DANGANRONPA V2: ECLIPSE

Prologue: Part 2

We all glanced around ourselves, curious as to where the heck that strange voice came from. There was silence for another moment, then a loud screeching noise which came from the intercoms. (I didn't even know this lodge had intercoms...)

"Hello? Can you hear me? Testing, testing! One, two."

"We can hear you," Brittany answered, giving the ceiling a thumbs up. She plastered a comically big smile across her face. She, like Sora, had dimples as well.

"Goodie! Now is everyone here? We can't get rolling until we're ALL gathered in this room, so everyone get a buddy! Groups of two, groups of two!" the voice chimed. 

Groups of two? But there was an odd number of us...

"Um, hello? Can you count, idiot?" Maikeru huffed, his expression as cold as ever.

Most of us looked around, confused as to what the heck was going on.

"We have fifteen," Yuuki said in a much more polite tone than Maikeru was likely even capable of. "Um, do you mean groups of three-"

"FIFTEEN?!" the voice over the intercoms gasped. "My, oh my, oh my, that's not right. We can't leave one poor student out. That would be so rude, so unfair! What kind of people go through the effort of leaving ONE student out?! So inconsiderate..."

"I'm sorry," I said, raising my voice slightly, unsure who it was we were even talking to. "We didn't know there was someone else..."

"Don't apologize, Suki," Yuuki breathed. "This is my fault. I can go find them-"

As if on cue, the main doors to the lodge were pushed open. Everyone slowly turned their attention to the front as the final student walked in.

He moved with a deliberate pace, his eyes fixed on the distance ahead. Not a single glance in our direction. No hint of confusion or fear. When he walked, he walked with purpose.

"Ah, there he is," the voice over the intercoms announced. "Now, now, would you like to explain why you are LATE?"

The student blinked once, then looked up with an empty expression in his eyes.

Silence.

"Ooooooh," Kichiro hummed, like a middle schooler reacting to a kid getting called down to the principal's office. 

"Oh, defiant, are we? I like you already," the voice over the intercoms laughed. "Puhuhuhuhu, we're going to have lots of fun. Lots of fun indeed. Now, why don't you introduce yourself?"

More silence.

Something in my gut told me that it wouldn't be a smart move to defy whoever was behind those intercoms. 

"Well, we can finish introductions later I guess," the voice laughed. "But you better learn your place soon, buddy. As much as I like you, we can't have this not-responding nonsense become a habit. Didn't your mother teach you not to make bad habits?"

Not a word escaped the boy's lips, his silence hanging in the air, thick with suspense.

"Anyway, now for the beginning of the rest of your lives..."

We all turned our attention away from the new student and to the back of the stairs. Out of nowhere, a teddy bear emerged, half white and half black, its face etched with a disturbing, split smile. And to make things even creepier, one of its eyes ominously glowed a deep red.

"What the heck is that?!" I gasped.

Tora's hold on my arm tightened as I instinctively positioned myself in front of her. I couldn't explain it, but I felt this overwhelming need to shield her from that stuffed bear. Was that weird? It sounds weird.