The following fanfic is a crossover story of the Danganronpa series of Spike Chunsoft with the Shin Megami Tensei Spin-offs series known as Persona from Atlus.
Everything related to both franchises belongs to their respective creators.

Hope's Peak Academy, probably the best High School in Japan if not the whole world.

In this academy, only the best of the best are chosen to attend, and every single student that graduates from this school has the guarantee of success in life in whatever job or position they decide to take. It never matters what it is, the prestige of the school is such that anyone will hire them or put them in the front without any shred of doubt, so long as the job relates to their talent.

In the elite of society, almost everyone was a student from Hope's Peak, including presidents, politicians, CEOs, inventors, etc. It could even be safe to say that it's thanks to the academy that everyone can have the type of life they have today, especially in Japan.

And the only way to get in is to be the best of the best, and only by being the very best in what you do will the school come to you and invite you to attend. No entrance exams or anything, only if the school seems interested in you or if someone important recommends you.

All it takes is a single ticket called... "Talent"

Talent... Talent... Talent, talent, talent, talenttalenttalenttaltentalenttalenttalenttalenttalenttalent...

.

.

.

"Without talent, you'll never be part of a school like that."

"You are a nobody!"

"Heh, did you really believe someone like you would ever make it?"

"Give it up... You'll only hurt yourself more."

"There is nothing special about you, you should know better"

"Even I came to accept it, the fact that we are nothing but mere pawns... You should start accepting it too."

A void of negative comments, voices that wouldn't leave him alone no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he wanted to, it was impossible to ignore... This void of negativity felt so suffocating, it was bringing him down, as much as he wanted to escape it was impossible, whatever place he tried to run to, the voices followed him.

Suddenly the voices stopped, and as they did he as well stopped... He was in this room of darkness with no one but himself, except for one small detail... A reflection. The moment he turned around in his search for something for someone, for anything that could calm his fear of being alone in this place he saw his younger self in front of him, like a shattered mirror.

They were face to face, and the reflection of him showed remorse, loneliness, disappointment... Painful to look at, a heartache that broke him on the inside...

Then the eyes, his eyes shined in red, pointed at him with a finger fun... His lips moved but no sound came, despite that he was able to tell what the reflection said by reading his lips. "Bang"

And the reflection shattered, leaving him with those feelings of remorse, loneliness, and disappointment.

This feeling... This nightmare was consuming him entirely, second by second the darkness spread more making it impossible to see anything anymore, there was no sound, no light, nothing around, Just him, and the painful feeling of disappointment... Until from all this darkness, a spark of light shined.

From all these voices, finally, some were different from the others...

"You can do it! If you set your mind you can do anything you want!" Supportive, a serene voice that induces calm in his heart.

"We'll do it, together! So we can be here all together!" Cheerful, full of joy shining like a sun.

"Don't give up... You promised, right?" This last one, being a distant feminine voice, by pure instinct he tried to reach out to it... A familiar voice, of a girl with lanvander hair, who tried to reach his hand as well.

When their fingers touched, he finally woke up.

4/9
Monday

Sunny

"Ah!..." He was panting, covered in sweat, and held the sheets of his bed with all his strength. Fear, Anxiety, those were the perfect words to describe his feeling right now, as the words in his dreams echoed through his head, it took a few more seconds for him to realize he is finally awake. "Ah.. it.. it was just a dream..." The boy whispered to himself after calming down a little. "Just a dream..." And then he repeated it over and over until he finally felt less anxious about it...

After taking a deep breath he stood up from his bed and looked at the time on his phone, it was 5:55 AM... Just 5 minutes before his alarm clock would sound, so there is no need to go back to sleep. Leaving the phone on his desk he went to the bathroom and began to get ready for the day.

It took around 30 minutes to take a bath and brush his teeth. The warm water helped him relax and wash away the weight of his emotions, it's just what he needed to forget that horrible nightmare... Although the ending of that dream couldn't be considered a nightmare, the girl in his dreams...

"It's been so many years... Why did you suddenly appear in my dreams?" He asked himself, knowing no one and nothing would answer him, whatever the reason he just sighed and continued getting ready.

But when he came out of the bathroom while drying his hair his relief vanished away when looking back at his school uniform. Like a cruel punch that reminded him his current reality isn't too different from that nightmare.

A uniform that only made him feel... empty and bored, a simple black suit and white undershirt with a black tie, the reserve course standard uniform.

Ever since he could remember, he entered hope's peak as his dream, his goal, something he always put his best effort to do, but as they say... not all dreams can come true.

"Hajime! Are you up already? I'm going to prepare your breakfast!" a feminine voice interrupted his thoughts, the voice of his mother.

She couldn't see him being all depressed like this, not now... Taking a deep breath he put his best attitude... or at least he tried, that grumpy expression of his was natural for him.

"Yeah, mom! I'm actually ready to go now!"

"Then come down and eat your breakfast! Toast and orange juice okay for you?"

"Yeah! I'll be there in a minute!"

His mother did not answer, she was probably making his breakfast already so he decided to prepare his backpack before breakfast was ready, and after packing he ran downstairs and went directly to the kitchen.

Once inside the kitchen, he looked what his breakfast was and it wasn't toast and orange juice as his mom said, but instead pancakes and orange juice 100% natural, but before he could say anything his mom hugged him from behind and gave him a small kiss in the cheek, being careful not to pinch with that ahoge in his hair of course.

"A new semester always has to start with a good breakfast!" Hajime could feel a warm and nice sensation the moment after hearing his mother's words.

But at the same time, that tired tone that she always tries to hide, that expression of fatigue even though she smiled as much as she could... Taking all the responsibility by herself, it wasn't fair.

"C'mon, what's the matter? eat your breakfast or you'll be late" His mother insisted. Hajime just cracked a smile and decided to start eating while her mom returned to do the dishes.

Their kitchen wasn't very big, in fact, it was actually pretty average, but it still had enough space for them to place a small TV, so they could watch it together while they ate or when his mom just wanted to watch her TV shows while cooking, or in this case to watch the news during breakfast.

"It's been almost two weeks now, and students from all over Tokyo are still disappearing without leaving any type of trace. The police department informs that they haven't found any clues yet but have stated that they won't give up until they find them as well as capture the culprits of these events..."

"This again...? " Hajime thought as he was eating. Of course, this was already being mentioned for a while now, since the past semester actually, during the finals.

Some students would disappear here and there, sadly it's not something new that sometimes people would go missing... Most of the time they are just teenagers running from home, or in other unfortunate events... they disappear and are never seen again.

But what started to worry not only many parents but the police department as well as how many cases of disappearances are coming in every day, and no one knew a thing. Not even a single suspect or clue about what was happening.

"Be safe on your way to school, alright?" His mom called as she was washing some dishes. Something normal, of course, no one would want something to happen to their son or daughter.

Especially now of all times, he knew very well if something happened to him, her mother wouldn't be able to recover from it... ever.

"I'll be okay, don't worry mom. I promise I'll be safe" In response, she just nodded... That wouldn't make her feel less worried but the least she could do was trust him... Trust that he will come back home safe and sound.

"In other news! Today the Future Foundation finally will open its doors! The most ambitious company created by Kyosuke Munakata, one of the most prestigious graduates from Hope's Peak Academy! We will cover every detail of the- " The news continued with their reports, it was impressive seeing how far people from Hope's Peak go, it wasn't new seeing one of them on TV.

"Maybe one day I'll see you on TV like this too." She said. Hajime for his part just smiled... At least she had faith in him, but would that be okay? Would he really be able to do something like that? No point in getting more depressed thinking about it.

After finally finishing his breakfast, he was ready to go.

"I'm leaving now," Hajime said while standing in front of the entrance of his house ready to leave, his mother standing before him and nodding in approval before giving him another hug.

"Do your best, and make sure to show everyone what you're capable of!" A mother will always be on your side, no matter what. He knew this very well, how even knowing he was nothing special, she continued to give him all her support so he could accomplish his dreams, so he could be one day someone he could be proud of.

Hajime hugged back, tightly.

Why was her mother like this? He knew the answer but still couldn't understand it. It was much simpler to just let all that go, but she didn't, even with all the weight of being just the two of them.

"I'll do my best" For his mother, it was reassuring to hear him say that, but for him, on the other hand...

He didn't dare to say more, so he both let go of her and waved one last goodbye before finally heading out.

On his way to school, he couldn't stop thinking about the issue of him being a reserve student. All his life his dream was to be part of Hope's Peak, but not like this, like a simple backup student with nothing special. Thinking back at it, asking to be in the reserve course was truly a mistake.

His grades weren't exactly the best, he didn't have any real friends in there either, and worst of all, it was expensive, VERY expensive...

His Mother always worked extra hard so she could pay the usual quota every month. It's been like this for a year with her believing that he'll soon enough be joining the main course, but that was so far for him to reach.

Everyone in his class didn't even seem to care about being in the main course at this point. Of course they wouldn't, they all made friends in that course, all of them continued their lives without any worry and the world seemed to move on as usual, but it felt like he was not a part of it... Like he is some kind of weird bug apart from everything else even from the Reserve Course, and he couldn't blame anyone but himself for that.

For being so bored, so plain, so... useless.

He stopped on his track and the large sigh he didn't know he was suppressing finally came out, giving a glance to his left he noticed he was in front of a mirror store, and once again he saw his own pathetic reflecting and lamented what he was seeing, a poor excuse of a nobody. He felt he wasn't even good enough as a nobody...

Before he could continue with his inner thoughts about how much he hated himself, the sound of quick foot's steps caught his attention, looking up front now he noticed people started to run away as fast as they could as the sound of screams in fear began to reach his ears. The sound of crashing noise and screams of agony coming from his left made him shift his attention to that direction, his eyes wide in fear once he saw what was coming right at him.

It was a giant truck sweeping everything in its path, cars, utility poles, even people.

He froze, his mind screamed that he had to run, he knew he had to run, to move out of the way, but his legs didn't respond. All he could do was wait for his inevitable death... Only thinking about how his mother would react to this.

No!, he couldn't do that to her!

Unaware of it, his reflection moved on its own, red eyes locked on him, muttering something.

"Labyrinth"

And all of sudden, from his pocket his cell phone turned on by itself, and from it, a notification pop out saying: "Beginning navigation" in that very moment the truck finally crashed in the same place he was in.

OST: The Poem of Everyone Souls - Persona

It was very difficult to open his eyes, since he felt... so tired, which was weird. Is this how death felt when people... well die?

But once Hajime finally opened his eyes there was one thing that caught his attention.

Blue everywhere.

Is this how heaven looks like? or hell? Hell sure was supposed to be red though...

"Ah! I see you are finally here!" A sudden voice made him turn around and see a very weird-looking man with a long nose dressed as a butler. "My my, where are my manners... My name is Igor! and I welcome you to the Velvet room, it is a pleasure to make your acquittance."

Hajime had no idea what was going on, he was now in front of and a weird old man sitting in front of him with a large desk full of... Tarot cards? He tried to say something but for some reason, he couldn't.

It was a weird feeling, almost like being in a dream but at the same time not...

"This please exists between dreams and reality, mind and matter, you'll get used to the feeling eventually." That man who named himself Igor answered like he knew what he was thinking already, that's... kinda creepy.

"This is Kirumi, my assistant" "Igor" said as he presented the girl next to him. He didn't even notice her presence until he was introduced to her. "We will be in charge of assisting you in the best possible way in your journey" After saying this, that girl stepped forward and made a brief appearance.

Assist? Journey? What the hell were they talking about?

"A pleasure, young master, I will do my best to assist you as far as I am allowed" And then she returned to her place next to "Igor"

Young master? He still had a hard time understanding the situation he was in right now, everything was so sudden, and he still couldn't find his voice so he could ask what was happening here

"It seems that we have met a very interesting guest this time ... I am intrigued to see what the conclusion of your destiny will be, so please do not worry, all your questions will be answered over time, for now, all you have to do is sign this contract." Igor pushed the contract on his desk to Hajime. Signing something suspicious like that without even knowing what was going on? Yeah, no way he would do that.

There was no way he would accept that ... Or that was what he believed, without realizing how or why he was already signing the contract until he had already finished his name.

Hajime Hinata

That butler began to laugh.

To his surprise that laugh did not make him feel threatened ... On the contrary, it was somewhat comforting, something that normally no one with common sense would think if he were in his situation. Right? But then again, not many people would have much common sense in this situation right now.

"That will be all for now ... Until we meet again, see you soon, Young Master Hinata."

A cordial farewell and suddenly the sound of what seemed to be a sailing cruise ship reached his ears.

From there everything went white.

And suddenly Hajime woke up, screaming and panting, he looked around very confused but he couldn't see anything out of normal.

He was at the bus stop in front of... Hope's Peak!? Why was he so close to Hope's Peak!? The Reserve course was far from the main course for how the teachers would phrase it for "obvious reasons" like not wanting "commoners" with the special ones.

His mind was racing so fast, trying to understand what just happened. One moment he thought he was about to die, that a truck was about to run over him but then suddenly he woke up in some weird blue room with two strangers who asked him to sign a contract which he did...

" What is going on? what was all that about?... I- I don't... " Hajime was sweating, but after taking a deep breath he decided to think rationally about this. The obvious answer was that he fell asleep, that's all.

Although, it's still weird why at the bus stop, especially in front of Hope's Peak...

"But maybe I just arrived a little earlier than usual, and like the freak that I am I went to see the main course, probably walked a little bit, took a seat and fell asleep! that's all!"

There was no need to panic, he's fine. He's in one piece just like he promised and in front of the Academy... So there's nothing to worry about.

Hajime decided to take another deep breath and began to walk to the Reserve Course.

After a few steps curiosity invaded him, so he decided to turn around and see if there was anything abnormal at the bus stop...

All he met was his reflection, just his regular old reflection, maybe drinking too much orange juice before bed was starting to affect him.

The moment he turned to continue his way to school his reflection no longer was just a "regular" one, it stood there staring at his back as he walked away with intense red eyes.

A chill ran through Hajime's back, that feeling of being watched from afar. Hajime quickly turned around again, meeting with his regular and boring reflection of himself.

"...Maybe I'm reading too much manga these days. It's ridiculous to keep wasting time on this"

And so he continued walking to his course.

Not knowing that a small a pinkand white figure hidden behind the bus stop began to follow him.

To be Continued.

Hello! I'm Rookie, and I'll be your host and writer for this story! This is as the tittle suggests a crossover story that mixes both Danganronpa and Persona into one single universe, an alternative universe where the killing games never happened, but all the events from the previous Persona games from 1 to 5(Strikers) did take place, but with the Danganronpa characters as the protagonists with their own plot line to follow.

What to expect in this story you might wonder? I hope fun, I hope all of you have a fun time and enjoying my writing, my main goal with the story is give to you my audience a quality history with both DR and Persona themes mixed together.

Now, I'll go a little selfish here, and I'll write it in I way I personally enjoy which means mixing the casts together to have new interesting interactions instead of the regulars one we see in every story so far, I'm sorry if you wanted to see DR1, or DR2 casts individually as a Persona Team, but that is not happening here, although I do encourage you to try it out yourself because I admit writing this story is been one fun experience so far, I'll happily read it.

Crackpairs? Yes, I love Kirinata/Hinagiri, if you guys know me, you already might know my love for this crackpair, and I want this cute little ship to have more good content, and if I can write a good story with shipping moments for them then I sure will do, doesn't mean I won't giving fanservice of others ships, but at the end of the day keep one thing clear: Shipping is not the main point of the story, as in every Persona game, is a completely optional side story to take, so please keep that in mind before lashing out against me or judging me for what I like.

Will I add references to past Persona games? You bet I will, I'll add everything I can from the Megami Tensei lore in general.

If you enjoy the story please let me now, I'm always open to discuss things with my readers, and I appreciate how fast the story has grown, thank you very much for your time and I hope you stay to keep reading!