The Mass Suicide

"Dear Mr. Rutamai,

We are pleased to inform you that you have passed our expectations here at Hope's Peak Academy. While we view you being the best in two separate fields as problematic, we are more than welcome to give you a spot here on the Main Course at Hope's Peak Academy. Given time, you can choose which of the two talents you would like to have bestowed upon you as your "Ultimate" title. In the meantime, the best thing for you is to practice your abilities the best you can. The entrance exam will take place soon enough.

Until then, I wish you the best of luck, and welcome to the 76th class of Hope's Peak Academy.

Principal Jin Kirigiri"

I remember that letter like it was yesterday. My parents were incredibly happy when they heard the news. I was, too. I thought it would've been my big break. My chance to shine at Hope's Peak Academy, to finally rise above the others to the top of the charts, to show everyone else the true talent that I was capable of. I thought I would've been able to make some good friends here, to get to know what it's like to be at the top of the game. Well, technically, I did make some good friends here, but with the shit that's been going on, I've got no idea how many of them are dead and how many of them have survived.

If only I had known that all of this would've happened ahead of time before I accepted.

Now I'm trapped in a death place, most of the students are dead, and I just had my first kill. Well, the last one isn't so bad, but still. I really need to find a way out of here before the rest of this guy's batshit crazy friends catch up to me. Let's see, what was it that the other guy he was talking to said? They were rounding up the rest of the mob to track down any surviving students left. Which means it's only a matter of time until they search this entire area. If they find me, after what I've done, they won't show me any mercy.

Taro decided it was best to leave the classroom immediately. He had no time to waste. I need to find a way out of this place, and fast, too. He decided that it was probably best if he went back to the staircase first. If the other student was gone by now, it could be his chance to find the exit and escape this place. Once I leave here, I need to find the nearest group of survivors. Maybe that class of 78 can help me out if possible. If not, try to find the nearest police station.

Taro made sure to pick up the pipe and the knife he had used. His left arm and leg were still burning with pain after that prick hit him. Fortunately, it only looks like a flesh bruise. Nothing broken. But it still hurts like hell. He took one last glance at the body of the student he murdered before paying his respects. You may have been a crazy son of a bitch, but at the very least, I should respect the dead.

Wait a minute...could I take his Reserve Course jacket? Maybe if I did, I could disguise myself as one of the Reserve Course students...reckoned, they probably wouldn't notice me if I did. To them, I'd just look like another classmate to them. But wearing my regular suit would be a dead giveaway of my Main Course status. I'm going to have to make up a story about the blood on the jacket later. Taro took the dead student's jacket, took off his regular outfit, and put the new outfit on. It was a little small for him, but he thought it would do the trick.

Taro carefully handled the pipe and held it firm while walking down the hallway. He made sure to keep his eyes out for any other unsuspecting attackers. Along the way he saw more dead bodies of a few teachers he knew, as well as several shattered glass windows, and sprouting flames in a few of the abandoned classrooms. What happened to the rest of Class 76? 77-B? Did they make it out of this horrible frenzy?

Taro retraced his footsteps back to the staircase from before. He slowly went down the stairwell, making sure to look for anyone else. He could see a few blast marks on part of the staircase, probably from some molotov cocktail bomb. He went down the stairs for the next few levels until reaching the middle level. He didn't want to go to the bottom level since he could hear a lot of talking coming from downstairs, so he didn't want to get involved in that mess just yet.

On the middle level, Taro saw that there was a much wider range of destruction and death in the hallways. He saw many more dead bodies, not just other Main Course students, but also Reserve Course students. In fact, he saw one Reserve Course student repeatedly beating another one with a nailed baseball bat, while he begged her to stop. She didn't listen, and kept mercilessly smashing her bat into the student's face. Jesus Christ, she's lost her goddamn mind.

The other Reserve Course students didn't seem to mind Taro at first. They saw him as one of them. "Say, what's with the blood?", one of the male students asked him. He was much shorter than Taro, so he wasn't much of a threat. I gotta think of something quick.

"Uh, I found another one of those Main Course guys upstairs that we missed. I made sure to beat his head in with my pipe. We won't be seeing him again", he said with a smile, to try and act as convincing as possible. The other students bought it.

Taro could see that there was around a group of seven of them, armed with clubs, bats, knives, hell, one even had a glock. They were also heavily covered in blood, so they obviously must've killed a few people before getting here.

He looked into some of their eyes, and almost all of them had seemingly black spirals twirling around in their eyes. They didn't seem to act like normal human beings, since they acted more like unresponsive walkers than normal people. It was a twisted sight to behold. Twirling around, like an endless loop of frustration and pain. The spirals wouldn't stop. Spiral...

One student in particular didn't seem to have of those affects. In fact, out of everyone in the group, he seemed relatively normal. Of course, he was just as bloodthirsty as the others, but he didn't look like a braindead soldier. He had a semi-bulky body type, a sharp jawline, brown eyes, and a red buzz cut. "The name's Oye," the red-haired student told him. "I don't think I've seen you around the Reserve Course. You new here or something?"

"Y-yeah, I am. I haven't seen you around, either. Just call me, uh, Taro," he told him. He tried to act as convincing as he could. "So, you're just hanging out with your group? Like, where is everyone else?"

"Where do you think they are? They're tearing down the rest of Hope's Peak Academy. Soon enough, this godforsaken school will be marinated in the blood of the disgusting rich, talented bastards that are plaguing our society!", Oye said, with a spirit of enthusiasm. He was clearly excited about it all.

"Yeah, I know that, obviously, but I got separated from my group. I don't know where the others are."

"Don't worry, Taro. The others will be regrouping up soon enough. We'll get to do a second check to make sure we got all the talented filth exterminated once we regroup. And then, we move on to taking down the rich of society. We're going to help begin a new type of society, one better than the one we're stuck in now," Oye told him, his voice sounding like he was bound to burst out in a blood-lusty rage. Taro made sure to back up, because even he was disturbed by him.

The group decided to go along the hallways a little more, still fooled by Taro's disguise. Looks like I'm doing a good job at blending in right now. I just need to keep up the appearance. He got a good look at the rest of the carnage and destruction around the school. The academy was on fire, several pieces of furniture were destroyed, bloody corpses were piling up, and shattered glass was everywhere across the floor. Taro couldn't help but look at it all in shock. He had never seen so much gore and destruction before in his life. In films, it's one thing, but in reality - this kind of thing is just unthinkable. He was able to hide his shock, though, as the other students didn't seem to react to the environment at all.

Eventually, the group met up with another group of Reserve Course rioters up ahead. Taro noticed that the other group was holding a hostage with them.

"Come with us, comrades! We've got ourselves a deserter, and we've be more than happy to let you in on her punishment!", one of the psychotic bastards screamed. Two of them were holding down what appeared to be another Reserve Course girl, but she was much different than any of the students he saw so far.

"I'm not a traitor! I'm just a normal kid, just like you! You're the ones who went fucking crazy and started killing every fucking thing in sight!," the girl screamed, in tears. "Look at yourselves! We're senselessly murdering each other left and right without any remorse! You're practically acting like animals! WE ARE NOT A BUNCH OF UNTHINKING ROBOTS! Listen to rea-"

One of the students delivered a sharp punch to the back of her head, knocking her to the group. She was screaming in pain, but not because of the punch. No. Taro soon got a good look at her right arm, and saw that it was bleeding heavily. Part of her sleeve was soaked in her own blood. Beside her, another student was holding a bloody saw.

Those heartless bastards sawed off her right hand.

He could tell since it was completely missing, as the girl kept crying in pain. She had very dark-tanned skin, with raven-like black hair straight down hair. He could see her deep blue eyes, watered up. She's not like the others. Is she just like me? Was she a Main Course student trying to blend in with the other Reserve Course members?

"Well then, what shall we do with our little deserter here? You know we don't tolerate abandonment, you know," one of the students said. The girl looked at him, like a hunter who couldn't wait to kill its prey.

"Relax, boys, I've got this one," Oye said, as he pulled out a mini hatchet. "I think she'll do very good on the chopping block, don't you guys?" He snickered at the thought of it. Kira backed away from him, but Oye only got closer to her.

I can't just let him kill her like this. Back with that other guy, I had to kill him because he was going to kill me if I didn't do it. But she's defenseless. I can't stand here, knowing I can do something to save her.

Taro immediately stepped in, standing in front of the girl, blocking Oye. The red-haired prick looked at him in a pissed expression. "Come on, rookie Taro, let me have some fun! You know that Queen Junko doesn't tolerate traitors!", he yelled at him.

"If you want to kill her so much, then how about we settle this?", Taro told him. Let's see, I have to draw him in with an offer. I've got it. "We'll fight for it. No weapons. Just our fists and combat. If I win, you step away from, uh, what's your name, ma'am?"

"M-m-my name is Kira," the girl weakly told him.

"Right! And I shall get the choice on what to do with her."

"And if I win," Oye said, "I'll get to kill her myself, and you won't do anything to interfere with it," he said with a smirk. "Do we have a deal?"

Taro and Oye shook hands together, signing the deal in progress. The other students around them formed a circle for the two to fight in. Taro put his pipe and his knife to the side, and Oye put his hatchet to the side as well. A student with a glock in his pocket was standing right next to Kira, watching over her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid, like running away. Why the hell is this guy helping me, she thought. She didn't have a clue if he was actually trying to help or, or only use her for his own sick reasons.

The other students chanted and encouraged the two to fight. Taro cracked his knuckles and Oye stretched his arms out before going into their beginning positions.

"Alright then. So, how exactly does this work? Do I punch first, you punch first?", Taro asked. To be honest, I've never actually been in a real fight before, not counting that one an hour or two ago. But hey, I think I can take this guy. Or at least drag him out long enough to protect Kira.

"Simple. The match doesn't start until one of us draws the first move-". Immediately, Oye drew the first attack and used a cross punch at Taro's chest. His guard was down, so the punch hurt like hell and caught Taro off-guard. Oye tried to go in with another cross punch to the face, but Taro's self-defense techniques had kicked in. Taro parried the punch with his right hand before showing Oye back a bit. Oye tried to stay on his feet as Taro came in with a hook punch.

While it did hit Oye's face, Taro's fist was also in pain from the aftershock. Oye lost focus. Taro tried to use a cross punch against him, Oye dodged the attack, and then used a jab punch straight at Taro's face. The impact hurt like hell, and Taro could feel that he was getting a bloody nose from this. His nose didn't feel broken, though. Oye then charged at him and tried to tackle him to the floor. As Taro tried to parry his attack, Oye caught sight of his movement and went for Taro's legs. He brought him down with him.

Oye tried to pin Taro down on the floor. He then continued to punch Taro's face repeatedly. Taro could feel his face getting several bruises, so out of an act of desperation, and feeling pressured down by Oye's grip, he bit down on Oye's arm. Oye screamed in confusion, which gave Taro the chance to gain enough strength to strike Oye in the chest. It worked for a moment, but not before Oye returned the punch to Taro's stomach.

Taro could feel the air being kicked out of him. He struggled to breathe for a few moments, while trying to ignore the pain all over his face.

"You - you fucking bit me!", Oye screamed. "This fucker bit me! That's it! Time to put down this rapid dog!" He released his grasp on Taro and got up. He reached over to his hatchet, prepared to put an end to that annoying prick.

"Time to put you down. You know what happens to dogs that bite," Oye said, as Taro slowly got back up on his feet. Oye held his hatchet firmly, like a serial killer from a 1980s horror film.

"Bring it on," Taro told him, prepared to defend himself. Oye charged at him again, his hatchet in his hand--

*BANG! BANG!*

Before he knew it, two bullet shots rang from behind him. The first went straight into Oye's back, the second going in the back of his head. Bits of his skull flew out as the bullet hit impact, spraying Oye's blood all across Taro. In a quick blink, Oye's dead body hit the floor with a thud, his blood leaking out onto the rest of the floor. The other students were in absolute shock.

Kira was holding the gun that the student guarding her was keeping in his pocket. She pointed the weapon directly at him. "Back up, now! All of you!", she screamed. The other students complied. "Good thing you didn't cut off my good hand," she said. Taro looked at her with surprise and thanks. He didn't have any idea if Oye would've killed him or not, so he was thankful that she saved. He gave her a nice smile, and she looked at him with untrusting eyes, and aimed the gun at him.

"Back it up now, or you're next," she told him, as Taro slowly backed against the wall, with his hands in the air. The other students looked around, wondering what Kira would do next.

"Listen to me, my name's Taro. I'm not one of them. I'm just like you. I just want to get out of this shitty place alive," Taro told her. "I tried to save you from that red-haired prick, you know."

"Don't give me that. You two made a deal. Whoever won would get to do whatever you wanted to me. For all I know, you could've just been doing it for your own sick reasons. With all these other sick fucks, it makes sense. So unless you want to end up like the guy on the floor, give me a reason not to pull the trigger," she told him. Her eyes were more desperate and scared than angry.

"All of these other people are acting like a bunch of zombies. But you're not. And neither am I. In fact, you're the only other person here I've seen that's normal. We have a better chance at surviving together than we do divided. All I want is to get out of here and escape, just like you do. If we work together, we can try to do something", he tried to tell her.

Immediately, a message was sent to every member of the Reserve Course simultaneously. The students could feel their phone vibrating, as one by one, they reached their phones like a bunch of loyal pets. Kira didn't reach for her phone. "Something's wrong. They're not even paying attention to us anymore. It's like they're being sucked into that broadcast," she told him.

The students stared at the screens lifelessly, as a strange but creepy noise kept playing, something about "Gloomy Sunday". Taro could see the collective looks of terror and fear on the students' faces. Some of them had tears rolling down their eyes, some of them begged for the pain to stop, and some of their eye spirals started rolling much faster. They all remained there for the next minute before the broadcast ended.

At that point, they didn't even seem to care for either Taro or Kira. One student walked over to the glass window and began to break it with an axe. Once it was shattered, the student then willingly jumped out of the window, out onto the pavement to his quick but painful death. His body hit the ground with a splat as his blood colored the sidewalk of Hope's Peak Academy.

The rest of the Reserve Course students started to do it as well. One after another, they began jumping out of the burning windows, falling to their deaths. Those who didn't fall began slitting their own throats and wrists, trying anything to commit suicide.

Oh my God...they're...they're killing themselves. They're killing themselves. Willingly.

Taro and Kira looked out of the window to see the carnage. Hundreds of dead bodies were piling up on Hope's Peak's sidewalk pavement. This group of students aren't the only ones killing themselves - it's everyone. Every member of the Reserve Course is killing themselves. Their bodies were brutally mutilated, torn apart into gory pieces, as all of their blood began to flow into a red river. Taro just stood there in silence, both shocked and appalled by the loss of life, as a tear stroked down his face. Kira just stood there, crying. Neither of them had every expected to witness this much death and violence before.

Behind them was the last Reserve Course student in their group. The one who cut off Kira's hand. Beside him was the saw that he used to do it. Immediately, his mind was telling him to only do one thing: end himself. For the student, it wasn't even willing. It felt like he was being controlled to do it, and even tried to hold it back.

"Please, stop! I'm begging you, I want to live! Please, no! NO!!"

His screaming did nothing to stop it, though. He forcefully picked up the saw and put it against his neck. He tried to do everything in his willpower to stop, but he couldn't. The despair was too strong.

Taro and Kira looked around to see what was happening, and immediately rushed over to stop him.

"You're supposed to saw off your foot, not your neck, dumbass!", Taro screamed as he tried to take away the saw from the student's hands. But by that point, the saw had already dug its way deep into the student's neck and throat. The student was screaming out in pain as Taro tore out the saw from his neck. This only made him bleed out more. The student began to drown on his own blood, as he fell to the ground, struggling to survive.

Kira and Taro tried to make the bleeding stop, but it was too late. The student was already dead.

"Come on, he's dead. There's nothing more we can do for him! We have to go out of this building and find help as fast as we can!", Kira told him.

"Now that the threat has been... taken care of, we can escape much easier. But we should bring along any weapons we can find. Say, how many more bullets does that gun hold?", Taro asked.

"This gun holds about six more rounds," Kira said. "Uh, Taro? About escaping?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

She pointed to the outside, not to the dead students, but to the city. The sky wasn't blue anymore. The sky turned blood red. Skyscrapers in the background started catching on fire.

"I think we're safer off if we stay here and forage whatever resources we can find," Kira told him. "I don't know what's going on in the city. All I know is that if we want sanctuary, it's sure as hell not there."