Chapter 1

The cold woke him up. Stiff all over, he moved his limbs. It was odd, considering he invested quite the sum for a comfortable bed and mattress. What's stranger was when his mind cleared as he rubbed his eyes, taking in the sight that was beyond a shadow of a doubt, not his bedroom.

He sat at a long table and the décor of the room suggested it to be a cafeteria of some sort. Across the room was presumably the entrance and exit of the cafeteria. Not far from the entrance to the right, there was a doorway leading to somewhere. Perhaps the kitchen? He didn't know, and frankly, since there were two more people unconscious and sitting at the table, it's not that important of a detail.

Scrutinizing the two people, one was a girl with light lavender hair—how odd—a fancy detective-looking coat, and gloves. The other person had his figure designed after a ball, and his hair was a strange brown-purplish color. The guy's attire was normal enough compared to the girl; he donned what seemed to be a white button-up and a grey cardigan over it.

Now, considering his bizarre situation, he supposed it was safe to say he was kidnapped? The confusing thing was, there was no benefit to going through all the trouble just to kidnap him. He was neither rich nor had he any relatives his kidnapper could demand a ransom from.

Could he be dreaming? Hmm, unlikely. He knew to differentiate dreams from reality. Inspecting his clothes, he noticed himself wearing black gloves, and a white button-up shirt. The middle section of the shirt where the buttons lay, was black, with the collar being the same color as well. For his bottom, he wore a high-waisted black trouser with three golden buttons on the side of its waist portion.

Fancy, but also, what the fuck? Did someone strip him just to put him into some expensive clothes like a doll? Also, his fingers weren't as long as they were now, nor was his figure so lean before. He grimaced before noticing a pamphlet on the table. Taking it and reading the crayon scrawl on the piece of paper, he paled. The writing read: "The next semester is about to start. Starting today, this school will be your entire world."

He read it again and noticed the small lettering at the bottom of the page. "Do entertain us, Futsushima Haruto, as the Ultimate Psychologist…"

This was insane, and he's insane, and why did the letter address 'him' personally? Futsushima Haruto? Ultimate Psychologist? There's no such thing when he was simply a student trying to get through his studies. His situation made literally no sense! Was this Danganron—

His train of thought was interrupted by the rustling of clothes. The girl with light lavender hair—he realized that the girl was Kirigiri Kyoko now—lifted her head up, and her confusion hit him. Her face showed nothing, of course, but he felt the anxiety that came with confusion—the feeling of walls closing in, one's vision narrowing, and the lightheadedness that followed the prolonged confusion.

He crumpled the pamphlet in his hand. Was this the ability of the Ultimate Psychologist, or was this the ability that allowed 'Futsushima Haruto' to be crowned the said title? Either way, since he knew he wasn't supposed to possess any knowledge on their fucked up situation right now, he needed to fake his confusion. Not that it was hard acting confused because being thrown inside a fictional series could induce confusion in anyone.

Kirigiri stared at him, and he spoke, "I… Nice to meet you?" 'What kind of retarded opening line was that?' "I guess it would be rhetorical to ask whether you know what's going on right now?" He scratched his neck.

"It seems you don't know either then," Kirigiri replied before she picked up the pamphlet near her. As she read it, her face remained expressionless but he—he's Futsushima Haruto now—felt the confusion doubled in its intensity, and along with it was mixed a hint of dread.

He felt nauseous, his throat tightening.

Still, Haruto continued his façade and showed the crumpled and balled-up pamphlet to Kirigiri before he stowed it in his pocket. "I received the same thing. It's strange; I remembered the Hope's Peak acceptance letter informing me that I had to go to the main hall for a meeting at 8 AM, but the next second, I found myself waking up from sleep in this place." He plastered on a calm smile as he lied through his teeth. "Ah, apologies for not introducing myself. My name is Futsushima Haruto, the Ultimate Psychologist."

He prayed he could play as Haruto, the Ultimate Psychologist. He didn't major in Psychology, but he hoped that his newfound ability to feel others' emotions would tide him over this mess. At least the time spent in the Acting Club would find its use here.

Kirigiri looked to the side, her confusion flaring once again. "Kirigiri Kyoko."

As expected, her answer was short, and she didn't disclose her talent. Haruto, with his foreknowledge, didn't ask further. 'Honestly, with her attire, I'm surprised nobody thought she was the Ultimate Detective.'

He nodded before he tilted his head towards the only unconscious person left in the room. "As peaceful as his sleep looks, we should wake him up."

Haruto stood but a flaring pain caused him to stop and hold the table. It was only now that his brain recognized the pain his body was in. He grimaced, and slowly pushed himself off the furniture.

Knowing Kirigiri's stare was on him, he put his poor condition on the back burner as he lied, "We must have slept for a long time." He chuckled. "My legs are all numb now. Don't stand as abruptly as I did, Kirigiri-san."

Moving around the table to go to the side of the one he knew to be Yamada Hifumi, Haruto tapped his shoulder several times. The man woke up several moments later, his confusion blaring for Haruto to feel, but compared to the one emitted by Kirigiri due to her more extensive memory wipe, it was more muted.

"Hmm, that was a nice sleep… Wait, where am I?" Yamada shouted, standing up and subsequently wobbling from the sudden action. He turned his head to meet Haruto's eyes and turned once again to meet Kirigiri's. "Who are you guys!"

Haruto put his hands up to placate the man. "Calm down. I know you're confused, but we are in the same boat." Putting his hands down, he gestured to the pamphlet readied for Yamada. "According to that pamphlet, we are starting our new semester, and as ominous as it is, we are to spend a presumably long period of time here. I can't be sure, but if my assumption is right, we should be in Hope's Peak Academy."

Yamada took the pamphlet and read it. Afterward, the guy clutched his head. "What is this thing? No way I'd believe something conveyed in such an atrocious form!"

Ah, Haruto supposed the drawing of Hope's Peak Academy and the chicken scratch of a handwriting were too much to handle for the Ultimate Fanfic Creator.

"It does seem like a prank of sorts but it's the only clue we have." Haruto then asked, "I assume you passed out as well, when you were trying to head to the main hall for the meeting?"

"Huh?" Yamada paused and a bead of sweat rolled down his face. Fixing his glasses, he said, "An astute assumption!" He paused once more. "Wait, doesn't that mean this situation is really bad?"

'You just realized?'

"Perhaps." With the spike of anxiety coming from Yamada stabbing him, Haruto knew he wasn't doing his 'talent' much justice. Then again, lying wouldn't do much when soon, things would quickly snowball downhill. He continued on, "But panicking wouldn't help us. I'm sure there are other students as well, so we should wait at the main hall for them to arrive and then discuss our situation together."

"Y-You're right! By the way…I am called Yamada Hifumi, the Ultimate Fanfic Creator!"

Haruto smiled as in his mind, psychologists were open-minded, accepting, and calm people. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Futsushima Haruto, the Ultimate Psychologist." He then gestured towards Kirigiri who had been silent the entire time. "And she is…"

"Kirigiri Kyoko." The woman kept her introduction brief.

"Nice to meet you, Futsushima Haruto-dono, and Kirigiri Kyoko-dono!"

Haruto nodded. "Right, we should go to the main hall first, then. I'm sure we will have time to explore this place later. Are you two alright with that?"

The two nodded, and they all exited the cafeteria. What greeted them outside was an almost blinding white light. Haruto knew Enoshima Junko changed the lighting, but it's jarring even with the knowledge. It's irritating to the eyes, and the boundless feeling it gave in this situation only served to overwhelm people, as if they were insignificant ants. In hindsight, that might as well be what Enoshima saw them as.

"This is rather disconcerting…" Haruto muttered before he caught himself. 'Why did I say that?'

"What is?" Kirigiri looked towards him.

His mouth moved before he knew it. "It's common knowledge that colors can affect one's emotions. White is usually used in designs to create space or add highlights to give the feeling of freedom. Additionally, hospitals also often incorporate the color for their walls, so patients feel less cooped up, but…"

"What is it, Futsushima-dono?"

"…But the use of blinding white here only serves to make us feel cold, and isolated. Besides, in many Eastern cultures, white is symbolically linked to sadness and death." Haruto gulped at all the sudden knowledge he spouted and pointed to the right where a hallway lit with dark red, stood. "And that kind of red is rarely used to invoke any positive connotations generally associated with the color."

"I see, I see. That's very interesting…" Yamada nodded sagely before he flailed his arms. And with his panicking, came the surge of anxiety that made Haruto close his eyes to ignore the feeling. "That's bad news, isn't it!"

Taking a moment to separate his own emotion from the waves of uncertainty that his two companions gave off, and fighting the clenching of his throat, Haruto smiled. "Not entirely. Although I don't think this is a design failure, at the very least, we can discern the intentions of the one who arranged the lighting to be like so. Any clue regarding our situation is good." Scratching his neck, he let out a clipped laugh. "I'm sorry. I'm the Ultimate Psychologist yet I kept saying things that make you two anxious instead." 'And I'm anxious because I'm not supposed to know anything about what I've said. Is this because this is not my body?'

"No, I'm grateful for the input. It's true that your observation is unfavorable, however, it is a step closer to finding out what's happening right now." Kirigiri crossed her arms over her chest.

'She's more guarded now.'

"Kirigiri-dono is right, Futsushima-dono! Besides, maybe this is a special environment that Hope's Peak Academy prepared to increase our levels." Yamada fiddled with his spectacles as he puffed out his chest. "In any shounen anime worth its salt, the main cast of characters always have to face challenges to undergo their character development, after all."

'How I wish that is the case.'

Haruto smiled and nodded, before the three of them continued their way to the main hall. They had stopped a bit to scrutinize the metal plates and bolts that kept them trapped. And while Haruto had a small smile on his face to keep his image of a composed individual, it briefly slipped a few times whenever his body sent a burning pain through his torso and legs.

Entering through the doors of the main hall, a cacophony of voices greeted Haruto and his two companions. The voices of twelve other students stopped as they took in their appearances. Then, they resumed, pounding Haruto's head with their confusion, curiosity, and loudness.

Haruto's vision blurred and swayed for a moment before he brought it back to focus. 'Don't stagger here. Don't show weakness now—that will only bring suspicion onto you.'

"They keep popping up. Like, how many are there supposed to be?" That was Enoshima—no, it was Ikusaba Mukuro in disguise.

"I mean, twelve is kind of too small a number for a class, don't you think?" And that one was Asahina Aoi.

Then, there came Ishimaru Kiyotaka, whose voice boomed as he approached Haruto. "You guys are almost late to the meeting! I would've reported you to the authorities if you had arrived three minutes later!"

"Dude, give it a rest…" Haruto saw Kuwata Leon ran a hand through his conspicuous orange hair.

"I'll let you three off this time but make sure to not cut it so close next time!" Ishimaru pointed his finger at Haruto, almost jabbing him in the chest. "Tardiness is not befitting of students attending this school!"

Smiling, Haruto gently pushed away Ishimaru's hand. "Thank you for the reminder. I'll keep that in mind."

"Yes, make sure you take punctuality seriously!"

"This guy's seriousness is over 9000…"

'Did Yamada just refer to another anime…?'

"In any case, I'm sure that there are pressing issues that we must address, such as suddenly falling asleep when we first got here." Haruto changed the topic. He didn't know the reason these students introduced themselves only when Naegi Makoto arrived, but he sure didn't want to waste time.

Before he could suggest they do introductions, however, a guy with a pompadour-styled hair shouted at him. "Hey, how the hell did you know that, huh?"

'Must I explain this.' Withholding his sigh, Haruto gestured to himself, Yamada, and Kirigiri. "All three of us experienced the same thing. Seeing all of you frazzled, and quite visibly distressed, I figured we are in the same situation." 'What am I even doing here?'

"Duh, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out." Ikusaba-in-disguise scoffed.

"Are you insulting me—"

Before a fight could erupt between Owada and Ikusaba, Haruto cleared his throat. "As I was saying, we need to discuss our current situation. But before that, it's rather rude and confusing to keep referring to each other as 'you', so I suggest we do our introductions."

Owada clicked his tongue. "I wanna say this ain't the time for frigging introductions but it is getting annoying not knowing who I'm speaking to."

"That's a good point…" Haruto recognized the light brown hair and timid voice anywhere. 'It's the trap.'

Putting a finger to her mouth was one blue-haired Maizono Sayaka as she said in her sing-song voice, "Okay, so let's get introductions out of the way, then we can move on to whatever else. Sound good?"

'Getting the introductions out of the way quickly is good, but where is Naegi?'

"Whoa, hey! Another new kid?" Hagakure Yasuhiro in all of his dreadlocks glory exclaimed.

'Speaking of the devil…'

The exclamation made Haruto turned his head towards the door behind him, and Yamada moved beside Haruto, with Kirigiri simply glancing at the newly arrived student—the embodiment of average could only be Naegi—before she moved further inside the room, closer to the giant metal hatch door.

"Huh? Then you guys are all…?" 'There it is, the infamous Naegi's 'huh'.'

Kuwata said, "Yeah… We're all new here. Today's supposed to be our first day of class."

"So counting him, that makes sixteen. Seems like a good cut-off point, but I wonder if this is everyone," said Asahina.

Haruto studied Naegi's expression. While he looked, and felt confused like everybody else, Haruto knew he also felt awe as his eyes flitted from one Ultimate to another.

'I remember Naegi was said to be the 'not crazy' version of Komaeda.'

Hesitancy was written all over Naegi, from his expression, body language, and feelings. Despite that, he still opened his mouth. "Um...how's it going? My name's Naegi Makoto. Sorry I'm late. A bunch of stuff happened, and then all of a sudden I was just...asleep."

"Futsushima-dono's observation was correct after all!"

'The dialogues changed quite a bit. I expected this, but ultimately, is my presence going to change things for the better…? No, no time for pondering right now.'

"Whoa, is the gray-haired guy an Ultimate Clairvoyant like me too?"

'Close enough, Hagakure—wait, I have gray hair?'

Celestia chuckled as she covered her mouth. "There can't possibly be two Ultimates of the same talent in the same year. If that were the case, we wouldn't be as special."

"Um...what are you talking about? I honestly have no idea what's going on right now."

The students were talking over each other, and the din wasn't helping Haruto keep a lid on his emotions, so to Naegi, he said, "You see, we were about to do introductions and then discuss our current predicament. That is, before you came in."

"Huh? Predicament?"

Haruto smiled wrily, "Well—"

"Just a moment! There's something else we must address!" Ishimaru, as expected of the Ultimate Moral Compass that he was, had a stick up his ass. "Naegi! Your tardiness is unacceptable! Surely you were aware the meeting was to start at 8 a.m. sharp! To be late on your first day is unspeakable! I must report you, and you must accept your due punishment!"

"What's your problem? It's not like he wanted to be late. He didn't have any control over it."

'Look at Ikusaba, defending her crush. In any case, let's stop this debacle already.'

Putting on a smile Haruto hoped to be disarming, he said, "Let's not get sidetracked, shall we? First, we need to do our introductions, and then we can discuss the situation we are in."

"Damn right! This ain't the time to be wasting time!" Owada fisted his hands, his face turning red.

'This anger, it's not even mine, and yet, it's affecting me. This ability is…troubling.'

"Heh, repeating a word twice in the same sentence… No wonder he has a pompadour…"

'How does that relate to anything, Fukawa…? Anyways, I'm just glad he didn't seem to hear that because a fight breaking out now would get us nowhere.' Haruto sighed internally.

' …Fuck, what am I even doing here with a hurting body that's not even my own?'

Despite his thoughts, Haruto kept smiling as he clapped his hands once. "Alright, let's finish this quickly, shall we?"