Monokuma laughed, delighted by the chaos that had transpired in the few minutes the students had been informed of the killing game. This was going to be a fun group!



With that, the bear disappeared, much in the same way he had first appeared, a cackle resounding through the amphitheater as he left.

End Prologue

Chapter 1: All’s Fair in Hope and Despair
Daily Life

Ando Yamagata

Ando was stunned from when Davis nearly headbutted him, absolutely speechless as the boy cussed him out. He was clenching his fist in that moment, only a small provocation away from socking them, but the ultimate conquest's attention was turned to Alice before the situation could escalate. It didn't help that their half-assed boasts amounted to nothing as the three-way dance unfurled between the hacker, assassin and conquest. In the midst of all that chaos, at least one normal person decided to speak to Ando, offering to go to the cabins to cool off

"You know, I'm glad at least one person seems to have their head screwed on the right way over here."

Monokuma addressed the crowd again to announce his own departure, leaving the party with the hint that someone among them organized this entire thing. Ando held his hand to his neck and cracked it, one eye closed in a rather aloof posed.

"Tch. Ridiculous. The only plausible candidate turns out to be nothing more than a clown with a theatrical side. This whole thing's a joke," Ando mumbled in annoyance as he checked his student PDA again. He navigated to the map, scanning the view. The small cluster of 16 rectangular buildings represented by a bed would probably be a safe bet to which way his objective was located. Ando looked up and noticed his immediate view was blocked off by the trees, so he'd have to walk there to find out.

"Cabins, right? I could do with being anywhere other than here," spilled out of the ultimate guitarist's mouth as he lazily turned his head back to Hibiki.

"You better not pull anything funny. I don't intend to play whatever game this bear's set up for us."

After Hibiki had been warned, the duo set off in the direction of the cabins to go check those out.

---

Taka Tsuin

Taka simply blinked at the entire happening around him. The girl he'd been talking to moments earlier turned out not only to have been lying to his face, but also some kind of crazy lunatic who rattled off death threats like it's nobody's business. Not only that, but she also ran off faster than a panther upon being confronted on her behaviour. The scruffy guy and the white-haired girl didn't look much better either, as the former's grand declarations fell flat and the latter seemed to want someone dead already. The other two people he'd actually spoken to weren't the friendliest type of people either, so Taka took away some very negative impressions from the entire situation.

It wasn't all terrible, though. The stage play between the hacker, assassin and conquest was pretty silly to look at, and it actually took away some of the oppressive atmosphere that had been hanging around in the air. At least, the cross-dresser's nerves had been calmed somewhat.

"...Guess I shouldn't stick around," Taka mumbled to himself.

The boy put one hand in a side pocket of his uniform, looking over the crowd again. The most normal looking people all seemed to be busy with their own thing, aside from the brown-haired, glasses wearing fellow that's distanced himself from the rest of the group. Not that Taka wanted to find out what they were like; he's had enough of randomly being chewed out for today.

(...Those five buildings on the path to the gate bother me. I should go check those.)

After a quick nod to himself, Taka set off towards the talent labs.

---

Ayu Usui

Ayu was both not paying attention and attentively taking in everything that happened around her. The fact of the matter was that her stream of thought was processing the going-ons surrounding the girl, but the entire event wasn't very interesting. Only the relevant information was parsed through; that being Alice's time limit and Monokuma's Q&A hour. Considering the students were being left to their own devices, Ayu didn't feel much like sticking around. Every single one of the people around here got on her nerves one way in the other, and she'd already found a negative label for each of them. Well, except for Hibiki- he had proven to be pretty alright. Ayu can also gather he's not the type of person to randomly bother her, and that's nice. The more people that leave her alone, the better.

That desire to want to be left alone was exactly why her feet were well on their way of carrying her out of there. She didn't pay much mind to her hairs falling in front of her eyes or her sweater slipping slightly further, because the girl couldn't care to fix it. Her eyes were out of focus as she navigated on auto-pilot, her surroundings becoming a bland and uninteresting blur. She just shuffled into the forest; didn't seem thick enough to stop her. There was, like, a fire at the center? The map at least showed a little flame. Maybe that could keep her warm. Warmth is nice. She also doubted anyone would go there; who would chase a fire? Well, she did, but that wasn't much of an issue. It kept people at bay.

She liked it when people were kept at bay.

After Monokuma's announcement, Suzuki thought about what he said. 'So, how do you get out,' weren't the only words he remembered. The most important sentence kept ringing in his head over and over: 'All you have to do is kill somebody!'

Suzuki bit his lip and shook his head. Monokuma's grin made him shiver; he knew that plushy bear wasn't joking. "Well..." Suzuki called out to Hisakawa. "What are your thoughts on this? This whole 'killing' thing that that bear mentioned... do you think this is serious? Because f you want to know what I think, I seriously hope it's a new television show where they prank people... haha..."

After the both of them received their student PDA and had a moment to check, Suzuki brought his arms behind his head and leaned back. Despite the casual pose, the look on his face was quite serious, with a bit of confusion from what jut happened. "He also said not everyone's here yet... and checking that device, there's more students with talents in this... place. The only person's that I talked to, are you and that one guy Davis... Well, I mean, Ando. The one who, uh, looks like he's in trouble..." Suzuki looked up at the sky and he let out a small sigh, stretched himself out, and went trough his hair with one hand before looking back towards Hisekawa.

"Sorry, I just want to get my mind off of all this... mind if we just talk for a bit? You haven't lied to me like uh, Ando, and well, I'm not sure who I can trust. Everyone else looks to be busy shouting at each other, too... I'm not going to force you, though. This is kind of a mess..."

When Alice took off running, Davis simply grinned and placed his hands on his hips, still clutching his tie. ”You heard her! The time limit is off!” He lifted a hand in front of his face and closed it into a fist. ”Conquest is mine, it really is!” He chuckled before approaching Lilly. She wasn't the most physically able person, and in putting so much into her tackle, she fell shortly after Alice dodged out of the way. ”And it's yours too! Such an ambitious tackle was just what my plan needed.” He offered his hand to the hacker, which she took this time. Once she was on her feet, he kissed the back of her hand. ”Thank you for your assistance. We should discuss how we're going to get Rosetta back post haste, as well as... Other matters.”Davis released her hand to fetch his PDA. ”How about we go to these...Labs? I trust they will be a bit more formal discussion area than the cabins. Or did you have other ideas?”



Neola was glad that Kara had returned to their small group, evident by her smile. One of the great things about Sayaka was that as an idol, you're suppose to be excited when you see people. But Neola wasn't entirely sure if this was the correct way to be in this situation. Everyone still seemed kind of worried. ”Well, if you had a rubber suit, you could still climb it, right?” She tipped her head. ”So we just need to find a rubber-” But then it happened. It took the smile right off of Neola's face. Sensations deep in her body that she couldn't explain. Not in character anyway. Her hands shifted over her skirt, but she quickly threw them away, knowing that Sayaka would never do something like that. But her knees were starting to shake. Neola hugged herself. It was too much. It was kind of embarrassing, but if she played her cards right, she could tell everyone else what she needed to do to alleviate this sensation. ”Uuuuuuuummmmmmm...” She looked between Snow and Kara. ”Does anyone need to go tho the bathroom?”

---

This situation really was ridiculously horrid…

Snow never expected these lowly humans to understand reason, but to see these ultimates lose their shit so fast, it was disappointing. Yet even though she was prepared for it, it was very disheartening to be so utterly disregarded by everyone, who either just ignored her, or even antagonized her. There was no doubt in her mind now; this game would crack them, and they would not live to see another day.

As she peered at the ultimates on display in her handbook, she assessed their credibility and chance of survival:

Ando was much too cowardly to try and kill someone, but if he kept antagonizing everyone with his bold bad boy demeanor, he would surely end up dead sooner rather than later.

Hisakawa and Damian were living in their own world, which denies them potential allies; nobody would probably even notice them disappearing.

Kara was the most naïve and sheepish girl out of everyone, so it wouldn’t be farfetched to manipulate her into her own demise, while Hibiki’s completely blank and voidless appearance indicated he was not going to even bother trying to protect himself.

Lilly couldn’t even talk…so neither could she scream for protection.

Taka seemed to think he could take everything on his own, which to be fair, was probably a safer bet than relying on others; perhaps there was a chance for him escaping.

Davis seemed to think he could take on the world, as well as everyone, at the same time. If it wasn’t for his ultimate talent, he’d be dead already.

Alice’s talent though… it was a death sentence all on its own, nobody in her right mind would let her run around freely, as most of the group seemed to agree with.

Neola’s talent could prove to be a problem, if she ever learned enough about one of them, who’s to say she wouldn’t impersonate them and kill, leaving the impersonated with the blame. But instead, she was looking after Kara, who probably meant she had a soft heart, but it remained to be seen if Neola could end up saving Kara, or Kara taking Neola with her.

That just left Aurel, the boy who helped Snow. His talent would make him a very dangerous enemy, but as it currently was, Snow didn’t think he would even accidentally harm her. He was already a good sidekick, but maybe his sacrifice would be required in order for her to survive.

Suddenly, her attention was brought back to reality, as Neola told their little group she had to visit the…bathroom of all places; Snow couldn’t help but roll her eyes. There was no reason for idle chatter like this, as most people were already planning their surviving tactics right now.

“Your bladder can wait; I want a map of this place, so I’m gonna need pen and paper, cuz I don’t think that dumb toy would leave a map hanging around here.” She put her hand towards the group, clearly expecting them to provide.

---

She seemed... pleasant enough. A brief whiff of the air and an even shorter breath out of his mouth were the only things indicative of a sigh. Neola didn't exactly seem to cringe back at him or tried assaulting him with a stick so far, so that was a good start! Even more so with another little lady who decided to interject on in.

As soon as he heard footsteps approaching, Aurel's ears perked up, only to gaze over to see a dainty little girl dressed in a gaudy garb waltz on over to the rest of the group. He didn't even squint and quickly glossed over the lady of a diminutive, petite, seemingly vulnerable stature over. Aurel barely made out her smile as he turned his head away, indirectly glaring at the stuffed toy on stage. If there was a real life sweet roll, she would probably be the closest in his mind... along with a bit of self-preservation.

But regardless, this small bit of interaction caused him not to ponder and chew on his fingers, but rather Aurel obscured his mouth. These two weren't running away, nor making any comments about what his talent was. The talk may of been on the somber topic of how to escape, but that didn't stop him from cracking a small smile across his palm; the bit of kindness from Snow helped a bit, but this situation felt... nice.

The situation felt wrong, yet the results did... give him something to look forward to.

Before Aurel could pipe up and make a response, that totally uncute and probably not devil bear finally intervened amidst the chaos, causing Aurel to revert to his usual, stoic frown. The hand flopped and plunged downwards, pressing itself against his hip as the thief squinted at it.

Of course, the first question it asked was Neo digging at the rules and breaking out of a building someones locked in, followed by something most curious - its objective and the mention of a Mastermind. This caused his scowl to only intensify as it continued speaking once he learned how... broad yet narrow its goal was.

Didn't help that constantly listening to that squeaky, high pitched voice wasn't doing it any favors. But at the mention of a mastermind, one of his index fingers was being chewed on once again. It mentioned the mastermind was amongst them... who could it be? Was it just bullshitting to make us distrustful and paranoid? Did the masterminds plans align with that... thing?

Regardless, the boy was left to think as the harsh, raucous laughter ringed in his ears before watching... the bear disappear into thin air.

Huh... that... possibly explains something at least. And following that, a small sigh of relief escaped the two slits of his mouth; there was a bit of solace in not having to hear it speak anymore, but there were more important things to respond to...

... like Neola's idea.

Honestly, it sounded like a good idea on paper, but... "... considering what the electric gate is for, I don't think we're gonna find any rubber suits around here," Aurel murmured, slowly rotating his head to face back in the groups general direction. If anything, there were over a dozen reasons he could think of over why it would be impossible to find some rubber suits... but enough on that, there had to be another contingency they weren't thinking of...

Tugging his index finger away from his gnawing teeth, there was a sudden outburst of Neola requesting that they go to the bathroom, pronto. That seemed... out of no where as Aurel's eyes widened a bit with his jaw slouching a tad, revealing some of his teeth.

He blinked a bit, staring directly at her before Snow decided to put off the needs of the girl down for her own with abrasive indifference. The thief just shook his head and chuckled, wiping his somewhat saliva coated finger on the side of his pants before tapping away at the tablet.

"Snow... there's no need to be so cold... besides," he calmly grinned, pressing his finger down gently on the screen before holding it up, displaying what looked to be a gridlock map of the vicinity, the camp they were in. "It did leave a map hanging around here... more so installed, but still..."

Briefly, Aurel tapped a certain part of the map, emphasizing a certain area where they needed to go before pivoting to face the path they came from. "... in any case, how about we go to the bathroom," Aurel spoke down to the ground, staring at it as he passed Kara and Neola, only to pause for a second to lean in and whisper something to Snow.

"As well as walk, talk and figure away out," he broke away from the white haired girl only to disappear for a few seconds, the last place his foot was seen was deviating from the path. The moment he swerved away from the dirt path, the sound of a rustling bush could be heard nearby. It resonated not too far from the stone structure, and abruptly stopped before anyone could go investigate the noise.

"... it's this way, by the by," he spoke up mildly, back on the track and appearing once again as he stood on and pointed down the path, gesturing to head this way to the trio of girls. However, there was something else that was disparate about the thief; while his own tablet was in hand, there was another item that he clutched tightly to his side - a little, ragged rabbit that looked to have a bunch of stitches here and there.

... time to get going.

Name: Yukimori Maiya
Talent: improvisational engineer
Can make anything out of everything
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Appearance:
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Silver/ White
Skin: Slightly pale
Posture: Not thin but also not fat you could say that she has a rather normal body for girls her age
Height: 1m68
Weight: 56 kg
Personality:
Because of her back story she is rather shy and won’t talk to you unless you talk to her first. Gets embarrassed fast when you compliment her. Once you get to know her she is a really sweet girl, she would try to make you happy and protect you but in her own way that is. Once you become her friend, she will make sure that you would stay by her side because she would fear that she will be all alone once again. But she won’t do it in a forceable or bad way just with words.
Backstory:
When she was at the age of 6, starting in a new school for the first time. Not happy, not sad nor excited she went to her first day at school. Once all the kids were in class they introduced each other, Yukimori was shy and when it was her turn, she was rather quit. And there it all started after a few months going to school Yukimori created this lifestyle of sitting alone and doing her own thing. Her classmates didn’t hate her or disliked her, they didn’t pay much attention to her because of how quiet she was, most of the time they forget her. Not with bad intentions, she didn’t jump out enough to get noticed. Her parents were too busy with work and most of the time she was home alone. When her parents were at home, she got either ignored or they asked her to do things in the house, most likely the same as in school. One year passed, and she went to a higher class she noticed things she normally didn’t. One day she sat in class and played with some pens and elastics she had in her pencil case, and without knowing she builded a little paper plane that could fly for a long time driven with a small but simple motor she made of a pencil and elastic. And so she built more at home, read books about how things worked. Once she went to high school, she studied science. One day a big industry noticed her and asked her if she wanted to create a small door unlocker and an alarm disabler for police uses. After a week she created a machine build of old scrap and an old computer, they were surprised what this girl could do at an age of 15. When she was at the end of high school, she got a letter with a big logo on it that she saw somewhere before….Hope’s peak Academy noticed her….