A/N: And with this, I've made it through the official game prologue! Slow progress, but still progress all the same! Enjoy reading!
Chapter Three:
"M-murder!?" Makoto blurts out, panicked. The word doesn't take long to sink into my mind. I'm a little thrown off guard when it does.
"Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, how you do it doesn't matter. You must kill someone if you want to leave. It's as simple as that." This is the most serious I've heard Monokuma sound yet. Staring us all down, he raises a paw and unsheathes his claws. "Like I said before, you guys are the hope of the world. But you know, taking that hope and seeing it get murdered creates a darkened shadow of despair. And I just find that so… darn… exciting!"
"Is that the sole reason you've set this all up?" Unfortunately, my voice isn't quite as controlled as I'd like it to be – I can hear some vague hints of shock seeping through.
"I don't see the problem with my reasoning," Is the bear's only answer.
"But what the hell are you talking about? To kill each other is… it's…!" Leon fumbles out, standing frozen to his spot.
"To kill each other is to kill each other. I'm sure there's a dictionary here somewhere if you need it,"
"We know what it means, that's not the problem! Why do we have to kill each other?" The outburst from Aoi sweeps up some of the other students in her anger. Hifumi is one of those.
"Yeah! Stop blabbering on with all this nonsense! Just let us go home already!"
It's like something clicks inside of Monokuma's metal body.
"…Blabbering?" This one cold word is enough to quell the weak rebellion. Without warning, the coldness shifts to a full on verbal assault. "Blabbering, blabbering, what do you mean blabbering? Stop blabbering on about blabbering on! You guys just don't get it, do you? "Let us go, let us go!" You keep on saying the same thing over and over and over…!" His left eye flashes. "Listen! From this moment on this school is your home, your life, your world. Got it? And if you wanna get out of here, all you have to do is kill! So go ahead already!"
No one has a response. Except, for one bumbling idiot.
"Alright, come on. How long are you gonna keep this up?" Yasuhiro chides, scratching his nose.
"Eh?"
"You got us, okay? You scared the hell out of us. So you can go ahead and reveal the trick now," I'm not sure how even at this stage, Yasuhiro can convince himself that this is all one big joke. Ignorance truly must be bliss. "Cuz I mean, y'know, this is some kinda trick and all, right? So uh, like…"
Mondo's had enough of waiting for him to finish his sentence.
"Dude, shut the hell up and get outta my way," He barges through the crowd, shoving Yasuhiro aside as he did so, and marches right up to Monokuma. The height difference between the two would be more amusing from a less apprehensive standpoint. "Listen up, asshole! This shit's gone way too far! What the hell kinda joke is this!?" Oh, look, another deluded student.
"Joke? What, you mean like your hair?" Monokuma doesn't appear threatened in the slightest.
"FFFUUUUUUUUU-"
Not that I can imagine why, but Mondo doesn't appreciate Monokuma's comment. At all. Within milliseconds he has slammed his foot down on the floorboard, causing the entire gym to shake violently, and he holds Monokuma's neck in an iron-tight grip. The biker gang leader yanks the bear into the air, his other hand balled into a fist primed to strike. There's an enraged fire in his eyes; they're targeted wholly on Monokuma.
"Gotcha, you little piece of shit! I dunno if you're a toy or a stuffed animal or whatever the hell! Either way, I'm gonna rip you to fuckin' shreds!" Monokuma cries out, flapping his useless arms wildly.
"Violence against the headmaster is in violation of the school regulations!"
"Shut the fuck up! Let me outta here, or I swear to Christ…"
Distressingly, Monokuma stops talking. He stops moving on top of that, sagging limply in Mondo's grasp. Then the he starts beeping. Slowly, at first.
"What, no smartass comeback this time?" Mondo growls. It's only when the beeping increases in tempo that warning bells go off in my mind and I instinctively react, jumping backwards away from the bear. On the other hand, Mondo is completely oblivious. "Stop that goddamn beeping and say something!"
"Watch out! Get rid of it!" I have to look over in the direction of the warning to realise that it's Kyoko calling out, who had had yet to speak during the entrance ceremony.
"Huh?"
"Hurry up and throw it!" A ferocity that I don't expect from her stuns Mondo into automatically obeying the command. I put my fingers to my ears while he launches Monokuma into the air, and no sooner than he did…
*BOOM*
"The hell!?" The biker gang leader stands frozen, taking a few moments to recover from his near death experience with a bomb. My sensitive ears also require some time to recover, a harsh ringing splitting my head open despite my attempts to prevent it happening.
"So… does this mean the teddy bear's been destroyed, now?" Chihiro pipes up hopefully.
"I told you, I'm not a teddy bear! I'm Monokuma!" Said Monokuma re-emerges from the podium, an exact replica of the one that had just exploded. Leon cries out at the sight.
"Uwah! There's another one?"
"You son of a bitch! You seriously tried to kill me just now!" Mondo seethes.
"Well yes, of course I did. You did violate one of the school regulations, after all," Monokuma repeats the action of jumping down from the podium. "I'll let you off with a warning this time, but you'd better be careful from now on. Any naughty girl or boy who violates my rules won't get off with just a little swat on the butt."
Everyone is aware now that we've all underestimated the aberrant amount of power this bear holds over us.
"H-hey… so does this mean there's like, a bunch more of you around somewhere?" Junko asks, her nervousness apparent.
"Monokumas have been placed throughout the school, yes. Plus, don't forget the surveillance cameras installed everywhere," Monokuma offers us a friendly reminder. "If you're caught breaking any of the rules… well, you saw what just happened, right? Upupupu… I won't be so forgiving with my punishment next time. So don't let it happen again!"
I feel the need to point something out.
"For us to be able to abide by the rules, we need to know what they are," He'd mentioned the school regulations many times now, yet hadn't enlightened us on what they actually consisted of.
"Ah, and on that note…" He brightens up considerably at my statement, "To commemorate your joyous entry into our school, I have a present for you all!" Out of nowhere, he whips out several rectangular objects the size of my hand. "These are our official student handbooks! Pretty neat, huh? As you can see, it's fully digital…" I groan inwardly. "…So naturally, we call them the e-Handbooks!"
Monokuma proceeds to amble around our group, who have by now formed a sort of haphazard semi-circle surrounding him. He makes us each take an e-Handbook from his paws before returning to his spot, satisfied.
"Now, this handbook is absolutely vital to a healthy school life, so don't lose it! When you start it up, it displays your name, so please make sure you always have the right one! It contains all of our school regulations, too, so make sure you review them all thoroughly. Rules restrict, yes, but they also protect. Society, for example, would be utter chaos without laws. The same thing applies here! Which is why it's crucial we have strict punishments in place for violators." Glancing down at the unfamiliar object in my hand, I put off trying to interact with it just yet. "Okay, well, that brings our entrance ceremony to a close! Please enjoy your abundantly dreary school life. See ya!"
And with that cheery farewell, Monokuma hops back up to the podium, disappears behind it and doesn't return. The break from his grating voice provides small comfort, as everyone in the room starts murmuring worried, confused and angry discussion amongst themselves. Finally, Kyoko addresses us all at once, her calm disposition not wavering once.
"First, let's just take a second to summarize everything we've just heard. Based on what Monokuma said, we essentially have two choices. Choice number one is that we each stay here, living a 'communal life' together until the day we die. And the other choice is…"
"If we want to get out of here alive, we have to kill someone. Right?" Celestia finishes for her. Everyone breaks out into murmurs once more.
"It's all lies! All these ridiculous things we've heard, this all has to be fake!" Kiyotaka insists, more to himself than anyone else.
"Right now it doesn't really matter whether it's real or fake. What matters is…" Matching Kyoko in terms of calmness, Byakuya interjects into the conversation. Then, he drops a bombshell of a question on us all, one that silences each and every person here. "…Is there anyone here who's seriously considering all this?"
His question jolts me into the realisation that I can't trust anyone here. I survey the scene in front of me, paying attention to everyone properly for the first time in order to try and scout out any potential plotters. As far as I'm aware, any one of the 15 people before me should have the physical capacity to kill – it's really about whether or not they have the mental capacity. I know nothing about these classmates of mine, so right now it makes the most sense to act based on the assumption that they all do have the mental capacity. After all, my life is on the line now. The only thing I know is that I'm not willing to die just yet.
Seconds pass. We're all eyeing each other up warily, until Kyoko finally breaks the silence.
"So? What are you going to do now? Just stand around and glare at each other?" As disinterested as she sounds, she has a point.
"R-right… she's right! Sometimes, even if you're nervous or afraid, you just have to step forward!" Kiyotaka's loud attempt to boost morale falls mostly on deaf ears, but it at least drags up the discussion again.
"Perhaps, but what is the mission exactly?" Hifumi inquires nervously.
"Idiot!" Leon berates, "To look for a way out, duh!"
"And we totally need to find whoever was controlling that stupid bear and beat the hell out of 'em," Junko's sentence gets progressively more intimidating as she gets more worked up, but Chihiro pulls her back to reality with a different suggestion.
"B-but before we all do that, maybe we should take a look at the handbook. It's probably best to check out the school regulations Monokuma mentioned before doing anything else."
"True. If we stumble around with no idea what the rules are, something like that might happen again." Celestia points out, giving Mondo a pointed look.
Withholding a sigh, I adjust my attention to the device sitting in my hand. I've always been bad with electronics, preferring not to use them. It was only upon deciding to attend Hope's Peak that I bought myself a mobile phone, and even then that was at someone else's urging. I'd barely determined how to use the damn phone before I was to start school today. Not that I need to worry about that now that I've lost it, which I speculate is probably Monokuma's doing.
I examine the e-Handbook with care before tentatively pressing the single, solitary button on its side. Much to my relief, the button is enough to cause it to flash to life, my name displaying on the blue screen before being replaced by a list of 'Map', 'Report Cards' and 'Regulations'. Is this its main menu? Experimenting, I tap the word 'Regulations' and the screen changes to show text describing the first school rule. Ah. So the handbook works similarly to my phone.
Rule #1 declares that we may only reside within the school. Then I find myself at a loss as to how I'm supposed to access the rest of the rules. Observing the other students, I see them swiping a finger on their own e-Handbooks to the left. I imitate the action using my own finger and the image on the screen slides along to the left with it, a new rule taking its place from the right.
Rule #2 states that 'Nighttime' is from 10pm to 7am, and that during this time some areas are off-limits. I continue along.
Rule #3 states that sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory is disallowed, being seen as sleeping in class.
Rule #4 just tells us that we're free to explore the school with 'minimal restrictions'.
Rule #5 reiterates the ban on violence against Monokuma, but adds that destruction of security cameras is also prohibited.
Rule #6 calls a student who murders another 'blackened' and says they will graduate, unless they're discovered. And to conclude the rules…
Rule #7 notes that additional school rules may be added as necessary.
The conversation has already advanced by the time it takes me to figure out how to shut off the handbook. Sayaka's bringing up an inquiry.
"For regulation #6… what do you think it means exactly?"
"You're talking about the second half, right? Where it says 'unless they are discovered?'" Makoto guesses, carrying on when Sayaka nods. "I was wondering about that myself." Admittedly, I found that part curious as well.
"It's saying that if you want to graduate, you have to kill someone without anyone finding out it was you," Byakuya affirms. He says it like it should've been obvious.
"B-but why…? Why do we h-have to do that?" The stutter from Toko causes Byakuya to speak once more, harsher this time.
"I don't see any reason to worry about it. Just worry about following the rules as they've been explained to us. Frankly, I don't want to hear anything from someone who waits for others to decide what to do for them." It seems his insults aren't just reserved for me.
"Well for now, let's forget all that silly junk about murderers or whatever. Now that we know the rules, let's start exploring the school!" Jogging on the spot and full of energy, Aoi moves the topic along.
"True. We need to find out exactly where we are. Is there any way out? What about food and supplies? There are tons of questions we need to answer!" Kiyotaka yells, revved up by Aoi's enthusiasm. Leon finds himself caught up in the excitement too.
"Damn straight! Okay, then let's all start looking around!"
I can't understand how the students around me can work up such optimism. We've just been told to murder each other in order to escape. Yet here they are, suggesting we all work together instead. Do they not realise the gravity of the predicament they're in? They don't know each other. Where did this all this unwarranted trust come from?
Still, not everybody is on board with this buddy-buddy system. Byakuya looks on at the scene in disgust before pushing up his glasses.
"I'll be going alone." He says.
"What!? Why? That's a pretty stupid idea, don't you think?" Junko crosses her arms haughtily, mimicking his stance.
"Yeah! If we want to find a way out of here, we have to work together-" Kiyotaka begins. His naivety accomplishes nothing except an unpleasant twist to my stomach. It might have been laughable if it hadn't been far more exasperating.
"You assume that everyone here wants to work together," Interrupting his cliché speech, I snap bitterly at him. "I certainly don't." His face makes clear that he can't fathom the concept of someone opposing his views.
"Someone here might already have started thinking about murdering one of us. Are you saying we should stand around with them in our midst and make it that much easier for them?" Byakuya backs me up, although I have no doubts that he's just arguing for himself rather than with me. Sayaka objects with a weak excuse.
"W-wait, hold on a second! That would never-"
"Don't bother saying it couldn't happen. You can't deny the possibility. That's why you all seized up in fear when that graduation rule was made clear to you. Am I wrong?"
He's not. As much as I hate to concede to the asshole, he's not wrong. Everyone should know he's not wrong, too, but some of the students are still in denial.
"B-but…" Sayaka tries again, just as weakly as her last protest. Her words trailing off, she look down at the floor numbly.
"So, I'm simply acting in accordance with what I think is best for me."
A loud crunching noise sounds nearby and I locate the source of it to be Mondo, who's cracking his knuckles in anticipation. He's angry. Again. He moves swiftly and accordingly to block Byakuya, who had already begun walking towards the exit.
"Hold on! Like hell I'm gonna let you run off and do whatever you want!"
"Out of my way, plankton." His voice intimidatingly level in comparison to Mondo's, Byakuya adopts the same aggressive personality he'd had earlier when conversing with me. I sense a fierce dispute incoming.
"Wh-!? The fuck's that supposed to mean!?" Mondo translates his perplexity into even more anger.
"One tiny bit of plankton, drifting across the sea. So miniscule, so insignificant, they couldn't possibly have any kind of influence on the boundless ocean." Not even flinching, Byakuya meets this anger with a perfectly composed, yet intense, attitude. I get the impression that Mondo doesn't fully understand the metaphor, but what he does understand is that Byakuya just insulted him.
"I'm gonna kick your ass!" He roars.
While no one originally dared to interfere with the gradually worsening conflict, all of a sudden Makoto dashes up to the two.
"S-stop it! We shouldn't fight!" Regrettably for him, he's made a big mistake. Mondo's far too worked up now to be placated, and now his attention has been diverted to the Ultimate Lucky Student.
"The fuck you say? You some kind of goody-goody little bitch?" Mondo rounds on him, forcing him to stumble backwards with his arms raised up in front of him anxiously. "Who do you think you are, talkin' to me like that? You think you're my fuckin' dad or something!?"
"N-no, I wasn't-!"
"Fuck you!"
*WHAM*
Makoto quite literally goes flying across the room. He lands with a thump in a tangled heap of limbs and doesn't move after that. I can see him breathing, though – he's only been knocked unconscious. Remaining in his pose, his tightly clenched fist outstretched, Mondo still seethes with anger. No one knows what to do.
I sigh. So much for that working together proposition Kiyotaka had. Turning away from the scene, I wander over towards the door. My hand makes contact with the handle, I'm nearly out of the room, by the time someone stops me.
"Where d-do you think y-you're going?" Toko speaks up, her voice riddled with suspicion. Halting at the door, I face her.
"I'm leaving. What does it matter to you?"
"You can't just leave!" Sayaka, having run over to Makoto, jumps up from his body at my answer. "Makoto's out cold!"
"I fail to see how that's my problem. If you're so concerned, sort him out yourself." Is my only response. I don't feel like waiting around to become Mondo's next target, so without another word I yank open the door and leave the gym, along with the rest of my classmates.