Danganronpa: Despair's Reoccurrence/Prologue

### [ Aoi Asahina ]

Aoi stared around at her hopelessly messy room. She could’ve *sworn* it wasn’t this messy last night! Hopefully Yuta wouldn’t notice by the time she left. The last thing she needed was to be even later than she already was.

Speaking of which, what time was it? One quick glance at the clock confirmed that, and Aoi’s eyes widened. *6:21!? I have to get out of here!*

Aoi pushed open her door and flew down the hallway, shrugging on her favorite red track jacket as she did so. She had only nine minutes before the train to Hope’s Peak Academy, and she would *not* be late again!

...Yeah, maybe she spent a whole hour taking a shower. She’d had an awful dream where she, Sakura, and the rest of her best friends were trapped in a sadistic version of Hope’s Peak Academy where they were forced to kill each other to leave. But that was just a silly dream!

“Hina! What were you *doing?!”* cried Yuta, seeing her as she skidded to a halt in the kitchen.

“Sorry, sorry!” Aoi shouted back, grabbing a slice of toast from the plate on the island and shoving it in her mouth. With the toast still dangling precariously between her teeth, she added muffledly, “Train leaves in nine minutes!”

Before Yuta could respond, she shoved open the door and jumped down the three stairs preceding her house, taking off down the street.

As she ran through the town, she could smell the ocean and hear waves crashing against the shore. She lived in a seaside village, which meant the ocean was always very near. It didn’t bother her at all. She loved all forms of water, whether it was the sea, rain, or even bottled water.

Aoi stopped in front of the station and desperately checked her watch. *It’s 6:28… I have two minutes--*

“Nyaa~”

Hold on. Was that a… cat?

Yes, in fact, it *was* a cat.

“Aw.. did someone leave you here?” asked Aoi, kneeling down in front of the cat, stretching out a hand to lightly stroke the cat’s head.

“Nyaa~” the cat responded, lightly batting Aoi’s hand with a fluffy paw. She giggled and continued to scratch behind the cat’s ears.

“Hey, are you Aoi Asahina?” asked a voice behind her. Aoi jumped slightly and turned around.

Standing there was a girl whose bright red hair was styled into a bob, a camera hanging around her neck as she folded her arms, her olive eyes narrowed slightly. Aoi smiled and stood.

“Yeah, that’s me,” she said. “Do you need something?”

The red-haired girl frowned. “Well, *I* don’t. But *you* need to get on the train before it leaves, which is gonna be really soon.”

“Oh, shoot! You’re right!” Aoi sprinted past the girl. Once she slid a bit of yen into the foreign machine in front of her and passed through the turnstile, she continued running until she reached the subway she recognized as Hope’s Peak Academy’s. In front of the subway was an adult man with a dead inside expression.

“Name,” he said, checking his watch boredly.

“Aoi Asahina.”

“Mahiru Koizumi,” said the same voice. She glanced behind her and saw the same red-haired girl.

The man nodded, wrote their names on a notepad, and pressed a button beside the subway’s closed door. The door slid open, and Aoi and Mahiru walked in.

“So, you’re Mahiru, right?” asked Aoi once the door slid shut behind them. She quickly found a seat near the back of the train and sat down. After Mahiru glanced around for a moment, she sighed slightly and sat next to Aoi.

“Yes,” was all she said.

“I think I’ve heard of you before. Ultimate Photographer, right?”

Mahiru nodded. “And you’re the Ultimate Swimmer.”

“Yep! This is my third year at Hope’s Peak.”

“...A senior, huh.” Mahiru glanced around the train, as though she were looking for someone. “I’m a sophomore.”

Aoi nodded energetically. Before she could say anything else, though, she felt a sudden movement as the subway began moving.

“Is it strange that I’ve barely seen you on campus, Asahina-san?” asked Mahiru. “I’ve gone to this school for a year.”

“Huh-? No, it’s not strange at all!” Aoi smiled again. “Also, you can call me Hina. All my friends do.”

Mahiru nodded, playing with her camera. A silence ensued, though Aoi didn’t mind it in the slightest. However, it was shattered once more by a much more eccentric voice.

“Mahiruuuuu!”

Mahiru jumped slightly, looking up. “Ibuki-chan!”

“Hiii! Ibuki was looking for you!” Standing there was a girl whose black hair had dyed streaks of pink and blue in it. She wore a classic sailor uniform that was decorated with neon accents, the rings decorating her fingers flashing in the subway’s light as she held her hand up in a V-sign.

“You’re Ibuki Mioda?” asked Aoi, brightening. “The Ultimate Musician?”

“Yup, that’s meeee!” exclaimed Ibuki. She seemed to radiate an aura of her own, an aura that seemed to be a little too much for everyone in the proximity of her fifteen-foot radius.

Ibuki glanced around, noticing there were no other open seats than the one she’d likely left. So she wedged herself between Mahiru and Aoi, sitting between them. Aoi frowned as she was shoved against the subway’s wall, her hip slightly squished, but Ibuki didn’t seem to notice.

“Soooo!” began Ibuki, making herself comfortable. “Do you guys know who the new students are? Do you? Do you?”

“Actually, I do!” said Aoi brightly, pulling a slip of paper out of her pocket. “I wrote down all their names so I wouldn’t forget.”

Ibuki read over her shoulder while Mahiru occupied herself with her camera. Mahiru may have suspected that Ibuki would read the names out loud, and if she did, she was right.

“Hmm… Kirumi Tojo… Tenko Chabashira… Ooh, ooh! Kaede Akamatsu! I recognize her!”

“That isn’t surprising, considering you’re both musicians,” said Mahiru.

“Yeeeep!” chirped Ibuki. “Who else… hmm… Maki Harukawa, Miu Iruma, Kokichi Oma, Rantaro Amami, Shuichi Saihara, Korekiyo Shinguji, Himiko Yumeno, Angie Yonaga… and so on and so on!” Ibuki waved her hand airily, straightening her position as she scuffed her feet on the floor. “Ibuki’s too lazy to read the rest! It’s a little boring!”

“May I read it then, Hina-chan?” asked Mahiru with unnecessary politeness. Aoi nodded and passed the note to her.

Then she leaned back in the seat, still slightly squashed by Ibuki. “I wonder what the new students will be like,” she thought aloud.

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” responded Mahiru, handing the paper back to Aoi. “Hope’s Peak Academy isn’t too far away from this town, so we’ll probably be able to see for ourselves pretty soon.”

### [ Kokichi Oma ]

To be perfectly clear, it was *not* Kokichi’s fault that he was late.

...Well, maybe it was. Who knew?

Kokichi shoved open the doors of Hope’s Peak Academy, brushing dirt off his shirt. A generally large entrance hall greeted him, though it still looked like a generic Japanese high school. Gathered in this massive room were… something like forty students? He wasn’t going to waste his time trying to count them, considering they would probably want to introduce themselves anyway.

“Are you *serious?”* exclaimed a tall girl, her long strawberry blonde hair draping over her shoulders as she folded her arms. Kokichi already didn’t like her -- and that was before mentioning her odd choice of fashion. “I’ve-- *we’ve* been waiting this whole time for *this guy?”*

“P-Please d-d-don’t use that t-tone of v-voice f-for st-strangers,” began a girl who fiddled with her long purple hair. When the blonde girl turned her gaze to her, the purple-haired girl squeaked in alarm. “I-I’m s-sorry! I sh-shouldn’t have v-voiced m-my opinion s-so s-s-soon! P-Please d-don’t hate m-me!”

Well, *she* seemed like a massive drama queen. While the strawberry blonde girl simply walked away, Kokichi paused for a moment, trying to recall the massive list of students. The purple-haired girl was... Mikan Tsumiki, right? Yeah, that sounded about right.

Another girl scowled, her almost blindingly-red bob shining in the hall’s light (Mahiru Koizumi?). “If you were another minute late, you’d probably be suspended.” She dropped her wrist, where she’d been reading her watch, to fold her arms.

“Well, what about the entrance ceremony?” asked yet another girl who Kokichi recognized as Aoi Asahina.

“All four of you have missed it,” said a girl whose black hair was pulled in two large twin-drill pigtails, her clothing resembling that of a Lolita princess. She had a French accent and was easily recognizable as “Celestia Ludenberg”... if you could even *call* her that.

“Four?” asked Kokichi, smiling. So he *wasn’t* the only one.

“Hey, don’t look so smug!” snapped Mahiru. *“We* were only late by, like, two minutes! You’ve been gone for over three *hours!”*

Kokichi shrugged, noticing the redhead’s lie immediately. “Yeah, I can’t deny that.”

“Excuse me?” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “Boys *shouldn’t* deny what girls say in the first place. Not that you really *look* like a boy.”

“Aw… you’re really mean,” said Kokichi, his expression morphing into one of dejectedness and sadness. This evoked no emotion from Mahiru, perhaps other than even more irritation.

“Are you seriously *crying?”* she demanded.

“A-Are you seriously that m-mean to e-everyone?” Kokichi responded, sniffling loudly as his inner thoughts silently congratulated his acting skills.

Mahiru stared at him for a few moments. “Boys are supposed to be the ones who act tough, not the ones who start sobbing as soon as someone points out the obvious. So shut it and man up!”

“Hey, wait, what’s going on here?” asked an unfamiliar voice. Looking up (though not very much, as to conceal the fact that he wasn’t really crying -- how gullible these people were!), Kokichi noticed the new student. He wore a pinstripe uniform, but what was most noticeable about this boy’s appearance was the large hat that must have blocked his vision.

“Why do *you* care?” demanded Mahiru.

The unfamiliar boy frowned at Mahiru, then looked at Kokichi. “You’re the late guy, right?”

“Nah, I was here first,” replied Kokichi easily, entirely dropping the depressed act and holding his hands behind his head. Mahiru noticed this immediately, but didn’t get the chance to yell profanities as she processed his words.

“B-B-But d-didn’t you j-just walk in th-through the d-d-door…?” asked Mikan meekly, fiddling with her hands. “W-We all s-s-saw y-you….”

Kokichi looked at her, and she immediately squeaked with alarm *again*, and in a much-too-fast-to-understand manner, said something like, “P-Please, I’m so s-sorry for s-s-speaking so soon w-w-without a-any a-assent o-o-or p-permission, p-p-please d-don’t hate m-me--!”

*I’ll hate you if you keep doing THAT,* thought Kokichi, though he decided to keep this to himself. “Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you.”

“H-Huh…?” Mikan blinked in what seemed to be genuine confusion. “Playing… tr-tricks…?”

“Yeah, Mikan’s right,” said Mahiru, regaining her temper. “Everyone here just *watched* you walk right through those doors! How, in *any world,* can what you’re saying be true?”

“Well… maybe it isn’t,” conceded Kokichi. “Or maybe it is. Who knows?”

“Sorry, what?” asked Aoi.

“If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I lie,” Kokichi said, addressing the entire entrance hall as he spoke. If he had to explain this all anyway, wasn’t it just easier to tell everyone at the same time?

“So basically, we shouldn’t believe any of the crud that comes out of your mouth,” Mahiru concluded, folding her arms again. “I can’t believe you.”

“Unless I lied about lying,” added Kokichi playfully.

To his satisfaction, Mahiru’s brow furrowed as she attempted to follow, before her expression simply turned annoyed again as she gave up on trying to understand. “Whatever.”

“Everwhat,” Kokichi replied.

Mahiru pointedly turned and walked away, muttering something about how incompetent boys were.

“Uh, so, anyway,” muttered Emo-Hat, tugging said hat further down to cover his face better. It was a wonder he could even see while wearing that thing -- *if* he could even see. “I’ll just assume you’re the late person.”

Kokichi opened his mouth to lie, to deny Emo-Hat’s statement, but the words caught in his throat as he looked at Emo-Hat.

“Well… follow me, then,” said Emo-Hat. Kokichi blinked slowly, and without another word, he walked past all the judgemental idiots before stopping in front of Emo-Hat. Emo-Hat nodded slightly and turned around, walking down the hall.

“Where are we going?” asked Kokichi after following Emo-Hat for a few moments. After a beat of silence, Kokichi assumed Emo-Hat hadn’t heard him. “Where are we going? Where are we going? Where are we going? Where are w--”

“Can you please not?” Emo-Hat finally replied.

“You didn’t answer my question, though.”

Emo-Hat sighed. “I… uh, I don’t really know. I’m trying to remember which way the staircase is….” He cleared his throat, turning back to Kokichi. “Uh, right. I never introduced myself, did I? I’m Shuichi Saihara.”

Kokichi thought for a moment. What could he call himself? Akio Hirasawa? Kohaku Sato? Yuki Ito?

“I’m Kokichi Oma.”

Hang on what--

“It’s nice to meet you,” said Shuichi (or Emo-Hat. Kokichi still wanted to call him Emo-Hat), turning away again. “We’re on the ground floor right now, so there are some classrooms.”

*Okay, Captain Obvious,* remarked Kokichi mentally. He was somewhat irate at this point. Whatever weird spell that Shuichi had casted that made Kokichi unable to lie to him, it was working.

Shuichi had begun walking again. “And… oh, here’s the staircase. Dorm rooms are on the second floor, along with the cafeteria and locker rooms. Everyone shares a dorm room with someone of their same gender and year. And the cafeteria’s only open during the hours that people usually eat meals, except for on weekends. You can go into the locker room at any time with your E-Handbook, but it’ll only let you go into the one of your own gender. Club and practice rooms are on the third floor, and they’re only open after regular school hours or on weekends.”

Judging by how Shuichi was almost talking like a robot, Kokichi could easily assume that this was some sort of practiced monologue.

“Yeah, I already know.” Hah! Victory was his! Take *that,* stupid anti-lying curse thingamajig!

Shuichi stopped immediately and pulled his hat further over his eyes. “Oh. Sorry. I guess I’m just… whatever, never mind. Uhm. If you… need somethin’... I’ll be over here….” Shuichi slowly walked away, his cap covering his entire face at this point.

Yet as he left, Kokichi found himself wishing that he’d never said anything in the first place. And that was the truth.

### [ Kaede Akamatsu ]

Kaede’s fingers flew across the smooth surface of the piano’s keys, notes harmoniously filling the air as she hummed along. As two fingers trilled, and her left hand did arpeggios in octaves, she heard the door open behind her. She stopped abruptly, turning on the piano bench.

“Oh, hey, Shuichi,” she said, raising a hand to lightheartedly wave.

“Did I interrupt you?” asked Shuichi, his hand still on the doorknob. “I can come back later.”

“Oh, no, you didn’t interrupt me at all. I was finished with the song, anyway.” Kaede wasn’t *really* finished, but she knew Shuichi would misinterpret her words if she told him that. “Is something wrong?”

“Not really.” Shuichi slowly closed the door behind him. “I just met the late student, that’s all.”

Kaede smiled. “Let me guess: you embarrassed yourself.”

Shuichi sighed, sitting on the piano bench beside her. “I should’ve known that he would know about the school,” he muttered. “He *is* a student here, after all.”

“A new one,” Kaede reminded him. “And we *are* supposed to show new students around, according to the E-Handbook. Whether or not they want our help.”

“Except I’m not his upperclassman,” said Shuichi.

“True, true.” Kaede thought for a moment before sighing. Unable to find any optimistic way to continue the conversation, she quickly changed the subject. “Well, do you want me to help you practice?”

Shuichi shook his head, though Kaede thought she saw a ghost of a smile beneath the shadow his hat cast. “No, that’s alright. I don’t really want to play the piano right now.”

“Okay then.” Kaede stood, pushing her side of the piano bench back. “What did this new student look like? What was his name?”

Shuichi blinked. “Why do you want to know?”

“Reasons. Answer, please.”

“I think it was Oma.”

Kaede pulled out her E-Handbook, quickly assessing the list of freshman students. “Kokichi Oma?”

“Yeah.”

After looking over the student’s appearance, Kaede slid her E-Handbook back in her pocket. “I’ll be right back, hang on.”

“Wait, where are you--” Kaede closed the music room’s door before Shuichi could finish his question.

As Kaede walked down the hall, eyes scanning her surroundings to find her target, a familiar song slowly crept its way into her mind. It was a tune she’d made up, with the help of Shuichi. A silly little song, really, and it didn’t sound remotely professional. But it was still sentimentally special to her, and before she knew it, Kaede was humming the tune.

It always bothered Kaede when Shuichi was feeling depressed, or awkward, or embarrassed, or just upset in general. Whenever he felt this way, she usually took matters into her own hands. And that included finding whoever made him upset and having a good, thorough talk with them -- or, more accurately, a long, one-sided lecture.

Therefore, it was generally very important that she made sure this random late guy understood his actions had consequences.

No, Kaede was *not* overreacting. Playing with a strand of her ash blonde hair, her plum eyes darting around the hallway until--

“Hey! Hey! *Heeeey!”*

She turned, hearing the voice, and saw one student running up to another. No, wait -- that “one student”... that was the late guy Kaede was looking for, whatever his name was.

And the other student… Kaede already knew her. Her name was Maki Harukawa, the Ultimate Assassin. Considering her Ultimate talent, Kaede was mildly surprised that Maki was so good with children, considering her demeanor to… literally everyone.

“Do you, uh, know which way the rooms are?” the late guy asked Maki. As her red-eyed glare hardened, he added quickly, “I’m asking for a friend.”

“You would *know,”* snapped Maki.

“Huh? I would? How?”

First impression-wise, Mr. Late Guy sounded like a six-year-old who was especially annoying and maybe on a sugar rush, though still very pure and innocent. But Maki certainly didn’t see it that way.

*“Do you want to die?”* she growled threateningly, suddenly grabbing Mr. Late Guy by his chessboard-patterned scarf and dragging him closer.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Kaede exclaimed, hurrying toward them in the fastest form of walking that wasn’t considered a run. She hadn’t expected such an instantaneously violent response from Maki, especially not from such an innocent question. “Maki, please don’t hurt him!”

Maki glanced sideways, noticing Kaede, and dropped Mr. Late Guy’s scarf. “I wasn’t planning on it,” she muttered.

“Wow. The fact that *that* was a lie makes me wonder if you aren’t some sort of Ultimate Assassin or something,” said Mr. Late Guy.

Maki froze, staring at Mr. Late Guy as her fists clenched. “You little--!” she began, her voice shaking from fury.

“If I’m little, so are you,” Mr. Late Guy finished cheerfully. “Besides, it’s not like being the Ultimate *Assassin* is that bad. You’re just killing people for no reason. And hey, if you take away the last five letters in ‘assassin’, it describes you so well!”

Maki let out a shriek of rage and lunged at Mr. Late Guy, her fingers closing around his throat.

“M-Maki!” cried Kaede. “Please… Just stop--!”

But Maki refused to relent. *It doesn’t seem like words can stop someone as determined and violent as Maki,* realized Kaede, before she rolled up her sleeves and, quite literally, *jumped* into the chaos.

Her hands seized Maki’s shoulders, yanking back. However, her left hand, which was already sticky with sweat, caught into Maki’s hair as well. Maki cried out as Kaede heard the telltale sound of hair ripping out of one’s scalp -- a very unpleasant sound, to say the least. But Kaede continued to slide her hands further down Maki’s arms, gripping the Ultimate Assassin’s forearms, and pulled as hard as she could.

...Apparently, Kaede’s arm muscles were stronger than she thought, what with all the piano she played. They both tumbled backward, Kaede’s head colliding harshly with the floor as she separated from Maki, who had landed near the wall. It was quite a scene to behold, but thankfully, no one else was there to notice.

“WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE?!” a voice gasped suddenly.

“O-O-Oh… th-this looks b-b-bad…” mumbled a second voice.

Okay, maybe Kaede was wrong, but what did it matter? Her consciousness was slowly fading in and out, her head was pounding, and as she made to sit up, her arms gave in and she fell back again. St-Stupid floor….

“Tsumiki, get them to the nurse’s office as quickly as possible!” the first voice shouted obnoxiously.

“Y-Yes, of c-c-course, I-Ishimaru,” the second voice said in a barely-audible whisper.

*Well… isn’t this an interesting way to start off the school year…?* thought Kaede before consciousness entirely slipped away from her grasp, and her world faded to darkness.

**- - -**

**A/N: And that is the end of the prologue!**

**For those of you wondering, no, Kaede is not dead. i would never kill kaede**

(**Also, am I the only person who keeps calling Kaede *Akane* for some reason? It's an annoying habit and I wish I could stop but I can't.)**

**The first chapter is finished and right here!~ (if you're too lazy to go back to the main page lol)**

**Again, I read all comments, and constructive criticism is appreciated! However, please write comments on this fanfiction's main page (which is linked at the top of this page!) because I won't be notified when someone writes a comment, and if all comments are written on one page, it'll be easier for me to see them. Thanks! :)**