First Friends

Kakeru Yamaguchi grew up in a lonely life. He has no friends in elementary school due to his height as not only he was the tallest kid in his grade, but the tallest kid in school! He was teased; always picked last in various sport games, have his teacher pick out his group in class since no one wanted him to work with him and he’s usually by himself during recess.

It got worst in middle school when he gained muscles and start having a scary face. The kids who bullied him back in elementary school, are now scared of him! Like every time he approach someone, they look and runaway in fear. Even the local delinquents stayed away from him as they know he’s big, strong and can take them out in one punch! But what they didn’t know that Kakeru never liked using violence and that he actually hates his muscles and appearance!

It doesn’t get better whenever he goes around town to buy a student bus pass or a movie ticket; he gets looks due his older appearance. What they thought is a grown-up lying about his age so he can get cheap tickets. But in reality, he’s an actual teenager who just has a huge growth spurt.

Then at the private law firm that he used to interned, he get along with the other lawyers. But besides talking about the latest case or trial, they don’t have anything in common as they’re older and talk adult stuff, compared to Kakeru since he’s a teenager.

The only people that he’s close with are his family. It’s embarrassing; he’s not going to lie. The fact they know his appearance is causing him to get picked on in school sucks. But at least he’s trying his best. And it helps that he’s one of the brightest students there too as he rather spend most of his time at home, reading and studying for class than going out and causing trouble for himself and his family.

But if you pick which family member he’s the closest to, it’s his younger sister, Midori. When he’s not at school, studying or at the courthouse, he’s spending time with her. It’s mainly because she was born with bad health, something that he blames himself for as he feel like he took all the health away from her. She keeps telling him, it’s not his fault and instead blames it on her being unlucky. Either way, he tries to help her out as much as he can.

When Midori start attending school and making friends on her own, Kakeru feels sad that even though she spend some time at the hospital due to her health, she can make friends with no problem! Seeing that makes him jealous and vows to work on his social skills, in hoping to gain just one friend.

High school didn’t get any better. Kakeru had one of the best scores in the entrance exams and people at his new school still won’t go near him! He wish he can join an after school club, but his internship at the law office keeps him from doing that. Even if he didn’t work as a lawyer, no one wanted him in their clubs anyway! So instead, he kept his head low in class and studied hard so he can pass the college exams and get into the best law school in Japan.

Then something happened. During Kakeru’s 2nd year in high school, he got accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy, a special school that accepted only students who excel at their personal fields. Many say it’s one of the best schools in Japan and that once you attend the school, you are set for life. This would look great for Kakeru’s resume and improve his chances for law school…no, almost every law office in Japan want him on their firm, even before he can get to graduate from the school!

People’s opinion of him started to change as they heard he got accepted to Hope’s Peak. Students at his high school started to get friendly around him and ask him tips on how to get in themselves. Of course, he know that the school only accepted the best of the best and most of them have no talent that will even improve their chances. And plus, you have to get scouted out by the school itself! Of course doing what he does the best, Kakeru avoids them in hoping for them to get leave him alone and mind their own business.

At the law firm, the lawyers are a little better about him attending Hope’s Peak. They said that they’re going to miss him around here and hope for the best. They also tell him that some of the best lawyers in Japan attended the school and have successful careers after graduating from there. So, they think that he’s going to be okay.

But one of the lawyers noticed something strange: Hope’s Peak Academy has already accepted students for the school year. Why are they accepting new students now? The others caught on and agreed with him. It’s July and now the school are accepting more students!?!

An older lawyer in the back said he knows why: there have been rumors of an incident at Hope’s Peak Academy and the school board are trying to sweep it under the rug by admitting new students as a form of a distraction. What incident that happened at the school he doesn’t know, but he warns Kakeru to be careful and to watch his back.

The rest tells the man to stop being overdramatic and that he’s just jealous that the youngest member of their firm is going to an elite school, where he’s guarantee for life. One even reminded the old man that it took him three times before he got admitted into a university! The man got angry at the lawyer, saying there were reasons why he failed the college entrance exam TWICE!

During summer break, Kakeru left his old high school and transferred to Hope’s Peak Academy. At least one good thing that came out of this is the chance for him to start on a new page, away from the kids at his old school who bullied him when he was younger and the people from his town who glared at him and was intimidated by his appearance. But one the downside, this mean he’s far away from his family and Midori, who could end up in the hospital on a short notice and the lawyers at the law firm that he respected.

Then September came, which means the start of the new semester at Hope’s Peak Academy. So far, things seemed okay. The students are bit nicer here compared to the ones from his old high school. Kakeru enjoyed interning at a law firm where most Hope’s Peak students whose talent was related to law, worked at. But the one strange thing about the school is that during the Welcome Orientation, the headmaster told him and the new students to stay away from the Reserve Course students and not talk about the things that are going on in the school.

It looked like the old lawyer was on to something.

So, Kakeru should keep an eye out on anything suspicious around the school. But at the same time, he doesn’t want to anything that could get him in trouble and probably get him expelled, which would bring shame to his family. Like he did at his old school, keep his head low and focus on his classwork and internship instead.

As for his classmates, Kakeru finds them…very interesting. Unlike his classmates from his old school, most of them very sociable and have strong personalities. Because of that, he sometimes returns to his dorm room with a headache from being around some of them. Despite that, it seems that they are willing to be around him, which is a good sign. Too bad his timid and shy personality had to ruin everything. Especially when he stutters every time he talks to someone as it’s not too common for them to talk to him in the first place because of his appearance!

In his new class, there are 15 students who managed to talk and to get to know him better.

His first classmate is Mitsuhiro Higa, or “Mitch” who wants people to call him by. He’s the Ultimate Soccer Player and like Kakeru, is athletic. Too bad he’s a total asshole and a creep. One time, Kakeru caught him saying some vulgar comments on one of their female classmates. Rightfully, he called Mitch out from his comments, saying that his mother raised him to respect women and not tolerate those who can’t.

Not surprisingly, Mitch took offense of what Kakeru said and told the muscular teen that he’s famous, can get away with stuff like that and that he’s better than him. He even tells him that no girl will ever date him due to his stuttering! Let just say Kakeru made a right choice by not punching Mitch in the face, even though he does deserve it.

His next classmate is Ayame Hatano, the Ultimate Sprinter. Like him and Mitch, she’s also an athletic. Unlike Mitch, she’s much nicer to him and the others. Another thing about her is that she takes talent, very seriously to the point that if you don’t see her in the classroom; she’s at the track field running. And also, she likes to go on a long ramble about her talent and other things, which causes Kakeru to get a headache from how much talking he hears from Ayame.

Next is Haruhiko Kobashikawa, the Ultimate Pilot. Haruhiko or “Haru” is a very friendly and sociable guy to be around with. The fact he first flew an airplane was both impressive and at the same time, scary for Kakeru to comprehend. Like Mitch, he’s a pervert, but he’s less likely to be gross about it.

Then there are Haru’s two friends that he tends to hang around with: Teruya Otori, the Ultimate Merchant, the short one who dreams to become head of his family store (which there are a few in Kakeru’s town) and Satsuki Iranami, the Ultimate Clown, whose known for her goofy personality and saying silly things.

Together, the three of them tend to do some crazy things around the school. Some that can get them in trouble! They sometime causes Kakeru to get a headache just from being near them!

Next is Kiyoka Maki, the Ultimate Sniper. Despite her talent, she wants to be a normal teenager instead of being an assassin. And for some reason, she likes hanging out with the trio above. She thinks they lighten the place and she enjoys that. Kiyoka also has a bad habit of speaking before thinking, which got her into trouble with some of their classmates. Other than that, she’s really friendly toward others.

Then there’s Kizuna Tomori, the Ultimate Cheerleader. Kakeru doesn’t like her. One time, she flirted with him, saying he’s attractive and has a handsome face (something that no one told him before). And because of his talent, he makes good amount of money and she wants him to give her money, so she can by expensive things for herself. There was even one time she tried to make a move on him and he told her no! Thankfully Ayame and Kiyoka dragged her away from him as another classmate of their; Akane Taira apologized for Kizuna’s behavior.

Speaking of Akane, who’s the Ultimate Maid, there is something real strange about her. Like, she’s a nice person who usually spends her time cooking meals in the cafeteria or cleaning their rooms. But there’s something about her that throws Kakeru off, like she has a dark side or something…

It appears that Kakeru is not the only person in their class that has a strange feeling about Akane. Mikako Kurokawa, the Ultimate Exorcist, can see something dark about her too. Of course, this is part of her talent as Mikako can sense evil auroras and perform rituals to prevent it or remedy the situation. When she’s not busy performing rituals, she’s bubbly, talkative and is LOUD! Like, she might be louder than when he speaks in court!

Besides Akane, there’s another person that both Kakeru and Mikako has strange feelings about, Yuki Maeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student. For some reason, he doesn’t want to hang with anyone in their class. He won’t talk to them, join any events that some of them planned or even hang out with them during the weekend; just nothing. Then there’s the fact he doesn’t show any emotion at all. Like, Yuki looks gloomy and depressed.

Despite that, at least Akane and Yamato Kisargi, the Ultimate Inventor, tries to talk and hang with him.

Speaking of Yamato, he’s a really nice, has a strong personality, friendly and gets along with others. He’s also known for some of the inventions, which makes him highly intelligent. He’s one of the few people that Kakeru gets along very well. Too bad anytime the two speak, Yamato tends to talk about technology and science, which sometimes confused Kakeru since he only know basic technology, like computers.

Another smart classmate of his is Tsurugi Kinjo, the Ultimate Police Officer. He’s nice, brilliant and likes to play chess with Yamato when he’s not busy investigating or doing something work related. However, he and Kakeru don’t get along when it comes how the legal system works. Tsurugi hates criminals, thinking there the reason society could never get rid of evil and believes that they’re unredeemable. He even told Kakeru that he read about him defending a client who murdered a man due to self-defense and believes that the defendant got off too easy. Like with Mitch, Kakeru tries to restraint himself from getting into a heated argument with the cop.

At least the smartest student in his class, Rei Mekaru, the Ultimate Professor, is wise enough to not get into petty arguments like he did with Tsurugi. But Rei is very aloof and has the “I’m not here to make friends” mentality. After all, Rei had to grow up faster than him and most of their classmates and she was teaching college courses in the United States, so it’s expected. Despite that, she and Kakeru have conservation on the legal system, some of the most famous cases and such.

Out all of the people in his class, Kakeru has managed to make some friends. One of them is Kinji Uehara, the Ultimate Priest. At first, Kakeru worried that Kinji might shove his religious beliefs down his throat as he and his family aren’t that religious to begin with. Yeah, they go to the local temple on New Year’s Day to pray for a good year ahead. Or pray for Midori’s recovery whenever she ends up sick again.

Especially, the time where he has to defend a client who was accused of robbing from a mega church who the defendant believes that the church was using money for themselves and not for the poor that they were supposed to help. Kakeru successful have his client plead on a lesser charge when he later found out that the church wasn’t paying their taxes…

When he was told of that, Kinji apologized, saying that there are people who strived against what the good book said for their own selfish means. At least he agreed what that church did was wrong and that they should’ve used that money to help the poor by running a shelter.

As for Kakeru’s beliefs, Kinji won’t scold him for being non-religious and won’t force his own view of faith onto others as respect the freedom of religion of different individuals. It was thanks to Kinji, Kakeru sees religion in a different view.

But that’s not all, Kakeru then learned that he and Kinji has something in common. They love to read and they often talk about philology, meaning of life and like with Rei, how the legal system work since Kinji relieved that he once lived in Italy, where the law works differently than in Japan. Sometimes, they would talk for hours and hours until it was nighttime.

That was when Kinji became Kakeru’s first friend.

But Kakeru made another friend at Hope’s Peak: Katana Inori. She’s special compared to the rest. When he first met her, she reminded him of Midori as she’s small. But she’s also very smart as she’s the Ultimate Surgeon, whose been practicing under her father’s watch at the hospital they worked at. She’s also friendly and calm as talking to her will make your problems go away.

Of course, she gets mad whenever you hurt yourself if you’re not being too careful or sees that you didn’t sleep too well the night before. Then there’s the fact she like to remind everyone to take care of their health when winter came in and people start getting sick. Of course, she works at the hospital, so this is normal for her.

The two gets along well as they both share the same interest of staying healthy and helping out others. It also make Kakeru feel comfortable that she’s a medical professional as she understand the struggles of Midori’s health issue and whenever she ends in the hospital again, Katana tells him that she’ll be thinking about her and pray for her recovery. For his part, he tends to help her out in the infirmary like carrying heavy boxes and reaching for things on the shelves that are taller than her.

For that, Kanata became Kakeru’s second friend.

Then for some reason, every time she’s near him or they’re talking, his face turns red and has knots in his stomach. He doesn’t know why it’s there and doesn’t know how to make it go away. He wants to talk to someone about it, but he’s worried that they might tell the class about it instead. Of course, it doesn’t stop Mikako from sensing it and tells him why: he has a crush on Kanata.

For Kakeru, that’s new as prior to coming here, he never had a crush on anyone before. He finds this strange as he thought he’ll be lonely for the rest of his life as his scary appearance keeps them away from him. But the fact he has feelings for Kanata makes this special as he likes her for her kindness, being calm, understanding and that he finds her cute. He’s surprised that no one made a move on her. Not even Mitch as he thinks Kanata isn’t his type. It’s probably for the best that he doesn’t.

That’s when Kakeru decided that he was going to work up his courage to ask Katana out on a date. He wants to do something small like a having dinner at a restaurant or visiting a park, but nothing too big or flashy. Maybe she’ll say yes and if things go smoothly, she might even agree to be his girlfriend…

Too bad he never had a chance as a few months later, something terrible has happened. The Reserve Course students started getting violent. Fights started break out as they attacked the Ultimate students for having more talent than they have. Kakeru got into one himself when he was trying to separate the Reserve Course student from an Ultimate student and got a cut on his leg for his troubles. Kanata heavily scolded him for getting himself in harm’s way as she treated his injury.

Then the Tragedy struck. It came with no warning. The Reserve Course students are now killing the students and these strange robots that look like a bear started attacking them too. Kakeru and the others were in their classroom when a dying student tells the class to run before the bear killed them. It was thanks to Yamato, they managed to escape from the school by riding on a utility truck that then takes them to a Kisargi Foundation Laboratory on an island.

Kakeru is thankful that Yamato is helping him and the others get to safety from all this mess. But even then, he worries about what happened to the people back at home. The kids, who bullied him and later ran away from him, are they okay?

The townsfolk who glared at him for buying a student bus pass; he knows that some are old and wondered if they can survive the Tragedy.

Then what about his old colleagues at the law firm; it looks like that old lawyer was right on there was something wrong with Hope’s Peak Academy. He hopes that they can make it through.

Then there his family, he’s worried about them the most. They’re not as strong as he is, especially Midori, who might not get the medical treatment she needs during all this. He’s worried that she and his family might die and there is nothing he can do about it. Maybe once the Tragedy dies down; he can look for her and his family and get them help. For now, he has to hide for his safety.

Even the safe of staying on the island wasn’t enough. Eventually those robots, called “Monokuma”, invaded the laboratory and started killing the scientists before started attacking him and his classmates. The class has to scatter in order to hide from them. Kakeru was one of them as he hid in the closet with Kanata and Kinji, his two close friends. Katana said that she feels safe in there thanks to being surrounded by two tall men. This made Kakeru’s face turn red in embarrassment. Man, if only this never happened and they to have a normal life instead.

But this was short lived as the Monokumas got into the closet and took out its’ claw. Using his physical might, Kakeru corned it into a wall and tells his friends to make a run for it. Sadly the closet door closed and it was locked from the outside, which trapped the three with the monstrous thing. It was the last thing Kakeru remembered before getting knocked out by the robot.

When Kakeru later woke up, he has lost all his memories of attending Hope’s Peak Academy. The people that he met, talked and worked with. And course, the two friends that he held close to his heart.

Instead, he gets to see his classmates kill each other, go on trial to see whose guilty of murdering one of them, watch the killer get executed by their “teacher” Monokuma and seeing his remaining classmates, isolating themselves from the rest as they can’t trust them; all for the name of despair.

But the worst part is that Kakeru would be later killed by one of his friends. The friend that he trusted, respected, who understands and won’t judge him for being different. The one who gives him hope for a better future.

Now, it will never happen as he lay down, dying on the art room floor. The fact he couldn’t save Kanata sucks. Whatever happens to her, he hopes Kinji won’t kill her in a brutal way like he did.

Only if things were different, this wouldn’t have to happen.