Tsubaki POV

My head is pounding, my mouth feels dry and I feel like I'm suffocating. My eyes shot and I took several long gasps of air before I started getting on my feet. I'm looking around a dark room with a single projector and a film screen. I blinked and my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I noticed several bodies lay on the floor and I recognize one of the bodies.

"Kaikane, wake up!" I yelled as I shook my brother.

"Mmmmmh, Tsubaki I don't want to go to school today." He mumbled.

"Kaikane, I swear if you don't wake up right now I'm going to tell Mom you were the one who broke the television." I said.

His eyes slowly opened and he took a second to look around before saying "Alright I'm up, the last thing I want to deal with is an angry Mom."

"Tsubaki, please tell me this is just another one of my crazy dreams." Clayton said, pushing himself off the ground.

"No, this is reality. Or we're sharing the same nightmare." I responded with.

He walked over to us with a concern look in his eyes which quickly dissipated "Okay." he said.

I've known Clayton a long time, long enough to recognize his defense mechanisms. Having absent parents who don't even show up to the first day of school or birthdays can mess with you. He's sought romantic companionship with other people but they all end badly. Usually it turns out they were just dating him because his parents are rich but his last relationship he got really emotionally committed to it only for it to end with the other cheating on him. They said he couldn't provide the emotional connection needed for a relationship. Afterwards I asked him how he felt and all he said was "People are disappointing.". Whenever the emotions in his eyes leave that means he's retreating in order to not be hurt.

"By the River Styx, my head feels like Athena is going to be born when my head splits open." Deacon said nearby.

"Glad to see Deacon still acts like Shakespeare." Manson said, getting up and approaching Clayton. I could be wrong here but it looked like he has a genuine look of concern.

"It appears as through we've been kidnapped, we are some of the most prized students in the world. Worth millions by my estimate." Airi said.

"Ahhh, how thoughtful of you. We're worth millions, thank you Airi for boosting our self confidence. It's actually interesting to think about our worth in other currencies like euros..." Lova continued rambling on and on, switching subjects every couple seconds and I think she mentioned coffee at one point.

"Fear not citizens, Shinobu Takeda will rescue you all." Shinobu said.

"Fascinating, there appears to be only a single door to the room. The paint also seems to be degrading and I think there's mold in the each corner of the room. The door doesn't have a handle inside which combined the fact that the material the door is steel leads me to conclude that this is a vault door." Yuushi said.

"Wow Yuushi, you're so smart. Together, with my language skills and your tutoring skills we can accomplish anything." Lova said.

"You doubt the capabilities of you hero civilian. I can take any challenge and rescue the innocent. My abilities are unquestionable." Shinobu challenged.

"Listen to me, you'll only hurt yourself trying to break down the door. We might not get along Shinobu, you're way too arrogant for my tastes, but I don't want to see you hurt. I know these kind of doors, these vault doors are manufactured by Towa Security. They could survive a tank round and it wouldn't even have a dent. I studied Towa Security because a client wanted to get in so I know what I'm talking about. " Yuushi said.

"Insulting her and being worried about her, classic Yuushi." Clayton muttered.

"Listen guys, this is a tense situation. I'm guessing we were all knocked out by some gas and woke up with a splitting headache but we all need to take a moment to breathe." I said.

"Very well, I shall listen to you civilian. After all it is beneath a hero to strike an innocent." Shinobu said.

"Good, now that we've all calmed down we can figure out what's going on." I said.

"Upupupupupu, I believe that is my cue to enter." I recognized that laugh, a sinister laugh that I heard just as the gas was released earlier. Suddenly the projector turned on and it showed a school podium, then a half white and half black demonic teddy bear hopped onto the podium.

"Hello wonderful students, I am your headmaster Monokuma. And before you say it I am not a teddy bear, I already went through that with the previous cast and the audience doesn't want a repeat of the last story." the demonic bear who identified itself as Monokuma said.

"You must be the fiendish villain who's imprisoned us, I've identified my adversary now prepare to meet my might." Shinobu said.

"It's probably a recording, something to disguise the identity of our mastermind for the evening." Clayton remarked.

"Nope, not a recording as you can see." Monokuma appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the room.

"WHAT THE FU-"

"Now, now while language is not a rule it is rude to interrupt me." Monokuma said. The bear then gestured to the ceiling which then burst with light. I shielded my eyes the best I can until they adjusted to the sudden light. I looked around and realized the entire class was in this room. There also black laptops on the ground with sticky notes on them. On closer inspection they had our names on them.

"I want you all to pick up those up, these are your Monotops. These will serve as information recorders, student IDs and of course rules for your life here." Monokuma said.

I picked the one up that had my name on it and I turned it on, there were several applications but no internet connection. I clicked on the application that said Student ID and read it. It listed everything from my eye color to what I like to eat, its even got my favorite movie on it. Nobody knows that except my family.

"How long will we be staying here?" Kaikane asked.

"I'm glad you asked that, forever." Monokuma said.

"What?" Not believing what I just heard.

"Forever, or at least for your entire remaining lifespan." Monokuma said.

"You can't keep us here forever, what about a ransom?" Kaikane asked.

"I can keep you here forever and as for a ransom I plan on letting you go if you meet certain conditions" Monokuma placed a weird amount of emphasis on conditions.

"What conditions?" Manson asked, also suspicious.

"It's nothing much...only a KILLING GAME, AHAHAHHAHAHA." Monokuma began to laugh maniacally.

"A Killing Game?" I began to feel sick to my stomach.

"Yep, you must kill your fellow students." Monokuma continued.

"Kill our fellow students?" Lova said, for the first time she wasn't chatting away.

"Yep, you can kill them by any means. Stabbing, explosives and poisoning. All means of murder and all are available for usage." Monokuma finished explaining.

"I cannot allow this kind of injustice, I will not allow murder to be committed." Shinobu stated.

"Oh don't worry, you justice types are all the same. There will be a class trial, a trial where all you solved the murder of your fellow classmate and then decided on who did it, but I have to warn you if you get it wrong everyone besides the murderer will be executed. However, if you all choose right then only the murderer will be executed." Monokuma explained.

"Hmmm, a trial is very justice like and we would be democratic. I'm sorry to say however that a true hero never allows a murder to take place." Shinobu said.

"I agree, only the Gods have the divine right to cast down their judgment on who should live and die." Deacon said.

"Why do you guys always do this? I try to be reasonable and you just push me away. Okay, if you all are not going to participate then I'll just have to be clear on what the consequences will be if you don't participate." Monokuma pulled out a remote and pressed a red button. The projector then shifted to a live video feed.

Suddenly I realized our teacher was being held on a gurney in an abandoned operating room, there were two electrical coils on either side of the teacher.

Then a title came onto the screen:

A Shocking Operation

Suddenly the gurney starts spinning, slowly at first but then it starts picking up speed. The coils starts powering up, small electrical bolts start forming. The bolts then start leaping off onto the teacher, then the bolts became one continuous stream. The Teacher's skin became darker and darker until it was pitch black and smoke was rising out of the skin. The gurney spun faster and faster and the electric stream became larger and brighter. A flash of light consumed the room. The light cleared, bits and pieces of human burnt flesh began raining down with the Teacher nowhere to be seen.

Monokuma started to chuckle, which then broke into a full blown laugh. I just stood there, legs numb and unable to move. My eyes glued to the screen in front of me. For better or worse this is where our true story begins, our story of loss and tragedy. One way or another we were now going down a path we can never turn back on. What kind of path is it you may ask, well we'll just have to wait and see.

End

Of

Prologue

Students Remaining: 16

Boys

1. Clayton Chase, Status: Alive

2. Deacon Castellanos, Status: Alive

3. Kaikane Itsuka, Status: Alive

4. Jake Alexander, Status: Alive

5. Manson Andres, Status: Alive

6. Toboe Kureshi, Status: Alive

7. Yuushi Akeru, Status: Alive

8. Haruta Utsuki, Status: Alive

Girls:

1. Tsubaki Itsuka, Status: Alive

2. Shinobu Takeda, Status: Alive

3. Lova Eriksson, Status: Alive

4. Nora Hamakawa, Status: Alive

5. Airi Noriko, Status: Alive

6. Myako Himura, Status: Alive

7. Lavender Vargas, Status: Alive

8. Aki Kawaguchi, Status: Alive