A/N: Oh boy is Togami just as difficult to write as I expected him to be. This is going to be a fun ride XD if there's anyone who's going to seem OoC in this fic it will most likely be Togami, so any and all comments on my method of portraying him would be especially appreciated ^^ but anyway, enjoy reading!
Chapter Two:
The broadcast leaves the group in a state of disarray. Many express their unsettlement, and I don't hesitate to leave those ones behind. After all, what else were they going to do? The announcement left behind a prospect of gaining information, something that in this situation I don't want to miss out on.
Mr High-and-Mighty doesn't wait around either. He offers a blunt, offhanded farewell to everyone else before stalking out of the main hall. With nothing else to offer to the rest of the students myself, I follow him out without a word.
He confidently takes a left turn upon leaving the hall, suggesting that he knows his way around the school and that I should probably trust his judgement in direction. We walk in silence, until it occurs that he's the only student who I have yet to acquaint with - not that I particularly want to acquaint with the arrogant individual. Nevertheless, the completionist tendencies inside of me provoke me to converse with him anyway.
"So who are you? I never did get your introduction," He doesn't honour me with a single glance backwards my way, but as long as I obtain an answer from him I could care less.
"Byakuya Togami," He states in a bored tone. At the mention of his surname, I raise an eyebrow. I know the Togami name all too well. As if he's decided the conversation is already over, Byakuya carries on striding along the corridor, neglecting to provide me with any more comments. I'm not satisfied with his answer, however.
"And your Ultimate talent?"
"Ultimate Affluent Progeny," That's approximately what I was expecting after having heard the Togami name. So then…
"Does that make you the heir of the Togami family in that case?"
"Naturally. Now do me a favour and stop talking," Not even trying to hide the annoyance in his voice, he finally looks back at me in order to present me with a scowl. "I'm not interested in engaging in this tedious conversation. I'm sick of hearing your voice. I have better uses for my words than on insignificant commoners like you,"
"By all means, enlighten me on what better uses your words have in this current situation," I allow myself to snark. Talking to him was a mistake; it only served to piss me off. I should have just inquired about his identity to someone else later on.
"Anything that isn't your filthy presence. As the wealthy heir of a massive financial business, you didn't really think I came here to make friends, did you?" I could care less what he came here for, frankly.
"If you believe that I intended to make friends with as someone as obnoxious as you just by asking your name and talent, then you really are conceited," For the first time since I met him, I see Byakuya smirk.
"Attack me with those petty insults all you want. It doesn't change the fact that you're an irrelevant, worthless plebeian, no matter how much you try to delude yourself into thinking otherwise with your weak retorts," We reach the doors to the gym and Byakuya stops, forcing me to stop too. He properly turns to face me, looking down on me with an entirely serious, disdainful expression. I narrow my eyes back at him. "Even your little brain should comprehend that I'm on a completely different level to you, one that you could never even hope to reach. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a far more interesting matter to attend to than your pitiful blathering,"
And with that, Byakuya takes off through the gym doors and our conversation comes to a frustratingly displeasing end. I can taste the bitterness in my mouth from talking to him and I attempt to swallow it down, taking a few seconds to stand in silence and reorganise my thoughts so that he's at the back of them.
Before I get a chance to enter the gym, I hear heavy, clunky footfall sounding out behind me.
"Heyyy, what goin' on Eves?" Yasuhiro's relaxed voice calls out. The nickname makes my eye twitch and I swivel round on the spot to shoot him a glare, my mood still sour from the just gone confrontation.
"What do you want?" Hoping that my visible disposition will ward him off, I don't hide the densely laced irritation in my question.
It all goes straight over Yasuhiro's head.
"Woah, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! Maybe I should give ya one of my fortune readings to perk ya up. For a price, of course!" He withdraws a cheap appearing crystal ball from his jacket and I give him one last acrid look before ditching him in the hallway. Yasuhiro is so immersed in his divinations that he doesn't even notice my departure.
Instead of entering the gym straight away, I find myself in a small trophy room of sorts. I tread my feet across the rich carpet leading directly to another set of double doors and slip through them. This time I do enter the gym, and what I discover…
…looks remarkably ordinary. So ordinary, in fact, that it seems out of place amongst all the other bizarre things I'd seen so far. Two rows of chairs line up facing a stage bearing a podium and the Hope's Peak symbol at the back. The only other person I see so far is Byakuya, who I resolve to ignore, but a microphone and a glass of water have been set up on the podium so I imagine the person who summoned us all here will announce themselves once everyone makes their way over here.
Which they all do, albeit slowly. They all express varying degrees of relief at the sight of a typical looking entrance ceremony, and some of the tension that had previously polluted the air dissipates.
The newfound atmosphere doesn't last long.
"Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Good! Then let's get things rolling!" It's the same voice as the one from the school announcement. Everyone turns to the podium in anticipation. For a fleeting moment, nothing happens. Then an irregular figure, no taller than my waist, bursts out from the podium and lands neatly on its surface. All of us are stupefied when we take it in.
"Huh? A… teddy bear?" Chihiro questions. And to our amazement, it responds.
"I'm not a teddy bear!" It certainly looks like one. A very weird one. "I… am… Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster! Nice to meet you all!"
Its left side black, right side white, the relaxed… thing… sits casually on top of the podium. The white half of its face displays nothing out of the ordinary, but upon its black half is an eerie grin that curves upwards and a jagged, red eye. Hifumi screeches in fear.
"The teddy bear can talk!"
"I told you already, I'm not a teddy bear. I'm Monokuma! And I'm your headmaster!" He jumps to his feet and frantically waves its arms up and down in a childish manner. Hifumi screeches again.
"It moved!"
"Could you quieten down already! My poor little ears can't 'bear' all your screaming!"
"'Bear' all your screaming? Really? You are… unfortunate," Celestia remarks coldly.
"Now then, moving on! We really must hurry and get started," Monokuma realigns himself into a calm pose, as if it makes him look any less ridiculous.
"Giving up already? No more stupid bear puns?" Junko's tone is utterly accusatory.
"Quiet down now, quiet down. Okay, so…!"
"He has abandoned the gag," Sakura comments.
"Everyone, stand at attention and bow! And… good morning!" Kiyotaka wastes no time in bowing, his back straight and at a perfect 90˚ angle to his legs. He bellows out, full of enthusiasm.
"Good morning!"
"Y-you don't have to s-say it back," Toko mutters at the edge of the crowd.
"Now then, let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony! First, let's talk a bit about what your school life here will be like. Now, ah, make no mistake – you few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world. And to protect such splendid hope…"
Monokuma breaks apart from his speech to hop down dramatically from the podium, joining the rest of us on the wooden planked floor.
"…You will all live a communal life together solely within the confines of the school. Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and the regulations of the school." Had the situation we're in not been so unbelievable, I would have thought to feel despondent at the notion of living with all these people. As it stands, I feel more bewildered than anything else. On our first day at Hope's Peak, we're all standing here listening to a bear demanding us to live together at the school. Why is this even happening?
"How long for?" I speak up.
"Until the day you die!" He chirps, "Such is the school life you've been assigned."
I'm positive this arrangement was nowhere in any of the school documents I'd been sent or agreed to. There's no way I could live here forever, that the school could force me to live here forever. Although, with the vault door and the metal plates…
It's instantly clear that no one in the room is very fond of this idea. Toko looks especially horrified.
"Wh-what did he just say? Until the day we d-die?"
"Oh, but fear not! We have quite an abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences," Monokuma doesn't look like he's about to tell us that he's joking anytime soon.
"That's the least of our worries right now!" Sayaka protests, gripping her shirt tightly. Joining in next to her, Junko steps forward to try and threaten the bear.
"Yeah, what the hell? You're saying that I have to live here forever? You're screwing with us, right?"
"I'm not screwing with you!" The sudden loud outburst from Monokuma sends Junko jumping back. Despite his size in comparison to us, the anger resonating from him is overpowering. "I'm no liar, of that you can be 100% sure. Ah, and just for your information, you're completely cut off from the outside world. So you don't have to worry about that dirty, dirty land beyond these walls ever again!"
"Cut off? So all those metal plates all over the school…" It seems as if Makoto has come to the same conclusion that I have. "They're there to keep us trapped in here?"
"Come on, what the hell is this?" Leon both tries and fails to keep his voice level. "I don't care if the school or whoever else is behind it all, this is just a really bad joke."
"Yeah, cut this shit out! It isn't funny anymore!" Mondo yells. Like it was funny in the first place.
"Having to live here forever would be… quite the problem," If Celestia is worried, she doesn't show it. She merely looks mildly inconvenienced by this whole affair. I suppose that's what you would expect of an expert gambler, to be able to hide such concern with little difficulty.
Monokuma tilts his head in confusion.
"Come now, what's the matter with all of you? You decided of your own free will to attend Hope's Peak Academy, didn't you? And now, before the entrance ceremony is even finished, you've already decided you want to leave?"
Yes, I do. Coming to Hope's Peak was a foolish idea from the outset. How did my thought process prior to accepting this offer lead me to believe that I would gain something out of coming here? What even were my reasons for accepting the offer? Did I have any? It's becoming more and more incontrovertible that this whole fiasco was a meaningless undertaking.
Monokuma isn't finished yet. The second half of his speech cuts through my thoughts.
"Oh, but you know, I guess I did forget to mention one thing. There is one way for you to leave the school…" Even though I'm careful to still regard the bear with suspicion, I can't help but perk up at the mention of a way out. "As headmaster, I've crafted a special clause for those of you who would like to leave! I call it… the Graduation Clause! Now, as I've mentioned, in order to maintain an environment of harmony here, we rely on a communal lifestyle. And if someone were to disrupt the harmony, they and they alone would be allowed to leave the school. That, my students, is the Graduation Clause!"
"What do you mean by disrupt the harmony?" Interjects Byakuya, straight to the point. The same irritation he had on his face when talking to me earlier is visible once again, and anyone can tell he's fed up of Monokuma's cryptic explanations.
"Upupupu… well, you know…"
Monokuma's eerie laugh echoes in the gym.
"If one person were to murder another."