I think that ndv3 has a lot of potential for AU, this is why I decided to wrote one. I'm sorry if I made mistakes, English isn't my first language. There is no major spoilers but I still warn you about potential minor spoiler. See the notes at the end for more explanation about why I decided to write this story (warning, there is spoiler for the game in the notes at the end).

The characters in this chapter are wearing the uniform they had in the beginning of the game's prologue.


Akamatsu Kaede was staring nervously at the people in the gymnasium. They were about her age, 16 or 17 years old. Including herself, they were sixteen people, eight girls and eight boys, wearing regular middle school uniform. In her case, Kaede was wearing a dark blue sailor school uniform with a red ascot.

Gathering her courage, the blond girl slowly approached from the other teenagers. A boy with short green hair suddenly gave her a warm smile. He seemed friendly, but Kaede couldn't help herself from thinking he kind of looked like a playboy.

"Yo. You don't need to be shy, we're all in the same situation as you." The green haired boy began to say. "You too you received an invitation from Hope's Peak Academy, right?"

"Huh, yeah, I did." Kaede answered. She was a little bit reassured by the boy's attitude.

Couples of day ago, she had received a letter from Hope's Peak Academy, more specifically from the headmaster. It was an invitation to attend a special information session given by the headmaster of Hope's Peak.

"It looks like we will be sixteen attending this information session." The boy continued with a pensive look. "Interesting. I think I figured out what this session would be about."

"Y-You…too?" A shy voice said.

Kaede noticed a boy slightly taller than her by their side. He was wearing a black cap and he seemed to be quite timid.

"Oh, really? Well then, care to explain your deduction?" The green haired boy asked with a serious yet calm expression.

The boy with the cap seemed to hesitate for a moment. He took his chin with his finger while avoiding eye contacts.

"Hope's Peak Academy was recently reopened." He began to say. "A school without students has no purpose, which must explain our presence here. I heard that Hope's Peak's classrooms had sixteen students. That corresponds to the number of people here. But…I don't think I'm enough talented to be here. I've nothing exceptional, I just…resolved some cases with mere luck…"

Kaede listened to him with great surprise. Even if she considered that he was belittling himself unfairly, she was also uncertain about her presence here. She had a hobby, but she didn't considered this to be a talent that was worthy of a school like Hope's Peak.

"I must admit that I'm also confused." The green haired boy added. "I don't think that I have a particular talent…maybe I'm the Lucky Student…?"

"No, if someone's here is the Lucky Student, it must be me." The boy with the cap said.

"Oy, you guys!" An energetic voice suddenly shouted.

A tall guy with spikey purple hair came to join them, showing a bright smile.

"Hey you, do you really think we were chosen to be students here?" The purple haired boy asked.

"Huh, I think that…it's a high possibility." The boy with the cap answered.

"That would explain why this guy who called on my cell phone asked me those questions." The energetic guy continued. "At first I thought he was just a charlatan who pretended to be a fortune teller. He asked me questions about my pilotage ability. He seemed to think that I was a plane pilot, so I corrected him. I'm not just a pilot, I'm an astronaut! The one who's even famous in space, the astronaut that crying children long for, Momota Kaito!

Kaede was wondering how a teenager could be an astronaut, but she didn't dare asking.

"You remind me that I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Amami Rantarou. There is nothing really special about me, I'm just a normal guy. What about you?"

"Me? I'm Akamatsu Kaede, and…I like playing the piano."

She looked at the boy with the cap, who had remained silent.

"Hey, what's your name?" The blond girl asked with a friendly smile.

"Huh!?" Oh, uh…my name is Saihara Shuichi."

"Did I hear you right? You think we're going to be students here?" A girl with blond hair and wearing a sailor uniform revealing her cleavage. "If a genius like me is here, then it must be true. I'm the most prestigious inventor in this world, the one with golden brain cells, the almighty Iruma Miu!"

Kaede thought that Iruma was similar to Momota. They were both really energetic and loud, and also pretty confident about their capacity. They truly seemed like potential students from Hope's Peak Academy.

"What kind of inventions did you make?" Kaede asked.

"What make you think your allow to talk to me, bitch!?" Iruma replied with displeasure. "A flat-chested like you shouldn't be talking to someone like me. I'm not just a petty mechanic or some shit like that, I'm a fucking inventor! I've the power to change the world with my inventions! It's not like the other idiot who lose his time jerking off in space…"

"Who are you calling an idiot!?" Momota shouted angrily. "Space exploration is not a waste of time! It's really beneficial to humanity! I won't let you insult space and make fun of my dream!"

Out of the blue, Iruma's attitude changed. She was now shaking in fear, she almost look like she was about to piss herself. Kaede had hard time to believe it was the same girl who had insulted her without knowing her.

"W-Why are you shouting!? P-Please, don't be mad at me…" Iruma begged.

Kaede decided to leave and go talk to someone else. She spotted a girl with medium length red hair who almost looked like a kid. She had a bored expression and seemed to have some difficulty to stay awake.

"Uhnaaa…it's so tiresome." The red haired girl said. "My legs are tired, if someone doesn't carry me, I'll fall on the ground soon…"

"If you don't mind, Tenko would gladly carry you!" A girl with particular pigtails replied with enthusiasm.

"Uhh…it's too tiresome to ask you why…so I allow you to carry me."

Without further ado, the pigtailed girl took the smaller girl and put her on her back while heavily blushing. Kaede decided to leave them alone and searched for someone else. She saw a boy who also seemed quite young, with dark purple hair. He was currently talking with a boy with a robotic appearance. The young looking boy seemed really interested by the other boy, while the robotic one looked like he was intimidated.

She noticed a rather normal looking girl with long blue hair. Kaede tried to call her, but she didn't react. The blue haired girl seemed to be lost in her thought, she almost looked like a statue.

"HEY!" The blond girl tried again.

The blue haired girl remained quiet. A little bit annoyed, Kaede pocked her cheek.

"Oh my, I didn't think you would poke me."

"Sorry, but you didn't answer me. You must be really deeply in your thought to not have heard me." Kaede justified. "I almost thought that you were deaf…"

"No, I did hear you." The blue haired girl corrected. "I just ignored you to not lose the train of my thought."

Even if her words seemed to be rude, Kaede didn't have the impression she said that to be mean.

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore, I've finish to think. What do you want to talk about? Oh, I know! What is your favorite kind of Dere?" The blue haired girl asked with fervor.

"W-Wait! Can I know your name first? My name is Akamatsu Kaede."

"I'm Shirogane Tsumugi, Nice to meet you."

"Excuse-me, may I ask you a question?" A tall girl with silver hair said. "You also received an invitation, don't you? I'm interest to know if you have an ability that you could consider a talent. I heard you talking with Saihara-san about the possibility that we were chosen by Hope's Peak Academy."

She was talking with such a mature voice that Kaede doubted that she was really a teenager.

"A talent? More like a passion." Shirogane answered. "I don't know why such a prestigious school like Hope's Peak would be interested by a plain and simple girl like me. But to answer your question, I suppose my ability is cosplaying."

Kaede was surprised to learn that she was a cosplayer. Shirogane indeed looked rather normal, but she couldn't say she was plain. The blond girl even had the impression that she could felt some sort of pheromones coming from Shirogane.

"In my case, it's more a hobby than a talent." Kaede said. "I'm not bad at playing the piano."

"I see, a cosplayer and a pianist. I asked this to others too and they all seemed to have an ability. Ah, sorry, I didn't introduce myself properly. My name is Tojo Kirumi, and I'm a maid."

Suddenly, sparkles appeared into Shirogane's eyes while she almost jumped on Tojo.

"Really!? You're maid!? What kind of maid? Wait, let me guess. You look like the serious type, really professional and impeccable, the perfect maid. I've cosplays that could suit you well. Please, tell me your mensuration…"

Slowly, Kaede began to recoiled, uneased by their conversation. She then spotted a large and tall muscular boy. At first she found him kind of scary, but when she noticed his big friendly smile, she thought that maybe she judged him to soon. He was talking with a rather short girl with tanned skin and platinum blond hair. Another boy was by their side, he had a suspicious appearance and he was wearing a mask on his mouth.

"I would like to visit your island one day." The masked boy began to say. "I would like to learn more about your culture and be able to admire the beauty of your people."

"Gonta is also interested in your island, Yonaga-san! Gonta is sure there are a lot of insects he never saw." The muscular boy said.

Kaede also spotted a really short boy apart from the group. She noticed that Momota and Amami were approached from him, before engaging the conversation with him.

He wasn't the only one who seemed to avoid contact with others. A girl with dark hair and red eyes was all alone. Since no one went to talk to her, Kaede decided to dare approaching her.

"Hi. You must have also received an invitation from Hope's Peak, right? Do you have…a talent?" Kaede asked.

The other girl barely looked at her when she responded.

"Yes."

Kaede waited a little bit, thinking that maybe she would continue to talk, but it wasn't the case.

"And…what it is? And what's your name? Mine is Akamatsu Kaede."

The red eyed girl sighed.

"Harukawa Maki. I'm a caregiver, even though I dislike children…"

Before Kaede could ask an explanation for this blatant contradiction, she heard someone calling her.

"Akamatsu-san!"

The blond girl turned back and saw Saihara. He seemed to be worried, and maybe even afraid.

"Saihara-kun, are you alright?" Kaede asked.

"I…This situation is not alright. It looks awfully like…the broadcast…of the killing game." Saihara answered.

Kaede immediately felt goosebumps when she heard that. The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History came back to her mind. She remembered, one year after the beginning of the Tragedy, they had a broadcast of a mutual killing game. It was orchestrated by Enoshima Junko, the True Ultimate Despair, and the participants were her classmates, the Class 78th and last class of Hope's Peak.

The broadcast had been horrible to watch. Seeing people who were supposed to be the symbol of hope killing each other had almost made Kaede fell into despair. But, she also remembered how she was saved from despair by Naegi Makoto. The way he had beaten Enoshima Junko and became the Ultimate Hope had gave her the courage to stand against despair and tried to spread hope by using her hobby: Playing piano. Even if she didn't have met him personally, Kaede was still grateful toward Naegi for the hope he gave her. Without him, she would have fell into despair and never overcome the Hunt she had undergone during the Tragedy.

But what Saihara said also worried her. They were sixteen teenagers in a gymnasium and no one here seemed to know someone else. Kaede looked at the podium, afraid that Monokuma would sudden appeared and announce a new killing game.

Suddenly, the door opened. A rather short man entered into the gymnasium and ran toward the podium.

"Sorry, I'm late!" He shouted.

Kaede immediately recognized him. He was Naegi Makoto. Even if she was surprised by his sudden apparition, she felt deep joy to be able to saw him in person. She noticed that pretty much everyone was looking at him with great respect in their eyes.

A woman taller than him was following Naegi. Kaede also recognized her. She was Kirigiri Kyouko, the Ultimate Detective. Saihara was watching her with deep admiration.

"Welcome everyone to Hope's Peak Academy! I'm the new headmaster, Naegi Makoto, and the woman here is Kirigiri Kyouko, my assistant. I'm happy to see that everyone came. You must be curious about the reason why you were invited here. Well, as you should know, Hope's Peak recently reopened. We're now ready to welcome new students and form them to become successful young adults."

"We recently learned about a phenomenon that occurred after the broadcast of the first killing game." Kirigiri added. "A lot of people, inspired by Naegi's hope, had fight against despair. Some of them were the survivors of the Hunt that was responsible of the extermination of many talented young teenagers. Those survivors had used their talent to help and save a lot of people who was victim of despair. This is why they gained the title of 'Remnants of Hope'."

"Our talent scouts did researches about those who were called Remnants of Hope." Naegi continued. "They were able to find enough of them to be able to make up a class, which explain your presence here."

Kaede couldn't believe it. It was the first time she heard about the term "Remnants of Hope". She had difficulty to think that she was part of something that sounds that great, and even more about the possibility that Hope's Peak Academy was interested by her hobby.

Suddenly, envelopes fell from the ceiling. Kaede noticed that names were written on them. Since some of them began to pick up the envelopes, she deduced that they must be address to them. She searched for one with her name on it and found one. She took the envelope and examined it. The symbol of Hope's Peak was on it. With some nervousness, she opened it and removed the letter, before reading it:

"Dear Akamatsu Kaede-san, we have the honor to inform you were chosen to be part of the 79th Class of Hope's Peak as the Ultimate Pianist. Congratulation!"


WARNING SPOILERS

I thought about writing this story after seeing chapter 5, when they "remembered" being Hope's Peak students. I thought that "Remnants of Hope" was a fitting title for them.

I keep the event "Hunt" for this AU, but it's not exactly the same thing that the one in the game. I'll explain it in a futur chapter.

Sorry again for the potential (and unavoidable) mistakes.