Yuri Sato, the Ultimate Dancer

Yuri was used to rules and routine. Ever since she was a small child, her life had fallen into a reliable pattern. Wake up at 5 AM, practice for an hour, shower, eat, go to school, go to dance practice, come home and eat while doing homework, go to bed. Repeat. There had never been room for anything else in her life, but if you'd asked her a few days ago, she would have explained this routine was just a side effect of her life, not something she cared about. To be the Ultimate Dancer, one had to have a strictly disciplined life, after all.

Yet now she had no idea what to do without it. Yuri couldn't remember the last time she'd even woken up without her alarm clock, and while the circumstances were dire, she mostly felt lost and uncertain what to do. There was a strange sort of relief in being told what to do by the ominous announcement, and by the robotic catgirl who retrieved her from her room. It wasn't the usual routine, but at least she had some kind of guidance.

With instructions, she could get through anything. Including the shock of the most beautiful boy she'd ever met sitting next to her and praising her for being a dancer.

"Welcome, welcome all of you to the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Youngster's winter trip! Thank you all for coming, it's good to see your class getting along like this," the teddy bear said, gesturing grandly at all of them. "I am, of course, Headmaster Monokuma. I am here to make sure you kids all play nice and follow the rules."

Yuri shifted uncertainly in her seat, glancing around the room to see if anyone seemed to understand what was going on. She carefully did not, however, look at the boy sitting next to her. If she looked at him right now, she would not pay attention to the teddy bear.

"First, I would like to introduce you all to the staff here, all of whom are tasked with keeping you all safe and taken care of," 'Headmaster Monokuma' gestured, and four robots stepped forward to join him.

One, the catgirl who had brought her to the lobby, she had seen up close already. Another, the terrifying tentacled one on Monokuma's right, she had caught a glimpse of as she'd brought the last few kids to the lobby. The other two she hadn't seen before they stepped out to join him.

"Most of you have already met the Receptionist," Monokuma said, gesturing to the catgirl, who was on his left side. "She will help you find anything you need to find, and will assist you with settling in here at the lodge."

He gestured past her to a robot in a sturdy looking green jumpsuit. She, like the receptionist, had a robotic facsimile of a human face. Unlike the receptionist's bland smile, this one seemed to be eyeing their group curiously. She also had fuzzy ears sticking out of her sculpted plastic hair, as well as a thick fuzzy tail that she held upright, like a squirrel's. "This is the Mechanic. If anything here breaks down or needs repairs, she will fix it up good as new."

After waiting for a moment, Monokuma gestured to the robot in shorts and a t-shirt, grinning at them all and absently stroking her long fluffy raccoon tail. She still had plastic hair and limbs, but somehow seemed much more human than the others, with a genuine glint of mischief in her eyes. "This is the Custodian. She is responsible for cleaning all of the common areas. You'll still have to clean your own rooms, but any shared areas will be her responsibility. I wouldn't abuse the privilege, if I were you. She's creative when it comes to getting back at people who make big messes and don't help clean them."

Last, he gestured to the tentacled robot on his left. "A few of you have met the Librarian. Her responsibility is to make sure all of our supplies are kept organized and tidy, as well as to punish anyone who breaks the rules." He paused for a moment, as the Librarian's head and shoulders folded backward revealing a horrifying maw of spinning teeth, the tips of her tentacles unfurling to all reveal gun barrels. "As you can see, she takes a harsh view on the matter. Best not to risk her judgement."

Yuri noticed several of the others recoiling in horror, and she couldn't blame them. Years of training her body to do exactly what she wanted it to do and nothing else kept her from cringing, but it didn't stop the cold fear that might've accompanied such a shudder.

Monokuma giggled. "Yes, exactly. We're all here for a fun school trip, but you'll have to follow the ruuuuules~ Nothing would ever get done without rules to help guide progress."

She theoretically agreed with that, but it gave Yuri the creeps to hear it coming from such a sinister source.

Mamoru Terajima, the Ultimate Bodyguard

Mamoru was used to danger. As the Ultimate Bodyguard it was his job to look at dangerous, difficult situations and find a way to keep people safe. He took that role seriously and took pride in his own unflappability. He had faced down dangers that had sent men several times his age, with more experience and training, running in fear, and he would keep on doing it.

He had not, however, even heard of anyone being menaced by a robotic bear and his equally robotic minions. This was not something he had prepared for, he had never studied a technique for it in books nor with his trainers. There were no known mass kidnappings orchestrated by someone who manifested through odd robotic minions. It was tempting to consider cold cases and wonder if they had been committed by the same unknown perpetrator, but Mamoru was not a police officer, he was a bodyguard. All he had to do was study the situation in front of him and discern how to keep everyone here safe.

To do that, he had to focus closely on the presentation being given and not allow his attention to wander. The details of each of the robots were important, particularly the Librarian. He could not tell how fast she could move in a combat situation, but he knew guns well enough to know what kind of bullets hers would use and how many of them would likely be shot before she would have to reload. Furthermore, she would only attack if they broke a 'school rule', which he considered a much more promising bit of information.

"Of course, rules mean nothing if you don't know what they are~" The bear- 'Headmaster Monokuma' - continued, while Mamoru continued to listen intently. He saw the girl to his left taking notes and nodded respectfully to her. If he'd had a notepad, he would do the same.

"Firstly, deliberately attempting to harm or damage myself or any other member of staff is strictly forbidden. We can't have any of you trying to interfere with us to prevent us from enforcing the other rules, now can we?" Monokuma stared around the room, as if waiting for someone to argue. No one did. They were all too cowed by the situation. Mamoru was glad for that.

After a moment, Monokuma nodded. "Rule 2- Similarly, deliberately attempting to damage or deface school property is forbidden. That includes trying to force your way through locked doors or windows, any form of graffiti, or sabotaging school facilities to make them unusable by your fellow students."

Mamoru was a little startled by how reasonable the rules were so far. Obviously being banned from attacking their kidnappers was not ideal, but he had expected rules that would be harder to follow, to trick them into getting themselves killed.

"Excuse me, sir." The sleek haired guy in the suit asked politely, raising his hand as though they were all actually in a school.

"Ah, yes. Jeong Sun, isn't it?" Monokuma replied, pointing at him. "What is your question?"

He nodded politely. "Would erasable or removable marks such as chalk be considered graffiti?"

The robotic bear's face seemed to be stuck in a smile, but somehow it was obvious that he was pleased by the question. "I'm glad to see you're taking this seriously. No, they would not. Chalk and dry erase markers are available in the store room, just be aware of what surfaces they can and cannot be erased from."

The well dressed boy nodded again. "I will be cautious, thank you for the clarification, Headmaster."

Mamoru had not gotten the impression that Jeong Sun was so obedient, but he had only spoken very briefly with him. He would have to keep an eye on this smooth talker, he was concerned the other man might be up to something.

"We have gone to a lot of trouble to ensure you will have everything you need to thrive here," Monokuma informed them brightly. "But, you cannot attempt to leave at any point until you have graduated. That's rule number three. The resort is your new home for the foreseeable future, you may not attempt to leave."

"Does that mean we're not allowed to go outside?" A new voice spoke up, not bothering to raise his hand. Mamoru glanced over to see the man in leggings and a bright red scarf speaking up. He hadn't spoken to him at all, and Mamoru had thought he might be shy, but there was no hesitation in his voice now.

"You may go through any unlocked door or window." Monokuma told him patiently. "But you cannot go past the outer walls. There's a blizzard out there, it's not safe at all to go any further than that. We're very concerned for your safety, here. We don't want any accidental deaths."

"Ah, of course." The boy replied, rolling his eyes. Monokuma either didn't notice or deliberately ignored it. Mamoru made a mental note that he didn't seem to mind a bit of sass.

"No more interruptions without a raised hand," Monokuma ordered. "This is a school, after all. It's respectful! And, speaking of respect, rule four is that you must obey a direct order from any staff member. And that does include the order I just gave to raise your hands, to be abundantly clear."

The bear took a moment to look around and confirm that no hands were raised before continuing.

"Moving right along, rule five! The most important rule. As I've mentioned, in order to be allowed to leave, you must graduate. There are only two ways to graduate. You must either kill one of your fellow classmates and remain undetected through a class trial or survive enough class trials that you are one of two remaining students."

No one dared interrupt due to the order, but everyone shifted uneasily in their seats, looking around suspiciously. With this one rule, Monokuma had shattered the tentative unity of their group- and with it, the odds of Mamoru getting everyone out alive. He clenched his fists tightly at his sides to keep his composure.

Kumi Ichikawa, the Ultimate Caretaker

There was a long moment of silence, and Kumi felt it keenly. She knew that everyone around her must be frightened and confused by the bizarre announcement, and she felt it her personal duty to do something about it. She had to take care of them, after all.

She took a deep breath and raised one delicate hand, her vibrantly green fingernails feeling especially ostentatious in such dire circumstances. As always, she hoped that the cheery color would help raise the spirits of those around her, but she knew that under the circumstances her job would be much trickier than some bright colors and gentle smiles.

"Miss Ichikawa!" Monokuma said encouragingly, for all the world like a real educator and not a terrifying robotic bear. "Go ahead."

Kumi smiled and stood. It felt more polite to stand up, and she suspected that this so called headmaster would appreciate such niceties. "Thank you, Headmaster Monokuma. I… was just wondering what you mean. Surely you don't actually intend for us to kill each other? You just said you didn't want us to leave for our own safety…"

Monokuma's half smile grew, showing a row of pointy teeth as he grinned. "I said we wanted to avoid *accidental* deaths. It would be dreadfully boring if any of you froze to death. Murder is much more exciting! We want you all to murder each other as creatively as you can. Consider it… a final exam. What better way to test your Ultimate status? A true Ultimate should be able to use their skills to take down anyone, even another Ultimate. Similarly, a true Ultimate should be able to identify lies and treachery. So, this is the Ultimate test for Ultimates."

Kumi's heart sank as Monokuma laughed. She took care of each other. That was what she did. Her Ultimate Talent was to take care of everyone. How could she do that if they were all busy killing each other? "Is there truly no other way to graduate?"

Monokuma shrugged, still grinning wickedly. "You're welcome to try, provided you do not break any of the rules. But I haven't given you all of them yet. Do you have any more stupid questions or should I continue?"

Kumi reddened a bit and nodded, sinking into her seat. He hadn't outright forbidden them from attempting to find another way. She could work with that. Her mind whirled, considering the implications, but she didn't dare let herself get too distracted from Monokuma for the moment.

"Rule six. In the event of a death not caused by staff, all students must gather to participate in a class trial. There will be an investigation period before the trial, but it ends when I say it ends." Monokuma looked over the assembled students, then continued on. "And rule seven regards the trials themselves. During a trial, all students will have the opportunity to present evidence and debate the culprit, but at the end of the trial I will call for a vote. Every student must vote on who they think the culprit is. If the majority of students vote correctly, the killer will be punished. If the student body gets it wrong, all students other than the killer will be punished, and the killer will graduate."

There were several gasps in the crowd, and another hand went up. Kumi glanced over at Shaddastra, raising her hand impatiently, and smiled. It was good to see that at least some of the other students were not cowed.

Monokuma sighed. "Let me guess. You want to know what 'punishment' is?"

Shaddastra nodded. "Damn right I do. That was way too vague."

"Don't you know it's rude to swear at your teachers?" Monokuma scolded, but he did not bother to forbid further rudeness, Kumi noticed. "Rule eight. Punishment for any infraction is immediate execution in whatever way is most convenient or entertaining."

The room fell absolutely silent and still. Even Kumi felt a cold chill at that blithely delivered death sentence. Her smile wilted for one terrifying moment, but then she noticed the shy boy with the snakes-Osamu, was it?- glancing over at her and she straightened again, smiling reassuringly at him. She could not let this beat her down. She had a responsibility. The Ultimate Caretaker had the challenge of her life ahead of her and she would face it head on.

Monokuma seemed pleased with the hush. "Don't go testing the rules unless you're ready to die, yes."

The woman with purple bangs who'd come in with the Librarian raised her hand deliberately, one eyebrow raised.

"Good grief, you're a nosy bunch," Monokuma sighed. "What do you want, Miss Watanabe?"

"How do we know you're not just going to go around killing us and blaming it on each other? Or hiding evidence, killing important witnesses, that sort of thing?" she asked, her swedish accent giving her voice a pleasant lilt that belied her matter of fact manner.

"That is an excellent question." Monokuma replied with another toothy grin. "And brings us directly into rule nine. All staff are forbidden from harming any student who has not broken one of the rules or from interfering with a trial or investigation in any way. Satisfied?"

She nodded in an almost regal matter and retracted her hand. "That settles the issue neatly, thank you." Kumi allowed herself to admire her for a moment before focusing back on the matter at hand. There would be time later to look at pretty girls, after all.

"Good. Moving along then, rule ten. I get to make new rules whenever I want, so long as they don't contradict existing rules."

"And then you can kill us for breaking a rule you just made up? That's bullshit." Dracon burst out, then frantically stuck his hand in the air in the hope that it would count for the purposes of Monokuma's order.

"Careful, Bahamut." Monokuma chided, his red eye glinting dangerously. "You're coming dangerously close to breaking the rules."

Dracon swallowed hard, but Kumi put a hand on his shoulder encouragingly, and he straightened a bit. "It is bullshit though. There's nothing protecting us from you if you can make up new rules whenever you want."

Monokuma sighed. "Don't you kids know anything about patience? If you'd let me get to rule eleven, I would have covered that. Any rule that I make will be announced before it takes into effect. They, along with the original twelve rules, are permanent and unchangeable."

"... Fine. Okay." Dracon scowled at Monokuma and put his hand down.

"Good. Now, we've got one more rule, you think you can get through that without raising your hand again?"

No one responded. Kumi smiled around the room encouragingly.

"FInally. Once I'm done here, you all need to report up here to retrieve a MonoPad from the Mechanic and Receptionist, at the desk." He gestured to his right, where the two of them stood behind the check in counter, unloading boxes of tablets onto it. "Once you have claimed it, it is yours. Rule twelve is, once you've claimed it, you cannot deliberately damage it, discard it, or allow anyone else to use it, nor may you use anyone else's."

Monokuma paused to glare around the room for a minute, daring anyone to raise their hand. "All of the rules will be recorded in your MonoPads, as well as various other bits of useful information. You may also use them to message each other or take pictures."

Kumi smiled. This sounded like a very useful tool for her to check in with everyone and take better care of them. Normally she used her phone to check in with people regularly, but she hadn't anticipated having anything similar here, since her phone (and she assumed, everyone else's) had been taken away before she woke up. This tablet would do the job nicely. She could even share cheery pictures!

Monokuma glanced over at the tablets on the desk again. "Now, if you don't have any other questions, you may go claim a tablet and get out of here. Keep the rules in mind, and don't forget you'll need to kill~" Despite his words, he didn't bother to wait for any further questions, stepping down from the platform he'd been standing on and vanishing with an odd, cartoonish sound effect.

Everyone looked around at each other, confusion, fear, and uncertainty on most of the faces Kumi saw. She tried to meet them all with an encouraging smile and nod, and took the opportunity to stand up and step toward the reception desk. Sometimes part of being a caretaker was setting an example and breaking the ice. The woman Monokuma had called 'Miss Watanabe', Jeong Sun, and Shaddastra were right behind her, and the others followed suit.

The Receptionist smiled blandly at them all. "Please take the pad with your name on it, and only the one with your name. They're all the same, the names are merely for identification purposes."

The squirrelish Mechanic next to her nodded enthusiastically. "It will only unlock for the person assigned to it, there's no point even trying to get in to anyone else's. You just put your right index finger on the scanner pad at the bottom to unlock it."

"How do they already have our fingerprints?" Alice asked, stepping forward to take hers.

The Mechanic ignored the question. "Come on, don't be shy, they're for you all." She called to those lingering in the back of the crowd.

Kumi shifted back to stand with them, holding her own MonoPad. "It's okay. Do you want to see mine? I can't hand it to you, but you can look at it in my hands."

The three stragglers turned to look at her. "No, I just… don't like crowds. I thought I'd wait for the others to clear out." Osamu told her with a small smile.

"I wouldn't mind a look." A quiet, pale boy in a dark hoodie that Kumi hadn't had a chance to talk to yet ventured with a nervous smile. "I'd love to know what to expect."

Kumi nodded, smiling back. "Of course. Here." She put her finger on the sensor and unlocked her MonoPad, flipping through the menu. "Do you want me to go up with you, too? I don't mind. I'm Kumi, by the way. Kumi Ichikawa. The Ultimate Caretaker."

"I'm… Seikatsu Shi. The Ultimate Occultist." The pale boy replied. "This… science fiction stuff is a bit beyond me. Although I guess it's not scifi if it's real."

The last straggler, the one who'd come in with the Librarian, nodded mutely. Kumi eyed them worriedly and concluded he'd been having an anxiety attack. She rummaged in her bag for a moment and pulled out a bottle of water and a lump of clay. "It's okay. Here, have some water, focus on this for a minute."

They nodded appreciatively and drank some water. "Thanks. This is just a lot. I'll pull myself together soon. I just… have to adjust."

Kumi nodded back. "There's no rush. You can take the time you need. Everyone adapts at a different pace."

A/N: Thanks so much to all of you for bearing with me while life got in the way of my writing! I love this story and am super excited to come back to it now. Barring any more catastrophes, I'm hoping to get back on my biweekly posting schedule, to get things back on track and give myself a decent schedule

"Well… there is a bit of a rush." Osamu pointed out nervously. "We have to figure something out before people start killing each other."