I wasn't ever considered extraordinary. I've been told that I stick out in a crowd, yes, but my days were spent hanging around my hometown and giving my friends sage advice and fashion tips. I didn't really have a job (not that that was a problem), and I didn't have any kind of talent or hobby that people thought was too noteworthy.
So looking back, my confusion as I stepped into the ballroom where the others were mingling was completely understandable.
I had woken up a few minutes before in a bedroom with a set of directions taped to the wall. I was worried, yes, but concern should be put aside for reason, shouldn't it? If I was kidnapped, it stood to reason that any potential danger I was in would have already passed.
Besides, I was allowed a little bit of curiosity, was I not?
In retrospect I probably should have been more worried.
"Oh!" cried a red-vested cat as soon as I walked in. "I think she's the last one!"
"What?"
As it turned out, the directions had led me to a somewhat formally-designed ballroom, which was currently occupied by a number of other people.
"Everyone else has been here for a few minutes," replied the cat. "If you woke up in a bedroom with your name on the door then you're in the same situation as the rest of us."
Admittedly, I didn't bother to check the doors, but it didn't sound too out of place.
"…And none of us know what we're doing here?"
"Nope, not a one."
Fantastic.
"Well, each of us got a card with a title on it. I'm guessing that yours is the one on the table over there. But before you start, why don't you get to know the rest of us a bit?"
Looking around the room, I counted fourteen people, including both myself and the increasingly annoying cat. And I was going to have to talk to all of them before I actually got to see why I was here.
"And I suppose I'm as a good a place to start as any!"
Great.
"…Well?"
"I'm Rover! According to the card, I'm a Guide. Fitting, huh?"
As he started laughing at his own joke, I finally got a good chance to size him up.
…Yeah, he was just as annoying as I had initially guessed. Looking to get away from him as quickly as possible, I walked over to the raccoon and poodle standing nearby at one of the tables.
"Let's get this overwith," I said, addressing the raccoon. "You are…?"
"My name is Tom Nook, Businessman. I trust that we will get along splendidly, yes?"
"…Sure. And you?"
"The name's Harriet, sugar. Stylist. Now, if you don't mind, I'm more concerned with where we are than 'getting to know each other'."
Can't argue with that.
Satisfied by the fact that at least one person here had their priorities straight, I headed over to the next table, which was currently occupied by a girl that was occupied taking notes.
And proceeded to continue to take notes while I stood there.
"Er… hello? Were you going to acknowledge my existence?"
"…Sorry," she muttered, putting the notepad away. "My name is Katie! The card says I'm a Traveler!"
As she beamed at me, I began to wonder what kind of direction these titles were taking. The others had seemed like professions, but how can someone be good at traveling?
The kid didn't look like she could be any older than sixteen, anyway.
Admittedly the dog standing next to her was a bit more of a surprise.
"I'm K. K. Slider," he said, gently holding out a paw for me to shake. "Musician."
Now this was a guy I had heard of. K. K. Slider was practically the musical icon of the country; pretty much everyone had a bootleg of one of his songs.
So what's a celebrity like him doing here?
Next up, the owl and skunk duo standing by one of the walls.
"Hey."
"Hmm? Hmmmm… HOOOOOT!"
How the hell was she sleeping upright?
"Oh, I'm sorry… I'm not used to being awake this early…"
According to the clock on the wall behind her it was mid-afternoon. I will never understand owls.
"Anyway, my name's Celeste. I'm an Astronomer."
"The name's Kicks," said the skunk standing next to her. "Cobbler, apparently."
Cobbler… So he makes shoes?
"I'm going to guess that neither of you know what's going on, either?"
"Not a clue. Woke up here same as you, ma'am."
Celeste had already fallen asleep again. Like I said, I will never understand owls.
They seemed nice enough. This was more than I can say about the vibe that I was getting from the dog in a police uniform directly behind me.
"And you are…?"
"Copper, at your service, ma'am!"
"Let me guess. You're an Officer."
"Excellent guess, ma'am!"
Looking at him I could already tell that there would be nothing of worth arising from continuing to talk.
Moving down the line there was a hedgehog that looked on the edge of hyperventilating coupled with two alpacas, looking increasingly concerned and increasingly bored, respectively.
"So what's your deal?"
She stared at me in awkward silence for a few seconds before handing me a card.
'Sable Able, Seamstress'
Seems kinda… quiet.
Her name seemed familiar, at any rate. Was she mentioned in Mrs. Nintendique or the Gracie catalogues at some point?
"I haven't been able to get her to say a word, the poor dear," commented one of the alpacas standing next to her. "I'm Reese, by the way. The Saleswoman, according to my card."
As long as someone was looking after the walking nervous breakdown, I wasn't going to complain. Besides, this was a nice change after the obnoxious peppiness or confrontational nature of… everyone else.
As for the other one…
"And you are…?"
"Cyrus. Carpenter."
He then proceeded to leer at me until I went across the room to speak to the two remaining dogs.
"Hi! I'm Isabelle! I'm a Secretary! And this is my twin brother, Dig-"
"I can introduce myself perfectly fine, Isabelle," the other one retorted. "As she was saying, I'm Digby. I appear to have received the title of Designer, myself."
Twins, huh.
They certainly seemed close. But while Isabelle was busy grinning like an idiot, Digby seemed to be looking for a position between 'polite' and 'incredibly concerned'.
Finally, a quick head count revealed that I had spoken to everyone in the room
On the table, a single envelope, my name written on it in fancy cursive. I opened the envelope and…
"What gives? There's nothing on here!"
Sure enough, the card was blank.
"That's funny," commented Isabelle. "Are you sure that it's not a typo or something?"
"Can't be," argued Rover. "It was in the envelope. But I'm sure that Miss… What was it?"
"Well, since you seem to be so interested, my name is Whitney, and I just so happen to be blessed with the title of Nothing."
"Well, now that we've got the introductions out of the way, we have a bigger problem on our hands," stated Harriet, moving to the middle of the room. "None of us have any idea how we got here, correct?"
"Exactly," conceded Digby. "We all seem to have no recollection of how exactly we got here, or where here is, for that matter."
"Slow down, plebeians. One question at a time."
Everyone jumped and started to search for the source of the voice. None of us had said that, had we?
"The intercom, morons."
That explained it. In our confusion none of us had noticed the intercom nor the security cameras on the ceiling.
Wait… security cameras?
"If you want to know where you are, I took an old mansion I found and… repurposed it. Let's call it University for the time being. You, on the other hand, should be calling it your future home."
Silence.
"Future home…?" repeated Kicks. "You mean you're locking us in here?"
"Exactly. You don't get to leave, save for two circumstances."
"Then go ahead," replied Digby, staring at nothing. "What do you want us to do?"
"It's simple. Kill or be killed."
Everyone started to mutter. Unable to leave? Kill or be killed? What the hell was this person talking about?
"It's called Graduation. Just take the life of one of your colleagues and you get to walk out."
"Why, though?" asked Celeste, her voice wavering. "There's no way that you need to-"
"Of course I don't need to, idiot. I'm doing this because I want to."
The murmuring started up again. What possible motivation could justify forced murder?
"All of you are defined by your actions. Your lives revolve around being the best in your field, and once you've reached that achievement, you do nothing more than attempt to improve on that. This mentality… interests me."
"Heheh… I wonder which of you will crack first. Sable, you know your past is waiting for you. Are you willing to go ahead and reach it?"
Sable tensed and looked like she was about to cry.
"Or Copper. Clearly if people were going to going to come to your rescue, they would have done so. You'll have to take matters into your own hands if you want to keep order, you know."
Copper said nothing, but glared at the security camera in the corner.
"And how about you, Whitney? You know you're the outsider. You're the only one that's not special."
Why am I being singled out?
Well, if this mastermind was looking for a frightened reaction from me, they weren't getting one.
"Seriously? That's no reason for murder. I don't think any of this is. It's ridiculous, and if any of us are going to go to those lengths getting locked in a building is probably the least of their problems."
"Ooh, the dog bites back."
I'm a wolf.
"Very well, I'll leave you alone if need be, but I'm quite eager to see what you'll choose to do."
There was a click, and the intercom went silent.
Nobody seemed to want to say anything that would break the silence. Eventually, I stood up.
"I'll be in my room if you need me."
And with that, I walked out, to check what would be my room for who knows how long.
14 PLAYERS REMAIN
Alright, so here's my apparent comeback into fanfiction. An Animal Crossing/Dangan Ronpa crossover, just to see if I can get away with it.
And I'll need your help to do so! I'm writing all of the possible Free Time Events (or in other words, character development segments), but there's only so much time allowed, so there will be a poll on my page that you can vote on until I publish the next chapter in one week.
There we go.
