Chapter Text
I stand up, acting as though I am disoriented. A simple ruse that's probably unnecessary, but who knows? Maybe the flower boy is more genre savvy than he seems.
I decide to walk out of the closet, and watch as Basil, wearing jean shorts and a pea green pullover hoodie stumbles out, very clearly dazed and confused. I'll prompt him. I put on a mask of my own face and I question him.
"Hey, you OK there?"
Given that he's fallen over like the bumbling idiot he is, it's a fair question, and there is no reason for anyone, even the now viewing audience, to assume I mean him harm. He groans as he gets up.
"I feel so tired..." he mutters to himself, and I tune out the rest of his tired ramblings until he finally notices me. He simply blinks twice.
"Are we going to Wonderland, then? Am I getting Matrix'd or are you just some guy?"
You know, a confused look fits the situation and my character, especially since I am genuinely lost. "What?"
"Normally you guys are all squiggly and dark and there's millions of eyes boring into me, but you're just a red rabbit guy."
"Uhhh..." I try dissecting that, and come to the conclusion that he either thinks I'm a dream or an hallucination. Both of which could be difficult to disprove. "I... don't, know how to, respond to that, heh. Um, do you know where we are?"
The boy looks around, taking in his surroundings, the boarded up windows, the open door, the whitebo- I, I did not mean to leave that door open. But in this state, he won't notice anything suspicious about it. Still, he notes everything around him, turns to me, and says, "Did you kidnap me?"
"WHAT?! NO?!" I pretend to be taken aback. "Wh-what would make you think I'd do a thing like that? I, why would you think that? I don't know where we are either!" I figure it's easier to lie than to completely change the question. Basil adopts a thinking pose, his chin resting on his hand, before looking back at me and giving me his perspective.
"I mean, you're red, and red's evil, right?"
I want to groan and claw out my eyes right now, but I resist. I'm very controlled. I am a sea of calm. "I'm... I'm not like you think I am! I don't know what's happened. All I know is that we're in this classroom and I don't know why." I then feel something in my pocket, looking entirely natural to the untrained mind. I take it out. "I got this card thing? Says... 'Ultimate Softballer'?" Ultimate Mastermind, but he doesn't need to know that.
He rumages around in his pockets as well, finding something in his hoodie pocket. His eyes widen slightly.
"H-how do you know? How do you know?"
"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH, I, I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" There's a bit of genuine shock because I had no idea he had garden shears on him, that he's now pointing towards me. Suddenly, this could end very badly.
"You're the only other person here, I, what do you want? I don't, what do you know?"
"I'm telling you, I, I'm just as in the d-dark as you!"
"DON'T LIE! I, don't, don't lie to, I'm not afraid of you, I, I'm not-" He stumbles forward as I sidestep. No, he can't kill me, I need to see, I need to see what happens.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about! Come on! I-I just woke up here!" I take a big step back to avoid a slash from those accursed shears. "Please, calm down! W-we can work this out, OK? Please, just, just calm down, please."
Thankfully, he does stop. At least, he stops waving the shears around. That's something. I start inhaling and exhaling loudly and quickly, emphasize my stress at that whole thing. He doesn't speak. OK, I can still work with this. He's a bit more unstable than I'd expected, but hopefully it'll just make for a more interesting protagonist. A completely unrelated idea pops up into my head and now I know what I'm gonna do at nighttime when everyone will be in their dorms. "A-are you alright now?"
"I'm fine. Sorry."
"No, it-it's fine. Um, I'm Jax, the Ultimate Softballer. I like tasty treats a-and science. You should go now. L-let's try and get to know each other!"
"...Basil. That's, that's my name, Basil." I wait a few seconds but he doesn't say anything else.
"OK, I-I think we got kidnapped, but, the kidnappers aren't anywhere in here, so, maybe we should g-go see if we can f-find a way out?" It's the best I can do to get him out. He shakes his head and GODDAMMIT. He curls up into a ball instead.
"I'm just seeing things again... they'll go away... please go away..." How do I convince this kid to come with me without giving the game away? I can't go on my own because he's the protagonist and I'm the traitor, he's the guy who's meant to do all this stuff! He's making this way more difficult than it needs to be.
"Hey, this door's open, weird." Thank god, there's someone else. The blue hedgehog speeds in. "Alright, that's 16 in total, then! Hey, guys, it's me, Sonic the Hedgehog! The Ultimate Speedrunner, which, yeah, fastest thing alive and all that. Nice to meet you guys. I think. Are those shears?" He never put them away. Also, drat, I should really have made it 'Ultimate Environmentalist'. That would've been funny.
"..." Of course. Basil is staring at the character he was pretty sure was a game character. Definitely furthers the 'simulation' idea that gets Sayori to go through with just about anything. "This... why is Sonic here?"
"Uh, got kidnapped? Don't know how, but I got ambushed." I'm very efficient. Though I didn't actually get him. I think that was the coach. "Anyway, I'm just going room to room and trying to find the ones that aren't locked. So to save you going room to room, there's a gym, a few classrooms, a cafeteria, and a storage room. Oh, and an assembly room. Lot of rooms blocked off and the second floor, all stairways to it are locked. There's 13 others, including the guy I woke up with. A giant man in all black with a hat. Kinda creepy, honestly, but yeah, 16 people here in total."
I underestimated just how fast this hedgehog was.
"So now I'm getting names. I'm Sonic, you guys?"
"I-I'm Jax, the Ultimate Softballer."
"Basil." Guess he's still thinking of a fake talent. Sonic doesn't question it. Alright, it's clear my protagonist is going to need a little push.
"Cool, cool. Nice to meet ya. I'm gonna go talk with the others now." There he goes. I decide it's time for me to go.
"W-well, I'm going to search for people now. Um, see you later?"
He doesn't respond. Who knew the shy boy would be so rude? I'm going to have to speed things along.
Of course, one thing that I haven't mentioned is the watch I've been wearing. Smart watch, of course. I swipe right as I exit into the hallway, continue swiping until I see what I'm looking for. Set the announcement to play in 1 minute. Boom. I quickly stuff my hands in my overalls so no one sees that watch after I set it back to showing the time. Can't let them see what I did quite yet, especially with the new angle I'm thinking of. After all, I'm gonna have to find a way to avoid jail time for this, because I'm sure they're going to hunt me down once they learn. At least the survivors won't have any power if all goes to plan. I could get the money from the streams, then use it to fund more. The good Coach is already a shoe-in for the one after this, and I estimate it'll take about 4 of these before I become untouchable. Luckily, I allowed myself some wiggle room.
The announcement plays with that oh so myseterious voice.
"Testing testing, 1, 2... this bit's been done to death, we know the mic works, you know the mic works, so everyone, just make your way to the assembly room! Don't be late, otherwise we're going to be starting off on the wrong foot."
The projector switches off. I'll admit that I improvised a bit. I start walking, a nervous look on my face. Eyes small and scared, mouth in the shape of a frown, I find the assembly room and walk in.
Time for introduc- there's not enough people here yet, never mind. Sonic, Froggy, the Judge, and me are the only ones here so far. Froggy in particular was fascinating because he speaks Japanese, and yet, I automatically understand it. I don't speak Japanese, of course. I only speak English. It's really the only language you need, since practically any country I'd go to has English speakers.
People walk in, there are conversations being had, good for them, I wait until finally, Basil walks in. Second last, he was somehow later than Sayori was.
"Hey, that's all 16," states Sonic. "Uh, we should probably all introduce ourselves. I'll start, though you probably already know. I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog! Ultimate Speedrunner, it says! I like chili dogs and running, as you might've guessed. I'm the fastest thing alive and circled this whole school, so I can tell you which rooms are blocked off and which aren't."
"Why are rooms locked?" questions Luz. "Oh, right, I'm Luz Noceda and I'm the Ultimate Witch. I know what you're gonna say, but yep, magic is real and I used to be good at it, until it disappeared from the world so now I'm just as powerless as you guys."
"I mean, I wasn't going to doubt you, but what do you mean 'disappeared'? I know a witch, she's still good at magic. Also, Arle Nadja, Ultimate Puyo Puyo Player." Some people stare at her incredulously. "What did I say that confused you guys?"
"P-ppardon, Puyo Puyo? I, d-don't know what that is..." I do. Sonic had these dimension traveling rings or something, so he accidentally comes to my game, we ambush him by some miracle (I wasn't there, so he has no idea I'm involved, thankfully), we used the rings to get a few more of the unique people into the real world after, of course, going there ourselves. The hedgehog was what gave me the idea.
"Puyo Puyo? It's a game, it's-" Semi-multiversal killing game. Arle, Sonic, Adeleine, and Peter Parker, those four were all from different dimensions, as far as I remember. We were able to find some other anomalies, being Froggy and Dedan. I found out how to get Lavender when one of our initial picks died early and I got the new reaper. The rest were entirely real, as far as I know. Of course, there's always the chance I've been lying about the whole thing, and you'll never know. Isn't this whole killing game thing fun? Oh, hey, she's done explaining.
"Oh, I see." Little response was really needed there. "Oh, wait, that's... I'll go next. Hi guys, I-I'm Jax, the Ultimate Softballer, which I pr-probably don't deserve..." As funny as it would be to say 'Ultimate Mastermind', I don't want to quite yet. "I like tasty treats a-and science." Part lie, part truth. Very subtle foreshadowing just in case I go back to the original plan again. Which is looking less likely, but then, it'll at least hurt Peter before he gets sent off, won't it? He missed the signs all along.
"I'm Kyoko Kirigiri." The Ultimate Detective does, of course, know her talent this time, but I'm not expecting her to reveal it.
"Wh-what about your talent, Miss Kirigiri?" No threat in my tone, just curiosity, and I think the 'miss' was a nice touch, don't you?
She stays silent.
"What the hell, woman, you won't tell us what they've said you're good at? You're clearly not born yesterday on the lookout, what secrets are you hiding from us?!" Dedan gets up close. "Unlike you, I have integrity. I'm Dedan and I'm the Ultimate Guardian! Zone 1 ain't nothin' without me!" He's about as I expected. Makes for a good first killer, get everyone situated, get them knowing what a Class Trial is like.
"I'll go next. I'm Peter Parker, Ultimate Photographer." I was really hoping Basil had instead picked that one purely for comedic potential, but it's too late for that now. "I work for a newspaper. I'm also a science fan, and my life is usually hell. Nice to meet you guys."
"I'll go next! I'm Sayori, the Ultimate T- poet!" Smooth. I'm sure some of the more perceptive people have already picked up on it, but they'll probably forget after the big thing. Can just be a funny little early hint. Though she'll definitely have to pay more attention to her speech, god, can't she do anything right? "I like writing poems sometimes, I like food, I like reading in general... sorry, I'm probably talking too much again, ehehe-"
"Yes. You are." states Dedan. "And let's not get distracted, what's your talent that you wish to avoid revealing, Kirigiri?" Wow, guy might be good in a Class Trial. Shame he's destined to be the first killer.
"I'm waiting to see if this is what I think it is first."
"And what the hell does that mean?!"
"Hey, the broad doesn't have to say what her talent is if she doesn't want to, we don't even know what these things are." A common trope that must be fulfilled, Froggy, mi amigo. Half the fun of these killing games comes from choosing talents for people. "What I want to know even more is how we get out. I'm Froggy, Ultimate Middle Management which is just an insult, I'm at least a full on manager. And this kidnapping is interfering with my work!"
Of course, a few people are confused by how they can understand Japanese. "What the hell, why do I know what you're saying?" says the mystery man.
"Eh, don't fret about it, answers aren't had."
"I'll go next!" the happy painter child exclaims. At least, I think she's a child. It's hard to get a read on her age but I hope she's a child, it'll make her death even more devastating. "I'm Adeleine, or Ado for short. I'm an artist and where I come from, I'm one of the only humans, so I'm really surprised to see all you guys around. Oh, and the Ultimate Painter is what I am!"
"Only humans? Where the hell do you come from?" Our mystery man keeps speaking.
"You're being awfully inquisitive for someone who hasn't dropped their name, you know," Dedan snarls. Big control freak, clearly. He needs to loosen up and go with the flow more.
"Yeah, I'm not doing that. I'm pretty sure we're about to go into a Danganronpa situation or something, we even have Kirigiri here." He knows Danganronpa? I chose a guy who knows enough about Danganronpa to at least accurately identify Kirigiri? And he's hiding his name.
"C-come on, we're all friends here, right?" Hopeless naivety, as is necessary.
"You're not getting shit, who gets abducted and reveals their identity to a group of potentially harmful individuals? I can tell you my talent because it's literally just 'Ultimate Lucky Student', nothing much to analyse there, but I doubt my kidnappers know my name, and so I'm not telling them." That piece of shit, he's already ruining things for me. I thought him coming into the hangar was a blessing in disguise, but he's infuriating me instead. Of course, no one sees my rage.
"O-oh. Right. Sorry. I-I just thought you'd-"
"You should just drop it, I'm not telling you who I am."
"B-but how are we m-meant to identify you?"
"Call me SNESMAN1999."
"That's a shit name." Hello, I forgot you were there, yellow haired nobody WHO IS HOLDING A PHONE. Did NONE of my teammates think to frisk these guys? I searched 'SNES MAN' for anything, they let her have a phone? Thank god we cut the phone lines outside, but this could still be a problem. "No service, by the way."
"I know it's an unconventional name, but seeing as I've been kidnapped and there are fictional characters here, I think I'm sticking to the name that tells you little about me."
"Whatever."
"So who exactly are you, if 'snes man' won't tell us who he is?" Dedan seems to find the name mockable as well, which would make more sense if his place had a SNES in the first place. I doubt it does.
"Neru." That's all she says.
"Also too good to tell us what you do?"
She looks slightly angry. "Who even cares about these dumbass talents anyway?"
"Alright!" Sayori seems to be trying to avoid conflict, and helping move this along. "There's just 4 people we don't know now!"
"Basil." He's quiet about it.
"What was that, chump? My ears didn't get your voice because you mumbled your name." Dedan, Dedan, Dedan. I think I like you.
"Basil." Louder this time.
"Three people who won't surrender their talents and one who won't give their name." The giant of a man interjects, with a sinister grin on his face. "I am Judge Holden. I am the Ultimate Judge. You can call me Judge or you can call me Holden and I will respond to both."
"Wow, you're wordy." Thank you, Arle. "But yeah, we're getting a lot of-"
"Oh. Sorry. Um, it's... bad, but, Ultimate Accomplice." YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT.
The look of surprise on my face is genuine. Same with many others. The good Judge laughs because of course he does. "What a bold move. I'm unsure if this renders you more trustworthy or less so but it could go either way."
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, 'ACCOMPLICE'?!" yells Arle.
"I don't even know why I was given this, I'm, I'm sorry!" Basil is susceptible to pressure after all. I suppose he no longer sees this as an hallucination. Makijg him a protagonist will be harder now, however.
"I'm Mrs Pomp! I'm the Ultimate Teacher! You better show up to class!" The AI, because she has to be, speaks up and surprised everyone. I suppose it's not often you see what is literally just a cylinder in place of a body.
"Oh, I'm Lavender," the masked, purple reaper states. "Ultimate Reaper."
"OK, everyone's introduced, great, we all got to know each other, you're an accomplice?" Snesman rounds on Basil. Like you're one to talk, hiding your real name. 'Snesman' is a terrible name anyway.
"Accomplice to what? Are you an accomplice to the damn kidnappers?!" It's then that a few of the normal people, namely the talentless one and Kyoko, turn back to Froggy and look at him in befuddlement.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to distract from 'accomplice', but... what are you?" Kyoko asks. They're not paying attention to me, so I tap on my watch, swipe right, and just wait...
"Well, that's simple, I'm-" Perfect comedic timing.
"Hey, we haven't all gotten to know each other."
No one's looking at me. I'm at the back of the crowd now. So I don't bother hiding my grin. I can flip around if anyone turns, but come on, I'm allowed to revel in the moment a bit, right? Then again, the moment's not quite mine. No, everyone's focus is on the stage, at the stand, where the voice came from. Kyoko has a terrified expression on her face.
"No... not again..."
"Put your hand up if you want to speak!" That one was Mrs Pomp.
"Who said that?" Jeez, Nadja, don't you have any patience?
"They better show themselves or I'm gonna crush them into paste!"
"Oh, little old me? How rude of me to not introduce myself!"
And then, something pops up from out of the stand. He lands feet first right in front of said stand, in all his glory.
Can't have a Danganronpa without him, can you?
"...what am I... looking at?" Basil questions. I look around to see the confusion on everyone's faces and the glorious despair from Kyoko and Snesman, and- oh my god the yellow haired chick's on her phone. You're, you're kidding me, right?
"Hello?" Monokuma shares my thoughts. "Yoo hoo! Yellow girl!"
She stares up after that.
"Oh my god."
"Yep, it's me!"
"I've been kidnapped by a reject mascot horror character."
What?
"What?"
"Wait, maybe not reject, I think I remember seeing your face somewhere. Some game, one of my friends liked it, I think."
"Grrr, I'll have you know I'm better than those 'mascot horror freaks'! Forget your 'Freddy Five Bears' and your 'Playing Poptimes', I'm the real deal! I am MONOKUMA! And I'll be your new headmaster in this school life!"
There's silence as they all stare at the half black, half white bear.
"I'm 25," responds... I'm really against calling him SNESMAN. "And I just recently got out of college."
"I already go to school..." murmurs Basil.
I play my part, of course. "Um, I-I'm 21, and, I don't, I don't need to go back to sc-school..."
"I was just about to get through all my exams," seethes the talentless one, Neru, "and you took me from them for a completely DIFFERENT school?!"
"What kind of kidnapping is this?" asks SNESMAN.
"Ladies, please, control yourselves! I can only handle so many questions!"
"When does it end?" asks the Judge. He's still grinning for some reason. Creepy.
"Yeah, what the hell did you even kidnap us for, and why's it at a school?" an angry Arle adds.
"Hey, I'll answer those questions very soon! I've been very generous to give you an environment where you can fully focus on the pursuit of academic excellence! All contact with the outside world has been cut off!" I have walkie talkies down in my base, so I can at least contact Coach and Rags when needed, mostly for motive videos.
"What about when it ends?" asks an impatient Froggy. "I have my work to be doing, damn teddy!"
"Well, I was going to give you three weeks, but seeing as you called me Teddy, well, let's multiply that by 53, minus 14, plus 67, divided by 2, carry the 7, and... oh, got it! Never."
There it is. The silence, because of course there's silence, followed by the shouting, which I add to. Overlapping shouts of 'WHAT?!', 'NEVER?!', and some stunned into silence.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" screeches Neru.
"I can't go through this again, I can't go through this again," laments Kirigiri.
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?!" yells Peter.
"And you locked all the exits, chained them up, there's no way out! You monster!" shouts Sonic.
"Oh, there's a way out!"
Everyone falls silent at that.
"You... you truly are... deplorable..." You know, Kirigiri, only so many times you can call the bear evil before it gets old. You should really save some of it for the end.
"Please tell us," urges the Judge.
"Getting out is easy! You just have to kill someone."
And there we go. It's revealed. No one is looking at me, but just to be safe, oh hey, Dedan's strolling towards the bear.
"You're right. That will be easy. You don't get last words."
"Not me! I don't count. Has to be one of the others."
Dedan starts running for a now scared Sayori.
"EASY!"
Sonic spindashes at him and knocks him out of the way.
"WHAT THE HECK, MAN?!"
"I'M GETTING OUTTA HERE! PEOPLE DEPEND ON ME!"
"Hey, hold your horses, you have to get away with it as well!"
Dedan stops at that point. Of course, while he was doing that, people were shocked.
"KILL SOMEONE?!" At least we know Arle has basic hearing.
"WHY?!" Oh, Luz, you're certain to lose. Get it?
"You sick freak..." Lavender doesn't seem that good with death for a reaper, huh?
"But to kill someone is..." And it's Adeleine who supplies us with the line this time. Woohoo!
"To kill someone is to kill someone. Bludgeoning, stabbing, han-"
"WE GET IT! THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU ANY LESS FUCKED UP!" Please, you can't comment, SNESMAN, you wouldn't even tell us who you are.
"Well, if you want to leave, that's what you do! You kill someone, and then you see if you can get away with it! I'm sure some of you know the rest, but please, no spoilers. Well, that's all for now! Buh bye!" And with that, the bear departs, leaving everyone stunned.
"...kill someone? No, we can't-"
"It is inevitable." The Judge cuts Luz off. "There will be death and people will try and figure out who did it making it all the more intriguing that we have the Ultimate Accomplice here."
Well, looks like it'll be an uphill battle for Basil, who people are staring at.
"N-no!" he feverently waves his hands in a feeble attempt to save himself from the hell he thinks he'll be subjected to. "I-I'm not, I don't wanna, I won't kill anyone, I didn't kill anyone, please, d-d-don't-"
"I'm not sure about him, but Holden was right. I've been in one of these before. The only thing I know is that there's a mastermind behind this and they're one of us." Kyoko already revealing the mastermind's existence wasn't intentional, but hey, distrust is always good, so I can look past it.
"O-oh... so at least one of us is going to die..." Why so sad, Luz? It's not like there's any worth to your life anyway.
"Violence persists no matter what." No one's even offering up a counter argument? Guess I'll do it.
"N-no, I'm sure that none of us would k-kill anyone! I mean, that's... that's..."
"Killing someone, yeah, we get it." dismisses Neru. "Sonic, do we get dorms, at least?"
"Yeah, they set those up, surprisingly."
"OK. Cool. Later."
She leaves. What an asshole, I'm going to enjoy watching her die on my cameras.
"So, uh... never mind." Arle trails off.
"I... I'm not going to..." Basil's probably thinking about a fair amount right now. With the exception of the phone addict who's life means nothing, everyone is in silence, the Judge grinning the whole time. I'm sure people will soon suspect him of being the mastermind. No one's going to suspect me. Sayori's not as shocked as she'd normally be, of course, thinking it's a simulation, but the gravitas of the situation is setting on her nonetheless.
And thus, things are set into motion. Despite my solemn face, I'm as giddy as a child in a candy store right now. I'm in control of my own killing game.
And I'm seeing it through to the end.
LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND NON BINARY FOLKS
YOU ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS THE GREATEST KILLING GAME YOU'VE EVER SEEN
ALL SELF FUNDED
ALL NEW VICTIMS AND KILLERS
WITH TWISTS YOU'LL NEVER SEE COMING
WELCOME...
TO...
