Hello everyone, I'm so excited to finally begin writing this story, I think I have a wonderful mix of characters. Thank you once again to everyone who submitted an OC, it was a hard choice because there were so many good ones. Well, onto the chapter!

As Sachi and I speak, we decide that we should check out the Laundry first before heading to the Gymnasium because we all know that's where the Killing Game is going to be announced. On our way there, we notice two people whispering together in the corridor.

As I've seen before, alliances are already beginning. Which, in a game like this, I guess is the best decision for everyone. The whispering pair consists of a boy and a girl.

The girl is slightly tanned with round turquoise eyes that sit behind black square framed glasses. She has short, messy jade green hair. Her right bang fully covers her right eye and her hair is tied into a braid that falls over her left shoulder. The girl wears an oversized black sweater with the design of an 8 bit heart with an arrow through the middle - which is the logo of her favorite band - that extends a little below her waist. As I said before, the sweater is too big for her and the arms hide most of her hands (must be inspired by the Ultimate Singer, Ari Anna). The girl also has on blue skinny jean capris, white ankle socks, and black sports shoes with green shoelaces. This girl is decked out in accessories: she wears a black headband with small skinny bunny ears (again, Ari Anna inspired), wireless black headphones, and white backpack.

Jeez, I'd almost think she's an Ari Anna copycat if it weren't for her Ultimate talent.

The boy is a tall, skinny young man with suntanned skin and light brown eyes with thick eyelashes behind a pair of circular eyeglasses. He has bleach blond hair (I can see those dark eyebrows from here, I know that blondness comes from bleach. My eyes are just that great, okay? I got 20/20 vision with these contacts, baby. It's not weird.) His straight, neck-length hair is just as messy as the girl's. The boy is wearing a loose, low-cut black tank top with a singular white stripe lining the neck. His pants are plain black cuffed jeans and, oddly enough for someone of his Ultimate talent, brown hiking boots.

They were whispering together sure, but we needed to go pass them so why not talk to them too? "Hey there." I greet them.

And, I kid you not, the girl removes her headphones and she goes from whispering to energetic, 0 to 100 real quick.

As you can probably already guess, I know who these two are. But, I don't wanna sound like a stalker so I let Sachi introduce herself before saying anything about knowing them.

"We're fine, I'm Sachiko Yoshifumi, the Ultimate Pharmaceutical Scientist, and this is Tatsumi Endo, the Ultimate Paparazzi" Sachi introduces us both politely.

"Nice to meet you guys, I'm Rui Takara, the Ultimate Mangaka!" the girl introduces herself cheerfully.

"Yo, the name's Yuuji Hatsutori but you can just call me Yu, 'kay? Oh, and I'm the Ultimate Filmmaker, it's nice to meet you!" the boy introduces himself with a bright smile.

Rui Takara

Ultimate Mangaka

What can I say about Rui Takara that all manga addicts haven't said yet? Her pen name is Rukara, but of course, internet addicts will be able to find out anything if they put their mind into it so her real name, Rui Takara, was exposed.

She can turn anything into a best-selling manga. Any work Rui produces seems to overtake the previous one with ease. She is seen as a genius and of course, a beautiful girl.

I would say when it comes to having an active fanbase, Rui's would be one of the top ones. She's often compared to the literary genius, Toko Fukawa, but in manga form.

Yuuji Hatsutori

Ultimate Filmmaker

Yuuji started his career by posting his short films online, they were so good that they soon attracted the eyes of big celebrities, in this case an American Filmmaker called Eric Hunt. Under Eric Hunt's tutelage, Yuuji bloomed and from his already impressive short films, he became the youngest successful filmmaker to date, being praised by all celebrities who have worked with him. He was even able to tame the hot-headed Mari Tamatsuki and work with the rather spoiled Seizo Morine.

Now let me give you a little insider knowledge I have, most people don't know this but-

"What is he staring at?" Yu interrupts my train of thought.

...How many times has this happened, now?

"Don't worry, he's a huge fan of you guys I'm sure." Sachi reassures them. "Both your work and yourself as an Ultimate."

Man, Sachi has really improved on introducing me to people. You love to see it-

"Oh I see, I thought he knew something that he wasn't supposed to know." Rui giggles.

I detect a slight hint of...hmmm. I can't pin it down but it wasn't positive. Maybe she knows that I know about-

"Oh trust me, he knows a lot of things he isn't supposed to know about." Sachi jokes.

Suddenly, I see Yu's face become a little darker.

Hmm...these two are so weird. One second they're all nice and the next they're all suspicious of me because I know things I'm not supposed to know. Jeez.

Well, it is a Killing Game. It's only natural for them to want to protect themselves.

"I see," Yu says, his expression lightening. "Well, if it isn't any bother to you two, Rui and I are gonna head off to look for an exit. It was nice meeting you two." Yu ends the conversation pretty quickly and he and Rui go off without another word.

I can't argue with that. I get it, not everyone is thrilled to meet Paparazzi, let alone an Ultimate Paparazzi.

"They were rather weird, weren't they, Tatsumi?" Sachi whispers to me.

"Yeah, but everyone we've met has had a guard up," I respond. "I guess their guard is just more raised than other people."

And I think I know why...

With that weird conversation over, Sachi and I continue on to the Laundry.

When we reach the Laundry, there's three people inside.

Wow, this is the most people we've seen in one room (not counting Sachi and I entering and making it four), almost as if something was intentionally only allowing me to meet two people a room for some obscure reason…

Hm?

Anyways.

The three of them are all girls busy investigating the room and ignoring us. Or maybe they just haven't noticed us yet. I'm not sure.

The first girl has short, blueish-black hair with a small portion of it tied into a small side ponytail. She has fair skin and light cyan eyes. The girl has pink lips and rosy cheeks and she's pretty slender. This girl wears a blue dress with white frills and puffy sleeves. It's all topped off with a navy blue ribbon bow on the chest. She wears blue regency era style shoes and light blue knee high stockings.

The second girl has flawless ivory skin, complementing and contrasting with long, straight ebony hair. Contrasting that are beautiful, distinctive sky blue eyes. She's wearing an off-shoulder crop layered top - the crop is purple while the rest is a nice violet. There's a gold-yellow flower attached to the left side of her crop. Her legs are covered by simple gray legging pants and her feet are protected by white ankle socks and a pair of black Mary Janes.

The third girl is a slender and decently toned girl with a fair skinned complexion and turquoise colored eyes with fairly long lashes. She has on a pale pink short off-shoulder shirt with strap sleeves, under a matching dark grey zipper hoodie with the words 'xx GAMER GAL xx' inscribed across the back in pale pink writing. She wears shorts that stop mid-thigh. Under those she wears a pair of crisp white leggings that go down to her ankles. A pair of dark grey sneakers with white laces and a pale blue lightning bolt emblem finish her outfit. As for accessories, she has a lot - even more than Rui from a while ago. A pair of comfortable pro-fingerless dark grey gaming gloves, a small charm bracelet, and probably a lot more I cannot see properly. I think Yu's hostility made my contacts evaporate…

Well, time to find out if we're actually being ignored.

"Hey guys, what are you all doing here?" I ask them, trying to get their attention.

"Oh," the second girl turns towards Sachi and I. "Hello. Sorry, we were distracted. Mikasa here lost a bunch of her accessories when she woke up so we're trying to help her find them." she explains.

Ooo, I know who that is.

And what's with our kidnappers taking everybody's accessories? Ryoji's glasses, Sumire's hat...now Mikasa's belongings are missing. Are we not allowed to be fashionable here?

I smile. "Nice to meet you guys, I'm Tatsumi Endo, the Ultimate Paparazzi, and this is Sachiko Yoshifumi, the Ultimate Pharmaceutical Scientist." I introduce us.

They all finally stop rummaging around the room to greet us.

"I'm Kasumi Teruya, the Ultimate Fashion Historian." the first girl greets us.

"Greetings, my name is Mitsuki Hanataro, I'm the Ultimate Stage Performer" the second girl extends her right hand in front of her, "It is nice to meet you." she greets.

...Is that so…?

"I'm Mikasa Nishikawa. Hope's Peak enrolled me as the Ultimate...Video Game Developer." the third girl, Mikasa, stares at me intensely. "...Actually, come to think of it, you do look familiar…!" she says and gasps. "…Yes, you interviewed me after I won the Gamecom Prize, I think…!" Mikasa says and smiles. "Haha, and now you're one of my classmates here! Well, I say game on to a successful year for all of us~."

I'm crying, someone who actually remembers and recognizes me...I feel so happy.

Kasumi Teruya

Ultimate Fashion Historian

Kasumi is not as mainstream as other celebrities like the Ultimate fucking Pilot - pardon my French - Jirou Takahashi.

Kasumi has a small but very loyal fanbase. She's known for creating historically accurate dresses down to the tiniest detail. Even if the process takes days, Kasumi does it very well.

You know, I think I even remember her designing dresses for one of Yu's movies.

Anyways, she has that on her resume and she's an Ultimate, you know her stuff is quality. Kasumi also has a best-seller book out there.

She does have a bit of an ego when it comes to her work but who wouldn't? As Ultimates, we all have to have some kind of an ego, even if it's not as extreme as Seizo Morine's, right?

Mitsuki Hanataro

Ultimate Shadow Play Performer

That's right. Ultimate Shadow Play Performer, not Ultimate Stage Performer.

Let me tell you how controversial Mitsuki Hanataro is.

Some people don't acknowledge Mitsuki as an Ultimate. She's a very good stage performer but her skills weren't as good as Takagi so Takagi was accepted as the Ultimate Thespian (Stage Performer) instead.

But, Mitsuki was also very skilled with Shadow Play. Her ability to dance, to contort her body to tell a story, is unrivaled. And so, Hope's Peak decided to accept her as the Ultimate Shadow Play Performer.

I have seen her work and it is rather amazing. Still, it kind of sucks for her that her talent was overshadowed.

Still, to just straight up lie about her talent like that...what's her deal?

Mikasa Nishikawa

Ultimate Video Game Developer

Ah, Mikasa, thank you for remembering me...

She has developed great games and of course, that means many gamers love her. She's also a professional gamer.

Honestly she's... kind of basic. Don't let her know I said that.

She isn't known for anything else. She develops games (don't get me wrong, I know that's a very talented skill in and of itself, but still), she competes in video game competitions, and she has a lot of male followers.

Okay. Let me tell you something spicy. Mikasa has been under a lot of speculation for a while now. So there was this-

"Tatsumi." Sachi's voice interrupted my musings. "This was a lot longer than the previous ones, I was getting worried. I already explained to them the situation." she sighs.

Oops.

Hmm...there were three Ultimates here so my senses were kinda overloaded. Imagine if all of them were in the same room…

No. Bad. This is a Killing Game, Tatsumi, calm down.

Before I'm able to talk to Kasumi, Mitsuki, and Mikasa any further, a robotic female voice suddenly pierces through the loudspeakers.

"To all students in Hope's Peak Academy, you are all required to appear in the Gymnasium. Please head to the Gymnasium immediately. Failure to do so will result in punishment. That is all."

"Well, I think we all know what that 'punishment' may be, so let's just head over there." Sachi says.

Very logical of her, as usual.

Sachi, the cold brainy one. Me, the friendly brainy one. The perfect dynamic.

What would we do without each other?

Eventually, we were all gathered in the Gymnasium.

The Gymnasium was as broken down as the other parts of the school, you could see the ruins and damages from Sakura Ogami and Monokuma's fight. The floor is no longer shiny and some of the supporting columns are cracked - one of them being broken.

I confirmed everyone I know to be here:

Shion and Sumire have joined up with the other parts of the Milk Tea Gang: Kikuo, Takagi, and Kite.

Kasumi, Mitsuki, and Mikasa were joined by Min-Ju.

Rui and Yu were still together.

Jotaro, Katashi, and Ryoji are all alone.

And of course me and Sachi were together.

It seems that everyone is here and accounted for, that's good. I can already see groups forming and who has an alliance with who.

"Upupupupupu..."

That infamous laugh starts resounding all throughout the gymnasium. It puts a stop to all the idle conversations happening. Sure enough, from the podium on the stage, it appears.

Monokuma.

The thing that brought despair to the whole world. The mascot that Junko Enoshima used to bring the world to ruin just because she was bored.

I can't believe some people actually still like her to this day. Simps are crazy.

Hm...why is Seizo Morine's closest friend coming to mind…? What was his name again? S...S…

Crab?

"Well hello there kiddies! Man, how I missed this. How long have I been gone? Was it fifty years? Dang. Fifty years already man, I'm already ancient. I'm beary old now, upupupupupu!" Monokuma rambles, laughing. "BUT JUST BECAUSE I'M OLD DOESN'T MEAN THAT I'VE LOST MY EDGE!" he screams suddenly. I hear Min-Ju and a few others yelp from the sudden outburst. "I think you all know how to read books, right? So, POP QUIZ! What happened the last time a bunch of kids were trapped in Hope's Peak Academy?" Monokuma asks us.

No one has the guts to answer that question. It's almost as if some of us still don't believe that this is really happening and some that are just frozen in pure fear of what might happen if they raise their voice.

"Well?" Monokuma asks. Still, no one answers. He sighs. "Man, the education system has really gone down hill hasn't it?" Monokuma says, acting depressed. "But! Lucky for you, I won't be doing that to you today, this will be more of a Your Turn To Die thing where you try to solve something. I had a lot of fun playing that while I was in hibernation, y'know. Good times. Sou good of a game."

What? What the fuck is he talking about?

"What are you talking about?" Shion is the first to speak since Monokuma appeared.

"So this won't be a Killing Game?" Sumire follows her sister.

Murmurs and sighs of relieves can be heard.

Huh, so are we all going to live?

No...this way too good to be true, there has to be a trick.

"See! One of you has a voice after all!" Monokuma giggled

"One? We're two different people-"/"One? Don't act like we're the same person, I'm leagues better than-" Sumire and Shion say in unison but Monokuma interrupts and ignores them, continuing.

"Now, this won't be an ordinary Killing Game, but let me give you all some insight first. Do you know what happened to-?" Suddenly, sparks start flying from Monokuma and his speech turns into a garbled mess of errors and gibberish. Is he...malfunctioning?

"UPUPUPUPUPU! WELCOME BACK TO THE REAL SHOW FOLKS!" Monokuma exclaims, sounding more like we all remember him to. It's like his personality suddenly did a 180: he went from somewhat normal then moving to what he was during the Killing Games. "Sorry about that previous statement, disregard everything I said earlier!"

"WHAT!?"

...Huh?

"What are you talking about? What do you mean disregard everything that was happening?!" Sachi cries out. She's become angry out of nowhere, an extreme contrast to the always calm and collected Sachi I'd come to know.

"Upupupu! Well, if you must know, I had a little bug in my system that was making me all soft, but worry not! I've been able to fix it and we are back to our regularly scheduled programming!" Monokuma laughs, all too pleased with this sudden turn of events. "Now we are going back to the original Killing Game we all know and love! The one that's a gajillion, billion, million times better than the other one!"

"I thought you said there was no Killing Game? That it was just going to be a...a s-solve something?" Min-Ju says fearfully.

I can understand why she would be scared. I mean, you thought you were safe for a good second then suddenly your kidnapper 'malfunctions' and switches everything up.

Monokuma waves her off. "Yeah, yeah. I said what I said. Do you want me to post a 'taking accountability' video on MeTube or something? Upupupu!" he laughs, unapologetic. "Now shut the hell up and listen, brats! We are back to our original plan, this is a Killing Game - but it won't be just any old Killing Game." Monokuma says. "Everyone please come forward and take your Electro ID."

A table filled with what I'm guessing these 'Electro IDs' are suddenly elevate from the ground, much like Monokuma himself.

While some people were still scared to come forward and take one, the fearless people like Katashi and Jotaro went forward and claimed theres. When nothing happens to them, the rest of us soon follow suit.

"Now read the rules carefully, cause you don't wanna get Mukuro-ed, do you?" Monokuma asks and starts laughing. "Ah, memories." he looks up, almost like he's reminiscing.

We all ignore him and open our Electro ID to look at the rules.

Rule #1: Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

Rule #2: "Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Rule #3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

Rule #4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.

Rule #5: Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

Rule #6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

Rule #7: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.

Rule #8: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

Rule #9: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.

Rule #10: Lending your e-Handbook to another student is strictly prohibited.

Rule #11: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "Killing Game."

Rule #12: Additional school regulations may be added if necessary.

The rules seem to be the same ones as we learn in our history lessons. Nothing seems to suggest that this will be a different kind of Killing Game.

"Well I hope you're all familiar with the rules." Monokuma says after a while. "That should be everything for now."

"Wait, but what did you mean about solving things? And why suddenly change from that to a Killing Game?" Kite asks. "I'm so confused." he sighs.

"Yeah this is starting to get really annoying you stupid bear, what are you talking about and why are you like this?" Sachi speaks up, crossing her arms.

Soon again people were complaining and annoying Monokuma

"ALRIGHT THIS IS GETTING ANNOYING!" Monokuma screams. "I was going to be all nice and let you all go for the night but this is waaaaaaaaay too much!" he growls. "To show you kids that I am not kidding and to show you how serious this situation really is...upupupupupupu." Monokuma trails off and giggles darkly.

Not a second later do a beeping sound and red flashes start coming out of our Electro IDs. The words 'YOUR TURN TO DIE VOTE' started flashing on the screen.

"I know I said we weren't doing 'Your Turn to Die' but this is to show you how serious this really is. Everyone will be voting for someone in this colorful cast of characters and whoever gets the most votes…" Monokuma grins, flashing his teeth. "Let's just say that they'll receive a little prize." he says and raises his paws threateningly.

What? Vote? Now? This is real? What is he talking about?

"What? Prize? Do we get to go home?" Kasumi asks in a quiet voice.

"NO!" Monokuma snaps. "Obviously whoever gets the highest number of votes will be punished! This is to stop you all from complaining and bringing up the past!" he cries. "This is not going to be a normal Killing Game." Monokuma repeats. "I will give you all three minutes to talk amongst yourselves and plead your cases. And to those people who think, 'Oh, I'm just not going to vote, teehee', not voting is considered voting for yourself. Upupupupu, your three minutes starts NOW!"

No one is able to say anything. We all just stare at our Electro IDs. Voting for someone when they haven't even done anything...I block out the world.

Who would people choose? Who are the potential targets?

Jotaro Ienaga, one of the most physically strong guys in this group. People might see this as a chance to get rid of him.

Ryoji Yamauchi, a freshman that doesn't know anyone. He's the odd man out of this group.

Katashi Hitsugaya, a shady guy who is well known for keeping secrets.

Mistuki Hanataro, someone who is generally seen as not worthy of her placement in Hope's Peak.

Sachiko Yoshifumi, someone who is not well liked by a lot of people

and me, Tatsumi Endo, just an annoying paparazzi who has done nothing but know things about people.

"TIMES UP!" Monokuma's shout pulls me out of my thoughts.

Shit. I didn't get to vote.

I look at the girl who's been my partner in crime thus far and Sachi is angry. Ahaha, hopefully I get a chance to talk to her about it later. I mean, I've been nice enough. I can be useful to everyone else - I know a lot of information. I shouldn't be voted out...right?

"Let's take a little looksy at your votes and see who the lucky winner is!"

We all look up when a TV screen starts descending from the ceiling.

Seconds later, the screen displays the results.

…

…

…

…

…

Oh.

Tatsumi Endo - 6

Jotaro Ienaga - 5

Katashi Hitsugaya - 3

Ryoji Yamauchi - 2

Mikasa Nishikawa - 1

Eyooooo! I know this chapter feels rushed but there was some technical Issues while I was writing it that caused the whole chapter to be deleted :C I hope it's still satisfactory. Thank you to Abitat Eco, darkbadger, and ggranddaughterr00 for their OCs, and I hope you enjoyed their portrayal. DM me on how to improve their portrayals.

If you think you see any mistakes it might not be a mistake UwU and what is this Mr. Protagonist receiving the most votes? but why? find out next time.

HUGE thanks to my ~~daughter~~ Sempi for fixing whatever random words I put here into a cohesive story.

Thank you all for following my story

-James