✔️More Than a Game (Oumasai/Saiouma)

1- [Prolouge] Sleeping in a Locker

Saihara's POV:
"Gah!" I stumble out of a cold, dark, and cramped area, falling to the floor while my hat obscures my face. My whole body aches with pain, as if nothing feels right. Wincing in pain, I open my eyes, unsure of what I would see. I meet my eyes with a dark-colored floor, the cold tile pressing up against my cheek. Pulling up a bit, I look up as bright green light burns into my retinas. Is this... a classroom?

Where am I? I look around the room, and suddenly my vision clears to see a girl with blond hair and a light pinkish shirt with a white backpack only. I speak to the only other person in the room. "H-Huh? Where am I?"

"I was wondering the same thing." The other girl looks at me warmly as I get up and fix my cap. "I don't know either..."

"Well, this is certainly an odd classroom..." I mutter.

"Yeah. This is such a weird place. Maybe we can find out somehow where we are," the other girl answers. She seems nice enough to be a friend.

"Mm-hmm," I agree. "Oh wait! I didn't introduce myself yet. I'm Shuichi Saihara."

"I forgot too!" The girl smiles kindly and says, "My name's Kaede Akamatsu. I'm the Ultimate Pianist."

"Okay then, Kaede," I say, pronouncing her name clearly. It kind of sounds like "kayayday". That's kind of funny. I might call her that if I- no, when I get to know her better.

"We should go see the rest of this place," Kaede advises. "There might be other people here, like us."

"Yes, there should be others." I can't help but imagine if it were only me and Kaede here. There has to be more of us.

We both head towards the door, but suddenly, I hear another sound interrupt our footsteps, and it's not coming from either of us. I stop, and so does Kaede, as we face who's, or more, what's in front of us.

"Rise and shine, ursine!" What an odd catchphrase, I think as five... teddy bears? of multiple colors suddenly appear in front of us in the doorway.

"AHHHHH!" Kaede squeals really loudly and jumps back in shock. Was it really that scary? I guess she just gets more surprised then I do.

"A... teddy bear?" I ask. One bear was pink, one was red, one was blue, one was yellow, and one was green.

"N-No, it has to be a monster! You can freak out about this!" Kaede says, eyes wide open as she stares at me and back at the teddy bears.

"Gahhhhh!" the blue bear suddenly yells loudly, putting his hands to his face.

"I don't think she was talking to you," says the pink bear softly.

"That's so mean... you humans are the real monsters for calling us monsters!" exclaims the red bear. His cheeks turn a little pink. Is that even possible- bears can blush?

"Although, if we are monsters, at least we're pretty ones," the pink bear mutters.

"Yeah! I'm glad I got born with these looks. I definitely won the genetic lottery!" replies the red bear.

"H-Huh?" Kaede says. She still seems confused in our current predicament. "W-What's happening? Aren't you guys... just some stuffed animals? So how... How are you talking?"

"We're not Monokubs! We're the stuff animals!" the blue bear shouts.

"Psst... Monokid, youse got your lines wrong," says the yellow bear.

"Mono...kubs?" Kaede asks.

"Oh! You've heard of us?" asks the pink bear.

"N-No! Of course not! You're walking, talking stuffed animals!" As soon as Kaede said that, the bears started looking at each other and...

"Yayyyy! It worked!" the red bear exclaims happily, hands in the air.

"What worked?" I ask. They have some kind of plan going on... there has to be.

"Ah, nothing you need to know," one bear says. They continue talking, and we learn their names in the process, but Kaede stops them.

"I have so many questions. First of all, where are we? This... looks like a school," Kaede asks.

"Oh, this? This is the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles," the red bear, Monotaro, explains.

"Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles?" Kaede asks. "I've never heard of that."

"Of course not," says Monophanie. "It was made for you sixteen cretins."

Sixteen? So we were right... there is more of us.

"Anyway, there fourteen other Ultimates that are in the school. I recommend you go find them, because youse'll be doing an activity later," the bear named Monosuke says.

"An activity-?" I start to ask, but the bears interrupt me by leaving.

"So long! Bear well!" the exclaim in unison as they disappear.

"I...I still had so many questions..." Kaede mutters.

"Well, I hope we get them answered as we find the other students," I say. "Let's get going." Those bears took up a lot of our time.

"Wait." Kaede stops me. "They said we're all Ultimates, so you must be one too."

Oh, right. I never told Kaede my Ultimate talent. "People call me the Ultimate Detective, but I'm still in training."

"Oh, okay! I've already told you mine, so I guess we should get going." Kaede gives me a warm smile as she walks through the doorway, while I follow behind.

"Yeah. Let's go."

A/n
Okay, so this is my first Danganronpa fan fiction. By now, I know it's completely finished, so all I can say is that it will be a long ride.

But it's definitely worth it, so have fun!