Underhanded Graduate

Chapter 1 : A Thin Line That Divides Fiction and the Real World

My eyes fluttered open, and the first thing I saw was a gymnasium floor. My body was stiff and I found it difficult to push myself to a sitting up position. I groaned and forced myself to sit up and take in my surroundings. I find myself sitting in a gym surrounded by a bunch of other people.

I blink, confused. I stretch my arms and count everyone around me, who seem to be doing the same. Seventeen. There are seventeen other people here. The closest to me is a boy shorter than me, his hair bright purple, wearing a blue sweatshirt, jeans, and a simple pair of white shoes. We lock eyes.

After a moment, I furrowed my eyebrows and stood. Everyone else in the room began to stand as well, and another guy came strolling over to me. He had a very confident look on his face, especially for someone who just woke up in a strange place full of strange people. He wore a pair of jeans, a trench coat and no shirt for whatever reason. He looked at me with bright blue eyes, his white hair messily bouncing with every step.

I realized that both the boys were looking at me. I cleared my throat awkwardly. I was about to slink off to a dark corner and try figuring out what the heck is going on, but before I could, a short teddy bear was waltzing into the room. Half the bear was black, the other half white, but all of it confused me.

While the bear walking was weird enough, when it stood on a podium and began to speak, I almost choked on the air I was breathing.

“Welcome students, to The Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles!” The bear exclaimed. Its voice was slightly raspy and very high pitched, but you could tell it was a male. “I’m Monokuma, your headmaster! Any questions? No? Okay!”

What the– “Hey! Wait! Why are we here?! What’s going on?” I yelled. Everyone around me looked at each other and began to murmur in agreement.

Monokuma seemed to take a heavy breath, as though this bored him. “You’re all Ultimates! Know what that is? You see – you are the best of the best in what you do!!! Tadashi Kimura!” The bear points to one of the guys. “Ultimate Improviser!” He points to someone else — a really short girl standing near Tadashi. “Higu Hifania! Ultimate Boxer! And so on with everyone else — I’m too lazy to name all of you.” He put his little paws on his little hips and grinned at us, “Now, the reason I’ve gathered you all here is because one of you is in charge and put this whole system together! So you can thank your mastermind for all of this.”

“Somebody in this room kidnapped us?!” The boy with purple hair screeched.

Monokuma places his paws over his ears, “Wow, are you annoying! Well, I guess that’s all for now. Everyone, there are dorms for each of you, and you can wander around!”

“Wait! Why are we even here?” Higu, the short blonde asked.

Monokuma huffed. “You see, you’re going to be going to school here–”

Everyone groaned.

“–and in order to graduate, you’ll have to commit a murder and get away with it…” He was rubbing his paws together with an evil grin.

I gaped and stumbled over my own feet a moment. “Th-… this has to be a prank!”

“I assure you this is no prank!”

“B-but… you expect us to murder each other?!” Comes the high-pitched voice of another girl.

“Yes yes, I’ll explain more later! For now, go explore and meet each other! You had better make some friends or somebody won’t hesitate to slice your throat! Oh and, I’m going to be giving you you’re dorm keys. Watch your head!” He disappeared, his laughter echoing throughout the gymnasium.

A bunch of keys began falling from the ceiling. I made an attempt to cover myself with my hands, but a small piece of metal still managed to hit me where it hurts. I groaned and took the key in my hand, before shoving it into my pocket.

I jumped when I realized the tall guy with white hair was standing right next to me. He was shaking his head slowly.

“He’s crazy, isn’t he?” He smirked at me. “So – who might you be?”

“I’m… Eliza. Eliza Heart.”

“Ultimate…?”

I blinked, confused as to what he meant, before I realized he was talking about our ‘talents’. “Oh! I’m the ultimate actress.”

“Actress you say? So, you act in movies and stuff?”

“Yes. So, who are you?”

He held out his hand to me, “Kuriama Ombre, Ultimate Mercenary.”

Mercenary… I think. As in, this guy kills for a living! Could he be the one who kidnapped us all?

He must’ve read the expression on my face, because he began shaking his head again. “I know what you’re thinking. And no, I’m not the mastermind.”

I raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowed. “How do I know you’re not lying to me?”

“How do I know you’re not lying to me? You’re the Ultimate Actress! You could be putting on the facade of the innocent little hottie… but you’re really the mastermind who kidnapped us all and you plan to make us kill each other!”

“What the– no!!!” I knew for a fact I was no mastermind in this. But… for all these guys know, it could be me. And for all I know, it could be any one of them.

I notice people leaving, and realized that the shorter boy with purple hair is still hanging by me. I clear my throat and he looks at me.

“Wha…?”

“So who are you?” I ask, hands going to my hips.

“O-oh, I’m… Aino. Aino Roa.”

Kuriama snickers next to me, and we look at him. He winks, “Sounds like ‘I know’.”

“Well… yeah…” Aino confirmed, fidgeting with a rainbow button on his sweatshirt. The three of us stood in an awkward silence for a long moment.

I cleared my throat, “So, uh… should we explore?”

Kuri and Aino nodded. As we were the last people to exit the gym, it was easy for me to get to the double doors, that were now wide open, and head out into the hallway. I could hear the echoes of everyone else’s voices from down the halls. There was a choice of going left or right. The boys stood behind me, clearly waiting to see which way I would go.

After a moment of thought, I turned right.

Walking down the hallway, we came upon the first door. Kuri opened it.

Inside was a room full of dining tables covered with fancy tablecloths, fancy chairs, and a counter that probably lead to a kitchen. I opened my mouth to say something, but Aino beat me to it.

“Kumasutra Restaurant,” he says.

I turned my head to look at him, “What?”

“Kumasutra Restaurant,” he repeats, pointing to a golden sign.

I looked at the sign and gave a small “oh”, then looked around the room. “So, are there like, chefs in there to make us food?”

Kuri shrugged with a smile. “I can make some killer scrambled eggs.”

I rolled my eyes, smiling as well. “Right. Maybe that’s not what we should be worried about right now, though?”

Aino nodded, fidgeting with his buttons. “S-so, now what?”

I looked at the door, “I don’t know about you two, but I think I’m going to go to bed. I ah… need some sleep.”

Kuri raised an eyebrow, “But if you’re going to be out of it, then who knows what could go into your dorm and kill you in your sleep.”

I pursed my lips, Kuriama had a point. “Fine. Let’s look around a little while longer.”

* * * * *

After a couple hours, we’ve discovered a storage room, a trash room, two classrooms, a garden, a dormitory lobby, a nurse’s office, and eighteen different doors with eighteen different names. We managed to awkwardly shuffled past anyone we ran into, as they awkwardly shuffled past us. Finally, I decided it really was time for me to get some sleep.

I waved to the boys and unlocked my dorm room door. I walked in a closed it behind me, making sure to lock the door.

Inside was a room identical from mine at home.

A beautiful canopy bed sat in the center of the farthest wall. The sheets were bright red, like my hair, and the walls were grey. The walls has a similar design and colors. Two table lamps were on each side of the bed, a dresser sat against a wall, and a couple of coffee tables surrounded by love seats and sofas. The floor was simply a white carpet, and a door was placed on the wall by the dresser – probably leading to a bathroom.

I marveled the room, taking a minute to wonder how all this was possible. Had Monokuma been stalking us before he kidnapped us? Or maybe we were just a bunch of random people who are really good at what they do, and he somehow managed to see what our rooms look like?

Whatever the reason, at least I could feel at home while in my dorm room.

I sulked over to the bed, laid myself down, and took a nap.