"Hey, Tenko, did you see professor Kazuo? I swear I just saw him a few seconds ago, but he suddenly vanished the moment I turned my eyes. " Kaede Akamatsu inquired her friend perplexed by the abrupt disappearance of their teacher, still quickly scanning the bus that carried them.
Normally, the Ultimate Pianist wouldn't be so uneasy. However, given the recent circumstances, she had every reason in the world and more to grow concerned. Several high school classes all across Japan had been mysteriously kidnapped and slaughtered. Brutally. But the worst part was that the deaths of the students were by the hands of each other. And then they were broadcasted to the Internet.
She tried to remain optimistic and cling to the fact that the chances of suffering the same fate as those poor high school students was extremely low, and that the authorities had been working restlessly to prevent another tragedy, but she was simply too rational to blindly believe a charming lie.
"Fortunately, no. My eyes have no need to be tainted by degenerate males." the Ultimate Aikido Master hissed with discuss, additional repulse added in the word «males». "On the other hand, that old fart might be hiding underneath the seats of the bus and taking photos up the girls' skirts!" she panicked at the thought of her friends' honour being stained. "Himiko! I'll save you!"
"Chill! Professor Kazuo wouldn't do such a thing, and you know it, Tenko! Guys aren't beasts!" she scolded the illogical biases of her friend as she halted her advances with a firm grip around her powerful wrist and pulling her back to her seat.
"Fine! I suppose you aren't too wrong." Tenko yielded as she crossed her arms in defeat. "I guess... I guess I just wanted a reason to talk to Himiko."
"Tenko, I'm gonna tell you this because I worry about you. Please don't take this the wrong way: You have to give Himiko some space. You're always overly concerned about her and she's obviously sick of it. No wonder she wanted to sit next to Angie! The girl needed to breath!" the blonde female clarified as Chabashira stared in the direction of the back of the bus at a surprisingly cheerful Himiko chatting with the Ultimate Artist.
"You think? Well... Thanks for giving me advice, but I'm not sure... You know what? You're right! I'll give her some space. I won't go anywhere near her until the school trip starts. Only then will I make up for the lost time and enjoy our trip to the fullest!" Tenko answered with a mischievous grin.
"This girl is hopeless... I have to say I admire her calm in this situation, though... Enjoy... I suppose being nervous is futile... I just have to calm down and... enjoy. Maybe Shuichi will muster up some courage and approach me for a change, I'm getting kinda sick of taking the first step every time. Only 3 classes have been kidnapped so far. And the last one was almost 5 months ago. And none of them disappeared on a bus or on a school trip. Just – calm down, Kaede." she sighed mentally as she adopted the same copping mechanism as her classmates.
Pretending everything was fine. Excitement and joy were everything her body felt emanating from her friends.
She looked over her shoulder at Rantaro and Kiyo and they were surprisingly hitting it off. Probably conversing about the trips they made around the world. Kaito and Shuichi were together enthusiastically attempting to interact with a dismissive Maki, who only seemed to be interested in sleeping. Her efforts were in vain after Kokichi itched her nose with a feather, had Kirumi not have quickly intervened and scratched her nose, she would have strangled the Ultimate Supreme Leader's tiny neck.
But she knew better. They were all obviously scared of the truth. The truth of their possible imminent demise.
"Wow! Chiaki, you are really good at this. I wish I was as talented as you..." Hajime Hinata complimented the girl who played on her «GameGirl» in the seat in front of his, smiling in order to masquerade his inferiority complex. The Ultimate Gamer knew him far too well, however. She noticed.
"This is nothing, really! Here, try it out." she offered her favourite hobby in order to cheer him up.
"You're too nice, Chiaki." he answered as he accepted her offer. But then again, it seemed like she was more interested in slumbering for a while.
"Way to go, Hajime! She'll be into you in no time if you keep that up! I'm glad you took my advice." Kazuichi Soda jokingly bragged quietly. But truthfully, had Hajime heeded the Ultimate Mechanic's 'love advice', he would have been beaten up by Chiaki a long time ago.
"Yeaaah – no. But you know, you've been acting like a love master for while now and I haven't seen you put any of your knowledge to use with Sonia." the slender boy with an ahoge teased in order to lighten the tense mood. He could tell his class was nervous, but they were all pushing their stress to the back of their heads.
"Oh, that? I'm just giving her some space, that's all. Chicks hate it when you smother them, you know?" the sharp teethed young man jested.
Both boys gazed at Sonia's direction and she seemed to be acting pretty friendlily, almost flirting with Gundham, who was adjacent to her.
"I mean... Clearly, Gundham has been giving her space... That's why it looks like they're having fun together..." the pink haired teen further lied to himself. "Well, let's just focus on more important things: As you know, we're going to the beach. That means: SWIMSUITS! I can't wait to see Miss Sonia in one. How about you? I know how much of a horn ball you are, Hajime. I bet you'll have to excuse yourself to the bathroom once you see Chiaki in a bikini." he provoked.
"Oh, I'm the horn ball?" he laughed. "No... All I'm looking forward is... That we all have fun... That there's nothing to worry about, understand?" he took a far more serious, deep tone.
"Still thinking about that...?" he asked suddenly disheartened. "To be honest, I'm scared too. I bet I won't be able to relax in this trip either, but... Let's have some hope, okay? Plus, that psycho Nagito is here. The guy has the most insane bullshit luck ever. As long as he's around, we won't be targeted, let alone kidnapped. With so many talented people in here, that won't happen." Kazuichi soothed confidently.
The young man from the reserve course inspected the bus and, like Kazuichi mentioned, was filled with the most amazing, talented high school students he had ever laid eyes upon. Nekumaru's deep loud voice harmonized with Ibuki's skilful song that reverberated across the vehicle. Mahiru snapped pictures incessantly with her friends. They all looked as though they had no care in the world. Why would they? They had talent. They had all they needed to succeed. They had all they needed to have hope.
"Talent..." he melancholically contemplated.
"Listen, dear students! I am pleased to announce that we are almost at our destination. Prepare to have fun, everyone! You have to enjoy your youth while you have it, this is the time when you must create bonds that will create character and help you grow into the adults that will give hope to the world!" Chisa Yukizome cheerfully preached to her class, through the bus' speaker.
Her announcement woke a peaceful, slumbering Makoto up. The relaxing vibrations of their transportation simply made it too hard to remain awake.
"Oh! Makoto, you finally woke up? Nice - hey, you have to check this out." the Ultimate Swimmer excitedly squealed from a seat ahead of him. "Sakura, do it again!"
"Very well. Observe, Naegi." the Ultimate Martial Artist, who required 2 seats due to her massive frame, subtly smiled and grabbed a handful of walnuts from Aoi's extensive food sack, and effortlessly closed her hand. When she reopened it, all that was left in her palm was a pile of walnut-color dust. There were also no wounds on her gigantic hand, and she didn't display any sign of pain either.
"Gah! It looks like I'm living in a rule 63 alternate universe with Saitama!" Hifumi Yamada shrieked in disbelief, leaving everyone confused about what his strange Otaku rambling meant.
"Wow! That is amazing...!" Naegi tried his very best to feign enthusiasm in his morbid tone.
"Huh? You okay, Makoto? Sakura's trick usually leaves everyone in awe, but you seem like you're about to burst into tears..." Aoi Asahina inquired concerned, reaching back a friendly arm and softly caressing his friend.
"Lethargy is not welcome in a school environment! As hard working students, we must take every opportunity to better ourselves." Kiyotaka Ishimaru barked one of his memorized mottos, but mostly for the sake of maintaining order, he hardly noticed Makoto was evidently disheartened.
"We ain't in school, ya dumbass." Mondo Owada hissed annoyed, inciting yet another heated argument with the Ultimate Moral Compass.
"Well… to tell you the truth… I was very excited for our school trip, but then I recalled all those classes that went through Killing Games and… I just feel so bad for them… Do you imagine having the best time of your lives with the best people you have ever met, people who you'll have to say goodbye in a few months, and then being forced to kill and die? Just thinking about that makes me sick. Who's mad enough to organize such things anyway?" the Ultimate Lucky Student set free the burden in his heart.
"Who indeed. But, like, worrying about that crap is, like – what's the word? – futile, or whatever. Unless there was a team of like, I dunno, a billion detectives like Kyoko, it's impossible to figure that crap out anyway, so I wouldn't stress if I were you, it gives you wrinkles." Junko Enoshima tranquilized with her valley girl accent as she stroked her highly preserved, wrinkle-free face, the Ultimate Sleuth completely ignored her and kept writing on her journal half-asleep. "Right, sis?" she yapped with her high pitched voice to her timid twin.
"Uhm…? Oh yeah, of course…" the Ultimate Soldier answered meekly.
"Yeah! Plus, you're the Ultimate Lucky Student, Makoto, meaning you'll be just fine." Aoi soothed friendlily.
"I can confirm that. I have used my crystal ball to determine our fates, and concluded that we won't be kidnapped. And don't forget that I have a very accurate success rate of 33%." the Ultimate Clairvoyant confidently boasted.
"But that means we have a 67% of getting kidnapped!" Naegi whined dispirited. "But I guess… I guess I still have hope to lean on… Fine, I'll drop the sour mood." he genuinely smiled and decided to have fun with his friends, who in turn were instantly infected by his delightful, characteristic optimism.
"I'm going to keep moving forward, with hope in my heart. After all, being optimistic is the only thing I've got going for me. I may be the worst of the best, but at least I can pride myself in carrying the burden of hope for my friends, so we can all overcome despair together." he thought serenely.
Shortly after resuming trivial chatter with his friends, he heard a light weight colliding with the floor. He quickly turned his head to inspect what it was, and noticed that Celestia Ludenberg, who was previously gambling large sums of money with Byakuya, had dropped her deck of cards and seemed to have passed out.
He didn't have time to worry about her, however. He was suddenly feeling extremely light headed himself, and as his vision grew blurrier and his eyelids grew heavier, he faintly noted that everyone who was present in that bus was letting their muscles rest as well. With the last bit of strength he had, he forced his drowsy legs to get up, but immediately stepped on a book that Toko had dropped and fell to floor completely asleep.
After Hifumi fainted, Sakura was the last person standing. However, as she collapsed and her consciousness drifted away, her muscular ears slightly detected what appeared to be footsteps…
There was a fleeting moment when Kaede Akamatsu felt whole again, only to drift back to sleep briefly. Nevertheless, her consciousness started dilating progressively until she felt the discomfort from her curved spine and the pain in her face as if she was bent with her face against a desk. When she was alert again, she realized that that was exactly the case. Then her eyelids, that were drooping and leaden with sleep snapped open as violently as if she'd been woken by the raid of sirens wailing.
Someone as clever as her had a pretty good idea of what was going on, and she was scared of being right.
She inspected the chair she was sitting on, the desk she was leaning on and her entire surroundings. It looked like a classroom. A very cheap, dirty, poorly kept classroom, that hadn't been used in years. It was very wide, though. Wide enough to house 3 entire classes.
She realized that she was one of the last students in that room to wake up. Additionally, she recognized all of the faces in there: They were students from her own class, 78-A, and also class 78-B and 78-C (each class containing 16 students). There were only enough chairs for about a third of them, the ones who weren't sitting on one had to settle with the floor. Including their respective teachers, there were 51 people in there.
However, there was another peculiar entity in that class. One she had never laid her eyes upon. It was in front of the chalkboard, facing the waking humans.
It was some king of weird, 65 cm tall, stuffed bear, it's whole face and body were divided by the center into two parts, resembling the Yin-Yang symbol, of which there is a balance between good and evil. Its right side is white and has the classic expression of teddy bear; While its left side shows a more sinister appearance. It is black, has a red horizontal stripe for an eye and an evil smile.
"Hey, have we got everyone? In that case, let's get started." the strange bear announced whimsically, leaving everyone present in utter panic.
"Oh my Gosh! Like, what the hell is happening, like, right now?" the Ultimate Fashionista shrieked with her usual valley girl accent.
"Worry not, sister. I will protect you." Mukuro Ikusaba asserted ferociously as she stood protectively in front of her twin, while everyone else screamed undecipherable things above each other.
They all ran to the door, but it was tightly shut. Not even the phenomenal combined strength of Sakura, Nekomaru and Gonta seemed to yield any results. The windows also appeared to be bulletproof, as if they were merely decorations on the wall.
"Hey, come on now, you guys. Don't leave a bear hanging. At least let me finish." the weird teddy bear giggled.
"What is going on here? Is that a stuffed bear?" the Ultimate Photographer voiced what everyone was thinking, completely horrified.
"I'm no stuffed bear! I'm Monokuma. And I'm the headmaster here! That's right, I'm your headmaster! I own all of you, bitches!" the seemingly robotic animal proclaimed joyfully.
Never in her life has she been so intently focused on anything as she was in that moment. And it was obvious that all the others felt the same.
"Nice to meetcha!" it squealed.
"Ngaaaaaaaaaaah! The teddy bear, it speeeeeeeaks!" Hifumi wailed frightened.
"It appears to be some sort of autonomous robot with built-in A.I., like me…" the Ultimate Robot tried to remain calm.
The discomfort she had been feeling quickly mutated into a bottomless terror.
"Ahem, now that I have made my dashing appearance, the first thing I need to say is: This is so friggin' lame! Lame, I say! Lamer than the lamest lamesauce!" it hollered livid. "Oh wait. Lamesauce? Is that tasty? Ooooh, oh yeah baby, rub it all over my naked body!" it teased seemingly hungry and aroused, while stroking itself flirtatiously.
"Ngaaaaaaaaaaah! The teddy bear, it moooooooooves!" Hifumi howled again.
"Aw shaddup, you bitch! I'm livid, you know. Seriously, where's all the despair? This is boring as fuck! I'm bored! I'm so hopelessly bored! This just ain't fun at all! You've gotta, you know… meet the demands of the world. Nobody wants to see high school students living calm, peaceful lives. What everyone wants to see is other people's misery… and despair…"
"Wh-what the hell is with this stuffed animal…?! Nothing he's saying makes any goddamned sense…! I'm gonna punch him in his little nuts!" Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu threatened, although he was visibly scared. All bark and no bite.
"Are you… gonna force us… to do stuff…?" Tsumugi Shirogane stuttered startled, rubbing her forearms as if rubbing her shrugged frame somehow eased the stress.
"Puhuhuhu! You bet I will! Like I said, I'm gonna make sure things remain interesting in here, ya dig? " Monokuma send off a ridiculous, yet creepy laugh.
"Oooooh! Are you gonna make us do each other's hair and nails and then make us play truth or dare where we'll all make out with each other while you take pictures with Mahiru's camera?!" Kokichi asked excitedly as if there was nothing to worry about.
"Close! I'm gonna make you…-"
"Participate in a Killing Game, correct?" Kyoko finished emotionlessly.
"First of all, bingo! Second of all, don't you ever interrupt me again! You sluts are mine! I hold the power of life and death over each and every one of you, so I advise you to not get on my bad side, unless you wanna know what it feels like to be Swiss cheese." Monokuma menaced furiously, displaying one sharp claw. "Buuuut, since this is your first time and since I woke up in a really good mood today, I'll let that one slide."
"So it's true, huh? Being hopeful is meaningless now… This is the worst case scenario…" she yelled in her mind as she fought the urge to vomit and as she felt stress burning her skin.
"So we have to do what you say if we don't want to die? Got it. I assume you'll give us the details of your twisted game now?" Rantaro deduced coldly, though aggressively.
"Holy crap! Aside from that fatty over there, you're the smartest bunch I snagged to date! Weeeeell, I was gonna let you call your parents first, but hey, since you're so eager to start the Killing Game, then by all means. Allrighty then, as you probably know by know, you are students of Hope's Peak Academy, meaning you guys are the best of the best when it comes to talent… I mean, at least most of you…" he directed that last remark toward a shaking Hinata, who was too scared to get offended.
"…as a consequence, society expects you to spread that boring shit called hope, and maintain order, and blah blah blah, you know the drill. Well, since I have always been a rebellious kind of hipster bear, I'll reward anyone who destroys that order. They, and they alone will be allowed to leave. And that's graduation! Normally, someone would ask how do you graduate, and then I'd pause dramatically and mutter «Murder!» with a hoarse voice after enough suspense was built up. But since you fuckers are all a bunch of geniuses, then I'm sure you know that you have to murder in order to graduate. Man, the disadvantages of setting well-known Killing Games…" Monokuma continued light-heartedly.
She froze. As soon as her mind started processing the words, «Killing Game», «Murder»… a chill ran up her spine, from the soles of her feet to the top of her skull.
"This is no ordinary robot. I can see it… the despair and madness swirling around that cursed thing…" Korekiyo remarked disturbed.
"Hey, flattery ain't gonna get you nowhere! Anyhow, the rules are simple: Kill to your hearts' content. Kill or be killed! KILL, KILL, KILL, 'TIL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT! Beating, stabbing, pounding, cutting, burning, crushing, strangling, slaughtering, hexing, freezing, drowning… The method doesn't matter. What really matters is that you can't leave until all of your classmates are dead. The sole survivor gets to leave this place." the robotic bear screeched in ecstasy.
Maybe that was all a joke. Or maybe it was all true. That wasn't the problem. No, what she really had to be concerned about was whether someone there took that seriously. In any case, those words left everyone speechless. In their silence, they traded suspicious, savage glances. Most of them had assumed fighting stances already. From gazes desperately struggling to see inside each other's hearts… there emanated a tinge of animosity. And then… at that moment, she finally came to understand how truly terrifying that place's rules were.
"And that takes us to our location, we're isolated in a big ass uninhabited island. I made sure that contacting with the outside world is absolutely impossible too. But don't worry, you can swim away if you want! I'm sure the local sharks will be delighted to have a snack with you! Speaking of which, each of you will receive a bag before the Killing Game starts, which will contain food, water, a flashlight and a random weapon. It can be dangerous like a machinegun, useful like a tracking device, or downright pathetic like a plastic hammer! So I'd start crossing my fingers if I were you. But hey, if you're scared of kicking the bucket, then I advise you to stay in the island's academy, where we are now. It provides plenty of hiding places, places to rest, as well as shelter from other dangers besides your enemies. However, the food and water in your bags won't last forever. Not to worry though, I'll be kind enough to drop supplies randomly throughout the island, meaning you'll have to move if you wanna get your paws on them." he continued his explanation.
"Stop this madness! I won't let you harm my students!" Kazuo Tengan's elderly voice echoed throughout the room.
"The fuck?!" Monokuma hissed.
"I know it might be hard for youngsters like you to understand, but when you're old and don't have much time left, like me... Hope is having young people who you can entrust the future to. I won't let you disturb this brilliant children who will bring hope to the world. Your preposterousness ends here." the old teacher quickly approached Monokuma, at the front of the room, and grabbed him.
The caring professor quickly scanned for a switch that would turn the damned thing off, or a loudspeaker that he could destroy, but found nothing of the sort. He became desperate when he noticed the robot bear also seemed too hard to be damaged.
"Holy shit! I must have drunk one too many martinis! I can't believe I let an old fart catch me… Oh well, I needed something to prove I mean business anyway." Monokuma mocked before slashing his attackers face with his white claw.
Kazuo fell hard. There was a teacher's desk blocking Kaede's view of her teacher, so she, along with all the other classmates chased after him so they can confirm his status.
When they looked behind the desk that was near Monokuma, they saw Kazuo lying on the floor with metal tweezers painfully binding his 4 members. The mechanisms that restrained him seemed to have rose from the floorboards. It was surreal how such sophisticated technology was hidden inside a terrible-looking class. They realized Monokuma really did mean business.
Just like with the doors and windows, setting him free was impossible, despite everyone's attempts. Afterwards, an enormous, mean-looking mechanical saw came out of the chalkboard and mercilessly dismembered Kazuo by the waist, his screams echoing within the rooms and his remains splattered Mikan's terrified face with his blood.
It took a while for Kaede to realize she was screaming, and even more to perceive the shower of dreaded screams that rang out behind her. The sight before her burned itself into her retinas.
"I guess sacrificial lambs really are necessary. Man, I love this trope. But hey, at least you guys get it now: I'm dead serious. Get on my bad side, and I'll add your blood on my martinis, you dig?" Monokuma threatened viciously.
"W-Wait… The previous killing games… the rules are different from the ones you set in this one. In order to escape, one would have to commit murder and get away with it, but now… We have to simply kill each other until only one survives? There are more competitors now as well… Why the sudden change of rules?" Kyoko fought repulse and tried to reason.
"Oh, that? Crap, I was expecting none of you would ask that… Well, you got me… Fine, I decided to throw some spice at the game, you know. Not a huge fan of formulas. Just checking how this would turn out, if it gets boring, then I'll go back to same old same old." he explained nonchalantly.
"Now, I'll recapitulate the rules. Rule #1: You will all remain in this island indefinitely, the last living student will earn the right to go back home. Rule #2: I may speak with you personally, whenever I wish. However, I can't interfere with anyone's death, unless rule #3 is broken. Rule #3: Violence against me is strictly forbidden. Rule #4: I will report every death every day at 12:00. Rule #5: Boxes with supplies and ammunition will fall with parachutes 4 times per day, at random spots in the island. Break any of these and you're fucked! Get it?" the teddy bear hollered furiously. "God, I need a martini…! Let's just get this over with already, Kaede Akamatsu! You're the first! Here's your backpack, now fuck off and let the Killing Game begin!" he threw a large backpack that had surged from the ground at her.
Her vision began to swirl… Her legs wobbled beneath her. But out of sheer desperation, she kept her mind working. She strongly gripped the backpack she had received; that contained water, food and a weapon; and shot like a bullet in the direction of the impenetrable door that had just opened.
She wasn't sure if the adrenaline rush she was feeling was due to her burning desire to find a way out, or if it was due to intense fear. Fear of being hunted down by her friends. Fear of giving in and killing a friend. She ran as fast as she could in order to prevent the next person to be called to catch her, not even bothering to say goodbye to her friends.
Only one thing was certain: The Killing Game had begun. Battle Royale had begun.
Author's Notes:
This is the first chapter of my Danganronpa/ Battle Royale crossover. What did you think? I HOPE ;) I nailed Monokuma's comical aspect, to be frank, I drew some inspiration from NicoB XD
This is set in a not very different AU, where the casts from the 3 games are all final year students in Hope's Peak Academy, making a total of 48 participants in the Killing Game, excluding the teachers and including Mukuro Ikusaba and the Ultimate Imposter.
The rules are similar from Battle Royale, but I made some changes. Instead of punishing students who don't move, I decided to reward students who move. Meaning I scrapped the whole danger zones thing and added this rule where supplies and ammunition fall in boxes with parachutes randomly across the island 4 times per day, also because the fact that the cast in Battle Royale had infinite ammos was ridiculous to me. There's also no time limit.
In the first scenes, I also tried to include each game's main theme in their respective protagonist. Kaede = Truth/ Lies; Hajime= Talent/ Future; Makoto= Hope/ Despair.
Anyway, do let me know what you thought. I am currently writing another fanfiction for Attack on Titan, so I'll have to split my limited time with these 2 T_T Do check it out if you enjoyed this.
But the fun part will only begin next ;)