Danganronpa: Sisyphean Gambit

An Optimistic Entrance

               Hope.

               That such a simple word could sit so poignant on the tongues of so many speaks true to the meaning it contains.  A simple mass of strokes, the charming simplicity of the characters "希 望", betray an emotion sorely underwhelming when in comparison to all that could truly be beheld in the full context.  In the long and short of it, hope alone has the capacity to become salvation.  Though abstract, it's effect is visceral.

               When the term is discussed, of course, the context will always deviate, but the core will never change.  Whether hope is expressed in a grim situation, as an idle well-wish, or to one taking on a entire unfamiliar lifetime, the utterance is always a dream of sorts, ever cast forward.  Hope is the strength to march into an unknown tomorrow.  Without such a strength, humanity would be lost, and giving in would grow to be an obvious choice.

               This notion about hope and it's function, though in different terms, wove itself through the mind of the girl before the fabled gates she found shadowing her form.  The spring air which signaled new life saw the wrought iron angled open, beckoning her to pass. She felt, for once, essential.  Gazing upon the towering establishment with a sense of awe, she truly felt its title was apt.  For a building graced 'Hope's Peak Academy', it did much to inspire hope within one's bosom, even for one who could do naught but stare upward towards its majesty.  Entrapped by the beauty of rebirth, stare she did. 

               Mara, as the novel student would be styled, felt truly full of hope.  She held hope for a year full of opportunity.  She held hope for halls full of those she would come to know.  She held hope for the modest talent she possessed.  The girl held hope for her future.  The dawning day of her time at this school would mold Mara in ways she had anticipated all her life.  Change was on the horizon.  She was ready.

               Within the high gates, around the narrow courtyard, a stray character or two idled in the diluted sun.  It was well before classes would start, and only the earliest risers were eager to appear before what was necessary on the momentous day.  Stillness but for the piping of birds, and the steady twitch of the hands around the Brobdingnagian clock that served as the academy's front-and-centerpiece, lended to the utter serenity of the picture.  Perhaps a painter would have done well to see it, and been moved to retrieve their brush.  While it may sound cloying to any not present to stand in that atmosphere, truly, all was right with the world.

               With a ceremonious huff, and a quick, trepidatious tug at the skirt of her uniform, the bright-eyed critter began to forge ahead.  The year was hers, with no room for doubt, and she would make the most of whatever lay behind those wise, worn doors.

               From that point on, Mara saw herself a Hope's Peak Ultimate.  It was imperative she now live up to the title.

               Mara entered.

———

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wattpad is deciding to seriously screw with me tonight, so the header isn't going to happen.  I've been having major technical difficulties, butI promise you everything will look much prettier when they cease. 

(Also this chap is short bc it's just the prologue not an actual chap shdhdgh)