Prologue: Here We Are Now, Entertain Us
Howdy, y'all! The name's Teruteru Hanamura. And just the other day, I was invited to this super fancy schmancy high school known as Hope's Peak Academy. Today I'm expected to start my first day there. For those of you who are outta the loop on what in tarnation Hope's Peak Academy is, let me try to explain it to y'all. Basically, it's this really special school where high schoolers like me go to if they're really talented in one particular subject. They usually call these talents Ultimates over at the school. An example of one would be mine, the Ultimate Gamer. Now, you may be wonderin' how a country fella like me got into such a big fancy city school. Well, let me tell you about how I got my so-called Ultimate talent.
It all started when my Momma was diagnosed with this super serious illness. It weakened her a whole lot, and she would occasionally pass out while working. As her oldest child, I was expected to take care of her and help her out with her work. It turns out that I wasn't really cut out to help her, so I left her in the care of my younger siblings as I locked myself in my room to play video games. Y'see, video games are sorta like a coping mechanism for me, and it definitely helped me deal with the stress of my mother potentially gettin' so sick she dies. It wouldn't be long until I made these gaming sessions useful for once and started streaming them online. To be honest with y'all, I really didn't expect them to become as popular as they ended up being! I probably should mention that I mostly specialize in speedruns, which I guess is super popular on the internet.
I guess my speedruns caught the attention of Hope's Peak Academy, considering I got my invitation there in the mail only about half a year after I started my livestream account. Of course, I didn't even know that I had even gotten the dang invitation until my Momma barged into my room and questioned me about it. And oh boy, let me tell you, I was terrified to think of how she would react to me becoming famous online instead of helping her out. But after I explained the whole livestreaming situation to her, she was surprisingly super supportive of me. I think she said something along the lines of, "Although I would've preferred you to have helped me out with the diner instead of playing video games all day, at least it got you into a good school," before helping me accept the invitation and get ready for my first day at Hope's Peak Academy.
And that leads me here today, on the first day of my life as the Ultimate Gamer at Hope's Peak. To be really honest with y'all, I'm really nervous to even just step through the front gates. What if I don't fit in here? My Ultimate Talent is pretty silly compared to the others in my class. I had done some research on my new classmates about a week ago. Some of these people seem a lot more important than me. Like apparently I'm going to be in the same class as both the Ultimate Yakuza and the Ultimate Supreme Leader! And don't get me started on all of the students with better Ultimates than me. There's the Ultimate Baseball Star, the Ultimate Artist, the Ultimate Astronaut, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy, the list goes on and on…
Eventually I got myself to snap out of my nervousness. Why, if my talent wasn't as important as the others, I wouldn't even be standing here today! So I said to myself, "what could possibly go wrong?", and stepped through the front gates.
But oh boy, was I wrong. It turns out everything that could go wrong, would go wrong, as I proceeded to black out not even a second after my foot touched the ground.
I woke up in an empty classroom. Glancing around my surroundings revealed to me that strange metal plates were bolted to the windows in the room. As I adjusted myself in my seat so I could look around the room better, my hand touched a slip of paper that laid on top of the desk I was sitting at. I glanced down at the sheet of paper, and picked it up so I could get a closer look at it. The paper had a drawing of a black and white teddy bear with a red eye and Hope's Peak Academy scribbled on it with crayon. The paper also had a letter on it addressed to me, and here's what it read:
"Dear Teruteru, the Ultimate Gamer,
Welcome to Hope's Peak Academy! Please make your way to the Gym for your class's opening ceremony. But please, don't hesitate to meet your fellow students or explore your surroundings. After all, the meeting won't start until 11 am!
From,
Your Headmaster"
A clock hanging up above the blackboard in the room told me that it was currently around 9:30 am. I definitely had plenty of time to head to the gym, so I planned to just stay in the room for a little while. But before I could kick back and relax, someone knocked on the door.
"Hey, is anyone in there?" The voice of what might've been a guy's called out from behind the classroom door.
"Yeah, I'm here!" I called back.
"Oh, really?! Hey Hifumi, Junko! I found another one!" Suddenly, the door opened up, and in stepped a silver haired boy who looked an awful lot like a robot. Then the two people the boy probably just called out to stepped into the room. One of them was a boy with the body shape of a very large hamster wearing a pretty neat suit and tie, and the other was a girl wearing a baseball outfit. She even wore a baseball cap, with the logo of what I think is her baseball team's. Her hair was tied into a ponytail with a black and white ribbon. Things were quiet for a moment, until the robot-looking person spoke up.
"Uh, hey there! My name's K1-B0, but everyone just calls me Keebo. I'm the Ultimate Tennis Pro. What's your name?"
"My name's Teruteru Hanamura, and I'm the Ultimate Gamer. Who're your friends?" I asked.
"My name's Hifumi Yamada, but I am also known as The Alpha and The Omega! My talent just so happens to be that of the Ultimate Soldier," the boy responded. He adjusted his glasses so a glare covered his eyes, just like he was in an anime.
"Hiii! I'm Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Baseball Star!" the girl responded while striking a little pose. "We were searching the school for any of our classmates that haven't woken up or were lost. You may or may not be the last student to wake up. But who knows! Maybe there's one other sleepyhead out there who's gonna miss out on the big ceremony."
"Hey Junko, don't you think we should be heading to the gym? Everyone might be there now," Keebo asked.
"Yeah, sure, I guess we could. But the ceremony doesn't start for another hour or two! We could try to get to know our new pal for a little while."
"I'd be fine with that," I shrugged.
Junko clapped her hands together. "Alright, then it's settled! We're gonna stay here for a while and get to know our new friend Teriyaki."
"It's Teruteru."
"Whatever."
"...Anyway, how did all of you get your Ultimate talents? Now Hifumi, I don't mean to sound rude, but you don't exactly look like you fit the bill of an Ultimate Soldier."
"Well you see, I don't do any actual fighting, like with guns or swords or gun swords and stuff. Piloting unmanned drones is more of my thing."
"Hm, I guess that makes sense." I looked at Keebo. "And what about you? You've sorta got this robot aesthetic goin' on here. How come you're not the Ultimate Robot or something?"
"Um, actually, I don't have a robot aesthetic going on here, because I'm an actual robot. So please don't say that ever again, because it's sort of robophobic."
"O-Oh, I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or anythin'. A-Anyway, you must be really good at tennis."
"What, because I'm a robot?! Seriously, you're going to apologize for saying something robophobic with another robophobic remark?!"
"N-No, I-I-I didn't mean it like-"
"Anyway, let's talk about me for once," Junko interrupted. "I was forced to join a sport when I was a child, so I chose baseball. Turns out it's like, the only thing I happen to be good at. Also fun fact, apparently my twin sister used to do baseball too, but I guess she quit or something."
"...Hey guys, can we leave now? I am very uncomfortable with the energy we've created in the studio today," Hifumi spoke up after Junko was done rambling. Obviously no one had been paying attention to Junko, since Keebo and I were still sorta upset over our conversation.
"Y-Yeah, I agree, let's leave," I stuttered.
The four of us left the room, and started heading straight for the gym. But of course we couldn't just head right to our destination as soon as possible, because that would've just been too convenient. Along the way we ran into a few other students, with the first two that we ran into were a tall man with dreadlocks with a black jacket draped over his shoulders and a blonde girl in a short pink dress wearing glasses above her eyes instead of over them. You know, like how glasses are normally worn. They seem to have been wandering around the school aimlessly, so we obviously had to stop them to ask what they were doing.
"Hey, are you guys lost?" Keebo said.
"Hell yeah we are! We've been wandering these damn hallways for two fuckin' hours now, and we still can't find the goddamn gym!" the girl yelled.
"Well, we could help you two out. My name's Teruteru Hanamura, the Ultimate Gamer. And this is K1-B0 the Ultimate Tennis Pro, Hifumi Yamada the Ultimate Soldier, and Junko Enoshima the Ultimate Baseball Star," I said.
"The name's Miu Iruma, and I'm the Ultimate Writing Prodigy. You better remember my goddamn name, or else!" the girl yelled.
"And I'm Yasuhiro Hagakure, the Ultimate Fanfic Creator. Y'see, I sorta can't find the gym. Miu offered to help me, since we're both writers, but we're now even more lost than we were before," the man explained.
"Well, the good news is that you two are in luck! The gym is just down that way. Keep going down the hallway until you reach the end, and then take a right. No need to thank me!" Hifumi told them. Hiro and Miu nodded in thanks and left to go to the gym.
We followed them for a little bit until we ran into another student. This student happened to be a girl wearing a dark green hoodie and a paint-stained apron. She was obviously distracted by her surroundings.
"Heeey! Are you lost?!" Junko called out to the girl, who blinked out of her trance to stare at Junko.
"Um… No. Actually, I'm not," the girl replied.
"Oh, uh, in that case, what are you doing here? The meeting's going to start in an hour," Keebo asked.
"Oh, nothing really. It's just that this school is really pretty. If I could find my art supplies, I would paint it." The girl let out a sigh. "I brought a big bag full of paints and brushes here, but I can't find it anywhere. I wish I could find it."
"Maybe we could help you find them after the announcement. By the way, my name is K1-B0, but you can call me Keebo. I'm the Ultimate Tennis Pro. And this is Teruteru Hanamura the Ultimate Gamer, Hifumi Yamada the Ultimate Soldier, and Junko Enoshima the Ultimate Baseball Star."
"I'm Chiaki Nanami, and I guess I'm the Ultimate Artist."
"It's nice to meet you, Chiaki. Now, can we escort you to the gym?"
"Um, no thanks. I'm fine. I already know where it is." Chiaki then proceeded to walk off in the direction of the gym. The four of us looked at each other and shrugged, before heading off in the direction Chiaki had gone.
Once we reached the gym, a very tall woman in a suit blocked the way inside. She was super muscular, and had a large scar across her face. I was honestly afraid to approach her, since she looked like she could easily snap me in half like a Kit Kat bar if I slipped up on anything. Oddly enough, the others weren't as intimidated by her as I was.
"Hey Sakura, we're done searching the school for the rest of the class! Can we go in now?" Junko asked the woman.
"Yes, you may. But first, may I ask who this is?" the woman said as she pointed straight at me.
"U-U-Um… I-I'm T-T-Ter-r-ru-" I stammered. Golly, I was nervous.
"His name is Teruteru Hanamura, and he's the Ultimate Gamer," Keebo stepped in.
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Teruteru," the woman greeted. "You know, there's no need to be afraid of me. I only use my strength on evildoers. You don't seem like a threat, so there's no need to worry."
"O-Oh, I see…" I stuttered.
"Anyway, my name is Sakura Ogami. I am known as the Ultimate Yakuza. Although… I left that life behind a long time ago." Sakura's eyes glazed over with sadness for a moment, before she blinked out of her trance and looked over at the rest of us. "Assuming that there's only sixteen people in our class, everyone is already here. Come on, let's go inside." Sakura turned around and walked through the entrance to the gym, and we followed her.
Once we entered the gym, the five of us split up to go talk to the others. Since the opening ceremony wouldn't start for another thirty minutes, I wanted to introduce myself to the eight students that I hadn't met yet. In one corner of the room were two unfamiliar girls talking to each other, so I thought it would be best to introduce myself to them first. One girl had short red hair and was wearing a green overall dress with a red and white plaid tie, while the other had long blue hair and was wearing a blue apron over a blue and white schoolgirl uniform.
"U-Um, hi. My name's Teruteru Hanumura, and I'm the Ultimate Gamer. I guess I'm a part of your class," I told the two girls.
"Oh, hi there! My name is Sayaka Maizono, and I'm the Ultimate Cook! It's nice to meet you Teruteru!" the blue haired girl introduced. "And this is Mahiru Koizumi. She's the Ultimate Pianist." Sayaka gestured to the red haired girl, who only glared at me.
"Oh hey, you're good at cooking? I like to cook too! Do you specialize in cooking anything in particular?"
"Well, I really like to bake. In fact, my cakes are supposedly the best in the world! I could bake you a cake sometime, if you want me to."
"Oh, I'd like that!"
"Hey, what are you doing, interrupting our conversation like that?! We were having a nice girl talk before you barged in," Mahiru scolded me.
"O-Oh, I'm sorry. ...So, uh, how did you get into playing the piano?"
"Well… I just wanted to play the piano for a school talent show… So I asked my mother to teach me how to play… And then one thing led to another and- Hey, wait a second, why am I telling you all of this?! I just told you to leave us alone!" Mahiru then proceeded to push me away from her and Sayaka, before walking back to where she was standing before and continuing her previous conversation. Disappointed with how that conversation ended, I wandered around the room for a little bit, until I was stopped by a boy in a dark green hoodie and a girl wearing a black jacket with a NASA patch on the front of it over a maid dress.
"Hey, you don't happen to be Teruteru Hanamura, do you?" the boy asked.
"Uh, yeah. Why?"
"Oh, you are?! That's great! It's nice to meet you!" the boy grabbed both of my hands and shook them before letting them go. "My name's Makoto Naegi. I'm the Ultimate Programmer."
"Huh… I feel like I've heard your name before…" Suddenly, it all came to me. "Hey wait a second, you're the creator of that indie game called Bullet Objection!"
"Ah, so you do remember me! I heard that we were both going to Hope's Peak, so I was really hoping that I could meet you in person. After all, you're the reason I'm even here in the first place!"
"Oh right, your game was almost unheard of until I livestreamed it. I never actually thought that I would ever get to see you in person, but I'm glad we did!" I looked over at the girl that was with Makoto. "By the way, who's this?"
"My name is Kirumi Tojo. I am the Ultimate Astronaut. Makoto had asked me to help him find you."
"Oh? How'd you become the Ultimate Astronaut?"
"...I used to help run a local space camp. That's all I'm allowed to say on the matter."
"Hey Kirumi, I'm going to introduce myself to everyone else. You should too," Makoto spoke up. Kirumi nodded in response and walked away. "Well, it was nice to meet you Teruteru! I'll see you later!" We waved goodbye at each other and walked away.
If my calculations are correct, there should only be four more students for me to introduce myself to. So I searched the entire gym for them, and lo and behold, there stood four people that I didn't recognise all talking to each other. In the group was a blond boy wearing a black suit, another boy wearing a long white jacket and a floppy white witch hat that covered most of his hair, which I assumed was red in color since he had a red goatee, another boy with neon pink hair wearing a neon yellow coat with a strange symbol on the back and a gray beanie, and a red haired girl wearing a black jacket and a red tie. The pink haired boy was talking to the girl and the boy in the witch hat, while the blond boy ignored them all. I walked right up to them and introduced myself.
"Uh, howdy! My name's Teruteru Hanamura. I'm the Ultimate Gamer. Who're you folks?" Everyone but the blond boy in the group turned to look at me.
"Yo, wassup! You wanna hear about my epic plan to take over the school?" the pink haired boy said. "The name's Kazuichi Soda. I'm the Ultimate Supreme Leader, and the founder of Team Evil!"
"Team… Evil?"
"Yeah, that's what it's called." Kazuichi scratched the back of his head a little bit. "I'm, uh, not very good at naming things…"
"Uhhh… Should I introduce myself next?" the girl turned to ask Kazuichi.
"Sure! Unless you want me to do it for you."
The girl shrugged. "Meh. I'm fine with whatever."
"Alrighty then! This is Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Anthropologist. She says that she wants to be my second in command for Team Evil!" Kazuichi leaned in closer to me so I was the only one who could hear him. "But, uh, to be honest, I don't think she's cut out for the job. I told her if she proves how useful her Ultimate can be, she can join. But I really don't think she's ever gonna find a relevant use for it."
"The Ultimate Anthropologist, huh?" I said to Himiko as Kazuichi leaned away from me.
"Yeah… I just think that anthropology is pretty neat. I didn't think my interest in it would get me into a school like this…" Himiko explained.
"And this is- Wait, do you wanna introduce yourself, or can I do it?" Kazuichi turned to the boy in the witch hat.
"Hell yeah I wanna do it myself!" the boy yelled at Kazuichi before turning to me. "Yo, the name's Leon Kuwata! I guess I'm the Ultimate Magician, or something." Leon stuck his hands in his coat pockets and kicked at the ground a little bit. "But man… Can you not call me that? My Ultimate I mean, not my name."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Well, it's just… I don't really like doin' magic tricks all that much. I've been doing them ever since I was a little kid, and I'm just burnt out from all of it. I just wanna do something else for a change! Like music! I really wanna be in a band!"
"So uh, what do you want to be called instead?"
"How about… Uh… Oh! I know! How about the Ultimate Musician!"
"Yeah, I guess I can call you that." I pointed at the blond haired boy, who was currently facing away from us. "By the way, who's that?"
"He says his name is Byakuya Togami. I dunno what his Ultimate Talent is, though. He refuses to tell us," Kazuichi explained. "I think he told us something like, 'I don't remember it. Even if I knew it, I wouldn't tell you peasants what it is.' I honestly have no clue as to why he's still standing here with us."
"Oh, I see."
Suddenly, the sound of someone tapping on a microphone blared through the gym's speakers.
"Testing, testing! Is this thing on?!" a giddy voice blared all around us. "Alrighty then! Let's get this show on the road!"
As the entire class turned their attention to the stage in the gym, a teddy bear that looked similar to the one drawn on my letter from earlier suddenly jumped up onto the podium on the stage. The teddy bear was white on the left side and black on the right. Its right eye was red and was a strange shape that sorta looked like a bat wing or something. Everyone in the gym was either shocked or confused at what they were looking at.
"Hello, everyone! My name is Monokuma! And I am your new Headmaster!" the teddy bear said.
"W-what is that?!" Mahiru gasped.
"A… Teddy bear?" Sakura pondered.
"Hey hey hey! I'm not a teddy bear! I'm Monokuma, your Headmaster!"
"Um… How can you talk?" Chiaki asked Monokuma.
"A great magician never reveals his secrets! Puhuhu!"
"HEY! That's MY line!" Leon shouted.
"And who gave you permission to talk?!" Monokuma jumped down from the stage and walked, or rather skittered, right up to Leon. "Haven't you heard that old phrase, 'Children should be seen, not heard?'"
"Oh yeah?! Well who gave you permission to EXIST?!" Leon suddenly kicked Monokuma square in the face. The whole gym went quiet as Leon kept his foot on his face, until he suddenly started making a loud beeping sound. Leon slowly lifted his foot away from Monokuma and backed away. "Wh… Wh-What the hell?!"
Suddenly, Sakura sprinted towards Monokuma and Leon, lightly shoving anyone who happened to be in her path.
"EVERYONE, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Sakura yelled, as she picked up Monokuma by the head and threw him into the air. Monokuma's beeping became more rapid as he seemingly floated in the air, and only stopped when he exploded right above all of our heads. We all covered our heads from any fallen debris from the explosion and everything went quiet, up until Junko opened her mouth.
"Yayyy! The evil has been defeated!" Junko started waving her arms in the air. Some of the students joined her cheering, before Monokuma suddenly appeared again on the stage. Everyone proceeded to groan at this sudden revelation that he didn't actually die.
"What?! You guys aren't happy to see me again?!" Monokuma yelled.
"What do you think the answer to that goddamn question is?!" Miu yelled.
"Yes?"
"FUCK NO! WHY THE HELL WOULD WE EVER LIKE A BASTARD LIKE YOU?! YOU ALMOST FUCKING KILLED US ALL!"
"How are you even still alive? We watched you die!" Sayaka gasped.
"...Anyway, attacking the Headmaster is a violation of the school rules. Normally, I would've just offed you then and there, Leon Kuwata. But today I'm feeling a little bit generous. So instead, I'm just going to let you do the dirty work for me and have you folks kill each other instead!" Monokuma announced, completely ignoring Sayaka's question.
"Wh… What do you mean? You're not… You're not gonna make us fight to the death in some sorta Hunger Games type situation, a-are you?" Kazuichi asked.
"Oh, no no no no. It's nothing like that. That game is more like a free-for-all killing session. What I'm thinking of is a mutual killing game."
"A… Mutual killing game?" Kirumi asked.
"Yep! A mutual killing game! If one of you kills another student and gets away with it in a class trial, you get to graduate from Hope's Peak, while everyone else dies! But if they figure out that you killed someone, you die while everyone else gets to live a little bit longer!"
"What?! Why would we ever agree to play something like that?!" Keebo gasped.
"Well, I guess you could refuse to kill anyone. That is, if you want to be trapped here forever." Monokuma glanced at the clock hanging up above the gym entrance. "Well, it looks like I've overstayed my welcome. But before I go, I'd like to tell you all that one of you is working for me. Have fun figuring out who that is!"
Monokuma disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, and left us all by ourselves. The air was tense as everyone looked around at each other. If we really were in a killing game, then any one of us could be plotting to kill another. We were supposed to go to a normal high school, but instead we ended up in a fight to the death. Who would die first? Who would kill first? Would we all figure a way out of the game alive, or would we all die?
Would I even survive all of this?