As Sachi and I wrap up our conversation in the Incinerator, we choose the Laundry as our next destination.
When we reach the Laundry, as always, there's two new people inside.
Weird, it's almost as if something is intentionally only allowing me to meet my fellow captives solo or in pairs for some obscure reason…
Hm?
Anyways.
Like some of the other rooms, the Laundry is one of the more well kept rooms - which is to be expected if they want us to stay here. Laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets line the shelves. Old magazines are scattered throughout the floor of the room, the Queen of Despair herself posing for the camera on a majority of the covers. The other magazines have some people I recognize, like Mari Tamatsuki, but other than that they're all unfamiliar not-Ultimates.
As such, they're not on my radar.
The investigating pair are both girls, busy investigating the room and ignoring us. Or maybe they just haven't noticed us yet.
I'm not sure.
The first girl has flawless ivory skin, complementing and contrasting with long, straight ebony hair. Contrasting that are beautiful, distinctive sky blue eyes. She's wearing an off-shoulder crop layered top - the crop is purple while the rest is a nice violet. There's a gold-yellow flower attached to the left side of her crop. She wears simple gray legging pants and her feet are covered by white ankle socks and a pair of black Mary-Janes.
The second girl is a slender and decently toned girl with a fair skinned complexion and turquoise colored eyes with fairly long lashes. She has long, light, cool brown hair, which she wears in two low hanging, long wavy pigtails. Her fringe is neatly cut and layered, swept to the right of her forehead just above her right eye. She has on a pale pink short off-shoulder shirt with strap sleeves, under a matching dark gray zipper hoodie with the words 'xx GAMER GAL xx' inscribed across the back in pale pink writing. She wears shorts that stop mid-thigh. Under those she wears a pair of crisp white leggings that go down to her ankles. A pair of dark gray sneakers with white laces and a pale blue lightning bolt emblem finish her outfit. As for accessories, she has a lot - even more than Rui from a while ago. A pair of comfortable pro-fingerless dark gray gaming gloves, a small charm bracelet, and a lot more I cannot see properly.
I think Yu's mean look made my contacts evaporate…hopefully I can get Katashi to check that out for me.
Well, time to find out if we're actually being ignored.
"Hey guys, what are you all doing here?" I ask them, trying to get their attention.
"Oh," the second girl turns towards Sachi and I. "Hello. Sorry, we were distracted. Mikasa here lost a bunch of her accessories when she woke up so we're trying to help her find them." she explains.
Ooo, I know who that is.
And what's with our kidnappers taking everybody's accessories? Ryoji's glasses, Sumire's hat, and now Mikasa's belongings are missing.
Are we not allowed to be fashionable here?
Well, there were probably extenuating circumstances. Some people, like Rui and Aria, still seem to have all of their accessories and belongings.
They didn't complain about missing any, at least.
Maybe some people put up more of a fight
I smile. "Nice to meet you guys, I'm Tatsumi Endo, the Ultimate Paparazzi, and this is Sachiko Yoshifumi, the Ultimate Pharmaceutical Scientist." I introduce myself and my partner in crime.
…Investigating? Whatever.
They two finally stop rummaging around the room to greet us.
"Greetings, my name is Mitsuki Hanataro, I'm the Ultimate Stage Performer" the first girl extends her right hand in front of her, "It is nice to meet you." she greets.
...Is that so…?
"I'm Mikasa Nishikawa. Hope's Peak enrolled me as the Ultimate...Video Game Developer." the second girl, Mikasa, stares at me intensely. "...Actually, come to think of it, you do look familiar…!" she says and gasps. "…Yes, you interviewed me after I won the Gamecom Prize, I think…!" Mikasa says and smiles. "Haha, and now you're one of my classmates here! Well, I say game on to a successful year for all of us~."
I'm crying, someone who actually remembers and recognizes me...I feel so happy.
Mitsuki Hanataro
Ultimate Stage-
No…that's not quite right, is it?
Mitsuki Hanataro
Ultimate Shadow Play Performer
That's right. Ultimate Shadow Play Performer, not Ultimate Stage Performer.
Let me tell you how controversial Mitsuki Hanataro is.
Some people don't acknowledge Mitsuki as an Ultimate. She's a very good stage performer but her skills weren't as good as Takagi so Takagi was accepted as the Ultimate Thespian (Stage Performer) instead.
But, Mitsuki was also very skilled with Shadow Play. Her ability to dance, to contort her body to tell a story, is unrivaled. And so, Hope's Peak decided to accept her as the Ultimate Shadow Play Performer.
I have seen her work and it is rather amazing. Still, it kind of sucks for her that her talent was overshadowed.
Still, to just straight up lie about her talent like that...what's her deal?
Mikasa Nishikawa
Ultimate Video Game Developer
Ah, Mikasa, thank you for remembering me...
She has developed great games and of course, that means many gamers love her. She's also a professional gamer.
Honestly she's... kind of basic. Don't let her know I said that.
She isn't known for anything else. She develops games (don't get me wrong, I know that's a very talented skill in and of itself, but still), she competes in video game competitions, and she has a lot of male followers.
Okay. Let me tell you something spicy. Mikasa has been under a lot of speculation for a while now. So there was this-
"Tatsumi." Sachi's voice interrupted my musings. "This was a lot longer than the previous ones, I was getting worried. I already explained to them the situation." she sighs.
Oops.
Hmm...there were three Ultimates here so my senses were kinda overloaded. Imagine if all of them were in the same room…
No. Bad. This is a Killing Game, Tatsumi, calm down.
"Aaaaaand they're gone." Sachi sighs, bringing me out of my musings once more.
I look around the Laundry and smile apologetically when I in fact do not see Mikasa or Mitsuki.
Sachiko shakes her head and sighs again. "Come on, I want to check out the Storage." she says. "Mitsuki said something about some 'weird' guy in there that made Kaguya cry." Sachi says with a frown.
Weird guy?
Hm…
Walking into Storage is pleasantly surprising. It's one of the more well kept rooms-
"Well, well, well, who have we got here?"
Sachi and I turn to see an…interestingly dressed young man walk out from behind one of the shelves.
"Hi!" I greet him, trying to sound as friendly as possible.
Why?
This guy looks scarier than Katashi and Jotaro combined.
I point at myself, "My name is-"
"Tatsumi Endo, Ultimate Paparazzi." the scary boy says and shifts his red eyed gaze to Sachi. "And you are Sachiko Yoshifumi, Ultimate Pharmacist." he says.
…What the hell!? He's stealing my thing!
…
…
…
And I can't even do it back to him. Amazingly, I don't recognize him at all. Not even a little bit.
I mean, how could I, especially with what he's wearing!?
Well…however…his 'clothes' do look incredibly familiar.
He laughs at the frustrated look on my face and bows mockingly, "Hakuma Kaneshiro, Ultimate Vigilante. You might know me better as 'The Masked Devil'." he introduces himself.
Ooooooooooh.
I do know him!
Hakuma Kaneshiro
Ultimate Vigilante
As expected of the Ultimate Vigilante, Hakuma's body is well trained and muscular. He also has red eyes.
And that's…all I can see.
There's no other word in my vocabulary to describe what Hakuma is wearing other than a costume. It's a rather militaristic set of clothes: a baggy black undersuit with gray combat boots and gauntlets, all overlapped with sharp metal plating. A red chestplate lies over his abdomen and covering his face is a black helmet with a simple pair of slits for his barely visible eyes with a pair of curved horns. Hakuma's costume is adorned with several seemingly empty utility belts around his legs and chest.
Yeah, I can see why Kaguya would cry.
From what I know about Hakuma - or rather, Akuma, Devil of Revenge - his identity wasn't discovered by Japanese police. He was actually discovered by the best Former Ultimate Detective Hope's Peak has had the pleasure of teaching, Kyoko Kirigiri.
Hope's Peak managed to convince the police to pardon Hakuma's acts of vigilantism prior to the Tragedy due to his heroic actions during the Tragedy (more punishing of evil and all that). In return, Hope's Peak requested that Hakuma study at their school and learn to utilize his talents for the military.
(Their initial request was to lend his talents to the police but that was a swift denial from Hakuma.)
Did Hakuma agree to that, though? I don't know, but he is here. Hopefully I'll get a chance to ask him later.
Being that his identity has been a secret for so long, I haven't had the chance to learn much else about him-
"Fun fact: did you know there's three bones in each finger, except for the thumb? Meaning you can break someone's fingers a grand total of 26 times?" Hakuma says casually.
…Yeah, I can definitely see how he would make Kaguya cry.
Fortunately, before I'm able to talk to Hakuma any further, a robotic female voice suddenly pierces through the loudspeakers:
"To all students in Hope's Peak Academy, you are all required to appear in the Gymnasium. Please head to the Gymnasium immediately. Failure to do so will result in punishment. That is all."
"Well, I think we all know what that 'punishment' may be, so let's just head over there." Sachi says with a sigh.
Very logical of her, as usual.
Sachi, the cold brainy one. Me, the friendly brainy one. The perfect dynamic.
What would we do without each other?
"Come on guys, I have more facts, let me walk with you!"
Hard pass.
Eventually, we're all gathered inside of the Gymnasium.
The Gymnasium is as broken down as the majority of the other parts of the school. You can still see the ruins and damages from the duel between Sakura Ogami and Monokuma. The floor is no longer shiny and some of the supporting columns are cracked - one of them is actually broken.
I look around the room and confirm everyone I know to be here:
Shion and Sumire have joined up with the other parts of the Milk Tea Gang: Kikuo, Takagi, and Kite.
Mitsuki and Mikasa are joined by Min and Kaguya.
Rui and Yu are still together.
Hakuma, Jotaro, Katashi, and Ryoji are all alone.
And of course, Sachi and I are still together.
It seems that everyone is here and accounted for, that's good. I can already see groups forming and who has an alliance with who. But who knows, that'll probably change. Most of us are unacquainted with each other. Once we get to know each other, things will change.
"Upupupupupu…"
That infamous laugh starts resounding all throughout the gymnasium. It puts a stop to all the idle conversations happening.
And sure enough, from the podium on the stage, it appears.
Monokuma.
The thing that brought despair to the whole world.
The mascot that Junko Enoshima used to bring the world to ruin just because she was bored.
I can't believe some people actually still like her to this day. Simps are crazy.
Hm...why is Seizo Morine's closest friend coming to mind…? What was his name again? S...S…
Crab?
"Well hello there kiddies! Man, how I missed this. How long have I been gone? Was it a year? Five years? Ten? Who knows! I'm already ancient - billions of years old in fact. Beary, beary old, upupupupupu!" Monokuma rambles, laughing. "BUT! Just because I'm old doesn't mean that I've lost my edge!" he screams suddenly.
I hear Min-Ju and a few others yelp from the sudden outburst.
"I think you all know how to read books, right? So, POP QUIZ! What happened the last time a bunch of kids were trapped in Hope's Peak Academy?" Monokuma asks us, his red eye gleaming.
No one has the guts to answer that question. It's almost as if some of us still don't believe that this is really happening. Some that are just frozen in pure fear of what might happen if they raise their voice.
"Well?" Monokuma asks.
Still, no one answers.
He sighs. "Man, the education system has really gone down hill hasn't it?" Monokuma says, acting depressed. "But! Lucky for you, I won't be doing that to you today. This will be more of a Your Turn To Die thing where you try to solve something. I had a lot of fun playing that while I was in hibernation, y'know." Monokuma says and nods to himself, sighing contently. "Good times. Sou good of a game, haha!"
What?
What the fuck is he talking about?
"What are you talking about?" Shion is the first to speak since Monokuma appeared, and she voices my own question.
"So this won't be a Killing Game?" Sumire follows her sister.
Murmurs and sighs of relieves can be heard.
Huh, so are we all going to live?
…
…
…
No...this way too good to be true, there has to be a trick.
"See! One of you has a voice after all!" Monokuma giggled
The twins cringe simultaneously. "One? We're two different people-"/"One? Don't act like we're the same person, I'm leagues better than-" Sumire and Shion say in unison but Monokuma interrupts and ignores them, continuing.
"Now, this won't be an ordinary Killing Game, but let me give you all some insight first. Do you know what happened to-?" Suddenly, sparks start flying from Monokuma and his speech turns into a garbled mess of errors and gibberish.
Is he...malfunctioning?
There's a beat of silence as Monokuma powers down.
…
…
…
Monokuma suddenly winds up again, his red eye lighting up along with him. "UPUPUPUPUPU! WELCOME BACK TO THE REAL SHOW FOLKS!" Monokuma cackles, sounding more like we all remember him to.
It's like his personality suddenly did a 180: he went from somewhat normal, then moving to what he was during the Killing Games. How strange.
"Sorry about that previous statement," Monokuma says. "Disregard everything I said earlier!"
"WHAT!?"
...Huh?
"What are you talking about? What do you mean disregard everything that was happening?!" Sachi cries out. She's become angry out of nowhere, an extreme contrast to the always calm and collected Sachi I'd come to know.
I blink. "S-Sachi?" I call, confused.
Monokuma laughs in her face. "Upupupu! Well, if you must know, I had a little bug in my system that was making me all soft, but worry not! I've been able to fix it and we are back to our regularly scheduled programming!" Monokuma says happily, all too pleased with this sudden turn of events. "Now we are going back to the original Killing Game we all know and love! The one that's a gajillion, billion, million times better than the other one!"
"I thought you said there was no Killing Game? That it was just going to be a...a s-solve something?" Min says fearfully.
Damn, even Minnie is shaking. I mean, of course I can understand why she would be scared. You thought you were safe for a good second then suddenly your kidnapper malfunctions and switches everything up.
Well, even if we were just here to play a game we were kidnapped. That's scary enough.
Monokuma waves her off. "Yeah, yeah. I said what I said. Do you want me to post a 'taking accountability' video on MeTube or something?" he laughs, unapologetic. "Now shut the hell up and listen, brats! We are back to our original plan. This is a Killing Game - but it won't be just any old Killing Game," Monokuma says. "Everyone please come forward and take your Electro ID!"
A table filled with what I'm guessing these 'Electro IDs' are suddenly elevates from the ground, much like Monokuma himself.
While some people are still scared to come forward and take one, some of the fearless people like Katashi, Jotaro, and Hakuma go forward and claim theirs. When nothing happens to them, the rest of us soon follow suit.
"Now read the rules carefully, cause you don't wanna get Mukuro-ed, do you?" Monokuma asks and starts laughing. "Ah, memories." he looks up, almost like he's reminiscing.
We all ignore him and open our Electro ID to look at the rules.
Rule #1: Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.
Rule #2: "Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.
Rule #3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.
Rule #4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.
Rule #5: Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.
Rule #6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.
Rule #7: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.
Rule #8: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.
Rule #9: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.
Rule #10: Lending your e-Handbook to another student is strictly prohibited.
Rule #11: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "Killing Game."
Rule #12: Additional school regulations may be added if necessary.
The rules seem to be the same ones Makoto Naegi and the rest of Class 78th had. Nothing seems to suggest that this will be a different kind of Killing Game…so what is Monokuma talking about?
"Well I hope you're all familiar with the rules." Monokuma says after a while. "That should be everything for now."
"Wait, but what did you mean about solving things? And why suddenly change from that to a Killing Game?" Kite asks. "I'm so confused." he sighs.
"Yeah this is starting to get really annoying you stupid bear, what are you talking about and why are you like this?" Sachi speaks up, crossing her arms.
Soon again people were complaining and annoying Monokuma
"ALRIGHT THIS IS GETTING ANNOYING!" Monokuma screams. "I was going to be all nice and let you all go for the night but this is waaaaaaaaay too much!" he growls. "To show you kids that I am not kidding and to show you how serious this situation really is...upupupupupupu." Monokuma trails off and giggles darkly.
Not a second later does a beeping sound and a series of red flashes start coming out of our Electro IDs. The words 'YOUR TURN TO DIE VOTE' started flashing on the screen.
"I know I said we weren't doing 'Your Turn to Die' but this is to show you how serious this really is. Everyone will be voting for someone in this colorful cast of characters and whoever gets the most votes…" Monokuma grins, flashing his teeth. "Let's just say that they'll receive a little prize." he says and raises his paws threateningly.
What?
Vote?
Now?
This is real?
What is he talking about?
"What? Prize? Do we get to go home?" Kaguya asks in a quiet voice.
"NO!" Monokuma snaps. "Obviously whoever gets the highest number of votes will be punished! This is to stop you all from complaining and bringing up the past!" he cries. "This is not going to be a normal Killing Game." Monokuma repeats. "I will give you all three minutes to talk amongst yourselves and plead your cases. And to those people who think, 'Oh, I'm just not going to vote, teehee', not voting is considered voting for yourself. Upupupupu, your three minutes starts…NOW!"
No one is able to say anything. We all just stare at our Electro IDs. Voting for someone when they haven't even done anything...I block out the world.
Who would people choose? Who are the potential targets?
Jotaro Ienaga, one of the most physically strong guys in this group. People might see this as a chance to get rid of him.
Ryoji Yamauchi, a freshman that doesn't know anyone. He's the odd man out of this group.
Katashi Hitsugaya, a shady guy who is well known for keeping secrets.
Hakuma Kaneshiro, someone who everyone knows already has blood on his hands.
Sachiko Yoshifumi, someone who is not well liked by a lot of people.
And me, Tatsumi Endo, just an annoying paparazzi who has done nothing but know things about people.
"TIMES UP!" Monokuma's shout pulls me out of my thoughts.
Shit. I didn't get to vote.
I look at the girl who's been my partner in crime thus far and Sachi is angry.
Ahaha, hopefully I get a chance to talk to her about it later. I mean, I've been nice enough. I can be useful to everyone else - I know a lot of information. I shouldn't be voted out...right?
"Let's take a little looksy at your votes and see who the lucky winner is!"
We all look up when a TV screen starts descending from the ceiling.
Seconds later, the screen displays the results.
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Oh.
Tatsumi Endo - 7
Jotaro Ienaga - 5
Katashi Hitsugaya - 3
Hakuma Kaneshiro - 3
Mikasa Nishikawa - 1
Prologue END
A/N guess who's back
back again
with the ninth man
i am back
my back
pain
i am old