Arc I: Group survivalism

Chapter I: Forgotten

XxX

Togami (Slightly before the events of the prologue)

I wasn't certain what first woke me: the sun on my forehead, the sand on my back, or the sea air. Whichever it was, my eyes slowly flickered open, revealing what looked like...Jabberwock Island? I pulled myself upright, examining my surroundings. This was definitely Jabberwock Island-I had traveled here to finalize enough business deals to know the arrangement of islands. Before I could wonder about this more, I heard a voice behind me. A voice that sounded...familiar.

" Good, you're awake. We need to talk."

I turned quickly to see...what looked like a clone of me, albeit overweight. Moments later, I felt a sharp point in my stomach and looked down to see a knife, pressing into me almost hard enough to break the skin.

"Hello, Byakuya. As you can see, we've got a bit of...a problem here. Certain details of what's happening were not given to me. Now, I don't want us to have a problem. Do you want us to have a problem?" The mysterious person's voice was utterly impassive, and their posture barely changed, save to dig the knife a bit more into my skin.

I nodded quickly.

"Then we won't have a problem. What do you need?"

They smirked slightly, their face mirroring an expression I knew my own bore in times of success. Whoever this was, they had done their research.

"I was never here. You never saw anybody fitting my description. Understood?"

"Of course. Are our negotiations concluded?"

They smiled again before motioning to their left with the knife.

"You should head over to the island's center to meet the others. I'll catch up with you in a moment, after I...compose myself."

With that, they quickly turned and stalked away, leaving me confused. Not about the existence of an impostor of some sort-Despair would obviously have use for someone like that, but by their actions. Why wake me, just to tell me to avoid mentioning what I had seen?

A sudden thump behind me caught my attention. I turned to see Touko's body on the sand and knelt quickly, relaxing when I found a pulse. I noticed the paper on her forehead a few moments later.

"I almost forgot to leave you your friend! I know that you would prefer she stay unharmed, just as you know I'd prefer to stay secret!

-Byakuya Togami."

XxX

Naegi

As Mukuro and I watched, the two other students pulled themselves upright, looking around. As they stood, I noticed one lump out of the four slowly pull itself to the end of its bearer's sleeve, revealing...a hamster? Strange. Mukuro seemed oddly unsurprised by the hamster, which was almost stranger. I stepped forward towards the two.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

One of the two looked at me, her greenish-blue eyes piercing enough to halt me in my tracks.

"I am Sonia Nevermind, princess of Novoselic. Are you fellow prisoners or our captors?" Her soft, polite voice belied her cold stare. My eyes widened.

"Fellow prisoners, I think. Just...out of curiosity, has Novoselic gone through any changes recently? Military victories, changes in regime, that sort of thing."

She tilted her head for a moment, thinking.

"I can think of nothing. I am sorry I was unable to help!" She smiled regretfully.

I shrugged.

"You've helped enough. I am Makoto Naegi, by the way."

She nodded as the other student stepped forward.

"I am Gundham Tanaka, bearer of demons and wielder of Hell's powers. I apologize for any impoliteness in hanging back, but I needed to ensure the Divas remained undamaged. Rivals of mine have attempted assassinations of my subordinates before, no matter how brutally I dealt with...others." His grin was predatory, and I could almost see flames dancing in his eyes. There was one strange thing in what he said though.

"The Divas?"

He twitched his arm once, the lumps moving from his sleeves to stand on his shoulders. His aura of danger was certainly...lessened by the four hamsters lounging on him. His next words didn't exactly lessen the contradictory nature of his image.

" The Four Dark Divas of Destruction. My friends, my allies, my tools, my subordinates, they are all of these and none. Cross them at your peril." His voice grew darker at those last words at the same moment that one hamster curled up and licked its paws, looking utterly nonthreatening. All in all, I had no idea what to think. And, judging by his small grin, he liked it that way. With a motion, the hamsters blurred back inside his sleeves.

"So, I have heard your name. Who is your friend?" He pointed at Mukuro. She calmly glanced up at him.

"I am Mukuro Ikusaba, the soldier who has spilled the blood of many and remained unharmed. Let us not deal with names, Taboo King. We are beyond such things as that."

My eyes widened as all three of us looked back at her, seemingly all equally confused. After a moment, she relaxed.

"Sorry, it seems I mistook you for someone else. Don't think anything of it."

I held up a finger.

"Apologies, Sonia and Gundham, I need to ask Mukuro a question or two. Mind giving us a bit of privacy?"

They shook their heads.

"We have things to talk about as well," Nevermind responded.

I turned back to Mukuro, motioning her towards a corner of the room. Once we had taken a few steps away, I bent towards her.

"Were you checking for the same thing I was?"

She nodded.

"Taboo King was the name he went by...before. Seems the two of them have past tense monologues."

"Seems so," I agreed. "What are we going to do about it?"

"I'm not sure."

We turned back to Sonia and Gundham. Before we could step forward, we heard a buzzing voice echoing through the apartment.

"Are we all introduced? Good, good! Now, I don't have much time to talk, so I'll not be taking any questions. Here's the story: You all have one simple challenge: survival. Work together, if you can. It will be helpful. Without further ado, welcome to part one of Kibougamine's field trip!"

XxX

Hinata

"Hel~lo new students! ...Actually, it doesn't look like you're all here yet. Ignore that!"

A buzzing, robotic voice rang in my ears as my eyes slowly opened. My blurry vision didn't let me see much, but I could tell two things. One, that I wasn't outside the doors to Kibougamine, like I had been a moment ago. Two, there were a few people surrounding me. They were pretty concerned, by the sound of what they were saying.

"Is he ok?"

"He hit his head pretty hard."

"Did he faint? Maybe the air on this island is poisonous! We're all going to die!"

"I hope you die, you ugly idiot!"

"I bet the other students didn't find anything like him."

"S-should I help him? I c-could give him mouth-to-m-mouth?"

My eyes snapped open as I sat up quickly, stammering.

"No-no, that won't be necessary. I'm alright, I think."

My vision gradually swam into focus as the people surrounding me took a step back. I slowly levered myself up to a standing position, glancing around.

"Sorry for scaring you all-suddenly being brought here was quite a shock, you know?"

A boy with what looked like some sort of mechanist's uniform nodded-I felt like I should know his name, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Yeah, Hajime. I think we're all a little surprised. Glad to see you're ok!"

I nodded.

"Thanks for the sympathy, but I don't know who you are. I don't know who any of you are."

His eyes widened.

"But we all just introduced ourselves, Hajime! I'm Kazuichi Soda, remember?"

Another student stepped forward, wearing a nurse's uniform. Her voice was halting and slow, when it came.

"M-maybe he has some sort of amnesia? H-he did hit his head pretty hard, after all...What's the last thing you remember, H-hajime?"

I paused.

"Standing outside Kibougamine before my first day, I think."

-WRONG-

I abruptly dropped to the ground, head pulsing with stabbing pains. Images flashed through my mind too quickly for me to follow them. As I collapsed, I caught sight of the nurse leaping forward, barely managing to catch me before my head hit the floor.

"Sorry! I won't ask about memories again!"

I shrugged, grimacing with the sudden pain of the motion.

"That might be for the best," I replied, headache fading as suddenly as it had come. "Mind introducing yourselves again?"

Soda grinned. "Nah. You already know me. The woman taking care of you's Mikan Tsumiki, SDHS Nurse."

"She can talk for herself!" another student interjected indignantly. "God, that's such a male thing to do. Anyway," she turned towards me, looking almost judging. "I'm Mahiru Koizumi, SDHS Photographer. You haven't made such a good first impression, ok? Do better next time."

She turned away, leaving me confused. What, was I supposed to avoid fainting and hitting my head? Before I could respond, another student stepped forward. This one looked a good deal...younger.

"I'm Hiyoko Saionji, SDHS Folk Dancer! I'd say I'm happy to meet you, but my family taught me never to lie!" She curtsied, watching my face. When I didn't react, she shrugged.

"Aww, you're no fun."

The next voice came from behind me, startling me into whirling around.

"You should not be pointlessly cruel, Hiyoko. Ill behavior merely prevents us from achieving our goals. Anyway, I am Peko Pekoyama. Soldier, tool, and SDHS Swordswoman."

The person next to her looked at me intently, the force of his gaze almost pushing me back.

"I'm Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu. You got a problem with that?"

I froze for a second.

"Kuzuryu-like the Kuzuryu crime family?"

He grinned.

"Damn right like that Kuzuryu. Play straight with me and we'll get along just fine. Fuck with me?" He gestured expansively. "You don't want to know what happens with people who fuck with me."

I nodded, shaken.

"I'll play straight, don't worry."

Before he could respond, a harsh buzzing noise rang out. Moments later, a screen on a tree near us flickered on, revealing a shadowy figure holding what looked like a toy bear. A toy bear that started talking.

"Ok, not all of you are together, but all of you are awake, and that will have to do! It's time for me, Monokuma, your wonderful headmaster, to tell you why you are all here. Now, I'm only going to tell you this once, so listen carefully~! This is Kibougamine Academy's annual field trip extraaaavaganza! As you'll all find out shortly, there is no way to leave this chain of islands-that is, unless you graduate. How do you graduate, you ask? Simple! Murder another student and get away with it! If you can leave one of your so-called friends without their so-called lives and nobody's the wiser as to who-dun-it, then you get to leave the island! Of course, there are a few more complications. If you'll all check your pockets, you'll find electronic IDs with all sorts of handy gadgets, including a copy of the full trip rules. Enjoy~! Upupupupupupu..."

The screen shut off, leaving all of us dead silent. Each of us started looking back at the others, almost able to see the knives in their hands. My mind started racing, trying to figure out how I was possibly going to survive-I needed to survive-I needed to-

"Stop."

We all turned to see a teen in a well cut suit, carrying an unconscious girl over his shoulder.

"My name is Byakuya Togami. And nobody is going to die."

A/N: Here's the first chapter-the story should be more regular about updating from now on. Would people prefer chapters stay split between AE and DR2 perspective, or alternating chapters each focused on a single location?

Please review!