Prologue - Fun in the Sun Part 1

"Today marks the start of a new chapter in my life. From now on, it's going to be a vastly different world, where only the elite prevail. For today, I start at Hope's Peak Academy! And you are all coming along with me! I'll update you as this story develops."

Kai Sendou, aka Kai the Camera Guy, put down his handheld camera and finished packing his stuff away. This was the moment he had been building towards for years now. He had just two weeks ago received an invitation to join the illustrious Hope's Peak Academy, under the title of the Ultimate Reporter. For years now, he had been running his own website where he would post videos of himself discussing the latest goings on in his small town. At first, people at school had made fun of him for it, and his mom and her friends would just titter and call him cute, but it had slowly grown, until eventually it was receiving nationwide attention. Now, the people that had laughed at him were seething in the corner whilst he was joining the most prestigious school in the world. He picked up his bag, put his camera bag around his neck and set off for the train station.

Hours later and he had almost reached his destination. He wondered how long it would be before either of his parents even noticed he had left. His father meant well, but worked late nights and often left early morning, and so they rarely had time to see each other, apart from the odd weekend his father had off. His mother on the other hand was more concerned with gossiping with her friends from book club than raising a child. He had told her about Hope's Peak several days ago, but he was unsure that she was paying attention to him. Either way, he had left a note on the table explaining where he was, and that he would be home for Golden Week.

Catching sight of his reflection in the window, he gave himself a frank appraisal. He was of fairly average height for a 17 year old Japanese male, with well-groomed black hair swept to one side, other than the one piece that kept standing up at the back of his head. His eyes were grey in colour, and he liked to think they showed his thirst for a scoop. He had fairly thin eyebrows and a small nose. He was perfectly clean shaven, he needed to look professional for the camera after all. He was a black blazer over a red shirt, and a pair of black trousers. His camera bag dangled around his neck, and his blazer pocket had a notepad and pencil, ready to take any notes he may need.

Glancing at his watch, he noted he was near his destination, and could feel the excitement building. He was nervous about starting a new school, without any of the people he had grown up with nearby, but at the same time, he was curious about his new classmates. He had looked up some of the new students on the Hope's Peak fan site, but had refrained from digging too deep, as he did not want his opinion coloured by other reporters. Arriving at his station, it was only a short taxi ride before he was standing at Hope's Peak Academy, about to begin the next stage of life. Pulling out his camera, he prepared the next part of his video. "Here I am at Hope's Peak, about to enter the school for the first time. What exciting times lay ahead for me? Let's find out together. Wish me luck!" Putting his camera away once more, he took a breath, took a step, and that's when everything went black.

Waking up all of a sudden, Kai panicked and fell out of the bed he found himself on. Picking himself up off the floor and straightened his clothes out. Looking around the room, he noticed that it was a fairly large bedroom. There was the bed that he had woken on, across from a wardrobe that seemed to contain several sets of the clothes he had been wearing when he arrived, as well as a set of dark blue plaid pyjamas. Next to the wardrobe, in the top corner of the room was a monitor, though it was currently off. Continuing to look around the room, he noticed two doors, one looking like the front door, and the other leading to a bathroom, which seemed fairly basic, a toilet, sink and shower cubicle. Next to the bed was a fairly small table, upon which sat his camera bag. Picking it up, he placed it back around his neck and pulled the camera out. Checking the memory card in the camera, he saw that it was currently blank. Turning it on, he started recording, "I don't remember anything from the moment that I entered Hope's Peak, and my memory card has been wiped clean. I have found myself in a sparsely furnished room and I'm not quite certain where I am." He opened the window near the bed. "Looking outside, I can see that I am nowhere near the school, it's bright and sunny outside, and it feels fairly warm. I can see what appear to be palm trees in the distance, and that makes me question if I'm somewhere tropical. I'm going to investigate outside now, and shall update everyone shortly." He put the camera away, before heading towards the door out of his room. Pinned to the door, he found a note.

WHEN YOU WAKE UP, MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE COMMUNAL HUT

"Curious," he muttered to himself, "Someone went to the trouble of leaving me a note, inside my room, yet didn't wait around to see if I was ok. Might as well see what this is about then." With that, he made his way outside, taking his first look at the building he had woken up in. He found himself outside the second floor of a small building, consisting of two floors each with 8 rooms, labelled 1 through 16. The room he had just left was number 13. "Good thing I'm not superstitious," he said aloud, before looking around the area. Directly in front of the set of rooms, was a small pool, only about 15m by 5m. Directly on the other side of the pool was a large building, labelled the Communal Hut. Directly to his left was a path leading away from the complex, with a sign saying "To the beach", and to his right, a path with a sign saying "To the town". Shrugging, he made his way down the stairs, and walked around the pool, up to the Communal Hut. Taking a deep breath, he put his hand on the door, and pulled it open.

Hi everyone, I'm Pendragonic, and this is my first story, Despair Island, a Danganronpa SYOC story. I have been reading fanfiction for a number of years now, and have been meaning to write my own stories for most of that time. This is my trial run at writing for other people, and I'm looking forward to working with everyone. Feel free to leave a review or send me a message with any advice you may have as the story goes, I'm always open to constructive criticism, as well as any tips that may prove helpful. I'm aiming at closing OC submission in two weeks, on February 8th at about midday GMT, providing I have enough submissions by then. I will keep updating to let people know how many submissions I have, and I intend to pick based on quality of submission, and a character I can write for, over how quickly they get submitted. The OC form can be located on my profile, and I look forward to seeing what characters you come up with. Goodbye for now! Pen