Gutted || THH

Game

love is embarrassing - Olivia Rodrigo
—————————————————
And now it don't mean a thing
God, loves fucking embarrassin'
Just watch as I crucify myself
For some weird second string
Loser who's not worth mentioning

↜ꨄ↝

You stepped through the wooden doors, seeing a large case of what you assumed would be sports trophies. But upon closer inspection, it seemed to have unnamed trophies and a few interesting-looking artifacts. There were flags on the ceiling that you didn't care to look at, pressing forward through the next door to the gymnasium.

You heard a few of the stragglers from earlier walking into the room behind you, deciding to keep walking as they would probably come into the gym in a few seconds anyway.

Makoto was the last one to walk in, looking around the room with uneasy eyes. "Oh... it really does look like an entrance ceremony." It was almost cute how easily Makoto would give away how he was feeling, despite not knowing any of you.

Hiro let out a laugh from the opposite side of the gym. "See? Told ya! It's totally normal entrance ceremony stuff." You furrowed your brows, peeking over the mounds of students to look at him. "You don't sound too convinced..." It was silent, everyone debating whether to act calm like Hiro or skeptical like you.

Suddenly, that strange voice from earlier started to scratch at your ears. "Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Good! Then let's get things rolling!" Turning around to look at the podium on the stage, nothing happened for a few seconds. But then, a monochrome bear jumped up from the ground and landed on the podium.

"Huh? A... teddy bear?" Chihiro was right in the sense of looks, but that bear felt like anything but cuddly and warm. "I'm not a teddy bear! I... am... Monokuma!" Mono... bear... quite on the nose. "And I am this school's headmaster!" You wanted to laugh, it was silly how ridiculous this situation was turning out to be. Perhaps this was just a dream and you were never even invited to Hope's Peak to begin with.

"Nice to meet you all!" Close by, Hifumi started to scream, sweat building up on his face. "That teddy bear can talk!" Next to him, Taka let out a nervous laugh, trying to wave off whatever was going on. "Calm down! I'm sure there's just a speaker inside it..." That would make sense, and it would make it easier for you to sleep at night, but something was telling you that just wasn't true.

"I told you already, I'm not a teddy bear." The bear sounded both angry and embarrassed. "I'm Monokuma! And I'm your headmaster!" Now he just sounded furious, throwing his arms around like a wailing baby. When the bear started to move its arms, Hifumi started to cry again. "It moved!"

Mondo punched Hifumi in the shoulder, looking both anxious and annoyed. "Seriously man, calm down! It's probably just a remote control toy or somethin'." The bear— Monokuma, was now looking at the ground like a sad puppy. "How dare you compare me to a child's plaything! You've cut me deep. Deeper than the Mariana Trench... My remote control system is so complex, even the folks at NASA can't recreate or even comprehend it!"

You let out a scoff, looking up at Monokuma with a nervous smile and furrowed brows. "So what? You're just some really complex AI?" He got angry once more, shaking his head and forming his small arms into an 'X' "I told you like three times! I'm your headmaster! You ask me that stupid question one more time and I won't be able to BEAR it!" He clearly had some fun with the last sentence.

Next to you, Celeste put a hand over her lips, looking positively disgusted. "'Bear' it? Really? You are... unfortunate." Monokuma ignored her insult, back to what you assumed was his usual cheerful mood. "Now then, moving on! We really must hurry and get started."