Stage II: One Eye on the Past, One on the Present, None on the Future

Chapter 13: Hope's Pinnacle: The Fourth Academy

"A-TEN-SHUN!" Monochio startled the students closest to the dining hall doors as it burst in. It kept its vow to leave them alone for a few days after the first class trial, but now those days were over. Some of the students already looked rueful. Even though they were prisoners of the academy either way, at least when Monochio left them alone, they could live how they wanted rather than how it wanted. Unfortunately, that morning, every PheFo alarm went off, regardless of whether or not the owner set it. Monochio was back, and it wanted everyone at breakfast.

"TEN… HUT!" The Headcatster marched to its table at the head of the dining hall with perfect posture, legs stick-straight.

"The heck's wrong with it?" Muni scoffed judgmentally, trying to recover from her heart attack as the giant cat strode majestically by.

"What isn't?" Shinobu scoffed back. Even just seeing it made her hands clench. You're lucky hurting you is against the rules, or I'd fucking kill you!

When Monochio finally reached its seat and turned around to sit, it saluted the class with its tail, and they all got an eyeful of its glowing red one, face still broken and jagged. Although, as evidenced by its speech—which was as stiff and overly formal as its posture—Monochio's voice box was back in working order.

"Students! Turn your PheFos on at once! It is time for the morning announcements!" The students didn't even get a chance to obey its commands of their own volition; rather, the PheFos turned on automatically, answering Monochio's call for them. The map app opened up and revealed that another floor of the academy was now unlocked.

"Because it is unlocked, it is no longer against the rules to go there," Monochio said. "Remember what I told you during orientation. Every Stage you pass is another "set piece" that will be made accessible to you. That, however, is not why I summoned you here…" Monochio waved a paw and ever PheFo switched to its mail app. A randomized handful of the students received a video from the Headcatster. "It is a fragment of a memory, a snippet of an academy lost to time! This is the motive for Stage II of the Killing School Transfer!"

"And how do we know that we can trust these?!" Saori and Haruna protested, nearly dropping their PheFos as their inboxes received a video file.

"How do we know these aren't fake?" Tsubaki demanded at the same time, scowling at hers.

"Silence!" Monochio snapped. "Mind your manners, and cease your interruptions, kits!" Its tail lashed. "You are lucky that what you did isn't against the rules! Now! Pay attention! These videos are the motive! Do with them what you will, but know that more lie in wait on the second floor for those of you who received nothing…" The Headcatster trailed off ominously, but just as some of the students leaned forward in interest, it saluted them again with its tail before marching back out of the dining hall once more.

The students were left alone to decide what to do next, and the divisions were clear. Some were curious about the videos while others wanted nothing to do with them, far too distrustful of the distributor. It was impossible to expect 22 different young adults to agree on any one idea, so the matter came down to compromise. Several students volunteered to watch their videos and report back about what they saw, insistent that they had nothing to hide. Depending on the outcome, the others could decide for themselves whether or not they wanted to watch their videos as well.

The only reason it took less time than a trial to come to an agreement was because two students in particular were dying to see their videos.

"Honestly, Rika, you're acting like a little kid!" Saori put her hands on her hips as Rika begged her unit to let her watch her video. It didn't help that the only other overly-enthusiastic student was Rinku. How embarrassing!

Rika, however, was shameless, both in begging to watch her video, and bragging about it when it was done. "I finally know the name of this place!" she cried. "Hope's Pinnacle! The Fourth Academy!" Even though her video was only about a minute long, it triggered a cascade of other, smaller memories. "Before that, we were all at a place called Hope's Peak, the First Academy, and dude, you would not believe what I saw there!"

She described a vast, sweeping camera-shot of a beautiful and ivory-towered campus. The size was truly unfathomable, large enough to cater to all 24 of them, plus over 50 other Ultimates, and an ever-growing number of Reserve Course students across all three years of the school.

"We and RONDO were third-years," Rika recounted. "Photon and Peaky were second. And Hapiara and Lyrilily were first! We were all at Hope's Peak with the other classes, then we were transferred to Hope's Pinnacle as part of Hope's Peak's expansion project!"

As a result of Hope's Peak's success, other academies were built. The second under its umbrella was the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, and one of the third-year classes of Hope's Peak was transferred there. The third was an overseas campus in America. Then there Hope's Pinnacle was the fourth academy. Because it was the newest, it was still under construction in some areas.

From what the students could infer, Hope's Pinnacle was hijacked just after they transferred in, but some of them were still in doubt. If that was the case, why did they remember schools like Yoba, Arisugawa, and Seiho? For better or worse, though, the only way to learn more about the motive videos was to keep exploring them. Speaking of exploring…

"How about you, Rinku?" Muni asked. "What did you see in your video?" She would've been lying if she said she wasn't jealous that Rinku and Rei got videos while she—The One and Only "VJ Only"—got nothing. Her only consolation was that at least Maho didn't get anything either. That would've been the ultimate shame for poor Muni, the only one of Hapiara without a motive video.

Rinku, meanwhile, was more than happy to talk every ear off as she sought to recount as much as she could, for the sake of the record.

"Oh! I just saw some of our old classmates!" she beamed, and that was how everyone knew they were in for a long one.