Seeing all the Ultimates together unnerved Makoto a bit. Talking to each of them individually had not been so bad, but their being together reminded him that to them, he was only an untalented everyman who had gotten here by luck. Nonetheless, the one thing that united them was their confusion about what was going on here. And it was at this gym that they would hopefully finish this tiring part of the day.
There were many chairs set up before the stage, where a podium had been set up, and Makoto guessed that this was meant to be where the orientation would be held. Despite the welcoming appearance, none felt no desire to sit down and relax, when there was clearly something off about the situation. Makoto stood near Sayaka and Taka, both of whom looked nowhere as relieved as Hiro.
"See? Told you this was all part of the ceremony!" Hiro said, chuckling.
"Still, this is totally, totally not normal," Junko said, Mukuro standing near her and watching the others warily.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure this isn't a thing at this kind of school," Hina said, who stood next to Sakura.
"Where's the headmaster?" Chihiro asked, looking around. "Wasn't he the one who told us to come here?"
Everyone started looking around, wondering whether he was simply hiding somewhere, until a voice rang out.
"Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Good! Then let's get things rolling!"
It was the same voice that had come from the monitor. All of them froze and slowly turned toward the stage. They stared at the podium and gasped when a black-and-white teddy bear had suddenly popped out from underneath and jumped onto the podium.
"Huh? A… teddy bear?" Chihiro said.
"I'm not a teddy bear!" The voice came from the bear, which drew out more gasps and sounds of amazement from the students. "I… am… Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster!"
The last statement drew out even more confusion from the sixteen students. Of all the things that Makoto had expected to see today, never had he imagined a talking teddy bear that called itself this school's headmaster. Notwithstanding the fact that the bear was talking, he had an utterly unfitting voice, sounding too carefree and unserious. And the bear's design looked off as well; his black half had a red eye, and his smile was much wider and showed its teeth. His very presence was enough to turn Makoto's worry to fear.
"C-Calm down, everyone!" Taka said, who sounded less than reassuring, especially with his sweating. "I-I'm sure there's a speaker inside it. The true headmaster is speaking through it. After all, there's no way a teddy bear is in charge of this school!"
"Wrong!" Monokuma raised his arms in protest.
"Wh-Whaaaat?! The teddy bear has moved!" Hifumi said.
"Keep your head straight, man!" Mondo said. "It's likely only a remote-controlled toy or something like that."
"Calling me a child's plaything… Those words cut me deep. Deeper than the Mariana Trench," Monokuma looked dejected at first before gleefully boasting of how complex his remote control system was, as if he were having fun with this.
"What the fuck is he going on about?" Mondo said. No one answered him, for all were as bemused as he was, staring at their self-called headmaster with much awe.
"Now then, moving on!" Monokuma said, as if unaware of the fact that his pupils were still in utter unbelief. "First, let's talk about what your school life here will be like. Make no mistakes—you few students, so full of potential, represent the world's hope. And to protect such splendid hope, you will all live a harmonious communal life together only within this school's confines, cleaving to its rules and regulations as well."
"Wh-What?" Makoto and a few others said.
"And as for your communal life's end date," the unbelievable teddy bear said, "there isn't one! In other words, you'll all be here until the day you die!"
Everyone gasped.
"Wh-What has he just said?" Toko said. "Until the day we die?"
"Oh, but fear not!" Monokuma said. "We've got a high enough budget to provide for you, should you be wanting of any common conveniences!"
"That's the least of our worries!" Sayaka said.
"Yeah, what the hell? You're saying I have to, like, live here forever?" Junko said. "You are so screwing with us, right?"
"I am not screwing around with you!" Monokuma said. "I am no liar. Of that you can be sure. Oh, and to be clear: you're fully cut off from the outside world. You don't have to ever worry about what goes on outside the school walls!"
"C-Cut off? So all those metal plates all over the school…" Makoto said, growing even more fearful. "They're there to keep us trapped here?!"
"You got it, buster!" Monokuma answered. "However much you scream and yell for help, help will not come. With all that in mind now, you're free to live out your life here as recklessly as you want, students of Hope's Peak Academy!"
Despite protests from some of the others, it had become clear to Makoto that this teddy bear was all too real, and his answer, however unbelievable and horrifying it was, explained something about their predicament. Still, how could the teddy bear happily say that they were to live the rest of their lives here at a school they were supposed to start today? What was he thinking?
"Come now, students! How could you say you want to leave," Monokuma said, "when the entrance ceremony hasn't even finished yet? Oh, but I suppose I should mention that there is one way to leave the school."
"R-Really?" Leon said, his smile showing more relief. "There is?"
"Of course! As headmaster, I've crafted a special clause for you who would like to leave! I call it… the Graduation Clause!"
The Graduation Clause? It was supposed to fill Makoto with hope that this unbelievable situation would come to an end, and from the looks of his peers, some of them now looked relieved. Yet something about it filled him with dread instead.
"As I have said already, you will live together harmoniously in a communal lifestyle," Monokuma began. "But if someone were to disrupt the harmony, that person alone would be allowed to leave the school. And that, my students, is the Graduation Clause."
"What do you mean by 'disrupt the harmony'?" Byakuya asked.
Then Monokuma started chuckling, poorly trying to stifle his laughter. "Well… you know… If someone were to murder another."
"M-Murder?!" Makoto exclaimed, his fellow students gasping or repeating the word with all the dread built up in them. Meanwhile, Monokuma stood there, unfazed by their fear.
"It doesn't matter how you kill your intended victim!" he continued. "The rule is simple: you must kill someone if you want to leave. "
It was those nine words that bereft Makoto of the ability to stay calm. The fear and dread that had been stored inside him now showed itself not only through his words but also through his limbs. His legs and his arms could barely move without shaking.
"Heh heh, the looks on your guys' faces are a blast to watch," the bear said. "As I have said, you're the world's hope, but you know… That same hope can be taken, and through murder, it'll leave a great darkening shadow of despair… And that is so… so… exciting!"
"K-Kill each other?" Leon said, his smile growing faker every second. "You're joking, right? Please tell me this is all just one bad joke!"
"What's with that question?" Monokuma said, looking truly confused. "It's no joke, my dear student. That is indeed the only way you can escape, and you'll be forced to stay here if you won't do so! It's like detention, but the teacher really means it this time!"
"L-Let us go home already!" Hifumi exclaimed, as if he had just ignored the bear's answer.
Monokuma sighed. "You don't get it, do you? From now on, this school is your home, your life, your world. And that's not all! You can kill as much as you want! So go on! Go on any killing sprees you have in mind!"
The chaos kept going, Makoto and his peers panicking. One of them, however, walked up to the mad bear.
"Listen up, asshole!" It was Mondo Owada, his voice rumbling throughout the gym. "This shit's gone way too far! What kinda joke is this?!"
Mondo argued more with Monokuma, which added more to the ongoing chaos. But suddenly, all went quiet when the biker grabbed the self-called headmaster and raised him up.
"Gotcha, you little piece of shit!" he said. "Whatever the fuck you are, I'll rip you to fucking shreds!"
A few gasped at the sight, Taka and Toko among the most shocked. It had taken a lot of guts to stand up to their "headmaster", but to physically handle him like this was beyond recklessness. Makoto could only hope that things would end off peacefully, but given the kind of guy that Mondo was, he sensed the futility in his hope.
"Let go of me!" Monokuma said, waving his arms frantically. "Violence against the headmaster is in violation of school regulations!"
"Shut the fuck up! Let me out of here, or I swear I'll…"
But then came a beeping sound from Monokuma, who was now silent.
"Watch out! Get rid of it!" Kyoko yelled, speaking for the first time since coming to the gym. "Hurry up and throw it!"
Mondo without any protest threw Monokuma upwards. Right after he had done so, the bear exploded, leaving no trace of him.
"Wh-What the hell?" Mondo stood there stunned. "Th-That sure as shit wasn't a joke. That goddamn thing blew up."
Makoto could smell gunpowder coming from where Monokuma had exploded. He had thought that he was used to the sight of explosions, having seen them all the time in fiction, but this was real life, and the aftermath was right in front of him.
"Man, what a weird ceremony…" Hiro said, as if still believing this to be some kind of act. "Didn't see anything about a talking stuffed bear blowing up in my predictions."
"You still think this is supposed to be happening?" Sayaka asked him, utterly amazed.
"I think the explosives should be enough to tell us," Sakura remarked, among the least fazed by the explosion, and even then, she still seemed rather shocked at what had just happened.
"But you know…" Chihiro said, staying where she was. "This means that the teddy bear's been destroyed, right?"
"I certainly don't approve of how this has been handled!" Taka said, still mortified. "It is against the rules to physically assault the headmaster!"
"What, you still, like, care about rules at this time and place, especially those made by that weird bear?" Junko said disapprovingly. "Uh, hello, but I don't want to follow them, and neither do the rest of us!"
"Well, in any case, we can get out of here, can't we?" Hina said cheerfully.
Most of the others gladdened at this turn of events. Anticlimatic though it was, it was better than the hellish game that the mad bear calling himself the headmaster would have them play. Of course, it still raised the question of what had happened to the staff of Hope's Peak Academy, but all in all, this made a strange yet happy account to tell Komaru and his parents during dinnertime tonight.
"Still… that felt too easy…"
It was Mukuro, who looked among the more skeptical of the students.
"Oh, come on, don't jinx it!" Leon said, who looked rather tired and keen to leave the gym already. "I'd much prefer leaving things off like this!"
"But she's right," Kyoko said. "For all the preparations that Monokuma made for this killing game, it would be rather odd for him to end things off like this."
"Well, odd or not, I'm heading off! We can leave the rest to the police!" Hifumi said, to which many of the others voiced their agreement.
But much to their horror, before they should leave, Monokuma reappeared from underneath, showing his claws, and though his expression remained unchanged, Makoto could sense a great deal of anger from it.
"Wh-What the fuck?!" Mondo said, taken aback, the other students losing what happiness had come up during that short while. "Y-You tried to kill me!"
"Well, of course," Monokuma said. "You broke one of the school regulations, after all. I'll leave you off with a warning this time, but you'd better be careful from now on."
"S-So does this mean that there's, like, a bunch more of you here?" Junko asked, staring dumbfoundedly at him.
"Yep! Monokumas have been placed throughout the school," he answered. "And don't forget the surveillance cameras! I can see you if you've broken a rule, and any rulebreakers, well… will get a permanent trip to detention!"
"W-Wait a minute! When you say 'permanent trip to detention'... you mean to kill them!" Taka exclaimed.
Monokuma looked askance at him. "Uh, yeah. That was obvious. Way to go ruining my euphemism, you knucklehead!"
A few others protested once more at their so-called headmaster's rules, but it was beyond clear that at this point, their protests had no effect on him, and Mondo appeared not to be in any mood to pick a bone with him anymore.
"Lastly, to end the entrance ceremony and commemorate this precious moment of your new school life, I have a little something for you!" Monokuma showed them a blue tablet with the emblem of Hope's Peak Academy. "This is your official student handbook! Pretty cool, don't you think? As you can see, it's fully digital, so we call it the e-Handbook!
"Remember: the e-Handbook is absolutely vital for your school life, so don't lose it! When you start it up, it will show your name, so make sure the handbook on you is yours!" Monokuma continued as he handed each of them out to its respective owner. Makoto saw that he had also been given a key whose chain had his name on it.
"Now, this is not your everyday notebook. It has many more uses than that, and you can check them out later! Also, it's fully waterproof, so feel free to take it with you to whatever water-involved activities you have in mind!" Monokuma looked proud of the endurability of the handbook. "And thanks to its space-age design, it can withstand an impact force up to ten tons. It's very resistant!"
Makoto had no clue on why the latter protection was needed. Surely nothing in their school life would involve explosions other than any unfortunate punishments dealt to rulebreakers. Still, that he felt compelled to say it left him uneasy.
"The handbook has all of our school regulations," Monokuma said, "so make sure to review them thoroughly! Any violation of the regulations will not be tolerated! Rules restrict, yes, but they also protect. Society, for example, would be utter chaos without rules. The same thing goes here, which is why our punishments are incredibly severe!
"And as for the keys… Well, you'll need them to enter your rooms, of course!" Monokuma explained. "I can't have you sleep in the hallways. That would make things too easy, don't you think? Now then, go ahead and enjoy your abundantly dreary school life! See ya!"
The bear left at last, leaving the sixteen shocked students alone. All were shocked that what had happened in the last few minutes were not figments of their wild imaginations. The e-Handbooks were in their hands, as real as they could be.
"L-Live here forever, or kill to leave?" Toko said. "Wh-What's just happened?!"
"I don't understand any of this!" Leon said. "Kill to get out of here? What kind of sicko is making us do this?!"
"Calm down, everyone." It was Kyoko that looked the calmest of the group. "First, let's take a second to summarize everything that we've heard. Based on what Monokuma has told us, we essentially have two choices.
"Choice number one: we each stay here, living a 'communal life' here until we die," she said. "And the other choice…"
"If we want to escape," Celeste finished for her, "we have to kill someone, yes?"
"But… killing someone… That's…" Chihiro could not finish. Her eyes was filled with even more tears than before.
"A lie!" Taka finished. "All those ridiculous things we've heard must be nothing but falsehoods! They must be!"
"Right now, it doesn't matter whether they're real or fake," Byakuya said. "What matters is whether there's anyone seriously thinking about all this."
None said anything, but Makoto looked at the others. All of them were staring at each other, and from that alone came hostility and a raised sense of alertness.
Makoto then saw what Monokuma's rules had done to them: the only way out of here was to kill someone, and so among the sixteen of them were those who now had the will to kill their fellow peers, whom they had met only a few minutes ago. Instead of any goodwill and work toward making new friendships, there were now suspicion and thoughts of betraying one's peers for one's escape. Even if no one wanted to say it, all could see that the killing game had now begun, and whatever they liked it or not, they had to participate for the amusement of whatever Monokuma was.
And so began Makoto Naegi's new school life at Hope's Peak Academy.
Well, that's the end of the prologue. It's mostly the same as the in-game one, but I included it in for completion's sake, and now that the prologue is done, and the killing game has officially begun, I can finally start writing Chapter 1, where things will start getting more different. I've already decided who the victim and the culprit will be, though I'm still working out the details of the crime and how the class trial and the execution will play out.
Cast (as a way to show who still lives at the end of each chapter):
1. Makoto Naegi - Ultimate Lucky Student
2. Byakuya Togami - Ultimate Affluent Progeny
3. Leon Kuwata - Ultimate Baseball Star
4. Yasuhiro Hagakure - Ultimate Clairvoyant
5. Mondo Owada - Ultimate Bike Gang Leader
6. Hifumi Yamada - Ultimate Fanfic Creator
7. Kiyotaka Ishimaru - Ultimate Moral Compass
8. Chihiro Fujisaki - Ultimate Programmer
9. Sayaka Maizono - Ultimate Pop Sensation
10. Kyoko Kirigiri - Ultimate ?
11. Sakura Ogami - Ultimate Martial Artist
12. Aoi Asahina - Ultimate Swimmer
13. Junko Enoshima - Ultimate Fashionista
14. Celestia Ludenberg - Ultimate Gambler
15. Toko Fukawa - Ultimate Writing Prodigy
16. Mukuro Ikusaba - Ultimate Soldier
