizzically, "But you have all this space to go around us?"

Natsumi scoffed at her, "Why should I, heiress to the Kuzuryu clan, have to go out of my way to walk around a bunch of good for nothing whores. Know your place and move aside."

"Just because you're a part of the Kuzuryu clan doesn't mean you can treat us like this," Mahiru interjected, "And besides, i thought your brother was the heir-"

Before Mahiru could finish her sentence, Natsumi pushed her to the ground.

"How dare you talk to me like that you bitch," Natsumi growled.

The other four girls ran to Mahiru to help her up as Natsumi walked past then with an arrogant air around her.

"Next time i won't be so nice to you," she said before laughing and walking away.

"A-are you alright?" Mikan asked, "Do you have any pain anywhere?"

"I'm fine, Mikan," Mahiru told her, finally back on her feet. She stared at the direction Natsumi walked off to, "Who the hell does she think she is?! Just because she was born into some important family doesn't mean she can just push us around like than."

"You're right," Sato growled, also starring in Natsumi's direction, "One day, i swear that bitch is going to get just what she deserves."