Chapter 1: Act 2: First Blood
Location: Classroom 1-C
Day: 1
Time: 1:00 PM
Group 1: (Makoto, Sayaka, Akira, Peko)
It had been a few hours since the entrance ceremony had been held. The 23 Students trapped within Hope's Peak Academy had been busy. While one group focused on preparing food for the others, everyone else searched the academy from top to bottom, hoping to find a way out. A clue, anything about what was going on. So far, that search had yielded no results. Akira had lost hope after the first classroom, but he had remained silent, not wanting to disappoint the others.
He had been rather attentive from the second he left the Gymnasium. As someone who was by all intents and purposes, normal, he was surrounded by greatness. The Ultimate students were people he had admired for a long time. He had wanted to be like them, yearned to be like them, forever. What had initially been a dream, was now anything but. Instead of being surrounded by the brightest teenagers in his generation, he was now surrounded by potentially dangerous people. He had to be extremely careful with how he did things.
Sure, he could trust the people around him, but at any point, they could elect to betray him. It was a Zero-Sum Game. At the moment, the Mastermind was the one that had the advantage, because he had all the cards in his hand while he had none. Information gathering was going to be key when it came to successfully surviving this predicament he found himself in. All the luck in the world wasn't going to save him.
In the time he had spent searching with the others, he had learned quite a lot of things. For one, Sayaka was very intuitive, she was going to be a potential danger if she went over the edge. She was the type to likely give in to her emotions, but with the right motivation, could become dangerous. He hoped that motivation didn't happen anytime soon. He got along well with her, and he'd hate to be betrayed by her.
Makoto was someone of interest to him, as a fellow Ultimate Lucky Student, he was gauging his responsiveness. He seemed very alert and lost himself in thought a lot. Likely wondering what the hell was going on and why an average Joe like him found himself in this predicament. He was unlikely to hurt anyone. Which left the final person in his group, Peko Pekoyama.
She was by far the most dangerous. He hadn't been able to glean anything from her. She had a stoic look on her face the entire time. Whenever she spoke, she was poignant, well spoken and kept her talking to a minimum. Though she had an average build and a shapely figure, he could tell she could strike at any moment. She carried a shinai around with her, but something told him there was a real katana inside it, and he wasn't keen on finding out. Keeping himself on her good side was a priority.
His little ragtag group of friends at least meshed well together. They hadn't argued much, and had spent some time getting to know each other, though he had been a bit quiet. Peko hardly spoke unless she was being addressed, and kept her answers relevant to the topic. He didn't know why, but it seemed as if she just wasn't ready to open up to anyone, and he didn't blame her. After all, there were 22 others in the same situation, and at any time, any one of them could strike. He needed to be careful.
"Searching these classrooms has gotten us nowhere. Every single one of them is sealed shut and all relevant information is gone. No lesson plans, no schedules, no planners, nothing. All of the textbooks seem to be brand new as well, they don't have a single name written on the cover. The desks are empty, and those odd messages on the blackboard don't make me feel welcome." he thought, glancing at the camera. It had been on a constant loop, scanning the classroom. He couldn't help but wonder who it was that was watching them. He let out a frown, sighing as he returned to reality.
"I don't think we're gonna find anything in this classroom, you guys," he said, sighing as he sat on top of the podium at the front of the room. He had a math textbook in his hand, one he had found in the back of the room. "Face it, whatever information would have been found here is gone. Bet you the bastard who trapped us here took it all."
"That makes a great deal of sense. No use in giving us a crumb trail on the first day," Peko said, closing her eyes for a moment. "Regardless of that, I find it rather interesting that they would do that at all. This is a well-thought-out and well-executed plan. That means this building must have been prepared beforehand."
"Prepared beforehand? But… When I got here, the school looked normal. I didn't see any plates on the outside either. It was just a normal school." Sayaka exclaimed. Makoto nodded in agreement.
"She's right. I stood out there for a good ten minutes before stepping into the Entrance Hall and I saw nothing. That big door wasn't there either." the brown-haired boy said, scratching his head. "I got here really early too. Around 7:25."
Akira dropped the textbook he had been holding, taken aback by Makoto's words. He slowly turned to face the boy, a firm look on his face. "Could you repeat that?"
"Uh… that I got here early?"
"No, the time. What time were you here?"
"7:25 AM. Orientation started at 8:00, I stood outside for a good 20 minutes and was in the entrance hall for around 5. I remember taking a step forward to explore the school before the meeting and then I just passed out."
The black-haired boy remained silent, lowering his sleeve for a moment to stare at his watch. He looked at the wall clock above the blackboard, seeing the time was accurate. He narrowed his eyes in thought, wracking his brain, recalling everything he had experienced that very morning.
"There's no way… I was at the entrance hall at the same time. If Makoto is telling the truth, we would have bumped into each other, but he wasn't there. What the hell?"
"Um… you gonna explain or are we just gonna stand here?" Sayaka asked, pulling the Ultimate Lucky Student from his thoughts. His lips curved downward, his eyes swirling with uncertainty as he looked at Makoto.
"I came to school early too. I stood outside the building for a while too and when I came in, it was also 7:25."
"Huh? Are you sure? If that's the case, wouldn't we have seen each other?" the brown-haired boy asked.
"My thoughts exactly. I am one hundred percent certain I was here at that time, and before anyone says my watch was wrong, it isn't. There's nothing I pride myself more on than having the correct time. It's… something you tend to take into account when you work so many jobs," he admitted.
"But… if it's true that you two got here at the same time, how could it be that you didn't see each other?" the Ultimate Pop-Sensation questioned, glancing away from the pair. "Could it be that you just missed each other?"
"No… That can't be it. Even if we had, I'm sure I would have remembered hearing someone behind me. I passed out the second I grabbed the door handle leading into the academy." Makoto said.
"Huh… so did I."
The pair remained silent, with Akira scratching his head. "O…kay… two strangers who have never met before experiencing the same thing at the same time. Because that sounds completely normal."
"Something is afoot here. Either Makoto and Akira are misremembering things, or somehow, they missed each other. But if we consider their accounts, it makes absolutely no sense." Peko said, adjusting her glasses as she gathered her thoughts. "This is something we might have to discuss in a group later."
"This is getting stranger and stranger. How deep do you think this goes?" Sayaka asked, a frightened look on her face. "God… do you think they could have been tracking us? Maybe Junko and Leon were onto something, and we all got kidnapped!"
"That… is certainly a possibility," Makoto said. The black-haired lad slowly exhaled as he adjusted his glasses. He had been frowning so much he was sure it was gonna stick.
"Just another damn mystery for us to solve. Maybe we should head to the dining hall? I'm sure the others are done with their exploration. We've scoured these classrooms from top to bottom and we didn't find a thing."
"Maybe we should. I'm a little tired and could use a drink." Sayaka said, still looking a bit frightened. Peko glanced around the room again for a moment before grasping the door handle, slowly opening the door.
"Let us go, we'll gather our information together and present it when the time is right," she said.
As the group started leaving the room, Akira glanced over his shoulder at the camera, noticing it was staring right at them. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, looking directly into it, hoping to at least intimidate whoever was watching. That failed the moment he bumped into a desk, causing him to trip over his own feet. He let out a surprised yelp, grabbing the flag at the front of the room, tearing it as he fell. Somehow, the pole bent with it, slamming into the bookshelf and as it tried returning to its original position, it bumped the top of the shelf, causing a book they hadn't seen to fall to the ground.
All of this was witnessed by the others, completely surprised. As Akira started getting up, he noticed the book that had fallen, seeing it was a teacher's planner, emblazoned with Hope's Peak Academy's logo on the front. He looked up at the others, confusion on his face.
"Dude… are you alright?" his fellow Lucky Student asked. Akira merely nodded.
"I'm fine but… what the hell was that?"
"I am not sure myself, but it seems as though your luck happened to help you," Peko said, gesturing to the book in his grasp. "None of us would have noticed that unless you tripped. What an interesting turn of events."
"So that's Ultimate Luck huh? Here I was thinking luck was something entirely different. Hey, Makoto, does your luck work that way too?" Sayaka asked, almost excited as she looked at the normal-looking boy.
"Um… I'm not really sure? I mean… I did catch a thief with a soup can once so maybe it works that way."
"Putting that aside, it looks like this thing is a Teacher's Planner. Whoever taught this class probably left it behind." the spectacled teen noted, turning the cover to the first page. "Property of Chisa Yukizome, if found, please return to Classroom 1-C. Huh… wait, it's a full class list."
As he pulled the paper out, he saw a bunch of familiar names on it. "Akane Owari, Nekomaru Nidai, Nagito Komaeda, Hiyoko Saionji, Kazuichi Souda, Peko Pekoyama… this list… I guess this was going to be your classroom. There are some familiar names here but… there are also names of people I've never met."
"May I see that?" Peko asked. Akira held it out to her, allowing her to read it. She flipped through the pages for a moment, narrowing her eyes. "These notes are extremely well-detailed. There are lesson plans and completed and graded assignments. There aren't any dates though."
"How can that be? It's our first day here, how would you all have completed and graded assignments?" Sayaka questioned, twirling a strand of hair around her fingertip. "It has to be a mistake, right?"
"They're probably trying to mislead us or something," Makoto said, narrowing his eyes in thought as he replayed what had just happened in his head. "It's possible this book was left intentionally for us to find. Though we wouldn't have found it without Akira, that's for sure. It belongs to a teacher here, so the information has to be accurate, right?"
"I'm not certain. We'll have to take things with a grain of salt. Still, this is an excellent find. At least now we know who our teacher was going to be. I do wonder what happened to her." Peko said, handing the planner back to Akira. "Let's go, the others must be waiting for us."
Makoto and Peko left the room shortly after. Akira remained still, staring at the planner in his grasp. Sayaka looked at him, slightly concerned. "Are you okay?"
"I just have a lot more questions than I did before. That's all."
"Yeah… I think that's all of us right now," she said, looking at the book in his grasp. "Do you think it's real?"
"What do you think? You're pretty intuitive right? Would the Mastermind leave something like this out in the open and not have it be real?"
"Um… Well…?"
He shook his head, frowning. "Don't worry about it, go, I'll catch up."
She didn't say anything, merely nodding, giving him a small smile and a wave. Akira moved back toward the podium, sitting on top of it. He flipped the book open, looking through the other pages. There were a lot of detailed plans on it. Notes about projects and due dates, even school trips. The handwriting was small and neat, it reflected the type of person who wrote it down. There were no scratched-out sentences, and each character was drawn perfectly. Whoever this Chisa Yukizome person was, she was very well-learned. As he made it to the final pages, there was something that stood out to him.
"I'm starting to grow worried. Something is going on and it is rapidly growing out of control. The students are protesting but they're just calling it a "Parade" but the [Redacted] of those [Redacted] was so terrible. I have to speak with Headmaster [Redacted] and see if there's something, anything, we can do."
"What the hell…?" he muttered. He read the passage again, noticing how parts were just completely blacked out. As if someone had gone over it with a fine-point marker and had blacked it out. He turned the page over, finding it had covered both sides entirely. He flipped through some of the other pages, noticing several other notes had been black-barred too.
"How did Peko not see this? Did she only skim it? Or did she just not see it?" he thought as he reached the final page. There was a long letter, but the entire page had been completely blacked out. Every single sentence was covered in black ink. The only thing that was still legible was the teacher's signature at the bottom. "What the fuck is this?"
"Have you found anything of interest?"
He jumped a bit, almost falling when he saw Kyoko standing in front of him. The violet-haired girl had seemingly appeared out of thin air. He hadn't her and he most definitely hadn't heard her. He cleared his throat, taking a deep calming breath. "You know, you shouldn't surprise people like that."
"I've been standing here for the last four minutes."
"Oh."
"Have you found anything of interest?" she questioned again, gesturing to the book in his grasp. He didn't hesitate, handing it to her. She took her time, reading every single page that had writing on it, even the doodles and notes that did not pertain to anything. When she got to the back, she looked at it with great interest, nodding to herself. "Interesting."
"That's it? Just interesting?"
"I don't have much to say about it."
This was a woman Akira had no idea how to interact with. She had been rather hostile to him when he introduced himself to her. Yet she also seemed to be the most grounded of everyone. The stoic look on her face rivaled the likes of Peko and Celeste, yet he could also see a hint of something in her eyes. It wasn't fear, and it wasn't terror. There was something there, but he didn't know what to name it. She went back to the beginning of the planner, reading everything a second time before closing it.
"What do you think this "Parade" is?"
"I'm not sure. Whatever it turned out to be, this teacher was clearly frightened. Seemed as if something was getting out of hand."
"Hm…"
He stayed quiet for a moment, lips pressed together in a thin line. He steeled his nerves after a moment, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Did you find anything?"
She looked up from the planner for a moment, locking eyes with him. He nervously looked back, wondering what it was she was looking for. She reached into her blazer pocket for a moment, handing him a folded piece of paper.
Unfolding it, he looked at its contents. It looked like a layout, a map. Looking at the top, he noticed the words "Hope's Peak Academy F1" on it. He saw all of the rooms on it, an arrow leading to the "Entrance Hall" along with detailed notes on the corridors. The Nurse's Office, Bathrooms, and Gym were listed. In the other direction, the School Store, A/V Room, and Classrooms were visible, it even showed the layout of the Dormitory area.
There was one thing that stood out to him though, there was no mention of the red double doors that he had spotted at the end of the hall. His brows furrowed a bit in confusion. "This is a map of the first floor but… it's missing those red doors."
"I noticed that too… seems like it was a very recent addition to the school building. This map does confirm one thing, this is in fact, Hope's Peak Academy. We weren't taken to some other place and left there."
"An enigma on top of a question, surrounded by riddles." he merely said, handing her the map back. "Christ, it feels like we've been here for weeks even though it's only been a few hours."
"And we're going to be here for quite a long time," she said, closing the planner. "Would you mind if I kept this?"
"Go for it, I already read what was on it. As long as you bring it to the meeting later on."
"Sure, that was my plan regardless." the woman said. He brushed past her for a moment, only for her to stop him. "You seem a bit different than the others, you've been paying a lot of attention to your surroundings, haven't you? The moment you introduced yourself to me, I had this feeling about you."
"Really?"
"Call it intuition I guess. Whatever is going on here, something tells me you'll be a key player in it."
"Why do you say that?" Akira asked, slightly confused. She quirked a brow.
"You tripped over your own feet, tore a flag, and discovered this planner when the pole straightened out and knocked it down," she noted, making the boy cringe.
"I think that was just bad luck."
"If you say so." she returned, walking past him. She watched her for a moment, seeing as she disappeared back into the academy. He had a lot more questions about her now, but he was far too tired to think about anything other than taking a break. Despite that, he needed to gather his thoughts together.
"I gotta get a notebook or something. There's a lot of stuff I need to jot down, especially what I discovered with Makoto and this stuff about whatever Parade was going on. Whatever is going on here, it is going to take me a while to unravel. I just hope no one does anything stupid."
xxx
Hotel Despair was a very spacious area. It was wide and open, even the corridors were very big. Akira's preliminary examination had him find the major areas rather quickly. The dining hall was where most people were currently hanging out. Only a few groups were there, chatting over the snacks that Teruteru had been periodically serving. Others were still exploring the Academy, so he didn't know where everyone was.
There was a laundry room, filled with industrial-sized washers and dryers, along with a detergent dispenser. It seemed as though the Mastermind had prepared extra facilities for them. There were dormitories prepared for them as well. He noticed there were 16 dorms, some shared by two people. He also found out he was going to be rooming with the Ultimate Pop-Sensation.
He honestly didn't know how to feel about that. If they were supposed to stay in these rooms for a long period, why would they make some of them co-ed? He noticed very few of them were co-ed while others were separated by gender. The keys were still in the place, so that meant Sayaka hadn't examined the room yet. He sighed, taking a hold of both keys, pocketing Sayaka's while he opened the door with his own.
Akira looked around for a moment as the door behind him closed. "Well, as dorm rooms go… this isn't that bad. But still… the fact they went ahead and prepared these for us… they've been planning for us to stay here for the long haul. I don't know how I feel about that."
The young man walked forward, spotting his backpack on top of the circular table at the center of the room. There was a light floral scent in the room as well, it was almost as if it had been lived in. He searched the dresser, finding clothes inside. Several identical copies of the clothes he was currently wearing. There was also a stack of Hope's Peak T-shirts and basketball shorts, along with a track jacket. He frowned.
"Fantastic, I only got two choices for outfits. Casual and School Rep, thank you, Mastermind. I really appreciate it." he sarcastically thought, grabbing a hold of his backpack. He opened it, finding almost nothing inside it. Nothing but the school materials he had found. He didn't find his laptop or his tablet. There was only one other thing in there, his 3DS XL and all of his DS games. Nothing more.
Checking the other pockets, something brushed against his fingertips, causing him to fully open the pocket. He spotted an envelope resting inside his backpack. "Oh… is this where my admittance letter went? Well, I guess that doesn't matter now given the circumstances."
He flipped the envelope over, expecting to see the image of Monokuma printed on it. Frowning, he slipped his finger under the wax seal, cracking it. Opening the flap, he saw crimson words written on it.
"For your eyes only."
Akira could feel a chill going down his spine the second he read those words. He didn't know why, but the hair on his neck was standing on end. It was that feeling again, that feeling of abject terror that had gripped him earlier that day. He grabbed the contents of the envelope and pulled it out, noticing it was a red, black, and white ticket.
"Congratulations! You have been randomly selected for a beary special reason. Surely you've realized what is going on here. You can't trust your fellow classmates, can you? Would you like a free get-out-of-jail card? Here you have a special ticket! As you know, in order to Graduate, you need to kill someone without getting caught. But this ticket gives you immunity! For the next 24 hours, you'll be able to kill anyone you like and walk out of here scot-free! But you have to act quickly, if you run out of time and kill someone, this ticket won't save you. Remember, keep it secret, keep it safe~
This ticket can only be cashed by Akira Yoshikawa."
The raven-haired boy read the words on the ticket over and over again, gritting his teeth as realization washed over him. "Shit… what the hell is this? This bastard actually wants me to…"
Stuffing the ticket into the envelope, he folded it in half, sticking it in his back pocket, making sure no part of it was sticking out. "I'm keeping this one to myself. If I can get rid of this discreetly, I will. The last thing I need is to be caught with this thing."
Nodding to himself, he made sure he had his key with him before leaving the dorm room. He had a myriad of thoughts in his mind. Mostly revolving around the ticket he had found inside his backpack. He hoped he was the only one that had gotten it. He never believed in luck, but now he was definitely banking on his. The last thing he needed was someone using this ticket for whatever Monokuma wanted.
Location: Dining Hall
Day: 1
Time: 6:00 PM
The hours seemed to fly by for Akira. After inspecting his dorm, he decided to head to the dining hall. Their group had split up, with Makoto and Sayaka being the only ones who had remained together. Peko had gone off on her own, leaning against one of the back walls, silently watching everyone. He had looked around at everyone, noticing similar expressions on most of them, while others looked relaxed. Kazuichi had been speaking to Hajime about something, though it was likely due to him being near Sonia. He could tell the pink-haired lad found her attractive, though Sonia was clearly not into him. She had a smile on her face but her eyes spoke for her.
The Ultimate Lucky Student had remained mostly by himself. He had managed to get his hands on a blank notebook and had been writing in it. He only wrote down things that made no sense to him. The metal plates, waking up inside the academy, whatever this "Parade" was, and of course, the fact he and Makoto had arrived at the same time and hadn't spotted each other. He kept things neat, listed with bullet points so he wouldn't forget. After he finished, he reread his notes, trying to understand what any of it meant, but arrived at nothing.
"Alright, now that I got my thoughts in order, I might be able to figure out a bit of what's going on here. I'll have to take notes from here on out and make sure I have everything up to date." he thought to himself, feeling himself frown. "I may as well change my title to Ultimate Detective now."
A loud clap filled the room, causing everyone to stop talking. Kiyotaka had been standing near the center of it, giving everyone a nod as he started to speak. "Alright, I think it's about time we began this meeting. As you all know, we decided to split up and search the school grounds. We should share our findings to see if anyone found anything of interest."
"How do we do this? Group by Group?" the Ultimate Baseball Star questioned.
"I believe that works, whoever wants to begin has the floor."
"We'll start," Hajime said, rising to his feet. "Sonia, Junko, Ibuki, and Mahiru were with me when we explored the dormitory area. We made a few discoveries, for one, there are 16 dormitories located here. All of them have been divided, so we'll all have roommates. Furthermore, some rooms are co-ed."
"There's a set of stairs leading up to what seems to be a second floor. Sadly, there's a grate blocking our access there, so I doubt we'll be seeing it soon." the fashionista said, a look of disappointment on his face.
"Oh! Ibuki discovered something as well!" the musician said, holding her hand up. "She discovered every dorm was soundproof!"
"How'd you discover that?" Hikari asked, earning a grin from the girl.
"I belted a song of course! I found my microphone in my dorm so I couldn't help myself. Mahiru was outside and didn't hear a thing. We decided to test it out in her dorm since I have super sensitive hearing, and I didn't hear anything either."
"It's quite concerning, someone could need help next door and you wouldn't know about it." the photographer said, frowning. "At least there is one comforting thing. All of the locks have been made to be anti-tamper proof, so they can't be broken or picked. And the dorms that belong to the girls have locking bathrooms."
"There's a trash room, a laundry room, and a bathhouse, but currently, the bathhouse seems to be out of order. There's also a storage room near the stairs leading up but it was also locked. We weren't able to discover much else." the blonde-haired princess added dejectedly.
"This is quite the discovery, though something is concerning." the Ultimate Moral Compass said, glancing around the room for a moment. "You said some rooms were co-ed, correct?"
"That's right. As it stands, it seems four dormitories are co-ed. Sonia is my roommate, we noticed Akira and Sayaka are sharing a room as well. Ibuki's rooming with Chihiro and Junko's with Hina."
"Wait what? Two boys are rooming with girls?" Hiyoko cried, taken aback.
"That's totally immortal!"
"That's not fair, why couldn't I have been in Hajime's place?" the Ultimate Mechanic asked, clutching his head. He didn't notice the glare the blonde-haired princess was giving him.
"You are exactly the reason why dorms shouldn't be co-ed," Hiro said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Worry not, they aren't going to be sharing a room together at all. We will just rearrange everything so that the boys and girls are separated by gender. We will not have that kind of sleeping arrangement in this school environment."
"I hate to piss in your cornflakes but that ain't happening," Junko said, causing the black-haired boy to look at her.
"Why do you say that?"
She paused between bites of food, reaching into her shirt for her e-Handbook. She pulled up the regulations, holding it out. "Rule 3: Students aren't allowed to sleep anywhere but their assigned dorm. So if you rearrange things, you'll end up killing all of us. Like it or not, those four pairs will have to room together."
"Don't worry, Sonia, Sayaka, if Akira and Hajime get fresh with either of you, let me know, and I'll set them straight," Mondo said, punching his fist repeatedly.
"As will I. I do not take kindly to men who get fresh with women," Peko added. Hajime looked visibly shaken, looking away from the biker, chuckling nervously. Akira was far different, lips pursed slightly.
"You've nothing to worry about. I shared a room with my sister for most of my life so I have experience with that sort of thing. I'm ready to set boundaries with Sayaka as well as bathroom times so we don't interfere with each other. I'm even willing to spend the entire day out of the room to give her privacy if she needs it."
"I appreciate that, Akira, but it'll be your room too, I'm not gonna ban you from it." the blue-haired girl said with a smile. He gave her a nod, returning to his notebook, jotting some brief notes down.
"That's basically all we have to report," Hajime said.
"Thank you, Classmate Hajime. Let's move on to another group."
"We'll go," Leon said, rising to his feet. "Mondo, Mikan, Hina, and I decided to go back to the Entrance Hall, to see if we missed anything. Mondo tried to open the door, but he wasn't able to. Dude spent a good 30 minutes kicking the shit out of it but it didn't budge."
"Yeah… the thing is made of some seriously durable stuff."
"Metal," Celeste said, making the man look at her. She sipped at her tea, not even looking up at him. "It's made of metal, of course, it's going to hold its shape. I doubt kicking it is going to get it to open."
"Tch… I know that now."
"I looked through all of the d-documents pinned to the bulletin board. But I wasn't able to f-find anything of interest." Mikan said, glancing down in disappointment. "The only thing that I did notice was that none of them had any dates."
"She's right, I looked at some myself. All of them were advertising clubs, sports, and other school events, but no dates. It was really weird!" the Ultimate Swimmer said, pursing her lips as she gathered her thoughts. Her face lit up, a smile flashing across. "Ah! The school store was open too, there's this funky gachapon machine made by Monokuma. He said he's prepared coins for all of us. He also said there was a prize in it that could help us."
"Did he tell you what it was?" Fuyuhiko questioned. The brunette swimmer shook her head. He rolled his eyes. "Then it's useless to us. I for one am not gonna waste my time playing a stupid kid's game."
"Hm… did you find anything else of importance?" the Ultimate Moral-Compass asked, trying to steer the conversation back on course. The group shook their heads.
"Nothing of particular note."
"Ah… The only thing that stuck out was the Nurse's Office. It's on the first floor but it's currently locked up. I don't have my medical bag, so please, try not to get hurt. I won't be able to help you without the proper medical equipment." the violet-haired nurse said.
"Ha, even if I did hurt myself, I wouldn't go get medical attention from someone as gross as you." Hiyoko snapped.
"Do you have anything nice to say? Or do you just love hearing yourself speak?" Akira growled, glaring at the blonde. "Seriously, if you don't have anything nice to say, keep your damn mouth shut."
"Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you are speaking to me that way? Huh?"
"I'll talk to you the way you deserve to be talked to, you damn brat!"
"Classmate Akira, Classmate Hiyoko, cease this at once! We are here to work together, not to insult each other. Please comport yourselves." Kiyotaka said in a boisterous and authoritative tone. Akira held the boy's gaze for a moment before looking away, shaking his head. "Would anyone else care to take the floor?"
"I suppose I will," Byakuya said, causing the entire room to look at him. "I did an initial scan through the entirety of the first floor. I was trying to find some sort of clue as to the one behind all of this, but sadly, there is nothing of note."
The room remained silent, not knowing what to say. Makoto set his glass down, tilting his head a bit. "Is that it?"
"If I had uncovered anything, naturally, I'd have more to share, but I didn't, so I don't."
"Huh… that's fair."
"Well, in that vein you and I are extremely similar." Fuyuhiko cut in. He shook his head, sighing. "Well, I'm like those two, I didn't find shit. I returned here after an hour."
"Hm… that only leaves a few of us then. Celeste, you and your group were in the gymnasium, yes?" Kiyotaka asked, earning a nod from the gambler.
"That is correct. The four of us achieved nothing… or rather we really didn't do much of anything. We remained at the gymnasium."
"Wait… you mean you guys stayed at the gym while the rest of us looked around the school?!" Hina asked, a look of annoyance on her face.
"I'm not a detective, what the hell did you think I would find?" Hiyoko responded, not meeting the swimmer's eyes. "Besides, we did discover something. The Gymnasium doors are all welded shut. The shutters that led to what we assume are outdoor fields are reinforced. There's no way to open them."
"That's disappointing. If there was one way out of here, it definitely would have been the gym. Those shutters look thin enough to cut through with the right tools." Hikari said, hand on his cheek as he looked around. "That was likely our shot at freedom."
"Even if those shutters weren't reinforced, we'd likely need a blow torch or something to cut through the metal. You can't just stab holes into it and use a hacksaw." Kazuichi said, shaking his head. "I'd probably be able to make a hole in one with the right tools."
"I'd advise against that. Leaving school property is against the rules. Even with the proper tools, we'd likely be killed for attempting it." Celeste said, finishing the last of her tea.
"Back to square one." Makoto returned, leaning back in his seat. "This really is a predicament we find ourselves in."
"Hm… indeed it is. Hikari, we've yet to hear from your group, you had the kitchen, right?" Kiyotaka asked, earning a nod from the Graphic Designer.
"That's correct. We found lots of fresh food in the kitchen, along with state-of-the-art appliances. The fridges are fully stocked as well, so food and water aren't going to be an issue. Sadly, there were no signs of an exit within the kitchen. There is a door that leads outside, likely for food deliveries, but it's also welded shut."
"There's no need to worry about running out of food either, Monokuma told us it would get replaced as we used it," Kazuichi said, taking the others by surprise.
"You spoke with him?" Sayaka asked. The mechanic nodded. Chihiro decided to speak, nervously looking around.
"I-it was because of a question I asked. We were talking about the amount of food and rationing it. Monokuma told us that it would get replaced every day depending on what we ate. He also told us he had a nearly limitless budget."
"Interesting… that means there has to be a way out through there. Especially if we're getting more food delivered," Junko said, glancing at Hikari. "That door was tightly closed?"
"Mhmm… Welded shut and with metal plating over it. There might be a way to open it, but that'd involve tools, and it would violate a rule." the designer said, frowning. "Sorry, everyone."
"Hey, don't worry about it. At least we know we aren't going to die of starvation here," Leon said, giving the boy a grin. "Well, that only leaves Makoto's group, what'd you guys find?"
"Well, Sayaka, Peko, and Akira were with me. We searched through the classrooms but we didn't find much of anything. Everything was neat and tidy, there weren't any important documents either."
"I did make one discovery, the metal plates sealing the windows are made with industrial strength tungsten. They're triple-plated, meaning it would likely resist the blast of high artillery. Even an anti-tank rifle would have trouble piercing that. We are definitely not getting out of here through the windows." Peko said firmly.
"Why can't we just unscrew them?" Chihiro asked, causing the mechanic to sigh.
"We could if we had the proper tools. But again, that'd be breaking the rules." the Ultimate Mechanic returned.
The room fell quiet for a moment, not knowing what to say. As he finished jotting his notes down, Akira spoke up, standing next to Makoto. "We did make a relevant discovery. In Classroom 1-C, we discovered a teacher's planner. It belonged to someone named Chisa Yukizome, and as it turned out, it was likely that she was going to be Class 77-B's homeroom teacher. The names of half of the students were written inside it."
"I can confirm this, I myself looked at the lesson plans. My name, along with Hiyoko, Mahiru, Sonia, Kazuichi, Ibuki, Fuyuhiko, and Mikan. There were a few other names as well, names of people that aren't present with us. The only name we weren't able to find was Hajime's, but there was one name that was blacked out, so I assume it's his." the Ultimate Swordswoman said.
"Did you make any other discoveries? This is monumental news!" Kiyotaka said. Peko glanced at Akira, who remained silent for a moment, glancing at his notes.
"Miss Yukizome left a lot of details in that planner. Completed lesson plans, graded projects, and several other things for Class 77. Peko and Kazuichi don't seem to remember any of this, and it's rather odd since it's our first day. But one thing stood out to me near the end." he said, grabbing his notebook. "Something happened at the academy, but a lot of it was blacked out. There was a protest and some sort of Parade. But the details of those were, sadly, redacted. There was one long letter at the end, but it was all blacked out as well. The only legible thing left behind was the teacher's signature."
"Do you still have the planner? I'd like to see it myself. I can't trust a single thing any of you say, but if it's written down, then I'll be able to verify it." Fuyuhiko said. He closed his notebook, shaking his head.
"I handed it to Kyoko, she wanted to read its contents. She has it," he said, glancing around the room, only to notice she wasn't present. "Wait… where is Kyoko? Has anyone seen her?"
"Not since the ceremony. Oh… hopefully something ill-fitting hasn't happened to her." Mikan worriedly replied.
"Come on now, let's not get morbid," Leon said, shakily looking around. "She's around here somewhere, right?"
"We can discuss that later. What we have to talk about is much more important, the fact that these bastards prepared rooms for all of us." Mondo said, crossing his arms. "They're planning on making us spend the night."
"W-will we have to stay here?" Chihiro spoke, nervously looking around the room. "I would have thought they'd have let us out by now."
"They're gonna let the joke run its course. They're probably in for the long haul!" Hiro said with a laugh. "There's no need to worry, guys! We'll be fine."
"You're still on that?" Junko called out.
"What a dumbass, he's probably gonna die first," Hiyoko noted, reaching into her kimono for a bag of gummies. "I mean, clearly you must have been dropped on your head if you still believe this is a joke."
"Hiyoko come on, don't be rude," Mahiru said, causing the girl to sigh.
"I'm sorry, Mahiru, I'm just annoyed is all."
"It's better to have a place to stay than not have them," Hajime said firmly. Kiyotaka nodded in agreement.
"He's right. Having a place where we can rest and recuperate will do us good. Still, we must be careful and attentive. Especially within the co-ed dormitories."
"At least we've got a place to sleep. It isn't ideal but hell it's better than the alternative. We'll be able to sleep comfortably for weeks if we need to." Kazuichi said, cheerfully. "Maybe staying here won't be such a bad thing."
"Like hell it is! I wanna get fuck outta here as soon as possible!" The biker cried out.
"Same here!"
"Me too!"
"Seems like you are all having a fun time carrying on." a voice called out, sending the cafeteria into silence. Kyoko Kirigiri strode in, her eyes scanning the room in front of her. "Do you think you can afford to? Have you all accepted the current circumstances?"
"Kyoko! You are late, young lady! What do you have to say for yourself?" Kiyotaka barked, pointing an accusatory finger at the violet-haired girl. She merely looked at him, the neutral expression on her face remaining.
She said nothing, instead, she placed a pair of items on the table, the planner Akira had mentioned before, and the first-floor map. Makoto looked at both of them, but seemed more interested in the paper.
"Huh… what's this?"
"It's a map of Hope's Peak Academy. The reason I took my time to get here was because I was exploring the academy. This map and where we are located match up almost perfectly. Save for the… recent renovations, everything is accurate."
"Renovations… oh you mean the metal plates right?" Hina asked.
"The metal plates and those red doors at the end of the hall," Akira said, looking at the map again, tracing each line and word with his eyes. "She showed me this earlier when I handed her the planner. The thing that stuck out to me the most were those doors, but I have no idea where they led."
"Maybe the Mastermind behind this is secretly hiding there?" Kazuichi asked.
"I certainly doubt that. They must be in a place where they can watch all of us. Every square inch of this academy is covered in surveillance cameras. I don't believe a room like that would be easy to just add into an existing building," Peko responded.
"So that's it then… we really are within Hope's Peak." the princess said softly.
"Where did you find this map?"
"It doesn't matter where I found it," she replied, rather defensively.
"Uh… yes it does."
"Guys, the fact that she found a map doesn't matter, what does matter is this confirms a lot of questions," Akira said, taking a hold of the planner. He flipped through to the last pages, showing them what he had found before. "This is what I was talking about earlier."
They gathered in front of the planner to read it. Mondo clenched his fist as he backed away, shaking his head. "The hell is this shit man? This is the government-funded school where the elites are supposed to study?"
"It also means we weren't kidnapped or taken to some other place. We are where we thought we were." Chihiro noted.
"Ibuki's confused though! Why did they do all of this? It can't be just a prank, can it?"
"You tell me, would you renovate an entire academy for a practical joke?" Kyoko questioned, glancing away from the group. "Regardless of what is going on, the fact of the matter is all 23 of us are going to be here for a while. We don't have enough information to go on, so we can't come to any conclusions yet."
"But… if this really is Hope's Peak… then what happened to all the other students? Are we really it?" Hina asked curiously.
"Hey… let's just… not think about all of this negative stuff, alright?" the clairvoyant said.
"I have no idea how you could be so goddamned nonchalant about this," Fuyuhiko said, taking the planner from the table, flipping to the front. "Don't you get it, dude? We're all stuck here and in danger, and you just wanna chill out?"
"Well yeah, man! It's like I've been constantly saying, this is all just one big elaborate setup. Won't be long until we get the wool pulled out from under us. Man, If I got stressed about every little thing, I'd hardly be able to sleep!"
"Pfft… hahahaha~"
Mikan shuddered a bit as she glanced at the Ultimate Gambler. "Um… why are you laughing?"
"I'm just very happy, that's all," she said, smiling. "It seems splitting up was a great idea after all."
"Tsk… Weren't you paying attention? It was a waste of damn time, we didn't find shit." the Ultimate Biker said, arms crossed in annoyance. "We aren't getting out of here tonight."
Celeste's face fell almost instantly, her expression becoming serious all of a sudden. "Is it not crystal clear to you what is going on here? It's clear that all of us have been imprisoned here against our will with no way out."
No one had an answer to that. The gravity of the situation started to fall on some of the others. For Akira, it was something he had already accepted, but he could see the expressions around the room. Some were of worry, others of fear, and some were nonchalant. None of them wanted to accept this reality, but there was no choice but to accept it.
"You didn't have to say it like that," Hina said quietly.
"We're all trapped here with no way out… What are we supposed to do?" Mikan exclaimed, seconds away from a total breakdown. Byakuya's laugh cut through the room. He adjusted his glasses, an arrogant look on his face.
"It's quite simple really. If you wish to leave Hope's Peak Academy, then you have to kill someone."
"Don't even joke about that!" Junko shouted.
"Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?!" the traditional dancer cried. She tried to put on a brave face but she was shaking in fear.
"Everyone please, we must remain calm. I understand this is a very serious situation, but we need to work together if we wish to leave." Sonia said. Celeste giggled, folding her hands beneath her chin.
"All we have to do is adapt. Adapt to our predicament and adapt to living the rest of our lives here."
"Hell no, I got shit out there!" Mondo exclaimed, glaring at the gambler. "If you wanna stay here, more power to you, but I ain't gonna give up!"
"He's right, we can't just accept this," Chihiro said, teary-eyed at the thought of living at the academy.
"A lack of adaptability is a lack of survivability. Survival is not based on who is smart or who is strong. It is based on who can adapt. You have to be able to adapt to any situation. Improvise, Adapt, Overcome."
"There it is again! That is definitely a Bear Grylls quote!" Ibuki said, only to be ignored by the Ultimate Gambler. Fuyuhiko lowered his glass from his lips, wiping them with his sleeve.
"So, when do we start drinking our own piss to survive?"
Sayaka choked on her water, spitting it all over Leon who had the displeasure of being right next to her. She coughed loudly, between bursts of laughter. She reached for some napkins to wipe her mouth, giving the boy an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, Leon, I didn't mean it."
"It's fine, Sayaka. I'm sure someone out there would be ecstatic to have experienced that, hehe." he dejectedly said. She passed him a few napkins which he started using to clean himself.
Hikari clapped his hands, a bright smile on his face as he stood at the center of the room. "Everyone! I know that we are in a precarious situation, but Sonia has a point. Right now, I believe the best thing we can do is get to know each other. Let us foster bonds of friendship, that way, we can take killing off the table."
"I have another suggestion," the gambler said, once again getting everyone's attention. She held her e-handbook out, Rule Number 2 being present. "We all understand that we are trapped here, correct? That means we're going to be spending the night. However, you all remember the rule regarding nighttime, correct?"
"You mean the rule regarding nighttime?" Makoto asked, earning a nod from the girl.
"That's right, I'd like to impose another rule. We should ban going out at night altogether, that would put everyone at ease. None of us would be able to relax if we constantly thought about someone trying to break into our rooms."
"So you are suggesting we keep our activities at night to a minimum for our own protection?" The Ultimate Swordswoman asked.
"That's right. It will help us all to relax and adapt to our situation," she replied, pocketing her e-handbook. "Of course, this is a rule that we won't be able to enforce. We just have to trust that everyone will follow it."
"I think I get it. It might be a bit out of line, but it's what we need in order to not self-destruct. As expected of an Ultimate." Junko said, a look of understanding on her face. Kiyotaka nodded, glancing around the room for a moment.
"On behalf of all men, I agree to comply."
"Hey man, you can't just vote for us." the baseball star snapped, glaring at the boy.
"So, is everyone in agreement?" the gambler asked. It was silent for a moment, but it didn't seem as if anyone disagreed. "Excellent, now, if you'd excuse me."
"Hey wait, where are you going?" Mahiru asked, causing the ravenette to look at her, giving her a small smile.
"Well, it's almost nighttime, isn't it? I'd like to take a shower before the water is shut off. If that's all, then I'll be taking my leave."
With that, she left the dining hall. She was followed by Byakuya, who left without saying a word. Kiyotaka sighed, crossing his arms in slight disappointment. The Ultimate Gangster clicked his tongue, shaking his head.
"Adaptability, huh?" he said, rolling his eyes. "What a load of bullshit."
"She talked a lot of nonsense but… I guess I can see what she's getting at. We just have to get used to things here, right?" Hiyoko asked.
"It's like I've been saying, let's just chill out and wait for everything to blow over," Hiro said, finishing the last of his soda.
"What do you say, Mr. Chairman? Two people have already left." the fashionista said. The Ultimate Moral Compass bowed his head slightly, sighing.
"Well, I suppose we can call this meeting adjourned. There isn't much to discuss anyway. It's getting close to nighttime, so we should all start getting ready for that."
"Spending the night here, huh? What a pain in the ass." the biker said, slowly leaving the room.
Akira decided not to stick around, sliding his notebook into his inner pocket, making sure his pen was capped. He rose to his feet, gathering all of his dirty dishes, placing them neatly in the nearby cart. Monokuma had apparently assured them that all of their dinnerware would be taken care of overnight, so he wasn't going to worry.
"Well, now that the meeting is over, I can focus on getting rid of this damn ticket. I need to find a pair of scissors or something." he thought, narrowing his eyes for a moment. "Wait… of course, the girl's got sewing kits, I bet those have scissors. I'll just wait until Sayaka is in the shower to use hers. I doubt she'd even notice."
"Hey, Akira? Do you think we could talk for a bit?"
Pulled out of his thoughts, he glanced up at Sayaka, who had a firm look on her face. "You can go ahead and shower first if you want."
"Huh? How'd you know that was what I was going to talk to you about?"
"Because I'm psychic."
She gasped, breaking into giggles. "No, you aren't."
"You got me," he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. She rolled her eyes.
"Are you sure I can shower first? I usually take a bit of time since I got a bit of a routine for my hair," she said.
"It's fine, you can take your time. I'm not exactly in a hurry, and I can always shower in the morning if I need to. That's not really an issue." he admitted, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked. "What about private time? I'm alright with staying out of the room during the day if you need me to."
"But that isn't fair to you. I don't mind hanging out in the room, we might be strangers but I feel like I can trust you. Besides, what if you want to take a nap during the day or something?" the idol asked, making him purse his lips.
"I'll just go to the big stall in the boy's bathroom. There's no cameras in there, how would the bear know if I was sleeping in there?"
"Who sleeps on a toilet though? That's really bad for your posture."
"I was joking. Hm… though I guess if you are alright with it, I'm alright with it. But-" he paused, glancing at his watch for a moment. "Here's how we'll do it. We each get an hour of shower time, during that hour, we'll leave the room. That way, we're not in the room when we're changing clothes or something. If we need to come in early for whatever reason, we'll ring the doorbell twice. Of course, there's no way for us to reply since the room itself is soundproof, so we'll wait three minutes before entering the room. How does that sound?"
"That works for me, what about shower times?"
"How about 8 o'clock? You take a shower at night and I'll take one during the day. Twelve hours apart. That way there's no overcrossing."
"Okay, that works perfectly. It's almost 8, so I'm gonna go ahead," she said.
"Excellent, I'm just gonna grab my backpack. I'm interested in that MonoMono Machine thing and I don't feel like carrying whatever I get out of it." the black-haired boy said. The pair entered the room shortly after. Sayaka took a bit of time to familiarize herself with everything, with Akira explaining where everything was.
"It's kind of weird knowing the one responsible made identical sets of clothes for us." the idol said, glancing at the clothes in her dresser. It was all the same, identical clothes to the ones she was wearing. "Damn… I wonder what they did with my suitcase, I had a lot of cute clothes in there."
"You're telling me, I had some other things in mine. My laptop, my tablet, my fucking PSP, god I am so annoyed. I'd love to kill some time with Persona 3." the Ultimate Lucky Student said, crossing his arms in annoyance. "You'd think they'd at least leave our damn clothes in the room."
"Maybe it's all a part of the Mastermind's plan?" she questioned, earning a shrug from the boy. She checked her bed for a moment, squeezing her pillow, a look of disappointment on her face. "Great, it's a cotton pillow, that's gonna kill my neck."
"Oh the humanity~" he sarcastically replied, earning a glare from the popstar.
"Shush."
Holding back the urge to laugh, he grabbed his backpack, stuffing his room key into his pocket as he did so. "Well, I'm about to take off. See you in an hour?"
"Mhmm. Don't stay out too late."
"Will do, Mom."
Sayaka gave him a deadpan look as she entered the bathroom, closing the door behind herself. He heard the lock click a moment later. He pretended to be checking the contents of his backpack for a moment, waiting for the shower to turn on. When it was, he quietly and quickly moved across the room, slowly opening Sayaka's dresser drawers. He looked around each one as quickly as he could, making sure not to disturb anything. He finally found what he was looking for, pulling it out of the drawer.
"Excellent, now to grab the scissors from this thing." he thought, slicing through the cellophane wrap. He stuffed the plastic inside his pocket, carefully opening the kit. He pulled out the sewing shears from within, closing the box. He placed it back in the drawer, placing some clothes over it, closing it. He stuffed the shears in his backpack, quickly leaving the bedroom. He sighed, shaking his head. "I really hope I can get these damn things back before she notices they're missing."
He left the room, making sure the door was locked as he went. Not a lot of people were out and about, likely heeding Celeste's recommendation. Of course, he would be heeding it as well, but he'd return just after Nighttime began, he wanted to make sure everyone was in their rooms to get rid of his ticket.
Akira headed out of the dormitory building, walking past the classrooms and heading toward the First Floor Plaza. Entering the school store, he spotted the MonoMono Machine. He examined it for a moment, crossing his arms. "Oi, Monokuma, where are my coins?"
"Right here, my friend~"
He wasn't even disturbed at the bear's appearance. The black and white bear had almost flashed into existence, holding a sack of coins in his grasp. He had a bright smile on his face as he approached the Lucky Student. "I am so glad people are actually playing with my Machine. I put a lot of work into it."
"Ahuh… I just wanted to take a crack at it, given my Ultimate Luck and all," he said with a shrug. He didn't really believe in his Ultimate Luck, but after discovering that planner, he wanted to try something. "So, this works on probability, right? Is there a list of items I can look at?"
"Of course there is, but I'm not gonna show it to you. What's the fun in that? The only thing I will say is that there's something in this machine that will certainly help you out. I'm not telling you what it is but I will tell you that it's a 0.6% chance."
"Ugh… odds like that are something I don't like, that's worse than the rate on FGO," he admitted, sighing as he dug his hand into the pouch. "Does the amount of coins change the odds?"
"Nope. Put in one coin or all one hundred, the odds of getting that item will remain the same," he replied. Akira didn't say anything, simply sliding the coin into the machine. He twisted the key, holding his hand out as the capsule popped out. He opened it, frowning when he saw what was inside. "What is this?"
"That my friend is a very fashionable Kitty Barrette! They come in 7 different colors, pink, green, red, white, black, yellow and blue! If you get the special Monokuma-themed barrette, I'll give you a beary special prize~"
"A special prize huh? The same one as that 0.6% prize?"
"Nope.
"Hm…"
"Well, I got things to do, gotta do my rounds as the night comes to a close," he said, hopping down from the counter. He paused at the entrance, glancing over his shoulder for a moment, smirking. "You know, hiding your special ticket from the others is truly interesting. I gave it specially to you."
"And I'm not using it. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not someone that gets high on murder. If that's the only ticket that exists, then I'll be glad to keep it with me. We're not going to bend to your will." he replied, not shifting his gaze away from the machine.
"Oh… you will. Eventually, you'll start to see things the same way that I see them. You'll have no choice but to give into despair." the mechanical bear replied, breaking into laughter as he left the school store.
Akira stared at the bronze Monokuma coin in his palm, squeezing it tightly. His hand shook a bit as he took a shaky breath, steeling his nerves. "Christ… what the hell is all this? Why? Why is this happening to me? What have I done wrong? Is it because of my job? It can't be that, can it?"
He slipped the coin into the machine, watching it shake and light up as the prize came out. Another Kitty Barrette, this time in red, came out. He set it down on the counter, shaking his head. "No… it isn't that. It can't be that. It's probably because of my luck… yeah… Luck. I got Ultimate Bad Luck, that's why I'm here. Whatever the case may be, I am here now and I have to make the most of it. I'm not dying in this academy. We have to stick together. We'll be just fine."
He had to believe in those words. Sadly, reality wasn't as forgiving as he thought it would be.
A/N: Life is Pain