Misfit's Masquerade

You awoke to the rising rays.

Fuck.

You yawned. Dark sun was seeping through the cracks of your tiny curtain. It could hardly be past six. Old habits die hard, you supposed. You followed this line of thought to complete your morning routine. Your muscles felt weirdly stiff to it, though. You dropped your toothbrush on the floor.  

Whoops. 

With a yawn, you washed it off and re-entered your room, taking a seat at your black desk and re-observing the eerily familiar decoration. You had left the bag of konpeitō haphazardly on the top. The entire surface was organized chaos. Gel pens, clay erasers, a potted Strelitzia, and other items tied to miscellaneous hobbies. It was hard to pick just one to do, after all. 

“Ahhh…” You nestled yourself into the fur rug in the center of the room, an oasis of light against the dark floor. Definitely artificial, but it was still like laying on a cloud. 

The flatscreen TV only played this weird slice-of-life theme song with everyone on this island. It sounded kinda good, actually. Interesting.

Next to that was a row of bookshelves. You swiped your finger across several spines, dust collecting on the tip. You cleaned it on the hem of your sleeve. Ugh. You rolled your eyes, instead, shifting your attention to the glow-in-the-dark star stickers plastered spontaneously around the ceiling and walls, occasionally a winking duet with multicolored string lights. You found the control placed carefully on your window sill. Absently, you switched the colors from red to pink to blue. 

This really feels just like home. 

You knew you should probably be concerned with the accuracy, but hey, it was Hope’s Peak. They were already pretty weird and rich, which was the Ultimate combo for odd activity. Like all the posters and paintings being things you were sure you’d seen before.

You popped through each drawer. Old calligraphy sets, carving tools, candles, things you didn’t even remember trying out. Unfortunately, your closet was only stacked with uniforms. You frowned. You really didn’t wanna wear this stuff for your whole time here. You'd personally get cooler clothes later. 

With that thought, you went back to bed. Your pillows were self tie-dyed and a bunch of your favorite plushes were set neatly in the corner. Well, they were, until you slept on them and left them scattered about the floor. It was your room, though, so who cared? 

As much as you tried to go back to sleep, you couldn't. Old habits die really hard. 

You threw off your covers, not really sure what to do at this point, so you headed out to go look for someone to occupy your hands. You hummed to yourself, scanning the area.

“Hello, [Name].” said Peko, opening her door. "What do you plan on doing?"

You laughed. “You say that like we didn’t just run into each other.” 

“Well, I saw movement in the corner of my eye, and noticed you had come out. So I also came out. To say hi.” 

“Those are seriously insane senses…” 

You struggled to keep small talk going as you headed out for breakfast. Peko’s social skills reminded you a lot of your childhood. You pitied her as she threw sad questions around about favorite colors and foods. You also ran into Nekomaru on the way, already exercising. 

People are freaky… 

Food wasn’t prepped on the table this time, so you scrounged stuff from the market. You made some pretty basic eggs and bacon and toast, not feeling like putting in the effort for anything more. Peko didn’t get anything, so she probably already ate. As you talked, you learned of her obsession with fluffy things. You hummed. Maybe you should get her a dog if you got out of here. In return for her number, of course. Eventually she started doing this weird thing with her face. 

“...what’re you doing? You look constipated.” You ate the last of your plate.

She flushed. “I—Is that so? Then I apologize… you see, I was trying to smile.” 

“Awwwww! Don’t worry about that, you look cute no matter what you do.” 

Her face reddened further, “A—ah...um, no, that’s not…I would never try to…you see, it’s, um…no one has ever said such things about me, and, um…I wanted to thank you…”

“Huh? What’re you talking about?” 

“W—well, um, smiles are used to show gratitude, right?” She made a really weird look with her face that made it look like she was showing off really uncomfortable dentures.

“I…I’m sorry, it seems I’m just incapable of doing such a thing…” she sighed. “Not only can I not be grateful, I can’t even save someone’s life…”

“Uh… and what’s that supposed to mean?”

”Well, back at the island, with your riptide incident…? I was the first one to notice, and yet… I found myself unable to do anything. I panicked, couldn’t think clear, couldn’t even come to a decision on what to do. If I left land, I would be leaving my whole duty behind… but if I didn’t, you could’ve died… In the end, it was Akane who saved you.” 

She angled her head into a deep bow. “Truly, I am… so sorry…”

You waved your hand dismissively, “hey, don’t cut yourself down like that! …ha, get it? Cut? Cuz you’re the Ultiamte Swordswoman.” 

“…yes, I am…? What of it?”

You muffled a groan into your hands. She continued to give you a confused stare. Everyone on this island was so stupid.

You huffed. “Anyway, I think you’re taking a things a little wrong. You aren’t ungrateful, considering how far you’re going to try and show gratitude, and you aren’t at fault for what happened. It’s not like you caused the riptide, right?”

”Y—yes, but I should’ve saved you—I could’ve! And yet, in the heat of the moment, I couldn’t… I can’t act on my own.” She had an edge in her eyes as she stared down the table.

”What do you mean?”

She sighed, “it’s nothing. Really, in the end, it was me who was foolish.”

”I don’t think so. It’s normal for panic to cloud peoples judgment and stuff. All that matters is we made it out in the end, right?”

”But the result would’ve been much cleaner if my performance wasn’t so poor…”

”Well, we still got a good result, so it’s fine. Don’t get so hung up on past stuff, okay? I’m fine. I mean, what kind of person would I be if I relied on you to save me every time I was in danger?” you laughed.

She shot up. “There’s nothing wrong with you getting a little help using the tools that are at your disposal.” 

“Huh? I mean, yeah, but I can do that on my own…”

She pursed her lips, slowly bringing her head down. “…I’m sorry. It seems I’ve said too much.”

”What do you mean?”

”Do you need my presence at the moment?”

“Huh? W—well, I like your presence, but I don’t need you to do anything for me, if that’s what your thinking.” You didn’t plan on forgetting her words, after all.

”Then…is it alright if I head back now? I believe it would be best if I got my thoughts in order before preceding.”

”Oh, yeah, of course. Do whatever you want, no need to ask me.”

You locked eyes. For a brief moment, the corners of her lips slanted up. It was small, but genuine and heart-melting. “...thank you.” 

You only responded with another smile. 

¤¸¸.•´¯`•¸¸.•..>> *Obtained Hope Fragment.*<<..•.¸¸•´¯`•.¸¸¤  

The bright yellow monitor in the corner flashed on. You blinked. Usami overtook the screen, yet, there was something so unsettlingly… off about her. 

“Students of Hope’s Peak Academy, please gather at Jabberwock Park. We’ve made a special surprise, just for you.” There was no malice. No taunt. A plain pool of ice sinking in your entire class. The voice wasn't human, or alive, it felt more like a whisper of a corpse, hanging on by a string.

“Come quickly, or else punishment awaits you.” And it shut off.

…Well, that was weird. The typical questions surged through your head— what the hell was that? Why was she talking like that? Are we gonna get spanked? but you dismissed them, considering you weren’t getting answers by staying in here.

The two of you looked at each other.

“…you okay?” you asked.

She nodded. “I can always think another time. This seems urgent.”

You offered a hand, “well then, should we get going?” 

Both of you stepped out of the hotel. 

Darkness. It had spread like a disease over the air, ugly shades of black and purple. It was like someone had repeatedly beaten the sky until it was all one pulpy bruise.  

You arrived to your destination in a circle of panicked students. They were all just squawking predictable questions, anyway. Low behold, things would finally get on track when Hajime and Nagito entered the scene. 

“I sincerely hope you’re not this tardy at school,” Byakuya lifted a brow. 

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault this time!”

You rolled your eyes. “‘This time’, he says…” 

He lifted his brow into a glare. “Seriously?”

Nagito laughed, “yeah, no, that was my bad. I didn’t think we’d be convening so early, so I didn’t set an alarm. Sorry, I’ll be sure it doesn’t happen again!”

Byakuya huffed. “It’s of no matter. What is important, however, is what is clearly our kidnapper's announcement… speaking of which, calling us here and then not showing up... just what are they up to?”

Everyone began prodding, eyes searching over every corner. 

“This is weird… definitely weird…” Chiaki glanced around, the slouch in her eyes propped up on sharpening tension. 

“C—could it be…” Mikan said, “M—maybe this is all a misunderstanding? M—maybe Hope's Peak accidentally put us here, and they're just a little too busy to retrieve us right now…” 

“It does seem like there is quite the storm coming…” Sonia blinked, a cock to her head, “Perhaps she is simply going to provide us all with umbrellas? Or maybe raincoats! Ah… personally, I have never worn a raincoat before… how exciting this will be…!” 

“Tch!” Fuyuhiko’s glare narrowed in on all of you, “So you guys forced me into your little dog circle for this shit!? I swear, if this stupid kidnapper doesn’t come out in the next minute, it’s your blood that’ll be payment—!” 

“...puhuhuhu…” 

You froze. 

“Puhuhuhuhuhuhuhu…!” A red eye popped out from the shadows, leaping out from the deserted podium in the center of the island.

“W—What the hell…!? What—what the fuck is happening right now!? This isn’t a funny joke!”

“Ahhh… ahhh… how rude, such a rude welcome back… at least I don’t hafta waste my time with the same old mike check!”

What an obnoxious voice. Black and white and grinning eerie red, twitching round bear's ears—a gleeful child in all the wrong ways. It snaked its way down your spine and left you writhing, masking uncomfortable jitters in your fingertips. 

You clenched your fists. You knew—you could hear it in the beat of its words, the rise in all the wrong syllables. Clear as day, it was a monster, one where the slightest clip of strength would cost you your life.

Adrenaline was rising. 

“Ahhh… I’m so sorry, my cute little students! I really kept you waiting, huh?” His red eye flashed, bright and eerie enough to overtake the clouds. “Well? Did you miss me adequately? Aren’t you fumbling all over yourselves in excitement? Just dying to see me again? Killing yourselves over glimpses of my adooorable face!?” 

You grit your teeth. What the hell is wrong with me? You were no stranger to fear, to thrills—you welcomed it, in fact. But there was no way you were going to feel intimidated because of a two foot teddy bear. 

“Who—who the hell even are you!!?” Wailed Kazuichi, yanking down his beanie. “What did you do to us? Where are we!"

He laughed, a tear in fabric and space, dark and high and so so annoying, “...isn’t it obvious…? The talented, fearsome, dashingly gorgeous…! MONOKUMAAAAAAA…!” 

“M—mono… what?” Hajime blanched. 

“Monokumaaaaa! And, best of all, I’ll be your headmaster for this new school trip! The school trip of thrill and terror! Chills kills, and all the more! A hundred times better than all this boring heart-throbbing school trip crap…yup! That’s right! Your days of meaningless boredom are officially over!”

“Hey,” you huffed, a hand on your hip. “Have you tried this ancient technique used all the way back by our primate ancestors? It’s called—get to the fucking point.” 

“Wahhh…” he gloomed, “That stupid rabbit was right after all..." In an instant, he flipped in front of your class, everyone's legs tense and bent at the ready as they backed as far away as they could. Eerie red glowed in his head and silver claws glinted under the faintest traces of white peeking through the clouds, “Kids these days have no respect for their elders! It’s a bone-a-fied ass-eating circus! Oooo…” he was now… sweating? “maybe that’s what they’re into nowadays…? How scary…”

I said get to the point, don’t drag it out!

“U—Um… Ibuki still doesn’t get it…” She was pulling wearily at a fistful of hair, “Where did this deformed raccoon come froom…!?” 

“GRAAAHH! I am not a raccoon! I am a bear! Get over it already!”

Muted whispers broke out among the group.

Byakuya stepped forward, over everyone’s huddling forms, an unshakable glare in his eyes. “...Monokuma, was it? Explain yourself. Where are we? What do you want with us? What's going on?”

“Ahahaha! If it’s back and forth you wanna play, I’m down! Yuppity-doo! Your friendly little school assignment right now is a bonafied, old fashioned killing game! Lookie here, kiddos, I’m not askin’ for much from ya! Just the simple, ittie bittie task of murder! Is that so much to ask for!?” Why’s he getting angry?

“W…what…?” said Nagito. 

“That’s right, you heard me! From here on, I announce: The Field Trip of Mutual Killing! You see, being stuck on a deserted resort island with a bunch of goody twoshoes friends is waaaay too boring of a goal! Where’s the punch!? Where’s the impact!? No one wants to play that kind of game!” he cocked his head, “you guys agree with me, don’t you?” 

While he wasn’t wrong, he was far off topic. Who did this guy think he is? Oh, right, your headmaster. No, Hope Peak’s headmaster. He’s gotta be high. 

“You guys are the participants in this saucy event, of course!”

Teruteru’s terror was so palpable he grew pupils, “...mutual… killing…?” 

“W—what’s that supposed to mean…!?” said Mikan. 

“Read the box! Mutual Killing! You, mutuals, will be killing each other! Preferably as violently as possible! How can I be any less clear?” 

“W… what’re you talkin’ about!?” Teruteru wailed, “That’s clearly impossible!”

“You know what they say: anything’s possible! If making friends is, then so is turning around and slaughtering them like sheep! Puhuhuhu, just staying friends is boring, anyway. Go wild, teens—friends to corpses! Lovers to corpses! Friends to corpses to lovers!”

You slapped a hand over your mouth. You had to admit, this guy was kind of funny. Even if he was just some stupid, overbearing evil-guy way too in over his head, at least he knew how to entertain.

“What the hell are you talking about!?” Hajime was doing his best not to wretch. 

“It’s really simple, as I’ve been saying: if you wanna leave this island, please kill one of your friends!” 

Mahirus wide eyes of terror dropped to the ground. “L—leave…this island… k…kill…?” 

“Mmmmhm! And then successfully overcome the school trial! The cherry on top of this mutual killing shebang!” He giggled, moving on to lay out the Class Trial that would take place after murder. Once a murder was committed, all remaining students had to ‌discover the culprit by investigating and then attending a class trial. Majority vote rules. If the vote was correct, the killer, or blackened, was killed. If you failed, then Monokuma culled you like weeds. Either way, it ended in execution. 

“E… execution…!?” Sonia clutched her arm like a lifeline. You could feel the terror in her legs, the desperate need to keel over. This was not how her new start to friendship was supposed to go.

“Upupupupu…! Yup! This spectacular event is the cherry spectacle for this field trip!” He shrank back in bliss, “ahhhhh…! I can’t wait to see what wonderful punishments await you all!” You killed however you wanted. Crushing, strangling, drowning, poisoning, beating, slashing. There was no time limit, no limit at all, really. “Truly, this… is what the Field Trip of Mutual Killing is all about!”

“Don’t fuck with us!” Fuyuhiko was frothing. 

“I don’t believe it. I don’t believe this.” said Teruteru.

“A… as if we’re going to kill each other!” Kazuichi panicked, “T—that’s right! No one’s gonna kill anyone!” 

“I’m not ordering you guys to kill,” He said, “Whether you do so or not is all up to you guys to decide! Well, either that, or possibly maaaybe shrivel up on this island and die?” 

You glared. “That’s an ultimatum, not a choice.” 

He laughed. “Oh, who cares about the details? All that matters is you’re stuck here now!”

You shoved Byakuya out of the way, pressing out your steps until you were leering down at Monokuma. Empty posture, hard gaze. A rising shadow. He only grinned back at you.

“Hey. Tell me,” you tilted your head, an empty smile stretched thin across your cheeks. “How tall are you?” 

“Hmmm? My, my, that seems to be quite some personal info you’re trying to get out of your headmaster… pupupupu! Aren’t you quite the flirt—?” 

You seized him by the scrappy back of his neck, hands hooking under the edge of the plate that shaped his head. “Because I've seen dogs taller than you.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ve well established how I’m not a dog—” 

“Hey. Go with me here for a sec, alright? You’re relaxing, peacefully on an island with your class, some nasty little zebra starts to vore out of your teacher or whatever, and then this—remember, two foot tall piece of shit—says: ‘hey guys, time to start murdering each other’. Now, answer, why in the ever-loving hell would you listen to them?” 

“...Because it’s fun? Because you can’t fight me? Because now I’m the only one that knows anything about what and where you are?” he giggled, “the list goes on, really. But please, keep going, you’re putting on a fantastically humiliating sho—” 

You threw him into the ground, splitting off his leg with your heel. That crunch felt good. “Then let’s make a deal. For every question you answer clear and truthfully, that’s another gear a sea turtle doesn't have to choke on.” 

In the background, you heard Nekomaru crack his knuckles, “[Name] makes an incredibly astute point… I don’t like violence, BUT IT SEEMS IT’S OUR ONLY OPTIOOOOOON!”

“A battle, huh…?” Akane’s grin split from ear to ear. She looked like a maniac. “[Name]! You better let me finish him off!”

Peko unsheathed her blade, fingers nimbler than the seconds, “[Name] is right. It seems the only one who will be murdered… is you.” 

Ibuki threw up a grave finger, hair swaying in the wind, “Hell yeah! Our sexy group of jocks are never gonna let you get away with saying these messed up things!” She threw up her hands, squealing, “Woohoo! You get’em good, [Name]!” 

“...Ah, is that how it is?” He grinned, eye flickering underneath you. “Well, I guess this was inevitable. Since you used violence against me, I shall retaliate with some of my own.” from the ground, his remaining paws flew up, “O, scions of the void between light and shadow—” 

You blasted your foot clean through his face. The crackling insides left your ankle littered with scars and abrasions, but it was totally worth it.  Does he seriously think I’m stupid enough to wait for him to kill me?

Silence.

Hajime blanched. “What… just happened?” 

Teruteru wobbled like he was about to faint, “S—someone catch me!” No one did, of course. 

Mikan approached the scene as if it might turn into a nuke cloud at any moment. “U… um… is it o—over…?” 

“Monokuma…” said Sonia, “He is truly dead… yes?” 

Akane huffed, a knuckle on her hip, “I told you to lemme have the last blow! Whatever…at  least the weirdo’s outta the way now.” 

Hiyoko threw up her hands, “Hooorayyyy! Big sis [Name] saved us all!” Weirdo.

Chiaki’s face remained a frown. “This… is this… really the end…? Are… are we sure…?” 

Gundham shouldered a solemn hmph. “To wield evil is to consume oneself whole. Such low class malice would never survive the real world… let history tally; yet another tyrant submerged within his own sin.” 

Kazuichi wailed, “No one cares about your weird hedgehog cosplay!”

You grit your teeth. Right. It should’ve been over. Monokuma was the source, and you eliminated him. 

So why wasn’t the sky clearing? 

Carefully, you backed up. Your knees felt like jello. No, no, no, this was ridiculous. Sure, maybe you were a little scared, okay. But there was no way you were letting this weird fear back you into a corner. Nothing was there. Nothing was happening, and yet, the adrenaline was there. That feeling of life or death. 

You took a deep breath. 

There was no way you were going to stop. You weren’t going to back down. You wouldn’t have any regrets. 

Crack. 

You looked up to see a dark fissure spreading out across the statue. It was only thanks to primal instinct you scraped out of the way of a collapsing chunk of bronze. The dust clung to your lungs. 

Five mechanical war animals. 

Mechanical war animals.

Five.

You had war animals and made yourself some weird two-foot zebra dog!?

Kazuichi kindly made up for all the petrified reactions with a tumultuous shriek. “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?”

Ibuki’s skin blued, “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Fuyuhiko grasped at nothing. “Am I asleep? Is this a nightmare…?”

“Kyahaha! He just admitted his brain is a total flower patch!” Who would’ve thought. Even Hiyoko had more balls than him. 

A hulking tank perched broad, a dark hatching of thick armor—solid sheets of metal. It hurt your knuckles just looking at it. Each creak of a limb hit like a wave of thunder. The soldier was up front and center, its silver shell glaring. From the sides were its panoply of phoenix, cobra, tiger, and horse, All eyes of absolute red blinking down at you. 

You. Me?

A gleaming pair of claws rose above the broad shoulders of the soldier war-mech. “Pupupupupupupu…AHAHHAHAHAHAHA…! You didn’t really think I’d die so cheaply, did you?”

The world was plunging into a nauseating paralysis, too bright and too dark. Was the taste in your mouth bile or poison? 

“Hmmm? What’s wrong, my precious students? You all seem so terrified…!” You could almost feel Usami’s presence in his words. “Hey, hey! It’s okay! Please don’t be afraid!” His red eye was cold on your body.

Afraid? No, no… this situation was too ridiculous to be scared of. Where were the normal, boring, ass-squeezing teachers when you needed them? You'd take anything over this.

“Haha…” You grabbed at your arms to make sure you were real. Your lungs were squeezing and bursting just trying to get a decent breath.

I mean…

What the fuck is that? 

Your legs buckled onto the concrete. 

Shit. 

“Puhuhuhuhu! Please, don’t seem so apprehensive, either! I don’t hold anything against you, [Name]! After all, how could I be upset at such a brave volunteer?” 

“V… volunteer…?” said Sonia. 

“ Thaaaat’s right!” In an instant, metal clangs seared the island as the phoenix revved cannon-sized machine guns, spinning into place with a soft click that made your spine shudder. It was so cold you weren’t sure you could move or even speak. 

“How could I ever pass up a student so eager to die?”