Nagisa's POV
The entrance ceremony is far from typical, more of a big talent show than the formal event it is at most schools.
If a student wants to, they can go up and display something when they're called using anything Hope's Peak has to offer. Which pretty much anything that's been created that can be transported onto the stage within a few minutes.
The four of us have nothing planned, even though we still have our talents Hope's Peak Elementary classified us as.
For Masaru and I, it's because it's kinda of hard to show our talents. It's not like I could just go up there and study. Kotoko and Jataro just didn't want to, both scared of what people might do to the former Warriors of Hope.
It is an event open to the public, after all. And no one's quite forgotten us yet.
In fact, as we walk towards the auditorium, a couple that appears to be in their late thirties stops and whispers as we walk by. I catch, "How could they get accepted here?" Followed by a "Maybe they're just here to watch." And, "But they're wearing uniforms."
When we actually arrive, we go straight to the section reserved for first years and sit towards the back.
The room is ginormous, I think the number of seats is somewhere around four thousand. It takes up a pretty big portion of the school. But it's multipurpose, used as the gym and event hall as well. The rows of seats can be retracted into the wall, and the floor can change its height, all from a fairly simple control panel.
Just one of the few technologies that have been created since the tragedy ended. New things had to be made to fix the damages, and those things led to the creation of things that could be used for other purposes.
The doors opened about fifteen minutes ago, and unreserved sections are already filling up fairly quickly. The actual ceremony doesn't start for another forty five minutes.
Although there aren't many students here yet, all the teachers seem to be. Headmaster Naegi is being flooded by a group of interviewers, while his assistant Kyouko Naegi tries to watch over everything in the room at the same time. While the business management teacher Togami tries to get them to move along, pushing Touko (Literature) to the side as well, where Komaru (the First Years' guidance counselor) then grabs her arm and leads her to one of the gym coaches, Asahina. She then pauses her conversation with the other two gym coaches, Nidai and Owari to talk to Touko and Komaru. Nidai and Owari then get involved in a discussion with the foods teacher Hanamura. Nevermind, the Civics teacher then joins in bringing Tanaka the Animal Science teacher and Souda the Mechanics teacher with her. The Music teacher, Mioda seems to overhear something and engages in as well, dragging the drama teacher, who doesn't have a name and just goes by "Imposter" with her. This brings the digital art teacher Mitarai to join in. The photography teacher Koizumi watches nervously from the sidelines with the dance teacher Saionji, who turns to say something to the medical instructor Tsumiki. She then starts to shake, and falls onto the weapons specialist Pekoyama, leading the street practices (aka, how to start a gang and maintain it) instructor Kuzuryuu to help them both up. From the very outer edge of it all, the substitute teacher Nagito (who I guess they couldn't find another job for) and all-purpose teacher Hinata/Kamukura (I'm not entirely sure what name he goes by) watch all of it, both with nervous smiles. Then the only "teacher" that wasn't present, Hagakure (who is actually just the janitor that is sometimes put in as a substitute teacher) comes in and pushes through the crowd to get to Headmaster Naegi to tell him something.
Even though the group is quite large (and it's still not all the teachers, there's definitely more in a place like Hope's Peak) it feels like there are people missing. I assume it's the people Junko killed, be it directly or through her killing games.
Every group seems to be missing someone from the events of the tragedy. Even ours, I guess. Though, at least Monaca's not actually dead.
"And that's why peeled chestnuts are very distinctly different from unpeeled chestnuts. I've explained this like a million times Masaru!" Kotoko exclaims, bringing me back to be somewhat aware of what they're doing.
"But they're literally the exact same thing." Masaru says.
"Well maybe to you they are, but Kotoko obviously has a different opinion..." Jataro comments.
"It's not an opinion! It's facts, I tell you!" Kotoko continues ranting about the differences in chestnuts, other than being peeled or unpeeled.
I pull my sleeve back and look at my watch. Through me trying to figure out just what was going on with all the teachers, almost twenty minutes had passed. So things were starting to settle down as the last of the people came in. Almost everyone was in a seat at this point.
I feel a tap on my shoulder, and look up to see a girl with bright yellow eyes and waist-length reddish-brown hair with straight cut bangs, other than two longer pieces that frame her face and rest on her large chest. She seems to wear the standard uniform with the absence of the blazer, and over-the-knee black socks instead of the standard knee-high white ones.
"Is it okay if I sit here?" She asks, gesturing towards the empty seat next to me. One of few left in the First Years' section.
"Sure." I answer.
"Thanks Nagisa." She says as she sits down.
Before I have the chance to ask how she knows my name, the lights dim, other than the bright stage lights.
Headmaster Naegi steps up to the podium on the right side of the stage.
"Since the room is already full, and we have an overwhelming number of new students to welcome, as well as some new staff. We have decided to start a bit earlier this year." He announces. "We hope this doesn't cause any disruptions to you."
His assistant cringes slightly beside him, most likely due to the strange word use in his sentence.
The headmaster continues on with what seems to be a fairly normal speech. Ending it with the school's unofficial motto "With hope for the future."
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A/N I need more characters still! Mostly side characters but some more main characters to pick from would be nice too!
The new character introduced in this chapter is my own OC, who's name has not yet been revealed.
Current main characters officially accepted: 2/4
Side characters officially accepted: 2
