Part 2: Prologue, Part 2

: ............Nng?





: Wh-What...? Where am I?

I woke up with my head resting on top of a hard wooden desk. My body feels...heavy. It's pretty normal for me to zonk off in the middle of some boring class or whatever, but... What was I doing asleep here just now? This isn't a classroom I've ever been in before.

: What the heck is going on...?







: Welcome to Hope's Peak Academy! Firstly, we'd like to explain the basic controls. You can use the left stick to adjust your aim. You can also tap the touch screen to place the reticle. If you aim at an object you can interact with, you can press the X button or tap the screen... And presto! You'll investigate that object. Use the directional buttons or the L and R buttons to adjust your viewpoint. Why don't you try looking around the classroom?



: Welcome to the gameplay. As the tutorial text said, you can move the cursor to suspicious objects to examine them. It's not unlike an adventure game. Lots of objects are just there for flavor text.
: I'm recording this LP from a Playstation TV, so I don't have access to the touch controls the Vita version of the game allows for. This means I can't comment on how useful they are but I find using the analog stick to move the cursor to be no problem at all.



: When you move the cursor over something that you can examine, you'll see this line with a magnifying glass trail out from the object. Then just push X to see what it is.



It's a dangerous world we live in. I guess they have these to keep weirdos from just wandering in.



In any normal classroom, that's where a window should be. But it looks like some kind of metal plate has been bolted over it. And if I were to knock on it... *Bang bang*

: Yup. Definitely metal. Thick, too. Very solid.

Wait, that's not what matters here. More importantly, why are there metal plates over the windows?



It was just after 7 when I first got here. Has it really been almost and hour since then?



The school *is* funded by the national government, so I guess it's not that weird to have TVs in here... Something feels...off. I wonder what it is...



: Alright, so the object on the desk is the most obvious thing we'd want to check. Let's see what it is.

That's the desk I fell asleep on. I can still see a line of drool I must have left there.

: I'll have to clean that up later...



: An orientation guide...? It's some kind of cheap-looking pamphlet. And there's something handwritten on it.

"The next semester is about to start. Starting today, this school will be your entire world."

: What the hell? Is this someone's idea of a joke?



: Okay, let's see. So what might have happened is...

I got myself so wound up, I passed out in the main hall. And then someone carried me here...? If that's true it must mean... This is a classroom inside Hope's Peak.

: But then if *that's* true...

That just raises more questions. This is all really strange. I mean, those metal plates covering the windows... It's like it's a prison or something. None of this makes any sense...

: I should probably head back to the main hall. It's already past the meeting time. There might be other students there now.
: You can leave the classroom by pressing the Circle button.
: So let's go see what the hallway looks like.





: Jeez... This hallway is kind of weird, too.

This is getting stranger by the second. I honestly have no idea what's going on...

: Well, for now I'll just head to the main hall...
: Use the left stick to move through the hallway. Hold down the Circle button while moving to run.



: Also, you can press the Triangle button to bring up a map. Press the Triangle button again to close the map. How convenient!
: The hallways are full 3D spaces. You can walk around in them to get to wherever you need to go. If I remember right, in the original PSP version, you couldn't run with Circle until you got a skill for it later on. This version doesn't do that and instead lets you run from the start. How convenient, indeed.



: So we started in classroom 1-A. There's also a classroom 1-B right over here, though we can't enter it right now.



"Despair Hotel"...? I guess it's a place for people to stay overnight. But anyway, I need to get to the main hall...!







: There are a variety of other doors around the area but they all give similar messages when you examine them. This open one in the middle of the hall is the door we're looking for.



By the time I got back to the main hall...everyone else was already there.





???: Whoa, hey! Another new kid?

: Huh? Then you guys are all...?

???: Yeah... We're all new here. Today's supposed to be out first day of class.

???: So counting him, that makes fifteen. Seems like a good cut-off point, but I wonder if this is everyone.
Standing before me were the "Ultimate Students" that had been hand-picked by the school. I looked around at everyone who'd gathered there, taking in their faces one at a time. Maybe I was just imagining it, but I swear I could feel a kind of aura coming from each of them...







: Um...how's it going? My name's Makoto Naegi. Sorry I'm late. A bunch of stuff happened, and then all of a sudden I was just...asleep.



: Whoa, you too?



: Things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser...



: So strange... I declare beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is a strange situation indeed!
: Um...what are you talking about? I honestly have no idea what's going on right now.



: Just a moment! There's something else we must address!



: Makoto! 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.



: Everyone just calm down! Listen, why don't we all go around and introduce ourselves?



: The hell!? Now's no time for friggin' introductions!



: Maybe, but it may be good to at least find out who we all are before digging into the bigger problems here. I mean, how are we even supposed to talk to each other if we do not know each other's names?



: That's a good point...



: Okay, so let's get introductions out of the way, then we can move on to whatever else. Sound good?

I'm still totally lost, but I think it's best to just focus on getting to know each other for now. So I guess this is as good a chance as I'm gonna get. I already looked everyone up on that Hope's Peak Academy thread online, but... I still don't really know what kind of people they actually are. Time to find out...



I'll start by talking to those five over there.

: Aim at a student and press the X button to talk to them. Each conversation is important to the overall story, so keep track of how they go.
: We will begin meeting people next time.