"Okay, so we can now commence with our splendid entrance ceremony !"
Visibly overjoyed by the attention he was getting, Monokuma made a small pause to savour it.
Tension building up among the students, we now looked at Monokuma with apprehension.
Worries had replaced the surprise and confusion, since it became obvious that Monokuma was related to what was happening.
Everyone, and I was no exception, was listening to his every word.
"First, I expect all of you to respect the rules I'll expose in a few minutes... otherwise, the outlaws will have to receive a punishment !"
Looking at how he mentioned it, what the punishment was seemed to already have been defined. However, Monokuma did not seem like elaborating further for the moment.
"Now that you learned about that, I must go on with the facts and rules !" Monokuma clapped his paws. "So first of all... It's heartbreaking for me to announce this but... None of you will be leaving this school anytime soon ! Never ever, as a matter of fact !"
Only silence responded to Monokuma, who expected a reaction.
The truth was that most here already expected something along those lines to be said, and waited for Monokuma's next words.
Some, although they also expected it, were too stunned to pronounce even one sentence.
"No reaction... ? That means that until you die, you'll be trapped in this school ! But I guess it doesn't surprise you that much..."
"Rather than telling us that, I think it would be better to explain what you expect from us, why are we only sixteen students and what are the circumstances of our restriction here." Katsuragi cut off Monokuma, having enough of this comedy.
"Y-You're so exigent, Katsuragi-kun ! But I understand. So, I'll reveal it to you, this horrible truth... Suspense... Suspense..."
Monokuma suddenly seemed to realize something.
"Oops ! I actually can't tell you why you're here ! It would be spoiling the fun, after all."
Another deception from Monokuma, which amused no one.
We were meant to be kept out in the dark for the time being, it seemed.
No answers would be given to any of our uncertainties, no matter what. One could always theorize about the reason of our presence here, but there was no way to know the exact truth.
But the thing was that, without any detail presented, we also had the right to not believe what Monokuma had to say, including what he said about us never leaving this place.
Although I was fine with being stuck here under certain... circumstances, it could as well be something used just to scare us, or whatever.
I was sure that someone was about to make a remark about that, but Monokuma spoke up before it happened.
"Wait, I already mentioned that you won't be leaving this school until death, right ? Actually, there's one way for you to leave it..."
Warily, everyone's ears perked up.
Even though Monokuma's words were not trustworthy for the moment, the possibility that he was delivering correct information still existed. And in that case, giving him an ear would find itself valuable.
"... It's by killing another student here !"
...Huh ?
"What ?!" Karuizawa instantly screamed, not believing what she just heard.
"This-... this is ridiculous !" Ishizaki added, terrified.
"What is this complete nonsense ?" Horikita, next to me, asked herself in a whisper.
"Monokuma-san, y-you are kidding us, right ?" Ichinose asked in a frightened tone.
Monokuma's blunt statement had in one instant made lost everyone's composure in the room, including me.
"Hmm ? For what reason would I not be serious ?" Monokuma, acting oblivious to the bewilderment he was provoking, continued. "Of course, the choice is yours to take, and you can choose to live here forever !"
These words made the blood of everyone here turn cold. It was by an awkward silence that panicked and judging glances were exchanged.
"Unfortunately, I don't think this'll happen in any case." Sakayanagi finally spoke up, narrowing her eyes. "There's no way for you to keep us here indefinitely, I believe."
"What tell you that ? Personally, I wouldn't find any problem in keeping you there for eternity, but that would be boring. That is why I'm proposing an alternative here !"
"So you're basically saying that nobody will come to our rescue, am I mistaken ?" Katsuragi questioned. "If that is the case, please excuse me for not trusting a single word coming out from your mouth."
"Oh, of course you don't have to believe me. But you'll see soon enough." Little by little, Monokuma's voice became lower. "After one, two, three weeks, nothing will change. You think I'm lying ? That doesn't matter. I know that no soul will come to your rescue. Of course, I would know... You poor things, however..."
It seemed Monokuma finally decided to take things a bit more seriously. His words showed no trace of doubts or hesitation.
In other words, he was absolutely certain of what he was advancing.
"... You're implying that something happened outside, are you not ?"
Horikita, even though she was reluctant, asked what was running through everyone's mind.
"If only it was just outside... I dunno ! It's for you to guess !"
Monokuma's whisper did not go unnoticed by anyone. In fact, even students like Shiina, Kanzaki, or Katsuragi, who were pretty composed until now, had their eyes widen hearing that.
But after reflection, that was pretty obvious.
For us to be there in the first place, with no memories of whatever happened, and to be only sixteen in this gigantic high school...
"... The school must have been concerned by what happened."
My murmur luckily reached the ears of no one.
"You're acting like this is the case, though." Horikita, now unwilling to let go of the piece of information Monokuma gave us, persevered. "But if that was true, we would have had the memory of it, am I wrong ?"
"I dunno, Horikita-san. After all, for how long have you been asleep ?"
This simple question, that I previously asked myself, put a doubt in the mind of Horikita.
"Kuku. You really enjoy toying with us, right, you fucking robot ?"
For the first time since Monokuma appeared, Ryūen directly addressed him.
"What ?! Not at all, I'm just having an instructive and informative conversation with my students, that's all..." Monokuma acted panicked. "Wait, wait, I can't tolerate such language !"
"We weren't knocked out for long." Ryūen ignored Monokuma, although annoyed. "Not for more than one week, for sure. Otherwise, our bodies would have ached way more, and basic movements would have been harder to perform."
That was true. Our bodies were in way too good condition for us to have been out cold for a long period.
Horikita, even if she should feel reassured, seemed unsatisfied.
Wait, are you telling me that she was not happy that she was not the one to figure that out ?
Dang...
"You're no fun at all, Ryūen-kun..." Monokuma sniffed. "Okay, okay, that's right, I bluffed ! I'll ask another question then : can you really pretend to have access to all of your memories ?"
Another question was thrown at us. One that was impossible to answer, unfortunately.
"Tsk. Of course I can't, bear bastard."
Ryūen seemed to have understood the implications and the consequences of this question, and already had made a conclusion.
"What's with this question ? I don't remember being diagnosed with amnesia !" Karuizawa, with the manners that seemed to be hers, bluntly exclaimed.
"Uhh, is it a trap question ?" Shibata, one of the most quiet until now, apparently bewildered by the situation, asked.
"I don't really understand either..." Ishizaki added.
Karuizawa, Shibata and Ishizaki, who had kept silent for a while, got confused regarding what was being talked about.
I expected Sakayanagi to explain to them what was problematic with this question, but she did not make any move.
Seemingly, she preferred to observe how the whole thing was proceeding, rather than being a major actor.
I felt like that was a good choice. Many variables remained unknown, but one thing was sure : our lives could be at stake.
"What Monokuma is implying here," Ichinose, who was stunned for a moment since murder was mentioned, recovered the ability to talk. "Is that our memories could have been stolen."
Biting her lips, she clearly was anxious about it.
It made sense, there was no denying it. The fact that our memories all stopped at the same moment... It could explain why Ryūen seemingly did not remember about his talent, too.
"H-Huh ? Is it some sort of joke or something ?" Ishizaki forced a smile.
He just voiced what everyone there wanted to be true. Unfortunately, in a situation where our knowledge was just as limited as now, no possibility should be excluded nor taken for granted.
That meant that, even though there was still hope in the fact that we were not in an as big predicament that it seemed to be, we had to consider every single clue or theory.
Well, that was the mindset Ichinose and the ones who kept calm the most tried to adopt, and the one that should be appropriated, in my opinion.
"This is merely a possibility. Nothing more, nothing less. For now, you should just keep it in the corner of your mind. Or will you show us anything that can prove your claim, Monokuma ?" Sakayanagi challenged rather directly.
The tone she used was different from what she showed us until now.
If I had to compare, I would say that she previously acted as if it was a game, a test she had to resolve. She controlled the flow of the conversation, so she must have felt like everything was in her hands. Well, it was, to be honest.
But with the appearance of Monokuma, this was no longer the case.
Many unknown variables were now surrounding us, and it was quite clear by now that Monokuma was filtering the information he was giving us. In other words, Monokuma was deciding the tempo, meanwhile we students, and that included Sakayanagi, could only listen.
This was the first thing that made Sakayanagi change her attitude into a more serious one.
The second was that she realized that none of this could be compared to a game, even if we were being played with. There was no easy answer, no easy way to escape this situation. It had escalated very quickly, I had to say, through the mention of murder and... stolen memories.
"It's not what you should be asking right now, Sakayanagi-san. Upupu, I never claimed anything in the first place, so I have nothing to prove." Monokuma simply laughed it off.
Was this was we call sadism ? For some reason, I could obviously tell that Monokuma was enjoying tormenting us, cruelly.
...If an AI containing so much personality could be developed, this would definitely be interesting.
"Oops- it looks like I went off-script without noticing ! Where was I again ?" Monokuma pondered. "Oh, yes ! You can leave this school if you kill another student here ! Simple, right ? However, a mere hunger games isn't so fun to watch anymore, since the concept has already been exploited so much... So we'll add some rules to it, to make it more entertaining !"
A common understanding was found in this place. It was that no matter what, we'll be forced into this, whether we liked it or not.
After what seemed an eternity, Monokuma finally decided to expose the details to us.
"Firstly, every student here will live on the campus and will have their own room and will be nourished, so you don't have to worry ! Secondly, any attempt at making contact with the outside or getting outside will result either in a warning, or a punishment, depending on the level of infringement ! But since you enrolled here, I shouldn't worry about it, right ? Anyway, everybody will be able to live in the entirety of the campus for the rest of their lives, if nothing unexpected happens."
In a few sentences, Monokuma explained what would be the conditions of our "stay" in this school.
Hearing him, it looked like a peaceful life awaited us- if no one killed another student, that is.
And still, he did not elaborate on what the "punishment" would be.
"Enough of that, let's get to the juicy part ! The killing game !" Openly calling it a game of murder, Monokuma raised his paws, looking like a maniac. "As I said previously, there's more to it than just killing. Otherwise, it would have no interest."
A concerning silence had made its way towards us. No one dared to interrupt Monokuma, even though I was sure there were some questions to be asked. It looked like an unconscious consensus was found.
"Now, let's run a simulation. Let's pretend for a minute that one of our dear students becomes tired of being stuck here. They want to go out ! So, one night, without any observers, they kills someone. And now... they're free ! Free to reach back to their family... Or so you would think it would work. In the morning, the corpse is found by the other students. And there comes the fun part... The murderer can't go out yet and now has to undergo a trial !"
A trial ? Ah, so it was like that...
Even without hearing the details, I could see how vile this mechanic was.
"During this trial, the students will have to guess who the murderer is, meanwhile the murderer in question will have to conceal their identity... if they want to win, that is. A vote will take place at the end of the trial, determining who the students guessed as the culprit. That's it for the trial ! If the murderer successes, he will be set free, of course. Oh, and whichever party loses will face a punishment !"
Basically, that meant that if the killer succeeds, he can do whatever he wants and step outside. If he fails, however, he will face a "punishment". That was also valid for the innocents, though. If the wrong person was voted, a "punishment" awaited at the end of the tunnel.
And now, the crucial question...
"For a while now, you've been talking about a "punishment"... What exactly are you talking about when you mention it ?" Ichinose asked, frightened.
That was an important thing to know to evaluate the ups and downs.
"Y-You don't know yet?! I'm talking about the death penalty, of course !"
Once again, Monokuma's bomb hit right on the spot.
Of course, looking at it from an objective viewpoint, it was not that far-stretched. After all, if one kills someone else for his own selfishness, he should expect the same to happen to him.
What was the most surprising was the fact that the innocents had to go through this same fate if they made a mistake.
But if this killing game seriously took place, then I guess it made sense. Otherwise, some loopholes could have made this game "unfair", if a group composed of the majority of students decided to.
These were only precautions for us to be serious about it, right ?
As I thought, this game could be troublesome.
"A-And you think we'll accept it ? That we'll let you kill us ?! If we want to, we could just ignore these threats of yours and go out by ourselves !"
Karuizawa pronounced those courageous words, although she was obviously put off about the situation.
What she said was one of the things I was curious about. How did Monokuma intend to restrain us in the first place ? And how would he kill us without having us rebelling ?
Many theories had come in my head, but none of them were verifiable for the moment.
"Oh, I didn't think that you'll accept that right away. But unfortunately, you have no other choice ! You know why ? Well, I advise you all to take a look at your right arm ! It would prove itself to be... quite useful, upupu."
Our arm ?
In a rush of adrenaline, we all rolled up our sleeve, to see that there was...
"An implanted chip ! That's right~ we put one on every one here ! This must come as a shock, right ? That kinda was the point, you know ?" Monokuma informed proudly.
I stared at the chip, that was barely visible, thoughtfully. It really seemed that this killing game was prepared cautiously.
"Wh-What is the meaning of this ?"
"Y-You- How dare you ?!"
In a matter of seconds, panicked exclamations raised up in the audience that we were.
This was no exaggeration to say that this was... outrageous, to say the least.
Mixed emotions made their way to our heart-, such as anger, panic or terror. This was understandable, though : our body had been manipulated and implanted with something unknown.
And nothing provoked more emotions into a human soul than what was unknown.
"Of course, I don't ask you to believe me when I say that this chip allows us to geolocate you, or when I say that with one command, we could electrocute all of you to death ; I'm just asking you to give it a thought." Monokuma threatened in an innocent tone.
Basically, if we ever tried something going against the rules, we could be executed on the spot. That was what Monokuma implied.
Be it a bluff or not, the fact that a chip was implanted in our arm could not be denied, and this would restrain us from trying anything in the following days for sure.
Damn. Whoever organized this mess, had for sure been really meticulous.
"I-I can't..." The girl called Shiina covered her mouth, staring in horror at her arm. "Th-this is disgusting..."
A few others were in the same situation as her, terrified by what was implanted in their body, and what danger it represented.
But still, my attention was mostly focused on the few boiling with rages... especially the madwoman next to me.
Clenching her fists, Horikita seemed as if she could not accept such an affront... and she was not the only one.
"Haha, so you have the audacity to play it like that ? I cannot take your boldness away from you, it seems." Kōenji, who previously looked uninterested by Monokuma's threats and explanations, apparently was now taking things a little more seriously, addressing him directly. "From the looks of it, you have the intention to toy with us for some time, do you not ? Going as far as to implant this thing in my magnificent body."
Keeping his narcissist attitude, Kōenji lifted his hair with both hands, giving a clear look on his eyes.
"Laugh till you can, Bear-Robot. Because the last laugh will be mine. That, I can assure you."
Still with a self-appreciating smile plastered over his face, Kōenji spoke these words.
However, his eyes gave off a glow of an impressive intensity, showing that he deeply meant these words.
Monokuma, though, was as unfazed as ever.
"Oh~, you're really serious about this, Kōenji-kun ! You're raising my hopes up, honestly ! Don't disappoint us, upupu."
Us ?
Either way, Kōenji did not seem to care about Monokuma's answer and just turned his eyes away, returning to his self-admiring ways.
"Well, I see nobody has questions, so I'll continue with the additional rules !"
Dismissing the questions we could have before even hearing it, Monokuma kept going.
"Well, I said that I'd do it, but it's really starting to be boring. So I'll let you discover them by yourselves with... the phones I prepared for you !"
Without saying anything else, Monokuma went once again to the bleachers, and returned with a bag.
"This one... is for Sakayanagi-san ! And this one... for Ibuki-san !"
Not losing any time, Monokuma gave us the phones that would be ours.
Curious, I immediately unlocked it, to see what was contained in it. Pretty much everybody did the same.
First, there was not any connection on this phone, so our options obviously were limited. Second, instead of the home page you would expect opening a phone, with tons of apps, only three were installed.
The first was the most common : obviously, it was "Notes". However, the logo was different, presenting a dark circle. I clicked on it, to see if there was anything weird with it. And as I expected, there was.
Even if we could write whatever we wanted, we could not write any more than one note that could not contain more than 200 words. Funnier even, there was no notice as to when the note could have been written. The time was not indicated, at all.
I found it interesting : that meant that if we ever had the luck to find the phone of someone after its death, whatever was written could either be a piece of evidence or a misleading lie left by the killer.
That was all I managed to get about this, and I doubted that there was anything else, so I checked the next app.
This one was a bit more particular, if I dare say. Its logo was my face, after all, and it was named after me : "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka". Looking at the picture, it seemed like it was the one taken at the times of my interview to enter the school. I assumed that the others had a similar app installed with their own name.
Intrigued by what information it contained, I clicked on it without wasting a second.
To my expectations, in there was most of the basic information one could find when looking at an identity card, such as my name, gender, height, age, birthday date, etc.
It was something we could have been given too, if everything took place normally. To my surprise, though, we were given a phone number, which I found suspicious since we could not call anyone. That was until I remarked that there was a texting option. Looking at it in detail, I noticed that only one other number was registered : the one of Monokuma.
So we could text Monokuma, huh ? Of course, a thing such as messaging existing, it was obvious we could also get the other students phone numbers to text them.
Really, everything had been well-thought-out.
I supposed that this was everything which could be seen here, but scrolling until the end, I saw something unusual.
POINTS : 100 000
TRANSFER =>
Points ? I wondered what that meant. There was an option to transfer them, too. It would prove itself to be important in the future, without any doubt.
Satisfied with my inspection, I finally got to the third and last app. This one was simply named "Rules."
Warning : Any rule broken may or may not result in a punishment, depending on the circumstances.
Conventional rules :
1 : Every student has to stay on the campus.
2 : Any attempt to escape is forbidden.
3 : The only way to leave this school is to kill another student and to not be found during the trial that will take place after the murder.
4 : In a situation where the murderer is found, they will face a punishment. At the opposite, in a situation where the murderer is not found, every other student will have to face one.
5 : No more than two murders can happen between two trials. In case there are two murderers, only the first murder will be accounted for the trial.
6 : Act of violence towards your chairman are strictly prohibited.
7 : Some areas will be forbidden of entering in at the beginning of the game.
8 : From 10 pm to 7 am, some areas are forbidden to enter. Those will be indicated.
These were pretty much what rules Monokuma explained for now, but some points still deserved attention, like what the fifth, seventh and eighth rules addressed.
What came next was entirely new, though.
Additional rules :
1 : Each student will be allotted 100,000 points. These points can be used to buy meals at the cafeteria, to buy articles at shops, or basically anything.
2 : Every student shall receive a new entry of points after each trial of after special events.
3 : Free articles and meals will be presented and given to anyone who wants them.
4 : Stealing is strictly forbidden.
5 : You can text anyone in the campus with your phone as long as you have their number.
6 : You can transfer points to anyone in the campus.
7 : Contracts can be written, and will be applied as long as the chairman approved of it.
8 : Requests can be addressed to the chairman through direct texts.
9 : The school reserves the right to add rules anytime it might seem necessary.
And just with those rules, whole new panels of possibilities were added into the equation.
Giving the students means to kill another more easily, as well as to protect themselves, whoever wrote these rules clearly expected us to use them to their fullest.
"And it's dooooneeee !"
As I was reading each one of the rules once again, the somewhat irritating voice of Monokuma ringed in my ears.
"As much as I like you, I'll leave you be for now on ! You're free to explore the school and campus to your heart's content ! By the way, your room's number is noted in your personal app ! To unlock the door, you just have to present the back of your phone to the screen next to it. Oh, Such a pleasant feeling, to watch you small birds take your first flight..."
Keeping true to his word, Monokuma left the room as fast as he came. And so, we were left as we started... alone. Or should I say, together, between students.
Of course, this sudden delivery of information had for goal to confuse and disorientates us. From the start, Monokuma had intended to establish doubts in our minds, and it had been a long and controlled process.
To process everything that had been exposed in an instant was practically unthinkable for normal students. It would take at least a few hours for most to realize that...
"All of this... It has to be a joke, right ? It has to be..."
Shibata was the first one to break my train of thoughts and the unsettling silence that had fallen upon us. I appreciated his courage, but I would have liked wiser words to be pronounced in a rough time like this. Some to restore... Our unity, maybe ?
Unfortunately, for that to happen, I guess we would have needed either Sakayanagi or Ichinose to speak up. These two had so far showed what would be the closest to what a leader was.
However, it seemed Sakayanagi was not feeling like taking such a role again.
"Kamuro-san, let's get out of here now, shall we ?"
"... Okay."
Rather, addressing Kamuro only, it looked like she wanted to slip away from us as soon as possible.
"Wait, Sakayanagi-san ! We need to talk for a bit about our situation, don't we ? I think we should work it through together !"
Daring to challenge the decided sounds of Sakayanagi's cane contacts with the ground, Ichinose called her directly,
It seemed to be enough to attract Sakayanagi's attention, as she stopped in her tracks, and slowly turned back to face Ichinose.
"Ichinose-san, I believe we will be fine on our own for now. We will have other occasions to talk, won't we ?"
Instantly turning her offer down with an unreadable tone and expression, Sakayanagi averted her gaze from Ichinose and exited the gymnasium by the same way we entered, along with Kamuro.
I understood where she was coming from. More than anyone, Sakayanagi had to reflect on how to handle the situation. Obviously, it was because in a game of murder, she was more disadvantaged than everyone else.
Really, if one wondered right now who would be the easiest to kill, the answer would be Sakayanagi in every case.
But, for some reason, I felt like she would success in finding safety, one way or another.
... Though that was not my main concern right now.
With Sakayanagi's departure, the situation would turn way faster out of control than expected. This should be the case, right ?
It turned out to be, as a bunch of other students went to the exit. It seemed like Sakayanagi just lead the way, after all.
"Wait, everyone... ! We can't let them divide us like this !"
Ichinose's words of despair were ineffective at stopping the troupe, though some students seemed embarrassed.
Communication would be for another day, I thought.
In the room now remained eight students : me, Horikita, Ichinose, Ishizaki, Kanzaki, Himeno, Hashimoto and Karuizawa.
Ichinose had a conflicted expression on her face, and Karuizawa seemingly tried to cheer her up with reassuring whispers... although I feel like they were rather insulting towards those leaving.
I stayed to see what Horikita would be up to, but it seemed she was about to leave too, so I reached out to her.
"Wait."
"... What is it ?"
Gathering all my courage to face her, I told her my thoughts.
"How about we explore the campus together ? We'll be able to share our thoughts, like that."
I asked myself before who I should try to "befriend" for a first, and since Horikita and I both had the appearance of loners, I thought I could give it a try. We also both were sorted into Class 1-D, so I thought that was a sign.
I also wished to have an insight on Horikita's feelings and deductions of Monokuma's explanation, if possible. That still was bold of me to ask, however.
"You expect me to stay alone with you in this situation ?" Horikita narrowed her eyes. "It would take a lot more than a seemingly innocent offer for me to accept it." She shut me down without hesitation.
It hurt, but I expected an answer like that.
"I understand, I guess."
I wanted to ask for her number, but something in my mind told me that this was not the right moment for this.
"..."
Without another glance at me, Horikita made her way to the exit and disappeared.
I followed not much after, leaving the six others alone.
Even though I considered staying and talking with them for a bit, I decided against it in the end. I, too, wished to be alone for a bit.
Once out, I thought about what this "game" was based on. I had already given a guess as to what were the main things that would permit it to go on.
First thing was the filtering of information. Monokuma, or the ones who controlled it, had been extra careful about what information we were given.
How much time has passed since our apparent loss of memory ? How could such a game take place without anyone interfering ? What happened outside ? What about our family ?
Such questions would never be answered properly, of course.
In these conditions, doubt and fear would start to appear in a human's mind. Time would pass, and slowly, these doubts and fear would grow into a simple desire : the one to go outside, see what it really has become.
In the end, they filled us about information about the game, not about the circumstances of it.
The second thing was, quite obviously, the fear of betrayal.
In a set-up where something as aggravating as murder was tolerated, and even awarded, you would naturally be wary of every single other person with you.
Wariness is a good thing, of course. But what are the barriers between a justified wariness and an unreasonable paranoia ?
There were of course a lot more factors to hold into account, but it was obvious these two were how this game was constructed.
Thinking to myself, I concluded that, if things stayed the same as now, a murder would inevitably happen one day or another, should the game last long enough.