Responses to Reviews:

megav: Ah, I'm so glad you like it! Akiyama is definitely one of my favourites to write for.

SHSL Slacker: Yep, everyone always needs it. And she may be missing, but trust me, she's not far. And thanks, Junko's kinda hard to write for, so I'm glad that you like how she turned out! I love Emi a ton, by the way. She's gonna be so great in the trials, I already have her planned out uvu

VonJabey: YES DESCRIBING APPEARANCES WILL BE THE END OF ME UGGGHHH. And actually it's not :( When I thought of the city setting, the third game completely slipped my mind. Nice guess, though! It will tie in later, however.

Vortex Oblivion: Ah, thank you! Doing the two despairs isn't easy, but I'm working through. It'll be a little while before any real despair-fighting goes on, I'm sorry to say. Third trial. It's gonna be a blast.

Mastermind Enoshima Alicia: Ah, thank you so much! uwu

Shiroikage: Yeah the intro chapter was my downfall ugh. I'm so glad I got Daisuke right, I was particularly nervous with him. Thanks!

Sushii-Sushii: Well, the prologue ends this chapter, so actual development comes soon! Thanks!

The Shadow Meister: Thanks! There's a pretty drastic cast, so I'm glad you like it! And Regulas is so much fun to write for. Polite guys are the best, especially when they're sassy *wink face*

Thanks for all the reviews on the Pro-Prologue (which I didn't answer, sorry!) and the Prologue! Enjoy the last part of the Prologue Trilogy!

"Wha…" I started, unsure of how to necessarily react. He just…he knocked the walls down…! Everyone stood up almost simultaneously, except Alicia and Nikiyo. Alicia stayed where she was, and Nikiyo…yeah she hid under the table, screaming.

"What the hell is this?!" Soma said, marching towards the bear before grasping it in his hands. "What the fucking shit did you do?!"

"Rule number 1!" The bear began, as a random robotic arm came out from the floor. "Never harm the headmaster."

The arm picked up Soma and sent him flying. He knocked into Carl's desk, causing his desk neighbor Nikiyo to scream even louder, before fainting. Sabi and Izumi gasped in horror, while Atsushi and Mason ran to help Soma. Yo rushed over and calmly shook Nikiyo awake, who was still mortified by a fucking human flying next to her. Alicia, however, continued to sit calmly.

"There are other rules as well, but I think it's better of you guys just get to know the place first. There's still A LOT we have to do!"

Emi was the first to speak up, while the murmurs from those helping Soma resounded quietly from the back.

"Um…f-for starters…who exactly are you?"

The monochrome bear paused for a moment, before laughing awkwardly. "O-oh…did I forget to mention that? Woops."

The bear then twirled once again, before landing in a pose.

"I am Monokuma! And I'm the mayor of New Despair City. AKA, your new home!"

"Back up," Alicia said calmly, just as everyone else was going to pipe up. "Monokuma? The fuck kinda name is that? Who are you really?"

Another set of 'Upupu's were released as Monokuma focused…er..his attention on Alicia. She surprisingly was the calmest one among the group, only raising a brow at his laughter.

"I see you've already deduced the idea of a mastermind, Miss Davis," He began, pacing back and forth. "I figured you would, as a bear of my stature couldn't possibly be real! Well you're BEARY RIGHT! However, that is, as I said before, closed information. Zip. Zip."

Kimura shrugged. "I don't care anyway dude. I don't really think any of us do. I know I just want to leave here."

There were nods and mutters of agreement from the entire group, myself included. It seemed that, even if we weren't all that close, we were going to at least bond over this. The mere thought of this seemed to enrage Monokuma, and he, after a little bit of growling, finally yelled at us.

"YOU BASTARDS! IF YOU STAYED QUIET FOR MORE THAN ONE SECOND THEN MAYBE I COULD TELL YOU HOW TO ESCAPE!"

Almost instantaneously, everyone stopped talking and started focusing their attention on him. Alicia even decided that enough was enough, and stood up from her seat. No one bothered to shift their view towards her, though.

"Thank you. Now, there is a way to leave this place. I mentioned it before, but it seems like you all were freaking out over the fact that I'm moving. Upupupu! How disbearing." Monokuma cleared his throat (?) before continuing.

"The life I'm giving to you now is a life of peace and harmony inside this city. You can all live together here, never have any problems. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Nobody said a word. Everyone's attention was directed to him, and their expressions stated "Hurry the fuck up."

Monokuma, if he could, most likely would've frowned. A sigh came, and he then continued.

"If you REALLY wanna get out, then you have to disrupt the peace. Put simply, you have to kill each other. Mutual killing. What did you think it meant?"

The entire room went freezing. Even Alicia lost her cool at this point. Nobody screamed, nobody cried, nobody said anything. Not even Nikiyo. Amongst the silence, everyone slowly looked around them. And that's when the gravity of the situation kicked in. I was surrounded by people who could kill me. Not to mention, there was another person who was practically GUARANTEED to kill me. The 15 other people in the room…one of them could be the last person I ever see. This place could be the last place I ever see…

I couldn't take it. I found myself backing up, and after thinking through, I figured the best decision would be to leave. So that's what I did. I took off running in a random direction, not looking back. And based on what I heard behind me, I wasn't the only one.

During my running, I actually took the time to investigate my surroundings. It was, like he had said, an urban place. The sky was grey and covered with clouds, while the only lights were those from the street lamps. There were buildings everywhere, and when I had finally slowed down to try a few, they were all locked. So with that, I switched from running to walking, and walked through another crosswalk. Not that it really mattered, there were no cars anywhere.

Suddenly, as I hadn't realized it immediately due to being lost in thought, I found myself face to face with a huge library. It looked like one of those things you'd see in Ancient Rome. I decided I needed a break from the chilly air, as I had felt it once I began to cool down from all the running, and headed inside. Or at least, I was about to, until I heard the sounds of footsteps headed in my direction. Shit…there was no way I was going to let anyone kill me. I picked up a rather fairly large rock that had been near the entrance and waited till they were close. And with that, I spun around and threw my arm back.

"EEK! Please don't kill me!"

And with that, I lowered my hand and dropped the rock. I paced over to the figure and after a moment of silence, cleared my throat.

"You can put your arms down now, Sabi-san."

Sabi, who had thrown her hands over her head in defense, looked up before awkwardly putting them back down.

"Right…sorry…"

"It's fine. Why'd you follow me?"

Sabi looked back up at me, but almost immediately averted her gaze again.

"Well, once you left, everyone scattered. The only ones left were me, Nikiyo-chan, Yo-kun, and Regulas-kun. Regulas-kun said that I should go find you while he stayed with the others, so I did."

I nodded. Regulas must've taken control of the situation, like the Captain of a team. I guess he's not the Ultimate Soccer Player for nothing.

"Alright. You can tag along with me, if you want. I was just going to check the library."

"The library!" With that, Sabi opened up an electronic device of some sort. "It's called The Fukawa Library." Then she had a sudden realization.

"Oh, that's right! Monokuma was giving out these once everyone left…Regulas-kun asked me to give you yours while he, Yo-kun, and Nikiyo-chan handed out the others. It's the student ID."

She handed it over, and I immediately opened it up. It stated my name, then my talent, and opened to a welcome screen. There were multiple apps on the screen. I decided to click the one labeled 'Report Card' and it opened to a bunch of blank files with 20 slots. 20 for convenience most likely, since there were only 17 students in the class. A pop-up screen filled the screen shortly after. And all it said was an ominous "Student Information in Library."

Well. It seemed inevitable at this point.

I motioned Sabi to follow me, and the two of walked up the stairway to the entrance, opening the large doors. Well, I opened the doors; Sabi stayed behind me. It was pitch black. I opened up my ID again to give off a little light, as it did appear to be abandoned, and carefully stepped forward.

Well, until Sabi turned on the light. A smarter move, in hindsight.

The library was bigger than it looked on the outside. There were four immense floors, each with what seemed to be 50 rows of just bookshelves. And each bookshelf looked as if it could hold 250 books on each side, for a total of 500 books per. I didn't know there were even that many books. Each section was labeled. The first two floors seemed to be non-fiction books, and the top two fiction. And then from there each section was divided into numerous sub-sections, and then divided by even more sub-sections.

Thankfully the Student Info section was right in front.

There were about 80 files in total, one for each class. This came off as strange, considering that there were only 79 classes. Maybe there was supposed to be an 80th class?

Or…there was?

I decided not to think too much into it, and went directly to the 79th class. Instead of books, like the rest of the building, each class had a yellow file folder with the year of their class. Then, the information was filed alphabetically. As soon as I opened it, Sabi went in the folder and found her file.

"Um…I'd rather you not see it…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Sabi looked away, and shuffled akwardly. "It's just…I guess I'm a little self-conscious about it."

I sighed and nodded. I couldn't really fight that, she is who she is. Sabi smiled apologetically, before grabbing a piece of paper and a pen from the checkout desk.

Which, I forgot to mention, had a rather large balloon of a pink and white rabbit sitting there. It really didn't make much sense.

"But!" She said, returning with her newly obtained objects. "I think it wouldn't be so bad to give them to you, now that I'm thinking about it. I just don't want anyone else to see it. You get?"

It didn't make much sense why she wouldn't show me the report, but I decided to go along with it anyway. Looking at the Report Card again, there was a feature that could manually import information and a picture.

First I snapped the picture, naturally. She smiled for the picture, and I hate to admit it, but it was kind of cute. Something in my face was uncomfortably warm, and I decided not to mind it and focus on inputting the information.

Then, when that was finished, we looked through the others.

It had all the other students, starting with Izumi and going down the list. I was stunned by some of the measurements as I put them in, I hadn't realized the little things like Emi and I being the same height. I figured I was at least a little taller, but she had 173 cm as well. I felt a small dent in my pride at that. After getting through the other 15 students, including myself, we got the file I wanted to see the most: Kerry's.

As I'd suspected, I remembered Kerry from that one time she'd talked with that Junko chick that I could remember. Like for a brief moment during their conversation, she had an arrogant smirk on her face in the picture. She also had a black choker, something I hadn't noticed before. To my dismay, she held 170 cm, only 3 cm shorter than Emi and I. I felt my pride almost vanish.

It was interesting to find out her talent, however. I'd expected something drastic or dark, like Executioner, Fighter, or Despair. But she held probably one of the strangest titles I'd ever seen: Imagination. I didn't even know a title like that was possible.

I returned the file to the folder when I input the information. Sabi head upstairs at that point, saying she wanted to read a little, and I waved goodbye. I was going to follow her, too.

But unlike her, I saw two more files.

I almost froze. No, there couldn't be more students. We'd already been informed of one student lurking in the shadows, and now two more?

After contemplating on what to do with the information, I came to the conclusion of just simply keeping the information for myself. It'd be better to know about this information just in case, but at the same time, I wouldn't want the others to worry. I may not trust them, but what if this information could jeopardize life for someone? I couldn't have that.

Without looking, I took the two files and slid them in my inside coat pocket, so Sabi wouldn't see. Then, to add even more precaution, I skulked through the back of the non-fiction section, under the balcony. Even if Sabi looked down, there'd be no way she could see.

I rested against a wall, sliding down till I hit the floor. I took this time to uncover the files, and get a better look at them. They depicted a boy and a girl. I decided, since the girl looked friendlier, I'd do her first.

The girl had light brown hair that almost had a purplish tint to it. I remember seeing a girl from 78 with similar hair when Sabi looked through that file as I looked through ours. Unlike the other girl however, her eyes were a dull pink. A soft smile rested on her face.

She was actually among the youngest of us. The average age for a student this year would be 16; most enrolled at 14. However, she was 14. As of this year. And as I read on, I realized why.

She was already dead.

It was sad, a girl I probably knew, but had no memory of, dead. One can tell a lot from a person's eyes, and as a Tactician, I specialize in reading them. And it was easy to see she was not a bad person. I felt pretty bad.

I decided to enter her data in the Report Card. It'd be easier than carrying the files with me everywhere, that's for sure.

And unlike her file folder, the Report Card stated her name. In my opinion, her name suited her nicely.

Her name was Nanami Fujisaki.

When I finished with Nanami, I put her file and its contents back in my pocket. That left me with the angry looking boy.

He was pretty much the polar opposite of Nanami. While she had light, short hair, he had blacker than black long hair. And while she had dull pink eyes, his were bright red. And where she sported a soft smile, he showed a stern frown. And to further add on that, he was among the oldest of the group, 18, as opposed to Nanami being the youngest. He shared this title with Kerry, Yo, Sabi and I.

Although, I will admit, it was weird finding out Sabi was 18. I figured 16 at most, considering she was flatter than the others, who ranged from 16 to 17.

Wait, shit that came out wrong. It was her height, she's super short. Well not Carl short, he's like 139 ish.

Yeah.

Back on track with the boy. He was not as tall as Regulas, who was around 183, but was only one inch shorter than Soma, at 180. That put him as third tallest in the group, or in the class really, and bumped me down to a lower place with Emi. What the fuck.

Anyway, after that I did the same as I did with Nanami, finished reading through and then put the information card in. And like Nanami, his name popped up once entered. And although I didn't really recognize it from anywhere in particular, the name still brought a chill to my spine.

His name is Izuru Kamukura. And unlike Nanami, he was still alive.

I reread through his files, or skimmed really, to see if I could find a little more about him, but all it said was that he was supposed to be in the 77th class, but for unknown reasons, was held back. That could mean a number of things, the majourity of which aren't good whatsoever. Great. Another problem.

I slipped his files in my pocket with Nanami's. Sighing, I got up, deciding to look around to find more information. Mainly of the other students, and what really got them into this school.

I walked back over to the Student Information table. Before looking, I decided to glance up and see how Sabi was doing. To my surprise, however, I didn't see her. I don't think she left, but she wasn't in my vision. Maybe she went to the back? Eh, whatever.

I picked up the book labeled 'Achievements'. It was HUGE, and probably contained all the information of all the students. I decided it was better to check it out now than never.

The first section was labeled Good Luck. This contained info on all the students with the Good Luck, as there was one chosen every year, although there was an ominous "except for one" at the end. I could only wonder. Skimming down, I found Sabi's name after the Class 78 representative, which was weird. I guess no other students from N – S were accepted? And even before that, there was another gap from K – N as well. But after briefly reading "Komaeda Nagito's" entry, I really wanted to skip to Sabi's. I was going to look at "Naegi Makoto's" entry as well, but again, "Komaeda Nagito." Nope.

Saotome Sabitsuki: Saotome II is the daughter of Class 46's Lawyer, Saotome Kamiko (see the Class 46 directory for further info). Saotome II is known for her uncanny luck, even rivaling that of Komaeda Nagito (see above for further info), but not quite. Story has it that she entered the school after betting her mother that she did not need to be the same as her, but could get there based on her pure luck. It was said that only minutes after, she got a letter stating that she was accepted as Good Luck. It was also said that ever since she was young, she was able to have everything go her way, such as getting a father and a little sister by pure luck, and once in school was able to breeze by every test based on luck, and was even able to depict her sister getting accepted to Hope's Peak only a day before the decision was made.

That's pretty impressive. I was rather stunned that she was that lucky, and a little sad that her sister wasn't able to make it into the school. We were the last class, after all.

After that, I flipped to the Class 79 section. As expected, it was at the back, and was the last of all the entries. It seemed like a section for 80 was made, but it was never finished.

Akamine Izumi: Akamine was said to have studied extremely hard in Mathematics from a young age, growing up in a family that didn't wish to see the world as clearly as she. Math was a way to view the world from a clearer perspective, in her words. What got her into Hope's Peak was her World Record of solving an extremely complex math problem in under two minutes. After that, she was placed in Hope's Peak's 79th Class.

Akiyama Emi: Akiyama was a great mixer from a young age. Once figuring out how to download and work on computers, she was able to mix the best songs, and was the official DJ for her grade school graduation. After that, she worked many jobs, before performing background in one of Maizono Sayaka's (see 78th Class) concerts. This earned her a place in the 79th Class.

Amos Soma: Amos was known as a "miracle healer" from a young age by locals, but eventually known by this name everywhere. He healed even the emperor, who was dying of an incurable illness, in just 4 days. From there, he was accepted into the 79th Class.

Aston, Sebastian Regulas: Aston grew up in a family of two rich aristocrats that provided him with everything he wanted. In two short years and a soccer court of his own, Aston very quickly attained a prodigy status, and joined majour leagues. He was accepted into Hope's Peak after breaking the record of "Most Scores in a Single Game".

Davis, Alicia: Classified information by the Davis Family in Oceddia.

Fujisaki Nanami: Fujisaki and her older sibling would always play with electronics together as kids. While Chihiro grew to become an expert programmer, she was talented in the field of gaming after Chihiro built a gaming platform for her. She entered multiple competitions and won first place in all of them, earning her a place in Hope's Peak.

Hagiwara Atsushi: Hagiwara is unfortunately not as good as other students academically. However, instead of staying down, he learnt archery, which he very quickly gained prodigy status in. He was accepted into Hope's Peak after perfecting his 200m shot, something he'd started since the age of 12.

Horden, Mason: Horden was raised in a surrounding of perfect and amazing cuisine. Due to his father running a bakery all the time, he adopted and perfected his mother's talent instead: chocolate. After this, he extended his work to other forms of candy, greatly pleasing the locals. Eventually, he and his mother opened one of the most famous Confiseries in all of the world, thus rightfully earning his place in Hope's Peak.

Kagegami Daisuke: Kagegami was brought to Africa as a young child in an attempt to show him the world of hunting. He caught on very quickly, and soon developed an amazing talent for it. After the death of his father, his mother brought him back to Japan and taught him more skills to enhance his Sharpshooting Skills, and encouraged him to enter the championship, in which he placed first overall. This gained him a spot in Hope's Peak.

Kamukura Izuru: No info.

Kimura Hyousuke: Not much is known about Kimura's past. He lived in an orphanage until he was about 10, after causing an incident that turned the orphanage upside-down. Kimura is known for his amazing ability to talk people into things, and was recognized after he flawlessly talked his way into a high-position job, even with a background of staying in a child detention center. What really pushed it was the uncertainty that the staff had, and when he came in and talked his way into a spot.

Kouzuki Yoshihiro: Kouzuki grew up in a family tortured by debts. Because of this, Kouzuki eventually ended up getting a job as an apprentice to an influential Pawnbroker. He adopted the talents of his boss, and was able to become better than him. He eventually helped co-run the shop, and worked deals with hundreds of customers. Eventually, Principal Kirigiri came and worked a deal with him after hearing of his rep, and when everything went smoothly, offered him a spot.

Matsui Teiko: Matsui's interest in massages came from seeing a film that had one. So afterwards, he studied immensely on the human body, and began giving massages. Within weeks, he became incredibly popular in his homeland of South Korea. Once his mother was deported back to North Korea however, he moved to Japan and started a massaging business there. Eventually, he was accepted into Hope's Peak for his amazing skills.

Nakasone Nikiyo: Nakasone, as a young girl, developed horrible anxiety. Everything for her was incredibly stressful. So in a way to relieve stress, she learnt the language Cornish. After that, she learnt both Catalan and Spanish. Realizing she had a knack for languages, she learnt a language a month staring from the age of 8. She now knows over half the world's languages, and was able to enter Hope's Peak because of the record she broke.

Sasaki Emi: Sasaki was homeschooled as a child, and didn't leave the house much. However, for her 10th birthday, she was given a laptop. Once exposed to all the things on the internet (i.e. everything), she quickly memorized a variety of topics with ease, and was eager to learn more. Due to her love of learning things, she eventually became an apprentice at a research lab at around age 13 (although the lab burnt down two years later). Because of her astounding discoveries as a researcher, she discovered Hope's Peak not long before the burning. In an attempt to make an appeal in hopes to get in the next class, she researched and acquired the talents of Kimura Hyosuke. She researched all the good things the internet said about herself ad Kimura presented it, earning her a spot in Hope's Peak.

Soriyu Hikaru: Ever since a child, Soriyu always had a good sense of right and wrong. The impulses in his gut were always spot on, and was able to avoid many problems in school. When his father taught him chess, he almost immediately became an expert at the game. He then played more strategy games and became an expert at all of them, and at age 14, was even asked to help direct an army, as the lead soldier, Ikusaba Mukuro (see Class 78 directory for futher info), was not very good at figuring out good battle strategies. This was supposed to go on for 4 years, but was cut short at the loss of the army in a strange accident. A year later, Hope's Peak accepted him.

Wells, Carl: Wells, an American born in Japan, was alienated due to English being his parents' main language. Because of this, he took up sewing, and eventually found a talent in making stuffed toys, specifically animals. Balancing school work with his toys, he sold many online, and eventually became one of the biggest names in toy making, thus earning him a spot in Hope's Peak.

Young, Kerry: Young grew up in an environment where everyone around her was talented, while her father was always out. There was always that hint of inferiority because of it, and as hard as she tried to get a talent, she couldn't find one. So she resorted to dreaming instead, and was always scolded for drifting off in class, but not sleeping. With years of half paying attention and half not, she eventually became so good at imagining that she could do it while focusing on multiple things at once, such as when talking she could be off in another land. This skill was put to the test in a designing contest for the school flag, where she easily displayed the most imaginative flag that she doodled down in less than a minute, saying she had the idea when the contest was announced. She also designed a special pod for those in a comatose state, keeping them healthier than they would be without it and giving them a better chance of waking up. She also was asked to come up with an idea for the Hope's Peak logo for the 79th class, and after responding in a day, was accepted.

It was really interesting reading about the other students. I hadn't realized their backstories would be so elaborate. I mean, mine wasn't that impressive, but the others were. I didn't realize how drastic most of their lives had been. More so than my own, of course. I put the book down after that. I wasn't going to waste more time reading the other 78 classes plus all the Good Luck students, well, at least not today. There was a whole city to explore, after all.

"Hey Sabi-san, I'm gonna go. Coming with?"

No answer. I guess she really did leave. I don't blame her; she probably tried to get my attention, but I was pretty wrapped up in this book. Maybe she found another exit and unintentionally left me here. Either way, I don't really mind.

After waiting a few moments for a response that never came, I decided it was best to head out. I spun on my heel and left the building, closing the doors carefully as I left. And with that, I was off again.

It had to be about 20 minutes of just walking before anything happened. I came across a number of buildings and areas, most of which were closed. There was a hospital, a skating rink, a movie theatre, and a bunch of other small buildings as well. The former 3 were locked, unfortunately, and the buildings were abandoned with nothing really useful inside. It's a shame.

Eventually though, I came across something of interest: a clothing store, named Enoshima Ecstasy. The name was lit up in bright red letters, so I figured that it was probably open. And as I walked toward it, I realized it definitely was. Happily, I entered the building.

"Atsushi-kun, hold this. I'm going to go change~!"

Alicia was the first voice I heard. She handed Atsushi her bag, and rushed off to the changing room before he could say anything.

"Oh…uh…okay?"

I laughed a bit as I walked towards him. "Girls will be girls!"

"Yeah," he said with a bit of a sigh.

"OOOOH! Is that Soriyu-chan I hear?!" Akiyama's voice could be heard from the Ibuki Mioda collection at the far end of the room. The sound of her steps rushing towards us was loud, and she automatically jumped when she saw me and glomped me.

"H-hey Akiyama-san…"

"I feel your pain bro, she got me too," I heard Atsushi whisper.

"SOOOO! I found some clothes that would look amazing on you in the Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu department! Come on, you HAVE to try them out! Right Alicia-chan?"

"Oh hell yes," said Alicia as she exited the changing room in a dancer-styled kimono. "They were business styled clothes, like someone from the Mafia. You're a pretty mafia-y type guy, yeah?"

"Well…" I said, uneasily. "I wouldn't say that…I'm just, I dunno…"

"Mysterious? Yeah, you come off as that type. Women tend to find that charming, ya know." Alicia finished with a wink, and I averted my gaze, flustered. Akiyama and Atsushi chuckled in response.

"I'll try 'em out eventually," I finally said. "I mean, it's not like we're going anywhere anytime soon."

And with that, the four of us stayed silent in a strange understanding. What I'd said had been what everyone understood, yet didn't want to hear. We weren't going anywhere fast.

The awkward silence was interrupted quickly however, as a medium styled car came racing in the room.

"WHAT THE SHIT," screamed Alicia as the four of us flung backwards. Well, three of us. Akiyama clung to Atsushi.

Monokuma poked his head out the window. "Meet in Centre Circle, bastards! I'm having trouble with the monitor system, so I came to tell you myself! Don't expect such blessings in the future, though!"

And with that, he rode out of the building like it was nothing. The four of us sat next to the elevator in a daze for a minute or so, before Alicia directed the group out. I was in charge of getting us there, since I naturally had the best sense of direction and was the best at reading the Student ID map.

We were the last four to gather at the circle. Everyone was chatting and waiting, and Monokuma seemed enraged when we got there.

"You're late!" He said, in a flustered tone. He had his hands on his hips and a scrunched up face. I was going to speak, but Alicia beat me to it.

"My apologies Monokuma," she said in a silky, yet obviously fake tone. "But Soriyu here can't read a map as well as we thought."

"H-hey! I can't help that we were far away!"

"Mhm. That's it."

Monokuma got a kick out of that, which is most likely what Alicia was going for, and dismissed us instantaneously. We joined the group behind us.

But it was easy to notice how spread out everyone was. The paranoia still reigned victorious, I suppose.

"Anyway, first on the agenda. There's been a small problem. One of our security cameras was completely destroyed at the farther end of town. It's safe to assume that Miss Young got to there before you all did. We were having trouble in the first place, since out mechanic is…well, caught up in something, but this didn't help."

Everyone stayed silent. I guess they thought this Kerry Young girl was just a joke. Well, the ones that hadn't reached the library yet, I suppose. Either way, I really don't think anyone was expecting it.

"Miss Saotome, you were out at that time. Did you see her?"

Sabi looked down. "S-sorry, but no. I do remember hearing something on my way to, well, here. It was before you found me. I-I heard a crash. It was really loud, and that's what caused me to g-go running."

"And that's when I found you," Yo said. "You should've mentioned that. We coulda got her together."

"S-sorry…" Sabi answered shyly.

"Moving on," Monokuma stated. "Your apartments have been decided. They're in the building over there."

Monokuma pointed to the tall building behind us. It was a couple stories high, and painted a maroonish colour. Nothing in this city was that bright, so I really wasn't expecting much else.

"There are 5 floors in total. 4 will be assigned to each floor, except the last floor. Only 2 of you will be there, with 2 empty rooms in total." Monokuma reviewed the cards, before looking up again.

"Or just one. Kerry's on that floor." He then muttered a barely audible "or supposed to be".

Everyone was handed a room key with their respective room number. Lucky me got 5A. Rooming along with an empty hallway in an abandoned city. Hooray.

Sabi, Mason, Carl and Soma got the first floor. Regulas, Atsushi, Alicia and Izumi got the second. Akiyama, Yo, Daisuke and Teiko got the third floor. The fourth floor consisted of Emi, Nikiyo and Kimura (the last room was a janitor's closet, Monokuma apologized for the slipup), and the fifth floor was mine. Kerry's too, but she's missing at the moment.

Next, Monokuma showed us the café next door. It was a small, quaint place, and Mason immediately offered to work there. Monokuma said he'd have to get up a little earlier than the others, but Mason didn't care. Next to the café was a small park. It had a couple benches and a picnic table. There was also a box filled with outdoorsy stuff. I'll probably go there tomorrow. We then gathered back at the Centre. The Centre was marked by a stone carving of Monokuma in a cliché pose. It served as a fountain, and numerous coins with Monokuma's head on the back were scattered on the bottom. He then cleared his throat once more, and spoke again.

"I'll now state some of the most important rules when it comes to your school life here! You already know Rule 1, but I'll say it again: No harm shall be inflicted upon the headmaster! You'll be severely punished as a result!" As those words were said, everyone cast a glance at Soma. He paid no mind and everyone eventually averted their gaze.

"Rule 2! You must sleep in an apartment! No exceptions! Speaking of which, Day Time starts around 7. Unless you have a job that requires you to be up early, it's recommended that you do not leave your apartment. The same goes with nighttime, which starts at 10. It's recommended you do not roam outside at night."

"Um…w-why? IMSORRY!" Nikiyo wailed. Her hands covered her face as she buckled inward slightly. Monokuma just kind of looked at her. Well, we all did. But even though we knew her, or at least reknew her for about two hours, I'm pretty sure everyone expected nothing less at this point.

"Duh. So you have a smaller chance of being killed. I figured that was obvious." Monokuma said with a shrug.

"S-sorry…" Nikiyo said, her hands now clasped together against her chest.

"Yeah. Anyway, I mentioned jobs before, so I'll go over them now. You each get 1000 Monocoins to start with. Monocoins can help you pay for things such as food, clothes, and other goods and services." A quick glance was shot at Alicia, but she had changed quickly before we left. "As time goes on, more places to spend your Monocoins on will open. However, people need to run these places. That's where jobs come in. Jobs are split up to about three hours per, giving people a chance to have more than one shift. To make it easy, all places are open from 9 – 6, depending. And depending on how long the shift is, or how hard the job is, you'll get paid in Monocoins respectively. Due to these times, Breakfast is at 9 - 12, Lunch at 12 - 3, and Dinner at 3 - 6. Depending on your shifts, you'll eat at different hours, like say, 3 – 4, or 10 – 11. Do you understand?"

Everyone nodded. It didn't seem bad at all, in fact, it almost seemed normal. And with that, I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought it was going to be insanity.

"Hiring will start tomorrow. In the meantime, we'll talk a little more about the rules, and then you'll be off! Okay. Now we'll start taking about the good stuff: murder."

And just like that, everyone went cold.

"The basic rule is: no killing more than two people. After that, it's pretty much free game! You can use whatever you choose to kill others. In fact, there's a weapon store, run by yours truly! In that store, you can buy a weapon without having to bother with a permit. It's super, actually! There'll also be a record book on who buys who, but no one is allowed to see until after the trial!"

"Wait, back up," Yo snapped quickly. "Trial? What's that about?"

"Oh, woops! My bad, you aren't supposed to find out about that till later," Monokuma giggled. "I was just testing your listening skills, since they were shit last time. I'll tell you about those when the time comes. Buh-bye!"

"Wait!"

But it was too late. Monokuma jumped behind the fountain and disappeared, leaving us to do what we pleased until 10, which according to the Student ID, was only a half an hour away. I decided to retire for the night; it's been a hell of a two hour time span.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm heading in. Shall we all meet for breakfast in the morning?"

No one said anything. The idea of murder still loomed over the group.

"Ugh. Listen, we're not gonna get anywhere if we keep sulking with this murder bullshit," I said harshly. "It's better if we learn to get along now, so there'll be less chance of us turning on each other. Friends stick together, right?"

"H-he ha-as a p-point," Izumi finally said. "I-I'll join-n you!"

"Count me in too, chap," Regulas said with a smile.

And soon, everyone agreed to breakfast. And suddenly, in the darkest depths of despair, there was a glimmer of hope. Not a large one, but a glimmer.

And with that, everyone entered in the apartment building. Not as scared strangers, but as friends.

We had to gather in the elevator in groups. I let everyone else go in before me, so I ended up riding it alone. It really didn't help my nerves. The ride to the fifth floor was shorter than I figured it'd be, which was good. And once it let out, I rushed to my door. There's no such thing as ghosts, Hikaru. There's no such thing as ghosts. And after fumbling with door, I entered as fast as I could before slamming it shut.

There's. No. Such. Thing. As. Ghosts. Hikaru.

After taking a few breaths to calm down, even though I'm not scared of ghosts in any way, I was able to see the room better. It was a beige colour, with a red rug that covered the entire floor. The couch was black, and there was a glass coffee table in front of it. On the other side was a small flat screen on a small shelf that had some DVDs and a safe. The key to the safe came with the room. The kitchen was the room on the left, and was a bright yellow with a happy light. It had a large fridge with a dishwasher next to it, a couple of drawers, and then the stove. The sink was in the middle. A small table for four rested in the center. On the right was my bedroom. It was small, well not super small, but smaller than the living room, and had a medium sized bed on the side. A night table stood in between it and the wall, and a dresser was at the other end. Next to the dresser was a walk-in closet. A final room, accessible through the kitchen, was the bathroom. Back in the living room, near the door, was a rack for people to put their coats, hats, and shoes on. Quite convenient. And to top it off, a giant window giving a perfect view of the small city. The perks of having a 5th floor apartment, I suppose. There were no floor lamps I noticed, but there was a small lamp in the bedroom, and a ceiling fan and lamp in the living room. I guess I have to buy that stuff with the Monocoins. Speaking of those, I found them in the safe.

After grabbing a cookie that happened to be in the pantry drawer in the kitchen, I decided to head to bed. There was a pair of pajamas in the dresser, which was nice, even though they were a cheap piece of shit. Sometime after that, I fell asleep.

HOLY FUCK HOLY SHIT HOLY DOUBLE FUCKING SHIT GHOSTS ARE REAL!

It had to be about 2 in the morning when I was woken up by a soft kicking next door. Which at first I thought 'Pfft probably one of the others' but then I realized that I'm the only one on this floor and I'm pretty sure I soaked my pants.

So now I'm huddled up with my blanket, hugging one of my two pillows. The kicking's been light, and pretty consistent. But all the sudden it stopped.

And I heard a frustrated sigh. It was muffled, but still audible. But only to someone on the floor.

"God fucking damnit! Shit, I guess I do really need the key."

There was a soft tapping of a foot on the ground in place, when I realized that it was not a ghost, which made me feel a little better. But it was still something not worth being calm about.

She was there. Kerry Young was right fucking there.

I could go and confront her and get some answers. And I was about to. But part of me, the same part that had convinced me she was a ghost, told me that there was a very high percentage that she had a weapon and wouldn't hesitate to kill me. And you know, in an abandoned apartment building in an abandoned city, there was really not a good feeling over all. So I decided that it was right, and I stayed glued to my bed.

"Oh well. I better get outta here before Enoshima finds me. Good thing the security's fucking busted, but for how long?"

I heard her saunter over in the direction of the elevator, aka my direction, and heard her stop.

Right. In front. Of my door.

And I was surprised I didn't shit my pants right there.

"Oh. Woops. Hope I didn't wake Soriyu up."

And with that, she walked over to the elevator, entering it immediately.

She must've looked at my name plate on the room. I'd forgotten it was there at first. It was kind of obnoxious that she didn't use an honorific though.

And after a moment of calming down, I found it in me to go to sleep.

God Hikaru, you're such a fucking baby.

Shut up subconscious. I am an adult.

Dick head.

:.:.:

PROLOGUE: END

:.:.:

Well, there it is! This chapter was kinda boring too, but I needed to set all the plot devices in and stuff. This chapter frames the trials really well. It also gives you the backstories in short detail, as no freetime events have happened yet. So it gives you a general feel.

I had to add stuff to the backstories to make it really tie in with the plot. I apologize if it isn't good and doesn't suit the character. If you need me to, I won't hesitate to change it.

And along with the characters, I needed to shape out protag! Funfact: The fear of ghosts was something I added last minute. He was supposed to be more kuudere than tsundere, but I'm getting a kick out of it.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the reviews or personally PM me! If you leave them in the reviews, I'll address them in the next chapter.

Also, I'm curious to know if you ship anyone yet. I know I do. *wonk*

Thanks for reading, and make sure to favourite, follow, and review if you enjoyed!

STUDENTS REMAINING [17/17]

Hikaru Soriyu

Emi Sasaki

Mason Horden

Sabitsuki Saotome

Nikiyo Nakasone

Daisuke Kagegami

Izumi Akamine

Soma Amos

Teiko Matsui

Alicia Davis

Sebastian Regulas Aston

Yoshihiro Kouzuki

Emi Akiyama

Hyosuke Kimura

Carl Wells

Atsushi Hagiwara

Kerry Young