As Cruel As You - Chapter One
As Cruel As You has officially launched! Keep reading to see the first chapter!
Learn more about As Cruel As You here
Read this chapter on AO3 here
Attention students of Hope's Peak Academy…
You are special.
Nothing could ever hurt you as long as you have your talents. Here at Hope's Peak, we strive to pave the way to a greater perfection than what we know now. To create a society of young, promising people with no imperfections whatsoever, to create a more profitable world worth living in, that is our goal...
… as they told us.
Hope's Peak painted the world as a place where you could thrive amongst others in harmony, but if all are to thrive at once, how does one such as yourself remain unique? If you must shine as the brightest star, the rest around you must be extinguished.
Look around the room at the unfamiliar faces surrounding you, and know this: Blood will shed for survival. It is in your nature.
---
“Just in case I forget, my name is Komaru Naegi.”
The Komaru in the mirror blinked.
“Oh, mine too!”
She smiled awkwardly at herself. She was running out of ideas for a unique conversation. She didn’t know how much time had passed. Hell, she didn’t even know how old she was anymore.
“Then again, I'm at that age where you forget how old you are anyway,” she always told herself, “so like sixteen or seventeen…”
Talking to herself was Komaru’s specialty. She was the only person she could talk to in this lonely apartment with no contact or even sight of the outside world. The windows were covered by large metal plates and bars from the outside. Had the sun exploded yet? Komaru would’ve had no idea. Her skin was suffering from it… actually, her whole body was, and her brain too. Vitamins were really all she had outside of food. She believed that she was kidnapped. She hadn’t heard another human voice in… uh… she didn’t know-
“OH! I’ve never heard their voice, but there is someone else I talk to: my caretaker. They bring me food!”
It was through a little delivery slot by the exit door, which had never been opened before. Komaru had never seen her caretaker. They knocked at the door whenever she spoke to them, possibly signaling that they were listening. She just wished she could open it to see them...
“I'm trapped in this apartment, but I don't really care. I just want food and a friend.”
The Komaru in the mirror didn’t respond. She must have run out of things to say. Then again, this Komaru ran out of a lot of interesting things to do and say. She even wore the same three outfits… Well, two of them were actually the same outfit just with sweatpants instead of a skirt, which was what she was wearing now. The other outfit was a pink pajama shirt. It was always at least a little bit exciting when any of them developed a hole or a loose string. Regardless of attire at the moment, there was still nothing to say. Maybe the person at the door would be more fun to talk to? Komaru, as in the one not in the mirror, walked over to the big brown door. It wasn’t actually that big, but it felt like it. Perhaps it was the heaviness in the air that surrounded it. Komaru didn’t really care though.
“Hey buddy!” she called. “I can't keep myself entertained this whole time. I still don't know what you even want from me! You give me supplies, but that's it! What am I, a tamagotchi? Is the world actually just a tamagotchi game? BY THE WAY THE EARTH IS ROUND!!! I haven't lost my mind yet!”
A loud knock at the door responded.
“Aha! There you are!” Komaru said.
Another thump confirmed the greeting.
“Are you gonna let me open the door this time?” Komaru asked.
...
“Can I say hi?”
Though it never worked, Komaru reached to twist the doorknob for the millionth time… and it actually moved.
“… Yo…”
With a smile, Komaru flung the door open to greet her mysterious caretaker. It was standing right in front of her, though she had to look down a bit to see it. She was quite surprised to see it standing on four legs. It was an odd looking bear, its fur split between black and white neatly down the middle of its entire body. It stared at her with both a dead black eye and one of a strange jagged shape that emitted a faint red light. The bear bared it’s sharp, shark-like teeth with a wicked grin.
It was in that moment that Komaru’s body realized for her that she was not, in fact, looking at what had been taking care of her these past few however-long-it’s-beens, and the next thing she knew, she was running down the halls of the apartment building on feet that barely touched the ground. The bear, with clearly audible robotic limbs, pursued her swiftly. Komaru would soon discover that there was more than one of these bears as they would jump out in front of her at various intersecting corridors, forcing her to change direction. In truth, she had no idea where she was going. She had no idea if she would even make it out alive. Well, if she didn’t, at least she had the chance to run around at full speed one last time in an event that she could at least consider new and exciting…
… but alas...
BAM!
Suddenly, Komaru was lying on her back, the wind almost knocked out of her. She began to process the fact that she had just ran into something that let out a very human-like shout as she had collided with it. She tilted her head to see before her a young man about her age pushing himself up off of the floor from the fall. He certainly didn’t dress like his age, what with a black suit and tie, a serious scowl and squinting eyes. He pointed what appeared to be a megaphone at the bear, putting himself between her and it.
“Stay back.”
From the megaphone came a bright blue light that fired at the bear, causing it to explode into pieces in midair as it had attempted to lunge at them. Immediately afterwards, the young man looked back at the floor, squinting until he spotted a pair of white glasses that he proceeded to put back on his face. He then reached down, grabbed Komaru by her wrist and pulled her to her feet. He did all of this as if it was an ordinary day in which he did not just blow up a killer robot bear with a seemingly magical megaphone.
“Komaru Naegi, yes?” he asked in a very flat voice.
Any other day, Komaru would have judged this man as a stuffy brat who thinks he is better than anyone else, but after being isolated from any human interaction for who knows how long, she promptly began suffocating him with a hug.
“Hello human person!” she gleefully chirped. “Hello hello helloooo!!! I'm Komaru!! What's your name? Thank you for saving me! I love you. Are you my caretaker? I've been here for, like, AGES! How are you???”
It took the young man a few seconds of silence to recover from the onslaught of extroverted greetings. He was able to survive the squeeze and wriggle himself free from Komaru’s grasp.
“My name is Byakuya Togami,” he said, brushing his now wrinkled clothes straight. “You'll need this.”
Byakuya took another megaphone from his belt that Komaru had failed to notice until now and handed it to her.
“Oo! Thank you thank you!” Komaru said, thrilled that someone would entrust her with something that could be called a gun.
“It's a hacking gun,” Byakuya explained. “You in particular don't need to know about the hacking part, just the gun part. That device was specifically designed to defend yourself against the Monokumas.”
“The robot bears?”
“… Obviously.”
Byakuya made his way to one of the elevators in the room and pressed the down button.
“Remember to aim for the eye,” he said. “I need you to go to the first floor to meet your escort so that I can stay here and look for more survivors.”
Komaru clung onto Byakuya’s arm as he guided her into the elevator.
“Can I stay with you?” she pleaded. “Pleeeeeaaaase???”
“Sorry, but no,” Byakuya said. “It's too dangerous.”
“But I-!”
“Trust me.”
Byakuya shook her off once more, reached into the elevator and pressed the first floor button.
“Makoto sent me.”
Komaru froze as the doors to the elevator closed.
“… Makoto? M-My brother…? Where's he been?? Is he my escort??? Byakuya!?”
Byakuya could not hear her, or perhaps he ignored her. Soon, Komaru had reached the first floor to meet her escort. The good news is her escort wasn't Makoto. That's only good news because the bad news is that the escort exploded.
“And that's all I remember so far!”
Komaru had awoken on a firm bed within what she would describe as a “prison cell from the future.” Around her wrist was a tight black wristband with a bright red line cutting through the middle. It felt a little heavy and uncomfortable, but she somehow didn’t notice it until she saw it. She didn’t remember ever getting it… perhaps the creature at the foot of her bed knew? Well, it was a person, but it wasn’t quite human. She soon found out that it was yet another boy about her age, but instead of hands and feet, he had terrible claws, and though they were sharp, his face was gentle. His wispy white hair had trailed around his body, markings on his torn clothes dotted his sides a dull red and green, the same colors as his target-like eyes. His snout was narrow, his whiskers long and thin. A long, fluffy tail protruded from his back that wrapped around his body as he was curled up around himself. Even the efforts of his nearly matted fur around his neck and the dark, tight collar that looked much like Komaru’s wristband could not hide the thinness of his bony neck. His frailness and unkempt fur made him look much like a sickly, elderly cat.
Komaru, though surprised by the sight of the young man, didn’t take long to process his existence. He seemed friendly and patient despite his apparent condition. He spoke with a gentle yet raspy voice. Yes, he could indeed speak.
“Greetings,” he had said the moment he realized that Komaru was awake. “Do you remember how you got here?”
Komaru had sat up and done exactly that without question. She didn’t care, it was another person to talk to.
“It was kinda sad seeing the city torn up like that,” she said after reciting everything, “but hey, it's a change of pace in life, I guess.”
“Of all of the hostages, you're the most optimistic,” the boy said.
“Who, me?” Komaru laughed. “Nah, I'm just too tired to scream at whatever gods may or may not be out there, but thanks anyway! So! What's your name, fuzzy fella?”
The creature seemed a little worried about Komaru’s attitude, but she didn’t notice his discomfort.
“The Tamer prefers that everyone calls me by my nickname.”
He placed a paw upon his chest.
“Toto.”
Komaru placed her hand on her chest.
“Komaru.”
Toto gave her a sympathetic smile.
“You'll meet the Warriors themselves shortly,” he continued, his smile fading as he looked down. “… just like everyone else does…”
For once, Komaru noticed the other’s sadness.
“You good?” she asked, tilting her head a little.
After thinking for a few seconds, Toto looked back up at her.
“Komaru, can you make me a promise?”
“That depends on the promise, but I'm listening.”
Komaru waited patiently as Toto took in a long, deep and heavy breath. Something was plaguing his peace of mind.
“My friends and I are imprisoned here,” he said. “If you can win the game you're about to play, we will be freed from our cages… and hopefully, our curses.”
“Curses?” Komaru repeated.
“We used to be completely human,” Toto explained, “but we've been turned into… I'm not even sure what to call it. Weaponized creatures, I suppose. I'm one of the few who can still speak to other humans.”
“… Does this mission involve killing anyone?” Komaru asked. “Just curious.”
“Kill as few as you can, none if any,” Toto said.
“Well, I'm already wondering where my family is,” Komaru said. “I figured that'd be my mission, but I can take a side quest too. I'll do it!”
Komaru takes Toto’s paw and shakes it.
“Thank you,” he said. “I must warn you, the Warriors may release my friends upon you as weapons. Please, do not kill them under any circumstances.”
“You waited until after I promised to say that, didn't you?”
“Well, you are my only hope as of right now.”
They let go of each other’s hands.
“What about everyone else?” Komaru asked. “Y'know, you mentioned how they all meet the Warriors?”
“You're the first person to make that promise with me,” Toto said. “All others assumed it was a trap. It just goes to show how much you care about others… or perhaps how little you care about yourself.”
Komaru silently ignored that last remark. Not waiting for any kind of response, Toto jumped down from the bed, and from the foot of it, retrieved the hacking gun.
“Oh! My gun!,” Komaru gasped gleefully as Toto placed it in front of her. “Thank you!”
Komaru reached over and pulled Toto into a hug. He made a quiet wheezing sound as she squeezed him, but didn’t protest. Komaru couldn’t help but notice how oily, sweaty clammy he felt.
“Are you alright?” Komaru asked as she let the poor creature go. “You feel gross.”
“I'm as good as I'm gonna get right now,” Toto said, not offended by the rather blunt remark.
“Alright…” Komaru sighed. “It’s just that everyone I've met so far doesn't seem well. I don't know if Byakuya survived the bear attack. He's the guy who took care of me while I was trapped, I think.”
“I'm terribly sorry if he didn't survive,” Toto said softly. “On another pressing note... The Warriors will explain everything else you need to know. I'll guide you to them.”
Toto hopped down from the bed once more and approached the door of the cell. Rearing up on his hind legs, he pressed a button on the wall beside the door and stepped back as it opened. Shuffling off of the bed, Komaru latched the hacking gun to the belt of her pants and followed Toto out of the room. Surprise! They were walking through the halls of what appeared to be… a spaceship? At least in Komaru’s eyes. The walls were of metal, lined with softly glowing beams of blue. The floor, however, was a bit out of place. It was a checker pattern, though at every corner the corridor came to there was a large black tile with a white emblem of a four-pointed star haloed by a ring. Checker patterns always reminded Komaru of casinos or American diners. Perhaps the designer wanted to capture the feeling of the latter or had a gambling addiction. Either way, it was tacky. What was worse than the appearance of the place was the smell. It was different from the cell, which smelled of nothing notable, but here there was a faint smell of… Komaru didn’t know what to call it, but it did indeed remind her of a hospital.
“Ugh, it smells like a hospital in this place,” she groaned.
“I too am disgusted by the smell,” Toto agreed. “Hospitals hold no fond memories in my mind.”
Through the winding halls they journeyed, though before they even reached their supposed destination, one of the metal doors they passed by notably had monstrous sounds of roaring and growling coming from behind it. Toto didn’t acknowledge it. He warned of nothing, explained nothing, pardoned nothing. In fact, his gaze may have even been averted. Komaru merely glanced at it. She could probably guess what was behind that door… but ultimately she said nothing. She continued to silently follow Toto until they came to a point where the halls intersected four ways. In the center room was the most forgettable sculpture that Komaru had ever seen, so much so that she had forgotten what it even looked like the moment that Toto guided her away and up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs was a rather large landing for something that held nothing but a set of large double doors on the opposite end of the room. They were notably white, lined with gold and crowned by an ornate glass window above it. Either the glass or the sky was blood red. Komaru could not be sure. Another thing she could not be sure of was if this place wanted to look like a casino, a spaceship, or a cathedral. Regardless of its intentions, it was kind of ugly. Still, it was a new sight, which made it automatically better than being locked up in that godforsaken apartment.
Toto stopped at the center of the room and sat down, waiting for Komaru to catch up with him. When she did, he just looked at her, though she understood what he meant. She approached those large doors and pushed them open. The place they were in had officially decided that it wanted to be a cathedral, for before them was a grand room of marble… or what at least appeared to be marble. One could not trust the appearance of materials these days. The walls were lined with pillars, golden trim and windows and curtains of red. Every small step Komaru made reverberated through the mostly empty room. The only things present within it besides Komaru and Toto were five children in the dead center grouped in a linear formation, staring at her. None of them could have been older than twelve. They all looked rather calm despite the strange situation everyone seemed to be in. In fact, they stared at Komaru as if they knew exactly what was going on, like they had been anticipating her arrival.
The right-most child was dressed mostly in pink with a warm brown hoodie overlaying her puffy skirt and shorts. There were long white and pink striped stockings beneath her tall brown boots. Her hair was long, even while styled in pigtails topped with a headband that gave her big pink devil horns, all tied together with a little white bow above her bangs. Were her eyes also pink, or was that just a trick on Komaru’s eyes played by the smiling little girl’s rosy cheeks?
The second child had a rather stern look on his face, his blue eyes glaring daggers into Komaru. It was a stare that she was familiar with, but she wasn’t exactly intimidated by him. His hair was short and light blue with two pointed cowlicks that reminded Komaru a bit of cat ears… or perhaps another set of devil horns? His outfit was rather plain, with a pale blue coat and shorts blanketing a darker blue shirt. The sleeves were long like the darker blue stockings that met at his feet with a pair of hook and loop shoes that matched the color of his coat. Around his neck was a striped golden-orange scarf. Overall, it was hard to determine the kind of weather that this kid was dressed for, but he seemed very serious about himself.
The child in the center of the group sat in a red wheelchair. Her eyes were bright green, and though she donned a sweet and innocent face, something about her stare was haunting. Her short curly hair sort of reminded Komaru of pickles. Besides her big red bows atop her head and around the neck of her dark blue dress, the only other notable thing about her was the wolf plush that she was holding upon her lap.
The fourth child finally broke the pattern of hair color matching eye color. His eyes were blue, but his spiky hair and bushy eyebrows were a screaming blood orange. He appeared to be a sporty kid, wearing a striped black and orange shirt beneath a white tank top with denim shorts and sports sneakers. He also wore white headphones, but not even those could suppress his fiery hair. He held a baseball bat over his shoulder in a proud manner.
The left-most child was probably the least excited of them all. In fact, they looked rather sullen. They wore a mask of leather scraps that shielded their face with the exception of their mouth and pale eyes. Dark plastic wire mesh circles covered their ears and a few other spots on their head possibly just for ventilation, but the purpose of the breathing tube that hung in front of their chin was uncertain. They were mostly dressed in brown, their body almost entirely obscured by a long dress shirt with sleeves that went far over their hands. Around their waist was a belt of various little sculpting tools, more of which could be seen protruding from the lid of a white randoseru upon their back.
…
Komaru waved to the five children.
“Hullo!”
“See? I told you guys we should've made our outfits at the Halloween store,” said the sullen child. “Not every Demon is gonna be afraid of us on sight.”
“You know darn well I can't walk through Halloween stores with those crappy decorations that pop out at you!” the girl in pink snapped.
“Guys! Shut up!”
The other children looked to the sporty kid.
“We have to do the thing!” he said. “The protoceratops or whatever it's called.”
“Protocol,” the stern boy corrected.
“Yeah, that,” said the sporty kid, rolling his eyes. “Dinosaurs are cooler but that's what I meant.”
“You have a point,” Komaru said.
“SILENCE, DEMON!”
“Oh my bad.”
“I mean like, thanks for agreeing with me, but shut up. I'm gonna start the Protoceratops now. And I'm calling it that because dinosaurs are awesome and I want to call it that, not because I'm dense.”
Komaru should have guessed early on that these kids had no intention of being peaceful with her. Hell, they could barely remain peaceful with each other, what with the stern boy redirecting his glare of daggers to the sporty kid. The only child who didn’t seem to want to argue in that moment was the girl in the wheelchair. The children all then focused on Komaru.
“We are the Warriors of Hope!” the sporty kid proudly announced. “Thanks to our val-i-ant efforts, the world of Demons has been van-quished, making way for a peaceful and pros-per-ous world for children who shall no longer live in fear of the wrath of adults!”
...
“… Jataro, it's your turn.”
The sullen kid flinched as the sporty kid said his name.
“Oh, right, sorry…” he mumbled before raising his own voice. “Demons brought us nothing but sorrow and led us to fall into a deep pit of despair. We were only rescued when our Goddess chose us as the heroes of our people, and guided us to slay those who had hurt us. She then told us that we were destined to create a Paradise for all children and free us from the world of adults once and for all!”
“From this, we crafted a game we call "Demon Hunting," where we release our captured Demons and hunt them down,” the girl in pink continued on cue. “Whichever one of us kills the most Demons by the time all Demons have been eliminated wins the right to rule our new world. Do not underestimate our power, as we are the five chosen Lil' Ultimates of Hope's Peak Elementary, and have trained to optimize our abilities.”
“You have been chosen as our next Demon,” said the stern kid. “Together, we will cast you into our new world-”
“THE PARACHUTE!”
The rest of the children scowled at Jataro, minus the girl in the wheelchair, who just looked a tad bit disappointed.
“Uhhh we forgot to give the last Demon a parachute,” Jataro said. “That just kinda ruined the fun early.”
Komaru felt a slight nudge as Toto had begun carefully strapping a parachute to her back. It must have been difficult with his claws, so she remained as still as she could.
“… Er, thank you, Jataro,” the stern boy reluctantly said before continuing. “Together, we will cast you into our new world, our Paradise! You only have so much time to see what the whole world will look like after you've left it! Who will it be who hunts you down? Will it be…”
“Masaru, the Fighter!” shouted the sporty kid.
“Jataro, the Priest!” piped up Jataro, whose name had already been uttered multiple times in annoyance.
“Kotoko, the Tamer!” the girl in pink said cutely.
“Nagisa, the Sage!” said the stern boy firmly.
“Or Monaca, the Mage?” the girl in the wheelchair nearly whispered.
The girl now known as Monaca retrieved a small remote with a big red button from her pocket, aiming it in Komaru’s direction.
“Demon, do you have any last words before the Hunt begins?” she asked with that haunting voice of hers.
Komaru stared blankly. She looked back at Toto, who was sitting a little far back by the door. He looked gloomy, but there was a gleam of hope in his eyes…
...
“… Hey, I'm sorry, I kinda zoned out for most of that,” Komaru said. “Could you guys repeat what you said?”
The children stared at Komaru for a few seconds with the most disappointment she had ever seen on the faces of children before Monaca promptly pressed the button. Before she knew it, the ground beneath Komaru had vanished, and she was swallowed into a deep red sky. In that moment, she screamed, and though she would later find that it should have been more so in fear, for now it was mostly with excitement to feel the wind on her face again, to feel some kind of rush of adrenaline, to breathe the murky outside air...
Finally, something, anything was happening.
