It didn't take long for us to shuffle into the gymnasium, most of us noticeably on edge from everything that had happened so far. Sakura and Kyoko remained resolute as always, though Makoto and Sayaka looked like they were ready to keel over any moment now. The gym itself was a bit bigger than I had remembered it in the game proper, which made sense. Gyms were supposed to be big and Hope's Peak was a big school. Banners bearing the Hope's Peak logo had been hung up all over the gym, complete with a literal red carpet rolled out for us. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at Junko's sense of humor, though the thought of Junko inevitably brought my mind back to the missing Mukuro.

It may not have seemed like much from the outset, but the absence of Junko Enoshima's militaristic twin was a very noticeable omission to someone like me and one I couldn't figure out. Junko needed Mukuro disguised as herself to serve as an example to not mess with her rules before the first trial, lest they all be punished. Of course, what Mukuro didn't realize was that Junko had decided to just kill her instead, leading to her death. That was how the game was supposed to go.

With Mukuro missing, I had no idea what else could be different here. And that lack of certainty was horrifying in a killing game. Junko had no reason to hold Mukuro back here, so what exactly changed with her plans? Gah, I just had questions piling on top of questions. For now, I just had to make it through the actual opening of the game before worrying about anything else.

"Huh," Makoto said, looking around the gym. "It really does look like an entrance ceremony…"

"Like I said!" Hiro interjected with a nod. "It's just some normal entrance ceremony stuff!"

I wanted so desperately to knock some form of sense into this man's thick skull, but just like back in the entrance hall, I never got the chance.

"Hey there, howdy, hello!" A voice piped up from behind the podium on stage. "Looks like everyone's here! Then why don't we get things rolling?"

Before anyone had a chance to ask a question, he appeared. Leaping up from behind the podium like a cartoonish spring, a seemingly stuffed black and white teddy bear plopped down in front of us, his coloring split down the middle in a Two-Face like visage. On his left, he appeared to be a very standard, white teddy bear with a singular beady eye, while on the other side was a deep shade of black, half of his mouth curled into a very disturbing slasher-like grin with sharp teeth. To the other students, it was probably the most bizarre sight one could even begin to fathom. But for me, it was a very good reason to start drinking. There, standing before us as if he were the most normal thing in the world, was Monokuma.

The first one to speak up was Chihiro, blinking his eyes just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "H-huh? A… teddy bear?"

"I am not a teddy bear," Monokuma warned. "I am Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster!"

"D-did that teddy bear just speak?!" Hifumi exclaimed, throwing himself backward out of fear.

"C-calm yourself, Hifumi!" Taka urged, not sounding any more confident. "I'm sure there's just a speaker inside of it."

"I already told you, I am not a teddy bear," Monokuma growled out, hoping off the podium. "I'll repeat myself until I'm black and blue in the face; I. Am. Your. New. Headmaster!"

"I-it can mooooove?!" Now Hifumi looked outright horrified.

"Seriously dude, chill the fuck out!" Mondo ordered. "Prolly just has some kind of cheap remote control toy somewhere."

Monokuma's earlier anger had now been replaced by faux shock and sadness. "C-cheap remote?! Oh you've cut me deep," he said, looking down at the ground with a dejected sigh. "Deeper than even the Mariana Trench…" Monokuma looked ready to cry before he whipped his head up, smiling with a hint of pride. "I'll have you know that my remote control system is so advanced that even the folks at NASA couldn't understand it! But don't tell them that and go breaking their hearts… I just couldn't bear it!"

I suddenly felt an extreme amount of mental pain flood my body as I contemplated suicide.

"Really? 'Bear' that?" Celeste rolled her eyes. "Dear, you are quite the unfortunate one."

"Now then," Monokuma carried on, seemingly ignoring Celeste's comment, "we really should get a move on!" He began pacing the stage back and forth before abruptly turning to us. "First, let's just start off nice and simple! Goooood morning!"

"Ah, yes!" Taka immediately bowed as if thinking a teacher called for him. "Good morning!"

"...don't encourage him," Toko gloomily mumbled.

"Now that the morning assembly is out of the way…" Monokuma hopped off the podium, pacing in front of us. "Allow me to begin the entrance ceremony properly!" He took a moment to clear his throat. "Now I know that Hope's Peak might appear to be a touch too large for how small your class is, but make no mistake! You students, so full of energy and optimism, truly do represent the hope of the world itself. And such splendid hope must be protected at any and all costs! To that end…"

Everyone leaned in, now fully paying attention to Monokuma.

"...You all will live a communal life together solely within the confines of this school. Everyone will live in harmony together and strictly adhere to the rules and regulations of the school. And before I forget…" Monokuma began a snicker that turned into a full on laugh. "There is no official end date to this communal life! You all will remain here until the day you die!"

Now that got everyone's attention. The room immediately exploded with conversation and confusion, some students looking confused, others fearful and the rest just either indignant or outright pissed.

"T-till we die?" Toko's eyes went wide. "D-did I hear that right?"

"Oh, don't you all worry," Monokuma said. "We have quite the expansive budget, so you won't go hungry or lack any modern convenience, I promise!"

"That's the least of our worries right now!" Sayaka nearly screamed.

I stepped forward. "Sayaka has the right of it. You're expecting us to just stay here until we all die?"

Monokuma gave me a flat look. "Yes."

"Do you actually expect us to believe you without any form of evidence or proof?"

Now Monokuma looked angry again. "Are you accusing me of lying, Mister Attorney?! I am no more a liar than anyone in this room! I can confidently say that every single possible exit has been boarded up or sealed off!"

"Sealed off…?" Makoto began racking his brain before his eyes lit up again. "You're talking about the windows and the entrance hall right? And with our phones gone…"

"Precisely!" Monokuma eagerly nodded. "All of that was done to make sure you all were nice and tightly sealed away from that filthy outside world. So go ahead and pound away at those windows and scream like you're on television; help isn't gonna come. So with all that in mind… Please feel free to enjoy the rest of your time here with reckless abandon!"

Now there were more vocal objections in the crowd, some more loud than others.

"Seriously, it's time to cut this shit out!" Mondo yelled. "It ain't fuckin' funny anymore!"

Monokuma just hung his head with a sigh. "I can't believe this. You all just go on about how this is a lie or a joke no matter how many times I try to hammer it in your little noggins. A bunch of skeptics is what you are." He looked up and gave us a resigned shrug. "But I suppose you can't help it, can you? You've all grown up in an age where you're taught to trust next to no one, not even your own neighbor. At any rate, you'll have plenty of time to decide whether or not I'm lying, won't you? And when you do… you'll be wishing you listened to me!"

Celeste let out a quiet hum. "Having to spend the rest of my life here would be… problematic, to say the least."

"Oh come on!" Monokuma groaned. "Weren't you all excited to attend Hope's Peak in the first place?! Now you all want to just up and leave before the ceremony is even finished! Can't please anyone, I swear!"

He turned away from us for a second before he looked over his shoulder, his red eye glowing just a bit too brightly. "Well, I suppose there is a way to leave, if you really want~"

There was the part I was dreading.

"A-and what's that?" Makoto gulped.

If Monokuma could smile harder, he'd probably rip through his metaphorical stitches. "This little rule I've designed is known as the Graduation Clause! You see, like I mentioned before, our communal lifestyle relies on a strict sense of balance and harmony. And if someone were to disrupt that harmony, then they alone will get to go free!"

For the first time since stepping foot in the gym, Byakuya spoke. "And by 'disrupt the harmony', what do you mean?"

"Puhuhuhu… Isn't it obvious? I'm talking about murder."

A deep, strangled silence followed, nearly everyone looking shocked. Even Celeste and Togami were taken slightly aback by Monokuma's declaration.

"Yup, yup!" Monokuma continued, stopping short of singing out his words. "Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, ignating, you get the gist. You must kill someone to leave, that's the rule! How you do it is entirely on you, so give it your all to achieve the best outcome in the worst way imaginable."

A collective chill went down everyone's spines. Even Kyoko and Sakura, calm and collected as they were, wore heavy expressions in response to Monokuma's explanation on the Graduation Clause. I had to admit, even I felt nervous. Granted, I felt nervous the moment I realized Mukuro seemed to be completely absent from the roster, but still. The point was that with this rule in place, all bets were off. Just about anyone's life was up in the air. But… it wasn't all bad, was it? We had Makoto, we had Kyoko, we could make it through this. It would be far from pleasant, but we wouldn't just let this black and white Winnie the Pooh run roughshod over us. At least, I know Kyoko and Makoto wouldn't.

"Puhuhuhu…" Monokuma giggled in his infamous laugh of his. "I bet that got the ol' brain juices flowing, didn't it? Definitely beats the heck out of a human catching salmon. Like I said before, you guys are the hope of the world. But what happens when you take that hope and watch it get hacked into bloody bite sized pieces? Bingo, you get despair. And that's just too darn exciting for me!"

"Seriously… the fuck are you going on about…?" Leon desperately asked. "I mean, killing each other, it's…!"

"Killing each other means killing each other." Monokuma spoke with none of the earlier enthusiasm from earlier, as if explaining it like Leon was three years old. "If you need a dictionary, you could just ask y'know."

"We know the definition!" Hina exclaimed. "Why are you making us kill each other?!"

"Yeah!" Hifumi interjected. "Just stop blabbering all this nonsense and let us out already!"

"...Blabbering?" Monokuma's voice dropped to a dangerous low, looking Hifumi square in the eyes. "Blabbering, blabbering, what do you mean 'blabbering?!' Stop blabbering on about blabbering on!"

Even though Hifumi stood far taller than Monokuma, it looked like Hifumi shrunk about seven inches as he backed away. Monokuma took this time to pace in front of us again, looking more and more impatient.

"Seriously, you guys just do not understand, do you? You keep repeating yourselves like a broken record, screaming 'Let us out!' and other nonsense like that as if it'll change anything about your situation. It's darn near comical! I'll only say it once more; this school is your new home, your whole world now. It's best you just accept that now, got me?"

None of us had the courage to speak up, yet it seemed like someone had enough courage to laugh as Hiro chuckled in the wake of Monokuma's speech. "Alright, alright, you got us man. Pretty scary stuff, but you can just drop the act."

For once, Monokuma seemed genuinely confused, tilting his head. "Act?"

"Exactly," Hiro nodded. "Pretty funny ceremony all things considered but-"

"Oh for fuck's sake, just move out of the way you fuckin' hobo!"

Hiro was rudely shoved aside by an irate Mondo. He stood tall over the robotic bear, cracking his knuckles. "Listen up, shitheel, I dunno what the fuck you find funny, but this joke's gone way too far! Let us out now, and I might just not have to crack yer damn skull open!"

"Joke? Ohhh, you mean that cornpop you call a pompadour?"

"I"LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Before Monokuma had time to even process Mondo's threat, the Ultimate Biker had taken off like a V-2 rocket, fiercely grabbing Monokuma by the throat and slamming the bear against the podium with impressive force. "Gotcha, you little shit! I dunno if you're a toy or stuffed animal, but I'm definitely ripping your fuckin' stuffing out piece by piece, ya hear me?!"

"W-wah!" In response to Mondo's sudden attack, Monokuma began flailing his arms in the air as Mondo held onto him. "Violence against the headmaster is in violation of school regulations!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Mondo warned him. "Let us the fuck out right now, or I swear to Christ…"

Before he could try threatening the bear any further, Monokuma went limp in Mondo's grasp, a faint beeping noise beginning to emit from his mouth. "What, got nothing left? C'mon, speak up funnyman! Let's hear some more fuckin' jokes!" Again, Monokuma said nothing, but the beeping was progressively getting faster and faster. "ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!"

This was bad… If Mondo didn't get away now…! "Throw him!" I called out.

Mondo looked back with a confused stare. "Wha…?"

"Just throw him, hurry!" Kyoko suddenly ordered, more urgency in her voice than I think anyone's heard from her today. Not missing a beat, Mondo tossed Monokuma high into the air like a ball and just in time. In the very next moment, a loud, powerful explosion rocked the gym, sending Mondo and a few others to the floor while the distinct burning smell of gunpowder lingered in the air. I instinctively covered my ears as they rang like war drums,, my balance thrown completely off from the explosion.

"C-crap, that really wasn't a damned joke, was it?" Mondo gasped. "It fucking blew up…"

"B-but…" Chihiro coughed, dusting off his skirt as he shakily stood. "That bear is gone, right? Does that mean we're free?"

"I've told you already; I'm not a bear! I am Monokuma!" Cries of surprise erupted as yet another Monokuma casually hopped up from behind the podium, seemingly no worse for wear after his impromptu self destruction. I knew Junko basically had them stockpiled, but goddamn was it annoying to just see him pop out from behind fucking nowhere.

"C-christ!" Leon paled. "Another one?!"

Mondo took a moment to catch his breath before rounding off on the new Monokuma. "You little prick! You just tried to kill me!"

"Well, obviously." Monokuma glowered at Mondo, flashing his claws. "You did just try to attack me, after all. I'll let you off with a warning this time, but I won't be so merciful in the future." His glare extended to the rest of us. "That goes for you all too. Anyone caught violating the school regulations won't get off with a slap on the wrist, got it?"

Everyone seemed to nod in affirmation. The rules were clear; don't mess with Monokuma if you enjoyed breathing oxygen. No matter how punchable he made himself, you couldn't do a damned thing about it. Junko knew exactly what she was doing, and I fucking hated every last moment of it. And she probably knew how much I hated it too. That was just the kind of person Junko Enoshima was. In a way, it was actually kind of genius

With that threat under his belt, Monokuma continued. "Now then, with that little incident behind us, I'd like to give you all a little something." He ran behind the podium, emerging with what looked like a small box filled with what appeared to be a collection of cell phone sized tablets. "Tada! This little fancy gizmo is our official student handbook! As it's fully digital, I've dubbed it the e-Handbook! With it, you'll find the school regulations all written down for you to follow along! Can't expect you all to follow the rules if I don't tell you the rules now, can I? There's a few other neat options for you that'll open up sooner or later, but make sure you read the school rules carefully, y'hear?"

Not missing a beat, Monokuma immediately began handing out everyone's e-Handbook's like they were Christmas gifts, stuffing them into our hands before moving back to the front. "Also keep in mind that these babies were made to last! They're waterproof and sturdier than most conventional cell phones on the market today, so they can take up to ten tons of pressure! Pretty neat, huh?"

Not a single person complimented Monokuma, just alternating between staring at the e-Handbook and him.

"Well, regardless, I hope I made my point on the rules very clear." Monokuma's eyes scanned over the entire gym, focusing in on me for a brief second. "Remember that while rules certainly restrict, they can also protect. Society, for example, would be in utter chaos without laws. Hence why I'm willing to dole out such harsh punishments for those who're willing to break the rules!"

Fucking ironic, considering what's going on outside.

With a happy sigh, Monokuma kicked the box that contained all of the e-Handbooks out of the way, hopping back onto the stage. "Okay, that brings our opening ceremony to an end! Do your best to enjoy your abundantly deary school life! Till we meet again!" And like that, he vanished behind the podium without a trace that he was even there. Mondo ran behind the podium to double check, but ultimately found nothing. No Monokuma to speak of. That disappearing act was something I never fully comprehended, did Junko just have a bunch of secret Monokuma-sized escape holes installed for whenever she didn't need to talk to anyone using Monokuma? Oh, what am I talking about? Of course she probably had something like that.

Everyone just stood there like a pack of deer caught in the headlights, unable to fully process just what happened. I opted to let out a small cough, hopefully get everyone moving. "So, would anyone care to tell me just what the hell happened?"

"I… I just…" Leon stammered his words out. "I just dunno anyone, dude…"

Toko looked ready to keel over any second now. "D-do we really have to live here f-forever…? Or kill? W-what's going on?!"

"Everyone, calm down," Kyoko firmly said, taking charge of the conversation. "Let's just take a moment to try and process what we know so far. Based on what Monokuma said, we essentially have two choices. Our first choice is to continue living here under this 'communal life' until we die. And our second choice…"

"...is to kill someone, no?" Celeste finished, notably looking away. "Is that what you're trying to say?"

"But… killing someone… that's…" Chihiro whimpered, tears freely flowing down his cheeks.

"First we were abducted out of nowhere and dropped into some cheap facsimile of a school, and now they want us to start killing each other?! This is…" Hifumi stumbled over himself, trying to find the words. "This is… just… What IS this?!"

"This has to be a dream!" Taka nodded furiously. "All of these outlandish claims… it has to be fake!"

Byakuya let out a small "tch", shaking his head. "I don't think we have time to figure out if the bear was bluffing or not. What matters…" His studious eyes scanned over everyone. "...is if someone is seriously considering all of this or not."

Byakuya's words struck an immediate and heavy chord with most of the other students. Slowly, everyone backed away just a little bit from each other, trying to get a read on their faces, leaving Makoto and me right in the center. Out of instinct, I pulled my gaze toward the prospective killers of the game; Leon, Mondo and Celeste, trying to get a read on them as well. Just to be safe, I also checked on Sayaka, who was barely holding it together as she moved closer to Makoto on instinct. The tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a steak knife. I don't think there was a risk of an early killing just yet, but the seeds of fear had been planted by Monokuma and you could beat dollars to donuts that he was going to cultivate them as much as he could. Honestly, I even felt nervous. I was an unknown factor, a variable. If I played my cards wrong, who knows what could happen?

This continued for what felt like forever until Kyoko snapped us out of it. "So? What are you going to do now? Just stand around and glare at each other?"

I blinked, realizing that I had fallen for the exact same trap that Monokuma planted for everyone. I calmed my nerves with a deep sigh, not looking at anyone in particular. "Sorry. You're right, Kyoko, we can't just let that psychotic teddy bear have what he wants."

"E-exactly!" Taka exclaimed, seemingly regaining his senses. "Sometimes, even if you're nervous or afraid, you just have to keep moving forward. To forget such a simple fact… I can't forgive myself! Please, someone hit me! Punish me!"

Mondo looked at Taka for a moment before sighing. "Christ dude, relax. If ya got time to yell, you have time to do something about it."

"Perhaps, but what are we supposed to do now?" Hifumi nervously inquired.

"Obviously," Leon began. "We're going to find a way outta here!"

"Not a bad idea," I nodded. "But we can always cut out the middleman and just look for whoever's controlling Monokuma."

"B-but before we do any of that..." Chihiro shifted in place. "Maybe we should take a look at the handbook…"

Celeste nodded. "A good idea. If we stumble around with no clue what the rules are, something like that explosion could happen again."

Mondo looked at his coat, the soot from the explosion still visible on his clothes. "Shit…"

"Then let's check them out," Makoto nodded. "Just so we aren't going into this blind."

All of us flipped on our e-Handbooks without another word. The first thing that appeared was, of course, my name. Probably to verify that I was indeed Anthony Davis. The operating system looked a little bit different from the game's, but most of the same functions and apps were still here. Report Cards, a map of the school which would be extremely handy, the Truth Bullets section which was currently greyed out and inaccessible and finally the school regulations. Given I hadn't played the game for a while, it definitely seemed like a good idea to read along with the others just to refresh my memory. After all, I didn't intend on dying just because of a minor rule infraction. So I touched the school regulations section, causing an itemized list of rules to pop up.

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

"Nighttime" is from 10 PM to 7AM. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

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

With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak at your discretion.

Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of security cameras.

Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes the "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

Additional school regulations will be added as necessary.

I pocketed the e-Handbook shortly after finishing my reading. The rules lined up exactly with what I remember from the game proper; Junko gave you just enough freedom to not choke you to death but a vice-like grip regardless to keep you in line. It was a subtle but effective way to get everyone to do exactly what she needed them to do. Plus, with Monokuma's self-destructing demonstration, no one was going to be in any rush to see what would happen if someone broke the rules. Of course, not everyone was happy with the strict regulations imposed upon them.

"Goddamn it!" Mondo roared. "What a load of bullcrap! I ain't gonna let that monochrome grizzly shit control me, ya hear me?!"

"Well then, why don't you wander around the school without a care in the world and see what happens?" Celeste challenged him with a giggle. "Personally, I think it would be useful to see what happens when someone breaks the rules."

"But if he were punished like before," Hifumi interjected, "I don't think there would be a respawn waiting for him…"

Mondo looked at Celeste with a grimace before closing his eyes, closing his eyes and trying to calm himself down. Apparently he realized just how stupid his proclamination really was. "I… Ever since I was a kid, my older brother kept drilling a saying into my head. That when a man makes a promise, he's got to keep it, even if it kills him."

One of Celeste's eyebrows rose upwards. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I still got a ton of promises I gotta keep! So I can't just die in this place!"

"None of what you said makes any sense to me," Celeste sighed. "But I suppose this means you'll follow the rules."

Mondo blinked in realization. "Huh? Oh, I guess… yeah, it does."

Looking mentally exhausted from interacting with Mondo, Celeste turned her attention back to her e-Handbook, seemingly double checking the rules. At that moment, I couldn't help but sympathize with her in a way. A brief moment of silence and murmuring followed before Sayaka spoke up again.

"I.. um, have a question," she said, pulling up her handbook. "What exactly does regulation number six mean?"

Makoto swiped on his screen back to the rule in question. "You mean the second half, right? The part about 'unless they're discovered'? I was wondering about that myself."

"It means that if you want to graduate, you have to kill someone without anyone finding out it was you," Byakuya answered quickly.

"B-but why?" Toko stammered out. "W-why do we h-have to do that?"

"I don't see any reason to worry about it," he replied, pushing up his glasses. "Just focus on following the rules as they've been explained to us. Frankly, I don't want to hear anything from someone who waits for others to decide what to do for them."

Rather than take umbrage at his remark, Toko let out a soft gasp, her cheeks flushing red as she looked at the ground. "D-don't jab at me…"

"More like a full on stab," Leon mumbled.

"Well, let's just put all this talk about murders and junk on the back burner," Hina said. "Now that we know the rules, let's try exploring the school a bit!"

"I agree with you, Hina," Taka nodded. "We still need to confirm if there's a hidden way out or if we have adequate food and supplies to last! As such, we must begin our search immediately!"

"Damn straight!" Leon said. "Let's find a way out of this hole!"

Everyone seemed in agreement on what to do next. But before anyone could begin making plans, Byakuya made for the door, his expression entirely unreadable. "I'll be going alone," he stated simply.

I was already in front of him, giving him a harsh glare. "Byakuya, I've known you for an hour at best and that is easily the dumbest thing I've heard come out of your mouth, bar none."

Byakuya glared back. "In case it slipped your mind, Davis, someone here might already be thinking of murdering one of us. Do you think it's a good idea to just stay with them and make it that much easier for them to kill?"

"Byakuya," I began, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I know you can't possibly be this dumb. First of all, you're the only one who's been talking about murdering someone so far. Secondly, the rules clearly state that the murder has to be out of sight for the killer to graduate. Staying in a group is infinitely way more safe than splitting up like it's a Scooby-Doo cartoon and making yourself an easy target. Do you not understand that or did you sacrifice your IQ for that comically large ego of yours?"

For a brief fraction of a moment, it seemed like Byakuya was speechless, shocked at the idea that anyone would dare have the gall to speak up against someone as prestigious as the heir to the Togami family. But that shock quickly faded into a harsh glare.

"P-please hold on!" Sayaka quickly said. "Byakuya, that would never-"

Byakuya's harsh gaze turned to the idol, snapping onto her like a target. "Don't say it couldn't happen. You can't deny the possibility. Or did you all forget the moment you all seized up in terror at the graduation clause?"

Sayaka looked like she wanted to say more, but couldn't find the words to counter Byakuya's claims. Because in that instance he had a point, everyone was thrown off by the rule about killing someone else, not sure if they could trust the person right next to them or that they would wake up tomorrow alive. Byakuya waited for Sayaka to answer, but found nothing.

"Exactly my point. As such, I'm simply acting in accordance with what I believe to be best for me."

"Hold on just a damn second!" Mondo rudely pushed me out of the way, glaring down Byakuya. "Like hell I'm just gonna let you run off and let you do what you want!"

"Out of my way, plankton," Byakuya coolly said, his icy personality a counter to Mondo's fiery attitude.

"Huh? The fuck's that supposed to mean?!" Mondo rudely questioned.

"Exactly what it means. You are the equivalent of one tiny bit of plankton, drifting aimlessly across the sea. So miniscule, so insignificant, you couldn't possibly begin to hold any kind of influence over the boundless ocean before you."

Now that much Mondo understood. He gritted his teeth, stomping his way towards Byakuya's sneering face with violent intent. "I'm gonna stomp a mudhole in yer ass and walk in dry, asshole!"

Before Mondo could do anything though, I took the initiative again and stepped in between the both of them, trying to stop an actual fight from breaking out right in the opening hours. The last thing we needed was even more tension in the air. "Guys," I said, trying to calm them both down, though mostly Mondo. "Calm down. We're not getting anywhere by trying to beat the crap out of each other."

"Fuck you say?" Before I had a chance to react, Mondo gripped onto my suit, growling right in my face. "You think you're my fucking dad, lawyer boy?! Think you know everything about me, don'tcha?!" Evidently, being more involved wasn't always the wisest idea. I could've sworn Makoto was supposed to be in this situation, but he was just hanging back with Sayaka now, watching with nervousness.

"I didn't say anything about you, I was just saying to calm down-"

"CALM THIS, DICKWEED!"

Before I could even react or bemoan my poor choice of words, a curled up fist came racing towards my face like a speeding bullet. My fading consciousness flickered for a moment, making me aware that Mondo had sent me literally flying through the air before I crashed into something. Then the world went dark. Certainly not the way I expected my time at Hope's Peak to start, but hey, it could be worse.

It could've been middle school.

And that's the prologue done and dusted! I apologize for the slow start, but starting from Chapter 3 is when we start deviating away from the game more, thanks to not being in Makoto's sneakers. Next time on In Contempt of Despair, we make a mental note to not piss off Mondo anymore and explore the school a bit, maybe make some plans for the killing game proper!