Danganronpa: Komm Susser Tod

Prologue, Part I

Prologue: Setting the Stage, Part I

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Okay, let's just cut to the chase; if I died in that Killing Game then I obviously wouldn't be here to tell you about just what went off in there.

Got your attention? Good. Let's begin with the obligatory introduction.

My name is Reiji Suzuki. I never really cared much about people, or the world, or life, really. I didn't really try gaining any friends - so when one kid approached me in elementary school and asked me to become his friend, I just rolled with it because, well, I needed somebody to keep my admittedly over-the-top cynicism in check. Through several more play sessions together, I had met my lifelong best friend.

His name was Mamoru Kurosawa, and he seemed like a nice enough kid. Although he was a fairly good artist, when it came to imaginative writing he was second to none. His stories just captivated everyone, even me - despite spending most of his free time trying and failing to get the attention of (admittedly pretty) girls. Because I wasn't as crazy about it as he was (although thankfully he never toed the line into outright harassment), I just stood and watched him embarrass himself.

Our friendship was still going strong even in middle school - I joined the photography club because it was the closest thing to my hobby I could get, while he joined the literature club to hone his talent. He also, as far as I know, took up art on the side, although he remained quite tight-lipped about it and I didn't ask further questions. But there was one thing we both enjoyed: amateur filmmaking.

Me and Mamoru made a perfect team: he wrote the scripts and I shot the footage. Our first film, "Beelzebub", about a young man who gains the favour of a demon in exchange of having to supply it with fresh victims to devour every day, got rave reviews at a contest we submitted it into. Before long, we were being approached to make box office blockbusters. We weren't even adults yet and already we were on top of the world.

Not even going to different high schools could tear us apart; even if it did result in me losing all contact with a girl I met around a month or two before I graduated from middle school. Because we lived fairly close to one another, both me and Mamoru were able to continue collaborating whenever we saw fit. He was perhaps the only guy I actually gave a damn about.

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So, it came as no surprise that eventually Hope's Peak Academy got a wind of us. Everybody knew about Hope's Peak - it was the school for the gods among men. If you could run really fast, fight really good, or even, as I could, just film really interesting stuff, you got a place. You became an Ultimate. And me and Mamoru were, respectively, the Ultimate Cameraman, and the Ultimate Screenwriter.

I approached my parents with the letter when I first got it because I knew just how fishy it was to get a letter out of the blue from perhaps the top school in Japan; especially considering that I was already in my first year of high school when I got it and I couldn't just transfer out on such short notice. But they didn't listen: it was Hope's Peak or bust, and I eventually resigned myself to having to attend.

Well, that's what I assume happened. For you see, on the very first day I was just heading to Hope's Peak Academy, ready to start my new life there, and then, out of the blue, everything went dark and I woke up... here. In a classroom. To make matters worse, I don't recall just how I got there. At least Mamoru was there as well... my eyes were blurry, but I could still see his signature ginger hair and dark green clothes.

Mamoru: Hey. Hey there, buddy! C'mon dude, wake up.

Reiji: Ugh... My head's... still spinning...