Prologue 0-2
Endure the City of Mystery and Death
Day 01, 9:50 PM
Town Hall Plaza
Silence filled the plaza immediately after the departure of Monokid by Ignatia's boot. No one knew what to say at first, the flood of emotions and worries coming in fast.
"Hey!" Monosuke declared. "You cannot do that to him-"
"Ooo, I had no idea," Odelios declared, his grin so very wide, "that it was Bear Kicking Day! My favorite festivity day!"
"Wait, what?" the orange Kub stammered, then saw the clown coming at him. "Wait, no no no no AAAUGH!"
Odelios' clown shoe punted Monosuke in the face, though it wasn't as powerful as the mime's. The orange Kub rolled backwards, head over heels. Chasing after his target, the Ultimate Clown shouted, "GET 'EM!"
While most of the twenty-eight graduates were not going to outright attack the smaller bears that looked like the dreaded Monokuma, some of them were more than willing to jump in. A fight commenced, as Monokid came sprinting back, kicking up dust behind him and raising his guitar in a battling manner.
"You'll pay for that, you mute bitch," he shouted as he leapt at Ignatia.
Odelios was trying to stomp and kick Monosuke, chasing the tangerine-tinted bear around. Ignatia punted Monokid again, who cursed a great deal as he soared through the air.
Aka and Jin were punching Monophanie on the head repeatedly, the pink bear trying to cover her noggin as she sobbed pitifully. Ishiku was doing the same thing to Monodam, only this resulted in him hitting his rounded end since he was still balanced on his head.
"Okay, as hilarious as it is to see my children getting kicked through the air," Monokuma said, "I'm going to have to ask you to cease this fight."
"Bitch, I am so going to end you-" and another kick sent Monokid crashing through a dead tree, hitting almost every branch on the way.
"OW," Monodam repeated as Ishiku struck him. "OW. OW. OW."
"Owwwww, stop it please," Monophanie whined loudly.
"Urk! Urrrrgh… le-leggo!" Fiora struggled to say, as Monotaro had her in a headlock. The red Kub tightened his grip as she flailed about.
"I said…" the most menacing voice growled viciously.
"SILENCE!"
With a megaphone in front of his twisted mouth, Monokuma's bellowing of a single word felt like a hurricane-level gust and a punch to the eardrums. All of the graduates flinched, and the ones wrestling and fighting the Kubs froze; the Kubs froze too.
The only sound was the faint gagging sound of Fiora still being choked by Monotaro, as Monokuma lowered his megaphone. The largest and most infamous of bears raised his other paw, claws extending as a rumbling growl elicited from his mouth.
"I am not going to have you all turning this fine city into a wrestling match! There will be no more fighting, no more kicking my Kubs, and no-"
BLAM!
A bullet hole formed in Monokuma's chest, in an area fitting for where his heart would be if he wasn't a robot. The evil bear glanced down, and sighed regretfully. "They… they got me."
And thus he fell over backwards, falling from the top of the broken fountain and bouncing lifelessly behind it.
"WAAAAAAH!" Monotaro screamed, letting go of Fiora as he threw his paws up in the air. "FATHER!"
"Daddy, no," Monophanie hollered, covering her mouth.
"Sunuvabitch," Monokid stated as he bounced from foot to foot, "why'd it have to be Father? Why couldn't it have been Monodam?!"
All of the graduates turned to see the one who had fired. Samson was clutching the smoking pistol, and he was staring at the place where Monokuma had been. When he noticed all of the stares, he said, "What? I've learned how to handle those damn things after the Tragedy; if it had a bomb, I destroyed it."
"You are allowed to carry, aren't you?" Crystal asked casually, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I wouldn't dare carry one if I wasn't allowed to."
The Monokubs frantically raced over towards the other side of the fountain; however, they came right back, wringing their paws and fretting a great deal. "He's already gone!" Monosuke lamented. "He's like a video game character, vanishing after his death!"
"Oh woe is us," Monophanie whined. "We had only just united with him, and we planned out this whole intro so well!"
"Let's all hit Monodam until we feel better!" Monotaro suggested.
"Yeah, let's… wait, what?" Monokid said. "That's MY line!"
"…" was Monodam's response.
As all of this nonsensical dialogue continued, Samson stepped forward and pointed his gun at the five Kubs. "I don't exactly know what you freaks are," he said, "but I'm not going to be taking any chances if you are in league with the face of despair."
"Nooooo!" four of the Kubs screamed, clutching each other in fear.
"THAT-WOULD-BE," Monodam said, staring undaunted up at Samson, "MOST-UNWISE-FOR-YOU-TO-DO."
"Oh yeah? And why's that?"
The ground shook. It vibrated as if something very big was moving. Futaba shrieked, gripping ahold of Shuuya again like she did during the first earthquake. Though this time, the shaking wasn't quite as intense, but still as worrying.
It was only when Anzu screamed as well and pointed towards north, in the direction of the buildings that were across the street from the main plaza, that they saw the source of the rumbling.
One of the buildings was moving, changing, sections of the walls moving out of place like puzzle pieces. It was all connected by heavy machine. The building formed legs, shaking off most of the crusty paint on the walls that formed plates over its limbs. It formed arms, also with walls as its cover for the limbs, and a smokestack replacing a fist.
The roof of the building turned over the head of the gigantic machine, and one would notice that it had been painted white and black. Even more noticeable was the lack of tiles where it would have had a left eye, and it instead had a lightning bolt hole where the demonic red glare from the machine shone through.
It stomped across the street, now three stories tall and composed of intense machinery. Putrid-smelling smoke came from some of its joints, and a collection of exhaust pipes on its shoulder. When it approached the crowd in the plaza, it raised its left arm, which had the smokestack…
And one quite large machine gun turret poked out from the smokestack, pointing at the humans.
"THAT," Monodam said, "IS-WHY-NOT."
All of the humans froze, too intimated to consider running from this thing in the possibility it would aim and open fire. Crystal, the most calm of the lot, asked, "What exactly is that?"
"That," Monotaro proudly stated, "is the Guardian of Penjar! It is a high-tech, state of the art machine-house that was made in Towa City, and brought here to protect the town of Penjar."
"It was procured," Monophanie explained, "during The Tragedy. So much gore and blood during that time, it was awful! But now that we have it here, we can stop senseless violence from happening here!"
"Wait, what?" Isaac spoke up, venturing forward towards the Kubs. "You little ones brought it here?"
The Monokubs exchanged glances, and then Monosuke cleared his throat. "That's on a need-to-know basis, kid. The only thing you do need to know at this moment, I would say, is that any acts of violence committed towards us, the Monokids, would be a very, very bad thing when the Guardian is around."
"Yeah, the machine gun on this thing," Monokid declared, "fires ten thousand rounds per minute, and each bullet costs approximately twenty-two thousand yen!
"It costs about forty-four million yen to operate this gun for just ten bloody seconds! So, we actually don't really want to shoot anyone with it. Unless of course it's Monod-"
"IN-OTHER-WORDS," Monodam spoke up, "ALL-FUTURE-ATTACKS-UPON-THE-KUBS-WILL-RESULT-IN-YOUR-VERY-BLOODY-TERMINATION. YOU-HAVE-BEEN-WARNED."
"Don't kick the Kubs again," Odelios loudly stated. "Got it, lesson learned, please don't make any sudden purchases."
Ignatia let out a silent scoff, taking a few steps back. The graduates stood there nervously, staring up at the huge Guardian or down at the Kubs. Samson holstered his gun as he regarded the Monokubs.
"So what do you want?" he asked them.
"What do we want?" Monotaro repeated. "You showed up in our town."
"There is no way," Kimiko said, "that this is your town."
"The Tragedy was only two years ago," Shinobu pointed out, "and this place looks to be abandoned for years."
The Monokubs exchanged glances again. None of them spoke for some moments, as if wanting the others to speak up on their behalf. Monophanie was finally the one to do so.
"I'm not sure how much we can officially say, to be honest," she admitted. "To be honest, Penjar… works under its own set of rules."
"What does that mean?" Jin asked impatiently.
"Perhaps Ah kin answer that fur ya, partner."
A sudden wind blew through the area, sending the mists streaming around everyone. There was the distant sound of a whistle, as a rounded figure leapt up onto the top of the broken fountain.
Monokuma was wearing a large stetson, and had a belt with bullets in it and two holsters, one on each side; there was also no bullet hole in his chest. He lifted his head enough for his glowing red eye to gleam from under the brim.
"For ya see," he spoke, staring specifically at Samson, "it's high… … …wait."
Monokuma glanced down at his wrist to a nonexistent watch, and sighed. "It's not even 11 yet? Damn it, cannot do that reference then."
He unlatched the belt and threw it behind him; the sound of it hitting the ground was never heard. "Allow me to explain some things for you, graduates of Hope's Peak Academy," he spoke, grinning maliciously again at the humans. "For you see, I am the mayor of Penjar, and I-"
"Hey, Kubs," Samson shouted over Monokuma's voice. "You said the giant robot will shoot us if we attack you, but does that count for Monokuma?"
"Huh?" Monotaro blurted out. "Um… well… officially…"
"No," Monosuke interrupted. He corrected his glasses and sniffed haughtily. "It doesn't count for Pops. Why do you ask?"
Samson turned towards Monokuma, and grinned.
"Huh? Whoa whoa whoa wait! No no no nonononono-"
BLAM!
With a brand-new hole in his head, Monokuma let out a sad little sigh as he tumbled over backwards. As he lifelessly plummeted out of view, his stetson floated down as well, slower and much more dramatically.
"FATHER," Monotaro shrieked. "NOT AGAIN!"
"Boom, headshot!" Monokid cackled. "Oh wait no, that was Dad!"
"Oh, the senseless violence!" Monophanie wailed, and then proceeded to vomit a rather thick but scentless liquid from her mouth.
Samson chuckled as he twirled his gun around in his hand. Isaac walked over to him and nudged him, saying, "You might want to calm down on doing that. If Monokuma is here, there is most likely more than just a couple of him, and you don't want to make them angry."
The Ultimate Trader regarded him, and then sighed. "Fine," he grumbled, as he holstered his gun. "But if more come out, I'm going to start shooting again."
"You're gonna need a LOT of ammo then."
For a third time, Monokuma jumped up on the fountain. With no bullet holes in him at all, it was like some invincible monster was getting back into position. As the mists swirled around the broken fountain, the black 'n white teddy bear chuckled and rubbed his paws together.
"I assure you, graduates of Hope's Peak," he spoke once more, "that brute force will not get you the results you hope for. You see, I know why you are here, I know what it is you are hoping to find, even if you don't know."
"Then why don't you tell us?" Blake asked, clenching his fists tightly. "If you know so damn much."
Monokuma laughed again, throwing his squat head back to howl up at the moon in his amusement. Then he leaned forward, that evil red eye gleaming like devilish brimstone.
"You all came here because you're hoping to find out what exactly causes Despair."
There was silence amid the many souls and robots there. No one dared to say a word, either horrified that Monokuma knew, or not wanting to encourage the fact that he was right.
"I can tell you right now, it's wonderful to see so many successful people want to come to a place I hold so dear to my heart," Monokuma carried on. "It's like a gigantic party that I am hosting, and this time, I brought my kids!"
"Yeah, we're Monokuma's kids," Monotaro needlessly added. "Or rather, his Kubs! We run this town when Father's not here!"
"Ptoo," Monophanie said, cleaning the rest of the vomit from her mouth. "Yes, we're more than happy to watch over this little city for Daddy!"
"And now that we have so many guests," Monokid shouted, "we definitely are gonna be having a fucking party! Maybe we can play a game or two!"
Monokuma giggled as his children spoke, before speaking up again. "That's right! If we're going to have so many accomplished members of Hope's Peak here, we HAVE to play a game. It seems fitting, seeing that games with Hope's Peak members are all the rage nowadays!"
"Oh my," Yejoon said, shaking his head in dismay. "It seems we have walked into a trap of sorts. That's rather unfortunate."
"What are you going to do, you fiend?" Ken declared, pointing at Monokuma. "Are you going to force us into a Killing Game?"
"Actually, no."
Everyone was silent for a few moments after this statement, from the humans to the Kubs. Pyrrha managed to speak first among everyone there. "Wait, what? You're not?"
"Oh believe me, I'd love to host my own Killing Game here," Monokuma said, "but I simply don't have the power or ability to. You all came here of your own free will, and aside from this giant robot house here that transformed-"
"Careful, Pops," Monosuke cried out, "copyright infringement!"
"I know how to avoid it just fine, thank you! Anyway, since the giant kill-bot is programmed to only attack if the official hosts of Penjar are harmed by outsiders, I'm not able to force you all to do anything. You are, after all, guests."
With this bit of information, a great deal of relief washed through the graduates. Some of them were still dubious, unable to believe what they had heard.
"No, no, no," Saiko spat out, glaring at Monokuma. "You're here. There is no damn way that you don't have something horrid planned out. Where there is Monokuma, there is despair."
Eisei nodded, his lavender pigtails bouncing from the action. "That's true, it is a worldwide known fact that wherever Monokuma is, death follows. You are like rats with sores on them, a sign of the Black Plague. Which, coincidentally, killed almost as much people as-"
"Excuse me, but if you would all kindly stopped interrupting me," Monokuma growled, showcasing his claws again. "I would LIKE to EXPLAIN!"
"Yeah, quit interrupting Dad," Monokid interrupted.
"His word is law here," Monotaro bragged while butting in.
There was a fierce growl from the black 'n white papa bear, and he clenched his paw. The mist swirled around that fist, and then he swept his arm in front of him
As if turned into a physical battering ram, the mist shot forth from the side at the same time as Monokuma's motion. The five Kubs were all knocked off their feet and sent hurtling through the air.
"THAT INCLUDES YOU, BRATS!"
"AAAUGH! Father, don't send us over the hill, we'll be silent from here on!" Monotaro begged.
"Gaaaah! This residence has gotten so evil since Dad came back to town!" Monokid shouted.
"Maybe we should just let him finish?" Monophanie cried, before crash-landing alongside her fellow Kubs.
Monokuma growled and then shook his paws, mist flicking off of them. Glancing up at the giant robot, which didn't react, he then turned back towards the graduates.
"Here in Penjar, there are secrets that I am sure you all want to find. You see, Despair is a very powerful thing, and it didn't just one day appear like you were led to believe. You really think someone just found it, and then managed to spread it across the world? To fit it into technology?
"No no no. The answers you seek are going to be in this little town, forgotten by time and people, and so very hard to find. Penjar may be a ghost town, but I daresay it is not dead; nay, it is very much alive.
"Are you curious about why your friends and family died? Why the world was in such a beautiful state of Despair two years ago? Or maybe you're here for… other reasons. Puhuhuhuhu~!"
The humans all stared down the laughing bear, unnerved by his words. It was like they were taking the first step towards their main goal as to why they were there, and it was the most intimidating step of them all.
"Wait a minute now," Isaac said, braving forward. "You said you aren't forcing us here, but are we allowed to stay?"
Monokuma tilted his head as he regarded the Ultimate Reporter. "Huh? You want to stay here? Discover secrets, find answers, brave the mists and whatever despair you come across?"
"That's," Hara said, staying close to Isaac but also finding her voice, "why we came here to begin with."
"If you're not going to stop us or force us to stay," Yitro spoke up, "then why are you here, Monokuma?"
"Well, simply put, I'm going to be monitoring you all. I may also be interested in seeing if I can help some of you."
"There is no way," Hikari shouted, "anyone would willingly accept help from YOU!"
"Oh really now, beautiful? Because how well do you know the twenty-seven others in this large group of yours? Do you know who they are? What they did during the Despair, and after it?
"You might be surprised just how close despair is to you. Or some of its other forms, which are a bit like the seven deadly sins. Because with despair comes violence, sadism, chaos, sociopathy, and more…
"How do you KNOW that the people around you didn't come here to learn about despair to be a little more like me?"
Everyone took a step back from those nearby them. The words from Monokuma had a greater impact than they cared to admit. The bear's sinister laughter amplified this, as he carried on.
"You see, that's mainly why I'm not forcing you to stay, because I want you all to stay. I want to see who wants to become more involved in my little neck of the woods, where despair is the true king of the jungle."
"Pops, you're mixing your metaphors again," Monosuke said. "You gotta watch out for that, it may be too much for their tiny minds."
"I say, Despair fucking rocks," Monokid shouted, breaking his guitar over his head. "Who wouldn't want to be part of the club that's all about living in the moment?"
"I could do without the blood and violence," Monophanie squeaked, "but I don't mind being part of a family."
"And that's why we're were, because we're Monokuma's kids," Monotaro explained again, "and we're the greatest prodigies of his efforts there are!"
"…" added Monodam.
"Grrrr," Monokuma responded to all this, twitching unnaturally. The black 'n white bear raised one of his feet, and stomped down hard.
White steam, much like the mist, blasted up underneath the five Kubs. They were sent hurtling into the air, as Monokuma roared up at them, "I SAID STOP INTERRUPTING ME, AND I MEANT IT!"
"Aaaaaaaah, I can see my house from here!" Monokid shouted.
"Kyaaaaah, Daddy, stop going at us in non-threatening ways that don't trigger the Guardian," Monophanie pleaded.
"He's just mad that he doesn't get to do cool punches on us anymore," Monosuke hollered, before he and the others crash-landed on the ground.
Monokuma waited a few seconds, then sighed and shook his head. "Okay, listen up, graduates of Hope's Peak. There are a few rules here for this town, as well as what little explanation I'm willing to give you."
"My, how generous," Angelique grumbled.
"Are you going to explain," Blake asked, "how you managed to do that with the mist?"
"FIRST OFF," Monokuma roared, "you will find out that wherever you parked your vehicles, they're gone now. All of your cars and bikes and such have been taken out of the city."
"What?!" Kimiko shouted. "You… how? There's no way-"
"Yes, ALL of them! Even your car, Emanuel! Don't underestimate the powers of this city, I'll tell you that right now."
Emanuel sighed and took another swig from his flask. "It's fine, I'd rather not have to explain to the rental company what happened anyway."
"Oh, your cars aren't gone entirely, they are just outside of Penjar. You see, they have been taken outside of the city limits, about five miles out of the area. It's a bit of a walk, but should you wish to leave town, that's where your ride will be."
"Wait, which road?" Aka asked. "I think a lot of us came from different roads."
Monokuma snickered. "It doesn't matter which road you choose, your car will be there. Like I said, don't underestimate this city."
No one liked the sound of that.
"That does bring me to one of the most important rules of them all. You are welcome to stay here, and you are free to leave at any point in time. HOWEVER! If you choose to leave Penjar, you can never come back.
"You will never get the answers you want, and you cannot return."
"Why, what's stopping us from returning?" asked Shuuya.
"Finding Penjar again will be extremely difficult, I assure you. This town… it doesn't like to be found anymore. You all were lucky to do so to begin with. So I doubt you could find your way back again…
"And even if you could, especially if you bring back help, let's just say that the Guardian will treat all guests who were rude enough to leave into Swiss cheese. And that goes for any help they bring alongside them too!"
This sank into the hearts and minds of the twenty-eight graduates. Some of them exchanged glances with the others, trying to gauge how they were all taking it.
"And I should mention that the rules of a Killing Game still apply in Penjar-"
"I knew it!" Fiora shouted in terror, gripping her fedora.
"You are planning to have us kill each other," Futaba snarled. "You lying, evil machine."
"Hey, watch your language, little missy!" Monokuma snapped. "While it is true that there will be a Killing Game of sorts here, it's not going to be like the others that were broadcast to the world. You're not forced to stay here, and you're not going to be forced to kill each other.
"However… there may be motives along the way. Because you are all here for answers, for something that'll give you a sense of purpose, I, Monokuma the mayor, may be able to grant you that. And in my town, I do require a good bit of death to encourage my generosity.
"So while no motive or rule is going to make you kill anyone, it may just encourage you. And people who succeed in their murder will get the answers they want all along!"
"You… you're saying that," Drake stammered, shaking as he clenched his sketch pad close to his chest, "that you want us to kill each other and then you'll tell us about Despair?"
"That's more or less the gist of it, buddy boy," Monokuma said. "Though I will say, I'm not about to just spill my heart out if you kill someone right away, so don't go killing each other just yet! Let's let you guys and gals stew in the mists a little longer…"
The bear spun around on the top of the broken fountain for a moment, cackling merrily. The Kubs, for the most part, burst out laughing too. As the humans watched, trying to comprehend all of this, they felt such a swirl of emotions.
"Now then," Monokuma said as he stopped twirling, "are there any questions?"
Twenty-eight voices all started shouting at once.
"What the hell is wrong with this town?!" Saiko hollered.
"Who's behind all this?" Isaac demanded.
"Who exactly is Mr. Beardsley?!" Fiora snapped.
"When is lunchtime?!" Monokid screamed.
"Okay okay okay, stop! Stop stop stop," Monokuma screamed, waving his paws in the air. When the noise finally died down, he growled and said, "I think that was a mistake. I knew I should have gotten tablets for the lot of you, but I think we blew the budget with the big robot there."
"Father," Monotaro spoke up, "maybe you should tell them about the Killing Game's rules, and then their lodgings?"
"That sounds like the logical thing to do," Monosuke agreed. "And it's almost too good for these twerps."
"When you're right, you're right, my adorable little Kubs," Monokuma crooned. "They're so-ooooo cute~! Oh how I wanna squeeze their widdle faces off!"
"Waaaaah, don't do that now!"
"Okay, you pack of humans with Hope's Peak degrees," Monokuma declared, punching one of his paws into the air, "the rules to the Penjar Killing Game are simple and as follows:
"Everyone inside of Penjar is part of the Killing Game, so as long as you stay inside the town, you are taking part in the rules. No exceptions!
"As of now, there are no rewards for killing someone, but after the first motive is announced, the rewards for a murder will be answers to Despair! How far are you willing to go for answers, for power, for rewards?
"If someone kills another guest, they have become the Deviant Tourist, and we will be holding a Town Trial! In the trial, all surviving guests will be made to participate and try to discover who the DT is! If you guess incorrectly, every guest of Penjar…
"… Will be executed without mercy!"
Monokuma paused for a moment, rubbing his paws together and chuckling deviously. He basked in this feeling, the evil eye of his scanning the graduates.
"If the Deviant Tourist is discovered, however, it's a little bit different here. You see, like I said earlier, I want you all here, I want to see who is worthy of my brand of Despair! So… there will be an execution for the guilty party if and when discovered…
"But there is a chance for them to survive. If they do, well, hehe, let's cross that bridge when we get to it. Though I dare say, they might get closer to the answers, maybe the fastest way possible!"
Monokuma crossed his arms, and laughed loudly. This was a rather shocking announcement for the graduates, as answers were what all of them wanted. Some of them were scribbling down notes, some scanning those around them to gauge their reactions.
"So wait, let me get this straight," Souma asked, holding up his hands. "You're saying that you have the answers that we seek, here in Penjar? But you will only reveal them to successful murderers or ones who survive their execution?"
The white 'n black bear of despair snickered even more, staring down the public speaker. "Sure, why not?"
"Is it yes or no?"
"Puhuhuhuhu! You'll just have to trust me and my Kubs over that one, big guy! Don't worry, you'll be fine. To the west, you will find lodgings for each of you, buildings that have running water and power and a few luxuries… hehe, and before you ask, no, I am NOT going to explain how they have them."
"We weren't exactly holding our breath for if you were," Shuuya grumbled.
"But don't worry about that now! All you need to know is that while you are here, you can be our guests! Hehe, yes, be our guests, put our-"
Monosuke cleared his throat as he corrected his glasses. "Pops, let's really not risk that one. Shall we just summarize everything to these thick meat-bags already?"
"Please do! If you could, my adorable sweet little Kubs, recap the rules! It's like the Closing Argument!"
"The… the what now?"
"Alright then!" Monokid declared. "You dumb pack of losers and hoes, here are the rules! You are allowed to stay here for as long as you want, but once you leave, you can never come back!"
"Please refrain from violence before the first motive," Monophanie pleaded. "Daddy will reveal it two days from now. You are free to explore Penjar, but as it stands now, there isn't much. There will be more later, however!"
"Your rooms and accommodations are located west of here, or rather in that direction," Monotaro said, pointing towards the far end of the plaza, away from the town hall. "Everything you had in your cars will be found in your own room, which will have your name and picture on the door. There are locks on the doors, but they only work during nighttime."
"If any of youse wants to commit a murder, after the first motive and then on," Monosuke commented, "we will host a Town Trial to discover the Deviant Tourist. If the town fails to bring the correct verdict, the town dies and the Deviant Tourist survives; if the DT is found, they will be pulled into an execution, but there is a slim chance they could survive."
"NO-VIOLENCE-FROM-THE-GUESTS-TOWARDS-THE-KUBS-IS-ALLOWED," Monodam reminded them. "THE-GUARDIAN-WILL-OBLITERATE-YOU-IF-YOU-DO."
"And finally," chimed in Monokuma, "remember to keep your wits about you! You're going to need it if you want to find out the truth behind Despair! Phuhuhuhuh!"
"Phuhuhuhuuhu!" laughed Monotaro, Monophanie, and Monosuke.
"Bwahahahahaha!" cackled Monokid.
"…" was Monodam's addition, as the green Kub walked off in the midst of the taunting laughter that echoed throughout all of Penjar.
The twenty-eight graduates of Hope's Peak Academy watched as the bears mocked them. It wasn't easy to take in, in fact, most of them were far more nervous than they would ever care to admit. It wasn't just the bears that worried them, however…
Eyes darted from Monokuma and his laughing Kubs to the humans that stood around in the plaza. How much could they trust the other people here, how did they know someone wasn't here to get answers, no matter what?
This was definitely a Killing Game, even if they weren't forced here; but maybe, that made it all the more dangerous. Because they had the chance to leave, but it didn't look like anyone was going to take it…
And that meant there were people who wanted to know about Despair, at all costs. Whether it was risking their lives…
Or maybe even sacrifice someone else's life, or all of their's.
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"Well, you're screwed," Emanuel said towards Fiora, as he casually sipped the last from his flask.
"What? Why?!"
"Have you even noticed your stage name? Fiora R. Stenton, the first part of each of your names literally spells out 'FIRST.'"
Fiora glanced upwards as she did some mental calculating to see if that was so. Then her eyes went wide, and she reacted in the most reasonable manner one could.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH! I AM GONNA DIE!"
She ran off, screaming and waving her arms in the air, into the mists of Penjar. Despite moving very quickly, her screams echoed around the buildings, reaching back to the graduates at the plaza, even when they couldn't see her anymore.
"Was that necessary?" Hara chided Emanuel.
28 Graduates remain in Penjar.
The Penjar Killing Game has begun.