PARTUMRONPA

My eyes slowly open as I find myself lying on the gymnasium floor. I rub my eyes and sit up, looking around & and noticing multiple people lying on the gymnasium floor and slowly awakening.

"Ugh…what the fuck?"

As I look around, I hear a familiar voice ring out through the gymnasium.

"Ah, you're awake now! Glad to see I didn't have to wake up everybody individually."

Immediately upon being startled, I look around once more. That voice I just heard sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite tell where it was coming from.

"Up here! Over here!!"

Looking upwards, I find a little robot that seems to slightly resemble a monochrome bear. He's sitting on top of my school's bleachers with a megaphone in its...hand?

"Monokuma? Why are you here? I thought you were just some video game character!"

The robot bear laughs, clearly amused.

"Video game character, eh? Well, that isn't the strangest thing I've ever heard! But no, I'm very real!"

Monokuma starts to hop down from the bleachers and lands on the hardwood gym floor with a slight thud once he finishes.

"What, the, f#%$?"

Monokuma looks up at me, clearly unamused by my attitude.

"That's no way to talk to your Headmaster, y'know!! I could punish you right now if I wanted to!"

"Headmaster?! Wait, does that mean we're in…?"

The bear gives me a wide grin and does his iconic hand gestures. 

"Yup! It's exactly what you think it is! The one and only, Hope's Peak Academy!"

"Oh. My. GOD!!!"

Monokuma continues to look at me with the widest grin possible on his face. 

"Impressed, are you? Well, I don't blame you. I mean, who wouldn't want to come to a prestigious school like this? The very pinnacle of human potential!"

"EEEEHEHEHEHEEE!!!"

Seeing how happy I was, Monokuma clapped loudly once and spoke.

"Alright, alright, keep it down! Some of your classmates are still trying to wake up, y'know! You can fangirl some more once everybody is up!"

"Ugh, fine…"

Monokuma sighs and then lets out a very loud yawn.

"Jeez, how long does it take for everyone to wake up? C'mon, people! You're all Ultimates! You should at least be awake by now!"

"So you're saying everyone here has an Ultimate talent including me?! What kinda talent did I get to go here?"

Monokuma glances at me and giggles.

"That's the spirit! Yes, every single person here has what you call an Ultimate Talent. As for yours, if I remember correctly, it's the Ultimate Thespian!"

"Nathan Kümmer, the Ultimate Thespian…I like how it rings!"

Monokuma rolls his eyes.

"Oh, you would! People here sure do like to brag about their Ultimate Talent! But anyway, we need to wake up the rest of your classmates. It's getting boring over here!! If you wouldn't mind being the one to do it, I'd appreciate it."

"Hmm…"

I glance at the gym's walls & test its acoustics for an echo.

"Echo!"

The acoustics proved to be great, with my voice ringing out loud and clear throughout the whole gymnasium. Upon hearing my voice, a few of the people around you begin to shift around and start to open their eyes. Monokuma sighs once again.

"You just had to take a little test first, huh? If you want to prove how good this gym is, here's a deal! Wake up everybody else in a maximum of two minutes. If you successfully manage to do it, I'll give you something special."

"Say less!"

I take out my phone & adjust to max volume before picking out a song to blast.

Monokuma laughs.

"Go for it, kiddo! Let's make some noise."

He covers his ears to avoid any possible ear damage.

I giggle rascally & press play before holding out my phone to reduce the risk of hearing loss. The music blasts out of my phone's speaker at full volume. A few people shoot up, suddenly awoken by the music. Some people start grumbling, but slowly become more and more attentive to the sudden noise. Everybody seems fully awake at this point.

I pause the music & laugh at everyone's groggy faces.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh, that felt so awesome! Hahahahah!"

Some of my classmates glared at me for choosing such an effective way to wake everybody up, while others started chuckling along with me. Monokuma looks very amused.

"Wow. Color me impressed. You managed to get everybody up! I said I would give you something if you woke everyone up in two minutes, and you did it even quicker!"

"So can I have my reward now?"

Monokuma grins.

"Of course, of course. Close your eyes and hold out your hands. I have a little present for you."

I close my eyes and hold out both of my hands in anticipation. I could feel Monokuma place something in both my palms.

"Open them up!"

I open my eyes to see a golden pin shaped like a theatre mask, with the words "SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL PERFORMING ARTIST" written in neat black letters.

"Wowww!"

Monokuma grins, clearly pleased with my reaction.

"Like it? That pin is yours, and yours only. It symbolizes that you are the Ultimate Thespian! Keep it on at all times, because if you lose it, I won't replace it in any way, shape, or form!"

"Awesome! Maybe everyone in this class should get a pin like this!"

Monokuma puts one of his paws or hands to his chin, contemplating what I just said.

"Huh. That's not a bad idea. I'll have to get all of you special pins, to show off your Ultimate Talent. It would make things easier and more fun, that's for sure!"

"Heck yeah! Keep getting sweet rewards like this & I'd be happy to help!"

Monokuma laughs, amused once more by my enthusiasm.

"You're just so eager to please, are you? Not to worry, there'll be plenty more of where that pin came from! After all, we gotta keep you and your classmates nice and happy, right?"

"YEAH!"

Monokuma cackles, now clearly having fun with my excitement.

"That's the spirit! I'll be off for tonight, but make sure to get to know your classmates! Who knows who'll be the first to commit a murder? Have fun, I'll see you all again tomorrow!"

With that said, Monokuma jumps down from the bleachers, and quickly scurries out through an exit door.

"Wait, murder? What do you mean by that?"

Unfortunately, Monokuma is already gone, leaving me and the others with his last statement. I noticed multiple students murmuring amongst themselves, all of them just as confused as I was.

"(Tsk! Alright, just don't give me some context then. Not like I care, little bitch…)"

☆~🙏🆚😭~★

Soon after I mutter my complaint, a female voice suddenly speaks up.

"Not a fan of good old Monokuma either, I presume?"

I turn around to look towards the source of the voice & quickly find the person who just spoke. It's a fairly short girl with a pair of cat ears on her head and messy pink hair. On her shirt is a very simple logo of a cat.

"What're you, a cat loli?"

The girl groans in frustration.

"Not another person who thinks I'm a kid. No, I'm not a *cat loli*, okay?! I'm an adult, it's just that I'm very petite for my age!"

"You look kinda familiar…aren't you Stephanie Splitz from LazyTown?"

The girl furrows her eyebrows.

"Ugh, not the LazyTown thing again! Yes, I'm Stephanie, but if you start singing the You Are a Pirate song, I'm punching you right here and right now!"

"First off, I didn't even know that song was from the show. Second, what the hell happened to you?! You used to be a lot more cheery than I could ever compete with! Did all those years of growing up after the show ended go downhill for you or something?"

Stephanie huffs with annoyance.

"You don't even know half of how things went for me after that...place. That doesn't matter right now anyway. But what about you? What's your name?"

"Oh, right. I'm Nathan Kümmer, the Ultimate Thespian. Still like how it rings!"

Stephanie's expression softens slightly as I say my name.

"Nathan, huh? And you're one of the Ultimate students here...? Interesting. As for me, I'm the Ultimate Dancer. But I'm sure a lot of people would rather remember me as Stephanie the Sportscandy Girl."

I try not to laugh at how funny that nickname sounds so I don't hurt her feelings again. Stephanie crosses her arms and huffs once again, knowing I'm holding back a laugh. 

"What? Do you have something to say about that stupid nickname? Go ahead, get it out of your system, you seem like you're about to burst by holding it in."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Oh, they did you SO DIRTY with that name, LMFAO!!!"

Stephanie's face turned beet red, and she looked like she was moments away from throttling me with her bare hands.

"Hey! I had no say in the matter! The higher-ups on the show just gave me that ridiculous name, and I had to deal with it!"

"OK, OK, fine! (But I'd still say that name if I wanted to laugh off some pain…)"

"Oh, shut it!"

Stephanie sighs, and lets out an exaggerated huff of annoyance before continuing to speak.

"At least we're on the same page. Now, do you have any idea why Monokuma brought us all here? The Ultimate Student thing is fine, but this killing game he mentioned doesn't sit right with me."

"Wait, killing game? All I heard was murder, I didn't think there'd be a game for it!"

Stephanie facepalms.

"Of course Monokuma didn't clarify things. I swear, he wanted us to be lost! But yes, he said something about a killing game where we have to, unsurprisingly, kill each other. What the hell did we get ourselves into..."

"& that's how we leave this place?!"

Stephanie nods.

"That's right. But that's not all. If one of us somehow manages to get away with murder, that person will be the only one leaving this place alive. It's complete horseshit!"

I shiver at the thought of killing somebody in cold blood for the sake of escaping the academy since my strong moral compass wouldn't allow for that to be an action I do.

"I think it's best if we just get aquatinted with everyone & call it a day…"

Stephanie sighs.

"If you say so. I'm not a very social person myself, but I suppose it's worth the shot. Maybe at least somebody will be a little more tolerable than the rest of our insane classmates..."

& so, Stephanie & I made the rounds chatting with as many people as we could, trying to get a feel for our new classmates. Some of them were friendly, but some of them either seemed closed-off or just...off. Once I finally take a moment to relax, I turn to Stephanie.

"Honestly, I don't think these people are so bad! Yakko Warner made it here as the well-deserved Ultimate Comedian, & this guy named Niles Cero is the Ultimate Prankster. But really, he was the main antagonist of SMG4's Revelations Arc! I dunno 'bout you, but I think I can reform him~."

Stephanie stared at me for a moment, trying to process everything I just said.

"Hold up...Yakko, as in, Yakko Warner, as in, Warner Bros.' Yakko from Animaniacs? Is that actually the same Yakko?"

"Yep! It's really him."

Stephanie's eyes go wide.

"Are you serious? Oh my God- I actually have a chance to meet Yakko Warner?! The guy I grew up watching on TV for years?! Holy crap!"

"Knock yourself out. He's right over there!"

Stephanie turns her gaze over to the direction where I was pointing, and sure enough, there he is, Yakko himself! With a big grin on her face, Stephanie runs over to where Yakko is standing, and approaches him excitedly while I exit the gym & try to search for the dorms if I'm actually gonna be staying here.

There's a nameplate next to each door, and each plate has the name and Ultimate Talent of the person that it belongs to. Sure enough, after browsing through the hall, right in front of me is a door that, upon closer inspection, has the name "Nathan Kümmer" written on it. Without any further hesitation, I twist it the doorknob open & get a glimpse of the room that will be my new home for the foreseeable future. The walls are painted sky blue with a pink/yellow theatre mask pattern, & I'm equipped with a TV, Nintendo Switch console with a Monokuma appearance, a modern blue king sized bed, & a few other necessities regarding electronics & musicals & stuff. I don't pay too much attention to it from collapsing into my bed as soon as I reach it & let myself sink into slumber.

I made a promise to myself in my dreaming mind that no one would kill each other whether Monokuma likes it or not. It's best to keep heads held high in the name of Hope, & to never have anyone think that all this situation is would be despair. Otherwise, things won't go as smoothly as we would want…