Danganronpa: Hope Noir/Chapters

The following article is a complete list of chapters in *Hope Noir* and brief explanations what happened in them. Obviously, spoilers will absolutely appear.

## Prologue - We, the Ultimates

A boy named Arthur wakes up in a mysterious classroom, certain that just a moment ago he was in his room. Trying to figure out what happened, he converses with a yet unnamed character. They eventually leave the classroom, only to find themselves in a dark school corridor, where they soon stumble upon a Japanese man, who points out Arthur, too, has a mysterious bracelet on his hand. Japanese man takes Arthur inside a classroom, where they meet up with the rest of the cast. After some obvious questions about their situation, suddenly a school locker appears with a mysterious device inside it appears. Its activation causes all the students to collapse and regain memories of their kidnapping.

In a flashback the unnamed character that was accompanying Arthur (now fully named as Arthur Pohl, a 16-year old German writer) is formally introduced as Gerard Fuchs, Arthur's imaginary friend and main character of his in-world books, who breaks the fourth wall to tell readers Arthur's story. After a brief introduction to young Pohl's life, it is revealed he received a letter from a Japanese talent academy to participate in a program of testing out a series of new schools opened in the world, with Arthur being invited to the European one as the Ultimate Crime Fiction Writer. The next flashback shows his parting with parents on a Munchen airport and getting on a bus taking him to HPEBS, where he meets two of his future acquaintances: Shutaro Hosen the Former Ultimate Student Council President and Alfred Reville the Ultimate Director. Soon after that Arthur falls asleep, only to remember that after that loss of consciousness he woke up in the classroom on the beginning.

Flashback ends with Arthur waking up in his room in the school's boarding house, where he meets his roommate: Gianluca Bianchi the Ultimate Critic. After a sour introduction, Gianluca leaves and Arthur changes his clothes and leaves as well, to the boarding house's corridor, where he meets two other classmates: Samantha Kirschbaum the Ultimate Firefighter and Elle van der Linde the Ultimate Bicyclist. Moving on to the gym, Arthur meets Vincent Havel the Ultimate Speedrunner and Veikko Paavola the Ultimate Carpenter. In the dining room on the other side he meets Inge von Ursache, Casimir Sukhoi and Klaudia Klamczak (Ultimate Downhill Skier, Anatomical Pathologist and Architect respectively). Arthur helps Klaudia clean up the mess a broken bottle of juice did, after that they have a chat in which she points out there are cameras all over the building. Moving on to the school's main hall, Arthur stumbles upon a classroom where he reunites with Alfred and is introduced to a girl named Catherine Delacroix, who claims to have forgotten her talent. Leaving that room, he goes to the hall, where he meets James Rhodes the Ultimate Superhero, Brenda O'Ryan the Ultimate Herpetologist and Oscar Maura the Ultimate Actor. As all of them left, along with Shutaro who was there as well, Arthur leaves to a patio, where he introduces himself to Gabrielle l'Hantise the Ultimate Sculptor, and finally to Florika Andreescu the Ultimate Lucky Student. Confrontation with her leaves his knee damaged, so with Gabrielle's help he's dragged to Casimir's lab, where in his and a few others' company his leg is treated. Soon James comes in to tell everyone about an emergency meeting with Shutaro. Incidentally, at the same moment an announcement is made about an upcoming assembly in the school gymnasium.

On a meeting with Shutaro, he gives everyone a speech about hope and being an Ultimate, motivating them to confront the abductor under his lead. When they do, they arrive at the school gymnasium for an assembly. Monokuma appears, introduces himself and the killing game to everyone, along with its rules. To do the latter, he gifts everyone with a smartphone with an operating system created specifically for the killing game, an E-Handbook EU. These events lead first James and Samantha to try and defy Monokuma, then with Shutaro taking the lead. This causes the two former, along with Elle, to be marked as the Student Council and receive their NG Codes for nothing. Shutaro then protests, but Monokuma reveals he was only taken to the game to show his students how real it is. Shutaro receives an NG Code banning him from breathing. A few brief attempts to escape the gym fail, and Shutaro uses his last breath as a begging towards James to save the class. NG Code activates, poison is injected in his bloodstream and Shutaro dies. Monokuma laughs, happy that the class has seen their first glimpse of despair, ends the assembly and oficially names this killing game the Killing Student Exchange. Class A leaves the gymnasium in terror.