Somewhere, a man struggled against his binds as a robotic bear, half-white and half-black, looked on. He was tied to a chair. The bear was smiling.
After only a few seconds, the bear hit a large red button. The man was placed into a rocket ship against his will, screaming loudly, but no-one heard.
Or perhaps it was just that no-one came.
The rocket was then launched up into space. It crashed into many layers of ceiling and roof before exiting the building, then higher and higher and faster and faster, until it suddenly stopped and began to plummet back down.
The rocket crash-landed back in the exact same spot from which it had taken off. The doors of the rocket opened, and the man's bones tumbled out of the cockpit.
The robotic bear laughed.
The high school was larger than any other he'd ever seen before. It was taller even than the buildings around it - a difficult feat in the middle of a city.
Not that this particular high school didn't deserve that, of course. It was practically the center of the world, in some respects.
Hope's Peak Academy…
Only the very most talented attended. It was the place where the future was shaped, in more ways than one.
Some say that those who manage to graduate would be set for life, but he knew better. Those who manage to graduate from Hope's Peak shape lives - both theirs and others.
The school had been helping society grow stronger for almost eighty years now, despite what some people might say. Not that it would be a bad thing for the school to be older, of course, but saying it had "hundreds of years of tradition" was simply incorrect, although he understood the temptation to claim otherwise.
It was built to raise hope in the nation's future. Such a pure and perfect goal… no other goal could ever be more valid. And the school was even named after its goal! How very perfect.
There were two qualifiers to being accepted into the main course student body at Hope's Peak…
Firstly, any potential students had to already be attending high school. Secondly, they had to be exceptional in a way that was difficult to match, usually relating to a talent they had cultivated.
Anyone who did not fit both criteria could technically apply to be a part of the reserve course, but the only way to get into the main course was if a student was scouted by the school itself.
And one day, right when a new school semester was about to begin, a boy stood at the front gate of his new school, staring at it in disbelief. How had he gotten here? How had he been accepted here?
The boy didn't stand out too much, but passerby might have noticed his hair, which was white and fluffy like a cloud. His clothing choices didn't stand out, after all, and he didn't have any other defining physical features.
The boy's name was Nagito Komaeda.
His life had been rather abnormal, but he was still surprised that it had led him here.
In fact, it was that abnormality that made it such a surprise that he was here.
That abnormality made him a liability in the eyes of many, including teachers, classmates, and himself.
So why oh why had this brilliant and wonderful school of hope so much as allowed him in the same city as its brilliant self?
It didn't make any sense.
None of this made any sense.
He was such a liability, such a disaster, that sometimes he didn't want to be in the same location as himself.
That's just the way things were.
And yet, for some reason, here he was.
He wondered if the faculty and staff of Hope's Peak knew what they were getting into.
Probably not.
But he was still standing there in front of the school, clutching his acceptance letter so tightly that the paper wrinkled.
"I wonder if this school will remain standing with me in it…" he muttered to himself.
It was such a brilliant symbol of hope, a metaphorical lighthouse… it would hate to see it fall.
He would also hate to cause his new classmates to fall.
They were all such talented symbols of hope after all… he'd taken the time to research them all, you see.
Because of the way the main course students were selected, it was relatively simple to find information on most of his new classmates.
Websites and message boards were full of chatter about them, causing so much traffic on these websites that posts found themselves misdated to several years back.
Between broader internet searches and those long, rambling message threads, Nagito had been able to find a rather sizable amount of information about his new classmates.
They were all so talented, so amazing… such wonderful symbols of hope.
For example, one incoming student was the "Ultimate Pianist".
This girl was known worldwide (in certain circles) for her brilliant performances, both in contests and even in her very own concerts.
There was also the "Ultimate Detective".
He had once solved a murder case that had stumped veteran detectives, including this boy's own uncle. However, Nagito did notice that all of his more recent cases were smaller things, usually petty theft.
Then there was the "Ultimate Fashionista".
She'd been on the cover of numerous fashion magazines, and it was said that she was what every high school girl wanted to be. Nagito thought that was probably a bit of an overgeneralization, but still thought her accomplishments were more than a little impressive.
Oh, and the "Ultimate Biker Gang Leader"!
Such a charismatic leader he was, if every biker gang in Japan was willing to follow his lead. Truly the right type of person to be a symbol of hope.
Beyond those few, there was also the Ultimate Martial Artist, the Ultimate Cosplayer, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy, The Ultimate Swimming Pro, the Ultimate Programmer, the Ultimate Artist, and then still more…
Reading it all made Nagito feel slightly giddy with excitement. He was going to be in the same location as all of these powerful symbols of hope!
But he couldn't find information on all of his future classmates. Some of them didn't seem to have much - or any - internet presence.
He wondered what kinds of symbols of hope they might be. Certainly, they would be more worthy to attend the school than he was. There was little doubt in his mind about that.
"After all, I shouldn't really have been invited at all," Nagito mumbled to himself.
And if they weren't any more deserving of their slot than he was, at least he wouldn't be the only one in that boat. He'd just have to make sure they knew what boat they were in.
Honestly, though, he still didn't get why someone like him was chosen to go to such a wonderful high school as this.
Looking at his acceptance letter, he could read the reason they said was why they invited him, but the letter read: "We recently held a lottery to select one ordinary student to attend our school. As a result, you have been selected, and we invite you to join us as the Ultimate Lucky Student."
In some ways, it seemed like a cruel joke. One ordinary student? The Ultimate Lucky Student? After how much trouble and strife his luck had caused him, it seemed truly ludicris to put those two sentences next to each-other.
Considering how much of a liability he was to the people around him, it probably would have been for the better if he declined the offer.
But he was far too selfish for that. Hope's Peak was such a powerful symbol of hope, after all, how could he possibly say no?
As he was standing before the school, the morning of his very first day, he still toyed with the idea of leaving before anything could happen. The people around him tended to get hurt, after all.
"Well…" he muttered to himself, "There is still one person who has yet to fall from being too close to me…"
Gripping his acceptance letter even tighter, Nagito steeled himself.
The letter said there was going to be a meeting for the incoming Main Course students in the main hall at 8 AM.
While that meeting wouldn't begin for a little while longer…
"Just go on inside," he mumbled to himself, "Maybe nothing will happen. Maybe there will be another exception."
"Yes… another exception. You won't hurt them just by being there."
Nagito took a deep breath to steady himself.
Feeling both more and less ready than he had before, he stepped forwards into the school.
"This is the correct location for the meeting, isn't it?" Nagito glanced around the main hall. "They didn't give me the wrong place to meet in order to exclude me?"
He looked over at the clock in the corner of the room. It read 7:10 AM.
Well, the meeting didn't start until 8 o'clock. There were a full 50 minutes beforehand. So it seemed possible that this was the correct location for the meeting, but no-one else had arrived yet.
"Well, I was worried something might happen on my way here, so I left a bit early…" Nagito muttered to himself, "But nothing did, so I got here much earlier than necessary. Ah, the irony…"
He glanced around the empty, if well designed, hall. There wasn't anything of interest in it, except maybe the architecture. And architecture was not mentally stimulating enough to observe for nearly an hour, so Nagito decided to explore a little bit of the school. Maybe if he knew his way around better, he'd cause less trouble for the people around him.
"It would be better if I don't cause problems that could be avoided, so it's certainly better for me to understand the layout of the school, right?" he asked himself. Additionally, it would prevent him from having to look at the main hall architecture for almost an hour.
Hoping that nothing bad would come of this initial exploration, Nagito stepped forwards into the remainder of Hope's Peak Academy.
Maybe he might find another exception here, after all. Maybe he could make a friend that wouldn't suffer a terrible fate because of him.
He could always dream.
"Huh?"
But as soon as Nagito began to move into the interior of the school, the world warped.
Every color, every little bit of visible light seemed to melt together, spinning and twisting into a distorted blur.
And that twisted, melted mess of color dancing before his eyes was all he saw for a moment, and then…
That too disappeared, and everything went black.
This time through these events, this was how everything began.
Not that Nagito could have possibly understood that yet…
After all, at that point, for as abnormal as his life had been, it was nothing compared to what would come.
Not to mention, the things he would remember.
Prologue: Welcome to Despair
"Hm…?"
"Wha…?"
"What happened?" Nagito lifted his head up off the school desk, where he had apparently been sleeping.
"Where am I?" he wondered aloud, not expecting anyone to reply. He was alone, after all.
Nagito glanced around the classroom, utterly perplexed by this turn of events for a minute or so.
And then, all of a sudden, out of seemingly nowhere…
He remembered.
Not how he got into the classroom, oh no, that remained a mystery. One that seemed even more mysterious than before, even. No, what he remembered was…
He remembered three years of classes, here at Hope's Peak. He remembered Jabberwock Island, and the Killing School Trip. He remembered dying.
"How did I end up here? Now?" He asked himself quietly. He didn't want to be too loud… more likely than not, someone was listening.
He was certainly within Hope's Peak, that much was certain. And a quick glance at the windows told him when he was, as well.
He racked his brain, looking for an explanation, and re-discovered another set of memories.
He had two sets of memories at the moment - one that had been part of Hope's Peak Class 77, and had participated in the Killing School Trip, and one that was a part of Hope's Peak Class 78, and had just woken up trapped within what he knew to be the Killing School Life that he had read so much about.
What was going on? Some sort of bizarre time travel?
From what he could remember, he wasn't the only person in this Class 78 who wasn't supposed to be here, either…
Well, there was nothing to be done about it except keep moving forward.
He would have to keep his foreknowledge - however little it may be, given the changes to the student body - to himself. If Junko - or whoever had taken her place - knew? That would be the end of it.
Confusion still scrawled heavily across his face, Nagito stood up from the desk.
Part of the Killing School Life… and given where he had woken up… had he taken Makoto's place?
He wasn't worthy of being the Ultimate Hope, he knew that, but…
If Makoto wasn't here, he'd have to try.
And besides, he sort of knew what was going on, right?
So he could do his best to bring this Killing Game to the proper conclusion.
With his mind made up, Nagito set about looking around the room, making sure he didn't miss anything, in order to show the Mastermind on the other side of those cameras that he was no more of a threat than the other students.
(He was more of a threat than the other students.)
First things first, he needed to look at those windows.
More than anything else, it was the windows that clued him in to where and when he was, and the cameras had definitely seen him looking at them. Looking at anything else first would be suspect.
"Now what is this…?" he muttered for show as he peered at the windows.
The bolts were uneven in size and placement. Evidence of the rushed nature of the school's sealment, no doubt.
But they were on there good and tight. No-one would be able to get in with these here.
No-one would be able to get out, either.
He lifted his hand and rapped on the metal sheet.
"Solid metal. Rather thick," he said for the cameras.
And cold. Too cold to be fake. If there had been any doubt in his mind before, now it was gone. He really was trapped in Hope's Peak as part of Class 78's Killing School Life.
He peered at the surveillance camera, making a show of his interest in it.
Meanwhile, he wondered how much better of a show these Killing Games would be if they had less stationary cameras.
Geeze, what a weird thought.
It's not like he wanted to go through Killing Games over and over again…
Although, if his dual sets of memories were indicative of things to come, it was highly possible that he would be participating in Killing Games again and again. In which case, maybe his thought about the cameras wasn't quite so odd after all.
Well, whatever. It wasn't like it was relevant at the moment anyway.
A quick glance at the clock revealed that the time was 8 AM. Nearly time for that meeting of all the students in Class 78. That would certainly be different.
He was actually looking forward to it, a little bit.
"I wonder…" he murmured as he returned to the desk he had awoken on.
He picked up the little pamphlet sitting on the desk and opened it.
"This doesn't quite look the same as the one I got before…" he said, surprising himself as he realized he was referring to the Orientation Guide that he had received with his acceptance letter - this time around. How… odd…
"A cheap pamphlet, the text scrawled in by hand…" he lowered his voice but continued to speak aloud. Careful, careful. Don't say too much, don't say too little.
The next semester is about to start, read the pamphlet. Starting today, this school will be your entire world.
"My entire world…?" Nagito repeated that last phrase aloud, adding a questioning lilt to the end even though he knew exactly what it meant.
"Okay, so…" Nagito made a little bit of a show out of ruminating on the situation.
He had died, he remembered that. Eventually his illnesses had come for him and taken him away. But somehow, after dying, he'd ended up in Hope's Peak as part of Class 78?
It didn't make any sense.
And yet, it was what was happening, so he would have to roll with it, at least until he got a better idea of the bigger picture.
"So then, if that's what's going on…" he figured his sentence fragments were probably confusing the audience.
However, that had been one of his favorite things about watching the Killing School Life as a member of Ultimate Despair. Makoto had had such a terrible habit of starting a thought inside his head but finishing it aloud, or possibly vice-versa. He'd thought it was rather funny then, and he frankly still did, so he decided to emulate it.
Well, it wasn't like anyone was going to complain, were they? So really, it was just for his own amusement. No harm, no foul, right?
"It's 8 now, right?" He glanced at the clock again to double check. "So I should go to the main hall. The other students are probably waiting on me."
He felt awful for making people wait for him, but he remembered a life before this one, one where he had had Hajime tell him, again and again: "You are important too, you know. If nothing else, at least accept that you are important to me, okay?"
Speaking of Hajime, where was he? Nagito hoped that he was alright, wherever he was.
Nagito stepped out into the vividly purple hallway, and let out a small scoff.
"Who picked this color? And for a hallway?"
He shook his head and began to make his way towards the main hall.
This really was a terrible color for a hallway.
Junko(?) might be many things, but an interior designer was not one of them.
Looking about, he began wondering about how the hallways were colored. Was it paint? Was it the lights?
Well, it hardly mattered, in any case. He had a meeting to get to.
He pushed open the doors to the main hall and was greeted by fourteen confused faces, some more familiar than others.
"Praise be to Atua! Another student has joined us!"
"Atua…?" Nagito blinked in confusion. That was new. "And… another student?"
"Yeah… We're all new here. Today's supposed to be our first day of class."
"With him here, we number fifteen. That's plainly a good class size, but is this really everyone?"
Nagito looked out at the other students who were now a part of this new Class 78 with him. Some of them he recognized, but others… not so much.
The Ultimate Imposter was there, posing as Byakuya Togami, and that was Toko Fukawa, there… along with a few other faces he knew, but none so well as those two.
But they were now all his classmates, even if only one of them had been his classmate before. They were all important.
"Ah… hello everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Nagito Komaeda," Nagito introduced himself. "Something odd happened, and I found myself asleep in a classroom somehow."
"That happened to Gonta too!" exclaimed a large and barefooted boy, who was evidently named Gonta.
"It must be the will of Atua," a girl in a yellow raincoat said with a smile.
"Or perhaps something strange and sinister is going on?" a boy dressed all in black frowned.
"D-don't say that!" Toko yelped. "We d-don't know that!"
"Just a moment! There's another issue we need to address!" Kiyotaka - at least, Nagito thought his name was Kiyotaka - broke in. "Nagito! Your tardiness is unacceptable! Surely you were aware that this meeting was to start at 8 on the dot! To be late on your first day is completely irresponsible! I must report you, and you must face due punishment!"
"Good God, chill out," said someone who was probably Mukuro, "It's not like he wanted to be late. He was passed out in the school, just like the rest of us!"
"Everyone just calm down! Listen, why don't we all take a minute to introduce ourselves?" asked Hina.
"This isn't the fuckin' time for that!" growled a person who Nagito believed was named Mondo.
"Atua says that it is important to know each-other's names so that we can talk amongst ourselves more freely~" the raincoat girl spoke again. Who was this Atua person she spoke of? "Therefore, now is exactly the time for introductions!"
"I'm not sure I would have put it that way, but that is a good point…" that was Chihiro Fujisaki, wasn't it? The mind behind the Neo World Program? How incredible.
"Truthfully, I am not certain why we waited this long to do such a thing," the Ultimate Imposter had his arms crossed, "Seems like a load of foolishness to me, but what can I really expect from you skinny types anyway?"
Well, if nothing else, Nagito was glad to see that Twogami hadn't changed a bit.
And while he knew of some of these people, he didn't know the rest of them… Plus, he'd gone back in time somehow, so who's to say there wasn't something different about these people than the versions of them he'd heard of before? Sure, his second set of memories had looked them up on the internet, but that website had glitched out enough that it was saying that new posts had been made four years ago, so he wasn't about to exactly call it a reliable source.
And… was that student a robot? Seriously? A robot?
Well, he supposed Chiaki was an AI, but she hadn't started that way!
Well, if nothing else, he supposed that there was probably a story there.
He approached probably named Kiyotaka to begin the introductions.
"I'm Kiyotaka Ishimaru. I believe in bold simplicity! Let's work together on our educational crusade!"
Kiyotaka Ishimaru - Ultimate Moral Compass
Ah, so his name was Kiyotaka. Nagito hadn't remembered incorrectly.
Other things Nagito could remember about him… Not much. Only that he'd done a lot of community service work, and had a very strong sense of ethics and morality. Those two things together had earned him the title of Ultimate Moral Compass, which Nagito felt was a very impressive feat indeed, especially since things like that weren't as immediately obvious as some talents.
"Anyway, you can call me Taka. You said your name was Nagito Komaeda, right?" Nagito nodded. "What an excellent name that is! You should thank your parents for bestowing you with such a wonderful name!" Taka continued talking, heedless of the fact that Nagito's smile had become slightly fixed. "And never forget that you have to live up to that name every single day! Life is worth putting in every single ounce of effort, so that we all may stand tall! Right? Right!"
What a different point of view…
Although, what did it have to do with his name?
Thoughts of such matters were replaced with trepidation as he approached Toko.
"N-not that you'll remember my n-name anyway, but… I'm T-Toko… Toko Fukawa."
Toko Fukawa - Ultimate Writing Prodigy
Oh, so she didn't remember. Er- that was probably a good thing. Considering that he'd been part of Ultimate Despair when they first met, he was fairly certain that he'd made a terrible first impression.
Yes, it was definitely better that she didn't remember. That sort of history, in this sort of situation? That would have been a disaster waiting to happen.
Although, that did lead him to wonder about the Warriors of Hope and Komaru…
Wait -!
Something about Komaru - his second set of memories -
An… exception…?
Toko made an odd little grunting noise, pulling Nagito back out of his head.
"Wh-what? It's not polite to stare, you know. Stop staring at me like I'm some filthy creature!" Toko growled.
"Filthy creature? Ah, but how can I stare at myself?" Nagito tilted his head in confusion.
"At- at yourself? But…" Toko was confused, caught off guard by Nagito's reply.
"I was admiring the inner beauty that is the hope of an Ultimate! I apologize for looking too long," Nagito glanced down at his feet, seemingly abashed.
"The inner beauty…?" Toko looked really confused for another moment, before shaking her head, an angry expression on her face again. "Don't lie to me like that! No-one thinks I'm pretty! I know that!" she jabbed a finger towards Nagito's face. "Just- Just get out of here! Go talk to someone else!"
At that point, Toko almost seemed to collapse in on herself, head down, eyes up, and still softly growling.
Nagito took the hint and decided to go talk to someone else.
"Hello, I'm Tsumugi Shirogane! I'm plainly happy to meet you!"
Tsumugi Shirogane - Ultimate Cosplayer
That wasn't a name he recognized from his first set of memories - the ones from Class 77, and Jabberwock, the ones he thought of as his - but his second set of memories did recall hearing about her before.
Tsumugi Shirogane was the Ultimate Cosplayer, well known for her skill in crafting ludicrously accurate costumes of characters from a variety of different works. She wasn't really known for wearing the costumes herself, but given the nature of her talent, it was possible that people simply didn't realize who she was once she had gotten all dolled up.
She charged a great deal for people to commission cosplays from her, but she spent a great deal of time on each and every single one, so it was generally considered to be a fair deal. In addition, she likely spent a great deal of time absorbing the various media from which the characters came, which was a large investment all on its own.
She probably knew more about stories and storytelling tropes than anyone else here, except maybe Toko.
"The hair is right, the voice is right… how do you feel about contacts?" Tsumugi's musings pulled Nagito out of his own.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Yes, yes, your voice is perfect! And you aren't even doing anything!" Tsumugi looked excited, almost bubbly.
"What are you talking about? My voice?"
"Cosplay, of course! I've decided that I'm going to make a cosplay for each of my classmates, free of charge, just because I can!"
"Huh? But that's not necessary… Don't you have a bunch of commissions? It wouldn't be right for you to waste your time on me…"
"Don't be silly! I want to! And besides, it would be strange to leave out just one of my classmates, anyway!" she clapped her hands together with a sense of finality. Nagito guessed that she probably considered the matter closed. "Back on track! How do you feel about contacts?"
"What? Why do you- ?"
"I know the perfect character for you, but you'd have to wear contacts. So -"
"Hey, hey, hey! Now isn't the time for this! Stop wasting our time with this ridiculous nonsense!" Taka cut Tsumugi off.
"Cosplay isn't nonsense!" Tsumugi protested indignantly.
"But he is right, Tsumugi… we need to focus on introductions for now, so we can talk about this later, okay?" Nagito was secretly a little glad to have Tsumugi stop scrutinizing his eyeballs.
"Exactly! Thank you, Nagito!" Taka nodded sharply to the luckster.
"Oh, alright…" Tsumugi looked disappointed as Nagito made his escape.
Well, at least she was friendly.
The next person Nagito approached was another person that his first set of memories had no recollection of. He was dressed all in black, and made Nagito quite curious.
"Oh! Uh, um, hi?" the boy seemed startled by Nagito's approach. "My name's Shuichi Saihara. Nice to meet you?"
Shuichi Saihara - Ultimate Detective
His second set of memories did recognize this name… He had solved a murder case that even his uncle, an experienced career detective, had been unable to figure out, earning him the title of the Ultimate Detective.
Given what Nagito knew about the situation that they were probably in, having someone like an Ultimate Detective on their side could only be a benefit.
But the pictures he remembered seeing and the boy in front of him… they were a little different.
"Hey, have you seen a black baseball cap-type hat around here anywhere?" Shuichi spoke, calling attention to the difference Nagito had noticed.
"Hm… no, I don't think so. Sorry," Nagito thought about it for a few moments before replying. He didn't believe he'd seen anything like a hat…
"Oh, okay. Thanks anyway," Shuichi looked somewhat confused. "It's really strange… I know I had my hat on when I entered the building, but when I woke up again, it was nowhere to be found!"
"Yeah, I noticed that you were wearing a hat in all the pictures I found of you online."
"I… don't like that I can't find it," Shuichi frowned. "I've worn that hat every day for nearly two and a half - maybe even three - years. That it's just suddenly gone… it feels weird."
"Well…" Nagito looked pensive.
"Just… If you see it, can you bring it to me?" Shuichi grinned sheepishly.
"Of course! I'll keep an eye out for your hat," Nagito had a feeling he wasn't going to find said hat, but he kept that to himself.
"Thank you," Shuichi's smile lost some of its sheepishness. "Like I said before, it's a black baseball cap-type hat."
"Black, baseball cap-type hat… got it," Nagito nodded to show that he understood.
Stepping away from Shuichi, Nagito had a sneaking suspicion that he knew where Shuichi's hat was - or rather, where it wasn't.
It wasn't here at Hope's Peak at all.
Given what Nagito knew about the circumstances surrounding the original Killing School Life, if Nagito were to hazard a guess, he'd say that Shuichi had stopped wearing said hat at some point before the Tragedy, and therefore there was no hat to be found here, but he'd forgotten that when Junko - or whoever the Mastermind was right now - had erased their memories.
Of course, he could be wrong and the hat could turn up, but somehow... he doubted it.