Noctem: A Danganronpa V3 Story

Prologue

"Take not from a man who has nothing to lose, for all he has, is a life he no longer yearns. And he can give it to you, by taking your life with his."

...

Tatsuya Shinonome stared blankly up at the ceiling as the alarm blared from his phone. Reaching over to his nightstand, he languidly slapped the Snooze button before closing his eyes again.

Did he want to go to school? No.

Did he have any incentive for going to school? Plausible.

Was he going to school anyway? Yes.

Well, his school was government-funded, so they would probably find a way to get him to come anyway. Not like he had any other choice.

Getting up, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and threw the sheets off, throwing his legs over the edge of the bed and standing up as he took a moment to stretch out and flex his arms and legs before heading into the bathroom with a towel in hand. He turned on the shower and stepped inside, the hot water jolting the rest of his senses back to life. With a sigh of content, he continued to wash up for a good ten minutes or so before shutting off the water and drying himself off.

It was usually like any other morning routine. He woke up at the usual time, showered at the usual time, and even ate breakfast at the usual time.

Well, except for the days when there was a job he needed to do. But that was last year.

As of now, he'd be going to the famous, most prestigious institution in all of Japan known as Hope's Peak Academy. Tatsuya was prepared to either expect the worst or make the best out of the next four years he would spend at that school. One or the other.

He strolled back into his room with only a towel on his person and threw on some clothes haphazardly picked out of the pile occupying one corner of his room.

Black hiking pants, black short sleeve t-shirt, dark olive button-up...

...and then he realized Hope's Peak had a uniform.

Taking a glance at said uniform draped over the headrest of his desk chair, he sighed as he swiped the blazer and tie only and threw them on, not even bothering to work on his tie as he opted to drape it loosely around his collar instead.

After stuffing the unwanted articles of clothing into his bag, he headed downstairs and into the kitchen, where his mother was waiting for him with a smile. "Good morning, dear."

"Morning, Mom," he immediately replied back, putting on his own smile as she laid out his breakfast. "How's the new cake shop coming along?"

"Oh, it's been a little rough so far, trying to start from the ground up, but then again..."

"We all gotta start somewhere, right?" Tatsuya finished, taking his seat at the dinner table as he began eating. "Don't worry, you won't have to worry about going out of business again, alright? Especially not while I'm around."

"I know, it's just...I wish it could've been under better circumstances," Haruhime sighed, glancing down at her cup of coffee. "It feels like it was only yesterday since I last ran the place..."

"Yeah...being out for five years can be rather jarring. A lot can happen in that amount of time, you know? I just...wish it didn't have to be like this."

He pulled out his phone and his maroon red eyes glossed over the online forums as he focused on a few particularly surrounding the school.

'Major Data Leak Reveals False Hope Plans.'

'Dark Times for Academy of Hope.'

'Hope's Peak, School or Laboratory?'

'Steering Committee Slashed on Human Rights Violation.'

'New Staff, New Plans, New Hope.'

The school had been put under jurisdiction after a critical info leak, resulting in the imprisonment of the Steering Committee and the organization of new members. Apparently, they had kept something called the Kamakura Project under wraps for some time, and somebody apparently had enough pull to orchestrate a major data breach and expose it to the public.

"Well, nothing a few years at the most prestigious academy in Tokyo won't help with, right? They say that as soon as you graduate, you're set for life. Have you already figured out what you want to do?"

"...Not really. Even now, I still think it's a little too early to start thinking about that. Right now, I'm just hoping I don't get lumped in with a bunch of crazies in my class..." he huffed, finishing up his breakfast as he then stood up and grabbed his book bag.

"Define 'crazy.'"

"...Fair point. I'll see you later, Mom."

They both share a heartfelt embrace before Tatsuya walks out the door.

...

Author's Note: 

To keep this short, I lost all interest I had in my Blacksmith rendition of this book, as well as the Killing School Life story I wrote years ago that I now see as nothing more than absolute cringe, what with the whole mishmash of crossovers that made me want to throw up.

I can't guarantee I'll invest more time into this story as it goes on, but the least I can do is give y'all something, anything even.

Godspeed.

(NO, this is not an April Fools' joke. I have a heart, I'm not gonna do that a second time after an ungodly amount of inactivity.)