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Nobody ever understood what it meant to be the ultimate poser.
Well, Crispin knew. But of course Crispin knew. He was the ultimate poser.
No biggie.
Crispin Smith was more than just your average high school student. He was an ultimate, the cream of the crop when it came to one particular thing. That thing just so happened to be the art of being a poser.
Not someone who poses for pictures, but someone who is expertly able to weave themselves into any conversation, and to pose as a fan or even expert on any given topic.
Truthfully, Crispin wouldn’t have considered himself the ultimate poser, but when the acceptance letter came in the mail, he accepted happily. This was his chance to prove himself to people, and to make some real friends! Maybe, if he was lucky, a girlfriend! That wasn’t his main goal or anything, but attending an ultimate academy would certainly help his chances…
Now, he hadn't been accepted into one as prestigious as Hope’s Peak or anything. This was a local place that had recently opened an ultimate wing. That was fine though, Crispin didn’t like traveling abroad anyway, so this worked out! Although, he wasn’t aware there were any other ultimate academies before Hope’s Peak. Maybe this was just the first of its kind?
Okay well…
Second of its kind.
Whatever, either way it sounded totally sick!
Crispin Smith. The ultimate poser… Yeah… He liked the sound of that.
Ugh…
Crispin’s head felt like it had been hit by a semi-truck. All he could feel was an intense pounding sensation as his eyes slowly opened and his vision returned to him.
Blurry…
Blurry…
Still blurry… But getting more into focus when-
“WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!” A loud voice screeched at him.
The hands that were likely attached to that voice suddenly and rather violently grabbed Crispin lifting him up from what appeared to have been a desk he had been sitting at.
“Whuh?” Crispin muttered as his vision snapped back to him.
Holding him by the scruff of his shirt collar, was a girl. She had dirtied blonde hair, blazing blue eyes, scars lining her arms, and an expression of pure rage plastered on her face.
“Where the fuck are we?” She growled at him.
“Woah uh, hey.” Crispin said with an awkward laugh. “Uh… I don’t know?”
The girl scowled, eyed him up and down for a second, and then threw him back to the desk he had awoken at.
“Fuck!” The girl screamed out.
“Ugh-” Crispin grumbled, getting to his feet.
Alright Crispin, what happened?
Thinking back, his memory was a bit foggy, but he could vaguely remember arriving at Lake Braddock’s ultimate wing for orientation when…
Nothing…
The next thing he remembered was waking up here. Had he zonked out?
“Hey uh, are you an ultimate?” Crispin managed out at the girl who was inspecting what appeared to be a metal barrier against the wall.
“Huh?” She turned to him. She looked annoyed, but significantly less bloodthirsty than she had a few seconds ago. That was progress, right?
“Well… The last thing I remember was getting ready to attend the ultimate program so-”
“What’s your title?” She asked curtly.
“I’m Crispin Smith, the ultimate poser!”
“Poser?”
“Yup!”
“Like… a model or…?”
“Like posing as something or someone. It means I’m good at fitting in!”
“Ah…”
“...”
“...”
“So are you gonna tell me yours or…?” Crispin asked after the awkward silence.
“Emily.”
“Ah no way that’s such a pretty name.” Crispin laughed. Emily rolled her eyes. “So what’s your title?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She said, turning her attention to the only door out of the classroom.
“What are we doing here?” Crispin asked, taking a moment to get a full read on his surroundings.
“No clue, I woke up here right before you did. Both of our phones are missing, and the door is locked.”
Crispin checked his pocket, his phone was indeed missing… Wait, did that mean she had-
“And…” Emily cut his internal voice off. “Pretty sure those used to be the windows.” Emily pointed at the barriers on the far walls.
“What? But they’re all blocked off!” Crispin said, realizing only now that the sizing and placement did seem to match. He hadn't even fully clocked it but these did not belong in a normal classroom.
What was going on?
“Yeah… No shit.” Emily sounded less than enthused to be talking with him. Probably just an act, playing hard to get and all that.
“So… we’re stuck in here?” Crispin asked.
“That’s what I just said.” Emily sounded even more annoyed now.
“Well, then we gotta get out!” Crispin concluded.
“Fucking obviously.” Emily said, annoyance growing again.
“What do you remember before waking up here? Maybe it could help us figure out what’s going on.” Crispin suggested, secretly just interested in learning this girl's deal. He thought he was pretty subtle about it.
“Not relevant.” She said turning to face the door again as if sizing it up.
“I mean it could be-”
“I said…” Emily snarled. “NOT RELEVANT!” As she yelled this, her fist shot out beside her and slammed into the door. The force from it seemed enough to force the lock to undo and the door swung open harmlessly.
Crispin might have jumped at that, but he wasn’t entirely sure himself. Either way, Emily wasted no time wandering out of the door before flipping around to give Crispin one final warning.
“Don’t follow me, you’re annoying and I don’t like you.” With that, she turned on the spot again and left.
…
Yeah… She was totally just playing hard to get. Alright, don’t worry, Crispin Smith sees the game you’re playing. That’s fine, cause Crispin Smith is more than willing to play along heh-heh.
Arriving in the packed cafeteria, Crispin glanced around to get a check on the vibe. Including the three girls he had entered with, he could see four more girls as well as five other boys present in the room.
One of those girls appeared to be walking up to Crispin and the other three girls, her strut was confident. Bossy. Like she owned the place.
Now it wasn’t that Crispin didn’t think he could get through to her, it was just that he saw another target off in the distance that caught his eye. The undeniably vibrant flash of red! Crispin chose to… take his leave for the time being from the group he had been traveling with and to check out what else was going on in the room. After all, he had to make himself known.
Slipping away right as the bossy brunette stopped the group he had previously been a part of, he weaved his way towards the red head.
“Yo hey, what’s up?” He asked casually to the red-head who turned to face him.
“Oh uh, hi.” She said tentatively.
“So… you wake up in here too? I’m Crispin by the way.”
“Uh, Ari, yeah. I think everyone here did.”
“Yeah yeah sweet.” Crispin nodded along. “Hey, is that an Orange Siced shirt?”
There we go, zone in on the interests. Play off of that!
“Uh… yeah I guess?” Ari said, looking down at the shirt she was wearing.
“That’s super cool!” Crispin said enthusiastically. “That’s like my favorite soft drink.”
“I mean yeah, it’s fine I guess.” Ari said, glancing to her side awkwardly.
“Yeah…” Crispin replied airily.
“Um… I’ve gotta go.” Ari said after a brief pause.
“No, what?” Crispin said, disappointed.
“Yeah but uh… See you around?”
Why did that sound more like a question than a firm statement? Damn… These girls were tricky…
As Ari left him behind to go talk to another girl in the crowd, Crispin was then met by a new face. A boy with spiky brown hair clad in a gray hoodie.
“Sup.” The boy said. “My name’s Kyle.”
“Oh hey, yeah I’m Crispin.” Crispin said.
“Saw you were chatting up the red-head?” Kyle said, glancing back at Ari.
“Yeah but she was like, totally dismissive.”
“Yeah, they’re all playing pretty hard to get. I bet it’s just cause’a the worry about the whole kidnapping thing.” Kyle waved his hands upon uttering the word kidnapping.
“Kidnapping? Nah that’s crazy, this is probably just some weird orientation or something.”
“Exactly, but I guess girls will be girls, eh?”
“Yeah.” Crispin nodded along. Finally, somebody speaking sense! “I’m sure they’ll all lighten up once everything turns out alright.”
“Exactly!” Kyle said with a toothy grin. “I ain’t worried. I’m sure everything will turn out alright!”
“Although, if they are worried, then that means something else…” Crispin said, deep in thought.
“Yeah?” Kyle asked.
“Well, if they feel scared, then it’s our job to protect them! Even if there’s nothing to be scared of.”
“Oh yeah you’re right! Well that shouldn’t be a problem, all we have to do is put on a brave face until this all blows over and we’ll be revered!” Kyle sounded excited now.
Boom. Ultimate poser at work!
Yeah this was a weird start to the day, but Crispin trusted it would all work out.
So… Things had gotten worse. After being summoned to the gym, the students had been informed by a walking talking teddy bear that they were all going to take part in his killing game.
They were to be held here permanently and only allowed to leave if they killed another student and got away with it. Specifically, only one person could become what Monokuma (the walking talking teddy bear in question) had described as The Blackened. Then, if they got away with it, all of the other innocent or Spotless students who failed to sniff out the killer would be executed!
That didn’t sound like normal orientation.
That didn’t sound like a normal school life.
After this the students had decided to explore the school, Kyle and Crispin had both decided to team up and return to the cafeteria. If they were going to be trapped in this building, then they’d have to make the most of it.
“You know…” Crispin said, pushing open the bamboo double doors that led into the dining hall. “This could be an opportunity.”
“Huh?” Kyle asked, it seemed he had been lost in thought about something on the trek here.
“Think about it, the girls will all be scared, right? We should do something to make them feel more at ease!”
“Oh yeah, but like what?”
“Well, we’re in a school and stuff, so we should make a club.” Crispin decided. “Ultimates against the killing game!”
“Oh yeah…” Kyle said as if the idea was just dawning on him. “That’s pretty clever!”
Yeah, Crispin could be pretty clever when he wanted sometimes.
No biggie.
“In fact…” Kyle continued. “I bet that would make us like, really reliable too! Everyone would totally trust in us to help out!”
“Yeah exactly!” Crispin confirmed.
“Alright… But we need more members. A club can’t just be two people.” Kyle said, bringing a thumb to his chin.
As if to answer his prayers, the double doors swung open again and in entered two other students that the duo had met earlier. Kelly and Hunter.
“Oh hey!” Crispin waved them over, Hunter looked impatient but Kelly wasted no time in bounding over to them. Hunter followed reluctantly.
“Heyyyy! What’s up?” Kelly asked in a surprisingly chipper voice given what had just been announced less than an hour ago.
“Me and Crispin were talking…” Kyle began. “And we’ve decided we’re going to form a club!”
“Yeah?” Hunter asked disinterestedly.
“Yup! Ultimates against the killing game.” Crispin nodded. “We’ll like, step in and make sure nobody commits any murders!”
“Aw that’s sweet!” Kelly said.
Sweet? It was freaking rad. But whatever, Crispin could deal with Sweet too.
“So, you guys wanna join?” Kyle asked confidently.
“Uh… join what?” Hunter asked.
“Our club.” Crispin reminded him.
“Right… But what do you actually do?”
“Huh?”
“Like… A club is supposed to do something. Like, I respect saying no to the killing game and all that but… Why a club?”
“Well…” Crispin started before trailing off.
Uh…
…
I mean…
…
Shit.
“Well I think it’s a swell idea!” Kelly said.
“So you’ll join?” Crispin shot up in excitement at the prospect of a girl joining his club.
“Nah.” Kelly beamed.
Oh.
“It’s a sweet idea, but I don’t see a point either I’m afraid. I mean, who would actually kill someone?” She asked.
“You aren’t uh… worried?” Kyle asked.
“Nope! I trust all of you!” Kelly confirmed with a smile.
Hunter looked less enthusiastic, tapping his foot behind Kelly.
“Uh Kelly…” He spoke up. “Shouldn’t we get going to… y’know…”
“Oh!” Kelly spun around on the spot to face Hunter. “Right…” She said in a… sly tone? Was that a sly tone? Crispin was pretty sure that classified as sly. “See you boys around!” Kelly waved at them, linking her arm with Hunter and leading him towards the bathrooms in the corner. They stopped outside of them for a second before turning towards the kitchen instead and closing the door.
“Huh.” Crispin said. “They must be hungry.”
Kyle turned to look at him confused.
The students had been trapped in the school for several days by this point. In that time, Kyle and Crispin had stuck to what they said, they would be the “Ultimates against the killing game!” Even if it was just the two of them.
Crispin felt confident in this title, he felt like people were really starting to rely on him! Like, everyone was super stoked on him, even if they didn’t want to admit it.
That was fine, Crispin didn’t need the praise, just the knowledge they appreciated him was enough.
He and Kyle spent a lot of their time together wandering the halls looking for trouble, but they had found none. Maybe what Kelly had said back on the first day was true? Maybe there really wasn’t anything to worry about? Karen and Megan sure seemed to think so.
But nah, the more likely answer was simply that Crispin and Kyle’s plan had worked. If anyone had considered becoming a killer, they would have stopped after seeing them.
This was the confident fact that Crispin held close, up until earlier that day.
Monokuma had again assembled everyone in the gym for another special announcement. What was that announcement? A motive. What he called The Accomplice Clause.
If somebody committed the deed and killed someone, they would be allowed to bring an accomplice with them upon graduating. Megan and Karen had made everyone stay after Monokuma left, to try and convince everyone that it would turn out okay, but Emily, the girl Crispin had woken up with, seemed pretty against the idea. She said that shit was only just hitting the fan, and that everyone should watch their backs if they valued their lives.
Crispin had tried to assure her that it would all work out because he and Kyle would stop any killers that tried anything, but Emily had just scoffed at him and stormed out. It seemed several students had started to leave by this point, and Crispin spotted Kyle also preparing to leave, so he had rushed off to join him.
“Hey buddy where are you going?” Crispin asked after managing to catch up to Kyle.
“Oh uh… I dunno.” He said absently.
“Well I know! Wanna hit up the game room?”
“Uh-”
“C’mon, it’ll be fun! Plus it’ll give us some time to chat!”
“Uh… Sure.” Kyle said, his voice still sounding absent.
As the duo made for the game room, the door swung open and two girls stepped out. Nicole and Jecka.
“Oh great, and I was having such a great day.” Nicole’s face immediately turned sour.
“Oh, hey jecka!” Kyle’s face lit up.
“Yeah, Come on Nicole we’re leaving.” Jecka commanded.
“Right behind you.” Nicole grunted, following Jecka.
“Oh uh… See you guys around!” Crispin yelled out.
“Go FUCK yourself!” Jecka yelled behind her.
“Haha those guys are crazy.” Crispin chuckled to himself. “Although come to think of it, were they at the gym for Monokuma’s announcement?”
“Yeah, but they left right after.” Kyle said, staring off after Jecka. “They didn’t stick around for Megan and Karen's speech after.”
“Huh, how odd.” Crispin said.
At that Kyle turned to look at Crispin, eyeing him as if he were a puzzle.
“Say Crispin…” Kyle asked. “What are your thoughts on Nicole?”
“Nicole?”
“Yeah… Personally, I’m not too fond of her.” Kyle said, staring off at where Nicole and Jecka had walked off to. “...What about you?” He asked, turning back to face Crispin.
“I mean… I dunno, she seems like, fine I guess.” Crispin shrugged.
Kyle looked at him for a second, he seemed to be thinking something through before shrugging. “Eh, don’t worry about it then.”
“Oh alright, yeah.” Crispin said.
What was that about?
…
Oh well.
Probably not important. Yeah, nothing to worry about. Crispin was confident about that.
Crispin walked ahead into the game room, with Kyle trailing behind him, still looking over his shoulder.
“So, what should we play?” Crispin asked entering the maze of arcade machines.
As he did, he could see Kyle briefly stop by the prize corner out of the corner of his eye. In fact, Crispin was sure he saw Kyle pocket something like a small box, but he wasn’t sure.
Well, Crispin certainly wouldn’t advise trying to steal stuff from Monokuma, but he wasn’t a snitch, so he wouldn’t tell. Crispin could be trusted like that!
Crispin looked at himself in the mirror. Yeah, he looked fly. He stepped out of his bathroom and into his main room preparing to leave.
Kelly was hosting a party tonight, and Crispin would be in attendance. He and Kyle were both going to walk up to it later, and this would be the perfect opportunity to talk with the girls who would also be in attendance.
Crispin was looking forward to it!
Kyle had been fairly distant since the motive. Crispin had seen him talking with Kylar a bit, but otherwise he seemed to be off in a world of his own, so he hoped this event would help to snap him out of his slump.
Crispin was smart enough to know when his friends were in a slump, and Kyle definitely was.
Walking outside of his door, he encountered Jeffery, another of the students who would be attending the party.
“Oh, hey Crispin.” He greeted.
“Yo what’s up Jeffery?” Crispin said. “Have you seen Kyle?”
However, before Jeffery could answer, Kyle stepped out of his room.
“Oh, hey guys.” Kyle said casually. His voice sounded calm, but his face had a flicker of worry on it.
“Hey! We should all walk down to the dining hall together!” Jeffery declared.
“Well we should wait a second.” Crispin said. “Kylar’s going too, right?”
“Oh uh, I think he was sick actually.” Kyle said.
“Oh bummer.” Crispin replied.
Well, no matter. With that the three boys set off for the dining hall, and for Kelly’s party. Along the way, they had a chance to chat some more.
“Eugh.” Jeffery groaned. “I really hope nothing comes out of that motive from yesterday.”
“Oh yeah.” Crispin said. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. With me and Kyle standing in the way of any murders, nobody would dare. Right Kyle?”
“Oh, yeah totally.” Kyle said, glancing over his back briefly. “Actually…” Kyle said, turning back to Crispin. “Maybe for the sake of our club, it would be a good idea if one of us left the party a bit early.”
“Huh?” Crispin asked, confused.
“Well, then we can split up and cover more ground to make sure nothing happens.” Kyle suggested.
“Oh yeah that’s a great idea!” Jeffery agreed.
“Are you volunteering?” Crispin asked.
“Well no, I’m not part of your club. But you should totally do that so that if anybody tries anything they get found out!” Jeffery said enthusiastically.
“Oh. Well, I guess I can leave a bit earlier.” Crispin nodded.
Damn. Well, Kyle brought up a good point, right? If anybody was going to try something, it would be tonight. But was it really a good idea to be splitting up like this?...
Well, Crispin trusted Kyle’s instincts. As the boys entered the room hosting the party, Crispin was deep in thought.
He had to be ready to take action at any point. Crispin was the founder of “Ultimates against the killing game.” It was up to him to take responsibility! Yeah!
It was a tough job, but he knew it was important, and that he had the ability to protect the other students. Things had been shaky, but he could feel it in his bones.
Now, everything was coming up Crispin!