Danganronpa: Hope for the Hopeless/Prologue

## Story

My name is Nishi Toshiro but most who know me do so by my talent. I have been practicing Hypnotherapy for no small part of my life and I know that I have gotten good at it. Or at the very least, I know I’ve successfully treated many patients despite what everyone says about hypnotherapy. Yet it still came as a surprise to me when I received a letter of acceptance into Hope’s Peak Academy as the Super High School Level Hypnotherapist. I suppose that it surprised me more than anything else because I never knew I was that good.

Well I suppose that I technically wasn’t good enough to get into Hope’s Peak but I was admitted to a smaller campus that they owned. Apparently Hope’s Peak’s admissions had increased over the past several years so Makoto bought out some parcel of land in Hokkaido and appointed someone to run the campus he had built there. I admit that neither the campus or headmaster are as widely known but they are no less prestigious to those who do.

I smiled to myself barely able to contain my excitement. It would be hard of course. I wasn’t just some random student who was chosen the attend by chance. My talent came naturally to me, but I still had so much to learn. I knew I would have everything I could not to let them down. Yet I was fairly certain, like 85% certain, that I could get succeed in Hope’s Peak. They trusted me with this spot and I didn’t plan to disappoint them.

In spite of my certainty, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous. I was still going to a branch of Hope’s Peak after all. To be exact, I was on a train en-route to the academy.

I looked around to think about anything else really and it was only then that I realized I had been staring blankly at my travel suitcase and the acceptance letter I knew was inside it. I supposed I was more nervous than I thought. But as far as I knew, nothing had changed. I was still sitting by myself on a train next to the window and the rest of the train was still about half full of passengers going about their usual travels.

I looked around at them wondering if any of the passengers around my age could potentially be other students at the academy. The whole ‘set for life after graduation’ was already enough to get me interested but the prospect of meeting the other Super High School Level students was downright irresistible to me. For what had to be the third time, I tried to guess at who else might be a student in Hope’s Peak’s Hokkaido branch. I looked over at some stranger sitting opposite of the aisle from me. The guy looked about my age but he wasn’t wearing any kind of school uniform so he probably wasn’t a student there.

That was the last assessment I would try to make before everything changed…

Suddenly and without warning, a sense of faintness overtook me and the edges of my vision faded to black. I tried to cry out to anyone around by I no longer could nor did anybody notice that anything was wrong. I felt increasingly felt disconnected from the world with each passing second as though I were now a spectator. And after a few seconds that felt like an eternity, I finally passed out and the world faded to black.

As soon as I could, I opened my eyes and looked at my surroundings. It felt like an instant but I knew it was much longer. I fell asleep on the train, that much was certain, yet I woke up in some unfamiliar room. Groggily, I groaned, fought the urge to stay in bed, and drug myself out to get a better bearing of my surroundings until I was standing in the middle of the room.

I quickly took a few glimpses around the room and pinched my right arm to make sure that I wasn’t still asleep. A small but sharp pain told me that I really wasn’t still unconscious and that the room around me was real. It was a luxurious rustic themed bedroom polished with wooden floors and white carpet as well as deep reddish tinted wall. The room had one window, a bathroom door, and door outside, and what appeared to be a closet. Nothing about the room itself was out of the ordinary except that it seemed tailored to my talent.

Almost immediately, I noticed a Freudian style couch opposite of my bed despite being moderately outdated. There was also a bookcase filled to the brim with what was probably psychology related material and two heavily fluffed chairs to the left and right of the couch respectively. After that I noticed there was a nightstand with no less than three tape recorders on it. To be honest, I was eager to explore the room to see what else it had to offer and more importantly, find any possible clues as to where I was. I gazed out the window for any possible answers but I only got more questions.

*(It’s snowing heavily but the train shouldn’t have reached...)*

I felt another headache come along. When I rubbed my forehead, I noticed something that disturbed me. The sleeve I was wearing belonged to my old school uniform. More importantly, it wasn’t what I was wearing when I passed out. I frowned, took another glance at the door, and decided to explore the area. There had to be a logical explanation to all of this right?

*(Maybe this is the campus?)*

Somehow I doubted it. I took a deep sigh and pushed the door open ready for anything so long as I got answers. When I did, I was greeted by an equally rustic hallway with wooden floors to match my room’s and old fashioned, dark green tinted walls. Both directions seemed to cut off in the same direction as though the hallway hooked around. But much more importantly, some guy was waiting to the left of me. He was tall, built, figure with jet black hair, red eyes, and sporting a dark grey school uniform. I tried to speak but he looked away, cupped his hands, and called out first.

“Yakawa, another one woke up!” He shouted loud enough to be heard from the other side of the hall. After that, he turned towards me.

“Another one?” I asked and looked around. For the moment though, I could only see the guy in front of me. Apparently the other guy hadn’t come yet. “Do you know anything about what’s going on here?”

“In a moment.” The guy said. “I’m waiting for someone to come and I’m pretty sure he’ll be angry if I scare you off before he has the chance to say hi.”

It didn’t take long. I heard footsteps behind me and looked over my shoulder just in time to see another guy head towards me. He wasn’t as built as the first but he was nothing to scoff at. He had light green eyes, light auburn hair, and his school uniform was dark blue. It only took him a few moments to join the first guy and he was grinning the whole time.

*(I’m starting to notice a trend with the uniforms...)*

“Are you guys my captors?” I said. The word got caught in my throat but I forced the question and did my best to sound as though I wasn’t nervous about the situation.

The guy who passed me just frowned and shot a glance at the first guy. “Is that what you’ve been telling her? Listen miss, I don’t know everything that’s going on but I promise you we’re not captors. I’m Yakawa Shoda, Super High School Level Paramedic. And the guy you were talking to is my brother Wakuni.”

“I’m a Super High School Level Marksman.” He added shooting off an imaginary pistol. “And my brother’s right. If we were your captors you would have been tied up or locked-”

“Brother-” Yakawa started to warn.

“What?” Wakuni raised his voice towards is brother. “The last person panicked and you had to find him and calm him down. I thought I’d cut to the chase this time. Everyone knows we’ve been kidnapped and they’re going to suspect us if we don’t explain ourselves.”

“M-moving on.” I tried to cut in. I didn’t like his explanation but I guessed it made enough sense. I didn’t believe either of the would have a reason to lie to me at least.

“Well, I have a pretty high success rate as a paramedic. I haven’t practiced for long but my failure rate is about a tenth of the normal failure rate!” Yakawa said. At that he grinned. “And my brother here, he’s broken several shooting records. He’d could shoot through the eye of a needle if he had a bullet small enough.”

“I can hit anything at almost any distance.” Wakuni said. “Of course, I wouldn’t shoot just anything. I’m representing Hope’s Peak and gun owners all over the world.”

“Yeah-” Yakawa relented with a sigh. From the way it sounded, he seemed to have given up on first impressions. It was probably the situation they were in but it sounded like he had to deal with his brother giving poor impressions before.

He would be right on both accounts if his attitude right now was anything to go by. A small part of me still felt like going back to sleep but a sense of unease had started to creep up on me. It was almost as though something were in the back of my mind that I couldn’t figure out. And as for Wakuni, I noticed I was tenser than before I met him. Yakawa was right about him not helping his case. Regardless, they seem to have reached an agreement because they both looked back at me.

“Aside from all that, I think it’s time you told us your name, talent, and if you know anything about this place. Everyone here so far has a talent and I have a feeling you aren’t an exception.” Yakawa said. He was right about me not being an exception to that rule at least.

I just folded my arms defensively. “I’m Nishi Toshiro, the Super High School Level Hypnotherapist. And well-” I frowned a little more worried than before “I don’t know anything that is happening here. Where are we? Why are we here? Why am I wearing different clothes than the ones I wore when I last fell asleep?”

Both the brothers looked at each other again before Wakuni finally responded to her questions. “We know about as much of this place as you do. Unlike the others, we’ve pretty much been waiting in this hallway in so we’d be the first to see everyone but the others have had more time look around. You’re actually the fourteenth student to wake up.”

I nodded and just took it all in. From what I knew, I was the fourteenth person to wake up, nobody knew what was happening, and we have almost certainly been kidnapped for who knows what purpose. Yet somehow through it all, I kept a calm expression. “So- you said they’re all Super High School Level students?”

“Each and every one of them.” Yakawa replied. “I think my brother here should take you to them. I’d do it myself but I want to be here in case someone panics.” After that, he mumbled to himself. “I feel like I should probably be here to stop them before they hurt themselves running away or something.”

Wakuni didn’t even protest. Instead, he briefly reached out his right hand towards me before awkwardly retracting it because we still still strangers. To be honest, I was thankful he did retract it. Instead, he just turned around and prepared to leave down the hallways only waiting to make sure that I ready to follow. In spite of everything that was happen, I wasn’t that reluctant to follow him. If anything, I was more eager to figure out what was happening and end the suspense of not knowing.

“I suppose I can provide you information on the others” Wakuni said with a shrug. He didn’t turn around or stop for me while he talked. “News travels quickly around here so most of the students have already told me their credential.”

We quickly rounded the corner that curved right. It turned out that I was right about the hallway hooking around only I looked as though it would make a square loop. And on the inside of this loop, I saw a laundry room on the far end of the hallway just before it turned another corner and a coat room right next to me. It was then that Wakuni stopped.

“You’re about to meet Saeki and Eto.” Wakuni stated. “Actually, they probably heard me call my brother earlier so I bet they know we’re coming.”

“Wait.” I stopped as a suddenly realization hit me and looked around behind me. “Do you think you woke anyone else up?”

“Nah those two are either sound asleep or having fun in their rooms. Both my brother and I found a note in our drawers that said the bedrooms were soundproof. I tested it too. You could blow an air horn and nobody would notice.” Wakuni said.

*(Wait… I’m the fourteenth to wake up and there are two more. That makes sixteen of us in total.)*

I thought about that as I opened up the door and we headed into the room. It more or less had the same design as the rest of the building save for what appeared to be sixteen lockers on the far end of the room, two changing rooms marked for boys and girls, and two metal plates underneath both of the doors. But more importantly, I noticed two other girls in the room. One was close to my size only slightly more muscular, had light brown eyes, two natural black pigtails, and was wearing a school uniform save for a pair of binoculars around her neck. She doing a supraspinatus stretch. The other one has a tall lean build, blue eyes, tightly braided hair, and a school uniform that looked as though it was made for somewhere cold. And true to Wakuni’s words, both were waiting for me.

“So who is this one!?” The person doing to Supraspinatus stretch stopped to ask. She gazed straight at me expectantly and excitedly.

“I’m Nishi Toshiro, the Super High School Level Hypnotherapist.” I smiled as I said it and I couldn’t help but feel a little better about my predicament. I was content at least with the fact that I had met two other Super High School Level students and was going to meet two more. “But really, you or anyone can just call be Nishi.”

“Well Nishi, it’s really nice to meetcha! Even if it is under these circumstances.” The one I was talking to quickly replied. Her eyes seemed to light up a bit for the first part. “I’m Eto Uzuki, Super High School Level Ornithologist. Call me whatever though. Eto, Uzuki, It doesn’t matter.”

“Eto is a pretty well known ornithologist if everything I heard from the other students is right.” Wakuni butted in. “She’s been on news shows, probably made groundbreaking discoveries, and is better than most professionals.”

“Thanks Wakuni but I’ve only ever been on one news show.” She said smiling. If her appearance said anything she seemed to appreciate the attention.

“Well Eto-” I tried to continue. “Do you have any idea what is happening around here?”

At that, Eto’s tone dropped to a slightly more serious one. It was still calm, but it no longer had the enthusiasm that it did. “We were actually discussing that before you came in. We don’t know much but the one thing we both know is that we aren’t in Japan. She says it’s too cold and the snow is too thick for this time of year in Hokkaido and I couldn’t find any birds flying that were native to Japan. None at all...”

As Eto trailed off, the other person, which I knew was Saeki by process of elimination, stepped up. She seemed to be more calm and professional about everything than Eto. Unlike Eto, she wasn’t a single step out of place.

“Hey Saeki! You want to introduce yourself?” Eto asked as if it wasn’t already obvious. “Wakuni said Nishi was going to meet us and I bet she’s as curious as I was.”

“Eto, nobody’s a curious as you are.” She said maintaining a vaguely amused smile as she did. “Though I suppose I should, I really don’t feel like being third wheel.”

“There’s no danger of that.” I said reassuringly to both of them.

Saeki meanwhile just went on like she planned to. Whether she was listening to them or not I honestly couldn’t tell. “I take it Wakuni here has told you about us?” She motioned at Wakuni and I wondered for a brief moment if she heard everything he said.

“Only your names really.” I answered her again. “Well that and the fact that you both were here.”

“Oh we’re here alright. The only question is where is here?” She narrowed her eyes just a tad and looked around the room. All the while I could tell that she was also deep in thought. Finally, she shook her head and gave up for the time being. Something that I could instantly tell irritated her by her now clenched right fist. “I WILL get to the bottom of this. I promise that much on my name- actually, why don’t you tell me what my name is? I want to know if you can guess my talent too.”

*(...)*

“I don’t think she can.” Eto accurately said. Granted, I heard a few things about her but there really wasn’t much that I could surmise.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite.” She continued and waved the notion aside. “I’m just curious what you think.”

It took me a second or two to discern what Wakuni had told me and to look over her uniform for any clues. But after a brief pause, I answered. “I know you’re first name is Saeki by process of elimination, but I don’t know your last name. As for your talent, the closest thing I have to help me guess is your clothing and your conversation earlier with Eto. I have no idea but I bet it involves snow.”

“You bet wrong. Though I think I have to give you some credit.” Saeki answered now maintaining a neutral expression. I almost didn’t notice but smiled for a moment in what looked like relief. “You’re right about me being Saeki Masu, but my talent actually involves ice. I’m the Super High School Level Figure Skater.”

Once again, Wakuni felt like offering information about her background. “She’s the best there is in figure skating. She’s won countless competitions and nobody can surpass her.”

“Well Seaki, do you know what’s going on?” I asked. “I’m actually supposed to arrive at Hope’s Peak by now.”

“I think we all are Nishi. The two of us have been outside looking around for any means of escape but it’s just cold and desolate. Even by my standards.” She lost her composure and looked away from me frowning and with fear in her eyes for a moment.

That was when Eto spoke up. “Well yeah it’s cold! I have no idea how we got here or how we’re going to be rescued. But hey! We had to get here somehow and we can leave the same way! It’s just a matter of figuring out how.”

“Speaking of which, we’re going to see the others. Do you know if they’ve found anything else?” Wakuni asked.

Saeki was the one to answer that time. “Nothing new that we know of. You might be able to find something if you get going. But make sure you let me know if anything comes up.” She shrugged. “Like I said. I hate being third wheel.”

“Let us both know.” Eto corrected. “And don’t be a stranger kay? Neither of you.” She said looking at Wakuni and I.

“Alright. I we will get going then.” Wakuni said as he opened the door for me and I reluctantly stepped out into the hallway. To be honest, I could probably have spent hours trying to figure them out without getting bored. But I knew I’d never get to the others if that happened.

“So how was it?” Wakuni asked me. I gave a brief glare to him knowing full well that the girls might be able to still hear us even as the door closed behind me.

“It was about what I thought.” I rubbed the back of my head a little nervously. “They were nice and all but I feel a little worse about this place. I can’t help but feel like something really bad is happening.”

“Well, I don’t think the next one will be quite as friendly. She seems pretty busy but I think it’s important for everyone to meet her. She’s seems to be trying to figure everything out like you are.” Wakuni continued. For a brief moment I wondered again whether or not Eto and Saeki could still hear us.

With that, Wakuni went back the way we came and I followed him past my door and into the hall on the opposite side of what seemed to be the living area. It was then that I noticed a half-flight of stairs that lead away from the living area. Wakuni headed that way and I just continued to silently follow.

I stopped at a cross section appeared to be five different paths. Wakuni seemed to be anticipated this because he stopped as well. And for good reason. While the area wasn’t much different than the others, it had a few important things of mention. One I noticed was a flight of stairs perpendicular and the the left of the one in which we came. It had a sign that said second floor on it but it was locked behind what looked to be a locked security gate.

“Noticed didn’t you?” At Wakuni’s reply, I took my eyes off of the gate and back on him. “I know it kind of sucks that it’s blocked but we’ll just have to wait for someone to break through it.” He stopped, sighed, and continued. “While we’re here, I might as well tell you where everything leads.”

He motioned to a hallway next to the flight of stairs which was not blocked off. “That takes you behind the AV room and to the lounge or the power generator. The hallway opposite of that is where we’re going. It leads to the front room, the AV room, a first aid station, and a few other places. I imagine that’s where my brother will spend most of his time here. Well, that and the gym but I digress. Now about the last two, the one we came from obviously leads to the bedroom area but the other leads to the gym, library, and theater.”

I looked back behind me at the staircase next to the one from which we came. It went up half a level just like the one to our bedrooms went down half of a level. I must have spent a little too much time looking around because I could tell Wakuni was ready to leave when I looked back over. I started towards the front room since that was where he said we were headed.

We passed the entrance area or the front room and went straight to the AV room which stood opposite of the entrance. Once again, I took a quick bearing of my surroundings for later. There was a few chairs and round tables on either side of the entrance and both had lamps, but the only thing of note were that there were plenty of windows and it looked like the snowfall was getting heavier.

As we went into the AV room, I saw several rows of computers and a giant screen on the other end. But more importantly I saw a quad copter drone hovering and somehow electronically connected to the screen behind it. From what I could tell it was flying by itself. But then it turned around to face me. A light flashed in my eyes and I instinctively raised my right arm to shield them.

“So who are you?” A voice came. It didn’t sound too hostile but rather apathetic. It wasn’t from the drone but from a figure in the middle of the room. She had another normal build, green eyes, and chestnut hair. Furthermore, she was also wearing a school uniform only this one seemed to have extra pockets. She was blurred at first but as soon as I adjusted to the light, I could see her more clearly.

“She’s here to introduce herself Satu.” Wakuni explained then grumbled something as he raised his right arm to shield his eyes from the light. Just as we both adjusted, it flickered off which only made him scowl. “What are you doing in here anyways?”

“I’m trying to get out of here. You guys should do the same instead of standing around and twiddling your thumbs and waiting for something to happen.” Satu continued to speak in a relatively bored and neutral tone. I glanced at Wakuni and he just rolled his eyes at that.

“A-anyways.” I cut in before anyone could reply. “I’m Nishi Toshiro, Super High School Level Hypnotherapist.”

“Right, well I suppose you want to know my name and talent too. I am Machi Satu, Super High School Level Roboticist. If you really must know, I got that title winning several competitions and right now I’m trying to put together a drone to look around the mountain. So that we aren’t interrupted by the cold or the weather.”

*(Did she say mountain?)*

“Of course.” I gave a smile and stepped closer to her. Mainly to get a better view of the drone because I had to admit it drew me. But as soon as I did, the drone light flashed again only this time it was brighter and accompanied by three quick mechanical beeps. My heart skipped a beat and I staggered back a few paces.

I glanced back at Machi just in time to see her frantically hit a button on her remote. Both the bright light and the alarm disappeared as soon as she did. The only thing that was different now was a few beads of sweat on her forehead as she eyed me. “Listen, I don’t have anything against you but why don’t you go talk with somebody else? I’m kind of busy here and now really isn’t the best time for distractions.”

“What jus-” I tried to reply but before I could, Wakuni interrupted.

“Tell me you didn’t almost-” Wakuni started. I looked over to him waiting for an explanation but he didn’t seem to want to finish. “Uh never mind.”

“Never mind what? Not telling me only makes it worse.” I said putting my arms on my hips and waiting expectantly.

In the end it was Machi that explained. “Wakuni here is referring to someone else who came by earlier. I built a taser on this robot using a wire and a few other parts in case of emergencies and the guy that came with Wakuni asked me to try it out on him. The point is it almost tased you.”

“What. Why!?” I exclaimed both irritated and nervous. I took one quick glance over to the machine and then back at her. “What kind of emergencies warrant weaponizing the thing!”

Machi shrugged. “I figured if we were being held here I could use it to subdue our captor. I promise my drones will be safe to approach once I have their systems worked out! I just wanted a way to defend myself and my stuff you know?” She gave a weak smile undoubtedly to try and save face. For me, it wouldn’t work. “You would actually be surprised how many of my robots got sabotaged in the past.”

*(I wonder why?)* I thought sarcastically.

“We’d better get going before we cause an accident.” Wakuni said. He sounded as though he trying to save face. I just looked at them both and agreed that it was probably time to get out of there. But before I did anything else, I made a mental note to be a little more careful around Machi and her creations.

With that, we left. We quickly backtracked to the crossway and went up the half-flight of stairs without saying a word. What I found was a hallway not too dissimilar to the ones we’ve been passing through. About halfway down just past a supply closet, I saw a sign that showed a gym entrance on the left and a sign for a theatre on the right. We however, went towards the library on the far end.

“So I think-” Wakuni finally started to break the silence that.

“I just need to be more careful around her is all. Right now I just want to focus on the next group.” I said with just a hint of being upset in the tone. I usually liked to maintain my composure but this was more than a reminder that this place wasn’t safe.

I followed Wakuni into the library. The place seemed to be your normal circular library with bookshelves lining the walls and rotating ladders for people to attain access to all the shelves. This was important because the room seemed to go up for three or four stories. On the far end were five side by side sets of large glass windows that stretched the entire height of the room. On the ground, there were sets of chairs and tables with lamps lined up in groups of four that appeared to be for reading. But what grabbed my attention most was one massive chandelier dangling from the ceiling. I could have sworn the thing had a diameter three fourths of the size of the room and each glass piece piece looked almost like a dagger stretching downwards way beyond that of a normal chandelier.

Naturally, a girl was sitting right underneath the center of the thing. She was reading a book with one hand. but she occasionally glanced up at some guy who was sifting through books in the wall. The girl was once again average but with a fairer than normal complexion, light green eyes, and red hair. She wore thin silver rimmed glasses and more notably, another school uniform. The guy had a smaller stature, dark blue eyes, and silver blonde hair with one bang that went down most of his face. Unlike the last couple, neither of them seemed to notice me or Wakuni because they both kept talking to each other.

“How about the ‘the last icon on the iron wall’?” The guy suggested as he pulled a book out of the wall. If I had to guess, I would have assumed that to be the title of some obscure book.

At that, the female just rolled her eyes and glanced over at him. She replied but she did so sarcastically. “Right. The first two books in that series were atrocious but I’m sure the third-” She glanced over at me and smiled. “Hey Sanda, I think we have visitors.”

At that he grabbed something out of his pocket and headed towards me. From what I could tell, it appeared to be a deck of cards. He smirked the whole time. “You want to see something cool? Hold out your hand. I don’t bite.”

The girl sluggishly hesitated to get up from her chair but she did nonetheless close her book and get up. She just shook her head at Sanda and refuted him in a more direct tone. “Sanda, don’t.” When he didn’t show any signs of stopping and just brushed past her, she looked over to me. “He’s tricking you.”

“Don’t listen to her. From what I can tell he’s harmless.” Wakuni said in a growl low enough for only me to hear.

“So I found these things in my room and they’re really neat! It’s not quite the fifty two card deck and you’ll see why in a minute. Pick any card.” The guy held out the deck of cards and I humored him by taking one. I showed visible surprise to see what I had drawn. On the face of the card was none other than Wakuni Shoda of Spades.

After a took a look, I put it back into the deck face down because I figured that’s what these card tricks always required. Surely enough he began shuffling as though that was what he intended. The whole process took about twenty seconds before he pulled out a card and handed it to me. “Was this your card?”

It was in fact, the same card I had drawn earlier. Under most circumstances it would have been a novice level trick, but he managed to sign his signature at the top right corner in gold ink. Maybe that was still a novice trick, but I was impressed. I least it was a fun distraction. I blinked twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things and looked back at him. He just smirked.

“In case you didn’t see it on the card, I’m Sanda Iwane, Super High School Level Illusionist. I know all their is to know about deceiving the senses and diverting attention. Like when I swapped my book with Sama’s.” At that, he held up the book he took from the shelf, or what would have been if it hadn’t been swapped with whatever she was reading when he brushed past her.

I blinked twice to make sure I was seeing it correctly. Then just handed the card I drew from his deck back to him.

I looked at the the girl who must have been Sama. She looked down at her book and back at him. True to his word, it had been swapped with ‘the last icon on the iron wall’. She sighed and just looked back up at the group. “You just have to keep interfering in my life don’t you?”

“It’s just a trick Sama and I don’t think I’ve been bugging you too much have I?” Sanda spoke with less enthusiasm than before and his smile faded just a moment. “You can have your book back once you’ve introduced yourself.”

Sama rolled her eyes but ultimately relented. She walked up to the group and swiped the book out of Sanda’s hands before turning to face me and Wakuni. Her face softened up just a little. “Alright miss, I’m Sama Koetsu, Super High School Level Literary Critic.”

“Hold on, I think I recognize that name.” I said as I wracked my brain to remember. In spite of our situation, I did. “You’re the one who posted that famous website right? Do you realize books are driven to success or failure by your words?”

While Sama’s mood didn’t seem to change much, a small smile did briefly show on her lips. “Well what can I say, words are powerful. I just read them and post a few myself.” She took a pause and resumed her usual demeanor. “So who are you?”

“Nishi Toshiro, Super High School Level Hypnotherapist.” I replied. Loud enough so that both she and Sanda could hear me “I felt kind of surreal when I first received the title but here we are-”

“I’m sure it was very surreal.” Sama interrupted. I was usually decent at reading people’s faces but for the life of me I couldn’t tell whether she was sarcastically mocking me or not. Before I could think too much into it, Wakuni interrupted.

“So have either of you found anything useful about place yet?” Wakuni somewhat callously inserted into the conversation. Somehow, it didn’t appear to draw too much ire from either Sama or Sanda. Perhaps because of the situation we were all in. As for me, I wanted to know as well. The sooner I knew what was happening, the safer I would feel about the place.

“It’s a library Wakuni, our abductor isn’t just going to leave everything in writing for us so it’s not like we’d find anything.” Sama stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Depending on what happened to us, she could be wrong. “Sanda and I figured we would stick around and enjoy whatever time we had left before whomever did this to us showed up. They’ll probably explain everything anyways” She said with a shrug.

“If you want to spend some time taking it easy, there’s a really cool guy in the theater if you want to see him.” Sanda piped in. “I don’t remember his name, but he said he was some famous stage performer.”

At that, my eyes lit up a little. Sama attitude remained the same and she shook her head at the offer which I supposed made sense given that she was well situated in the library at the moment. All she did was ask “do you know how to get there?”

“Yeah. We past it on the way here.” I replied. And with that, everything started to go back to the way it normally did. Wakuni was edging towards the door, Sanda was standing there but it looked as though he was just waiting for us to leave, and Sama was already headed back to her chair. As for me, I turned around to leave and follow Wakuni.

Shortly after, Wakuni and I left the way we came. We stopped just short of the supply closet and near the theatre entrance. There were still so many questions to ask, but for now my pulse picked up a little with excitement. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Well, maybe not for a Hope’s Peak student but it was still invaluable. Wakuni only confirmed my thoughts when he spoke.

“It’s actually kind of a good thing Sanda spoke up. I wanted to introduce you to these guys next and I have a feeling that you’d forget if we stayed with someone for too long.” Wakuni stated to me. I took a bit of offense to that.

“I actually have great memory Wakuni.” I sharply corrected. “But you have a good point. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but I am excited to meet everyone. So far, it’s been the silver lining to this whole situation.”

“Silver lining?” Wakuni asked. I could tell he was puzzled by the tone of his voice.

“Well yeah! I’ve been wanting to meet Super High School Level students long before I was accepted to Hope’s Peak! They’re some of the most amazing people ever and I want to know what makes them tick!” I laughed just a little before stopping myself. “I know must sound like a total fan girl right now.”

“Eh, well last time I checked you’re allowed to be a fan girl.” He teased at first but dropped to a serious tone. “But if we weren’t here, we’d all be at the Hokkaido campus by now. And you would have even more students to meet.”

“That is true, but we’re all going to get out of here. In the meanwhile I have to make do with what I have and you guys are a great consolation prize.” I said. “I’m- really trying to focus on the positives right now until we know we’re safe.”

“Even the lady that nearly shocked you? Is she a positive?” Wakuni asked me. I couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not but I still wasn’t amused in the slightest. I crossed my arms.

“Like I said. I just need to be more careful around her is all.” I firmly stated glanced at the theater entrance in front of us. “I think it’s about time we checked up on this stage performer. What do you think?”

He went inside without even answering and I followed. The actual appearance of the theater wasn’t too different from any I had seen in the past. It had black walls dimly lit lights, and a number of comfortable looking chairs lined up in descending rows. All of these were of course, facing the stage. The stage itself was made of wood and had a series of warm red curtains for both the front and back of the stage. Above the curtains should have been an insignia, but I couldn't see anything of the sort.

From what I saw, it looked like Sanda’s tip was right. In the center of the stage was in fact a guy dressed up in a light tan suit with a black vest and a golden tie and a light golden chain near the bottom left of the vest. It could have been a school uniform but the way the person was acting was more like he was playing a character.

However, as I looked around, he wasn’t the only one in the theater. Furthermore, I wouldn’t want to discount the other students here. A female sat in the front row and she seemed to enjoying herself judging by her clapping. She was slimmer, had a darker shade of skin than most of the people I've met in this place, and had hazel eyes. But most noticeably she had green hair. Two braids hung from the front but the rest flowed freely. But she was also wearing a school uniform.

Five rows away from the front stood another man. His muscle tone wasn’t quite as noticeable but he still had a fairly average build. Other than that, he had silver eyes and electric blue messy hair. Like the rest, he was also wearing a school uniform. But unlike the rest, he wasn’t really participating in the theater event. His arms were crossed and I wasn’t completely sure if he even wanted to be here.

“What’s that? Bandsmen, play nicely! Go on, do just as I want you to! The new owner, the owner of the cherry orchard is coming!” The figure acted rather happily but gazed down at the stage as if he had dropped or knocked something over. He was about to open his mouth again but the guy in the back interrupted him.

“We have guests.” The guy in the back stated without so much as looking my direction when he said it. I could tell from the tone of his voice however that he seemed fairly bored with whatever had been happening in the theater.

At that, the stage performer, or rather his character gave a laugh and put both his hands up towards the air and towards me in celebration. “More guests! More people here to hear my celebration!”

“Yasui, I think you should stop long enough to introduce yourself.” The girl spoke up. She was still smiling, but she sounded pretty sure that she wanted him to cut it out.

The stage performer however, didn’t seem to heed either of them and instead continued to look at me and Wakuni as if he were waiting for some confirmation. “Well I want to know what these visitors have to say! They bothered to come to the reception too didn’t they?”

“Naya’s right. This lady here want to introduce herself to everyone and I think you can take time out of your performance.” Wakuni replied sternly crossing his arms and staring him in the eyes. I just bit my lip and nodded.

“I’m Nishi Toshiro, Super High School Level Hypnotherapist. And I’m glad to meet you guys.” I gave a quick smile. “I just wish it was under different circumstances.”

At that, the guy who was on stage pulled what appeared to be a whig off of his head. His real hair was bright carnelian red and it flowed halfway down his head. “Well since you did I might as well. You can call me erm-” He stopped himself and shook his head. “Let’s try that again. You can call me Yasui Katai. In case you haven’t guessed yet, I’m the Super High School Level Stage Performer. It’s a blast really.”

*(Haven’t I heard that name before?)*

Almost as if on queue, Wakuni explained to me where I would have known the guy. “Yasui here has pretty much been asked to perform for every major movie and play studio in Japan. As well as a few outside of Japan. You’ve probably seen at least one recording of one of his performances.”

I stared stargazed for a second or two longer than I should have. Wakuni was right, I had seen a clip of him from a review. I had so many question I wanted to ask him, nevertheless I quickly realized that there were two other people in the room and pried my focus elsewhere. This time, towards the only other girl in the room. “And who are you?”

“I’m Naya Hitomi. I doubt my talent’s going to impress you after listening to Katai, but I happen to be a Super High School Level Geologist.” She said. For someone who believed her talent was inferior, she didn't seem too upset about it.

“Don’t worry about it.” I tried to reassure her. “It’s not as flashy sure, but your talent’s helpful for the scientific community and all that.”

“Not just that.” Wakuni Chimed in. “I’m told she predicted a minor earthquake before the professionals did. I don’t know all the facts, but I bet they wouldn’t have figured out at all if it weren’t for her.”

Most people would have been happy or boastful about their feats, but Naya just looked away from me. Not far away, but she didn’t make eye contact. “Guys? Geology may be my talent but I’ve made some mistakes in the past and that success reminds me of a big one. If we could refrain from talking about that, I really would appreciate it.” She forced a smile and she didn’t appear to be upset, but her tone practically pleaded not to press the issue further.

“I think it’s time I introduced myself.” the last guy said before I could even respond to Naya. “That is, if nobody has any objections.”

Nobody had any. I just looked back at Naya and gave her a quick reassuring nod. I was definitely going to press her on it later if we hadn’t left the lodge by then, but for now I had more pressing matters and I still wanted to meet everyone.

“I am Sasori Renzo.” he stated more like it was an assertion that an introduction. “You probably haven’t heard of me unless you’ve read an obscure university newsletter but I’m the Super High School Level Statistician. I actually got into Hope’s peak by correcting an error in a statistical formula. But don’t let that fool you. I like to think I’m more well rounded in academics than that.” He put his right hand up to his chin in thought. “I actually even think I've read a few basic psychology books before.”

I had to admit my eyes lit up a little with interest at that but I had other questions to ask. Namely the lodge, why we were in it, why we were wearing our old school uniforms, and what Yasui was doing on stage in a time like this. “So, what are you guys doing here?”

“Wasting our time.” Sasori quickly replied. However, this earned him a raise eyebrow from Naya and an outright rebuttal from Yasui.

“This isn’t a waste of our time!” Yasui raised his voice in protest. “You said we’ve all found everything we could so I offered to show you a performance. If you have something better to do then leave!”

“My apologies.” He put his right hand to his forehead in a face palm. “I meant we we’re killing time while we waited for the others.”

“Are you on edge too?” I asked. I meant it too. Everyone I met seemed to have a different reaction to the situation when it was brought up. It made me feel uncomfortable and like turning the place upside down for clues until I knew we were all safe.

“We’ve almost certainly been kidnapped Nishi. I’d be surprised if there were anyone here who isn’t a little concerned.” He shrugged. “I think some of us are trying to act calm.”

*(I suppose that is true- I wonder which of us are more worried than we’re letting on.)*

I couldn’t think of anything else to say at the moment other than to ask him what he knew about the lodge, but Wakuni beat me to it. “So Sasori, I heard you found everything you could about the lodge. What did you find?”

At that he frowned for a split second. I thought I saw him shudder a little. “Yeah, well I know we’re in some sort of lodge in the middle of the mountains called ‘Newpoint Lodge’ and according to Eto and Saeki, we aren’t in Japan anymore. Also, there are sixteen of us according to Wakuni here-” he gestured towards Wakuni. “And we were all kidnapped on our way to Hope’s Peak Academy’s Hokkaido branch to attend it as class ninety. Finally, I don’t know the genders who haven’t woken up yet, but I know that including you there are eight females and six males.”

“Wait, I’m in class ninety!” I responded.

“We figured as much.” I got in reply. This time it was Naya who spoke. “For now most of us have agreed to believe it’s a hazing until proven otherwise.” She pointed towards me her smile faded. She spoke again and this time her tone was more stern. “I suggest you do the same for your own mental health.”

“But we’re not even in Ja-” I tried to respond to no avail.

“Keep in mind that the students already enrolled into Hope’s Peak have talents too. For all we know this is fake. That this is just some sort of studio and the mountain is a backdrop or something. Please just trust us on this for now.” Naya said.

I stood there for a moment but reluctantly I agreed. “Well- okay- yeah.” I forced myself to push the thought back for now and act convinced. Everything about this place seemed wrong but I wouldn’t get anywhere by talking to Naya about it. “Perhaps Eto and Saeki really were wrong or this was a trick or some initiation or- well we don’t know.”

“Anyways, that’s about all that’s happening around here.” Sasori concluded. “Are you going to go meet the others or are you going to stay?”

“I think we’re going to go actually.” Wakuni stated rather assertively before glancing over at me. He probably knew I’d stay unless he said otherwise. And while I was thankful about his keeping me on track with my current goal, I still made a mental note to call him out on it later.

Yasui on the other hand stood between me and Wakuni and the doorway and extend his hand to me. “Are you sure you want to leave? If I can keep an entire theatre entertained i’m pretty sure I can handle four other people. Even special students like yourselves.”

“Thank you but I really trying to finish introductions. There’s still three more people I need talk to and it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t even say hello.” I declined. Part of me wanted to stay, but I had no other choice than to refuse if I were to keep searching around.

Yasui didn’t give much resistance after that because he stepped to the side and allowed Wakuni and I to leave. In the few minutes that followed, I left the theatre. I stopped at the entrance to hear Yasui talking to the others. I wasn’t paying attention but it sounded like he got back into character. I just glanced over at my guide.

“So where to next?” I asked.

“We’re going to the lodge’s cafeteria. I believe they should all still be congregated there.” Wakuni said. “When you’re ready, we can go.”

I was ready of course and I headed back the way I came. He picked up on this and quickly caught up with me. Then, we headed to the cafeteria by backtracking towards the entrance. But instead of turning left into the AV room, we continued past the first aid station and into the hallway that would lead us past our destination. The hall itself curved to the right around the cafeteria, but the room itself stood right in front of us at the end. Wakuni was the first inside but I was quick to follow.

The first thing I noticed about the room was that it was different from the others. It has three rows of long metal tables with dark red cushiony round chairs on the sides. From what I could tell, there were eight each per table. The floors, in contrast to the normal wooden floors, had black tiles. I also noticed a window large pane glass window outside. But most importantly, there were two other girls in the room. They sipping tea and were talking to each other.

The closer one had a slim build and slightly paler skin tone but otherwise she was average. She had dark red eyes and cinnamon brown hair that went all the way down to the base of her neck. Otherwise she wore a pink but otherwise normal school uniform. The other was noticeably smaller with aquamarine eyes and neatly combed dark black hair. Her school uniform was mostly light and mid blue.

“Well the floor plan of this establishment doesn’t make sense either but here we are Koike.” The closest one said causing the second one to laugh a little and look up. That was when she happened to notice me.

“Hey Shiro-” She said rather weakly. “There’s someone right behind you…”

As Koike apparently trailed off, her partner glanced over to me, brought the cup of tea to her lips, sipped it once, and fully turned towards me. All the while, her legs were crossed. What she didn’t do was get up so that I wouldn’t have to go other to her.

She wouldn’t approach me so I walked up to her. The scent of her perfume wafed in the air and if I were being honest, it was almost suffocating. Still, I tried to introduce myself. “I’m Nishi Toshiro, Super High School Level Hypnotherapist-”

“I see.” Shiro said “Well I’m sure you’ve heard of me before right? If you haven’t you must be living under some rock. My name is Shiro Michihiro, Ultimate Transportation Architect-”

*(You mean Super High School Level right)*

Obviously, she couldn’t hear my thought and even if she could I doubt it would have made a difference because she just went on anyways. “You see, my home city has an atrocious transportation system so I designed a replacement for them. It won’t be implemented for another five years or so because of the city budget but it will be. Hey, it got into Hope’s Peak right?”

She looked me over as though she was evaluating me and I crossed my arms involuntarily out of self-awareness to the fact. Finally, she stopped. She must have found me worthy of whatever judgement she had because she patted the seat next to her own.

“You look tense. Is it the lodge? I know the color scheme is sore to look at isn’t it? I mean who has tan walls in a cafeteria? Why don’t you sit down and have some tea?” She said, before stopping to take some of her own tea.

I only had time to respond to her last request, but thankfully she seemed to have drawn conclusions on her own. “I’m sorry, I must have gotten ahead of myself. Let’s try one thing at a time. This tea isn’t horrible! I think you should give it a try.”

“Well i’m not about to drink yours.” I replied. Hopefully she understood how unhygienic that would have been. “I guess I could go get some-”

“Let me stop you there.” She cut in. “There’s actually a fine gentleman in the kitchen right now. Right through those doors.” She delicately motioned towards one of two doors that happened to be on the other side of the cafeteria. Namely, towards a metal one that looked like a stereotypical kitchen door. “Anyways, there’s a special butler in there who managed to get my order right the first time. I’ll just have Wakuni ask him to bring you something.”

She didn’t even have to ask. I glanced over my shoulder just in time for the Wakuni to uncross his arms and roll his eyes and head out towards the kitchen door. From his lack of input, I could tell he didn’t think too highly of Shiro.

“He’s a bit of a ruffian.” She whispered to me once Wakuni left. All with the same plastered smile on her face. Suddenly, I could see why he might not protest the chance to be away from her.

“You know, your order is kind of extreme-” Koike apparently cut in. She exchanged a glance with me while Shiro looked down at her tea and I was left to wonder whether or not she was trying to steer the subject away from Wakuni.

She took another gulp and put her tea down. “Nonsense, my order is perfectly reasonable. It’s just that service isn’t what it used to be or everyone would be able to get it right.”

I didn’t know what her order was like. But judging by Koike’s reaction and her attitude, I would have guessed that it would be something difficult. Like one of those orders where it would be a miracle for anybody to get it right.

“Oh, you remind me. You’ve neglected to introduce yourself to our guest.” Shiro said. “Or perhaps you would like me to.”

“No i’m more than happy to do it” Koike said before getting up so that Shiro wouldn’t be sitting between the two of us. “I’m Koike Juichi and I happen to a Super High School Level Diver.”

“Oh but you’re so much more than that aren’t you?” Shiro chimed in before looking towards me in an aside glance. “Apparently she’d been diving for most of her life and she got into Hope’s Peak after saving one of their agents.”

Koike only confirmed it. “The guy would have drowned but I happened to be there. I don’t know whether to say he was fortunate or not but- I’m glad everything turned out okay in the end.” At that she smiled.

“Yeah it sounds like it was a really good thing for both of you that your were there.” I added. After that, I waited for everything to die down before I asked the next question I had on my mind. “So what were you to talking about before I came.”

“Well I was talking about how this place kind of creeps me out and that- I don’t want to be trapped here with fifteen people i’ve never even met. It all makes me feel like- like something bad is going to happen.” The way she both looked and sounded as though she was getting more worried by the minute. First she sat back down her chair then she clutched her stomach and looked away.

“That’s when I brought up how I didn’t like this either of course.” Shiro smiled and gave Koike a small pat on the back. “This place has no taste. I mean the walls, the layout, everything about this place sickens me. I almost hate this place as much as I hate trains.”

Koike seemed to pick up on that and I realized that Shiro was trying to calm her down a bit. “But aren’t you the Super High School Level Transportation Architect. How can you hate trains?”

“First off, Ultimate transportation Architect. Second, how can I not?!” She stuck out her tongue is digust. “Those things are filthy, overcrowded, and so jittery that I want to vomit every time I ride one! Now, I know they’re necessary but-”

She didn’t quite have the chance to finish her conversation because both Wakuni and the guy he was with came bursting out of the kitchen laughing about something. The guy Wakuni was relatively tall but otherwise normal. He had dark grey eyes and dark ginger brown hair. He was wearing his high school uniform but he still looked almost like a butler. Quite frankly I hadn’t seen Wakuni this happy yet. Shiro and Koike also saw this but their reactions were to frown and to maintain a neutral expression respectively.

That was when Wakuni and the other guy walked up to me. However it was the other guy that spoke up. His tone somehow sounding inviting and professional at once. “Perhaps I should introduce myself. I’m Senji Kenazane, Super High School Level Butler-”

“This guy’s been servicing the best of the best and he has a ninety-nine percent approval rating” was all Wakuni had to say about him despite a smirk that was now plastered onto his face.

After that, he started to head away. “Anyways, this is the last guy you haven’t met in both meanings of word. I personally need to get back to my brother. If you need anything, you know where to find us.”

I tried to think of something to say. I could take care of myself and that Wakuni himself was still a stranger, but I didn’t feel like being ditched in the middle of wherever we were. It didn’t matter. Before I could think of anything to say, he left out the front door to the cafeteria.

Senji meanwhile, quickly recovered and resumed what he started saying. “As I said earlier, I’m a Super High School Level Butler. I do believe your name is Nishi. Am I correct?” He posited the question calmly and reserved like he spoke before but I knew he still expected an answer from me. An answer that I would have given to him anyways.

“Yeah. I’m Nishi Toshiro, Super High School Level Hypnotherapist.” I said back.

Senji just took that and nodded as though he had already known. If I had to guess, I would say he had been told as much by Wakuni when he went into the kitchen. But regardless, he replied. “Well miss Toshiro, is there anything I can get you?”

I shook my head. “If it’s alright with you, I’ll wait until later. I want to see what this place has for myself.” I paused for a moment to remember why I didn’t stop Wakuni from interrupting him. “I actually just wanted to meet everyone and say hello. If I was interrupting anything you can get back to what you were doing.”

“Hmm-” Senji began. “Well I believe I have everything squared away so I can answer any question that you may have ms. Toshiro. The same goes for everyone here.”

He looked at all three of us as he finished speaking, walked around to the other side of the table, and took a seat across from Shiro. His posture was perfectly upright with both his hands at his lap and to me, he seemed expectant of requests. This was all good because I had a few questions to ask him. Unlike him, I leaned in the speak.

“So firstly, why are you doing this?” I asked. “Who relegated you to working for these two in the kitchen?”

Senji didn’t answer at first. He just looked over to Juichi and showed a small smirk as if it were some sort of inside joke. It appeared however that he didn’t intend to tell me. I was about to give up on the question and move on to my next one when I got a response.

“I came down here first because I was hungry. I’m not going to lie. I was pretty scared when I first woke up and came in here to make myself and sandwich.” Koike started then pointed at Senji. “That’s when he showed up and offered to help. After that, Shiro came and we hung out here in the cafeteria but I suppose poor Senji hasn’t had much time to leave the kitchen.”

“I don’t need to worry about it. I could have quit whenever I wanted to. I thought I’d try to make someone feel safer around here-” Senji began to reply.

He seemed a little less reserved as he teased Koike back. So far it seemed as though both he and Shiro were doing everything they could to try and take the edge off of whatever happened with lighthearted humor and conversation.

“Just know that you are safe here.” Senji’s tone dropped to one much more serious and not nearly as refined as usual. “We have plenty of food, this place is meant to house all sixteen of us comfortably with more than enough food to last our lives, and I know that at least half the guys awake right now can subdue anyone that tries to harm you.” He stopped before adding. “I’m certain you can defend yourselves but help is here if you ever need it.”

“That actually brings me to my next question. How much do you know about this place?” I asked. I would have asked anyways but he brought it up so I figured it was the perfect time to ask him.

“About all that us three might have told you.” Senji replied. “There are sixteen of us housed here and this place appears to be able to sustain us for some time much to Shiro’s dismay.”

Shiro just stared blankly at him with the same smile she always had. She didn’t lose any form as she once again gently put her cup of tea down to her plate on the table which surprised me considering her reaction earlier. From what I saw, it was almost empty.

“Everyone here already knows that this lodge has no taste.” Shiro replied as she looked down at her drink. She slid it Senji’s way. “Speaking of tasteless, get me a new batch will you? It’s loses all its heat and flavor by the time you get to the bottom. Get some for Koike too and take Nishi with you.”

Senji didn’t protest but silently picked up Shiro’s stuff and got up. He looked over at Koike whom I noticed was still drinking her tea. Senji also noticed because he didn’t collect anything any of Koike’s stuff. Instead he just headed off to the Kitchen and I got up to follow.

He held the door open for me and I was more than happy enough to pass through. Just like the doors, part of the Kitchen was a like a stereotypical kitchen one would see at a restaurant. It had everything from a sink, to a prepping table, to dishwasher and oven. The other part of the kitchen looked more like a place where one would get casual snacks. There were cabinets and a microwave in the corner in case quick-accessed food needed to be stored. As Senji passed by me and put the cup in the sink, my eyes drew towards a knife rack hanging on the walls.

“So..” I began unsure why the question entered my mind. “What do you think about Shiro and the others?”

“Some are more irritating than others, but everyone is manageable.” Senji replied. “Anything that has been been asked of me pales in comparison to requests of some of my past clients. And at least now I have been given the proper tools to fulfill most of the requests.”

I looked around some more for food because, while I wasn’t hungry, I wanted to know where the food was in case I got hungry in the near future. The next thing that caught my eye was a dumbwaiter door. I turned around to ask Senji about it but he already seemed to have finished putting everything in place and he figured out my question.

“The dumbwaiter goes somewhere to the second floor but I can’t figure out where for the life of me.” The butler replied with a shrug. “I’m afraid we will have to wait until ms. Satu busts the gate down before we can access the second floor to find out.”

I nodded with just a little disappointment and looked over to some bananas hanging nearby on the wall and a bowl of fruit close by. The kitchen really was the perfect mix of professional and casual. Senji, of course, had something to reply to that as well.

“Those are fresh from the greenhouse I believe. That place makes for an absolutely magnificent indoor garden but I suspect that’s where half the food comes from as well.” Senji replied.

*(This place has an indoor greenhouse too?)*

“Say, can that really sustain us indefinitely?” I asked him, I looked at it a little more nervously with the thought of our food supply fresh on my mind.

“If we all became vegetarians, yes. But I don’t think we need to worry about that since there’s more than enough meat in the refrigerator” Senji replied and glanced over at me. “You intend to see it don’t you Toshiro?”

“I would like to know what we’re all dealing with here. I just want to take a look and I promise I’ll come back once i’m finished.” I said. “So where is it?”

At that, Senji eyed a door opposite of the one in which we entered. All the while, he was getting out the necessary ingredients to fill Shiro’s order and placing them on a table. Otherwise, he was paying too much attention to look away from what he was doing.

“It’s just out the back door, to the left, past the vending machine, and across from the janitor’s closet. I can take you as soon as i’m finished here.” Senji replied with his back still turned to me.

“Don’t worry about it. I you seem busy and I can find it myself.” I finally said before starting to leave. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. And before you ask, yes I’m sure.”

I with that, I left out the back of the kitchen and into a giant rectangular hallway that encompassed a giant greenhouse just across from the kitchen. It looked as though either direction would get me to the entrance but I did what Senji said and passed by a black and white vending machine to my left. I also passed passed the other end of the hallway that lead me to the kitchen in the first place. Finally, I reached an entrance to the greenhouse that was in fact opposite of a janitor’s closet. Without looking, I went in.

I saw the inside of the greenhouse from the outside but I wasn’t able to see it quite as clearly until now. It spanned two stories and there appeared to be a network of catwalks that hung above. Most notably, a central one that spanned all the way across greenhouse. Everything else that was to be expected from a greenhouse was here as well. Including a watering system from the roof and plants that grew to the extent that there needed to be dirt paths and a central clearing. It even has a rather large shed in the far left corner. About the only thing it didn’t have was an entrance to the second floor.

Finally, there was a guy in the middle of the dirt clearing. He was sitting down with both his legs crossed and he seemed to be drawing tally marks into the dirt. However, he looked short enough to where I’d still be taller than him if he stood up. His complexion was far paler than anyone I had seen since I woke up and paler than most people I've met. His vivid red eyes and messy brown hair didn’t help his appearance either. Finally, there seemed to be a spider next to him which he didn’t seem to mind or notice.

In spite of his appearance, I walked up to him. This wasn’t the first time I’ve run into someone who looked abnormal and if I ever got out of here alive it wouldn’t be the last time either. Finally, he noticed me.

“I didn’t know you were awake.” I honestly said.

“Nobody does.” The guy replied in a rather low tone. Then he picked up the spider with his finger and stood up to face me. It was then that he finally made eye contact. “I was the first to wake up and ever since I've been observing everyone. To make sure that nobody here is in on this situation.”

*(That’s not creepy at all.)* I thought sarcastically. However, I said nothing about that.

“So do you know who I am?” I asked betraying just a small hint of twisted curiosity. I instantly regretted it once I did.

“You’re Nishi Toshiro, Super High School Level Hypnotherapist.” He replied then smiled at something. “Well since I know your name and talent, you might as well know mine. I’m Tanabe Kenzaburo, Super High School Level Arachnologist. I’m not sure how Hope’s Peak found out about my talent but whatever.”

“I see-” I said as my eyes reflexively looked over to the spider on his hand. Something about spiders made me tense but I tried not to admit it verbally or otherwise. “I guess that explains the spider doesn’t it?”

“Yep!” Tanabe chimed in before holding it out for me to see. “But you don’t need to worry. It’s just a Corn Spider.”

“Alright then” I said intentionally paying paying as little notice to the spider as possible. “Almost everyone here has been pretty nice and I think you would get to know them better if you actually met them.”

“I will in time, I promise that. But I still haven’t seen the last guy.” Tanabe stopped. “Can you promise me you won't tell anyone I’m awake? I’ll introduce myself to everyone when I’m ready.”

I opened my mouth to reply but quickly realized that my promise would be pointless. The both of us heard footsteps behind us and I turned around in time to see Yakawa show up with some guy I haven’t met yet. The new guy was slightly muscular than average but had a normal build. Something that made me start to notice a trend. Otherwise he had green eyes and fluffy black hair. His appearance confirmed that the sixteen students were evenly divided between boys and girls. It also confirmed that we were all wearing our school uniforms and I frowned at that.

“She is Nishi Toshiro, Super High School Level Hypnotherapist-” Yakawa began with his hand out gesturing towards me. “And he is-” He turned to face Tanabe. “I don’t actually believe we’ve met yet. So who are you?”

“Tanabe Kenzaburo, Super High School Level Arachnologist.” Tanabe began as the spider began crawling to his shoulder. “You probably just missed me.”

“Anyways, this Seno Sotatsu, Super High School Level Lucky Student.” Yakawa said pointing towards the guy and looking at both of us. “Apparently his exploits are pretty common on the news. You know, lottery winnings, stopping a train crash, eccetera.”

I looked over at the Seno and from what I could tell, he seemed worried. He seemed to be off on his own train of thought and he was sweating. When he rubbed his forehead I finally decided to confront him.

“Is something wrong Seno?” I asked.

“Something-” Seno put his hand down and noticed some of the sweat on it. “Oh no, it’s just the greenhouse.”

He tried to laugh it off and it would have convinced me if I hadn’t noticed his lie. Namely the fact that he had just come into the greenhouse and he was sweating while Yakawa didn’t show any signs despite being here for the same time.

“Are you sure Seno, you haven’t been here long enough to start sweating like that.” I said. “You don’t need to be ashamed of it. There’s a lot to be worried about.”

Yakawa and I both looked at Seno, Tanabe stepped back to be with himself, and Seno exhaled a deep sigh a relented.

“It’s nothing. It’s-It’s just a theory that would be really bad if it turned out to be true.” Seno said. “But it’s only a theory. I don’t want to tell you guys because I don’t want to create any false alarms. If I’m right, I’m right. But otherwise you don’t need the extra worry.”

“You don’t need to worry either Seno.” Yakawa replied with a quick disciplinary glare. “You’re only going to drive yourself crazy thinking about what might be happening to us. You can believe me when I say my brother and I can handle any scenario that comes.”

Seno nodded although he didn’t looked all too convinced. For now though, I thought I would let it slide and stepped to the side so that Yakawa and Seno could talk to Tanabe better without trampling any of the plants. But before I could do so, we all heard an announcement. I could have sworn I hadn’t seen any speakers, but the sound managed to echo throughout the lodge.

Ding dong, bing bong.

“Ahem, ahh…! Testing one two three! Testing!... Okay! Attention all students! This is your Supervisor speaking! It’s time to kick off this school trip! Everyone has five minutes to meet me in the lounge!”

Upon hearing the announcement, the four of us all looked at each other as though someone might offer an explanation. I myself had none but I did feel a cold chill of dread creep over me. I had know idea who or what was behind the message except that it sounded like a guy and that he sounded happy in the most unpleasant way I could imagine. He sounded like someone who was laughing at a train wreck.

“So, uhm...” Yakawa tried to begin. He rubbed the back of his neck a little nervously. “We all wanted answers right? We might as well get going.”

“You’re right.” Tanabe said with a low growl. Based on his frown he didn’t seem too pleased to meet our ‘supervisor’ either. “We’d better get going then. There’s no telling what this guy will do to us if we don’t show up and I for one don’t want to be the guy to find out.”

With that, Tanabe left the same greenhouse entrance in which I came and went into the hallways. Yakawa just looked back to me and Seno.

“I got to go find my brother and make sure he heard the announcement.” Yakawa said. He didn’t sound scared but he sounded much more serious than he had before. “Seno. Do you remember how to get to the lounge?”

Seno just nodded and Yakawa left. A few seconds after that, Seno just looked at me blankly. His mouth moved as though he was trying to say something but it took a few seconds before any words came out.

“W-we had better going. Let’s just hope this is some cruel practical joke huh?” He said reaching out and grabbing my arm with his now trembling arm. What troubled me was how quickly he lost his facade and the fact that he thought I would resist following him.

“You were right weren’t you?” I accused as I tugged my arm free of his. “Seno, I want to know what we’re dealing with right now or I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m afraid I can’t say.” Seno shook his head. “It’s probably some practical joke but- well how much do you know about the history of Hope’s Peak Academy?”

“Everything that was in their history section and a few of the forums. Once i was accepted I knew I needed to be prepared.” I replied.

“Then you know why we need to go now!” He snapped. He grabbed my arm again only this time he was much more forceful. He started headed out of the greenhouse and I had little choice but to follow.

We left the same way we came in only this time we went away from the kitchen and to our right. There was a cross section ahead and I noticed a stairwell straight forwards, but we turned to our left and went through a hall filled with pictures and a single mirror on the right. Finally, we passed what appeared to be a power generator room and we were behind the AV room from earlier. I recognized the route from what Wakuni told me and suffice to say, there were two paths to the front of the AV room and one path that split off to my right. We headed down the rightmost route and before I knew it, we were passing through the door into the lounge.

I had to admit that the lounge itself had a rather cozy atmosphere. It was filled to the brim with comfortable chairs and couches, tables with dim lamps, a few board games, and a fireplace in the on the right. At the far end appeared to be a podium with a microphone attached. A few lights from above concentrated on the spot so I figured our ‘supervisor’ would be making an announcement there. But most importantly, everyone appeared to be here. Even if Machi was arguing with Sanda and everyone was distracted.

“I only ordered my robot to tase you because you asked me to!” Machi yelled. Her face was red with what I guessed was frustration. At this, Eto, the person closest to us, just looked at me confused.

I sighed. “If I had to guess, I would say he was curious. It wouldn’t be the first time curiosity has someone I know to test something like that after all.”

I looked on as I saw Wakuni and Yakawa physically separate the both of them for a few minutes until both had calmed down. After that was all over, they looked over at the new guy, otherwise known as Seno.

“So who is this?” Naya asked.

“Just Seno Sotatsu, Super High School Level Lucky Student.” He said trying and surprisingly succeeding in putting on a brave face for the crowd. He still waved a little weakly however. “I’m sure you all have talents too.”

“I’m afraid we don't have time for introductions. It’s time to get this show on the road!”

The group glanced over at the podium. For a few seconds, nothing happened. But then half black and half white teddy bear flew up into the air a few feet as though he were ejected. He landed on what seemed to be a raised platform before the podium and seemed to be happily seated. As this, the whole class recoiled and I suspected that it was because we knew what this was. Well- I knew what it was at least. It was Monokuma.

“Hello students, I am Monokuma! You’re headmaster and supervisor of this prestigious lodge.” Monokuma announced as joyful as always.

About the only thing he was met with stunned silence from the whole group. Monokuma gave it a few seconds, but nobody had recovered from the surprise to offer a response. And after we apparently took too long the irritation in the room became palpable.

“Nothing?” Monokuma said before waiting a few more seconds. Finally, he raised his arms in one of his more threatening poses and yelled at us. “Wow, you all are friggin lame!”

“So…” Sasori began. He was the first to recover from the initial shock but I saw several others start to recover as well.

“So?...” Monokuma just replied putting his hands up to his mouth in mock interest.

“E-everyone is seeing this right? It's not just me?” Naya asked as she looked around. I couldn’t tell for the life of me whether she wanted us to confirm or deny that Monkuma was in fact there. To be honest, I didn’t know which alternative I would have preferred either.

“We all see it Naya.” I reluctantly confirmed. I knew that someone had to do it. I didn’t want it to be me, but I did.

“I’m sorry but- I don’t get it.” Sanda just said. Unlike most of us, he he just scratched his head and looked at the Monokuma without so much as flinching. “This thing pops up and everyone goes silent. I guess I don’t know what’s going on but why’s everyone scared of a black and white teddy bear.”

“I am not a teddy bear! I am Monokuma!” Monokuma once again shouted.

“Well for everyone who doesn’t know, Monokuma was the mascot for the remnants of despair back when they were still in power. He uhm- he was the front man for the Mutual Killing Games and he brings death and despair wherever he goes.” Seno said to answer Sanda’s question.

For the second time, everyone stood still. For me at least, it wasn’t the same shock as it was when the Monokuma first showed up. For me atleast, it was more of a solemn silence than anything else. But it seemed to take Sanda by surprise. Monokuma of course just continued with his initiation.

“Well then.” Monokuma began again. “Now that you all seem know who I am, you all probably want to know why I’m here.”

“I’m positive we don-” Machi tried to cut in only to be interrupted.

“Zip it that wasn’t a question!” Monokuma immediately cut off before looking back at the group as a whole. “I am the Headmaster and acting supervisor for your field trip!”

“Field trip? Is- that why we’re here?” Koike asked after a short pause. She didn’t ask who Monokuma was earlier so I suspected she knew exactly what a ‘field trip’ implied.

Monokuma didn’t miss a beat answering her. “I was getting to that. I’m sure by now you have all noticed that you have been brought this lodge. You were all brought here to this lodge participate in a mandatory field trip. I expect you to live together and follow the rules of the Academy.”

“I want to go home.” Koike begged.

“If he’s gone through this much trouble to kidnap us, I highly doubt he’s just going to let us go Koike.” Sama replied and stared blankly in her usual deadpan manner. Though this time she had a scared edge in her tone when she spoke.

Monokuma of course continued with his speech. “About that. You’ll all be living here until the day you die! Or until someone ends this field trip early. I can compromise.”

“So we’re doing ‘that’.” Sasori said. He looked away and folded his arms.

“And how exactly do we end this stupid trip early?” Machi asked with both of her arms on her hips. “I’m pretty sure we all have lives to get back to. Ones that don’t involve being stuck here.”

“I’m glad you asked!” Monokuma began. A chill went down my spine when I figured out what he was going to say next. “We’re going to be having our very own Mutual Killing game! In other words, all you have to do to end this trip early and go home is kill another student and get away with it!”

About half the class startled when Monokuma mentioned a Mutual Killing Game and the other half flinched when he clarified that we had to kill each other. I imagined that most of us saw it coming but that did little to stop the shock of it.

“So when you say murder each other, you really mean we’re supposed to like, kill each other?!” Wakuni asked. He raised a clenched fist to show the bear but did nothing more than protest. “This is insane!”

“Of course I mean murder each other! That’s what I said wasn’t it?” Monokuma said. “How you do it doesn’t matter as long as you do it.” He stopped to reach for something behind the podium. “Perhaps these will better explain it to you.”

He held something up for the whole class to see that appeared to be thin electronic cards. It wasn’t long before any of us got a closer look because he stepped down from the podium and started passing them out. I was near the back of the room so it took longer for him to get to me, but I still got one eventually. It appeared to be some sort of touch screen.

When they were all finally, passed out to us, Monokuma resumed talking. “Now that each of you have your own ElectroID, I highly suggest you don’t lose them. Not only will you need them to access certain rooms such as your bedrooms, but they have all sorts of neat features! It has your ID, a built in camera, a digital folder to keep evidence for each case, and the list of school regulations! You had better read them. Ignorance is NOT an excuse for violating school rules.”

I did as he suggested and almost everyone else did the same. When I tapped the screen I saw my name and title pop up. Within seconds, they both disappeared and I was left with a menu of my ID, the school regulations, and a camera just like Monokuma said. I tapped the school regulations and looked at what displayed on the screen.

General Rules

1. Students are to reside only at Newpoint Lodge and the mountain in which is located. Attempting to leave is a violation of school protocol.
2. “Nighttime” is from 10pm to 7pm so please exercise caution.
3. Sleeping anywhere other than the lodge rooms will be considered as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.
4. With minimal restrictions, students are allowed to explore the Newpoint Lodge and Mt. Veil as much as they wish.
5. Violence against your supervisor, Monokuma, is prohibited.
6. The destruction of monitors and cameras is prohibited.
7. Attempting to force open locked doors is prohibited.
8. If anybody murders a fellow student, they will become “blackened” and graduate as long as they aren’t caught.
9. The “blackened” may only kill a maximum of two other students per class trial.
10. A body discovery announcement will play once three or more people discover a body for the first time.
11. Additional rules may be added at the supervisor’s discretion.

Class Trial Rules

1. Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly afterwards. Attendance is mandatory for all remaining students.
2. If the “blackened” is discovered during the class trial, they alone will be punished.
3. If the “blackened” is not discovered, everyone except the blackened will be punished and the blackened will graduate.
4. All remaining students are required to vote.
5. In the event of two murders, the innocent only need to discover one “blackened” and only that blackened will be punished.
6. In the event of a tie, only those with the most votes are punished provided one of them is the “blackened”.

I finished about the same time Tanabe had something to ask the ‘headmaster’. “So for those of us who don’t know, how does a class trial work exactly?”

“Since you asked, a class trial takes place when one of you numbskulls finally stops dragging their feet and kills someone.” Monokuma began to explain. “It’s already in the rules but after a predetermined time, which varies depending on the case, all the remaining students will gather together to argue about whodunnit. During the trial, you can present clues and arguments about who is the killer. At the end, you all will decide who you think the culprit is by majority vote. If the innocent are right, only the culprit will be punished and the rest of you will get to continue your lives here. If you are wrong however, then everyone except the culprit will be punished and he or she will be allowed to leave this mountain.”

“About that-” Tanabe began once again only this time he was scratching his head trying to think. “You never actually explained in the rules what ‘punishment’ is. What is going to happen if we break one of your rules?”

Monokuma’s eye seemed to glow with passion when he prepared addressed the question and I’m pretty sure I saw Seno flinch. “Well I expect you wouldn’t know. Usually there is a long list of consequences complicated legal procedures but I don’t have time with that so I made it simple. When I say punishment, I mean execution of course! You know, pelting, burning, hanging, decapitation, etcetera. You should know by now what that word means.”

“It isn’t the word they’re having trouble understanding.” Sasori butted in. He sounded clam but his left eye twitched.

Eto on the other hand sounded desperate and a few beads of sweat could be seen on her forehead. “Somebody tell me this is a joke! That- this is still just one cruel practical joke from the academy! There’s no way that someone would just randomly choose us for another killing game after all those years!”

“Eto, I don’t what your old high school was like but Hope’s Peak would never pull a stunt like this.” I stated pretty firmly in spite of the way I was feeling. There was no way Makoto- no there was no way the Headmaster of the Hokkaido branch would allow it. His or her name escaped me but I knew no real headmaster of the academy would ever allow it.

“Eto dear-” Shiro cut in but she didn’t sound happy. “It would be impossible for Hope’s Peak to do something like this. You said yourself that we were taken out of the country correct?”

Eto opened her mouth to protest but closed in and looked down at the floor. Her head drooped almost like a wilted flower. She wasn’t the only one with the reaction. As I looked around the room I could see several other people with similar reactions. However, there were others who only seemed to be getting angrier if the shaking clenched fists meant anything.

Yasui was one of the first to speak out. He folded up his sleeves as though he was about to start something and spoke up. “What if you kill you instead?! What’s to stop us all from tearing you limb from limb like in the Bacchae?!”

“No!” I, Tanabe, Sasori, and Seno all shouted out and scrambled to pull him back.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were I were you. Violence against the headmaster is a punishable offense.” Monokuma warned. In spite of that, it seemed to go unheeded.

Katai just ignored all the warnings and tried to charge towards Monokuma but both of the Shoda brothers grabbed him. Wakuni grabbed Yasui’s right arm and Yakawa grabbed the left. Either one of them looked as though they could hold Katai back but the both of them did so effortlessly. Yasui tried to tug away but it did nothing.

Yasui looked towards Yakawa furiously. I don’t know why he chose him, but he shouted at the guy point blank. “Let me go!”

“I think we should hear your classmates out before you act rashly. At least some of them know what’s going on and they think attacking him is a bad idea.” Yakawa said. I was thankful that they were willing to hear us out.

“I don’t think he would be able to pull this off if he didn’t have some countermeasure.” Sasori spoke up first. “And I really don’t feel like seeing someone here die pointlessly right now just so we can figure it out.”

“I agree-” was about all I had to say. “I don’t know all the fine details but I’ve looked up everything I could about Hope’s Peak including its history. Everything Seno said about Monokuma is true and he has hosted two killing games already.”

“Three actually.” Seno finally said. “I stumbled across the complete unabridged history of Hope’s Peak one day and he has backups.”

*(Three?!)*

That seemed to calm Yasui down enough to not get himself killed because he stopped struggling and both brothers let go of him. However it didn’t seem to be enough of an assurance for Monokuma. As I looked up, I noticed that three panels in the roof slide back and three gatling guns hang down from them. I flinched backwards and bumped into a chair when saw them point towards us.

“Nobody actually committed violence against you.” Shiro pointed out in what sounded like a desperate attempt to appease the bear.

To my surprise, Monokuma didn’t press the issue but returned to his usual demeanor. “Oh I know. You don’t have to tell me what I can see for myself! But you kids these days won’t believe anything unless it’s staring you in the face! Your headmaster has similar security all over the school. Basically, anyone who tries to usurp my rules will have more lead than blood in them by the time i’m finished.”

At that, I noticeably relaxed. I was still a little tense from the fact that the gatling guns were all still pointed at us but I decided not to press Monokuma on the matter.

“Any other complaints? None? Good. Any questions?” Monokuma asked as he looked around the room. We all stood silent. “No? Then I’ll be in my office if you need me. Happy Killing!”

With that, Monokuma jumped onto his podium and did a backflip off behind it. He must have disappeared after that to wherever his office is because there was only silence that followed. Although he was gone, the tension was still palpable in the room.

Saeki was the first to speak in an attempt to lighten the mood a little. “I know this is bad, but we don’t need to panic. We’re all just a class full of students scared out of our minds right? But there’s no reason to believe we’re going to start killing each other.”

“Yeah.” Sanda interjected. “We’ve had plenty of chances to kill each other before that annoying teddy bear showed up and nobody did. Why would we start now?”

“As long as we’re here. I’ll try to keep everyone comfortable as best as I can. I’m sure there won’t be a lack of entertainment with Yasui and Sanda here either. But most importantly, we have all the supplies we need and we have first aid here in case someone is hurt.” Senji stated.

Koike replied giving Senji a playful push. “I never thought I’d be having a butler again. Are you sure you don’t want to take back that promise Senji?”

“Plus we have more than enough brainpower to figure out a way out of this nightmare. I mean we already have Machi working on drones to search this place top to bottom and everyone else figured out a lot about this place in the few hours we were here. It won’t be long before we come up with a plan.” Yakawa said trying to keep up the illusion.

“But how do we know someone else doesn’t want to commit a murder?” Shiro asked. “I mean just because you don’t doesn’t mean nobody else will to get out of this prison.”

We probably all knew we were fooling ourselves. But that was the final nail in the coffin for our delusions. I stared at the other people around me and all of them looked around at each other as well. Machi, Sanda, Naya, Senji, Shiro, Wakuni, Saeki, Yakawa, Sama, Yasui, Eto, Seno, Koike, Sasori, and Renzo could all become killers at any moment. To them, I imagine that we are the same. We were a powder keg and Monokuma had lit the fuse.

Ding dong, bing bong.

At that, Monokuma unhelpfully spoke up over the announcement. “Attention everyone. The time is now 10:00 P.M. It is now officially night time. Goodnight everyone and rest well. You never know what tomorrow will bring.”

If there was one way that the announcement did help, it allowed one of us to finally speak up after that stalemate. Namely Naya. “I don’t remember it being that late. But we should get rest. We’ve had a very long day and we’ll need all the energy we have to escape.”

“I agree.” Wakuni pitched in. “We need to keep our strength up if we’re all going to get out of here alive.”

I just nodded and stared at him. After Monokuma’s announcement about being in a mutual killing game, I could never see him the same way I saw him before. His title may have been a little intimidating before but right now I could see him as a marksman who could shoot me dead in the blink of an eye. I was trying not to, but it would be some time before I recovered from Monokuma’s announcement.

I shuffled out of the lounge just like everyone else and tried to stave off the feeling of dread as best as I could. It didn’t help either that the halls now had cameras hanging from the ceilings and the occasional monitor. None of which were there when we came. But I trudged past them all and backtracked to my room like the other classmates. I didn’t hear them but I wasn’t paying attention. My chest felt tight and the world around me felt slightly dizzy. It wasn’t anything physical but I felt as though I had been hit by a truck.

Somehow, I managed to make my way to my room without much trouble. When I got there, I noticed two things had changed. Namely, my door was locked and a blue card swipe was next to it. I looked around and the other students had the same.

*(Well Monokuma did say I would need my ElectroID to access my bedroom.)*

I held it up to the swipe and it looked like a perfect fit. More importantly, I heard a click that meant my door had unlocked when I swiped it through. Slowly, I pushed the door open into my room. That was when it hit me that I would be living here for a long time. Assuming that I didn’t get murdered or executed for failing to solve a murder.

I closed the door behind me and pressed until I heard a click. It turned out that not even my room was safe from having a camera and a monitor on the wall. I sighed and threw myself onto my bed. All I wanted was to go to sleep and wake up to find out that this was all just a nightmare. That I had dozed off on the train and that someone was waiting to receive me at a train station.

For a brief moment I wondered if the others felt the same way. I imagine that they did, but I was too tired to get out there and help calm them down. Maybe with luck, the class would have a hero would would solve everything and stop whoever trapped us here. But right now, things only looked bleak.

I didn’t think I could get any sleep after everything that happened. Nonetheless, the world around me started to fade once again. My thoughts started to drift as I silently hoped I wouldn’t be put through a killing game. After all, it wasn’t unreasonable to believe that it wouldn’t happen to us.

*(Please let this just be a nightmare…)*

## Trivia

* The creator feels like it needs to be noted that the characters, particularly Nishi, won’t always be this nervous. It is the initial shock of getting kidnapped in a mysterious plays for who knows what reason that made them this way.
* Sanda getting himself tased is a reference to a real-life story from a friend of the creator. Said friend owned a stun gun and a few friends tested it out on themselves for fun and out of curiosity.
* Katai briefly plays Lopakhin from The Cherry Orchards. The creator does not own The Cherry Orchards but it is public domain. After the initial lines he just add-libs responses to Nishi and the others.
* Similarly, Katai references the Bacchae and how Pentheus, a character, was torn apart by the titular Bacchae.
* Every other “book” or reference in this chapter are fictitious books.

**Oops! I almost read a spoiler!   *Plot and/or ending details follow.***

* When Monokuma lists off types of executions, he is referencing the first execution of each respective Danganronpa game.

 ***Spoilers end here.***