danganronpa - deluded | fanganronpa

[ prologue - rocks ]

Akira didn't expect to see a rock climbing area, but there was one anyway, low and behold.

A young man was on it, sitting on the top and looking bored out of his mind.

His appearance was very... something. Something odd.

He had light skin and magenta eyes. He had a full beard (somehow) and teal hair that fell slightly into his face, but was mostly well-kept and swept back. He had an ugly, pink jacket with three yellow triangles on the sides as well as a light, pastel-ish yellow t-shirt underneath. He had fishnet gloves on, but the fingertips were made of rubber. He wore jeans and had a seemingly heavy backpack on.

He waved to Akira. "Hey! One second. Lemme just get down and then I need to ask you something."

Akira nodded and waited for him. He climbed down so quickly it seemed like a blur. He was really, really tall, too - especially for a high school student.

"You're a student?" He asked curiously. When Akira nodded, he smiled and held his hand out. "Great. I'm Kouta Ohori, but Mr. O will do. I'm supposed to be a homeroom teacher. I'm the Ultimate Boulderer."

KOUTA OHORI

ULTIMATE BOULDERER

"A teacher?" Akira smiled. "It's nice to meet you then, Mr. O. I'm Akira Sashiki, the Ultimate Archer. By the way, what's bouldering?"

"Well," Kouta wiped his hands together as he explained. "it's like rock climbing but without a harness or safety equipment! I have the bag full of it though. If you guys are gonna try it, you can't do it without gear for the first time. Especially if you wanna do it as I do. Most boulderers will tell you ' just do the indoor ones! ' but I'll tell you it's too easy."

"Well... what do you climb then?" Akira asked.

"Hm? Mountains."

She sighed. Everyone here seemed so much more impressive than she did. "Isn't that... a bit dangerous...? If you fall, you die."

"Well, I haven't fallen yet," Kouta replied casually. "I just tell myself I'm indoors and I relax. Worrying doesn't get anyone anywhere."

"But aren't you concerned? Teachers don't normally get called into funfairs," Akira said, "what if it's a trap or something?"

Kouta laughed and dismissed her worries with a wave of his hand. "Oh, no need to be so worried, Ms. Sashiki! The principal said this was just the entrance. Apparently, the first day is gonna be spent testing the students' abilities here at the funfair."

"Oh." Akira murmured. She'd never heard of a school using a funfair as a way to test its students - maybe it was a more modern thing. "That sounds fun! The teachers get games too? I don't know why else there'd be a rock climbing game here."

"I sure hope so!" Kouta chirped. "Good ol' Mr. O hasn't been able to scale anything since he started teaching. My muscle is going soft as we speak."

Akira laughed awkwardly, not sure how to respond to a teacher talking about his muscles. "Well- maybe- uh- you could help the gym teacher-"

"I am the physical education teacher," Kouta replied.

"Oh."

Kouta laughed and pat Akira's shoulder. "Don't be so nervous, kid. I'm not that old compared to you - I'm twenty-five. I like to talk to my students like we're friends, not like we're super tight co-workers who are awkward around each other because they don't wanna risk getting fired."

More gently, he added at the end, "so feel free to be yourself around me."

Akira slowly smiled, nodding. Kouta sure had bad fashion sense, but he seemed nice. "Then I will. Thanks for that, Mr. O. I feel a lot less weird about talking to you now. By the way, no need to call me Ms. Sashiki. I prefer Akira anyway."

"Alright then, Akira! I think you should head off. You've got classmates to meet. I'll be hanging around here if you need me," Kouta smiled and hopped off, quickly starting to climb back up the wall.

Akira smiled, shook her head, and walked off.

OBTAINED TICKET FRAGMENT!