Over the course of a few hours, Hazel and I managed to find only a few things. One, seems that the back hallways were actually hallways to the dorms, meaning that each of us had an assigned dorm. The strange part about this though was that each room had a certain puzzle you had to solve; maze of mirrors, target practice, etc., meaning that it would take a while to actually get to your room.
What really disturbed me about the rooms though was the fact that they existed, meaning that this whole thing wasn't just a stupid and terrible joke meant to play on us.
We decided to try out one of the pathways to one of the rooms. Each of the puzzles had assigned name tags, meaning they didn't have to go through every single path just to find theirs. I wished Hazel luck, as she was about to go down her own which consisted of one of those ring tosses. There was a series of doors, each of which you could open by landing a certain number of tosses.
My own puzzle was a simple dart throw. The series of doors to open were on almost every puzzle, because most carnival games are games that would be easy to bypass. The only ones that weren't were the maze or mirrors, a certain mine cart ride sort of thing where you had to choose the right path, and my own dart toss. Instead, there was a score beside the door and a target completely covering the door. I saw the mechanical arm that would move after I got to zero. The maze of mirrors and cart ride I found a bit unfair, because after a certain amount of times of going through those, they would just memorize the path, but oh well. Beggars can't be choosers.
I was never really good at any sport, and dart throwing is no different. After picking up my first dart of many, I had literally no idea how to use it. I tried many different positions before I finally found one that would be comfortable to throw in.
I threw my arm forward, and...
I forgot to let go of the dart.
"Fuck this! I'm sleeping in the damn hallways for all I care!" I hissed, slamming the dart against the small table that held all of my darts. The darts shook, a single one falling onto the floor.
"That probably wouldn't be a good idea~!" I heard a childish voice from behind me. My body immediately tensed, becoming stiff. I felt my heart rate become faster, and I was immediately reminded of my situation.
"Y-Yeah..." I said, not wanting to anger him.
"Stabbing, hanging, poisoning galore! Anybody could do anything to you while you were asleep, meaning that you would probably die! That's why it's in the school rules, so it wouldn't be too easy!" Monokuma giggled, as I turned around to meet his eyes. But something in that sentence caught my attention...
"School rules?" I questioned, not having heard anything of it before.
Monokuma's eyes widened, and I swear I saw a lightbulb pop up above his head. Briefly.
"Ah! I had forgotten!" He yelped, then disappeared just as quickly as he had came.
"Damnit! I still need-" I yelled, before being interrupted by Monokuma's face coming up on every single monitor in sight.
"Attention all Hope's Peak High School students! Please report to the gym, as I have forgotten to give you something important!" He giggled, and then the monitors switched off.
I blinked, then sighing, I walked off to the gym.
A few minutes later I arrived, and soon enough, everybody else began piling in the room as well.
Luke, the red headed guy from earlier, started to speak. "We should do introductions after this is over, it'll make it a lot easier to communicate."
Yuki nodded. "I agree."
Then, as if he was waiting to interrupt our conversation, Monokuma popped up in front of us, dropped, like, 16 tablets in front of us, and just stood there.
"Uhm..." A boy with black hair and red highlights murmured. "What are these for?"
Monokuma began to sweat, breathing heavily. I shuffled my feet, uncomfortable. "Glad you asked! They're the beautiful, wonderful, absolutely amazing Monopads!" He grinned, laughing. "They contain everything from the school regulations to all of the information about you! You can also write down anything you want and take pictures in a certain feature I added if you click the icon farthest to the right! Those will be helpful when it comes to the murders... Puhuhuhu!"
The aura was unstable and we all stood there uncomfortably, disturbed by what we had just heard. This is real.
"Okay, byekumaaaa~! You can thank my little kubs for coming up with that one!" He laughed, sounding batshit crazy. He disappeared in seconds.
A few seconds later, I sighed. "So... before we figure out what dangers those tablet looking things have, introductions, maybe...?" I murmured.
"Yeah." Hazel said. "I'll go first." She put her hands on her hips and grinned confidently. "I'm Hazel Umasaki, pleasure to meet you all! Ultimate Off Road Racer in your presence!"
Yuki frowned as she leaned against Luke. "I'm Yuki. Yuki Otonashi. I'm the Ultimate... Um... Lucky Student. I guess." I tilted my head. I'd have to ask her about that later.
Luke grinned. "Luke Sasaki, nice to meet you all. Ultimate Felxibilitist, or something. That's not even a real word, but it's what the school registered me as when I got chosen, so woohoo I guess?"
A man with short black hair and brown eyes went next. "Caden Sato. I'm a savant of sorts." He grinned, and I wasn't sure what to think of him. It did bother me a little that he never stated his ultimate talent, and I considered asking him, but I wasn't sure how that would turn out, so I kept my mouth shut.
The girl who warned me about the creepy animatronic duck earlier leaned against the wall. "Cho Eichi, it's a wonder to meet you all in person. I'm the Ultimate Seamstress." Her voice was soft but mature, and she seemed pretty powerful.
A tall guy with long, fluffy black hair, multiple small earrings and hazel brown eyes spoke up next. "I'm Dorian Crenshaw... the Ultimate Creator." He muttered. He didn't seem like the speaking type to me, so naturally that made me, like, 10x more interested, but a tug from Hazel reminded me not to ask him more questions.
"Hara Kunihiro. Ultimate Artist." A girl with very short dark brunette curly hair with pastel rainbow bleached bangs. Her eyes are a light gold, and she wears a white baggy T-shirt with paint splotches all over it, black leggings, and a light green sweatshirt around her waist. She appears to be carrying a pencil and a notebook. I waited for her to say something else, but it never came. There was a small awkward silence as we weren't sure whether she was going to say anything else. She looked like she had no idea whether she was going to, either. I recognized her as the girl who calmed Duckuma down earlier.
I decided to break the silence. "I'm Kaori Itsuki. It..." My vision went dark for like two seconds before I woke up again. Everybody was staring at me. I yawned quickly. "Sorry. What was I saying?"
Hazel whispered in my ear. "You were saying something about us."
"Oh yeah! It's good to meet you all. And I really hope you all don't die. Or, something like that. Um... I'm the Ultimate Insomniac."
That was awkward. Not only did I fall asleep in the middle of my introduction, I messed up and reminded everybody of the terrible situation we were in.
Thankfully, somebody saved me. "I'm Harmony Hinsey." A small little Spanish girl said, her Spanish accent thin but still there. That made me wonder. Most of us here didn't even look Japanese. How the hell does that even work?
Anywho, Harmony's appearance was pretty average for an ultimate student. Her long black hair was straight, and she had green eyes, and she wore a plain white t-shirt and some jeans. But something on her back caught my eye. "Swords?" I said out loud.
She smiled. "Yep. Ultimate Swordswoman."
She seemed nice enough.
An Indian boy with black hair went next. "I'm Kira Ito. Ultimate Dancer." He smiled. I tilted my head. Indian with a Japanese name? But I had no time to pursue that thought as somebody else spoke before I could.
It was a girl with browny-gingery-blondey-greyey hair just above her shoulders, grey eyes with a greeney brown circle around the pupil, and freckles. She had golden circle glasses, and she seemed quite tall for her age. "I'm Mia Tanaka!" She grinned, obviously excited with the idea of finally being able to introduce herself. "I'm the Ultimate Rollerblader!"
I made a mental note to ask her more about that later. Rollerblading had always interested me.
"Nikki Akonatogi. I'm the Ultimate... Ballroom Partner. Pleased to meet you all." It didn't seem like she was completely honest, and I wasn't sure why she would be lying about her Ultimate Talent, but I ignored it. She has long hair, faintly dye purple and pink. A mask and makeup that resembles a woman going to a masquerade ball covers her face, and she wears a long flowy red dress. It seemed very... intricate.
A boy with blue and black hair, pale, fiery red eyes, and a firm build spoke. Wait. Wasn't that the rude guy from earlier? I gritted my teeth, still annoyed by how he acted.
"Ray Minatozaki. Ultimate Schooler. You all better bow down, because I'm going to win this killing game." He grinned evilly, and I clenched my fists, about to yell at him for reminding us of our situation, before I remembered I did the same thing. Oops.
A girl with long, black hair with a hispanic origin, wearing shorts and a crop top, along with a small chef's hat and a small waistline apron responded to him. "If you don't stop that rude ass attitude, I'm gonna kick your ass. And trust me. It'll hurt." She said.
I'm glad to know that it wasn't just me that was annoyed by his attitude. Actually, almost everybody seemed to be either angry or annoyed at him.
The girl then smiled sweetly. It kind of worried me how fast she was able to switch personalities. "I'm Rudy Terakatsu, Ultimate Chef! And I'll probably kick your asses if you're rude to me, so don't try it." She grinned, a dangerous glint in her eyes. Better stay far away from that one.
By now, there were only two people left needing to introduce themselves. A boy, black hair with some awesome red highlights, blue eyes, and fair skin, went first. He looked kind of standoffish at first, but now that his face wasn't resting, he looked a bit more approachable. 'A resting bitch face,' I thought.
"I'm Yakeru Shima, Ultimate Soccer Player. I'm glad to see everybody here is doing better than we expected for the situation we're in." He smiled, and while the last sentence seemed to have good intentions, it definitely put a ton of us on edge.
Finally, the last person went. Her hair was a lilac purple–which, for some reason reminded me of somebody–and she had golden eyes, which could probably make somebody drop dead. "Yuri Kimura, Ultimate Martial Artist." She paused for a moment, nobody saying anything. "I'm gonna be completely honest, you all seem like a pretty good group. But uh... I don't think anybody here is going to make it out alive. You all have irreversible flaws that will have you drop dead, and I'll be okay with it. We all are going to die."
Silence.
Her eyes remained stoic, but they had a glint to it. One I couldn't quite place. Though if I had to name it...
It would be despair.
Those words left everybody in the room in shock as she turned on her heel and left, her long lilac hair trailing behind her. She scares me. More than anybody else in this room.
"Er..." Luke said. "The Monopads?"
"Oh!" I said. "I forgot about those."
We all crowded around them, everybody too nervous to pick one up. You never know.
"...Should we draw straws?" Kira recommended, his eyes looking around for something we could use.
"Good idea," Cho said, joining the search for sticks or something to use.
"Um, if I may..." Dorian said. "I found a warehouse when we were looking around, and there could be some sticks or something in there."
Luke grinned. "Really? Let's go!"
The two rushed off to the warehouse. I figured I would have to find out where everything was later.
***
A few minutes later, they both came back carrying a ton of sticks. all of them seemed to be about the same size, except for one, which they must have snapped in half. Luke held out his hand, and Yuki stepped forward first. She took a stick.
It wasn't the short one.
I briefly thought of Yuri, and how she would find out about if the Monopads were safe, but something told me she'd be okay.
Time passed as each of us grabbed a stick. I went fifth, and I got a long stick as well. My racing heart slowed as I realized I was safe.
Finally, Hazel drew a stick.
It was short.
"Well shiitake mushrooms," She muttered, avoiding swearing. I looked down, nervous.
"Looks like you're our sacrifice~" Ray grinned, and I mimicked punching him by slamming my fist against my open palm.
Ray ignored me, dragging Hazel over to the Monopads. "Go ahead."
Hazel hesitated before picking one of them up. Nothing happened. She tapped the screen. It didn't turn on.
The room was silent as we all waited for something to happen.
Then, all of a sudden, Duckuma appeared, waddling in. "Quack! Quack! That's not going to work!!" A few of us jumped, but I just stared at the duck like, 'bitch?'
"Why not?" Hazel asked.
"Because you all need to find who owns what Monopad! It's not gonna turn on if you don't take your own! Well, at least until you all find your own. Then, anybody can take anybody's Monopads~ Fufufu...!"
I'm pretty sure there was a reason for there to be that rule in place, but nonetheless I ignored it.
"So... That means they aren't gonna blow up if we open them or touch them or anything?" Hara inquired.
"Nope!" Duckuma grinned. "Okay, bye~!" Then he disappeared.
"Er... I suppose we didn't need to draw straws, after all..." Yakeru mumbled.
I sighed, stepping forward. "Time to start sifting through these to find ours... Would it be too much of a stretch to call Monokuma a clown, considering we're in a funhouse...?"
Nobody responded, but I don't think I would have either if somebody had said that to me. We all started to look through the pile, searching for one that would turn on if we got it.
Eventually, after about three-fourths of the people here had found theirs, I managed to find my own. It opened up, displaying my name and my ultimate talent before a set of four icons showed up. The one on the far right had an icon with an iconic camera symbol. This must be the one Monokuma was talking about. The one on the far left had a notepad symbol, which must have been the place to write things down that he had also mentioned. The two middle icons stood out to me though, considering they weren't explained. The one on the middle right side had a human icon, and the one on the middle left had an icon familiar, but I couldn't seem to place it. Then it hit me.
"This one looks exactly like Monokuma's right eye...!" I muttered, pressing on it first. The screen changed to a ton of different numbers. Then, at the top, it read, "School Regulations". I pressed on the first number.
1. The schools' headmaster cannot directly interfere with the students. An exception to this rule is if a student violates a regulation.
"Huh..." I murmured. I tapped the screen, and it flipped to the next regulation.
2. Students are not permitted to sleep anywhere but their dorm. It will be seen as sleeping in class, and they will be punished accordingly.
3. Students are not permitted to attack the headmaster or the headmasters' apprentice.
4. Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.
5. If the blackened is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.
6. If the blackened is not exposed, all of the spotless will be executed.
7. As a reward, the surviving blackened will be forgiven of their crime and allowed to leave the funhouse.
8. The body discovery announcement will play as soon as three or more people discover a body for the first time.
9. Destroying any surveillance cameras or monitors is strictly prohibited.
10. You are free to investigate the funhouse at your own discretion. Your actions in this regard are not limited.
11. Leaving the funhouse premises is an unacceptable use of time.
12. "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.
13. The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "killing game".
14. Your Monopads are very important items. Please do not damage them.
15. If two different murders by two different murderers occur at the same time, only the one who's victim was found first will be the blackened.
16. Once you have completed the path to your dorm room, you will no longer have to complete that path.
17. Additional rules will be added at the headmasters discretion.
The last time I tapped, it returned me to the home screen.
"Oh."
This is serious. Very serious.
I stuffed the Monopad into my jean pocket. It's larger than an iPhone, but smaller than an iPad. It was a bit difficult, but I managed.
I began pacing around the room, gnawing on my lower lip. Then I remembered Rule #16. I sighed, remembering the dart throw.
"Well, that's good at least. Maybe I can get somebody else to help me out with it." I frowned, taking out the Monopad again and tapping the human icon. Inside, a ton of basic information about each of the students showed up, different profiles for each of them.
What really bothered me though was the fact that under each of their photos, there was a single word.
Alive.
That only put me even more on edge.
There was a single Monopad on the floor, probably Yuri's. I ignored it, rushing off to the hallway, my intention to open my room for good. I wanted to get everything I could do out of the way, before I worked on what would take more time and effort than throwing a few darts at a door.
***
Thirteen tries later, I managed to finish the darts.
"Yes!" I grinned, watching the mechanical arm...
Evaporate into dust...?
I shivered, wondering what else this place was capable of doing. I pushed the dart cart away and rushed towards the door, using my Monopad to unlock it. As soon as I opened the door, I saw the most normal thing ever since I arrived here.
A normal room.
A normal twin sized bed, a normal lamp, a normal rug, and a normal desk with a normal chair.
It was so relieving to finally see something normal.
I threw myself down onto the bed, exhausted. Like, let's be honest, who wouldn't be. I screamed into the pillow, squeezing my eyes shut.
About five minutes later I was done. I stood up, remade the bed, and left the room. I closed the door behind me, making sure to lock it.
I move swiftly down the hall, opposite of the dorm rooms. I have no business left there. Though, I did notice a few of puzzles were already solved, leaving just normal doors. I raised a brow but thought nothing of it.
I spotted Dorian, approaching him.
"Hey, do you know where the others are?" I inquired.
He seemed a bit surprised to see me, but didn't say anything of it. "Ah, yes. I was supposed to go get you. We're all meeting up in the dining hall to talk about what to do next."
I raised a brow. "Ah. Okay." Then, I walked off to the dining hall. I surprisingly already knew the majority of the layout. This place may be big, but it's not too bad once you walk around a little.
Arriving, I saw almost everybody in there. I noticed Yuri there as well. She was in the corner, checking through her Monopad. Somebody must have tipped her off about it being safe. Either that, or she noticed that we had all taken ours.
"I got her..." Dorian mumbled, before slinking off into a corner. Yuki and Luke were in a deep conversation while Kira and Hazel seemed to have made friends with one another. As soon as Hazel noticed me, she waved me over.
"Kaori! Hey, hey! Over here!" She grinned, and I sighed. I walked over to them.
"Hey..." I mumbled, sitting in the chair next to them. "Kira Ito, right?"
He nodded. "Yup!"
"So uh... You know why we're here?" I asked, folding my arms on the table in front of me and putting my head down sideways.
"Nope. I was just told to come to the dining hall," Hazel said. "Apparently, Yuki and Luke came up with a plan of some sorts."
I smiled, fondly remembering how put together those two were.
(middle of story a/n lmfao: just to make it clear, i am NOT shipping them (yuki and luke). they just seemed like they would be pretty close friends considering how i wrote how well their personalities click. but kaori thinks otherwise because shes a dense ass bitch😒so there will be some dating and shipping terminology until yuki and luke clarify that yuki is lesbian and luke is asexual💀just to make that clear. okay, enjoy!)
I personally think they'd be a pretty good couple, but whatever. "Of course they did. Those two are surprisingly well-adapted to this whole situation," I commented.
"I agree." Kira said plainly. He joined me with his head on the desk.
Suddenly, a loud voice rang throughout the dining hall. At first I thought it was Monokuma, but his voice is too childish and despairing. This voice was strong and a bit deeper than Monokuma's.
"Hello! You all know me, Luke Sasaki." I turned my head to see Luke standing on a lunch table. Yuki has her head buried in her hands, clearly embarrassed.
"Yuki and I have come up with a plan! Just to, ya know, keep things in order, so none of that murdering stuff happens."
Silence.
"Uh... Well... The plan is, we're gonna make some of our own rules! Not just Monokuma's rules, but our own to prevent any murders!"
I see Yuri raise an eyebrow out of the corner of my eye. She takes out her Monopad and taps on something. I infer that she hasn't had a chance to take a look at the rules yet.
...
"Yuki...!" Luke mutters loudly, and Yuki face palms.
"Fine. Hi, I'm Yuki, blah blah blah. We have a ton of rules prepared, and you're free to recommend anything or disagree with any rule, and we'll edit them and stuff to make everything work out."
"But there's already, like, seventeen rules...!" Somebody whined. I looked over and saw it was Caden.
"Let's be honest. Half of those are about the killing game in which we are not going to participate in," Luke said.
"So, we're brought down to..." Yuki mumbled, taking out her Monopad. "Nine rules. Wow."
"So then what rules are we adding?" Mia asked.
"Well first of all, we're not allowed to go out at nighttime." Luke said. Nobody argues. Except...
"I have an objection." It was me.
"May I ask why? I thought that was pretty reasonable, as everybody will just be sleeping during that ti- Oh. I see." Cho said.
I tilted my head back, looking at the ceiling. "Yeah. I want to at least have something to do, because I don't have a phone or anything to go on."
"Yeah, but that seems like it'd be pretty dangerous." Rudy said. "Anybody could come out of their room and stab you while you're wandering around."
I sighed. "I know. I took self defense classes when I was younger, and I haven't forgotten anything from it. Plus, nobody's really gonna kill anybody, right?"
The air grew heavier as everybody hesitated to respond. My heart sank.
"Listen, we just don't know for sure. Everybody wants to leave, and for the sake of murdering somebody, we could get out of this place. I myself am not considering it, but I know other people probably will be more desperate." Yakeru frowned.
I sighed. "How about this: if nobody dies in the next two days, can I go roaming around during nighttime?"
Luke paused. "...Okay. That seems fair. But nobody else. Only because of your ultimate problems will I allow this."
I smiled, just barely. "Thanks."
"Okay. The next rule." Yuki says. "The possession of any dangerous weapons and such is prohibited. At least without the knowledge of three or more people."
"Why three?" Nikki politely asked.
Yuki hesitates before answering. "Because... In Monokuma's rules, the maximum of people allowed to be killed is two."
"Ah." Nikki frowns.
I faintly noticed how Yuri was silent the entire time.
"That's all we have for now, but anybody is free to suggest anything else." Luke said.
"We should all meet up in the dining hall by 8:30," Harmony said. She pushed her golden round glasses up her nose a bit.
"I think nine a.m. would be more reasonable. It takes me time to get ready in the morning, and some people like to take showers as well." Hara recommended.
"Yeah, actually. We could do a check in to see who's still there. Just in case." Yuki mumbled, writing in a notebook she must have found somewhere.
"Anything else?" Luke asked.
It was silent.
"Okay then!" Yuki said, snapping the notebook shut. "Feel free to tell either of us if you have something else to say."
"Actually, I have a question." Rudy said.
"Yeah?" Luke responded.
"Are you two dating?"
Silence. Luke and Yuki looked at each other in disgust.
"Uh... No. I'm a lesbian." She mumbled, looking at the floor.
Luke responded similarly. "Nope. Please never say that again or I will, respectfully, barf."
Rudy's face went red. "Sorry..." She mumbled. Yuki waved her off.
"Don't worry about it."
The two walked out of the dining room, conversing about something unknown to me.
Rudy rushed out as well, mumbling to herself.
"So uh... Should we-"
Ding dong bing bong!
(another a/n: i just wanted to say that monokuma's monitor bell sounds exactly like my old school's bell😨i wonder if the person who made the bell before it got changed was a danganronpa fan lmfao)
The monitors all turned on. "Ahem, ahem, this is a school announcement! It is now 10 p.m., meaning it is officially nighttime! The doors to the dining hall and gym will be locked soon, please exercise caution! Well then, goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"
"Ah. Okay." I sighed. "We should get going."
Hazel nodded. "Yeah. Don't get yourselves killed, okay?" She smiled before standing up and walking away.
Kira was next, standing up. He gave me a thumbs up before rushing out of the dining room. I sighed before getting up and following them out.
Reaching my dorm room, I was grateful I didn't have to open it again. I took out my Monopad, unlocking the lock, and glancing back at the other rooms. There were two of them that hadn't been solved yet.
I ignored that and stepped into my room, collapsing on the bed. I was exhausted.
But unsurprisingly, I didn't go to sleep.
I spent the entirety of that night staring at the ceiling, recounting the events of that day.
***
A/N: GOOOOD EVENING BOYS AND GIRLS, NON-BINARIES, AND OTHERS!!
we have yet another 4,772 word chapter 🤠 (without the a/ns.)
this took forever, yet it was pretty uneventful😒i just hope that next chapter my author brain will be like- "MURDER" and have something exciting happen
but probably not because we're gonna have free time events the next two days bc we're making a carbon copy of the games but in book form😤
but just know murder will happen in the next three chapters, which i promise will be shorter than this lmao
have a wonderful day my little chaos bringers~!