The Ropes

Part 2


The girl calling herself Junko Enoshima led the students through the various departments of the school, first taking them outside and showcasing the wide track and field section. It was here where they all first seemed to genuinely display excitement, with state-of-the-art equipment for just about every sport imaginable made available, both clean and maintained. Not unlike kids pressing their faces against storefront windows, they swarmed over the racks, chattering incessantly. Naegi, however, remained fairly uninterested for two distinct reasons.

The first was his disinclination toward sports. He participated in group activities during school, sure, but he was no star player, nor did he do poorly enough to be looked at with scorn. He simply floated around and functioned properly, with no outstanding performance. Blocked an arbitrary runner here, missed a shot there, and just moved the games along; the sense of anonymity was somehow magnified when he was active. Average of the average...

The second and more pressing issue was the feeling that he was being monitored. Ikusaba-san left him alone as soon as the tour began, and puzzlement filled his head as to why she went through all the trouble of pacifying him and taking him inside if she was just going to walk off at the first real chance to talk. In addition, he could almost feel her gaze boring into him, giving the distinct impression that she wanted to talk with him after all. Despite that, she always seemed to be turning away as soon as he'd look in her direction. I wonder what's going through her head? She doesn't seem hostile or dangerous, and yet she certainly isn't sociable either. Keeping an eye on her, he managed to gather that much, at least.

He noticed others try to take up conversation with her, but all she'd only reciprocate with the same curious expression she had given him at the entrance ceremony. The first hints of a smile would play at her face, yet by the time it bloomed, she'd be met with either the back of someone's head, or an apology and a hasty retreat. To see her deflate and ease back into her default blank expression made Naegi very much want to walk over and keep her company, although the memory of her powerful hands keeping him pinned to the lockers as she pierced through him with her large, blue eyes discouraged him immensely. He had no choice but to keep his distance.

After several of the more athletic students finished with their demonstrations for the rest of the group, Junko brought everyone to attention and led them inside just as the blaring of sirens pealed through the air outside the bounds of the school walls. A chorus of outrage, fear and pain followed shortly after, and Naegi's blood ran cold at the thought of what may be transpiring just outside of their view. Surprisingly, no one questioned her authority and immediately fell into line. Gesturing down the hall, she suddenly called out, "Who's hungry? The cafeteria is just around this way, and I'll bet you're all just aching for something to bite into after all that excitement!"

Nodding to herself as a nervous murmur of consensus passed through the students, she flashed a grin and beckoned them on toward a flight of stairs, leading them up into the second floor. Uh...? The cafeteria is on the first floor. I even looked in and walked around the place! Naegi stared after Junko with gradually fading trust. Given the context of the morning's events, he was absolutely certain that she was doing this as a joke only she could possibly be in on. He trailed the girl up the flight of stairs nonetheless, and pretty soon the atmosphere changed, in large part due to the hallway lighting, into a quieter, moodier one.

The second floor featured changing rooms, an oddly-located pool, a warm, quiet library, and a collection of classrooms. It was here that the bookworms and the studious explored for a time before being shepherded up into the third and fourth floors, all with specialized rooms to cater to the interests of the eclectic group. Naegi was paying less and less attention as time went on. He generally disliked tours, and preferred to discover things on his own time. Coupled with the constant walking, stopping, and standing for variable amounts of time, he found the entire endeavor to be tedious; he yearned for something to pull him out of his stupor. Ikusaba was the one who finally broke the seemingly stunted progression of time, suddenly appearing next to him.

A chill ran down his spine, and he swallowed hard as he glanced over at her face. She made no effort to look at him, and instead kept her eyes trained on the babbling form of Junko, who was in the process of introducing a strange machine which looked like a chair with exaggerated armrests. Attached to it were what appeared to be a dangling bowl-shaped headset, and a monitor suspended in front of where the face would be looking. It looked very crude, as if the design were based off an idle doodle, and the plethora of cables that were connected to the back of the seat only accentuated the absurdity of the contraption.

"... and with those ID cards, you'll have access to the school's front door, though unless given special permission, you cannot enter before 7 AM in the morning, nor leave before 4 PM each afternoon! It's very important that you do not approach the school doors without proper identification, nor at improper times. In addition, it's absolutely prohibited to try and enter with another student's ID card. The consequences for such fraudulence is harsh, and any bastard caught doing so will be dealt with accordingly."

She paused and took a long breath, her brilliant eyes darting from face to face. A hand went up in the crowd, and with a raised eyebrow she pointed a finger at it.

"Talk quick, mud! There's a whole lot of students that need scanning."

A timid voice raised in reply, and Naegi couldn't tell if it belonged to a boy or a girl: "Uhm, wouldn't it be fairly unsafe for anybody to even touch that... what'd you call it? Sign-In Chair? There are exposed wires everywhere, and the circuitry looks like it's rubbing against the full-metal design directly from the power supply- " the student's voice was cut off by Junko's hysterical laughter, a bout which had her bent over and slapping her knee. Stunned silence accompanied the melodious, wicked outburst. Straightening up and wiping a tear from her eye after about a minute or so, she waved off the question with one hand and beckoned somebody from the front with the other.

Ikusaba groaned and shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose and muttering to herself, "Tell me she isn't actually expecting me to go anywhere near that idiotic hunk of..." Her voice trailed off when she noticed Naegi looking at her, and frowned as she asked, rather flatly, "What?"

He flinched faintly, but maintained composure even under the pressure of her attention. Clearing his throat, "Uh, hi! You ran off before we could actually talk about anything, and so..." He paused briefly as she raised her eyebrows at him, yet he pressed on without quite knowing what he was going for. "You seem pretty familiar with this school, and Enoshima-san as well. Do you know her outside of Hope's Peak Academy...?"

Naegi stopped talking altogether after that; he saw something feral flash in her eyes, and before he knew what was happening, her hand had clapped over his mouth. She looked over her shoulder to make sure nobody was aware, then leaned in with a hiss.

"I suggest you quit entertaining that line of questioning, kid. This is my first time here, and I don't know any of these idiots huddled around the mystery witch. Got it?"

Their eyes were locked with intensity that practically radiated into the surrounding air. Uncertainty clashed with anger between them, and it was getting to Naegi. The moment ended when he pulled her hand off his face to reveal gritted teeth. I've never had to deal with this kind of situation before... This girl is out of control! I need to keep as far away from her as possible, this is only my first day here. Unimpressed, Ikusaba continued to stare him down with a look that could peel paint, but he shouldered that off too.

"You seemed so nice, Ikusaba-san, but knowing how to smile and look pretty doesn't count for anything if you're just going to be a huge bully to those who try to talk to you!"

Her face blanched and appeared disarmed at the mixed remark. Seeing her flinch back made Naegi regret his words immediately, yet he just couldn't take them back without feeling like less of a person, so he opted to walk away once again. Brow furrowed, he shouldered past ogling students and attempted to blend into the crowd ahead. Annoyed comments floated after him as he bumped into variously shaped students, and yelps sounded out whenever Naegi stepped over a patch of uneven floor.

When he came to the front of the onlooking mob, he was met with Junko kicking and yelling at the chair to "Hurry up and print out the card". As if obeying her prompts, a flat, rectangular object ejected from a slot in the armrest, and the girl greedily fished it out to peer at its detailed surface. Tapping a button, the opaque surface suddenly lit up with text and a picture of the student sitting in the chair, and beeped at a quick yet steady rate. Satisfied with the product, Junko tossed it to the seated girl and pulled her off to make room for the next.

This process repeated itself until everyone had had their experience on the Chair. Naegi was one of the first to step up voluntarily, having been charmed by the idea of replacing his rather plain cellphone with a futuristic one; Junko had pulled out her own ID and made a face-to-face call with the first student to demonstrate its capabilities. She threw it down on the ground, viciously stomped on it, and even held a magnet next to it without the display distorting even slightly. Naegi practically wiggled in the bulky seat, grinning wide as the headset lowered and fastened around his skull, vibrating slightly and lulling him into a sleepy state, though he managed to maintain consciousness long enough to feel a pinprick at the base of his neck.

His body felt hot, and the monitor before him flickered with a dizzying display of colorful, cartoony animations featuring a silly-looking bear. Naegi's head swam thickly, and keeping his eyes open was a monumental task. Suddenly, the vibrating stopped, and he was jarred to attention by Junko's all-too familiar kicking on the Sign-In chair, which was in the process of dispensing the ID. Casually slapping the headset off, she grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie and tossed him off to the side with the other three students who had gone before him.

Stumbling next to them, he ran his fingers over the back of his neck where the stinging sensation had been only moments ago. The faintest bump greeted his fingertips, and it felt like it was starting to irritate already. While it alarmed him, Naegi ignored it for the time being, and instead looked down at his prize. Investigating the rest of the features of his ID, an application called caught his attention. What's this...? He tapped on it, and gasped out loud at its contents. Where did they get this much information? I don't even know all this! His blood type, his weight, clothing sizes, and school records were only a tiny fraction of the vast dossier, but there was no way this information could have fallen into the hands of this school - he didn't even fill out any paperwork prior to arriving.

As he nervously waded through a detailed outline of his life's accomplishments, a little blip called "Roster" flashed occasionally in the upper corner, alerting him to a new classmate being inducted onto his "team", as it was called there. Eventually, 14 out of the 15 possible spots in class 2-B were filled. He had only gotten through half of the .bio file before one of his classmates introduced himself, pulling him away. Naegi was grateful for the distraction, soon becoming enraptured by his charisma. All his classmates appeared friendly enough, though a couple came off as hostile towards his intentions to converse. The mix of skills and personalities was quite unexpected, with both the physical and the mental aspects covered superbly.

Most unexpected of all was the induction of Maizono, the idol who attended the same middle school that he had. She hadn't noticed him yet, being on the other side of the gathered group, but he could faintly make out frantic head movements - is she looking for someone? Naegi decided to walk over and give her a friendly greeting before leaving her be, but as soon as he collected himself, his ID started flashing, drawing his attention to it once more. The 15th student had been decided, and Naegi promptly tapped on the display, eagerly bringing up the student's profile. Everything stopped. A familiar chill ran down his back as he slowly looked up and across the hallway at the Sign-In Chair, disbelieving of his luck. No... no no no...! Why this group, out of the four!?

In the arms of the absurd metal contraption sat Mukuro Ikusaba, who was in the process of throwing off the headset and glaring at Junko. Ikusaba grabbed her arm and pulled Junko down to hiss into her ear, jerking a thumb at her own neck where, Naegi assumed, she had felt the pinprick as well. Junko rolled her eyes and replied with an offhand gesture, patting her shoulder and pushing her in the direction of class 2-B. Ikusaba bristled fiercely, shrugging off the girl's hand and striding towards Naegi's group with long swings of her legs. She stopped mid-step and turned around sharply with an outstretched hand, catching her student ID as it sailed towards the back of her head. Without skipping a beat, she pivoted on her heel and continued on her way, tapping on it furiously. Something she saw on there made her widen her eyes briefly, and a smile lit up her face before Junko's voice soured it once more. Naegi stayed behind the white-haired, muscular girl - the wrestler - as he watched Ikusaba join their ranks.

The familiarity between the two disturbed him; only one other student had the gall to touch her arm, and he was rewarded with a solid fist to the nose as she screamed at him not to try any funny business. To see Ikusaba be more aggressive with her contact and walk away virtually unharmed confused him to the point of frustration.

"Student body of Hope's Peak Academy! Meet your classmates, learn their faces well!" sang out the voice of Junko, "It is with this group that you will be studying for the entirety of this school year, so I hope you all get off on the right foot!"

Naegi could practically feel his heart in his throat, beating furiously at her words. I'm spending the rest of my school year with Mukuro Ikusaba, probably the most hostile person I've met in my life! He swallowed hard as the situation set in.

"Your ID's are going to enable chatrooms later today for talking with your classmates for tonight's assignment. You are not, however, to talk to any other students from the other classes via these chatrooms. In fact, the feature to do so isn't even available! The purpose of this school is to ensure your success, and if you are bogged down by others who have no idea what is happening in your classroom environment, then you're wasting your valuable time! I can promise that much."

Giving off an exaggerated yawn, Junko continued, "But enough of all that, you can read all of these guidelines in your ID's. For now, let me give you your first take-home schoolwork. Your task tonight is to meet and talk to each of your dashing fellow classmates. Learn why they're here, what they like, how they spend their day or whatever, and bring a sheet of paper detailing all of that to school tomorrow."

She clapped her hands together, offering an unnervingly sweet smile, "The time is now 12:47 PM. You all have special permission from me to leave the school grounds early, but you are free to snatch food from the cafeteria and linger for a little. Now get out of here, I'm sick of looking at you."

With that, she turned around and walked down the hallway away from them, eventually disappearing behind a massive set of double-doors which slammed shut behind her as soon as she stepped in. Just like that, Junko unceremoniously abandoned the students on the 4th floor of what was quite possibly the least conventional school they would ever attend.

Naegi was once again left with a strong pang of uncertainty as he followed the rest of the school down the length of the school. He didn't stop to eat at the cafeteria, and instead rushed over to the main entrance. I'm getting out of this weird place.

His fingers wrapped over the door's handle as he ran, but instead of open air greeting his face, an unnaturally solid hardwood slab smashed his face. Ow! What the..? His head spun at a dizzying pace, and he blinked away tears as he looked down to test the exit once more.

The handles rattled in his grip, unyielding to his attempts to open the door. Panic washed over him as the possibility of imprisonment made itself very real, and he renewed his attempts to open the alarmingly non-budging entrance with even more desperation. He put a foot on one door and pulled on the other handle with both hands with all his might.

They remained closed.


End of Part 2