"Upupupupu! How are you bastards doing?"

The voice rang on the intercom, ringing through our ears with a painful reminder of what we were up against. This strange man who kidnapped us, and took us to this college campus, would only mean ill-will. That's what we all decided for ourselves.

"I hope your investigation is going well! You know, this is so exciting, isn't it? Reminder though, it is 12:45 PM as of right now!"

12:45… This man told us to meet him in the gymnasium at 1:00.

"If I were you, I'd go to the gymnasium right now. I wouldn't want to punish any of you, for something soooo silly."

With that, the intercom rang, signaling the end of another announcement. I sighed, and looked at my watch as the man shut himself up. It was already 12:46.

Before our investigation, we all decided we'd meet up outside the gymnasium and inform each other of our discoveries. It seemed to be appropriate, but, I wasn't looking forward to it. I didn't want to know what horrors lay in front of us. At this point, I began to see reality as it is. There was no hope in this, it was just a nightmare.

But I'd find out about it soon.

Walking to the gymnasium, I noticed Miyu walking alone. She was looking at what seemed to be the entrance to a corner shop.

"Miyu!" I called out. "How's it going?" Miyu looked at me, and beckoned me to come over. It seemed she had something to tell me.

"Look, Ayako," she said as I was walking over. "I think… this was some sort of store for the students that attended here before us." I peered inside the glass door, and took a quick glance at the inside. There were shelves stocked with junk food, and fridges lined up against the wall containing water, energy drinks, and some soda.

"Looks useful," I said to myself, and I tugged at the door. There was unfortunately no dice, however. The door was locked. "Damn," I said under my breath. "It's locked, Miyu."

"O-oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know… I was too scared to check."

"It's fine," I said. "Let's just head to the gymnasium and meet with the others." Miyu nodded in agreement, and the two of us walked in silence to the entrance of the gym. I looked ahead, and as the doors opening to the gym came in sight, so did the others.

"Now that Ayako is here," started Akira. "Let's start our discoveries. Now, ALPHA GROUP #1! Share with us your discoveries!"

"I told you not to call us that," Saya sneered. "Even though I am #1, I'd prefer not to be recognized by YOU in such a way."

"Well honey," started Megumi. "We investigated the area around the movie theater."

"It looks up-to-date, at least, since some relatively current movie posters were lined up at the entrance," said Saya.

"But looking further around, we did not seem to find we could go past the movie theater. There was a large chain gate blocking us from the area behind it, and it needs a key," said Setsuna.

"I looked at the dormitories," said Kyouko. "There were lots of plugs in the hallways to charge my phone!"

"Did you see if they worked?" asked Senji. "We should know if we are provided with electricity.

"Actually, I didn't have my charger with me," said Kyouko.

"I think it's safe to say we have electricity," said Rikiya. "The intercom was working, and the lights inside the cafeteria were working as well."

"I checked out the corner shop near the gym…" started Miyu. "I-it was locked, so…"

"Why do we need to know about a corner shop?" Aaron sighed.

"Well, it at least tells us certain buildings are locked, even if we do have access to them," said Rin, defending Miyu.

"That's true…" Aaron murmured.

"Well, I found a cute puppy!" exclaimed Suguru. "I wonder what his name is."

"T-that looks like a Siberian husky!" stammered Rin. "Those things are wild!"

"They're adorable!" snapped Suguru. "Don't insult my little Roger!"

"Roger," looked around in Suguru's arms, and barked at us.

As I looked around the group of people in front of the door, I realized easily that someone was missing. It was that kid, whom was sitting alone in the cafeteria.

"I climbed on top of the main building," Kouichi said. "I scanned the area; it looks like we're trapped here. There are extremely high chain gates surrounding this campus, and they have barbed wire lined up against them."

We all looked disturbed at that news. We were all trapped here. How could we… be trapped? This was just a school, it wasn't a cage… We all looked at each other in silence. There were stares of uncertainty, worry, and worst of all, despair.

But I still carried an ounce of hope, that hope coming from the news we'd receive at 1:00. I looked at my watch again and checked the time. It was 12:57.

"Has anyone seen that other kid from the cafeteria?" I asked.

"You mean that dude who didn't introduce himself to any of us?" asked Tomakazu.

"Tch, the nerve of that guy…" said Noburu.

"I haven't seen him," said Saya. "The likes of him, however, has no right to stare upon me!"

"She is a diva," Takako said, shrugging.

I looked at the time, 12:58. Only two more minutes, but that guy still wasn't here yet. Could something… have happened to him?

As soon as I thought that, a paper was handed to me. I looked at who gave it, and it was the kid from the cafeteria. He looked stern, and grim, but that seemed to be his natural stare.

"What is this?" asked Setsuna, as she was handed a paper.

"It's a map of the school," said the kid. "I drew a map of what we could access."

We all stared at the maps. It looked like we had access to the movie theater, the cafeteria, the main entrance and classrooms, and a park.

"It's not much," the kid sighed. "But if we are forced to stay here, it'll have to do." As quick as he said that, he went into the doors of the gymnasium, to wait for whatever news was awaiting us.

"We should head in too," said Setsuna, calmly, even harder to read.

Senji nodded in agreement and headed towards the building.

"Come on, Roger!" said Suguru, heading into the building.

I gulped, and thought to myself, it'll all be okay. There's nothing to worry about. We're going to live a normal life, outside of these cages we think we're trapped in.

We'll be okay…

We'll be… Okay?

Will we be okay?

As we all gathered together in the gymnasium, we saw on the stage, was a little podium with a logo reading: "Hope's Peak Boarding School."

"Hope's Peak Boarding School?" I said to myself. "So, we've been taken to the boarding school?"

"That helps a bit," sighed Rin in relief. "At least we really aren't in the middle of nowhere."

"It's a little extravagant," said Senji. "But it'll work."

I nodded, and fixed my attention onto the gymnasium stage. It was 1:00 right now, so whoever called us here should have appeared by now. And as soon as my thought came, it looked like the answer I wanted wasn't a good one.

Because what I saw, was a teddy bear, jumping onto the podium, raising his arms, and greeting us. A teddy bear. An alive teddy bear.

"Aloha!" said the teddy bear. "That's how you say hello, in Hawaii!"

"Wh-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" shrieked Tomakazu.

"Is it only me that thinks it's strange?" said Megumi. "Teddy bears don't talk."

Saya's face was flushed with a blue color. "Of course they don't, you idiot! This, this… this toy!"

"Hey!" the bear snapped. "I'm not a toy! I'm Monokuma! Your headmaster, so you'd best show me some respect little girl!"

"Little, girl?!" stammered Saya. "No! I'm the famous actor, Saya Omoirasha, I'm not a little girl!"

"Yeah, yeah," Monokuma sighed. "You're famous and all, but now you're trapped in an abandoned boarding school, doomed to live out the rest of your life here. Isn't that ironic?"

"What?!" I screamed out. "The rest of our life?"

"Oh my gosh," Monokuma angrily yelped. "Let me finish! You keep interrupting me, so I can't explain a damn thing!"

Even with all this commotion, the only one who seemed to be able to remain calm, was that kid who I saw in the cafeteria. Who was this guy?

"Now, I trust you all know each other by now?" swooned Monokuma. "Oho! But I was wrong, wasn't I?" Monokuma pointed his paw at the kid, who was looking at the ceiling, as if nothing that was happening right now affected him in the slightest. "You guys, this guy didn't introduce himself, did he?"

We shook our heads, and Monokuma nodded. "Hmm, that's not really friendly," he said. "A bear should always honor himself and reveal his name to others."

"I'm not a bear," the kid lashed. "Fine, I'll tell everyone."

"You mean, your name?"

"What else?" he sighed. "My name and talent, that is."

"Well, let's spit it out!" Monokuma said. "We're already behind schedule!"

"Sure," he said. "I'm…"

HIDEAKI NANASE

SUPER HIGHSCHOOL LEVEL MULTI-TALENT

"Did you say multi-talent?"

"Well, what kinds of talents?!" snapped Monokuma. "Come on! We ain't got all day!

"That's not something I have to say," said Hideaki, "and I won't."

I stared at Hideaki, eyes narrow. Hideaki wasn't listed in the thread I saw online. So, did he come here in secret? Or, did no one know about him? Lastly, Hideaki's last name was strange… Nanase… That was Rin's last name, wasn't it?

"Rin," I said to her. "He has the same last name as you!"

But what I said hasn't even caught onto her. She was staring at Hideaki with wide eyes, and they were beginning to water, as she shed tears.

"Do you know him?" I asked. She nodded her head, but she didn't look like she wanted to talk about it right now. She wasn't smiling, like she was just introduced to a long lost brother. Her face was grim, and filled with sorrow. That made me even more wary about Hideaki. I didn't know anything about him, but already, it seemed like Hideaki meant trouble.

"Alright, alright!" said Monokuma. "Now that we all know each other, lemme explain your situation!"

"First of all," Senji started. "I want to know where we are."

"Well, we're at Hope's Peak Academy!" he said. "Actually, technically, we're at a subsidiary of Hope's Peak Academy."

"A subsidiary?" I asked. "So, this isn't the real deal?"

"No, the real deal would've been too tough for you guys!" Monokuma said. "Ha! No, I'm lying. It's because I couldn't get this whole thing to work!"

"What do you mean?" Hideaki asked. "Why did you take us here?"

"Because!" Monokuma snapped. "I was getting to that! No need to be in such a hurry! I took you here for an academic coliseum! That's all!" As soon as he said that, Monokuma covered his mouth with his paws. "Oops! I was supposed to make that all dramatic! You teens seriously tire me out…"

"Academic coliseum?" Hideaki said grimly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, first off, let me tell you that you're all trapped in here for the rest of your life," Monokuma said.

"What?!" Miyu gasped. "That's not true!"

"Oh but it is, monsieur painter!" Monokuma said. "You are all trapped here for the rest of your lives! But here's the kicker, you guys! You can definitely get out somehow!"

"How?" I asked. "What do you expect us to do?"

"Simple," Monokuma said. "Just kill each other!"

As soon as Monokuma said that, we all exchanged nervous glances. No, nervous was putting it lightly. Our faces were filled with fear; this bear expects us to kill each other.

"Why would we do that?" I asked softly.

"Because you're trapped here otherwise," Monokuma said. "I'm sure you wouldn't want to be stuck here for the rest of your lives."

"Of course we don't!" said Rin. "But we don't want to kill each other either!"

"Sure, sure," said Monokuma. "You twenty aren't even the real deal."

"What do you mean?" asked Hideaki. "What do you mean by, the 'real deal?'"

"I mean, well, you'll find out soon enough," said Monokuma. "For now, you can either live a peaceful, happy life with each other here in the academy. OR, you can instead kill someone, and get out! But don't be naïve. You'd better do it in secret."

"Secret?"

"Yes! In secret!" Monokuma replied. "You don't want anyone to find out about your murder! So that's why we're going to hold a class trial! A trial of the century! To find out, who killed blankity blank!"

"A class trial?" asked Rin.

"Yup! We're all going to find out who did it!"

"But, uh, Mr. Monokuma sir?" asked Kyouko nervously. "Shouldn't you have taken our phones? I mean, like, don't all kidnappers do that?"

"Well, you see, I didn't finish my identification," said Monokuma. "I'm working on these cool things that can be used to identify you, isn't that cool? What's a good name?"

"ElectroIDs!" said Aaron. "Get my wordplay?"

"You don't have to help him…" said Tomakazu weakly.

"I like that name Aaron! You're on my cool list!" replied Monokuma. "Anyways, I probably should've taken your phones, but since you can't even call anyone other than the people here, I decided it's fine. We need a way to show you the class rules anyways, and being able to call each other can make much more complicated murders."

I looked at my pockets again to check for my phone. I couldn't find it, yet again.

"Monokuma," I said. "I don't have my phone. Do you know about it?"

"Yes I do," he said, "And in fact, you were very clumsy!" He took out my phone from behind his back, and tossed it at me. I checked it, and turned it on. It definitely was my phone. "Don't lose it again," Monokuma snapped. "I can't keep finding it for you, ya know?"

We all glared at the teddy bear, as he began to spin around in a little dance. This bear, expects us to kill each other? How could we?

"By the way you guys," started Monokuma. "You can find your rooms in the dormitory near here. You each get your own room! Isn't that cool?"

"No! It's not!" I snapped.

"And with that, enjoy your mutual high school life of killings!" he said. "If you need me, don't be afraid to call! I can help with plumbing, replace your bedsheets, or even help you come up with ways to kill!"

"What?"

"Ha! Just kidding," Monokuma laughed. "Now, enjoy the rest of your lives, you guys!" With that, Monokuma jumped behind the podium, and disappeared.

We all looked at each other with fearful faces. Despair was spreading across the room like a foul odor. We could all smell it. This wasn't a good atmosphere, I decided. I needed to say something.

"Is anyone honestly going to kill each other?" I said. "I mean, come on you guys! This bear expects us to kill each other!"

"Y-yeah…" Miyu continued. "We're not actually gonna kill each other…"

Everyone began to nod. "Well, the best thing to do now," said Kouichi, "is to find a way to get out of this place."

We all stared at each other again, but this time, our expressions were different. It just goes to show, a few words of encouragement can light up a whole room. I mean, especially when you're talking about such a ridiculous situation such as death. No one was going to kill each other! No one in the right mind would!

So we went out of this gym with a little hope. Hope that we would be able to leave this academic coliseum. We'd be able to escape from it…

Together.

End of Prologue

===MONOKUMA THEATRE===

#2

Monokuma: My name is Monokuma.

Monokuma: Bill's name is Bill.

Monokuma: Frank's name is Frank.

Monokuma: We all got names given to use by our parents.

Monokuma: But who gave me a weird ass name like Monokuma?