A/N: And now the moment you've all been waiting for. Time for Chapter 1 to officially begin. Hope you enjoy what I have so far.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.

Chapter 1, Part 1: The Death Row of Mutual Killing

It was gone, the bridge was completely gone. Almost like it was never there in the first place. Even though I was sure that I had been driven across it just this morning. All that remained of it was a slab of concrete that jutted off the edge of the island. It was really true, there was no escape. We were stranded. We were completely stranded in international waters.

The other boys soon came and joined us. "We told you, chums. There's no escape," said Adam.

"You, blonde girl!" Damion exclaimed as he pointed his cane at Eliza. "Your family designed this place, right?! There's got to be another exit! Where is it?!"

"I…I…" Eliza was flabbergasted.

"Answer the demon! Where is the road to salvation?!" Ginrou exclaimed. "Surely you would not build Heaven without a path back to Earth."

"There is no other exit. There's one road that goes to and from the prison," said Eliza. Her knees buckled beneath her weight and she fell to the ground in despair. "It took us years to build a bridge all the way to this island. And now it's just gone. How? How can this be happening?"

"Then that's it?! There's really no way to escape?!" Mirai exclaimed.

"You've got to be joking!" Opal exclaimed.

"It would appear that our third party has prevented us from using our escape route. They obviously want to keep us here, but for what purpose?" Yoko asked herself.

"Oh I can answer that." And then we heard it again, the cute, whimsical voice that makes your hairs stand up every time you hear it. A voice that we would soon associate with one individual. We turned around to see where exactly the voice came from and were surprised to see a walking, talking teddy bear dressed up in a prison guard's uniform. "You're stuck here because you're being punished. After all, each and every one of you has committed a very naughty crime. Damion-kun, you've been selling illegal goods and killing anyone who stands in the way of your business for years, Fuyu-chan you forged false documents that shut down major corporations and made thousands of people lose their jobs, Noriaki-kun tried to bring about a civil uprising that would have caused God knows how many hundreds of thousands of people to die, and Yoko-chan helped criminals and psychopaths alike carry out abductions, robberies, and murders. And each and every one of you is no different. You've all done something that deserves the harshest punishment imaginable. Especially you, Eliza-chan."

"Me?" Eliza replied.

"You've committed what I believe to be the greatest crime of all. Hope. For years you've had your hopes up about this place. This was going to be your legacy to the world. A prison where the goal is 100% rehabilitation. Any criminal who gets sentenced here becomes pure once again. That is what you hoped for. Your hope and faith in criminals and scum, it makes me sick. How anyone can place such blind trust into horrible menaces of society is beyond me. I mean look at your first round of inmates for crying out loud. They're all horrible lying, cheating, psychotic, sociopathic, murdering monsters. And your bodyguard is no better."

"What?" I replied.

"Anyway, you all might as well direct your complaints to Eliza-chan, because thanks to that annoying hope that she's put into her "ideal prison", I've got to smash that hope into a million fucking smithereens. So as punishment for the crime of hope I sentence you, Eliza-chan, and your flunkies to life in prison. No possibility of parole!" The teddy bear exclaimed in an uproar of laughter.

Then he stopped laughing. "But it's not like there isn't some way you can get your sentence revoked and truly escape from prison."

"There's a way we can get out of here? Seriously? Tell us, what is it?" Lucius asked.

"Well since your crimes are linked to that of hope, I think the only clear way to accomplish that goal is to commit an equal act of despair. Despair so chilling, and heartless that your soul will never feel clean again. Your rehabilitation is murder. If you want to escape, all you need to do is kill one of your fellow inmates. Simple enough, right? Do that, and as far as I'm concerned your rehabilitation is complete. It's a game I like to call, the Death Row of Mutual Killing." He cackled madly again, and then once he calmed down he continued. "My name is Monokuma, and I am your new Prison Warden. If you want out you must play the game, so do I have any willing participants?"

"…" none of us really knew what to say in reply. The initial shock of seeing a walking, talking teddy bear had still not sunk in. So we tried desperately to piece together one shred of sanity in this insane situation we found ourselves in. This Monokuma, was an odd creature indeed. It was half white and half black in color. Its right half being white, and its left half being black. Its white half seemed like the face a typical stuffed animal might have, but its left half was far from normal. A small smile twisted into a malicious grin, and instead of a small black eye to match its right half it had this wicked-looking, scar-shaped, red eye. The red eye had an ominous glow about it. It wore a small prison guard uniform, complete with black pants, a blue pocketed shirt with a nametag stitched on its right side, a black utility belt with a silver belt buckle, a portable radio which hung on his left shoulder, and a blue security guard cap which had holes for its ears to fit through.

"W-Wh-What are you?" Airi asked in a scared tone.

Monokuma cocked his head to the side and replied, "Eh? Didn't I already answer that? I'm Monokuma, your new Prison Warden."

"Mono…kuma?" Noriaki replied in a confused tone.

"Yes, Monokuma. That's my name," Monokuma replied.

"Are you…a teddy bear?" Fuyu asked.

"A teddy bear? No, I'm Monokuma. Aren't you listening?" Monokuma replied.

"Kuma, as in bear. It's got a cutesy look to it and you can see the seams where someone stitched it together," said Opal. She sweatdropped. "No matter how you look at it, it's obviously a teddy bear."

An anger mark appeared on Monokuma's head. "For the last time. I'm not a teddy bear, I'm Monokuma."

"Mono? Like monochromatic? But it's black and white, and one of its eyes is red," said Victor.

"And it says it's not a teddy bear when it very clearly is. This thing's like a living contradiction," said Mana. "What do you think it wants?"

"It said something about trapping us here, didn't it?" Adam asked.

"Did it? I kind of zoned out the moment it started talking," Hinageshi replied.

"It did, it said that it was planning to keep us trapped here forever. It must be what destroyed the bridge," Yoko replied.

"Gee-wiz, Sherlock. You figured that one out on your own?" Mirai asked in a condescending tone.

"It's not Sherlock, it's Herlock. Herlock Sholmes," Mireille annunciated. "Honestly who is this imposter you all keep talking about? She clearly looks the great detective, Herlock Sholmes."

Yoko sighed. "Why is my outfit the only thing you seem to be concerned about? We're trapped here, by a stuffed animal of all things. Is that nowhere on your list of priorities?"

"Hey…?" Monokuma tried to interject but he couldn't get a word in edge wise.

"This is too weird! I just want to get off this island!" Airi exclaimed. "Eliza-chan, there has to be some other way we can get out of here! Can't you call a private helicopter or something to come pick us up?!"

"I…I…" Eliza was too shocked to think straight. Then when she finally realized what Airi was asking her, she shook her head. "No…I don't have my cellphone on me."

"That should come as no surprise, I don't have mine either. It's really strange though, they left everything else I had in my bag untouched. Clearly our captors don't want interference from the outside world either," said Mana.

Yoko growled. "I'm still pretty pissed off at you for not even telling us you had a multi-tool with you! But right now I'm more pissed off at the fact that you're not taking our current situation more seriously!" Yoko snapped at Mana. "Why the hell are you so carefree?!"

Mana shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know. Maybe I'm just not worried. I mean, whoever kidnapped us sent a robot designed like a cute teddy bear to come and talk to us. Clearly they can't be all bad."

"You guys…?" Monokuma still couldn't get anyone to listen to him.

"Your priorities are really out of whack," Yoko replied. "And how do you know that this thing is a robot?"

Mana giggled. "Come on, it's so obvious. I mean what else could it be? Teddy bears don't talk in real life."

"It certainly looks like a real stuffed animal," Koro replied. "It's stitch work is amazing. Don't you think so, Kiwi?" Koro asked his pet pigeon corpse.

"You're still carrying that thing around?" Taichi asked Koro.

"Yeah, don't you know? That's his pet," Mana replied like it was no big deal.

Taichi raised an eyebrow. Then he looked back to Koro, who was affectionately stroking Kiwi's head. "I just thought it was a dead animal he found in our cell. But I guess the fact that it's his pet makes more sense." Taichi like Mana seemed to not be able to comprehend the true magnitude of our situation. Either that or he didn't care.

"…" Yoko simply glared at Taichi. She had a look of pure hatred in her one good eye. Not that I didn't know the reason why.

Airi started to tear up. "Oh enough talking about the dead bird! It's creepy, we all get it! I just want to leave here, now!"

"Well that's not going to happen, so shut it!" Damion barked at Airi. "Flashy, classless women like you are better seen and not heard!"

"…" Airi immediately quieted down. It looked like she was scared of Damion more than anything else.

Damion sighed. "It looks like you do know how to listen to your superiors so maybe you're not completely hopeless. Now then, you there with the eyepatch."

"Me?" Yoko pointed at herself.

"Not you, the male," Damion pointed his cane at Victor.

"My name's Blood. Victor Blood. What do you want?" Victor replied coldly.

"Sorry, I'm not good with remembering the names of people who have no value to me," Damion replied in a condescending tone. "Anyway, I'll cut to the chase. During our incarceration together I overheard you mention that you worked as hired muscle before you were detained. Is that correct?"

"That was a long time ago," Victor replied. "What about it?"

"I'd like to request your services. I'll pay you ten-thousand in any currency of your choosing if you kill that unsightly abomination right there." Damion pointed his cane at Monokuma.

"Hey!" Monokuma exclaimed.

"It's an eyesore, an absolute assault to the senses. And I recall it distinctly belittling me earlier and questioning the methods in which I perform business. I cannot allow such an insult to go without a response," Damion explained. "So kill that ugly thing and I'll reward you handsomely."

"I don't kill, anyone or anything," Victor replied. "That's how I do business. And I won't let some pompous little prick like you question my methods."

Damion smirked. "A man who sticks to his beliefs. I admire that. Very well then, your services are not required Mr. Blood. See what I did there? I consider your life worth something now, so I bothered to remember your name." Then he loudly exclaimed, "Is there anyone here who's willing to get their hands dirty?! I'll up the price to five-hundred thousand!"

Opal raised her hand. "I'll take any job that pays well."

"Opal, no! You promised me you would stop!" Mirai exclaimed.

"It's a teddy bear, Mirai. Don't get your panties in a bunch," Opal replied sarcastically.

"A woman who's willing to get her hands dirty. Interesting, I can't say I have had the pleasure of meeting an assassin who's quite as young as you," Damion replied. "Most of the people who work for me are older than me."

"Don't let my looks fool you. I've killed over three-hundred different people. You may know me by business name. White Rose?" Opal replied.

Damion smirked. "The elusive White Rose, eh? I heard you were caught. So am I right to assume that girl behind you is Black Thorn, the rumored black hat hacker?"

Mirai nodded. "That's me," she said in a soft voice.

"The duo of Hack Attack, I didn't think I would be incarcerated with such enigmatic celebrities. I must say I thought you would both be taller," Damion replied.

"Shove it, you're good for the money, right?" Opal replied.

"But of course, you must know me by my business name as well. Ever hear of Caesar?" Damion asked.

"The Kingpin of Greece's Black Market Trade, eh? So you were chosen to come here too. Alright you have a deal. Is there any particular way you want the teddy bear to die?" Opal asked.

"I'll leave that for the professional to decide. Just make sure it's as gruesome as possible. Anyone who disrespects me deserves as much," Damion replied.

"Geez, I'm God and even I'm afraid of that guy," said Noriaki.

"What did I tell you about saying such blasphemies, you insolent cur?!" Ginrou shouted. "How badly do you want to die?!"

"Give it a rest already," Noriaki replied as he clasped his hands behind his head and stretched his arms in a bored manner. "I'm pretty sure our current situation means that your God has forsaken you."

Ginrou growled. "Rest assured, I will kill you when this is all over."

"You would kill God? Now that's a sin if I ever heard one," Noriaki replied with a demeaning chuckle.

At that point Monokuma seemed to get really pissed. Anger marks appeared all over his head. "Stop freaking ignoring me. It's not polite." His red eye increased its glow and he raised up his right paw in a threatening manner. And razor sharp, metal claws popped out of his paw.

"Whoa, he looks pretty mad," said Yosuke.

"Like I care, this thing's pissed me off so it deserves to die. Kill it, White Rose," Damion commanded.

Opal smirked. "With pleasure." Then, fast as lighting, Opal lunged at Monokuma and readied a powerful strike from her right fist.

"Where are your manners?" Monokuma asked as his red eye glowed brightly. Immediately, I could sense his killing intent.

My eyes widened. "Look out!" I shouted. But my warning fell on deaf ears. Opal was determined to knock Monokuma down with a single blow. She was fast and strong, if Monokuma was an ordinary robot she might've been able to end the fight with one punch alone. However, Monokuma was far from ordinary. That's why it was a huge surprise when Monokuma suddenly disappeared, making Opal's punch connect with nothing but air. Then I saw a black and white blur reach around Opal and elbow her in the back so hard that she came crashing down to the ground with great force. The impact was so powerful that I could swear I heard Opal's ribs crack.

Opal silently screamed in pain as she reeled from the impact. And the rest of us just stood back and watched. No one dared move. Monokuma then reappeared on the ground in front of Opal. He picked up Opal's head off the ground, by pulling hard on her hair, and forced her to look him in the eyes.

"Opal!" Mirai screamed in terror.

"W-Wh-What the hell was that?" Yosuke asked. "She looked like she was going to hit him just a second ago, and then the next second she was on the ground. What just happened?"

"…" None of us had an answer.

Opal twitched in pain and glared at Monokuma through half-closed eyes. It looked like her fall had given her several nasty cuts and bruises on her face and body. Yet the whole time she continued to growl at Monokuma, letting him know that she wasn't finished with him. "What did…you just…do?" she growled.

"I dodged your blow and administered a counterattack to subdue you, inmate," Monokuma simply replied. "But you should know, I didn't want to have to do that. You came at me first; I was only defending myself."

"Bull…shit! Nothing…moves that…fast," Opal replied.

"I do, and I pack a nasty punch too," Monokuma replied with a chuckle. "Stick to what you know, inmate. You're a hitwoman, which means your area of expertise is assassination. Your frontal attacks are weak; they aren't going to work on me at all. Especially not with your slow reflexes."

Opal reached for Monokuma with her trembling right hand. "Kill you. I'll…fucking kill you."

"What's this? Still haven't learned your lesson, inmate?" Monokuma replied and then he reached for something on his utility belt. It was a baton, but not an ordinary one by the looks of it. It was branded with that malicious red scar eye, which made me immediately sure that it was bad news. "This is prison, inmate. Attacks on the Warden will not be tolerated." Monokuma pushed a button on the baton's handle and then the baton extended. "You're in need of dire punishment to make you understand that there are consequences to your actions." Then he pressed another button on the baton's handle and the baton began to spark with large amounts of blue electricity. "How about a little electro shock therapy to calm you down?"

"…!" Opal's eyes went wide at the sight of the abnormal electric baton.

"…" We wanted to help her, but our feet were completely glued to the ground in shock.

"I'll knock all that insubordination out of you toot sweet." Monokuma raised the electric baton over his head, preparing to strike down Opal. "Don't worry, this will only hurt a lot." Then he cackled maniacally. And then suddenly a large throwing knife flew at Monokuma at breakneck speed. Monokuma stopped cackling momentarily so he could block the knife with his electric baton. The knife fell to the ground and the blade stuck in the dirt. Monokuma turned to see where the knife had come from, and the rest of us looked behind us to see who had been brave enough to throw the knife. We were shocked to see Victor Blood, who still had his right arm raised in a throwing motion. He lowered his arm and then glared menacingly at Monokuma with his one good eye.

"Hora hora. Looks like you're in need of some punishment too, eh inmate?" Monokuma asked Victor.

"Let her go, and let us off of this island prison," Victor ordered Monokuma.

Monokuma snickered. "Or what?"

"Or, you'll force me to get serious," Victor replied and then he reached into the inside folds of his dress jacket and pulled out four more throwing knives. Two for each of his hands. "And believe me, you don't want that. I'm a shark, the moment I smell blood in the water I go into a frenzy."

Monokuma scoffed and laid Opal's head back down on the ground. Then he jumped over her fallen body and locked eyes with Victor. "Picking a fight with the Warden on your first day, inmate? Do you really want to be punished that badly?"

"Enough games," said Victor. Then he threw two of his knives at Monokuma, who dodged them gracefully and then lunged at Victor. We all got out of the way as Monokuma and Victor prepared to clash. Monokuma brandished his electric baton at Victor, who managed to keep up with Monokuma's speed and dodge and block Monokuma's attacks with his two remaining knives. Then Victor and Monokuma engaged in a furious, heated battle. Both of them were so fast, it was impossible to keep up with all their actions. The only thing we could tell was that Victor hanging in there as best as he could. But Monokuma was a robot and Victor was a human, so it was only a matter of time before their equal ground shifted. And then suddenly, Monokuma jumped up into the air and tried to bring his electric baton down upon Victor with a devastatingly powerful downward slash. Victor managed to block it by using both his knives to hold back Monokuma's electric baton. However, sparks continued to erupt from Monokuma's electric baton, painfully shocking Victor's hands and causing his block's hold to weaken. It looked like the battle was about to become one-sided.

"Upupupupupu!" Monokuma cackled. "This will teach you not to defy the Warden's will!"

Then suddenly Lucius picked up one of Victor's fallen knives and in an effort to help Victor, threw the knife as hard as could at Monokuma. "Hyaaaaaaaaa!" Lucius shouted as he chucked the knife as hard as humanly possible. Unfortunately, while focusing on increasing the power of his throw, Lucius forgot to aim properly and the knife ended up taking a shortcut to its target by cutting and flying through Mireille's top hat.

Mireille yelped in terror as she was nearly scalped. "Watch where you throw your weapons, you degenerate!" Mireille shouted at Lucius, as her top hat fell to the ground.

"S-Sorry!" Lucius exclaimed. Luckily, the knife then seemed to fly in a straight path towards Monokuma and Victor, who were still locked in a struggle.

Monokuma narrowly dodged the knife Lucius threw by moving his head at the last second. But this proved to be a mistake as Victor then did another inhuman act and managed to catch the knife with his mouth. Even Monokuma appeared to be shocked by this act. And that shock gave Victor just the edge he needed to push Monokuma back. Victor swung back his head and then used the knife to cut Monokuma into two at his neckline. Monokuma's body, head, and electric baton came crashing down to the ground. But remarkably, Monokuma still appeared to be alive, as his severed head began to speak to us. "How dare you do this to your Warden! You inmates are cruising for a bruising! I swear, I will punish each and every one of you with all the cruelty and malice that I can muster in my little bear body! I will make you regret the day you were…!" And then he was cut off when a cane came crashing down into his head and pierced his red eye. "…b-b-bo-bor-born!" Monokuma exclaimed before his voice went low and he turned off completely. His red eye went completely black and not a sound could be heard from his head.

"Just shut up already," said Damion as he withdrew his cane from Monokuma's severed head. Then he looked up at Victor. "Excellent work, Mr. Blood. But I thought you said that you don't kill?"

Victor took the third knife out of his mouth and then simply replied, "I'll make an exception if it's to save a third party. That girl would've died if I didn't do something. And besides, you were the one who really killed it. I thought you didn't like to get your hands dirty?"

Damion smirked. "I'll make an exception if it means finishing off someone I absolutely despise. That horrible cretin was a menace so I wanted to at least have the killing blow."

Victor looked at Lucius. "And you, thanks for tossing me that knife. I might've been a goner if it wasn't for your quick thinking."

Lucius seemed embarrassed. "Oh…umm thanks. It looked like you needed some help."

Mireille picked her hat up off the ground and made note of the large knife puncture that was now inside of it. "My hat is ruined!" she exclaimed. She glared daggers at Lucius. "A phantom thief is nothing without their stylish outfit! Expect to repay me for its replacement in the near future!"

Lucius seemed even more embarrassed. "Umm…sure thing. No problem."

Victor sweatdropped. "Although you might want to work on your aim."

"Hey, you ugly bitch are you dead?" we heard someone ask. We turned back to face the fallen Opal and saw that while she was now unconscious, someone else was up and active again. Kaori sat crouched down over Opal's fallen body. "If you're dead, can I eat your flesh? It's not like you're going to use it anymore," Kaori said to an unconscious Opal. "Say nothing, if it's okay for me to eat your flesh."

"…" Opal of course said nothing.

"It's a yes!" Kaori exclaimed as she tried to free herself from her restraints. Then when she saw us looking at her she motioned for us to come over to her. "One of you motherfuckers come over here and help me out of my restraints! It's feeding time!"

Fuyu walked up to Kaori without hesitation. "Hey what are you doing?! Don't help her eat my friend!" Mirai exclaimed.

"I wasn't going to," Fuyu replied when she was near Kaori. Fuyu kicked Kaori's legs and successfully managed to sweep her off her feet. Kaori ended up landing flat on her back with a loud thud. "I've wanted to do that to her all day. It's pretty hard for a person in a strait jacket to get on their feet, I was afraid to do it at first but the fact that she tried to eat us about half an hour ago gave me the courage to try and do it." Mirai giggled and then ran over to Opal's side to check on her friend's condition.

"You stupid four-eyed, fugly bitch! I will fucking murder you when I get back on my feet!" Kaori shouted. However, it seemed like that task was easier said than done. Kaori was as helpless as a turtle on its back side. She growled. "I will eat your fingers and toes one by one while you fucking watch!"

"Let me guess, cannibal?" Damion asked.

"Cannibal," I replied while nodding.

Damion sighed. "My, my, there are certainly some interesting individuals incarcerated here, aren't there?" Then he turned to look at Victor. "Well then Mr. Blood, I believe I owe you five-hundred thousand of a currency of your choice."

"I don't need it, give it to the girl when she wakes up. She earned it," Victor replied.

"Aww, that's really kind of you, Victor-chan. Perhaps I judged you too severely before, do you still want to be friends?" Koro asked Victor in a pleading tone.

"Get away from me, you freak," Victor replied sternly and then he went to gather up his remaining knives.

"Okie-dokie," Koro replied. "At least I asked. That's the important thing, right Kiwi?" Koro asked his pet pigeon corpse.

"Does he seriously not believe that the bird is dead?" Taichi asked.

"No he doesn't, he clearly suffers from severe delusions," Yoko replied.

Taichi stared at Yoko. "You look familiar. Have we met somewhere else before?" Taichi asked.

Yoko scoffed. "Figures you wouldn't remember me. I'm not your type after all."

"What?" Taichi replied.

"Nothing," Yoko replied.

Meanwhile, I decided to examine the body of the late Monokuma. I observed the inner working of the circuitry within his head and torso. It was state of the art. I had never seen anything quite like it. Whoever built Monokuma, was extremely versed in robotics, engineering, and computer science. "Did he really destroy the bridge?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it's dead now. We can't ask it," Damion replied. He looked over my shoulder and examined Monokuma's inner workings for himself. "Such an advanced piece of machinery in such a disgusting looking shell. Honestly, if our kidnappers' whole plan was to leave us stranded on this island with only this thing to keep watch over us, they didn't think it out that well. We've officially managed to destroy it completely."

Eliza, finally rousing from her initial shock, took the time to examine Monokuma as well. "How? How can this be happening? Who would do this? Who could do this?"

"Who indeed?" a familiar voice asked.

We all turned around to see a familiar bear robot, standing on top of the Icarus emblem above the prison's entrance. "No way! He's still alive?!" Yosuke exclaimed.

"No look, the robotic demon's vessel still remains an empty shell," said Ginrou. "This is another demon entirely."

"No way! There's more of them?!" Hinageshi shouted.

"Dammit!" Victor exclaimed as he prepared for battle again. "And I barely managed to subdue the last one."

"This thing is really tiring," Damion said with an added growl.

"What the hell are you?!" Airi shouted at Monokuma.

Anger marks covered Monokuma's face. "I'm getting really tired of answering that question! I'll say it one more time! So listen up and listen good, you worthless bastards! I am Monokuma, I am your Warden! I am a high-tech robotic bear created by an unknown individual in order to keep you inmates locked up here and make your lives a living hell!"

"So not only do you plan to keep us here, you wish to torture us too?" Damion asked. "That's all I needed to hear. Mr. Blood!"

"Right!" Victor replied as he readied to attack.

"Hold up, you tried attacking him directly last time and you barely beat him. Then another one just showed up and caused us even more grief. I say we listen to what he wants this time," said Noriaki.

"Speak with this toy? I think not, I wouldn't dare demean myself to converse with that thing like it's a living being," Damion replied.

Monokuma seemed depressed. "Aww, that hurts my feelings. I'm as real as any of you guys here."

"Hey Monokuma?" Mana called out. "Mind if I ask a question?"

"Sure thing Mana-chan, go ahead. I'm so happy someone's finally talking to me one on one," Monokuma replied.

"You…well the other you actually said something before about a mutual killing game? What's that?" Mana asked.

Monokuma seemed delighted. "Oh-ho, I'm so glad someone finally asked the important question."

"Well in a nutshell, Mana-chan, the mutual killing game is a game in which you, the players, kill each other one by one until only two players remain. I was created to be the Warden of this prison and make sure that the mutual killing game planned at this location goes off without a hitch."

"You…you seriously want us to kill each other?" I asked in horror.

"I thought that was just a joke," Airi said while cowering in fear.

"Nope, no joke. You've all been very naughty children, and as such my creator has decided to punish you in the most brutal way imaginable. You can either remain here on this island of your own free will, and die a boring natural death many, many, many years from now. Or you can kill each other and get a chance to escape," Monokuma explained.

"Killing each other is our punishment? How does that make sense? Most of us are in here for murder," Damion replied. "This is a load of bull, you said before that someone's controlling you, right? I demand that person come out here right now and explain their intentions."

"Sorry, I'm the only one here. My creator made me with an AI, which means this cheerful personality is Monokuma au naturel," Monokuma replied.

"So it's a literal killing game then, eh?" Mana asked. "So if I'm understanding you correctly, then all we need to do if we want to leave the prison is kill someone, right?"

"What?!" Eliza exclaimed in horror.

"Yes indeedy, the price for a life free away from this prison in the middle of nowhere is one life in return. One stolen life. There are twenty of you here, and that means you all have a chance at freedom, all you have to do is kill one of your fellow inmates," Monokuma continued to explain.

"You mean anyone who's willing to kill someone here will get to leave?" Adam asked.

Monokuma sighed. "Yes, don't you guys get it already?! This is becoming annoying and repetitive!"

"And how are we supposed to kill each other exactly?" Taichi asked.

"Wait, why would you even ask that?!" Eliza exclaimed.

"How?" Monokuma replied as he cocked his head to the side. "That doesn't matter. Stabbing, shooting, bludgeoning, suffocating, strangling, hanging, drowning, poisoning, electrocuting, burning, freezing, maiming, tearing, hexing! There are millions of different ways to commit murder!" Monokuma put his paws over his mouth as he stifled a cackle. "All you need to do is make sure your murder attempt actually makes your victim lose their pulse. Do that and you gain a chance to free yourself from this island prison."

"A chance?" Victor repeated.

"Well you didn't think it would be that easy did you? No killing someone is just the first step; the real prize is only accessible to a killer who survives the main event. The class trial," Monokuma explained.

"Class trial?" Fuyu repeated the words.

"That's right, I'm sure you're all very familiar with how trials work. Well in the Death Row of Mutual Killing, you will also be forced to participate in a trial whenever someone turns up dead. But a class trial is a bit different than what you may be used to. In a class trial, the killer, the "blackened", will face off against the innocents, the "spotless", in a free for all debate as to who you think the killer is. And if the blackened manages to escape being caught in the class trial, then their rehabilitation will be considered completed and they will be able to leave this prison and never return. That's it, that's all a killer has to do to earn their freedom," Monokuma explained.

"T-That's horrible!" Eliza shouted.

"And if by chance, what happens if the killer doesn't win the class trial?" Yoko asked out of curiosity.

"Then they get executed," Monokuma simply replied.

"Ex-Executed," Yosuke stuttered out.

"That's right, in exchange for taking a life, their life will be taken away as repayment. Those who disrupt peace in this world are punished by being sent to prison, but here at this prison the rules are different, you disrupt the peace here and get caught, you get executed. It's just that simple," Monokuma explained. "But if the killer does manage to win the class trial and earn their freedom, everyone besides the killer will be executed instead, and the killer alone will be allowed to leave this prison. Them's the rules, well the basic rules at least," Monokuma replied.

"Th-That's insane! There is no way any of that is happening! No one is going to participate in your sick game!" Eliza shouted at Monokuma. "Right, guys?!"

"…"

"Right, guys?!" Eliza shouted again.

"…" Still no one replied.

"Right?"

"…" I couldn't even force myself to respond.

Eliza then realized the horror that she was facing. It appeared that everyone besides her was willing to go along with this insanity in order to leave Icarus. I looked at her face, it was filled with utter despair. Despair so black, so foul, so chilling that it was hard to look directly at it. And for some reason, I couldn't force myself to agree with her, maybe because I was already filled with despair. I was wise to the actions of the kinds of people we were imprisoned with, if it came down to them and us, they would choose to save their own selves in a heartbeat. That was just the way of the kind of people we were dealing with. Murderers, rapists, and thieves. They were all despicable, they wouldn't hesitate to do something so horrible, which was why I knew it was meaningless to try and fight the despair.

"…" Eliza looked at me in a pleading manner.

"…" And I simply looked away.

"It seems that you're outnumbered, Eliza-chan," Monokuma replied with a cackle. "Don't take it personally though, it's basic human nature to survive at no matter what cost. What's really bad is trying to fight that instinct."

"…" Eliza was too shocked to say anything in reply.

"Upupupupupupupupupu!" Monokuma cackled. "Well then it seems like you've all decided that you want to play. So, what are we waiting for? Let the Death Row of Mutual Killing begin!" Monokuma exclaimed.

And that was the beginning of our little despairful story. Eliza needed me, and I abandoned her. But you have to understand, I wasn't the person that I am now back then. Back when there was even still a shred of normality left, I was already tainted with despair. My faith in humanity was lost long ago, as was my ability to trust others. And it would take nothing short of a miracle to restore my hope. So if you were thinking that this is the story of how my little bit of hope managed to conquer the dark despair that surrounded us, think again. This is the story of how I managed to conquer the despair that was already inside me, and find the hope to carry on and believe that the world would one day get better. But of course, that's a long way down the road. I hope you're okay with someone who's already embraced despair, being your protagonist. It seems kind of anticlimactic, doesn't it?

A/N: Next week the rules of the mutual killing game and the first area's locations are revealed. Till next time.