I don't quite remember how we all got there, or, in fact, that they were my classmates. But the first memory I have of them was waking up in the central square with them. We had all been passed out on the cobblestone lined plaza - which was actually in the shape of a circle with a fountain in the center. How's that for irony? It was rather jarring, you know, waking up in an unfamiliar place surrounded by sixteen unfamiliar faces. The strangest part was that everyone else seemed just as confused as I was. I was the first to stand up, followed quickly by everyone else.
A girl with very curly, black hair pulled up into a ponytail and a neatly pressed white lab coat cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. "Well," she huffed. "I don't know any of you, but who here knows why I woke up on the ground?" Her voice was cold, as if she were taking measures to keep everyone distant.
Nobody responded for a moment. A girl with long dark red hair and a dress that resembled an umbrella spoke up. "Hey, babe, listen. I dunno who you are either, but I'm just as confused as you are. Take a look around." She waved an arm in a sweeping gesture, indicating all of us at once. "I think it's safe to say that none of us have any idea what the hell's going on. With the whole nerd look you got going on, I was sure you'd be smart enough to notice. Guess it's true what they say. You really can't judge a book by its cover."
The first girl looked extremely offended, but the second was too busy not caring to notice. "H-Hey! Who do you think you are? I'll have you know, I-" A boy with wavy golden-brown hair placed a hand on her shoulder, looking somewhat distressed.
"Hey, hey, now, let's not fight so quickly! It's no good to argue with people so quickly." The girl grumbled something in bitter agreement, and he smiled. It was a nice smile. "Good! It's always important to get off on the right foot." He turned to face everyone and bounced a little in place. "I think we should all introduce ourselves! I'll start! My name is Avery Hecht! I'm not sure how we got here, either, but before I woke up, I was going to be a student at Hope's Peak Academy! It's nice to meet you all!"
Everyone seemed to perk up. I blinked in surprise. "You, too? What's your talent?"
Avery's eyes lit up as he bounced over to me and took both my hands, leaning in just a bit too close for comfort. "I'm the SHSL Party Planner! You were going, too? We're probably going to be classmates, then! That's so cool! So how about you? Who are you, what's your talent?"
I leaned back slightly and gently pried my hands out of his. "My name is Jocelyn Repetto. I'm the SHSL Swing Dancer. And like Avery, I was set to go to Hope's Peak. I fell asleep on the bus, I believe, and now I'm here."
Avery nodded in satisfaction, then pointed back to the first girl. "Okay! Jocey and I have gone, so it's your turn now!" I raised an eyebrow at the unsolicited nickname, but the girl was already speaking before I could open my mouth to protest.
"I see… I am Roxanne Demeulle. I was going to attend Hope's Peak as well." She adjusted her glasses and looked a bit proud. "I was accepted as the SHSL Geologist. Is it safe to assume that-"
"That everyone here was going to attend Hope's Peak? Yes, I believe that's a safe assessment." A boy with a narrow face and a rather weak-looking build smirked. Roxanne seemed beyond irritated at being interrupted. "Chester Shavell. SHSL Historian."
Avery nodded. "Roxy and Chestnut! Nice to meet you guys, too!" I was almost sure he was only interjecting to prevent another fight from breaking out. He pointed towards the person standing to Chester's left, a boy with spiky hair and a scarf. "How 'bout you next?"
The boy seemed a bit surprised to be selected. "Who, me? Sure!" He adjusted his coat and grinned. "The name's Caden. Caden Modica. SHSL Traveler. Got any questions about foreign countries? I'm your guy!"
The redhead from earlier stood to his left. "I guess I'll go next. Lucile Capozza. SHSL Meteorologist. Not that any of you give a damn about the weather…" She twisted her necklace between her fingers. I was just a bit too far away to tell what what the charm was.
A tall, lanky boy wearing a jacket over a T-shirt with some logo on it I didn't recognize was next. "Oh, hey. I'm, uh… I'm Logan. I'm just… like, SHSL Good luck or something. I'm nothing really special." He shrugged and stopped talking, a stupid looking grin taking over his face. Avery muttered to himself. I caught the nicknames he'd assigned to those who had just introduced themselves, and hoped that Lucile didn't end up murdering him later.
A girl with bobbed blonde hair and a white sunhat stood next to him, holding some kind of wooden staff-like implement. It was familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. Everyone looked to her expectantly. She stared back blankly. "And you are…?" Avery prompted. She blinked slowly, considering us before speaking in a soft voice.
"...Bo Boothe. SHSL Sheppard." As soon as she said the words, I recognized her staff as a crook. She gave us no more than that. After a few more empty moments of waiting - and receiving nothing - we moved on.
A tall girl with slick black hair and an expensive looking dress nodded and stepped forwards before dropping into a curtsey. "Good evening. My name is Jade Coutaux. I am referred to as the 'SHSL High Society'. Make of it what you will. It is a pleasure to make everyone's acquaintance." After her rather formal greeting, everyone seemed a little bit uncomfortable. She sighed. "You may be casual when associating with me. I am simply following training." Everyone visibly relaxed.
A boy with short reddish-brown hair and some kind of harness on crossed his arms as he regarded everyone. "Yo. I'm Cliff Marron, SHSL Rock Climber. Let's all get along, and all that…" Roxanne looked at him with a gleam of interest in her eye.
"Rock climber? We may have a few things in common," she said. It was the friendliest I'd heard her sound all night. Cliff nodded in response.
"Yeah, maybe." He didn't seem particularly interested in talking to her. There was another moment of silence as we waited for the next girl to speak. She wore her hair up in an elaborate bun and wore very comfortable looking clothes. I somewhat envied her. She wasn't looking at anyone, but rather stared down at the stones under her feet. Avery cleared his throat.
"Infinity scarf, it's your turn," he said gently. The girl looked up in surprise, and flushed red.
"O-Oh! I'm sorry." Her eyes drifted back down to the ground. "Um… I'm M-Millie. Millie Littler." We looked at her as she fidgeted uncomfortably.
"Do you have a talent, Millie?" Avery prompted, smiling encouragingly. "I bet it's something nice! Are you a baker? Or maybe a seamstress?"
She shook her head. "N-No… I'm… Um… An arachnologist." She turned redder.
Avery's eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa! Like, spiders and stuff, right?"
"I-I mean, it's m-more than just spiders. There's scorpions, and huntsmen, too, and-" She cut herself off, looking even more embarrassed than before. "N-Never mind. Sorry. Um… You can g-go." She shuffled backwards, letting the next person take the spotlight.
A girl with pinkish-red hair swept up into a side ponytail clasped her hands together and smiled sweetly. "Hi, everyone! I'm Cheryl Trivellato, and I just love love love all things cute and sweet, so that's why I'm called the SHSL Romantic! I can't wait to meet each and every one of you!" She nodded as she finished, her smile remaining. The strange thing about her words was that they sounded completely earnest. She seemed like an interesting person to say the least.
As did the next girl. Her hair was a light lavender, and pulled up into two messy pigtails. Her dress looked like something out of a fantasy movie. "Oh! Oh! I'm next, right?" She grinned and did a little jump in place, causing the bells in her hair that I hadn't noticed before to jingle cheerfully. "I'm Vanessa! Vanessa von Doren! They call me… the SHSL Fairy Hunter! So let me know if you see any!" I highly doubted that I would, but I decided not to crush the poor girl's dreams.
The boy next to her closed his pocket watch and placed it back in his vest. "Just on schedule… Gerard Luster. SHSL Timekeeper. I'll keep it to that, simply for the sake of being short. On to the next person, then." He seemed to be a very practical boy.
The next boy had long, wavy, black hair that he kept in a low ponytail. He stood up straight, appearing taller than he already did, and smiled gently, his eyes going meltingly soft. "Thank you for your time, Gerard. I'll be sure to remember your name. And everyone else's, for that matter. My name is Russel Quist. I don't have a very special talent like the rest of you, but I'm so very glad to be in the company of such lovely people." For some reason, my heart stuttered. It was a blanket statement, yet I felt like his words were directed at me in particular. I felt my face heat up, and I looked away.
The next girl cleared her throat, her arms placed impatiently on her hips. Her black hair was cut very short, and she wore an aviator jacket and a red scarf. Somehow I had an idea of what her talent was. "Well, if you're all done, I'm going to go ahead!" She pulled a pair of goggles off the top of her head and onto her eyes, and gave everyone a thumbs up and a wink. "The name's Cassidy Crow, hot air balloon pilot extraordinaire! Pleased to meetcha!" Well, not quite, but I was close.
The last boy had messy blonde hair, partially hidden under a hat. "Guess I'm last, then. 'Ello, everyone. I'm Dennis Allard, an' they call me the SHSL Reptile expert. An' this lil fella…" He reached behind his shoulder and pulled out a chameleon. "Is Horace! I'd appreciate if ya didn't try ta spook him much." He replaced the lizard on his shoulder and nodded. "Well, tha's everybody. Whadda we do now?"
Everyone glanced around at each other, murmuring in confusion. "Well," began Chester. "We should most likely begin-" He was cut off by a high pitched laughter. "Who's laughing?" He demanded, leveling a glare at all of us. "And what could possibly be so funny?"
"I am! And I'm laughing at all of you!" The ground rumbled, and from the center of the fountain, something popped up. A small, round, black and white something. It stood up and brushed the dust off itself. "You're all so stupid, it's laughable! So confused, just walking around blathering on and on about boring stuff that nobody cares about! So boring! So I'm here to finally get this ball rolling!"
Millie looked up at it nervously. "U-Um… w-what are you?"
The thing turned to look at her. "Eh? What did you say? Speak up, would you?"
Her eyes widened and she seemed to shrink into her scarf, but she tried to project her voice a bit more. "I s-said… What a-are you?"
"There ya go! Gold star for you!" It jumped off the fountain and walked up to Millie before putting a golden star sticker on her sweater. He dashed back and scrambled up. "And to answer your question… I'm Monokuma! The handsomest bear in the entire universe! And I'm here to spice up your boring, uneventful, tedious, utterly-excruciatingly average lives!" He threw his arms up, posing dramatically. It was an amusing sight, for something that was no more than three feet tall.
Cassidy narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously and crossed her arms. "What are you going on about? My life's full of adventure and excitement!"
"No, no no!" He insisted. "It certainly is not! There's no danger! I'm not talking about some stupid kiddie ride in a balloon, I'm talking about something way more exciting! I'm talking about…" His red eye gleamed. "Some good old fashioned murder!"
Roxanne's face turned stern. "Murder is not something to be excited about. Please do not joke about such things."
Monokuma turned on her. "Oh? Who said I was joking? I'm totally serious! You kids are going to murder each other!"
"And just why would we do anything of the sort?"
"Because you wanna go home, right?"
Cliff cocked his head to the side, his eyes narrowing. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Think about it! You kiddos got no clue where we are, right? You're miles from home! And trapped here, just for good measure! Can't have you all running out like ants all over the place. So you're going to murder for the right to escape!"
"I'm not going to kill anyone! Why should we even believe you?" Cassidy shouted. I nodded in agreement. What reason did we have to think that a teddy bear held any kind of real threat to us?
"Eh! Kids these days… No respect for their elders," Monokuma sighed. "Whatever. I've got a special gift for everyone! Everyone check your pockets. I think you'll find something nice in there!"
I felt around in my skirt until my hand touched something hard. I pulled it out to find a tablet. I powered it on and found a profile. About me. Everything about me. Full name, age, height, weight, blood type, even my favorite food. I scrolled down through all the information. "What the… How did you get all this?" I muttered.
"I've got my connections, girlie. Don't think too hard about it." Monokuma waved a hand dismissively. Everyone seemed on edge, shooting nervous glances at their neighbors. Logan shook his head.
"Yo, dude, what the fuck? What is any of this? How do you know this?" He looked up at Monokuma, his eyes wide with… fear? I frowned and looked through my profile again. It didn't say anything particularly concerning. I did think it was a little creepy how they had all this, but I wasn't scared.
Monokuma laughed, completely ignoring Logan. "Now, children, please direct your attention to the new icon for a few little rules in our little killing game!"
I tapped a new icon that appeared on my tablet and read through the rules.
Students are only allowed to be in the city. Stepping off city grounds will lead to severe punishment!
Lights out from 10 PM to 7 AM. Some buildings may be closed at night, so be careful not to get stuck!
Violence against Monokuma is strictly prohibited, and will lead to severe punishment!
Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will gain exclusive rights to leave, unless they are discovered!
New rules may be added at any time for any reason!
I looked specifically at rule four. "What's this about a 'blackened'? And killing?"
"I already explained it! Did you not even listen? That's so rude! Utterly unforgivable!" Monokuma looked pissed. "But since I'm such a nice, sweet, and handsome bear, I'll explain again. You wanna go home? You kill! Any way you like, I'm not picky. Just preferably something interesting. Try to be a little creative here, kids!"
I shook my head, my lips pressing together in a tight line. "I still don't believe you. We're not going to kill anybody. What kind of creepy joke is this?"
"How many times have I gotta say it? This isn't a joke! I'm being serious! Gah! I'm so annoyed right now!" He turned his back on me and put a hand to his chin in thought, tapping his foot. "Hey, I got an idea! Just for funsies, I'll let someone quit right now. They don't have to participate at all! I know! We'll do a random lottery!"
Everyone, despite claiming that they didn't believe him, looked somewhat shifty. I had to admit, something about this whole thing felt… off. It all just felt wrong. A ticket out was something nobody would pass up. Monokuma pulled out a top hat and a magic wand. He tapped the rim three times. "Alright, magic hat of fate, who's the nerd who leaves before everyone else?" A scrap of paper flew out of the hat and floated back down into Monokuma's palm. He cleared his throat, took his time uncrumpling it and then announced, "Logan Pixton!"
Relief flashed over Logan's face as he stumbled forwards. "Oh thank God! I can go home! Dude, luck pulling through for the win!" He started to laugh in relief. "So, like, where do I-" He was cut off suddenly and sharply by a spear through the chest. I felt bile rise up in the back of my throat, my stomach twisting. His eyes widened and his laughter turned to a horrific sputtering cough. Screams erupted all around me as Logan slumped to the ground just beside the fountain. I couldn't tear my eyes away. The stones ran with scarlet. The air was filled with nothing but screams, a gurgling cough, and now Monokuma's overpowering cackle.
"What's wrong? Now he doesn't have to participate!" He howled with laughter. "Didn't take me seriously before? How about now?"
Nobody responded. We were all frozen. The world tilted around me.
"What the fuck…? What the fuck?" Lucile spat, her face twisted with disgust and horror.
Millie was just crying.
Russel looked ghostly pale.
Gerard mumbled something as he stared intently into his pocket watch.
"Well, kiddos, you guys are an awfully boring bunch, but I think we could change that! I've given you a few buildings to look around, so go for it! Run along and explore! I've got a bit of something nasty to take care of! Blegh!" He stuck out his tongue and looked at Logan. He wasn't fully dead yet. I could tell from his heaving chest. "I'll get back to you tomorrow with something even more fun!" He jumped down and began to drag Logan off, not caring that the spear scraped against the ground. The dying boy's eyes crinkled in pain. They disappeared into an official-looking building, leaving behind only a dull red trail.
I looked around numbly at everyone. Had that really just happened? Everyone looked just as shocked as I was. "W-Well…" Roxanne stuttered, quickly pushing up her glasses. "We need to get a handle on the situation." She tried to speak calmly and firmly, but I could hear a tremble of fear in her voice. "I believe the best option is to… do what the bear says. Let's have a look around." With one last glance behind her at the building, she turned and left down the only road that didn't have a road block in front of it. One by one, everyone else began to disperse as well. I was left, staring at the spot where Logan had fallen. This was no joke. This was no kind of joke I'd ever heard of before. Something deep inside me told me that this was only the beginning. That this wouldn't be the last of it. Not by a long shot.
I took a deep breath, clenched my fists, and walked off to where the others had gone, refusing to look behind me anymore. This was the beginning of our mutual killing game… and there was so much more to come.