A.N. Hi everyone! Welcome to my first foray into Danganronpa fanfiction! I was led into the fandom after becoming totally obsessed with the Persona series, and I've since fallen completely down the veritable rabbit-hole that is the Danganronpa fandom.

I only really became interested in Mukuro's character after completing all of the games for the first time. After learning her story through IF she immediately overshadowed Kyoko as my preferred waifu, haha. That being said, there was a depressing lack of Mukuro related works in the fanfiction community, so I've taken it upon myself to decrease that lack by at least one!

Please let me know what you think! My beta, Cazuki, is doing a good job of keeping me honest but please call me out if anything doesn't line up.

Please sit back, grab a cup of coffee (or hot-chocolate, if that's your thing) and enjoy the story!

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"…only one who hasn't woken up yet. Maybe we…"

"She doesn't have a fever… shouldn't be too worried…she'll…up…eventually…"

"…isn't responding at all. Should we take her…office…"

Mukuro didn't recognize the voices. They faded in and out, and she was having a hard time comprehending what they were saying. Her head felt like it was about to split open, which wasn't exactly encouraging her to open her eyes.

A warm hand pressed against her forehead, prompting Mukuro to smack it away in annoyance. A girl's scream pierced her ears and Mukuro jolted up into a sitting position, her eyes narrowed in anger. "What?" she demanded.

A young woman with long, straight black hair recoiled from her, a hand pressed to her mouth. "S-sorry. I w-was just checking on you." She wore a sailor school uniform, with a large pink ribbon tied above her breasts.

Mukuro shook her head, putting her hands on either side to hold it together. "Sorry," she muttered, closing her eyes against the piercing light of the room. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"We do not know!" another voice answered. Mukuro risked opening one eye to see an intense looking boy standing over her. He wore a white uniform, and his black hair was short and spikey.

"Do you think fourteen is it? Seems like an odd number for a classroom," said another girl. She looked like an athlete, judging by her physique and red tracksuit.

Mukuro winced as the boy standing over her spoke loudly. "This must be it! It is now eight o'clock, should anyone show up now they will be considered tardy! This is unacceptable, especially on the first day of class! A young man or woman should always put their best foot forward!"

As if on cue, the room's door swung open and another person walked in. Mukuro couldn't see much from where she sat on the floor. It appeared to be a young man, probably around her own age. "H-hello?" he said, coming up short as he saw the crowd of teenagers.

The intense boy rounded on the newcomer, his obnoxious voice driving daggers into her throbbing skull. "This is unacceptable! How dare you be late for your first day of schooling! Are you ready to accept full responsibility for this transgression?"

"Geez, could you be any louder?" Mukuro groaned, climbing gingerly to her feet. She swayed, almost crumpling to the floor before she managed to right herself. Even the effort of standing made the cacophony inside her skull several magnitudes worse. Zeus must have had an easier time with Athena banging around inside his head.

"Do not start with me! Do I need to mention that you were sleeping in class? This is also an actionable offense, would you like a demerit as well? I will not put up with this sort of behavior from my own classmates!"

Mukuro's fingers curled into a fist that grew tighter with every word spoken by the suit-wearing shrimp. Each word he shouted was another dagger in her aching skull, and she couldn't take it any longer. Her nails cut painfully into her palms as she took several stiff strides towards the offending party, but froze when the dark-haired girl from earlier stepped up and put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Everyone calm down. We're all just a little confused, aren't we? I'm sure he didn't even know what time it was. You'll do better next time, right?" she asked, looking over at the boy who'd just walked in. He nodded dumbly, prompting her to continue, "Good. It's settled."

The intense looking boy smiled. "You are right. I'm afraid I may have been a little too gung-ho with my earlier attitude. Everyone please accept my humblest of apologies for my rudeness!" He stood ramrod straight and gave a stiff bow.

The group proceeded to introduce themselves and explain what had gotten them invited to join Hope's Peak Academy. Mukuro was hardly able to pay attention; most of her brainpower was focused on ignoring the pain in her head. She made sure to note everyone's names, but picked up very little of everything else.

It was because of this that she didn't notice at first when it came time for her to introduce herself. "What?" she asked dumbly, realizing that everyone was staring at her.

"What's your name and talent?" Hifumi asked, adjusting his wire-frame glasses on his round face.

"Oh… Um… My name is Mukuro Ikusaba…" she trailed off. What was her talent? She remembered that she'd been scouted by Hope's Peak Academy because she excelled in her field; what field did she excel at?

"It appears that I'm not the only one who cannot recall their talent." Kyoko said, touching her chin with one gloved hand. "I wonder why that could be?"

Mukuro bit her lip, trying to sort through the cloud of pain that was her thoughts. Why couldn't she remember? She could feel them there, right below the surface; but every time she thought she was close, the memories would swim out of her reach. Then they'd give her a slap in the head for her trouble.

The large television that hung over the room flickered to life. It showed nothing at first, but the rough outline of something that could have been a head quickly coalesced out of the static. "Hello?"

A wave of nausea washed over Mukuro as the voice spoke. She doubled over, puking a mixture of bile and what had once been food all over the floor. No one seemed to notice, more concerned with what the television was saying. At least, that was what Mukuro thought until someone gently touched her on the arm.

"Come here, you should sit down." Mukuro recognized him as Makoto Naegi. He was the boy who'd come into the room last. Not seeing any reason to argue, she allowed him to lead her over to the wall and help her take a seat on the floor. "Are you still feeling nauseous?"

Mukuro shook her head, bringing up a hand to wipe cold sweat from her brow. "No, whatever it was seems to have passed." Indeed, even the headache that had plagued her since she'd woken up was beginning to ease its hold on her. But why had the voice made her react so negatively? Even now, she couldn't quite bring herself to look at the screen; even thinking about the voice threatened to set her stomach to churning again.

"Um…you haven't said much since we got here. Do you have any idea what's going on?" Makoto leaned against the wall and slid down to sit beside her.

Mukuro turned to him. It was the first good look she'd gotten of him since he'd come into the room. He was a little shorter than she was, with messy brown hair and a boyish face. He looked familiar, but any effort she gave to place his face only made her head threaten to continue its attempted schism. "No. I don't even know what I had for breakfast this morning. Recent events would lead me to believe oatmeal, but at this point I can't be sure."

Makoto laughed, and in that instant Mukuro's sense of reality shifted. The world around her melted away, and suddenly she was in a classroom. Makoto was still sitting next to her, but they were in desks, not on the floor. He was smiling at, edging in closer for a class photo. Her face was hot, and her heart was thudding in her chest as he pulled her in closer. He was so close she could smell him. In that one moment she was so happy she felt like she was going to burst.

Then it was over. She was once again sitting in the unfamiliar room, surrounded by unfamiliar faces. Except now, one of them wasn't as unfamiliar as before.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"Huh?" she asked, caught off guard by his question.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "You were staring at me like I'd grown a second head. I was worried I might still have some drool on my face from where I was sleeping."

Her face turned red. "No…um…I'm sorry. I spaced out there for a second…"

"You two gonna kiss or what?" the red-haired boy named Leon asked, arching an eyebrow at them.

Mukuro hastily jumped to her feet, occupying herself with smoothing her skirt out. As she was completing this important task, she noticed that the others had all left the room. The only people left were herself, Makoto, and Leon.

Makoto laughed sheepishly. "We were just talking. She's just a little sick is all."

Leon followed Makoto's gaze to the puddle of vomit on the floor. He made a face, shaking his head. "Isn't it a little early in the relationship for morning sickness?" He chuckled at his own joke before stepping towards the exit. "Whatever. Monokuma wants us to meet in the gym. Thought I'd let you two lovebirds know."

"Mono…kuma?" Mukuro said. The name tasted like bile on her tongue.

"You know, the guy on the tv? I suggest you do what he says, I think he means business." With that, Leon walked out of the room, leaving them alone.

Mukuro helped Makoto to his feet and together they followed Leon out into the hall. The sickness Mukuro had been feeling had all but faded out of existence, but was replaced with a general sense of uneasiness that was almost worse. It was clear that she knew Makoto from somewhere, but she just couldn't remember where; judging from his attitude Makoto didn't recognize her at all. What was wrong with her?

"Is that a real tattoo?" Makoto asked, pointing at her hand.

Mukuro raised her right hand, glancing down at the wolf's head. "Yeah, I got it when I joined…" She paused. "I got it when I joined…something…" She bit her lip, growling in frustration.

"You don't remember?"

"No," Mukuro said, a little more sharply than she'd intended. She sighed. "Sorry. It's weird. I remember getting the tattoo. I remember it was in commemoration of me joining some group or club… I even remember the face of the guy who put it on me."

Makoto smiled his easy smile. "I'm sure it'll come to you eventually.," he said reassuringly.

Mukuro returned the smile. He had no way of knowing, of course, but hearing him say that still made her feel better for some reason. "You're probably right."

They reached the door to the gym as it swung closed behind Leon. Makoto reached for the handle, but Mukuro put her hand on the door, stopping him short. "Listen, Makoto. I don't know what it is, but something seems really off about this. We need to be careful, okay?"

For a moment she thought Makoto was going to laugh her off. She had no proof, and he'd only just met her. He had no reason to put any stock in her gut feeling, but he only nodded solemnly, giving her a meaningful look. Maybe he felt it, too. "Yeah, you're right."

They entered the gym together. The other students were all gathered in front of the large stage that made up the majority of the front wall. The muscle-bound girl who towered over everyone else nodded towards them as they entered. "Good, looks like we're all here."

A high-pitched voice filled the room, making Mukuro's stomach drop into her feet. "Hello? Howdy! Is everyone here? Then let's get this show on the road." From behind the table that was sitting on the stage, a two-toned teddy bear climbed into view.

"A teddy bear?" Chihiro asked, tilting her head to the side.

The bear glared at the crowd of students. "I am not a teddy bear! I am Monokuma!" he announced proudly, raising his arms. "I'm your headmaster!"

"What the fuck is this thing? Some kind of remote controlled toy or something?" Mondo said, staring angrily at Monokuma.

The bear somehow managed to look dejected. "That's just cold. Comparing me to a child's plaything is so not fair. This cuts me. It cuts me deeper than the Mariana Trench…I seriously can't bear this grizzly treatment."

Celeste covered her mouth with one manicured hand. "Bear? Grizzly? You are…unfortunate."

Monokuma ignored her. "We really must be moving on."

He was acting like some kind of cute cartoon character, but Mukuro couldn't shake the feeling that he was very dangerous. It was an act. He must be up to something terrible. Just looking at him made her legs feel like they were made of water. As if on que, her right knee buckled. She pitched forward with a muted yelp, and stuck her hands out to catch herself on something. That something just happened to be Makoto.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and Makoto reacted by wrapping his around her waist as she fell against him. He was warm, and his arms were surprisingly strong for their size. She knew that her face was doing a fair impersonation of a tomato as she rushed to disentangle herself from Makoto's arms. She was stammering out an apology when the voice from earlier made her freeze.

"Are you two lovebirds quite finished?" the bear called in a singsong voice, wrapping its arms around itself. "There aren't any rules regarding public displays of affection at this school, but social etiquette dictates that such things be done out of view of your fellow students."

All eyes in the room were now on her and Makoto. It didn't seem possible, but her cheeks grew even hotter. She looked at him and saw that he was red too, and his gaze was fixed firmly on his feet. "I tripped," she said between clenched teeth, giving those looking at them a scathing glare.

"Okay everyone!" Monokuma announced, pulling everyone's attention away from the two blushing teenagers. "Let's forget about Makoto and Mukuro's shameless display and start this right! Ready, and bow! Good morning!"

Kiyotaka -the boy who'd been threatening demerits earlier- was the only one who saw fit to comply. He bowed, all but screaming, "Good morning!"

"Let us commence with a most memorable entrance ceremony. First we will discuss your daily lives. As the sole remaining hopes of the world, you will live a communal life together within the confines of this school! You will get along, and you will adhere to the rules and regulations of the school. Am I clear? Good."

"And when exactly will we be allowed to leave?" Sakura demanded, her bulging arms folded over her chest.

Monokuma laughed, waving his paw at her. "When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When time flows in reverse. When salty is sweet and sweet is salty! When the princess rescues the knight from the castle! In other words, never! You're here until the day you die."

"D-die?" Toko spluttered, clutching her chest.

"No need to worry, kiddos." Monokuma looked proud as he rubbed the back of his head. "We have a healthy budget, so you'll have all the conveniences of home!"

The dark-haired girl who'd helped diffuse the situation with Kiyotaka, Sayaka, spoke up. "No one's worried about that right now!"

"This is a lie, there's no way this is real!" The crazy-haired Yasuhiro said, clutching at his face in wild-eyed shock.

Monokuma laughed. "Oh I assure you that I am being completely truthful with you. You're completely isolated in here. You'll never have to walk in that filthy outside world ever again! Those steel plates that cover every entrance to the building completely block out all sound. You can scream and cry all day but no one will ever come!"

"This stupid joke is going way too far." Leon said. He was trying to sound calm, but his face made it clear that he was anything but.

If anything, Mondo was angrier than before. "For real! Cut this shit out!"

Monokuma sighed. "None of you believe me. It's such a shame, youth today are so untrusting. Well, you'll have plenty of time to come to grips with this during your stay."

Aoi, the gymnast, looked around desperately. "This can't be true! We can't be locked in here!"

"What's wrong with everyone? You all signed up for this, but you're trying to tap out before the entrance ceremony is even over? Well, if it makes you feel better…There is one way to leave the school…"

"R-really?" Toko said.

"As headmaster…I've crafted a special clause for those who'd like to leave! It's called…The Graduation Clause! But let me explain a fun little rule. As I said, you're expected to live here with each other forever in harmony. If someone disrupts this harmony, they must leave forever. That my students is what is known as the Graduation Clause."

Byakuya, the pretentious looking boy in a suit, glared at the bear. "What do you mean disrupt the harmony?"

Monokuma chuckled, covering his wide mouth with his paws. "Well…If one person were to…murder another…"

Mukuro's eyes widened as the bear spoke. Murder? She knew something was wrong with this situation.

"Yes indeed! Shooting, stabbing, whacking, snapping, crushing, drowning, burning, choking, how you do it doesn't matter! It boils down to this: you must kill someone if you want to leave."

The nausea Mukuro had been feeling vanished as her blood was replaced with ice water. You have to kill someone if you want to leave. Her head pulsed as her vision once again split. "To get out, they'll have to kill each other!" a pink-haired girl said, smiling at Mukuro. "Doesn't it just fill you with such delicious despair just to think about it?"

The vision vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Unlike when she'd seen Makoto, however, Mukuro was left with a cold ball of dread in her belly.

"You kids are the hope of the world! Taking that hope and seeing it get destroyed by murder creates such a beautiful despair. And that is just so darn exciting!"

"But killing each other is…" Chihiro trailed off, biting her lip.

Monokuma waved his paw at her. "Killing is killing. Haven't you ever read National Geographic? Animals do it all the time! What's so wrong with killing for your lives?"

Aoi glared at him. "Why? Why do we have to do this?"

"Yeah, quit the blabbering and let us go home!" Hifumi demanded.

Monokuma's entire demeanor suddenly shifted. Mukuro thought he was dangerous before, but that was just a gut instinct. Now, she could feel it. They were in the presence of a monster. "Blabbering?" the bear demanded, its voice cold. "You keep saying the same things. You just don't get it. This is your world. This school is your life now. You can kill all you want. Go ahead, go on killing spree!"

"This is really getting old. How long are you gonna keep this up?" Yasuhiro asked, scratching his nose.

"Eh?"

"Yeah, you scared the hell out of us. Enough with this trick, though. You got us, so let's move-"

Mondo shoved Hiro out of the way, advancing on Monokuma. "Shut the fuck up and move." He stopped in front of Monokuma. He towered over the bear, but Monokuma didn't seem to care. "Listen here, asshole. Enough is enough! What kind of sick joke is this?"

"Joke?" Monokuma asked, tilting his head. "Like your hair?"

"You son of a bitch!" Mondo roared, grabbing Monokuma and hoisting him into the air. "I'm gonna tear you apart you fucker!"

Monokuma waved his arms erratically. "Hey now, violence against the Headmaster is against school regulations."

"If you don't let me out of here-"

Monokuma began emitting a loud, rhythmic beeping, but said nothing else.

"What, no smartass comeback? Stop beeping and say something goddammit!" Mondo shook the bear back and forth violently.

For the first time since the meeting started, Kyoko spoke up. "Hey! Get rid of it now!"

"Wha-"

"Throw it away!"

Mondo turned on his heel and threw Monokuma into the air. In the next instant, heat washed over Mukuro's face as the sound of an explosion filled the gym.

Mondo stood dumbfounded, staring at the explosion in shock. "That wasn't a joke. He tried to kill me!"

The smell of gunpowder burned in Mukuro's nostrils. Her ears were ringing too, but she barely noticed. She couldn't explain it, but for some reason Mukuro felt good. Almost high. She had been only a few feet from an explosion and she'd enjoyed it. What the hell?

"The teddy bear's been destroyed?" Chihiro asked, wringing her hands nervously.

"I've told you I'm not a teddy bear!" Everyone turned in shock to see Monokuma standing on the stage.

Leon's eyes looked like dinner plates. "T-there were two?"

"You son of a bitch, you tried to kill me!" Mondo started to advance again, but stopped short as he thought better of it.

Shiny claws popped out of Monokuma's paw as he held it aloft. "Of course I tried to kill you. You broke a school regulation. This is your one and only warning. Anyone else who breaks a rule won't get off the hook with just a swat on the butt! And don't even think of destroying me, there are dozens of me all across the school! Not to mention the cameras. I can see every inch of this school. If I see you break a rule…" Monokuma mimed drawing a knife across his throat.

"This is insane," Aoi whispered, covering her mouth.

"Now, to commemorate the ceremony, I have a little something for you all!" Monokuma produced a stack of PDAs. "This is your student handbook! Or eHandbook, if you will. Pretty cool, huh? It displays your name, so make sure you don't lose it. But you don't have to worry about breaking it. This isn't some bendy Apple product! First off, it's waterproof! Drop it in a pool? No problem! It can also withstand an impact of up to ten tons! And it contains a list of all regulations, be sure to read it thoroughly! That brings our ceremony to a close! Please enjoy your abundantly dreary school life! See ya!"

Then he vanished. Leaving them alone.

"This is fucking crazy!" Leon said, pacing back-and-forth.

"W-what are we gonna do?" Chihiro asked.

"Everyone calm down," Kyoko said, trying to maintain the peace. Mukuro had to hand it to her, she was the only one who had managed to maintain her cool. "From what Monokuma said, we've got two choices. We can either live here in this school, forever; or-"

"-One of us kills another and escapes," Celeste said.

Chihiro looked like she was about to burst into tears. "No, having to kill each other is just too cruel."

"Impossible. This cannot be true," Kiyotaka said, his entire body trembling.

Byakuya adjusted his glasses and sighed. "Whether or not it's true is irrelevant. What we need to ask ourselves is if anyone here is seriously considering it."

Byakuya's statement left the entire room silent. Mukuro quickly realized why: without exception, everyone in the room was looking around in suspicion. They must have all been wondering the same thing, "Would anyone in this room try to kill me?" That stupid bear had managed to turn an entire room of people against each other with only a few words.

The silence was finally broken by Kyoko. "Are we just going to keep standing around staring at each other?"

"You are right!" Kiyotaka declared, snapping to attention. "Even if we are afraid, we must soldier on! I cannot believe I allowed myself to forget this simple truth. Please, someone strike me! I must be punished!"

Mondo rolled his eyes. "If you've got time to bitch and moan you've got time to figure out a way out of this fucked up place. I'm getting out of here! A man always keeps his word!"

"Um…" Chihiro timidly raised her hand. "Maybe…Maybe we should look over the regulations before we start looking around?"

"Fuck that!" Mondo yelled, making Chihiro flinch violently. "Who cares about that bastard's rules?"

Celeste laughed, "Oh yes, let's just run off and do whatever we want. At least, you should. I wouldn't mind seeing what happens when someone breaks the rules."

Mukuro, ignoring the impending argument, walked over to the stage and picked her eHandbook out of the pile. She looked it over for a few seconds until she managed to find a switch on the side. The PDA booted up without a sound, displaying her name in large letters across its surface. This was followed by a list of seven regulations. It restated the "Graduation Clause" as Monokuma mentioned. It also went on to say that students weren't allowed to leave the campus, which Mukuro thought the steel plates already drove home pretty well.

Nighttime was considered to be the hours from 22:00 to 7:00, and they weren't allowed to trespass in areas that had been marked as restricted, but otherwise it was okay to go anywhere else. Sleeping was only allowed in the dorms. Destroying Monokumas or security cameras was also against the rules.

Mukuro stood there for a few moments, mulling over what the rules listed and, more importantly, what they failed to list. The rules were far from ironclad, which was probably the reason the mastermind had added rule number seven, which stated that they could add more rules whenever they wanted.

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" Mukuro was drawn out of her thought by Mondo's harsh voice.

"I-I didn't mean…"

That was Makoto! Mukuro's head whipped around in time to see the biker gang leader stalking towards Makoto. Without a second thought, she dropped her eHandbook and ran full-tilt at the hulking teen. She had already closed half the distance before the PDA struck the ground with a clatter.

Mondo threw a punch at Makoto's face, but Mukuro was faster. Her fingers clamped around his wrist like a vice, stopping his fist a hair's breadth from Makoto's nose.

"Hey, what the fuck!? You want some too, bitch!?" Mondo drew back his free hand, but never had a chance to send it forward. Mukuro's fist whipped forward and caught him on the jaw, causing him to stumble back a few steps before crumpling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Mukuro winced, pulling her arm back against her chest and rubbing her wrist. It had been a badly thrown punch, and she'd jammed her wrist badly. It felt like she'd broken something. Pushing the pain to the back of her mind, she looked at Makoto. "Are you okay?"

Makoto stared at her dumbly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Mukuro."

The room was in a stunned silence. Kyoko calmly walked over to Mondo's prone form and rolled him onto his back. She checked for a pulse then prodded his jaw a few times before standing up. "He's alive. Nothing's broken, but he's not gonna be happy when he wakes up." She looked around. "Who wants to carry him?"

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I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story! With college, I can't guarantee an update schedule, but I will endeavor to update as soon as possible!