"Hello, hi, shalom, good to see ya, sup, and all that; let's get this thing underway!"
I had to force myself to avoid vomiting at the sickeningly sweet, yet obviously mentally detached voice I'd made myself use into a microphone stand, causing a cartoony half black, half white bear that would serve as my main form of communication to the students to parrot my words in an even higher and twisted tone. I already didn't like the fact that I was even going to be doing this, but hearing that damned bear copies copy me with a noticeable lag between our speaking times was going to just drive those feelings though the roof. You'd think the response time would have been at least a little bit more immediate considering who built it, but I guess such small mercies aren't going to be a thing here.
I watched the looks of disbelief and confusion spread across the faces of the fifteen students that I'd have to live with for the imminent future with a feeling of trepidation. Of these fifteen people, I knew several of them would not be helpful in what I wanted to happen, verses what would be coming soon. Some of them would be even more than a little bit of a problem for both me and the others. Though, considering what I was being forced into and in exchange forcing them into, I felt that for now it was fine in its own way.
"Huh?" One of the students asked, interrupting my train of thought. "A…Teddy bear?"
Now, there were a lot of things I could tolerate in this world, and I can fully understand the confusion they had. At first glance, you'd be forgiven for the mistake, the Harvey Dent rip-off, plush-like bear would seem to be like any old child's plaything to the casual observer. But, for someone like me who knew of the horror this so-called toy caused on a regular basis to actually hear the comparison of such a harmless toy to the advanced, deadly automaton I was using caused an unexplainable twitch to go off in my left eyebrow.
"I am not a teddy bear. And no, I am also not a high tech, build-a-bear reject and I'll thank you not to make that mistake." I said in a monotone, despite the slight bit of irony of using such a tone with a mono-colored bear would be. I couldn't help that the person who designed it had a sick sense of humor.
"I…am…Monokuma!" I continued, "And I am the Headmaster of this school."
Confused mutters broke out amongst them, and for good reason. A black and white toy with a jagged, red eye showed up on your first day of high school while claiming to be the head of a school? If you weren't a child or were speaking to one, then such a statement would have probably either landed you in the nut house or getting laughed out of the building. As they were muttering, I took the chance to assess them all with what I could remember of them.
First, there was Sayaka Maizono – the "Ultimate Pop Sensation" who was the most popular idol and lead singer of an all-girl group, of whom she cared greatly for as her closest and dearest of friends. Currently, she was dressed in her blue and white sailor school uniform with its big pink bow on the front. She was wearing two pink hairclips on in side of her head that held her long almost navy blue locks out of her equally blue eyes. It was likely out of nervous habit that she held both of her hands balled up in front of her in an almost protective manner.
She was also the instigator that had started the first attempt at escape during the killing game. Unfortunately for her, her recklessness of choice backfired on her in one of the highest degrees, as in an almost ironic twist, her own life was taken with the exact same weapon she was planning to use on her would-be victim.
Just beyond her was the "Ultimate Fashionista", Junko Enoshima. a A fashion model whose face had become the focus on the cover of dozens of magazines and had reached fame the world over for being one of few people who was both beautiful and still, quote, 'didn't look fake' ironically enough. Even now, with her cardigan, red dotted tie, shortened miniskirt and various cutesy accessories, she was a sight to behold; despite the look of stress pasted on her face and the small assortment of freckles running across the bridge of her nose.
Of course, as I am the actual Junko right now, that meant that this 'Junko' was actually her twin sister Mukuro Ikusaba; the "Ultimate Soldier". From what I could guess, she had taken Junko's place in the game from the very start and was regrettably the second student killed. In her case, it was for 'insubordination' by breaking the rules; despite the fact that it was supposed to be faked, before Junko changed her mind.
I guess that, in a way, this makes her my sister now. While that was nice since I'd never had an elder sibling, let alone a twin, it was also a problem for me since she would be the most likely one to notice if her 'precious sister' started acting too out of character. I would have to be on my guard around her, that's for sure.
Well, more so then usual.
Near to her was the "Ultimate Baseball Star" with his spiky hair and goatee, dyed red to match his believed personality. One of the best baseball players in Japan, he was surprisingly spiteful of the sport and was insistent on becoming a musician. He'd even started dressing the part with heavy accessories, several piercings in his ears, brow, and lip, a white shirt with a red grunge skull design, and jacket with a popped collar.
This was Leon Kuwata and he had currently broken out into a cold sweat while asking for whoever was in charge to cut the joke. He was also the first "blackened" having been Sayaka's attempted victim turned murderer.
Standing confused slightly away from them, was the petite form of Chihiro Fujisaki, the "Ultimate Programmer" and the one who foolishly called the sicko bear a teddy. Frail in features and almost doll like in appearance with short, light-brown hair in a layer style and greenish-brown eyes, she wore her green jacket, white dress shirt and brown skirt with suspenders in a way that did nothing to change the doll analogy. This timid person was considered a master of computers and even designed a self-learning artificial intelligence program all by herself at a younger age.
Also, she was the second victim after accidentally pressing the wrong buttons in Mondo's psyche. Poor thing had only wanted to get stronger so that she could confess her dark secret to the others without feeling guilt, but she had the misfortune to pick one of the worst people to start with first.
On her left was the taller, muscular form of the "Ultimate Bike Gang Leader" Mondo Owada. A terrifying man despite the punch-perm pompadour and purple irises. He was in his signature black jacket with the symbol for "The Crazy Diamonds" on the back in orange, and his white A-shirt was currently straining against his rippling muscles as he tried to restrain the almost never ending well of bubbling fury held in his body.
This one was also the second "blackened", after his greatest secret was threatened to be leaked on the internet along with all of the others. It was just unfortunate Chihiro's poor understanding of this guy's strength of mind and ability to rationalize that got them into such a bad situation where his irrational jealousy for the smaller boy's strength of heart sunk its claws into the biker's mind. The biking fool really needs a few dozen anger management classes, stat.
Sternly, but cautiously glancing around near the front of if the group was Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the "Ultimate Moral Compass", who was carefully observing my Monokuma unit and the others with his ruby eyes. With his pure white uniform with several golden buttons on the chest and sleeves, even if I hadn't already known who he was, I could tell that this was a guy whose dedication to the rules was borderline obsessive, his trust in the education system was overwhelming, and his faith in all that they stood for was almost saintly. This is especially true when you consider that there wasn't many out there that could keep their uniform as clean and fresh as his, which to the untrained eye looked brand spanking new.
Seriously, have you tried to keep a teenager's white uniform stain-free for weeks on end? It's freaking impossible even for normal uniforms; you can just forget about white ones.
It should be mentioned that, he had at one point during the game gone insane. Believing himself to be possessed by the spirit of his 'bro', he somehow gained, what I can only best describe as an insanity driven, super form state. Don't ask how he did, not even I know beyond what I could guess. But then his constantly aggravating actions were eventually turned against him, resulting in him getting clubbed in the head by the third round. one.
Beyond him was the "Ultimate Fanfic Creator" Hifumi Yamada. A rather overweight boy with black hair with a pointed ahoge, this squirrelly faced teen was able to sell ten thousand copies of his work during a culture festival. Despite his infamy among his fan base, he is on record for consistently claiming that he had only interest in the 2D world and the women within them, and having no interest in the real 3D world or it's females.
It was just as well. With his already mentioned obese shape combined with his round, black framed glasses, his orange backpack and tie with a blue arrow designed on it designed to point up at his face, his white shirt, and gray cardigan and pants, he wasn't impressing anyone with his looks anytime soon.
Not far from him was a pale skinned woman dressed in a Gothic Lolita dress who carried the title of "Ultimate Gambler" and who called herself Celestia Ludenbuerg. In reality, her name was Taeko Yasuhiro, a girl who thought of her old self as one you would call 'a loser', resulting in this cold acting façade she was currently using. She was slowly twirling one of her massive, twin-drill styled pigtails around with one of her painted black nails as her calculating red eyes scanned Monokuma with a concealed gleam that I really didn't like aimed at me.
She was also the third "blackened" after tricking poor Hifumi into helping her end the life of another student, and then turning around and fatally bopping him on the head afterwards.
Standing next to one of the other female students in a seemingly instinctual protective fashion was Sakura Ogami, the "Ultimate Marital Artist". You'd be forgiven for mistaking the extremely muscular person with the reddish skin, long white hair and a fierce appearance as a guy, but the fact was, this was in fact the brutally strong woman in a white sailor school uniform and blue skirt that was an international champion with an absurd win rate of four-hundred straight victories in a row.
It should be mentioned that this was also the woman several people called the "Ogre" due to her unbelievably masculine appearance, deep voice, and obscenely large muscles. Apparently, at one point she used to be a lot more streamlined and feminine but this changed after she couldn't defeat the man who became her boyfriend, and she decided to bulk up as a result.
Despite this, she was also a very honorable and generally well-mannered woman who would always push herself to untold limits just to help others and was revered the world over for it.
It was too bad her honor had been turned against her, which eventually drove her to become both the fourth blackened, and victim. I wish I could make a joke about that, but I am nether the kind of person who would make such jests and because I don't think it would be in good taste.
Averting my eyes from the fierce looking woman brought my attention to the nervous girl hiding slightly behind the fem-tank, Aoi Asahina the "Ultimate Swimmer" and the first of the survivors. Normally a great bundle of joy and cheer, this blue eyed, tanned skin beauty with brown hair held in a gravity defying ponytail was currently shaking in her athletic shorts, white tee shirt, and red track suit jacket with fear. At the same time though, she wore a stilted smile as she tried to keep a positive demeanor, despite of the surreal situation.
Trying to fade into the background just behind them was among one of my favorite characters, Toko Fukawa, the "Ultimate Writing Prodigy" whose best-selling romantic novels were humongous hits, despite her still being in high school; so much so that she apparently only needs to put on the cover that she wrote it to make it a best seller. Her dark purple sailor school uniform, long hair held in two messy braids and shifting eyes only made her pale skin seem to pop out more to those who cared to look. Ironic since it was a lesser-known fact that she tended to try and avoid others as much as possible.
She was also the only one to naturally earn a second moniker, this one known as the "Ultimate Murderous Fiend" solely due to a condition she suffered from. See, due to the mental abuse and maltreatment by her mothers and father and a terrible school life, she ended up developing a split personality. That personality also just so happened to enjoy crucifying pretty boys with razor sharp scissors and then carving the number of her victims into her upper thighs. I only wish I was joking about that.
And no, that was not a typo. She has two mothers.
Not too far from Toko, I saw another one of their fellow classmates' scratching the side of his head with a dull look on his face, completely lost to reality in favor of his own little world of denial. This was Yasuhiro Hagakure, the "Ultimate Clairvoyant" and fortune teller with a whole thirty percent chance of actually getting your future correct. He was also known for his insanely large and spiky styled brown hair, and commonly wearing of three shirts; of a yellow tee, open white rough, and green uniform jacket. He'd also been held back several times, making him by far the oldest of the group.
He also had a major debt with a mob. Let's just say, he was not good with money.
Looking over his shoulder, I momentarily caught the practically eternal haughty glare of the black suited blond, Byakuya Togami, "Ultimate Affluent Progeny" and heir to the Togami Corporation. If you ask me, it was obvious that he'd been groomed into his position and that this grooming had warped his views a bit. He cared little for others and did not see them as people, so much as he saw them as possible assets or even tools that he could use. Not even his own family was exempt from this thought process.
Personally, this jerk was the only one I and many others actually wished would kick the bucket. He may have gotten better overtime, but he never lost that irritating attitude that made me and hundreds of other people want to beat his teeth in. I guarantee, if I have to listen to his holier than thou attitude up close, I'll be flipping him over my shoulders.
Standing in the far -off corner of the group was the albino haired, Kyoko Kirigiri. This mysterious woman dressed in purple suit, skirt, gloves, and lighter colored blouse had been relatively quiet since the beginning, not giving up anything more than her name unlike like the others; much to their chagrin.
Of course, she couldn't exactly help it since, unlike the others, she had lost a majority of her memories, not just the last two years; to the point where she couldn't even recall her talent at all. Of course, the old Junko had to do this considering what her talent as an "Ultimate Detective", and how that, if she had in fact still possessed her memories it would have ruined the 'game' at every turn; even if it didn't make it right.
I mean it, if Kyoko had her memories from the start, she would have been able to make everything fall on its face from the word go. Her father was the one who built this school, which possibly allowed her to have previous access to the buildings floor plans, so the Monokuma vents, which were actually escape vents for the students in case of hostile emergency, would have been compromised by her instantly. She likely knew the place inside and out and would have kept all of the mystery and suspense dead on arrival. Without her memories, she was forced to be cautious and not help the others as much as she would have otherwise.
And finally, there was the "Ultimate Luckster", the completely normal and unexceptional Makoto himself. Unlike the others who had gotten in to Hope's Peak with their various abilities, he had managed to get in through the hope lottery which randomly picks a student once a year to join the current class of that year. What was interesting was apparently he had gotten it after an extremely lucky crook who had originally gotten the invite made the mistake of trying to rob him and lost their invite as a result of Makoto's bad luck overriding their own. The headmaster actually redid the lottery afterwards and Makoto got in from it.
As I was studying them, I made sure not to forget my role here; despite how much it pained me to do so. I purposely ignored the larger, much rounder student panicking about the bear talking as I continued my spiel.
"Now then, moving on!" I said, in a bit of a rush to get this metaphorical train wreck rolling. "We really must hurry and get started." Standing the bear up, I proceeded with the ridiculous routine that would continue to simultaneously irritate, yet strangely amuse me for some time to come.
"Everyone," I said, mocking authority layered in my tone. "Stand at attention and bow! Good morning students!" Honestly, it wouldn't have been so funny if I didn't know at least one of them would respond.
"Good Morning!" loudly called Kiyotaka in an enthusiastic response, and I had to briefly turn off the mic to keep the other students from hearing my muffled laughter. I seriously wondered what kind of weirdo would actually respond to that coming from a plushy. Honestly, I was tempted to just randomly say the phrase over the mic during the day to see if he'd stop and repeat it every time.
"Now then," I said after getting my chuckles under control. "Let us continue with our memorable entrance ceremony!"
Glancing around at them once more to make sure they were paying attention, I began the introduction with, "First, let's talk about what your school life here will be like. As you probably know, you students are all representatives of the world's hope."
I paused to see if they understood the ramifications of what I had said and was thankful that at least a majority of them either nodded in understanding, or gave me a look that told me they already knew about it. The few that didn't took a moment to think about it, but quickly gained a similar look themselves.
"Now," I continued. "In order to protect that hope, you all will be allowed to live a harmonious communal life together within the confines of this school, while also adhering to the rules and regulations given." Seeing the look of confusion on a few faces, I decided to preemptively answer the unspoken question gnawing at their minds.
"Now, regarding the time limit of this school life; there technically isn't one! You'll be here for the rest of your lives! Such is the school life you've been assigned." I dropped the bomb on them, and after a few seconds for them to take it in and to register what I'd said, I quickly interrupted the inevitable string of questions I knew were coming.
"Oh, but don't worry about it too much." I said in a nonchalant tone. "We have quite an abundant budget so you won't have to worry about your common conveniences." As I said this, Sayaka brought up the fact that it was among the least of their concerns. To be fair, she wasn't wrong. At the moment, they were in a rather unusual situation outside of their control and soon things would become far worse before they became better.
"Yeah, what the hell?" 'Junko' interjected, rather rudely. "You're saying that we have to stay here forever? You're screwing with us, right?" I don't really know why, but seeing her act like this really upset me. Maybe it was because she was acting as my stand-in, so if the others ever met me, these kinds of things would be what they'd expect. Or maybe it was because this was honestly how she thought Junko acted. Either way, it ticked me off a bit.
"I am not, as you said, 'screwing with you' miss!" I loudly reprimanded her, and I wish I could have felt a bit of satisfaction had she jumped back, but sadly she held her ground without so much of a flinch. Either way, I took a breath as I cooled down. I still regrettably had to drop another thing on them.
"By the way, you should probably know that you're completely cut off from the outside world." If I didn't already have their attention before, I certainly had it now.
"Cut off…?" Makoto asked, concerned about what that meant. "So all those metal plates over the windows, they're there to keep us trapped here?"
"Pretty much. It's also why your phones have been removed from your persons. We don't need that kind of distraction in a school environment after all. And besides, even if you had been allowed to keep your phones, they wouldn't work in here." I said, partially truthful. Technically, they were put in place to keep the world out of the school, and their phones had been removed to keep them from being harassed by the despair twisted people out there; but in a sense they also kept them trapped inside and prevented them from calling for help. But they didn't need to know that just yet.
"Come on," Leon nervously stated, sweat rolling down his face. "What the hell is this? I don't care if this is a joke by the school, or whoever, it's a bad one."
"Yeah!" Agreed Mondo, angrily, his right hand grasping at empty air like he was squishing an imaginary stress ball in his grasp. "Cut this shit out, because it isn't funny anymore!"
I leaned back in my seat in slight disbelief. "Unbelievable. I tell them the truth and they still won't believe me." Though when I stop to think about it, I guess I could kind of believe it. Be honest, if you had woken up in a locked down building and were told by what in all appearances was a toy that you were going to be living there for the rest of your life with a bunch of strangers, would you have believed it yourself? Honestly, I would have laughed at them and called them several… unkind words.
"Eh, well you'll have plenty of time to figure it out on your own time." I said shrugging in an almost uncaring way. Besides, as long as they're still happy and more importantly, alive, I could ignore it. "In any case, you all decided to attend Hope's Peak Academy, and now, before the entrance ceremony has even finished, you guys want to leave."
Now, this was the part I dreaded. The part where I gave them their first out, where I told them the ultimate lie that would set the wheel of fate rolling uncontrollably down a ravine of despair and sin. I wanted to say that this would be easy for me, all things considered, but then I would be lying to more than just these innocent youths. Unfortunately, I couldn't, and I just knew I was going to feel terrible for what I was about to cause.
"Well…" I steeled myself as much as I could, taking a deep breath and forcing myself back into character once more. "There is a way for you to be allowed to leave this school, but you're not gonna like it."
I took a deep breath to stable myself as a brief flash of hopefulness flew though their eyes, a few asking what it was. I continued, "As your headmaster, I've come up with a special clause for those that would like to leave. I call it…The Graduation clause."
I had to take a moment to calm myself again. It wasn't every day you tell someone that they would need to become a sinner of one of the highest degree. To tell them that they would need to stain their hands in the life blood of another. To become a monster in human flesh.
"As I mentioned, in order to maintain harmony in this environment, we all rely on a communal life style. We strive to do whatever it takes to keep you all safe, happy, and most importantly, alive in this sanctuary of learning. So, if someone, say one of you guys for example, were to disrupt that harmony then they, and they alone would be allowed to leave. That is the basics of the Graduation clause."
I knew I was rambling a bit as I talked about the dreaded rule, stalling for time as it were, but I really didn't want to do this. To be responsible for…No.
No more stalling. If I didn't do this now it would come back to haunt me…and possibly kill me, but I digress. Hearing Byakuya ask about the disrupting the harmony part, I gave Monokuma's signature laugh and decided to drop the big one.
"Well, if someone were to commit the gravest of sins on another. To stain their souls. To murder another of you."
And in seconds the panic began. The students, suddenly concerned more than ever looked ready to either bolt, scream, fight, or a combination of the three. It only got worse as I continued. "The 'how you do it' doesn't matter, if you kill someone then you will get a chance to leave. It's as simple as that. The rest is on you to achieve either the best or worst outcome possible."
A collective chill shot down everyone's spines at the news, myself included.
"Like I said," I continued, uninterrupted. "You guys are the hope of the world, but to see that hope get offed creates a dark shade of despair; there are those out there that just find that so… freaking… Exciting!" I felt so much disgust at myself for saying that; especially since I technically was inhabiting the body of one of those kinds of people.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Shouted Leon, intensely upset about what I'd said. "To kill each other is… that's… It's…"
Seeing as he wasn't going to be finishing anytime soon and his inability to form a complete sentence was driving a pet peeve of mine sky rocketing, I jumped in with, "What about it? No matter how you say it, to kill, is to kill. Do I really need to get a dictionary for you?"
"We know what it means!" Interjected Aoi furiously. "That's not the problem. Why do we have to kill each other!?"
Before I could even answer her, Hifumi jumped in with, "Yeah! Stop blabbthering on with all this nonsense! Just let us go home already!"
In that moment, something briefly clicked wrong in my head. Something about that word he used set off some kind primal hatred in some part of my brain. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but if I had to guess, it must have been something Junko had experienced in the past that had clung on to my side of the brain like a dying parasite. It burned at my very soul, intense and fiery, demanding that I get back at the round boy for daring to utter that word.
Either way, I wasn't happy. Granted, I wasn't happy before, but now it was even stronger.
"…Blabbering?" I said in a deathly whisper, my manicured nails biting into my palms and my teeth grinding from the intense rage flooding my mind. "Blabbering, blabbering, what do you mean blabbering!? Stop blabbering on about blabbering on! You guys just don't seem to get it. 'Let us go, let us go' you keep blabbering the same thing over and over again. Listen closely. This school is your home now. Your life, and your world solely exist here now. Get it through your thick, skulls!"
I caught one of them, Yasuhiro, moving to interject about cutting out 'the act', but I cut off his stupid, forced oblivious moment immediately. "If you want out so bad, fine. That's on your head. Not my problem. I've given you your options, it's your job to pick one and move on. Get it?"
Of course, it couldn't be that easy. The big haired moron just told me to drop the act and, 'reveal the trick already' anyway. Dear god, he even went on about having 'known I was messing with them' from the start.
"How dense are you?" I asked, completely stunned by his complete and utter refusal to read the room. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get my answer as he was rudely shoved aside by the biker so that I had to look Mondo eye to camera eye.
"Alright your asshole!" He shouted in Monokuma's face. "This shit's gotten too far! What kind of sick joke is this!?" Now normally, I would have taken that remark with the roll of my eyes and maybe a sarcastic remark. But now? I was already high strung by two idiots and their remarks, and having to deal with a third was not gonna fly.
"Only joke I see is the guy with a pompadour longer then his dick yelling at an animatronic bear half his height." Well, that turned out to be a mistake on my part. The second I said that, there was sound reminiscent of a bang as Mondo kicked off the ground and grabbed the bear where its neck would be in one hand. Then, in an impressive feat of strength lifted the metal half 'n half bear off the ground.
"Gotcha, you little bastard!" He shouted at the bear, snapping me out of my rage as an alarm went off on the console. "I don't know if you're a toy, or a stuffed animal, or whatever the hell you are. Either way I'm gonna rip you to fuckin' shreds!"
But I wasn't concerned with him or his empty threats, for the most part. No, my attention was mainly on the fact that his shaking Monokuma had activated its failsafe function. See, apparently the Monokuma units that were running though the building had a special C4 grade explosive mounted in their chests that were set to a timer. This timer was connected to a special kinetic motion switch which would only activate when they experienced a sudden jerking movement, and they couldn't be disarmed without a passcode; one of which I didn't know.
"V-violence against the school Headmaster is strictly prohibited!" I shouted out, scared that he would end up getting himself killed. But he wasn't gonna listen.
"Shut the fuck up!" He demanded, his other hand balled up and cocked back, ready to pummel the bear senseless if I didn't agree. "Let me out of here right now, or else I'm gonna…"
*Beep* the timer went off, signaling its activation. Dammit! Thinking quickly, I shouted, panic in my voice, "You just activated my special-trap!"
"Your, what trap?" he demanded, not quite getting what I was talking about. "Stop the goddamn beeping and speak English you damn punk!"
Trying to ignore the slowly increasing tempo of the alarm, I followed up with one of the most ridiculous things I've ever said, just before the audio and camera kicked out. "Initiating the Monokuma, Big Bang Bomb!"
For a moment, it was quiet. Then, I heard a dull boom resonating from the direction of the gymnasium as the bomb went off. On the screen was a loading time as another Monokuma unit was being redirected from where ever they were being stored to replace the destroyed one in the gym with itself, yet my focus was on what might have just happened. In the game, Junko stayed silent after he accidentally activated the bomb, and it was Kyoko who alerted him to it. Because I was the one alerted him this time, I couldn't help but worry that he wouldn't throw it away in time.
As the bar on screen finished loading, I couldn't pop the bear back up on the stage fast enough. I had to see if Mondo was still alive, or… not. As I did though, I caught the tail-end of Chihiro's statement, "…the teddy bear's been destroyed, right?"
"I already told you that I'm not a teddy bear, darn it!" Needless to say, I was not particularly happy about her continued use of an incorrect label for Monokuma. Ignoring Leon's startled remark about there being more bears and seeing that Mondo was still among the living, I let out a sigh of relief.
"You son of a bitch!" He shouted, looking quite terrified at the experience, yet it was currently overshadowed by righteous fury "You seriously tried to kill me just now!."
"To be fair," I stated calmly, trying to defuse the situation. "I did tell you that I was a bomb, and I did warn you that you were breaking the rules. What'd you think was going to happen?"
He balled his fists in anger, but he stayed quiet for the moment since he couldn't refute me. I continued, "Since you didn't know about the rules yet, I guess I can let you off with a warning this time. But, the next time I won't be so lenient! Those that break the rules are garbage that will be dealt with; swiftly and painfully."
"H-Hey," stuttered 'Junko' as she pretended to be as terrified as the others. "Does that mean there are like, a bunch more of you around here?"
Turning to her, I said in an equally fake ecstatic tone, "You got it sister! There are dozens of Monokuma all throughout the school, each one with the same level of defenses as the first. Not to mention, there are, of course, security cameras everywhere. If any of you are caught breaking the rules here… Well, you might wake up to find a Kuma giving you a farewell hug, if you catch my drift."
There was a noticeable twitch on her face when I'd said 'sister', most likely out of concern that I'd blown her cover. Yet, with all of the others the focus seemed to be on the rest of the information and the threat I'd made, so the moment just went over their heads as yet another smart-ass remark. Hopefully.
"That's just…Wrong." Stated Aoi as stunned as the others at my thinly vailed threat, and if I were to be honest, even I was surprised by my own words. I couldn't believe such a terrible thing had come from me, especially with the fact that who I was as a person was far different then this persona I was playing as. The fact that I could keep character like that even though my hands were trembling was a feat in itself.
In a way, it was reminding me of the persona theory involving adopting a personality from wearing a mask. Theoretically, when you wear a mask or outfit you tend to act out the part better than if you were doing it in your casual clothes. It had been proven in several occasions, one of the most notable being from this world with the "Ultimate Impostor", a person who always disguises themselves as other more notable people rather than themselves, and acts just like them almost flawlessly. Their most notable feat being when they dressed up as Byakuya and was able to convince everyone that he was the real thing through personality alone, despite the obvious difference in waistline.
It could be that I was simply acting how I perceived Monokuma would so easily simply because I knew they wouldn't be seeing the real me anytime soon. Of course, I wasn't the kind of sicko to get enjoyment out of the fear I was causing, but I had to play my part.
"Now then," I said continuing to ignore their concerns, for my own sake. "To commemorate your introduction into our school, I've got a gift for each of you."
Pressing a few buttons on the keyboard, a box filled with tablets with a small name tag on the bottom of each arose onto stage from a hydraulic stand, before I made Monokuma push the box closer to the class and started handing them out. "The official school electronic handbooks, E-handbook for short. These devices are your passport to this school, your main access to the facilities here, and it also has your school regulations in it. Once you have yours, don't lose it, and while I doubt you will, don't go trying to break it either; you only get the one. Once they start up they will display your name so that if your tag is removed you always know who it belongs to."
Seeing as they all had their handbooks, and that more than a few of them deliberately remove the temporary tag on theirs once they got them, I stood back letting them have the space to try out their new toy on their own. Of course, they seemed content to ignore both the tablet and the bear now that he wasn't talking and demanding attention, focusing instead on what they'd just experienced.
The topic wasn't all that interesting to me, even when Kyoko started to summarize what I'd said to them, and the others began to panic. I'd heard it all before. Instead, I waited for the inevitable question from Byakuya.
"Is there anyone here who is actually considering all of this…?"
Not a one of them had an answer to his question.
I watched the students' gazes through the mono-bear's surprisingly high quality optics as they passed over each other's faces, internally wondering who among them were going to be the first to break; the first to commit the first sin of murder. Who among them would dare such a feat of desperation.
You could practically take a knife to the amount of hostility and suspicion filling in the air… I should really consider the time and place for my metaphors better.
Thankfully for both them and me, this would go unanswered as one of them broke free of their stupor to address the proverbial elephant in the room.
"So then," asked Kyoko in a stern, no nonsense tone. "What are we going to do now? Just stand around glaring at each other?"
A few heads turned towards her as she held her chin in her hand in contemplation, as she questioned the nature of their circumstance aloud. I wasn't sure if she'd done it to purposefully break the tension of the room as well as their fearful stupor or if it was simply an automatic reaction on her part, but I was relieved that she did it anyway.
Either way, her words were what the others needed to hear, and even if it wasn't particularly helpful in the long run, the question slowly snapped them out of their daze and began to get the gears rolling in their heads; eventually, bringing discussions with it. Even if I couldn't voice it at the moment, I was thankful for her interference.
"She's right. No matter how nervous and afraid we might be, we need to stick together in these unusual circumstances! We need to plan out our next move, very carefully." Kiyotaka spoke, tying to bring order back to his classmates. I might have applauded him had I not known that the next words out of his mouth would be detrimental to his speech. "I'm so ashamed that I let something like this startle me! Someone please, hit me!"
Like I said, and apparently at least one of the others thought so too, because across the room the scoff of Mondo came before he said, "What the hell is wrong with you, man? If you've got time to be a dipshit, you've got time to actually do something."
"Perhaps, but…" Hifumi started carefully, still trembling from the news I'd regrettably had to give them earlier.. "Exactly what is our mission here?."
"Idiot!" reprimanded the hot- headed Leon incredulously, one of a small few that I am ashamed to admit I wasn't too broken up by their death. What can I say? I don't like quitters. "We look for a way out, duh!"
Have I mentioned that I think the use of the word 'duh' makes me think that the person saying it was dropped on the head as a kid? Because it does. Especially when they stick their tongue out when they say it.
The air around them was still quite tense but luckily, there was a small voice that was able to bring them all back to their senses.
"B-Before we go any further," the timid voice of Chihiro suggested, causing the others to look at her as she bowed her head. "S-Shouldn't we look at the handbook and look at the regulations? Just so that we don't accidentally break them while we try to find a way out."
Glancing from to her to Mondo for a brief second, they momentarily remembered his brief attempt at breaking rules and the resulting aftermath of such actions. Almost as if a silent agreement was shared between them all, they all pulled out their E-handbooks and turned them on.
"Whoa!" came the overly enthusiastic call of Yasuhiro, gaining the attention of his fellow students. Holding out his E-handbook to show the others he continued with a grin, "My name came up when I turned it on! This thing is awesome!"
Both Maokoto and I grimaced at the surge of anger that radiated off of several of the others at the fortune teller's poorly timed comment. With tensions rising among the teens, his continued acting like a fool and his outright denial of their situation they were in was seriously not helping matters.
"Thanks genius. Like we already haven't figured that out!" Leon shouted before going back to read the school rules.
As all of the others did the same with their own handbooks for the next few minutes, I began to pinch my forehead in frustration. Yasuhiro and his denial was something that had been just as infuriating for me as it was becoming for them. If he didn't get a wake up call by the first murder attempt, I honestly think he will end up the second victim just to shut him up.
I grimaced at the thought, my eyes glancing back at the notebook flopped on its side on the other side of the room. I had thrown the darn thing when I'd had my fit, and though I couldn't see the page that had upset me so at the moment, I still remembered the words so vividly.
A threat. One written by, not the author of the book, but by Junko Enoshima; the original one. She had apparently read the journal before me and had learned that soon she wouldn't be…her anymore. So she had a contingency plan put in place in case I took over before her game could start. I could still remember the details in it, and most importantly the bottom paragraph of the page written in pink ink.
"I'll keep it simple. If the game of mutual killing doesn't start on time, or if the morning announcement doesn't happen at seven every day, my associates will take that as a sign that I'm gone and destroy the school, and kill every. Single. One of them. ;3 Okay?"
So that was it. I had to begin the events of the first game myself to keep all of us alive. I already hated myself for becoming this terrible woman, but now I had even more reasons to hate her. Even in death she was a pain in the flank. Even more so now than ever.
Learning how to work Monokuma was a bit of a challenge, but I strangely was able to figure out his controls fairly quickly. Then again, Aoi figured out how to work it during her brief moment on the controls so maybe they were simpler then I was making them out to be. Some of the other controls were for the cameras. Controlling which were being broadcast to the world, which were on or off; and several of them could even be set on a loop so that I wouldn't record things in that spot for a set time. The rest of the controls were apparently for special traps to…"execute" a rowdy rule breaker from any room.
Either way, as long as her contingency plan was in place, there wasn't anything I could really do to stop their attempts at murdering each other. Add in the fact that I would have to be the one to motivate them to murder each other every few days to a week or risk all of their lives at once, I was stuck between a proverbial rock and a hard place.
… A contingency plan…hmm, that gives me an idea.
"This is such bull!" Shouted Mondo, enraged by the regulations set forth he'd just finished reading. "Like hell I'm just gonna sit back and be controlled by something so stupid!"
His rage was far higher than he thought it'd ever been before. Not even his time in juvie had he'd been so upset by a set of rules and regulations. Just as his anger was ready to blow again, a soft yet stern voice punched through the red fog enveloping him.
"Well then, by all means wander around the school without a care and see what happens."
All heads turned towards Celeste, her hands folded under her chin as she gave Mondo a tilted smile.
"I would love to see what would happen to someone who was to officially break the rules." She added almost playfully, sending a chill down the other's spines.
"B-But I don't think Mondo would have a respawn awaiting him if the last incident is any indication." Hifumi warned, trying to help defend Mondo.
At the mention of the incident the pompadour haired biker was briefly stunned, but he recovered with grit teeth and a lowered gaze. "No, I… Ever since I was a kid, my older brother pounded into my head that a man must keep his promises, even if it kills him."
At those words the others gained a look of confusion on their faces. When it was clear he wasn't going to elaborate, one of the others decided to take it upon themselves to question him.
"And, so what?" Insensitively asked 'Junko', folding up her arms and raising an eyebrow with a scoff. I couldn't help but have my hand meet my face in exasperation. She never did learn how to read the room. Or, was this how she really thought Junko acted?
Either way, it caused Mondo to turn his glare on her and seethe. "So, I've got far too many of them to keep still. I can't afford to die here without finishing them! That's 'so what'."
Strangely to them, even though he was practically in her face, she didn't even flinch. She just stood there with the same frown painted on her face. Of course, I knew she'd seen far more intimidating things then him; with her line of work, there was a snowballs chance at a bonfire that he'd ever get anywhere with her.
"In any case," Kyoko said, getting the others attention once more. "We should investigate the school as soon as possible, and try to find a way out." Several of the others nodded in agreement with her, making plans to go out as well.
"And we should totally find whoever's behind that stupid bear and beat the hell out of them." 'Junko' stated angrily…seemingly forgetting that said, 'stupid bear', was still in the room behind her.
"…I'm still here you know." I had Monokuma remind her in a soft deadpan. Verbally she didn't respond, but judging by the slight shiver that ran up her body I didn't think she'd need to.
The air around became a bit tense in that moment, the others apparently having forgotten about the two-faced bear as well, before one of them managed to swallow the fear and ask the all-important question.
"Why are you still here anyway?" came the almost threatening question from, surprisingly, Mondo. Briefly, I wondered why he was keeping his hands in his pockets. Then I remembered that he'd already almost had a close encounter with the 'exploding Kuma' trick a few minutes ago and was likely trying to keep from trying his luck again.
"Well," I started, pretending to think about it as a held the 'ell' longer then really necessary just to get a reaction. I succeeded by the way. "As I am your headmaster, you guys are technically under my care. As such, I'm responsible for making sure you're all ready for what you'll deal with during your stay here. So rather, the question really should be, 'why wouldn't I still be here?' don't cha think?"
"That is so bull!" Mondo shouted back at me, his hands clenched hard in his pockets. "You tried to kill me a few minutes ago!"
Monokuma and I shrugged at that, and said, "Again, to be fair, I did warn you that attacking the headmaster is forbidden. I also shouted that I would explode if handled to roughly. Not my fault if you wouldn't listen." That did stop any rebuttal from him since it was the truth. It didn't, however, stop him from gritting his teeth so hard I could hear them grinding.
"Besides," I said, returning to the happy, ear-grating pitch they and I both hated so much already, but I'd have to take a risk, a gamble if I was going to help them. "I haven't even told you of the 'contingency plan ', just yet."
The news caught the attention of all of them instantly. Several of them questionably muttered a parroting of the phrase, as if they were a phrase unknown to them, and many eyebrows curved thoughtfully.
"But, you know," I started, my puppet looking away, almost as if in thought. "After that performance, and those harsh, mean words, I'm not sure I want to tell you now." With the puppet's eyes facing away from them I couldn't see exactly what they were doing, but I didn't need to see them to know that more than a few of them were growling in frustration at my uncooperativeness.
"Tell us what this 'contingency plan' is." Demanded Byakuya, the only survivor of the first game that I did not enjoy having seen that he had survived. Yeah, he may have ended up vital to the events of one of the sequels, but doesn't mean that I had to like him.
"Only if someone says the magic word." I said just to mess with him. Considering the glare, I received from him, I had succeeded.
"P-Please?" Muttered Chihiro almost too quiet to hear, unintentionally interrupting Byakuya's likely demand of 'now'. The prick even glared at the smaller student for doing so, as if she'd interrupted and insulted his lively hood with her presence alone. Not willing to see someone cry, I quickly intervened.
"Alright, you've twisted my arm." I stated, making a show of reeling back as if in pain. "I'll tell you. You remember how I said that there 'technically' isn't an end to this? See, as this is a school life style you've volunteered for, we felt that we should keep the traditions of a 'voluntary' school in check. Therefore, just to be fair we've given you another 'out', if you will. Basically, it goes like this. If no one attempts to disrupt the harmony of this school for one year straight, that's three-hundred-sixty-five days, then we will allow a group vote to be held."
I glanced around at them to see if they understood, ignoring Leon's question of if I was being serious before continuing. "If every student then votes unanimously that they wish to leave, I will open the doors for all of you. However..." I stopped, then turned so that I was pointing in their general direction.
"If there is even a single murder attempt before the vote, or if even one student wishes to stay, we will reset the timer back to the first day and start it all over again."
Edited by RWBYJNPR