"And you got into this school... how?"

Twilight stared at his brother dispassionately, a bored look on his face. His dark hair fell into his eyes, slightly hiding his dichromatic yellow and red irises as he watched Dusk run around the room in a frantic panic. He honestly thought his younger sibling was overreacting - he had the entire evening to pack for this.

"Uh... not sure, some drawing or whatever," Dusk replied as he tossed a hoodie in his bag. His frizzy hair was a wreck, and multiple times he brushed the warm-hued strands from in front of his yellow eyes as he searched around for things he'd need.

"So you got into a big, elite school because of... luck."

"Yup! Isn't it cool?" Dusk looked at Twilight with a smile, trying to ignore the sarcasm dripping from his brother's voice.

Twilight just laughed, breaking Dusk's unbothered facade. "Wow. Sure shows how useless you are."

"Come on, just because violence isn't my thing doesn't mean I'm useless!" Dusk almost sounded like a pleading child saying this - he'd heard this before, but he was determined to prove everyone otherwise. He was just morally right in the head! There's nothing wrong with not wanting to follow the "legacy" or whatever of your parents! That sounded stupid, anyway.

"In this family, kind of," Twilight pointed out with a smirk. Dusk could feel Twilight's eyes on his back as he continued to pack up for the big day. "Do Mom and Dad know yet?"

"Uhh..."

"That's what I thought," Twilight chuckled. "You know they're gonna be disappointed that it was just luck that got you into Hope's Peak."

"I'll just lie then, I don't know!" Dusk tossed some other clothing items into the suitcase. "They condone to dishonesty anyway, no difference here."

"Tsk. Not if I tell 'em."

"Oh, shut up, are you trying to be a pessimist?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

Dusk just rolled his eyes. He knelt down, double, triple, quadruple checking that he had everything in the bag that he'd need before zipping it up and, relaxing a bit, walking through the door of his room.

-

Hope's Peak High School stood tall, a single windowed tower looming over Dusk as he stood staring at the magnificent building. The school's logo - coat of arms? Whatever it was - glared down at him from the top of the tower. It was a black and white shield, but that's all Dusk could see from his vantage point.

Dusk took a deep breath in, then a long exhale. Alright. Ultimate Lucky Student. Not the most prestigious title, but I'll show 'em. I'm not just some average kid, I can show them I can be useful!

Firmly, he gripped his bag, and walked into the gates.

-

He groggily blinked, feeling the smooth, cold surface that he'd been face-down sleeping on. Dusk groaned, squinting as he adjusted to the light of the room. It was not natural light, Dusk found - there were windows, but they were covered with metal plates that blocked all rays of sunlight behind them. He was inside of a classroom, he found, with multiple desks aligned in neat rows.

When... did I get here...?

He stood up. His head spun a bit as it tried to grasp at pieces of information that could possibly allude to how he had "teleported" from the entrance of the school to at a desk in a classroom he didn't recognize. Is this inside Hope's Peak? Why were the windows all blocked off then? He didn't remember seeing them blocked off from outside.

Dusk shook his head, getting up and walking out the door - there was no one in there anyway. The classroom led to a hallway that went left and right on either side of him. He chose to go left first, since he could see farther down that hall.

That hallway, coincidentally, happened to lead to the dorms. Dusk walked down that hallway, glancing at each door. There were nameplates on each of them, displaying a name. Only eleven total seemed to have occupied nameplates - right, the website claimed that only eleven people would attend the school in his class.

His own name caught his eye as he neared the end of the hall - a door with a nameplate that read Dusk Xanar stood on his right. Dusk stopped and turned towards it. He unlocked it and found his dormitory inside. It was very simplistic, with just a bed and some drawers. His bag was already there - odd.

On his bed was, as it appeared, a tablet. His digital handbook. Dusk walked up to it and grabbed it, noticing a brochure underneath. He picked that up, too, opening it up.

There's a welcome ceremony at eight o' clock. Dusk realized he didn't even know what time it was. He looked up to the clock-

Oh crap, it's seven fifty-eight-

His heart stopped for a full few seconds, it felt like, before he began to race down the hall. He fumbled with his handbook, pulling up a map of the school. He took a few turns, taking a wrong turn once or twice, but he managed to make it to the gymnasium.

As it turned out, everyone else was already there when he burst through the doors. And as he did so, every eye in the room found him. Immediately he froze, feeling like a deer in headlights as his eyes flickered around to take in everything.

Wait. He was overreacting, he found. No one was staring. They had only glanced. He exhaled, releasing the tightness in his chest.

Dusk counted. Nine people - all the other students. Some were talking amongst themselves, others lingered on their own. He ended up accidentally staring at one of the loners for a second too long - one frigid glare, and he immediately looked back at the ground, pretending he hadn't seen him.

"Hey, there!"

"AH-"

Dusk nearly jumped a foot in the air as he turned around. There was a girl standing behind him, with fluffy brunette hair and blue-grey eyes that stared at him in a friendly manner. She was wearing a bright red blazer, almost like a school uniform, though Dusk guessed any school uniform they had would be much toned down in color. The thing that really stuck out, however, were the maroon-furred wolf ears that stuck from her brown hair. What, was she a furry or something? Odd.

The girl laughed. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you! I'm Addie, what's your name?"

Dusk fumbled for words for a moment. "...hi- I-I'm Dusk."

Addie smiled. "Nice to meet you! Wanna meet everyone else? I'm sure you'll like them!"

Dusk hesitated a bit, but nodded, allowing the enthusiastic girl to lead him over to the place where a majority of the people stood. Addie introduced everyone to him pretty quickly, and in the sudden blur of activity Dusk attempted to pick up everything she was saying. However it was a little difficult, and he only remembered a little bit. Addie must be excited to be here if she's so ecstatic about introducing me to everyone.

All of us were grouped together still, and I was finally starting to talk to everyone when suddenly we were jumped by an ecstatic, enthusiastic voice from the podium at the front of the gym.

"Welcome to Hope's Peak High School, everyone!"

The group all looked to the front of the gymnasium, where Dusk was sure everyone was confused to see what seemed to be a bipedal wolf creature wearing a blazer and dress pants, white on one side and black on the other - quite literally, there was a naturally made line down the center of her body separating the two colors. One of her eyes was a black dot, the other appearing to be a red slash that pulsed a hypnotic red pattern.

The room went dead silent.

"...is that thing talking?" The voice came from Dusk's right, a female voice with a British accent. What was her name... Octavia? Yeah, that was it.

The thing, in question, was thoroughly offended by the girl's comment. She sputtered, "Thing?! Damn, not off to a great start here, are you?" Her two-toned ears were pinned backwards. It was now that Dusk noticed the smile on her face never quite disappeared. It was also very odd in nature - one half of it seemed to be a simple, open-mouthed smile on the white side while the other was a curved, wicked grin on the black. That also had human-looking teeth, a detail that unsettled Dusk for whatever reason.

The wolf seemed to roll her eyes before continuing. "Anyway. My name is Monokumadi, and I am your headmaster! As I said, welcome to high school, hope you found your way around decently!"

Someone spoke up, a kid in a grey jacket with blue hair. Dusk didn't remember his name. "Uh, hello, excuse me? Why are all the windows and doors bolted shut? What's that about?"

He had a fair point, Dusk knew. He didn't quite look around, but there wasn't an inch of sunlight that shone through the metal-covered windows. And the doors, too? What, was Monokumadi afraid someone would get in?

Or... that they'd leave?

Dusk suddenly felt incredibly uneasy.

"Oh, that!" Monokumadi laughed. "Oh, don't you worry about that, I'll explain everything in just a second.

"You better." The loner Dusk had made eye contact with earlier talked from his place separate from the group. He had bright red eyes that reminded Dusk all too much of his dad. "I'm gonna need some answers here, you can't just lock all of us up and expect us to be happy about it!"

"Alright, chill out! I can see you're all ready to get going here, so I'll just cut to the chase. Drumroll please...!" Monokumadi drummed her clawed fingers on the podium, making a rhythmic clicking sound that sort of resembled a drumroll. No one joined her.

She then slammed her paws down on the table with an anticipating excitement in her eyes. "All of you are trapped here forever! Isn't that great?"

No one said a word. Eyes met each other, uneasy, fearful, confused.

"...you're joking, right?" Octavia spoke again. Her golden eyes were unsteady, flickering about between everyone in the room and then back to the headmaster.

"Not even a little!" Monokumadi's tail wagged. "But... I'll let you in on a little secret." She giggled, and lowered her voice to a very loud whisper. "There is a way out of here. But there's only one way you can get out, and that's by getting expelled. Or graduating. Whatever way you wanna put it!"

"Cool, how do we do that?" Creepy loner spoke again.

Monokumadi giggled again. "The way you do it at any other school: by disturbing the peace. And the only way to do that here?"

If her smile could've gotten bigger, Dusk swore it would've.

"By killing a fellow student."

Dead silence. Dead. Silence.

"...say what now?"

The words slipped Dusk's mouth before he could stop it. Monokumadi's eyes found him immediately, her indefinite grin burned into his memory.

"That's right! In order to leave this place, you gotta kill someone in this room! That isn't me, of course." The last comment, she added with a little chuckle.

"...what?!" A black-haired kid with very dark skin spoke up angrily. Dusk couldn't even see his eyes through his bangs, which hung down in a mess to his nose. Dusk remembered his name - Addie called him Xerc. An odd name, but Dusk wasn't one to judge. "No one's gonna kill anyone, we're not psychopaths!"

Xerc stole a sideways glance at the loner. "As far as I know."

The response he got was a profane finger gesture in his general direction, not really doing much to contradict the statement.

Monokumadi wagged her tail, leaning her head on her paw propped by her elbow. "Oh-ho-hoooo, you'd be surprised at what a little bit of a murder game can do to the human brain. It's fascinating how quickly you turn against each other in a bloody battle of only the strongest get to leave class and proceed forth in a normal life."

She giggled again.

"Well, we're just not playing this game, then," Octavia huffed, crossing her arms. "This is bloody cruel, is what it is, you're never gettin' away with this."

"Another thing you'd be surprised by!" Monokumadi said playfully, "No one's coming for you. No one knows your life is on the line. No one cares that you could die within these walls."

"Has someone tried calling the police yet? Because I feel like this is a definite red flag that we should." A pink haired kid Dusk recalled was named Fabian said. He also had a bit of an accent, though Dusk couldn't quite place it. Maybe it was also British.

"I... don't think any of us have our phones," said the blue-haired kid. A few others shook their heads from side to side to confirm this.

"Okay, good, I'm not just an idiot, then," Fabian sighed.

"Yup! None of you have any contact with the outside world! Not now, not ever again unless you escape!" Monokumadi agreed.

All was silent for a moment more before someone spoke up again, furious.

"What the hell, this is frickin' ridiculous!" It was a grey-haired girl with bright blue eyes and a hoodie that matched her hair. Much of that hair fell into her right eye, which was hidden from view because of it. Her name was Cinder, Dusk recalled. "Let us out of here, or I swear to god-"

"You're not swearing on anybody, sweetheart," Monokumadi giggled. "You're not gonna do anything against me. Attacking the headmaster is against the rules, you know? It's a rule not punishable even by expulsion - I'd have to kill ya on the spot!"

That seemed to shut her up. Monokumadi seemed satisfied by that.

"Now," she said. "That's all I have to say today. Happy murdering!"

And then she left just as quickly as she arrived.

"This is... not good." Addie made Dusk jump again - how does she keep appearing like that?

"You can say that again," the blue-haired kid said again. I remembered his name now - Akik, yes, that was it.

Where have I heard that name before?

Dusk shook his head. Nevermind.

"So... I guess we're stuck here?" Another girl with black hair said. Next to her was a guy with brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Both of them had bright green eyes, though it was obvious they weren't related. The guy seemed unsteady, eyes flickering across everyone in paranoia.

"It would appear so." Someone else said. A guy with white and black hair, a clip in the shape of a club pinning his hair back. The rest of his outfit also seemed to contain the palette of a deck of cards, all black and white and red. He held himself steady and strong, despite the news that they'd just been given, and he didn't seem too shaken at all. He turned to Akik. "You implied that you'd searched around for an exit?"

Akik nodded solemnly. "First thing I did. Everything's bolted shut."

He exhaled, seeming deep in thought.

"Hey, it's all gonna be alright, everyone," Addie said, stepping from beside me towards everyone else. "I'm sure we can figure this out, okay?"

The loner scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Sure. Let's see where that optimism gets you."

Addie's ears angled backwards, her eyes going from friendly to almost disappointed in an instant. "Are you implying that killing would be the wise thing to do here? Because it's not."

He laughed, a bitter sound that made me flinch. "Hey, your words, not mine. I wouldn't go about blindly trusting everyone, though. You never know who could be... willing to sacrifice for their own greater good."

His eyes seemed glued to Dusk in a way the red-haired boy wasn't comfortable with.

"Gradient, you need to relax a bit, no one's posed a threat to your safety as of now," said the card guy.

Gradient just smiled. "Spade, was it? Let me tell you, the very fact that we're stuck here until we kill each other is enough of a threat to me. So keep your morals to yourself, and I'll keep mine to myself."

He exhaled, straightening his dark blue jacket. "I'm going back to my room. If you need me, don't come find me, I won't be answering the door." He gave us all the middle finger as he pushed the doors of the gym open and headed back to the dorms.

All of us stared after him a moment.

"Well, he's a friendly chap," Octavia scoffed.

"Oh, believe me, he can be worse, I talked to him earlier," Fabian laughed, "Even before that crazy headmaster of ours said murder was kind of a thing here, I could tell he was ready to put me six feet under when I tried to be friendly."

"Just ignore him, I guess," Spade exhaled. "What we have to do is resist Monokumadi's game. We're not gonna give in to her wicked sense of humor."

"B-but what if someone does?" The green-eyed guy interjected. "People can be evil under the right circumstances, she was right about that."

Spade took a deep breath. "This is all gonna be fine. We'll just wait and see what happens, I guess."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Dusk finally spoke up.

Spade sighed solemnly. "It's the only idea we have."

-

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Chapter 1 is compleeeete~! Who do you think is gonna kill first? 👀