(3rd Person's POV)

"You must kill someone if you want to leave"

Those words from Monokuma made the students' minds freeze with terror and fear. They could feel a paralyzing fear slowly making its way through their body, dominating every last nerve. The air hung heavy on them, pressing down like a weight around their neck. It took everything they had just to endure that weight...

But...as heavy as the air felt...all it took to pierce it was her sharp words.

"So? What are you going to do now? Just stand around glaring at each other?" Kyoko rhetorically asked. Her pointed comment was directed towards everyone in the room. It helped pull them back to reality.

"R-Right... She's right!" Taka exclaimed. "Sometimes, even if you're nervous or afraid, you just have to step forward! To forget such a simple fact... I can't forgive myself. I'm so ashamed! Please, someone hit me! I can't forgive myself! Somebody hit me! Punish me!" He begged.

"Okay." Sora said as she lightly punched Taka in the gut.

"Ooof!" He grunted.

"Shirayuki!" Makoto gasped.

"What? He asked for it." Sora turned around with an unapologetic look.

"Th-Thank you, Shirayuki!" Taka breathed out.

"Jesus. If you have time to yell about it, you have time to DO something about it." Mondo said.

"Perhaps, but...what is the mission, exactly?" Hifumi asked.

"Idiot!" Leon yelled. "To look for a way out, duh!"

"And we totally need to find out whoever was controlling that stupid bear and beat the hell out of 'em." Junko suggested as she let out a growl.

"...B-But before we do all that, maybe we should take a look at the handbook..." Chihiro spoke up. "It's probably best to check out the school regulations Monokuma mentioned before doing anything else."

"True." Celeste nodded. "If we stumble around with no clue what the rules are, something like that might happen again..." She said, taking a glance at Mondo.

"Shit..." Mondo cursed under his breath.

"Fine. Then let's hurry up and check out the stupid rules already." Junko said.

After turning on her E-Handbook, the first thing that appeared was Sora's name. Just like Monokuma said, the owner's name showed up front and center. Then, from the Main Menu that popped up, she selected the School Regulations icon.

An itemized list appears on-screen. It was the school regulations. In other words, the rules being imposed on them all.

---

1. Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.
2. "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.
3. Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.
4. With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.
5. Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.
6. Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.
7. Additional school regulations may be added as necessary.

---

Sora's face stayed the same. Apart from the 3rd rule, she didn't have any particular problems with the regulations. They seemed...fair.

However, as she raised her head from the screen, it seemed that one of them thought differently.

"This is bullshit!" Mondo yelled. "What the hell kinda rules are these!? I'm not gonna let them control ME!"

"Well then, why don't you wander around the school without a care in the world and see what happens?" Celeste said with a mocking smirk. "Personally, I would love to see what happens when someone breaks one of the rules."

"Hmm..." Sora hummed while rubbing her chin. "Maybe next time, you might get punctured with a multitude of spears instead of simply being blown up..."

"That seems...excessive." Kyoko replied. She doesn't like how Sora came up with that so quickly, or how calm she looked from the guess.

"But if he got punished like what we saw before, I don't think there'd be a respawn waiting for him..." Hifumi muttered. Mondo stayed silent until he sighed.

"...I... Ever since I was a kid, I grew up with my older brother pounding this into my head... When a man makes a promise, he has to keep it, even if it kills him." He said of the blue.

Where is this coming from? Sora thought.

"...So what?" Junko asked, folding her arms.

"I've made a ton of promises that I still have to keep, that's "so what"! So I can't afford to die in here!" Mondo shouted with a determined expression. 

Sora sighed. "Good grief..."

"None of that made much sense to me, but you are saying you will follow the regulations, is that it?" Celeste asked, playing with her hair.

"Huh? Oh, well...yeah, I guess you're right." Mondo complied.

"Hey, um...I have a question." Sayaka spoke up. "For regulation number six...what do you think it means exactly?"

"You're talking about the second half, right?" Makoto asked. "Where it says "unless they are discovered"? I was wondering about that myself."

"It's saying that if you want to graduate, you have to kill someone without anyone finding out it was you." Byakuya explained.

"B-But why...? Why do we h-have to do that?" Toko stuttered.

"I don't see any reason to worry about it. Just worry about following the rules as they've been explained to us." Byakuya replied as he made a condescending look at Toko. "Frankly, I don't want to hear anything from someone who waits for others to decide what to do for them."

"D-Don't jab at me..." Toko said, though she had a disturbingly please smile on her face, much to Sora's discomfort.

Is she a masochist or something?

"More like a full-on stab..." Leon commented.

"Well for now, let's forget all that silly junk about murderers or whatever." Hina told them. "Now that we know the rules, let's start exploring the school!"

"True. We need to find out where exactly we are." Taka agreed. "Is there any way out? What about food and supplies? There are tons of questions we need to answer!"

"Damn straight! Okay, then let's all start looking around!" Leon exclaimed. 

Some of the students smiled. It's good that they're not freaking out, despite the situation they've been thrown in.

But...all it took was his words to put a damper on the mood.

"...I'll be going alone." Byakuya said, sneering at the rest of them.

"What!? Why?" Junko asked. "That's a pretty stupid idea, don't you think?"

"Someone here might already have started thinking about murdering one of us. Are you saying we should stand around with them in our midst and make it that much easier for them?" Byakuya asked.

"W-Wait, hold on a second. That would never--!" Sayaka tried to say, but was cut off.

"Don't bother saying it couldn't happen. You can't deny the possibility." Byakuya said. "That's why you all seized up with fear when that graduation rule was made clear to you." He pointed out as his lips formed a smug smirk. "Am I wrong?"

Sora shrugged. He has a point. The students just met each other, so there's no guarantee that all of them were trustworthy. Hell, most of the people here look like they've killed someone before.

"...B-But..."

"So, I'm simply acting in accordance with what I think is best for me." The progeny said as he tried to walk off, but Mondo stood in his way.

"Hold on! Like hell I'm gonna let you run off and do whatever you want!" He yelled, cracking his knuckles.

"Out of my way, plankton." Byakuya rudely commanded.

"Wh--!? The fuck's that supposed to mean!?" Mondo growled at him.

"One tiny bit of plankton, drifting across the sea." Byakuya began. "So minuscule, so insignificant, they couldn't possibly have any kind of influence on the boundless ocean."

Mondo was fuming. "I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"S-Stop it! We shouldn't fight!" Makoto ran up between the two and tried to mediate the situation. ...Key word being tried.

"The fuck you just say? You some kinda goody-goody little bitch?" Mondo turned towards Makoto, his anger now focused on him. "Who do you think you are, talkin' to me like that? You think you're my fuckin' dad or something!?"

"N-No, I wasn't--!" Makoto tried to calm him down, but it was useless. Sora watched the scene with the other students as she quietly giggled.

"Fuck you!"

WHAM!

Mondo's fist came in contact with Makoto face. He punched him, and Makoto flew back in a heap. It was so sudden, Sora didn't think that Makoto even saw it coming.

"N-Naegi!" Hina yelled as she went over to his unconscious body. He seemed fine, apart from the small bruise on his cheek.

"Ooof..." Sora winced. "That's gotta hurt..." She said, though through her stoic face, entertainment was subtly written on her face.

"I-Is he dead?" Hiro nervously asked.

"I don't think a punch can kill somebody..." Kyoko said as she stood up from the floor. "We should get Naegi to his dorm."

"W-Well...Ogami, you're strong." Hina turned to Sakura. "Can you take him?"

"I can and will." She nodded as he picked up Makoto and carried him on her shoulder.

"Well, what of the rest of us?" Celeste asked. "Surely we can't just stand here and do nothing?"

"Of course not. I suggest we take this time to do what we meant to do." Kyoko told her. "Searching this school and get a feel for our environment."

She turned towards the other students.

"Well...let's get going, shall we?"

Chapter 1: End

To be continued...?