Ivan Wells

> "My purpose...is to give people a reason to feel fulfilled. It's what my talent is good for."
>
>

Ivan Wells is a participant in the Pride's Ascent Killing School Life.

## Backstory

Ivan Wells spent much of his entire life working for the benefit of his family's many different business ventures.

Raised by an entrepreneur, Ivan’s aptitude for measuring human capital started at a young age. As his parents started businesses and brought in new employees over time, Ivan learned to identify the different skills they could potentially bring to the job. By age 11, Ivan was officially dubbed the hiring manager of his parents’ company and acquired talent that put the different businesses in the top of their industries by the time Ivan reached middle school. Surrounded by many different people over the years, Ivan earned the nickname Lil’ Matchmaker when he started putting people that would later become perfect couples in different positions that made their relationships flourish. He has been a guest of honor at numerous weddings despite not being old enough to actually share a drink with the couples.

Ivan's acceptance to Pride's Ascent is both an academic venture and an economic one, as being surrounded by the world's greatest talents can only lead to even greater opportunities for his family's ever expanding business empire.

Despite this nickname and his title, Ivan sees himself more as an Ultimate Taskmaster or Ultimate Guidance Counselor, depending on the circumstances.

## Participation in [Killing Game]

### [Chapter 1]

Arriving at the same time as all the other students, Ivan spent several minutes outside after the rest of his classmates entered the school. As a consequence, Ivan got lost once he finally entered several minutes later and spent the entirety of the orientation session wandering the school halls in confusion.

Meeting his classmates individually rather than in a large group, the introductions also became interviews that informed Ivan of the events of orientation. Doubtful of the sincerity of their supposed "killing game", Ivan assumed that this was a joke to punish him for missing orientation.

As the many students gathered in the dining hall, Ivan mentioned the common practice of his company to throw events for the employees. At the behest of Sir Samuel Harrington, a party was planned for that evening. Using his talents as the Ultimate Matchmaker, Ivan assumed an administrative role and assigned people to their respective positions for the event with a signup sheet that was later thrown out by Artyom Potekchin, the Ultimate bully. Having lost the sheet somehow, Ivan carried on without it.

Opting to spend some time with Amery Lefevre, Ivan worked out in the gym and got to know his classmate. At the end of the exchange, he was convinced that the dangers of the school were indeed real. Ivan also learned that Artyom had thrown something out earlier that day when the signup sheet went missing. Ivan followed up on this and found the sheet in the trash.

While the party was intended to ring in the new school year with merriment, things shortly after went awry as the party began to collapse. Amery's chronic pain and a multitude of other factors led to its abrupt end. That night, Ivan demanded that Monokuma replenish the nurse's office so that he could get Amery's much needed medication. This proved effective, and the Matchmaker provided Amery with pain pills. Ivan went to bed not long after.

After the murder of Ryoji was found that morning, Ivan was one of the students who missed the initial body discovery. Concerned he wasn't doing his part to help, Ivan conducted a series of interviews with his classmates to try and find evidence through their testimonies. Certain he could help prove the innocence of Samuel, Ivan set out to make sure he knew all of the information he could learn.

In the first Class Trial, Ivan was credited as a critical player in the discovery of the true killer.

### [Chapter 2]

At the start of the chapter, Ivan joined the rest of the class as they were given a tour of the newly opened second floor. After this, Ivan went into the Medicine Room and, using superglue from the art room, glued every bottle of poison together and made an imprint of the bottles, in the event they may be used by someone.

Shortly after this at around 10 a.m., Ivan made his way to the library and discovered a book titled *The Despair Phenomenon*. He snuck away to his room and began reading the book. Shortly after, he looked for another book referenced- *The Rise and Fall of Fenrir.* Taking a third book simply titled Hope's Peak Academy, Ivan took the first step into learning the truth of their situation.

After reading the books, Ivan believed that Lanadina Nui was highly at risk of becoming infected with despair. Considering filling her in on their contents, their meeting in the library was interrupted by Monokuma #2 who announced to the room that a book titled "The Despair Phenomenon" was missing from the library. This sparked an interest from Nui to find the books, and gave Ivan a new challenge to deal with. After talking with her in private during their free time shortly after this event, Ivan determined that Lanadina was not ready for the information. He vowed to keep it away from her.

As he assembled allies for his cause, Ivan actively tried to observe Nui's actions and prevent her from potentially getting too involved with others. Hoping to keep an eye on her during the ***girl's night party***, Ivan joined several of the other boys in the secret passageway to the ballroom. After the passageway was discovered, Ivan sneakily escaped detection and then returned by himself simply to listen in.

The following day,Matt Wilson was shot by Monokuma 2 for attempting to open the 2nd floor's stairwell. Ivan reacted very badly to this situation, crying over the thought of his classmate's death. This put Ivan on edge for the rest of the day. He later returned to the scene of the incident and collected several items, including the wrench and chain left behind in the incident.

A dinner party hosted by Lanadina Nui was planned for that night, and all were invited. Ivan was hesitant about going but felt that he should continue his watch of Nui. It was at this time that Eric Neta warned Ivan that he should not go to the party due to the frequent trouble these events seem to bring about. Shortly after, an exchange with Kian Price left Ivan terrified. Ivan decided to heed Eric's advice and stay in his room for the duration of the dinner party.

Unbeknownst to Ivan, the dinner party was actually a plan to drug the students coordinated by Lanadina Nui, Sam Harrington, and Daniel Rivers. The trio hoped to search the rooms of those they'd drugged for missing items: a wrench, chains, the book, and Ryoji's missing gun. Ironically enough Ivan, who did not fall victim to this plan, had all but one of these items.

After the plan's execution, Lanadina appeared at Ivan's door warning him about the events of the party. Ivan left his room out of concern for the class, but then realized that he'd fallen into a trap. As Nui pushed her way into his room, Ivan screamed for help, summoning the Ultimate Knight Sam Harrington to his aid. Upon her arrival, Ivan insisted that Nui leave and bring him five other students to prove her story was true. In this time, Sam shared the details of the drugging with Ivan, claiming that she too was a victim of it. After spending time to break down the case, Ivan proposed that someone among the drugged may have been lying about it. Harrington then broke down and confessed the true nature of the crime to Ivan out of guilt. He then showed her the missing wrench and chain she was looking for, but kept the books a secret.

Following the return of Nui, Ivan allowed Sam to expose the crime to everyone so that he might move attention from himself. In a group discussion, the subject of the missing books remained a critical point despite the revelation that all of them were betrayed by Nui's plot. As the group nearly began pursuing Artyom Potekchin as the most likely suspect, Monokuma 2 appeared and revealed to the group that someone was hiding the books in their room and that "he" was someone that Monokuma liked. Monokuma also revealed that Ivan's family business had been destroyed, and Shortly after this, Sam darted into Ivan's room and began searching. Ivan, realizing that his secret was seconds from being exposed, rushed in after her and locked the door.

Locked in the room together, Ivan confessed the nature of the books and why he had hidden them. Using the drugging as an example of Lanadina Nui's obsession being dangerous to prove his point, Sam consented to aiding him in concealing the books within her armor. The two assumed this plan would be sufficient, however shortly after opening the door, Kian Price and Roga Haruno stormed in and began interrogating the duo. Ivan, who was chained to his bed to preserve the illusion that he was not allied with Sam at this point, as well as Sam, became suspects. Fearing for his life, Ivan screamed for the help of Amery Lefevre. After Sam confessed that she was holding the books, Amery then was given them for safekeeping. Ivan then allowed himself to rest and tried to put his mind at ease.

The following morning, after Matt Wilson opened Amery's locked door using a key he'd secretly been handed by Amery the night before, the group discovered that Amery was robbed, having somehow lost the books overnight. Concerned that Amery might be in danger, Ivan ran to the nurse's office and grabbed a new bottle of pain pills, comparing them to the ones on Amery's desk in case they were potentially poisoned or replaced by the robber.

After learning that Maya Merlini was the last person with Amery to anyone's knowledge, Ivan went on a crusade to get her out of her room so she could provide a statement. After several failed attempts, including knocking and faking a fire, Ivan and Daniel Rivers gathered materials to start a chemical fire that they could use to smoke Maya out of her room. Before this could happen, Sam stopped the duo and, due to Kian's prank, the plan was ultimately cut short before it could even be attempted, with Sam standing guard outside of Maya's room.

Later that day, Ivan wished to speak with Amery about the missing books. He never got the chance to do so, as each attempt to visit was met with an empty room.

Hours later, Roga Haruno was found dead on the second floor.

## Events

[characteristic events where the character participated]

## Trivia

* Ivan is one of the only students to be absent for school orientation.
	+ He also missed the first murder investigation in its entirety
* In his interactions with Kian Price, the two are sometimes implied to be "stand users", a reference to the series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
* Unlike most of his fellow students, Ivan seems to have a fairly positive relationship with Monokuma from the start of the game.
	+ This results in the death of the second Monokuma, posthumously referred to as Monotwoma.