ACT 1

Drowning in Uncertainties, of a very Odd Reality


Soundtrack: Old World Order

The two gathered around the students who were already in the pods. A brief silence was observed before one of them broke it, as if seeking some form of respite.

"So this is finally the end. It feels nostalgic when I see everyone like this together."

"As I promised, things will end with this, for the better."

"Well, you're the only one left. It wouldn't be fun if you started off with an extra perk. That's not what our audience wants to see."

"Relax, I'll be getting in now…"

"After all, it's the only way to make things more interesting!"


Soundtrack: Beautiful Lie

"Ack…" I groaned as I sat myself up. I felt something growing on the back of my head and sure enough, once I reached to touch it I felt a lump about the size of a cherry. I took a few seconds to recall whatever that just transpired, and slowly stood up using the floor as a support.

"Hey, you alright?" Keisuke asked. "I couldn't break your fall cause you fainted all of a sudden, my bad."

I waved my hands around. "N-No, it's fine… I had no idea what happened back there either."

"Me neither… smoke died out though," He said, looking around. "No one got injured or anything too, other than yourself. Maybe that means it's time to learn how to break your falls, eh?"

"Right…" I scratched the back of my head, while flashing an awkward smile.

Just then, Minako cut anxiously between the two of us, and her eyes shifted furtively around me - as if scanning for any signs of injuries.

"Y-Yu, are you okay? Are you alright? Do you need anything at all?"

"Thanks for the concern but I'm fine," I said. "Could be better though."

"I see…" She looked downtrodden, before perking up again, taking a few syringes out of her sleeves. "Maybe a blood test would help affirm your conditions?"

I put my hands up instinctively and took a step back. "No thanks, Minako! I'm fine! I'm completely fine! I-I promise!"

"Chill out dude, you're making her sad." Keisuke shrugged.

"A-Am I that u-unreliable…?" She asked, closed to tears.

What am I supposed to do, let her draw blood from me…?

"A-Alright, sorry Minako, I didn't mean it that way. I really don't need any tests right now, but I'll come to you if I do need help, okay?" I assured her.

"O-Okay!" She smiled, and put the syringes back where they belonged - in her sleeves.

"Hey, you're finally up." Aki said, as he approached me. "You afraid of bears or something?"

"Not that I know of…?" I asked back in curiousity.

"Well, you fainted when you saw those things on stage, who's to know?" Aki pointed to the stage.

And at the exact moment, I remembered what i last saw as I blacked out. On the stage were two bears, one black and one white. I blinked my eyes a few times to confirm I wasn't hallucinating of any sort.

Soundtrack: Finding Peace Party

"A-Ahhhh! He's up!" The white one screeched.

"No shit sherlock!" The black one yelled.

"W-What in the world are those things…?" I asked.

"You aren't seeing things, but I have no answer for that either. They claimed to be the orientation helpers, and that the headmaster is going to be here shortly." Aki said.

"Whatever is it, this whole deal's kinda sketchy." Keisuke said.

"Y-Yea! Robotic teddy bears who can move and talk by themselves mean no good! Japan's state of the art technology is progressing way too fast for the US to catch up!" Karen shouted at them.

"Anyway, I'm Kurokuma." The black one said.

"I'm Shirokuma." The white one added.

"And we're your servants for the rest of your lives here in this good old Academy!" They echoed in unison.

"Wait," Kurokuma held up his paw. "Something's not right, right, Shiro?"

"E-Eh…?! Y-You asking me…?" Shiro waved her paws in the air. "W-We're missing someone!"

"Ah… shucks. Let's redo it from the start!"

"Cya, s-suckers!"

Music halts

Then, as fast as it happened, they left the stage. Before I could ask anything else, they left.

They left… the 16 of us in dumbstruck silence. I merely stood rooted to the spot, not sure whether to find it funny or creepy that those things even existed. It was a while before someone spoke up.

Soundtrack: Beautiful Lie

"So, what were they Aki?" Settan put his hand over Aki.

"I'm not a walking know it all… I know as much as you right now. And please, hands off."

Settan ignored him again and continued. "Looks like Aki doesn't know what they are either, sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry for that… I wouldn't know what they were either." I raised up.

"Ah, but Aki's smart. He knows everything."

A-Are you saying I'm dumb…?

"Right…" I obliged.

"My talent is psychiatry… what part of that do you not understand?" Aki asked, still struggling.

"Hey now," Keisuke started. "No fighting you both. It's not nice to fight in a crowd."

"Yui agrees! Especially over something like a kid's show." Yui nodded.

"Kid's show? What do you mean?" Saika asked.

"Hehehe! The teddy bears on stage!"

"Forgive me if I'm wrong... but I don't see where you're coming from…" I said.

She looked at me with a frown. "Did you have no childhood? Carebears! Carebears, I'm telling you!"

"C-Carebears…?" Saika asked, obviously not sure of what that was either.

"I don't think those were Carebears…" I pointed out.

Yui looked around, before pouting and stomping her feet.

"Seriously, does no one know what the Carebears are…?! Urghhh!"

"I-I do…!" Reina spoke up, but quickly withdrew her glance.

"Hey you!" Karen shouted, and pointed at Reina. "Speak up, or you'll be seen as easy, understand?!"

Reina let out a squeal, before biting on her sleeves furiously.

"Oh my god, are you people defunct or something…? Stop biting your sleeves girl…" Karen sighed, before running over and trying to stop her.

"Well, she isn't half wrong. I can't see myself spending an entire year with you retards, let alone a semester." Shoko spoke up.

"W-What did you say?" Iwao asked, taking a step toward Shoko.

"Now we have another deaf guy. What a joke."

"I'll have you know I won 7 awards this year, and I wear the coolest clothes out of training. I also have access to the world's nicest places and spend time with the most classiest of girls!"

"Pffft…" Shoko sniggered.

"W-What's so funny?" Iwao asked, somewhat afraid.

"You." Shoko gestured for him to come closer.

"W-Why you…!" Iwao shouted as he lunged towards Shoko.

And at the exact same moment, a strange voice permeated the entire hall, and fog started filling up the entire area again.

Music halts

"Upupupu…"

"Everyone, Misters and Misses. Please calm down this time, the smoke is not harmful, I assure you." Yukio said.

"Yeah! Once bitten, twice shy!" Karen said.

"You weren't even listening to him the first time…" Hana shook her head.

"A-Are you sure this is safe?" Iwao asked.

"As safe as your patsy virginity is ever gonna be." Shoko laughed.

"Cut it out, the both of you. Immature brats." Saika said.

"I'm guessing the orientation's going to begin, huh? I can't wait for what a thrilling adventure we will have together…!" Eiiji said, somewhat creepily.

"Creepy. Way too creepy, dude!" Hana said.

"About time…" Kaneko sighed.

Soundtrack: Mr Monokuma's Lesson V3

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! I present to you, your one, your only, fashionably late headmaster! Monokumaaaaaaaaaaaa!" A bear, this time black and white yelled into the microphone as he jumped onto the podium from… behind the podium. "Oh. And these two other fanservice time filler bears are my servants."

He stopped talking as if waiting for some kind of response, before screaming into the mic again.

"Hey! Greet your headmaster when you see him, you bonobos know no respect?"

"Another bear…? Is this a fucking joke?" Shoko piped up.

"Upupupu… I can assure you this is no joke Shoko. I AM your headmaster!"

"Well, if this is a prank show, then it's time for the reveal." Keisuke said. "I've seen the cameras, so I already know what's going on."

To that, I looked around me and he was right. There were cameras around the hall, aimed in different directions.

"Cameras…" Kaneko mumbled.

"Prank show…? Like those reality shows? I used to do so many of them! So this is one of those…?! No wonder my manager isn't here to begin with…" Iwao started.

"Heee…!" Reina screeched and bit her sleeves again.

"I know those are organic but you better stop chewing on them…" Karen sighed.

"Relax, just play along! Everything will be fine!" Iwao grinned and held a thumbs up to Reina. "Keep your eyes on the goal, and we'll be there in no time."

"So entertaining!" Monokuma chuckled. "I applaud your efforts and enthusiasm, but sadly, you're wrong! You're oh so desparingly wrong, Keisuke!"

"Those cameras are for an entirely different reason, but they sure as hell aren't for filming!" Monokuma let out a growl.

"Then… *yawn* what are they for?" Kunie awoke all of a sudden and rubbed her eyes.

"Puhuhu… up to me know and you to find out!"

"Okay. Cut the act, now can we begin with the actual orientation program?" Aki asked, tapping his foot on the floor.

"This is the ACTUAL orientation program!" Monokuma fussed. "How many times do I gotta say it! This! Is! The! Actual! Orientation! Program!"

"You're not fooling us… bring out the real headmaster already. Or just cut this cheap act of a prank show." Aki added.

"Would a phony headmaster know about your sister then…? Ogyu Aki?"

"W-What?" Aki froze on the spot. "What did you just say…?"

"Puhuhu! That sure got your attention ain't it?" Monokuma laughed, before turning to the rest of us. "I'm the headmaster around here, so I call the shots, got it? And that was literal, by the way."

Soundtrack: Mr Monokuma's Extracurricular Lesson V3

As he said that, multiple machine guns appeared from the ceiling and pointed at us.

"H-Holy shit! I come in peace!" Karen yelled.

"Woah… are those the MK11307s…?! I never seen them before but woah!" Settan looked on in joy.

"Aren't we all being too calm about this?!" I asked, panicking myself. "Those are guns, guys! We should run!"

"My senses tell me this place is extremely dangerous right now! We have to evacuate now, Misters and Misses!" Yukio added.

"You don't need your… *yawn*… senses for that ya big dummy." Kunie yawned.

"Nyahahaha! I won't fire them off if you obey me. If you understand, please raise your hands!" Monokuma said.

"Guns aren't meant to harm others… they're to protect people…!" Settan gritted his teeth in anger, eventually raising up his hand in defeat.

Slowly, one by one all of us, including Shoko raised our hands. As if he was playing us like idiots, he had us keep it there for a full minute before speaking up again, and withdrawing the machine guns.

"This could have been so much easier… but great! We ended up with a full class of 16 to begin! It would have been less fun if there were less people."

'What do you mean…?" Kaneko asked.

"Well, less people participating in a game isn't very fun, is it?"

"Game?" I repeated, not very sure of myself.

"Yes! A fun game with 16 players!" Monokuma answered.

"That doesn't explain anything." Aki said.

"You dumbos never heard of the 16 player game?!" He shrieked. "Well, that means it worked! Yay!"

"Nothing's making sense…" Hana sighed.

"I've had enough for now, I have to meet my manager soon, see ya!" Iwao said, as he hurriedly ran towards the door.

"Oh silly little Iwao, try all you might, but there's no escaping this school."

Iwao turned back to look at the source of the voice.

"W-What do you mean…? Haha… I have something urgent to attend to, really! But I'll be back I promise!"

"Sadly, I can't let you do that. Rather, I can't even if i wanted to. After all, the entire school has been sealed shut. There's no way in, no way out!"

"We're trapped…?" Kaneko asked.

"Yeah yeah…" Monokuma sighed. "Now that the bear's outta the bag. I kidnapped the 16 of you, got it? I also made sure you can't escape."

"Isn't this Hope's Peak Academy?" I asked.

"Well, technically. But an improved version of it." Monokuma waved me off. "So you bastards starting to get it now or no?"

"Is it m-money that you want?" Iwao asked.

"We can probably pool together a decent amount of money if we tried. Name your price." Saika added.

"Huh? Money? A headmaster has no use for such things!" Monokuma laughed eerily.

"Then why kidnap us…?" Kaneko asked. "I clearly see no benefits for you, only detriments for us."

"I want to see you guys have a thrilling high school life!" Monokuma continued. "That's not all, I want to see you ungrateful bastards graduate from this Academy and leave with smiling faces across the board!"

"So does it mean that we can leave if we graduate?" Keisuke asked.

"Yes!"

"Alright so… how do we graduate?" Keisuke continued.

"Upupupu…"

"Monokuma?" Keisuke called out.

"Upupupu…"

"I think he wants us to guess." I said.

"Uhm… tests?" I asked.

"Nope!"

"Sports…?" Iwao started. "I can do those!"

"Nope!"

"The Chunin Exam?" Yui asked.

"Nononono! You imbeciles! When I'm talking about graduation, I meant..."

"Killing one of your friends!"

… Wait, what?

His words were met with a deafening silence.

He tapped the microphone a few times before blaring into it again. "Hey! This piece of junk ain't working again? I said, kill one of your friends to leave!"

"Is he for real…?" Settan asked. "Killing…? Honor doesn't go well with that…!"

"That's besides the point, he really does want us to kill one another… *yawn*. I think." Kunie said.

"I want to leave… but I can't kill anyone, my brother set a cursed seal on me… I can't remove it till I fight the birdy chimera ant!" Yui said.

"W-Wait, we don't have to take his word for it, don't think such thoughts!" Iwao panicked.

"Hyahahaha!" Monokuma laughed. "At least one of you gets it. I have the power of life and death over every single one of you!"

"So, how do we kill?" Eiiji asked, and received several stares in return. "What, did I say something wrong?"

"… Idiot." Kaneko said.

"What a fine model student!" Monokuma started.

"Well, if you're thinking about killing in this Academy, you have to do so without getting caught by another of your so called friends! Because once a killing happens, there'll be an Investigation Time where everyone else tries to find out the truth behind the murder. Afterwhich, we'll hold a class trial to determine the blackened amongst you! Guess right, and only the blackened gets punished, leaving everyone else to live the remainder of their peaceful lives in the Academy. Guess wrong, and everyone else gets punished, leaving the blackened to graduate and leave the Academy!"

I took a second to process whatever he just said. Investigation… trials… isn't this just like a certain game…?

"So, which one of you wants to go first?" Monokuma asked.

"Tch… Don't mess around." Keisuke clenched his fists with a pained expression. "We would never, kill one another."

"Nyahaha! That's funny, since the one who's so determined usually strikes first!" Monokuma said. "And I know at least one of you would kill to get out!"

"Really? Is one of us like that…?" Aki asked. "That's strange… I didn't believe anyone here to be capable of killing…"

"So you not only have to kill someone," Eiiji said. "But you have to get away with it. Interesting."

"H-Hey… you're seriously creeping me out." Hana backed even further away from Eiiji. "This dude's gonna do something bad, I'm calling it!"

"What do you mean by punish?" Kaneko asked.

"Ah - that means execution." Monokuma simply replied. "Failure to find out the truth, or hide the truth will get you executed. Works both ways and it's gonna be oh so fun!"

"You're still going on about that?" Kunie asked. "You can threaten us all you like, but we'll never kill to entertain a sicko like you."

"I would never…" I added.

"Really…?" Monokuma sighed. "Well, this is getting unBEARably boring. Shiro, Kuro, deliver the pads please."

"Yes sir!" The both saluted and scuttled away in Monokuma's footsteps, behind the podium.

Before long, we realised that we were left on our own.

Soundtrack: Nightmare in Locker

"He's really gone..." Yukio trailed off, as he traced their steps behind the podium, before squatting down and examining it himself.

"Well, he mentioned something about pads, so I suppose we should wait for the other two to bring them to us." Kaneko pointed out.

And as we waited for the two bears to come back, I found myself lost in thought and observing other people. Kunie was dozing off as usual, and Yukio was standing upright by her side, cleaning whatever drool fell from her mouth. A few others hung their heads low and were trying to get some shut-eye like Kunie, and others were also busy taking thought of the entire situation so far. It seemed so bizarre and unreal that it didn't hit me fully yet.

"Hey," Keisuke sat next to me. "Let's hope for the best eh? Help's gonna arrive in no time."

"I sure do hope that's the case." I gave a light snicker.

"Yeah… I'll get my manager to sue him once we're out of here." Iwao added.

"It's not as easy as you think. He went to the effort of keeping us trapped here and setting everything up, you'd think he'd miss out on anything?" Saika pointed out, obviously eavesdropping on our conversation.

"That's… right." Settan agreed. "But we gotta stay optimistic, right Aki?"

"Yes. Optimism is the key to success." Aki nodded. "But so is pessimism."

"The last part wasn't needed…" I winced.

And all of a sudden, a loud ahem followed by an all too familiar voice blared from the speakers.

"Well, the pads are here. Make sure you have the correct ones, because you bastards will need to keep it with you at all times!"

Soundtrack: Beautiful Lie

As I received mine from Kurokuma, I tentatively pressed the power button. The screen lit up immediately, displaying my name, title (?) and several tabs which went in the following order – Map/Rules/Profiles/Messages/Monostore.

"Moving on!" The speakers continued. "These are your Monopads. It works as an identification, rulebook, map, stalking device and even an online catalog! All packed into one package just for you Ultimates. Oh, but the messages tab ain't working yet, cause dem don dilly do' has some bugfixes to settle."

After the two bears finished giving out the Monopads, they seemed to scuttle off in the same direction again, but before they could – Keisuke stopped them.

"Hey now, what're we supposed to do? And where do you think you're going?"

"H-Help?!" Shirokuma stopped in her tracks, before Kurokuma grabbed and pulled her away.

"Who're we to know, just go explore, make friends, do fun stuff and kill one another!" Kurokuma said, before disappearing the same way behind the podium again.

Keisuke walked back over to us and shook his head. "Uhh... I tried...? Guess that's all they're leaving us with for now."

"So... what're we supposed to do now?" I asked.

"How about we explore to see whether we're really trapped?" Aki said.

"But before that, let's check out the Monopads, they might contain vital information to clues on leaving the Academy." Kaneko said.

"This is intricately designed. It does seem that Monokuma is serious about the killing game." Yukio nodded to himself, while touching his Monopad.

"Uh... no offense but how do you even know what's written on there...?" I asked.

"Somehow, I can feel the braille letterings on my pad. This is not a normal device. He must have spent an enormous sum to prepare this for me...! For that, I am grateful."

"Whoa, you serious?" Hana peeked over his side. "Lemme see!"

"Hey, this button's blinking, what's that mean?" Yui tugged onto Saika's sleeve.

"Rules...?" Saika murmured to herself, before pressing on her own screen.

And as the commotion went on and on, I fiddled around with my own since I was curious. Booting it up, I saw my own face, talent - which was displayed as ?, and a few other tabs. Indeed, there was a blinking light on the 'Rules' tab, so I went ahead and tapped it.


Regulations of the Ultimate Academy

1. Students must reside at the Ultimate Academy for the remainder of their foreseeable future.

2. Once a murder takes place, all surviving students must participate in the class trial.

3. If the blackened is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed. If the blackened is not exposed during the class trial, they alone will graduate, leaving the rest of the students to be executed.

4. The killing game and class trials will continue until only two surviving students remain.

5. "Night Time" is from 10PM to 8AM. The Hall and the Collection Room are off-limits at night.

6. Violence towards Monokuma, Shirokuma, Kurokuma, as is destruction of any security cameras are strictly forbidden.

7. Monokuma, Shirokuma and Kurokuma will never directly commit a murder.

8. Your Monopads are very important items. Please do not damage them.

9. The body discovery announcement will play when three or more students discover a body.

10. With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the campus at your own discretion.

11. You are not allowed to break into locked areas.

12. Students who do not obey the rules will be immediately shot at by the machine guns.

13. The headmaster may add new regulations to this list at any time.


"Cameras... strange IDs... for a joke, this is extremely elaborate." Aki said thoughtfully. "Whoever thought this out must have done an admirable job."

"I'm pretty sure we got past that it wasn't a joke anymore..." I awkwardly said.

"Anyway, let's take a look around. There's nothing to stop us from exploring for a way out, right guys?" Keisuke beckoned, before leading the rest of the Ultimates out of the hall.

Rather than tagging along with the crowd, I brought up my Monopad to quickly open up the floor plans I earlier saw. There were a total of 6 floors in the Academy, from B1 where we arrived, to 6F, but only B1 and 1F were viewable for now. I scrolled through the map, pondering over where to go, before following suit.


ALIVE (16)

Hideki Yu [Ultimate ?]

Satoya Iwao [Ultimate Soccer Star]

Ogyu Aki [Ultimate Psychiatrist]

Ekiguchi Settan [Ultimate Marksman]

Kitamura Shoko [Ultimate Herbalist]

Shimamura Keisuke [Ultimate Parkour Expert]

Kimio Yukio [Ultimate Hygienist]

Arakaki Eiiji [Ultimate ?]

Takara Hana [Ultimate Choir Lead]

Miyuki Karen [Ultimate Polyglot]

Fushieda Minako [Ultimate Phlebotomist]

Koike Yui [Ultimate Ninja]

Kawasaki Saika [Ultimate Shrine Maiden]

Nitta Reina [Ultimate NEET]

Takasu Kaneko [Ultimate Mathematician]

Seyama Kunie [Ultimate Sleeper]

DEAD (0)


(AN: Sorry for taking so long. I mean it. Wanna know the reason why? I went through 9 drafts, each panning out to 4k words on average before releasing this one. I swear I gotta cure my goddamn OCD... Anyway, I'll start releasing shorter chapters like these since it's easier to write in one go as compared to my previous 8k words on average. Well, see ya in a while. Trust me when it's gonna be good!)