When I assembled with the others in front of the large metal door, I knew right then my life was over.

I walked towards where the others were present. Two large machine guns pointed right at me as I stared at the door. I felt the barrels boring holes into me, despite firing no bullets. I tried my hardest to relax my heart rate and slow my breathing. 14 of us, all gathered together, making idle chatter, if not banging furiously on the large vault door. I looked around. Everyone looked preoccupied, so I decided not to bother anyone. I sighed. A camera on the wall started panning about the room, switching focus from person to person. As I stared at it, it panned right to me, and I quickly looked away, shuddering. I felt so alone, and yet so cramped and exposed. I desperately look around for anyone to talk to. I saw a tall man in a suit standing by himself and approached him.

"Who do you think you are? I don't have time for you." He rudely said, pushing his glasses up his nose and turning away. He looked up at the camera and scowled.

"O-oh. Okay." I said nervously. I made a mental note never to talk to him again. I allowed myself a few minutes to try and remember how I got into this mess, but for the life of me I couldn't. All I remember was getting dizzy. I must have passed out. Just as I was about to give up hope, I felt another person approach. Like my mind was connected to his own, I immediately knew who it was. "Could it be?" I whispered to myself. I straightened myself up and pushed through the crowd.

"Naegi!" I cried eagerly, feeling my heart soar. Finally, a familiar face, and a friendly one too.

"Maizono!" The short boy looked shocked to see me at first, but then smiled. "Y-you… remember me?"

I was confused by his question, but I didn't show it. "Of course I do, silly! We were at junior high together." I smile. "It's so nice to see a familiar face."

"Y-yeah." He stammersd nervously. He rested one hand on the back of his head. "I'm just surprised you remember me, considering how popular you were and all…"

I felt my heart sink. Does he really think that low of me? "You were always friendly to me. Even though we didn't talk that much." I tried to reassure him. Smiling felt so novel now that I was in this situation, but with Naegi around, I held the hope that that feeling wouldn't last.

"Well, I'm glad. It's nice to see you. What exactly is going on here?" He asked.

Several voices piped up upon hearing his approach.

"Woah, hey! A new kid!" A male voice near the door cried.

"That makes fifteen, huh?" A large boy with small, round-rimmed glasses said. "That seems like a good cut-off point, but I wonder if that's everyone."

"Cut-off point?" I thought to myself.

"I just woke up in a classroom… no idea how I got there." Naegi said.

"You too, huh?" A boy with spiky hair and a lot of piercings said.

I looked around. Everyone's faces spoke volumes. We all passed out once we entered Hope's Peak Academy, then woke up in a random classroom. I do remember seeing the tall muscular lady and the other athletic-looking girl asleep in the same classroom as me. After I woke them up, we all went to the main hall together. I wonder why no-one woke Naegi?

"Hey!" A tall boy in a pristine white uniform suddenly yelled and pointed at me and Naegi. "Introductions are supposed to be brief. We don't have time for long conversations!"

I looked down at the floor. "Sorry…" I mumble.

Naegi looked sad and sheepish. "Ah, of course."

"We can talk about this later." I said as I smiled at him, and he immediately walked towards the rude boy who dismissed me earlier. I walked over to the fat boy who remarked earlier about the number of students. He was a little weird, but he was very polite. After I made my rounds, I started making mental notes on who to stay close to among the group. So far, apart from the short girl in the purple sailor uniform and the tall boy in the suit, everyone seemed very friendly and approachable. Even the biker dude seemed cool, albeit very angry. I was willing to dismiss that though, anger is quite a normal reaction to suddenly being trapped in a school with no recollection how or why. Apart from Naegi, the two athletic girls and the boy with spiky hair seemed the most friendly. The short girl in the skirt was very cute and nice, but her lack of self-esteem was really overbearing. The lilac-haired girl was polite, but so emotionless. It was so difficult to read her, even with my stellar intuition. She didn't even react when I told her I was psychic. Still, I didn't want to dismiss either of them as potential friends. I hope I can get along with everyone, and I especially hope I can get closer to Naegi.

Ding dong, bing bong!

A loud noise came from a monitor high up on the wall on the left-hand side facing the door.

"Ahem, ahem. Testing, testing, mike check, one two, one two! Can everyone hear me? This is a test of the school announcement system!" A small, cheery, almost-playful voice came from the monitor, the picture was blurred, but the silhouette resembled that of a… bear? "To all incoming students: I would like to begin the opening ceremony… right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at the earliest convenience. I'll be waaaiiitttiiiinnng!" The voice drew out the last word playfully.

I felt my entire body sink into the floor with dread. It seems my feeling wasn't unique, as everyone else seemed despairful at the announcement.

"Oh, I see! So it was all just a joke! A set-up for the opening ceremony!"

Well, everyone except for the man with the wild hair, Hagakure, apparently.

"I'd be freaking out if it was actually real! Haha!" He smiled cheerfully, and walked to the gymnasium with a naive spring in his step.

The tall, rude boy, whose name I didn't bother remembering, mustered the energy to scowl at us before walking to the gymnasium. One by one, everyone made their way to the gymnasium, until it was just me and Naegi left in the hallway. Naegi, sensing my distress, smiled at me.

"Shall we go then?" He said softly, as if to not disturb me.

I shivered. "Of course." My fears were quickly washed away by his smile as I walked alongside him to the gym. However, the feeling didn't last. Several people were gathered in the gym foyer, seemingly unable to walk into the gym. I almost grabbed Naegi's hand by instinct, but didn't. They all saw Naegi, and for whatever reason, that gave them the courage to walk in. I walked into the gym after them, and Naegi followed, making him the last one in. When that happened, well…

"I… am MONOKUMA!" A voice shouted from the gym stage.

"It's… a teddy bear?" Someone asked.

"I AM NOT A TEDDY BEAR!" A black and white bear shouted indignantly from the podium on stage.

"IT CAN TALK?" The fat boy, Yamada, shouted.

"It probably has a speaker in it or something!" The boy with the white uniform, Ishimaru, shouted.

The bear, apparently called Monokuma, was growing more irritated with its comparison to children's toys, and quickly changed the subject. "I am the headmaster of this establishment!"

"Could've fooled me." Naegi muttered. If the situation wasn't so scary, I would've laughed.

The bear then went on to explain about the 'communal life' it wanted us to lead, much to everyone's rightful anger.

"Rest of my life?" I whispered to myself. I could feel my knees shaking. Naegi was sweating.

"However, there is one way to leave the school…" The bear smiled evilly. "I call it the graduation clause. If one student were to disrupt the harmony of this communal life you have established together, that person would be allowed to leave."

"Disrupt? What exactly does that mean?" The tall, rude boy asked. My heart stopped. I was pretty confident I knew what the bear meant.

"Oh, you know, if someone were to murder another."

Gasps filled the gymnasium.

"M-murder!?" Naegi cried.

My head started spinning. Everything was happening so fast, my brain couldn't handle it. When I looked back up, I saw Owada, the biker, gripping Monokuma and holding it high in the air, with a fist prepared to strike.

"I'M GONNA RIP YA TO FUCKIN' SHREDS!" He growled.

"Waaahh!" Monokuma cried. "Violence against the headmaster is in violation of the school's regulations!"

"Shut the fuck up! Let me outta here, or I swear to Christ-!"

A loud beeping noise started emanating from Monokuma as its head sank.

Owada sneered. "What? No smartass comeback this time?"

Kirigiri, the girl with the cute lilac hair, ran forward, her eyes widened. "WATCH OUT! GET RID OF IT!"

Owada angrily looked towards her. "Huh!?" He said, confused.

"HURRY UP AND THROW IT! TRUST ME!" She screamed.

Owada shook his head and threw Monokuma high into the air.

And it exploded.

Everyone screamed, aside from the rich, rude boy, who quickly masked his shocked expression with laughter.

"Wait, but does that mean the teddy bear is gone?" The short girl in the skirt, Fujisaki, asked. I breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly got it caught in my throat.

"I am not a teddy bear!" Monokuma cried, rising out of nowhere.

"There's another one!?" Kuwata, the cute spiky-haired guy, yelled.

"Heehee, like I said, technology far greater than NASA can ever comprehend! Now, on to the main event, I have a present for you!" It pulled out 15 electronic tablets, and handed them out to each student. "These are your eHandbooks! These are essential to your school communal life, and they are super expensive, so don't go losing them!"

I cautiously grabbed my handbook from the bear and turned it on. My eyes met Naegi's. He looked about as scared and bewildered as I felt. On the handbook, several sections were laid out clearly. I immediately looked at the top of the screen to check the time. The time was close to 9am. I felt my head start reeling. Unlike a smartphone, it didn't seem to have a connection to the internet and, strangely, did not show the current date. My name was printed on the opposite end to the time at the top of the screen, indicating that this was my own handbook and no-one elses.

"Is your name at the top of your handbook too?" I asked Naegi.

"Huh?" He looked at me. "S-sorry. Y-yeah." I couldn't tell if he was scared from the ridiculousness of the situation, or if he was still not used to me talking to him. He shook his head. "Look. There's a map of the school. It has all of our dorm rooms laid out clearly."

"Dorm rooms?" I asked.

"Hey, look!" He said eagerly. "We're right next to each other." He smiled.

I smiled back. At least one good thing came out of this. "There's a section for rules here too." I briefly read through the rules of the school. I stopped when I got two certain rules. "If a student murders another, they become the blackened. The blackened, if not discovered, is considered to have graduated, and may leave the school."

The girl with the weird maid dress and the ridiculous pigtails, apparently called Celeste, placed her handbook down by her side and spoke up. "So it seems we have two choices: One, get used to living a communal life in harmony with each other…" Her German accent seemed weak but convincing, despite the fact she insisted she was Japanese. "Or, murder another and leave the school."

"But… killing each other… that's…" Fujisaki said slowly, tears forming in her eyes.

Yamada started panicking. "So we're abducted out of nowhere and stuffed into this school, and now we're supposed to start killing each other?" He yelled. "This is… WHAT IS THIS!?"

"A lie is what it is!" Ishimaru yelled with his normal ferocity. All these ridiculous things, it has to be fake!"

"Fake or not, that does not matter." The tall, rude boy said, strangely calmly. "Is there anyone here seriously considering this?"

Everyone gulped.

"T… Togami…" Naegi said slowly. He glanced around at the others, as did I. At the moment we all realised in tandem: We must kill someone if we want to leave. We were forced in here to work together to live in harmony, all the while watching our backs to make sure we don't get murdered. Even though there were only 15 of us in total, I felt a hundred eyes on me at once. Naegi and I looked at each other hopelessly. Even Naegi, my only friend here, I had to be suspicious of him, too.

We all came to the same hopeless realisation at the same time.

We must kill someone in order to leave.