The Rules of the Game

I took a deep breath, then looked over the rules, each on its own page. I found you could swipe left and right to view each individual rule, and hit an X at the top right to make the page disappear.

Rule 1: "Students must live at Hope's Peak Academy for the rest of their lives." Ummmm...what? So we're not allowed to leave here?! I decided to keep reading.

Rule 2: "Nighttime is from 10pm until 7am. The water will be shut off to the facility at this time, and the dining room, trash room, and pool will be closed at this time." Ok, that makes sense. Dunno why the dining room would be off-limits, but we don't want to risk anyone falling asleep in the pool and drowning.

Rule 3: "Sleeping anywhere except the dormitory is prohibited, as it is considered sleeping in class." Hmmmm...ok, also makes sense.

Rule 4: "With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion." So it seems there is no strict structure or scheduling to our days. However, there's nothing stopping us from exploring the school, so that's good.

Rule 5: "Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras." Well, yeah, vandalism is bad, and assaulting Monokuma seems to be a bad idea too. I'm fine with that.

Rule 6: "Letting another student use your handbook is strictly prohibited." Makes sense, everyone should be using their OWN handbook.

Rule 7: "Additional Rules may be added by Headmaster Monokuma, at his discretion. When this happens, every E-Handbook will be immediately updated." Lovely. This talking teddy bear can change the rules whenever he wants.

I looked up from the E-Handbook, and seemingly shared everyone's mystified looks. I decided to speak up for everyone again.

"You mean we're stuck here...FOREVER?!" I blurted out, glaring angrily at Monokuma, but not moving from my position.

Monokuma jumped up in the air. "Yes, of course! Food and drinks will be replenished in the dining room every morning, so you don't have to worry about starving to death! But, you know, if you REALLY want to leave this academy, there's only one thing you have to do."

I narrowed my eyes, a question forming in my mind that I really didn't want answered. "And what's that?"

Monokuma leaped off the basketball rim, landed on the floor, and announced, "If you want to leave, you just have to KILL someone!"

The entire room filled with gasps and shocked looks, except for one person. A tall blonde boy with glasses, wearing a business suit, immediately spoke up.

"You're not serious. We have to murder one of our own to escape? That's ridiculous."

Monokuma turned to face him. "No, that's the RULES. If you want to leave, you must kill another student...AND...get away with it!"

The tall boy thought for a moment, then responded quickly. "Get away with it...I assume there's more to it than just not being seen, am I correct?"

Monokuma nodded. "Corr-ect! It's not just enough to kill and not be seen. You have to truly get away with it! Allow me to explain." Monokuma started pacing back and forth as he spoke. "First, three people must discover the dead body. Then I'll make a school-wide announcement to meet up at the place the body was found. Everyone will participate in investigating the murder, including the murderer, who is known as the "Blackened". After a certain amount of time, everyone will meet in the courtroom to figure out whodunit."

Monokuma stopped and faced us again. "Of course, I am not allowed to murder any student, unless they violate the rules, so I can't just go around murdering you all. Also, each "blackened" is only allowed to murder up to 2 victims, to avoid one person murdering ALL OF YOU to get out!"

I decided to speak up again. "So what happens in the courtroom?"

Monokuma faced me and answered, "All of you, including the blackened, will discuss the evidence and testimonies to determine whodunit. If you pick the correct person, that person faces...EXECUTION! Then everyone else resumes living their lives here in the academy."

I thought for a moment, but someone else spoke up instead. It was the girl with the sword on her back. "And if our conclusion is incorrect? What then?"

Monokuma grinned and said, "Then the Blackened gets to leave the academy, and everyone ELSE faces execution instead! So choose wisely..."

As I feared. The girl simply dropped her head slightly and responded, "I see."

The tall blonde boy spoke up again. "So no one can escape until someone kills another. That person becomes the Blackened. We all investigate together for however long, and then head to the courtroom. If we pick the Blackened, we live and they die. If we don't pick the Blackened, they get to leave here and we die instead. Have I misunderstood any of this so far?"

"Nope, you've got it!" Monokuma happily replied. "Now, I'm sure you want to get used to your accommodations, so I'm gonna leave you to it. Feel free to do whatever you want here. A message will appear at 10pm when nighttime starts, and again at 7am when nighttime is over. Don't forget the rules, now! Ok then, see ya later!" Monokuma then disappeared before any of us could respond. Just...disappeared from existence.

We all started looking at each other, some suspiciously, others with fear, and some (including me) with a sense of "You've gotta be kidding me..." However, no one spoke for some time.

Finally, the blonde boy spoke up. "Well, there's no point in standing around here, staring at each other. I'm leaving."

Ibuki piped up, "Hey, we don't even know each other! We should at least do introductions first!"

The blonde boy stopped for a moment, then turned to face us. "My name's Byakuya Togami. I don't care who the rest of you are. I'm gonna look around the school. Stay out of my way." He then walked out the door without saying another word.

I took a deep breath, then resumed looking at everyone else. May as well figure out who I'm stuck here with, I suppose.