Prologue Part 6

Sayaka shook her head. She needed to stop letting these old ghosts from blocking her focus. She was investigating to get her mind off things in the first place. If she gave them the slightest bit of thought she would probably break down. She couldn't think about him. Not while she was still around the rest of the group. She had to take her mind off of it. She looked up and saw that she really was falling behind from the rest of the group. She sighed and picked up her pace. She walked over to Tenko's side and, before she knew it, was thrust into another conversation with the martial artist.

"Tsumugi seems to be doing better, right?" Tenko asked.

'Maybe I was being too harsh about Tenko's enthusiasm,' Sayaka thought. 'She at least takes my mind off of things.' As for how she felt about Tsumugi's state, she didn't have much to say. She just met the cosplayer and she was a sobbing wreck. Sure, at the moment Tsumugi was walking up right with the rest of the group, but she still looked depressed and unsure of her surroundings.

"It's hard to say," Sayaka responded to Tenko's question. "Is she normally…gloomy?"

"No, not really," Tenko said with a frown. "She's normally quite cheery and talkative about her favorite shows."

"I see…" Sayaka frowned a bit. "Was her death really that bad?"

"I'm not sure," Tenko said with another frown. "She must have died after I did…Still, I'm sure once we're all sat down, she'll be back to normal."

Kokichi suddenly turned around and began to cry. "But what if she doesn't go back to normal?" he whined. "What if she's miserable forever?!"

As Kokichi cried, Tenko grinded her teeth and raised her fists. "I swear to God, if you talk to me again…"

Kirumi put an end to the altercation before it even began by grabbing the back of Kokichi's scarf and dragging him away from the two girls.

Tenko let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Thank you, Kirumi!"

"I'm just doing what I need to do," Kirumi said.

"But mooooom," Kokichi whined out. "I just wanted to play with my friend, Tenkoooo."

"Please stop calling me that," Kirumi frowned.

Hiyoko just snickered a bit. "Jeez, you guys are a bunch of immature morons, aren't you?" she said in a mocking tone. "Can't even go a minute without getting into a fight."

"Hiyoko, that's enough!" Byakuya ordered the small girl. "I know this group is…less than professional, however given the circumstances I believe their unusual behavior is excusable for the moment."

Hyoko rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she kept walking. "Whatever. Like you're any smarter, Ham Hands."

Byakuya sighed a bit. "I see that nickname hasn't gone away."

"Of course not, Ham Hands!" Ibuki said cheerfully to her friend. "It's great! You should be proud of it!"

While most of the group got into a debate over whether or not "Ham Hands" was a good nickname or simple bullying, Ryoma had been in his usual brooding mood, drowning out the bickering around him. He would have kept it up if Chihiro didn't tap him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me," Chihiro spoke rather sheepishly. It was weird. Ryoma was probably the only person shorter Chihiro in the building yet the programmer still seemed intimidated by him. "Are you ok?" Chihiro asked. "You look pretty…down."

Ryoma chuckled a bit. "I guess I can't help but attract concern, huh?"

"So…you are ok?" Chihiro asked.

"I'm fine, for now at least. Does that qualm your worries?"

"I guess so…You still look sad though."

"I'll be fine for now. If your still worried about me, maybe we'll talk later."

Chihiro couldn't help but let her empathy take some control over her. She wanted to pry more into what was bothering Ryoma, but she knew she didn't have to spine to ask anymore questions. She held her head down and backed away from the tennis player. However, when she took a few steps back she ended up bumping into Gonta.

"Oh." Chihiro turned around and looked up at the towering figure. "S-sorry," she said with a bit of fear in her voice.

"Oh," Gonta looked down at Chihiro. "Sorry. Gonta didn't see you. Did Gonta hurt you?"

"N-no, you haven't. You just surprised me."

Gonta let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Chihiro. "Thank goodness! Gonta didn't want to hurt you."

''Th-thank you, Gonta," Chihiro said. Chihiro didn't know Gonta all too well, but she could tell he was a good soul. Chihiro also took note of how muscular he was. 'Maybe I can ask him to train me,' she thought to herself. 'He might be more understanding than-"

Chihiro stopped her train of thought. The memories were too much for her to handle at the moment.

"Don't frown like that," Teruteru said to Chihiro with a sly smile. "It hardly does you any good. You look a lot cuter when you smile."

"O-oh," Chihiro blushed a bit. "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course. I have an eye for good lookers as well as good food, so you can trust me on that."

Chihiro wasn't quite sure if Teruteru had to most pure of intentions with comments like that, but something about it made her think. He could've just made a perverted comment like he had been doing, but going out of his way to complement her while she was down? Maybe that was his own way of being comforting. Chihiro merely gave the cook a small nod and the boy went back to eyeballing Celeste.

The group walked down the deteriorating halls for another minute or so until Kaito turned to corner to see Taka and his group.

"Greetings everyone!" Taka shouted out with a bright smiled as he approached. "Have you found anyone else?"

"Yep," Kaito smiled and pointed back to the new people behind them. "They were hiding away in a lobby."

"I see," Taka said. "My group and myself found our new compatriots in an unchecked classroom!"

Byakuya stepped around Kaito and faced Taka. "So, I take it you are the leader of this group?"

Taka smiled, a bit proud of himself. "Well, I was a considering myself more of a co leader with Kaito, but if you-"

It was at that moment that Taka's eyes truly focused on the man in front of him. He let out a gasp. "T-Togami? Is that you?!"

Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "Yes? I am Byakuya Togami."

Mondo's eyebrows rose when he heard the name Togami. He could feel the fire rise up in his head and his veins pop. He balled up his fists and stormed up to the front. "Togami! You son of a-"

Before Mondo could sock the rich kid in the face, he got a good look at him. The once smug, elitist, corpse mocking prick was…fat. Like as fat as an average person you'd find at the grocery store or restaurant. The fire in Mondo dwindled down and was instead replaced with a fit of laughter.

Byakuya sighed a bit as he adjusted his glasses. "I really hope every encounter I have with you lot won't revolve down comments on my weight."

"Well, get you used to it," Hiyoko spat out. "It's not everyday people get to see someone as fat as you, Mr. Ham Hands."

"AHAHAHA!" Miu laughed out. "Ham Hands?! Holy shit, I think I love this kid! Qui-quick, say it again!"

Byakuya glared daggers at Miu. "Silence!" he commanded.

"N-neeek!" Miu backed down to her frightened state. "D-don't glare at me like that."

Mondo wiped a tear away from his eye and took a deep breath. "Sorry. I'm sorry. It's just, man, I was hoping to punch you in the face after all your shit, but this is honestly funnier."

"I can safely say I have no idea what you're talking about," Byakuya retorted. "I understand that I have made plenty of enemies in my life but don't recognize you at all."

"What?" Taka gasped once again. "Wait a moment, Togami. Do you not remember us from the killing game? Did you truly think so little of us?"

"No. My killing game was on Jabberwock Island with the rest of my class."

"So, you don't remember that you were in our game as well?" Sakura asked.

Byakuya crossed his arms and shook his head. "No. Not at all."

"Ok this is strange," Kaede spoke up. "I know that I don't really know the full story with you guys or your killing games, but are we saying Byakuya was in two killing games?"

"This conversation may become complicated," Gundham said.

"Should we go sit down?" Mahiru asked.

"Yes, we should, Koizumi!" Taka shouted. "We should head over to the cafeteria!"

"Very well," Byakuya said. "Lead the way then."

"Yeah!" Kaito pumped his fist. "Lead the way, Taka!"

Byakuya looked over to Kaito. "I just said that."

"Follow me, friends!" Taka said before marching off to the cafeteria.

Hiyoko was following the rest of the group when she noticed a set of familiar red hair. Her eyes widened as she dashed over and wrapped her arms around the girl's waist.

"Mahiru!" Hiyoko cried out.

Mahiru looked down at the crying blonde girl. "H-Hiyoko?"

"I missed you!" Hiyoko cried again as she buried her face in Mahiru's stomach.

Mahiru had a small smile across her face as she hugged the girl back. She comforted the girl and stroked her hair lightly. "I missed you too, Hiyoko."

"I was afraid I was going to be stuck with these losers for the rest of my life," Hiyoko smiled at Mahiru.

Mahiru's smile shrank a bit at Hiyoko's comment. She wanted to give her friend a lecture about respecting others then and there, but they had more important things to do. "Why don't we sit together in the cafeteria?"

"Of course!" Hiyoko smiled genuinely before grabbing Mahiru's hand and headed with her to the cafeteria.

Meanwhile, Chihiro had been cowering behind Gonta since the two groups united. She saw Mondo charge at Byakuya like he had done before. She was said. She knew that Mondo being here meant that he had died, possibly from the class trial. She knew what Mondo was wrong and it hurt her that he didn't seem to understand her plead for help, but she didn't want him to die anyway. She hoped he could change, but he seemed to still be the same. She figured it would be best if she avoided him for the time.

Everyone eventually filed into the cafeteria and sat down next to the people they were most comfortable being next to. Tenko, of course, sat down next to Sayaka. Hiyoko sat down next to Mahiru. Mondo sat down next to Taka. Chihiro next to Gonta. Kaede next to Kaito. And so on and so on.

"Now," Taka once again spoke up at the head of the table, "can we confirm that this is everyone?"

"No," Kaede said with a frown. "Rantaro still isn't here."

"Was he a part of your killing game, Kaede?" Byakuya asked.

"Yeah," Kaede said as she hung her head down.

Sayaka took a quick around the room before noticing something was wrong. "Hey, where did Nekomaru go?" she asked.

"Oh!" Kaito piped up. "He told me he had to go to the bathroom, so I let him go ahead and take care of that."

"You should have told him to wait," Byakuya said. "Letting even a single person out of sight when we're trapped in this building is a horrible idea."

"But he really needed to go," Kaito said.

As if on que, Nekomaru walked into the room. "PHEW! Man! If there's one thing I missed about being human, it was a good shit!"

"Jeez!" Mahiru groaned out. "Do you have to announce gross stuff like that out loud? There happen to be people that don't want to hear about that, you know."

"It's just typical male behavior," Tenko said with a disgusted look on her face. "They're nothing but vile creatures obsessed with their droppings!"

"Nevermind that for the moment," Byakuya spoke up once again before turning his attention to Nekomaru. "Nekomaru, why were you gone for so long? We have been together for ten minutes. I refuse to believe that your bathroom emergency took that long."

"Well, it kind of did," Nekomaru said a bit sheepishly. "It did take me a lot of time to wipe-"

"Dude," Leon cringed a bit.

"Hold on!" Nekomaru shouted. "I was saying it took me a while to wipe, but then I ran into some people."

Everyone looked at Nekomaru with curious expressions.

"You did?" Nagito asked.

"Yep!" Nekomaru said before stepping to the side allowing three students to enter.

The first of the students was a tall yet skinny boy with lime green hair and eyes, dressed in a striped blue shirt and decked out with several pieces of jewelry like rings and badges. The second was a pale girl with cream colored hair dressed in a khaki skirt, button-up shirt, and green gamer hoodie. The third of the students was a rather plain looking girl with short black hair and a basic school uniform. The biggest standout feature about her was a strange tattoo on the back of her right hand.

Kaito and his class immediately recognized the green haired boy and Byakuya and his class immediately recognized the pale girl. Kaede couldn't help but turn pale at the sight of the green haired boy. Meanwhile, Nagito's eyebrow rose up at the new girl.

"Chiaki?" Nagito said. After a moment, he grinned wickedly. "Wow, Chiaki! I never expected you of all people to have killed me."

Chiaki nodded with a blank expression on her face. "Yeah," she said. "You certainly set that up well."

Miu immediately slammed her hands onto the table to gather everyone's attention. "Now hold on just a second!" she shouted. "We searched the shit out of this building and we never ran into you three! What were you up to, Rantaro? Were you getting into a freaking three-way fuck-pile with these two girls?!"

"No, no, you got it all wrong," Rantaro said while waving his hands. "We just woke up in a classroom."

"Yeah, and I found them in there," Nekomaru said with a proud smile.

"Hold it!" Taka shouted. "I apologize for intruding on this conversation, but I don't recognize any of these three. I request that you three introduce yourselves now."

"Oh, right." Chiaki said. "I haven't met most of you. My name is Chiaki Nanami. I'm the Ultimate Gamer. I enjoy all kinds of games, so if you want, we can try and play one together."

Chiaki Nanami: Ultimate Gamer

"As for me, my name is Rantaro Amami," Rantaro introduced himself. "Sorry to say, but I actually don't quite remember what my talent was supposed to be. I do promise not to be a burden about it though. So, if you need my help with anything, I'm willing do so."

Rantaro Amami: Ultimate ?

'So, he's a bit like Kyoko then?' Sayaka thought to herself.

"Oh, oh, oooooh!" Ibuki chimed in. "Your last names almost rhyme, Chiaki!"

"Hmmm, I didn't notice that," Rantaro said with a light laugh. "That's really interesting."

"Yeah, it is interesting," Chiaki said before tapping her chin a bit. "I think."

"Very well," Taka said as he nodded to Rantaro and Chiaki. He then turned over to the plain girl. "Now, who are you, young lady?"

The plain girl had been quiet and hadn't even looked at the group the moment she stepped into the room. It wasn't until Taka called her out that she looked at any of them. One person that stood out was the super model blonde in the pigtails. Her teeth gritted a bit underneath her closed mouth. She could feel the blonde's mocking thoughts. Yet, she took no action. She looked at Taka to introduce herself.

"My name is…Mukuro Ikusaba," she said. "I am the Ultimate…Soldier."

Mukuro Ikusaba: Ultimate Soldier

"Ultimate soldier?" Nagito question. "I didn't think they could let high school students into the military."

"She's a bit too pretty to be a soldier, right?" Leon asked.

"You really want to test her?" Mondo asked Leon. Leon chose to keep his mouth shut.

Sayaka couldn't help but squint at Mukuro's face. Something was scratching at the back of her head about Mukuro. Was it her freckles?

"Mukuro?" Sayaka finally decided to speak her mind. "Have we met before?"

Mukuro looked over at the idol. It took her a moment to respond. "I don't believe we have," Mukuro said. "I…I just have one of those faces, honestly."

Celestia got a small glimpse of Mukuro looking off to the side. She smirked. She had caught the soldier's lie. She had met Sayaka, but why she lied was the question Celeste couldn't answer. She knew she had never seen her before. She would have to follow through her questions at a later date.

"Wait a moment," Byakuya stood up from his seat. "Are you saying that none of you recognize this girl?"

Everyone looked at their classmates before facing Byakuya and shaking their heads.

"She wasn't trapped in Hope's Peak with us," Taka said.

"And she wasn't in the Ultimate Academy with us," Kaito said.

"So, wait," Chihiro spoke up. "Does that mean there was a fourth killing game?"

Everyone immediately went pale at the idea of another killing game. They wouldn't put it past Monokuma to get more people killed, but the idea that even more people dying because of the bear's twisted sense of entertainment made their stomachs turn.

"How about we just ask her ourselves?" Celestia suggested.

"Oh, yeah!" Kaede smiled a bit. "Obviously she'd know what happened."

Junko smirked a bit and looked at Mukuro. "So, why don't you tell us what happened? Where you in another killing game?"

Mukuro glared at Junko. 'She's trying to set me up,' she thought to herself. 'After everything I've done for her, she killed me and she's trying to out me too! I have to be careful with what I say. Celestia probably already suspects me. I'll just have to tell a half truth.'

"Well," Mukuro spoke up, "I was actually recruited by Hope's Peak to join their school."

"So, there's a third game related to Hope's Peak," Kiyo said slyly. "Interesting to know this school was so well regarded."

"Yet none of us have heard of it," Kirumi said.

"Maybe it didn't even exist," Kokichi said.

Byakuya rolled his eyes. "That's ludicrous to even believe that. If it was fake, how could our groups have been invited to it."

Kokichi put his hands behind his back and he smirked. "Maybe Hope's Peak is just a massive scam? It could just be rich people tricking kids to sign up for their deaths."

"We're off topic," Gundham stated. "We haven't finished Mukuro's story."

"Yeah, that's right," Kaito said. "Can you continue, Mukuro?"

"F-fine," Mukuro said. "Well, when I arrived at Hope's Peak, I-"

Suddenly, an electronic chime echoed out throughout the room. Everyone stopped their discussions and looked up. Apparently, the speakers still worked in this building.

"Ahem! Testing, testing!" an all too familiar voice spoke through the intercom. It was high pitched, irritating, childish, yet had a hint of menace behind it. "I see that all the students have found each other and gathered together. With that all in place, I would like all students to make their way to the auditorium for this year's orientation! Don't be laaaaate…Or else."

Everyone felt a chill travel up their spines at the sound of that voice. Mikan was about ready to fall out of her seat again and Hiyoko's face turned green from a sick feeling in her gut. Sayaka turned completely white. She couldn't go through all of that again. She couldn't just accept being locked away and forced to kill again.

"N…No," Sayaka said.

"That's not real, right?" Kaede asked.

"No. No fucking way!" Mondo shouted.

"A-again?!" Ibuki said in a panic.

Nagito looked around at his classmates with a massive frown on his face. "You all aren't going to just run away from this, are you?"

Tenko had a look of scorn across her face. "If we go, we're going to be stuck in another killing game! Don't you care about anything, degenerate?"

Rantaro's eyes went dark as he stared at everyone. "So, you want to stay here forever? Not find a way out? Defy the orders of our captor?"

Tenko looked over at Rantaro, a bit scared of his intensity. "What, you want us to listen to him?"

"No, he has a point," Byakuya said. "Staying here won't solve any of our problems. In fact, if we don't go to auditorium, we would only encourage our captor's wrath."

"Hey," Sayaka spoke up. "You guys don't think it's…him…do you?"

"There's only one way to find out," Byakuya said. "Let us head to the auditorium."

Kaito rose from his chair and pumped his fist. "Alright, guys! Let's head to the auditorium!"

"I just said that," Byakuya said with some annoyance. Unfortunately, his complaints fell on deaf ears as Kaito led the group out of the cafeteria.

"My apologies, Togami," Taka said. "Kaito tends to get ahead of everyone."

"It's fine," Byakuya said with a slight groan. "Let's just go."

All of the students made their way to the auditorium. All of them walked slowly, trying to put off this confrontation as long as they could. None of them wanted to face who they thought called them. Yet, they knew they had to confront it. All except for Junko. She was scared, but the fear she got only fueled her excitement. She had to do her best to stop herself from giggling like a child. When they made it to the auditorium door, they all paused one final time. Nekomaru took a deep breath and opened the door for everyone.

None of them were surprised to see the auditorium in a state of disarray. After all, they had spent a good few hours seeing this building as a worn down dump. This room was no different. The wood floors where breaking apart and some areas even looked like someone attempted to ply them off with a crowbar. The rafters above them where all the lights were covered in wild vines and moss that had grown from the outside.

"Well, here we are," Sayaka said.

"I-I'm the only who's scared, right?" Tenko asked.

"You're not," Chiaki said. "But we can't let it get the better of us. We have to stand strong."

"Well said, Nanami," Gundham stated.

"But can you all really stand strong?" the same familiar voice spoke over the intercoms. "After all, you guys are here because you couldn't stand strong."

Before anyone could make a comment, all the lights in the rafters turned on and pointed at the stage. A drumroll began to play over the speakers until they reached the climax. With one final strike, out of the stage launched a half black, half white bear with a maniacal smile and glowing red eye. The bear flailed its arms a bit as it flew through the air before landing lightly on the stage.

"Why hello there, my beloved students," the bear spoke. "I am your beloved Headmaster, Monokuma!"

I honestly thought I would be done with the prologue at this point, but this part was getting so long that I had to split it off into one more part since there will be a lot of Monokuma exposition to do. I know I said only six parts, but I was wrong. I apologize for that.

I also apologize if I get too engrossed with my dialogue. Having to balance 30 characters is a pain, but I think I can handle. Speaking of which, Mukuro wasn't originally in the plans or roleplay of this little project of mine, but seeing everyone ask about her and the potential plot lines she can create made me decide to add her in.

Also, I remembered I forgot Nekomaru in the last two chapters, so I had to think of a reason as to where he was...Luckily there's always an obvious answer to that.

Also, we finally come face to face with Monokuma. I was a bit surprised most people in the comments didn't seem to know this would become a killing game or the Monokuma would show up. I know some may be disappointed with a killing game plot again, but just give me a chance because I plan on making this mystery worth it in the end.

Any comments or questions you may have, you can leave in the review section. I appreciate everyone that has interacted with this story. Seeing reviews being posted every day or so has actually been my biggest motivator to keep going, so thank you all so much.

I do plan on having the final part of the prologue done by the end of the year. Hopefully in a week or so since I've got some birthday games I need to catch up on