The campus was on a slab of prime real estate right smack bang in the middle of Tokyo. Beautiful buildings killer resources and courses to die for. Invite only and super prestigious, Like a prep school for overachievers. Each student hand-picked, the best of the best. My name is Hamasaki Hitomi, Super High School Level Fashion Designer, Founder and owner of the infamous Miss Vengeance designer label, and I've been accepted into Hope's Peak High School.
Darkness, total darkness. Life as I knew it was over. All my hopes and dreams came crashing down. There was nothing good about this place. Nope, the core curriculum here was despair.
I awoke in a classroom. Dazed and confused. What's Going on? I thought. How'd I get here? Last thing I remember I'd just set foot on campus. My head snapped up, my doll blue eyes taking in my surroundings. Iron plates, What? I walked over to the plated window and tried to force the bolts to loosen. Nothing.
I noticed a small whirring noise behind me. What is that? That's when I saw. Security Cameras? That's insane. What's with this place. My eyes wandered again, a small folded piece of paper slipping into my vision. I wandered over to the side table it was sitting on unfolding it. The letter was messy, written in what appeared to be crayon but the message was clear. The Other students and I were to converge in the gym at 8. Ten minutes from now. Do I Leave now? I questioned myself. My blue eyes flicked up to the clock for a few seconds, before deciding to take off down the hall. Following the dimly lit hallways until I eventually found the gymnasium. Sucking in a deep breath I sighed, This is it, I thought to myself, Time to meet everyone else. My hands subconsciously wrapped around my trusty blue measuring tape that constantly hung around my neck. I pulIed open the heavy door as fourteen pairs of eyes landed on me all previous chatter ceasing.
"Well, that's a solid fifteen of us." one of the girls spoke, She had long blue hair and blue eyes of a lighter hue than Hitomi's own deep blue eyes. Wait I've seen her before, that's Sayaka Maizono, no doubt Super high school level Idol. My mind ran in all crazy directions after this discovery. So much so that I didn't notice all the commotion around me. I layed my eyes over everybody, quickly working out their specialties. Super High school level programmer, gambler, literary girl, who know's 'bout the purple haired chick. One by one I labelled everybody until my eyes connected with the piercing blue eyes of Byakuya Togami. Tall, blonde and the son of the man who tried to buy my label away from me.
"Togami," I stated, sinking into in hip angling myself away from him,
"Hamasaki," Byakuya responded coldly, bitterly,
"Wait, you two know each other?" The Shiest of the group spoke, she was small and quiet, programmer.
"Yes, we met on business," Byakuya stated, crossing his arms over his chest in an arrogant manner.
"You mean when you and your family tried to steal my label," I countered quickly, swivelling back to face the arrogant blonde. I felt a hand around my shoulder.
"Just leave him Hitomi," Junko spoke, "He's not worth it." She said leading me away to where she was previously standing. I'd met Junko Enoshima on several occasions, all business but she was the only friendly face I knew here so far.
"J?" I questioned once the two of us were away from that horrible, arrogant, shrewd man on the other side of the room.
"Yeah," she answered,
"Have you had work done?" I asked she seemed to look slightly different than I remember.
"No, Why?" She asked defensively,
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude; it's just, you look a little different than I remember you," I said nervously biting my lower lip.
"No worries hun," she said brushing it off, I let out a small breath I didn't realise I was holding in. "So you been working on anything new?"
"Actually-" I was cut off by the door opening.
It was another boy. Mousey brown hair and dull brown eyes. Not precisely tall, on the shorter side in fact. He wore a dark hoodie with a red zipper under a black blazer. Dark blue jeans covered his legs, and red converse style sneakers adorned his feet.
"Uhh, Excuse me?" He spoke.
"Aw cool, this'll make 16 of us." a taller guy spoke, crazy big hair and stubbly chin, Fortune teller. "For what I cannot predict now,"
"So this everyone?" a bigger student slid into place, round and shiny, a cardigan that doesn't button up under an orange backpack stuffed with art supplies, Fanzine artist. "Maybe now we'll get some answers."
"Uha, Instructions said 8 o'clock sharp." yelled another guy, dark hair, red eyes and crazy eyebrows. Hall monitor. "You have no excuse for you're tardiness."
"Yeah could you just not," Junko sounded beside me. "No one gives a flying flip about being on time none of us even know why we're here."
"Question," the programmer said raising her hand shakily, "did you happen to wake up in a classroom by yourself?" she asked.
"I did," The new guy spoke, "no idea how I got there."
"That's what I thought," the programmer spoke again, "That's exactly what happened to us," She squeaked quietly.
"Sudden unconsciousness, only to converge at the gym upon awakening." Another girl spoke, ink-black hair, pulled into long pigtails much tamer than Junko's and curled into ringlets. Her style was very much gothic lolita almost noble like the gambler. "Fabulously peculiar."
"Yeah, that's the word ergh," Now how does one begin to describe this guy, judging by his mix of leather and boots, worn the way he wears them the conclusion I drew was a biker, now his hair, mullet in the back and narwhale in the front. "Reminds me of the day's we had back in juvie,"
"Right, except this time we got kidnapped." Red hair and punk like style chains, piercings and all, that's not what gave away his talent. What gave away his talent was his killer eye for aim, baseball player. "Hey maybe they'll auction off our organ's heh," he said scratching the back of his neck. Another girl cut in front of him, tall, tan and bubbly dresses in athletic gear mainly red, with swimmers legs.
"Think positive it's a motivational program." She stated, she was gonna get real annoying real fast. "This is supposed to be a special school right?"
"It's difficult to say," Grappler, that's all I can say, huge girl, muscular and intimidating, with a prominent scar slashed across her face. "I suggest that first, we assess our situation,"
The new kid seemed taken aback by all this and to be quite honest I was a little surprised myself. Mainly that Mr arrogance hasn't but in with his two cents worth yet.
"Ahh okay?" The new kid said. At this point, the swimmer has already begun talking to someone else with an idea.
"Hey Junko," I whispered,
"Yeah"
"Do you know names?"
"Um mostly, ya know everyone except the new kid," She said, Thank god. "Well, you know Togami,"
"Ew yeah don't remind me," I scoffed, she giggled a little at that,
"So anyway that's Fukawa," She said pointing to the girl with long dark braids. "Little miss positive is Asahina, Vampira is Celestia, the shy one's Fujisaki, the fat one's Yamada, Crazy eyebrows is Ishimaru, the silent one is Kirigiri, the ginger is Leon," She said pointing at everyone as she went "Unicorn hair is Owada, She-hulk is Ogami, Miss teen idol is Maizono, and crazy afro guy is Hagakure. Dunno 'bout the new kid."
"Ahh, I knew it he's undressing me with his eyes," Fukawa said in a state of shock, "Bet he thinks I'm a troll,"
"He's certainly not all that," Oh here we go, "Why not take a picture," Togami said arrogantly, adjusting his glasses as the new kid averted his eyes.
"Oh yeah cause everyone wants a picture of you," I said under my breath, Making J giggle a little,
"What was that? Care to repeat yourself so we can all hear," Togami retorted, "I hate murmuring," I scoffed rolling my eyes at that, "or have you not got the courage,"
"I'm sorry what I said was, your narcissistic personality disorder sure doesn't need any encouragement," I saw everyone around us struggle to hold in there snickers,
"Oh, quite all of you," Togami countered silencing the laughter about to break free,
"What no witty comeback," I taunted, "I must be right," that's when everybody's laughter broke free, the entire room exploded into laughter at Togami's expense. He sneered and clenched his fists at his side before returning to his previous position, arms crossed over his chest.
The chatter around us continued before Togami had to ruin everyone's fun again.
"If you two are quite done flirting, we can move onto weightier matters," He directed at Maizono and the new kid who I think she called Naegi,
"Such as," Neagi said shakingly,
"Such as our current circumstance, Someone has collected us here for a reason."
"Gah, we're all essentially prisoners," Fukawa cried,
"You think the least they could do is give me back my cell phone, it's like totally barbaric," Junko stated
"Huh," everyone including me said in unison. I searched all my pockets furiously, nothing.
"My phone is missing as well, does this mean they've been confiscated?" Ogami said,
"No fair I need that to keep my business running," I said worriedly.
"Yeah, no there's no way, they'll give us our stuff back after orientation I'm sure of it." Hagakure said whipping out a crystal ball, "in fact, it's already been foretold,"
"Dude please a crystal ball," Leon said sceptically.
"I'm dead on 30% of the time." Hagakure countered,
"Well that's reassuring," I whispered to Junko,
"Hm," Fukawa hummed, "Isn't that impressive,"
A screech fell over the gym, piercing an obnoxiously loud.
"Mic test, mic test 1 2, everybody hear me okay on this thing?" The voice that came over was strange, not exactly human but no other way to describe it. "Hiya kiddo's Time to roll out the welcome waggon, not literally of course, not sure what that means literally but you get it,"
"See we're not prisoners this is just how they do things here at hope's peak," Hagakure said. I sunk into my hip crossing one arm and massaging my temple with my free hand, These people are gonna wear my patience down fast.
"Well you're half right," Kirigiri spoke, Naegi seemed shocked by her statement.
All our attention focused forward to the stage in front of us. But what came next none of us expected, a bear, half black half white jumped up. Half its face pulled into a broad, creepy smile the other side that of a regular stuffed bear.
"Huh?" Everyone sounded,
"What the heck?" Naegi said confused.
"I know what you're thinking and no I'm not a high tech build a bear reject," I snickered lightly at that as did the arrogant blonde behind me. "I am the principle of this illustrious institution, Monokuma. Pleased to meetcha,"
Yamada stepped back and yelled in horror, "ahh, I had a nightmare just like this once."
"Young man some respect if you please, Monokuma your principle," Monokuma stated pointing to himself, "Yes yes, like nothing you've ever seen before, uncanny, unsettling even yadda yadda moving right along," The principle continued flailing his arms around. "Now everybody stand at attention, give principle you're snappiest good morning,"
Ishimaru bowed at the command,
"Good morning principle sir," He snapped,
"Please don't encourage it," Fukawa wailed.
"Meh, that'll have to do I suppose," Monokuma said placing his hands, paws? Paws behind his back. "Anyway, welcome bright young things to your new living quarters, now before you get all uppity, trust me it's for your own good," He continued, "mustn't let the outside world dull that dazzling inner spark, we got to keep that freshness sealed in,"
"Hold on we-" Naegi started,
"I don't think so" Junko cut in,
"Yeah I gotta agree with her on this," I said standing beside her.
"So now you're wondering how long you'll be guest's of our program." Monokuma said brushing off everything we just said, "approximately… the rest of your lives," everyone let out a gasp at that, "oh yeah but new living quarters I mean permanent living quarters," Monokuma jumped around at that.
"You-you can't be serious," Leon stuttered out,
"We'll be here forever?" Fujisaki questioned quietly,
"Naw don't fret, we have an astronomical budget, your needs will be satisfied in perpetuity," Monokuma 'reassured',
"That's not the issue what if we have families?" Miazono questioned.
"No, just no," Junko said,
"Yeah, and I've got a label to run, how do you expect the business to survive without new designs," I said growing angry.
"Um, excuse me, so the iron plates in our rooms those are to shut us in?" Naegi asked,
"Bingo you're here for keepsies, kick and scream all you want, no one outside can hear ya," he turned to look down on us.
Celestia placed her hand over her mouth and gasped, "forgive me if I suggest this to be less than ideal, but to spend the rest of our natural lives confined in a place like this." Monokuma cleared his throat before countering,
"Natural lives, oh that's rich, actually for those who wish to leave there is a loophole," Togami perked up at that,
"Enlighten us," he said meeting Monokuma's eyes,
"Good old fashion murder," The bear said diving from his place atop the podium. "Yes the student that kills one of their classmates, and gets away with it, will be permitted to walk out of here scot-free," flipping into a standing position on the floor he continued. "pummel, shive, bludgeon, mutilate, immolate, excavate, asphyxiate, no magic conjugate. Mna mna mna." he chuckled, grabbing a fish I didn't notice was flopping on the floor. "know what you kids and this salmon have in common, neither of you has the slightest notion how tingly the thought of watching you all slaughter makes me." he threw the salmon across the room and turned, so his black side was facing us before he spoke. "the best of the best, The creme de la creme forced in to a gore-soaked free for all, Is there anything hotter, ooooh" he turned to face us fully as sweat cascaded down his white half.
We were subconsciously standing in a semi-circle formation around Monokuma. Possibly to stay away from him.
"You're crazy," Leon stepped one foot into the formation we had created.
"But why, what could possibly be the point in making us kill." Maizono leaned in,
"Yeah what is this, if you think we're on board with this bull crap you're out of your mind," Yamada said flailing around.
"Bull crap, where do you get off talking like that to your principal," Monokuma said looking up at us through shaded eyes in an intimidating manner, "Love it or hate it sweetie pies this school is now your entire world, Dem's the brigs," he said walking between us forcing us into two lines either side of him. "Look on the bright side I'm letting you get away with murder for reals, so stop whining and start plotting,"
"You want murder two-tone," Owada said taking a tough stance in front of Monokuma, "Take this shit any further, and you'll be victim number one," He knelt down to be Monokumas level and looked him dead in the eyes,
"Is that a threat, you gonna impale me on that pompadour?" Monokuma said pointing to Owada's hair. Owada screwed his face up in rage.
"Bitch no, what I'm gonna do it tear you apart till there's nothing left of whatever's making you jabber." He stood holding Monokuma suspended in the air,
"School rules expressly say no harm must come to the principle under any circumstances," Monokuma yelled flailing his arms around yet again.
At that, his red eye began to flash, and a beeping sound was emitted from his body.
"Uhh, guys, what's that noise?" Owada questioned concern filling his low, gravelly voice,
"huh, oh no toss him," Kirigiri yelled,
"Huh?"
"Trust me just do it," she insisted, and that he did just in time too. If he had've been a second later.
Boom.
We all gasped an whimpered to various degrees.
"This is real, isn't it," Naegi whimpered.
"Tch, it could've blown my face off," Owada whined,
"So the teddy bears kaput," Fujisaki questioned in her usual quiet manner,
"Not a teddy bear, Monokuma," our eyes all widened in shock as he jumped reappearing where he had at the beginning of all this. "Tah-dah,"
"You son of a-" Owada began,
"Consider that a written warning young man," Monokuma spoke in a manner that showed authority. "Get smart with me again any of you and let's just say around here we forgo written warnings in favour of instant corporal punishment," we all drew in another breath of shock, jeez any more of this and ill start to feel light headed. "And that concludes the introductory portion of your orientation boys and girls." he began waving his arms above his head yet again before continuing. "Here's to you all enjoying a fun fulfilling, and not exactly long life here at hope's peak high," and with that, he disappeared into nowhere just like when he arrived.