Into the Inferno 1

The ground is swaying beneath him.

"...Wh-where am I?"

Takisawa Rishou opens his eyes

"Light. Too bright. Blinding me."

His thoughts are jumbled and messy as he averts his eyes as they adjust to the luminescence above him. Slowly but surely, the glare fades from his eyes and his brain starts working again.

"Where am I?"

Again, he wonders this question. He looks around, hoping to find a clue. There is a luxurious bed with crimson silken sheets beneath him, but he is dressed in his typical plaid shirt and ripped jeans. Immediately, Takisawa grabs at his chest with one hand and his left pocket with the other, sighing in relief as his right hand encloses itself around a silver necklace in the shape of a cross and the other around a wooden figurine. Tentatively, he gets up. The room he is in looks like that of a high-class hotel, with all the amenities that a bedroom would need; however, there is one thing that stands out.

Takisawa looks to his left to see a large window overlooking the ocean.

"Wh-what?! I thought I was supposed to be at-"

Suddenly, his last few memories rush back at him. Hope's Peak Academy. A premier school for the talented. He had been accepted a few months back, and he most definitely hadn't wanted to agree to go, but with his parents' urging, he had decided to give it a try. On the first day of the new school year, he had packed his bags, said a tearful farewell to his parents, and left for the Academy. His last memory was crossing the threshold of the building and then...

Darkness.

Try as he might, he cannot recall what had happened next. One second he had been in Japan, ready for a new experience, and the next, he had found himself on what appeared to be an cruise ship.

Shaking slightly, he turns from the view offered through the glass panes towards the door to his room. He places his hand on the doorknob and hesitates a bit before turning it and pushing, stepping out into the unknown.

The hallway outside his room is also exactly what one would expect a cruise liner to look like. A dark red patterned rug covers the floors and large circular bulbs light up the walkway.

He hears a click to his side and turns towards the noise.

"Uhh...excuse me? D-do you know know where we are?"

The boy exits the room next to Takisawa is slightly shorter then him and sports a mop of unkempt blonde hair. He wears a loose red sweater, grey sweatpants, and a pair of worn sneakers that looks like they might at one point have been white.

"Um, no. Sorry. I was kind of hoping you could tell me that." Takisawa responds.

The other boy sighs, but then breaks into a smile. "Well, I guess there's no use standing here as strangers. My name is Goya Hibiki. Nice to meet you!"

"Takisawa Rishou. Same."

"Ah," Goya seems to recognize the name. "Takisawa the woodworker?"

Takisawa closes his eyes and sighs. "Yeah, that one." He supposes that getting through...whatever it is that's happening to him unnoticed would be to much to ask.

"You're supposed to be in my class at Hope's Peak! You were on the list of students."

Takisawa's eyes widen. "What?!" Then a thought occurs to him. "...Was your last memory walking into the schools too?"

"Y-yeah...you don't think that-"

He is cut off by a loud, shrill scream coming from his right.

"What the?!"

"C'mon! Someone might need help!" And with that, Goya dashes towards the sound of the noise.

Still confused, Takisawa follows.

They stop in front of the room that seems to be the source of the noise. Goya knocks on the door hesitantly. "Hello? Is everything all right?"

The screaming stops for a moment, and then from inside the room comes the response. "G-GO AWAY! I'M NOT GOING TO FOLLOW YOU! WHERE AM I?! I WANT TO GO HOME!"

"We're not here to hurt you. We woke up in the same situation you did. You might say that we're all in the same boat!"

A pause, then the sound of shuffling, then slowly the door creaks open and another boy tentatively steps out. Takisawa notes that he's about half a foot shorter than Goya. He wears a crisp white dress shit and his eyes dart from side to side like those of a cornered animal. Most noticeable is the wooden puppet he has clutched to his body in the crook of his arm. As a woodcarver himself, Takisawa can tell it is an expertly carved piece, incredibly realistic and almost alive-looking.

"You must be Ningyo Atsushi, the SHSL Puppeteer, am I right?" Goya asks, the boy. Takisawa recognizes the name. The famous child puppeteer, renowned for being able to operate all sorts of marionettes and whose ventriloquism skills were so vast that he could produce any voice and project it from anywhere in the room. Ningyo is startled at being recognized, but nods.

Ningyo Atsushi - SHSL Puppeteer

"Y-yeah...A-are you both SHSLs too?"

Takisawa sees Goya looking at him, as if waiting for him to introduce them both, so he nods. "Yup. Takisawa Rishou, woodcarver. This is Goya Hibiki the..."

"Ah. I'm known as the SHSL Helper. It really isn't much of a talent. I just like helping people that need it."

Goya Hibiki -SHSL Helper

Ningyo slowly nods. "N-nice to meet you both."

"Same."

Out of nowhere, a crackling sound is heard, before a hidden speaker springs to life. "Hello? Is this thing on? Hello students! This is your ship captain speaking! I'm sure all of you have plenty of questions about what's going on. By now, I'm sure you've all noticed that you are not, in fact, at Hope's Peak Academy, as you expected, but instead on a five-star luxury cruise liner. Doesn't that seem like a good tradeoff? Lousy little ingrates, always wanting things instead of going with the... Anyway! If you want answers, come to main deck and fast!" With that, the speaker shuts back off.

"W-well...I guess we should listen to what he said..."

The main deck of the ship, as expected, is massive and extravagant. Takisawa notes the large pool, plethora of sunbathing chairs, and and even bar that are located on the platform. However, out of the corner of his eye, he spies the railing, which while matching the design of the rest of the ship, if twice as high as would be necessary to prevent falling and is covered in razor sharp barbed wire.

"Hey! Asshole! Tell us where we are and what's going on!"

Takisawa turns towards the new voice. A girl in a gothic lolita-style dress is yelling at the air, as if expecting their mysterious captain to hear her and respond.

The speaker crackles to life once again. "This is your captain speaking once again! Now I know I told you all to come here for answers, but c'mon! That's boring! Why don't you introduce yourselves first? You're classmates now, even if you aren't in a classroom so you might as well learn each others' names at the very least!"

The girl mutters darkly in a different language, then notices Takisawa staring. "Hey. Whaddaya want?"

Trapped, Takisawa looks behind him for support from Goya and Ningyo...only to see that they have already left to meet with other students. "Uhh..hi. I'm Takisawa Rishou."

The girl continues to stare at him and he gets the feeling that he is being examined. It takes a while before she speaks up again. "Huh. The wood guy right? You don't seem very interesting. Well, whatever. I'm Mizore Ressa. A model." And with that, she turns on her heel and strides away.

Mizore Ressa - SHSL Model

At a loss as to what to do, Takisawa looks around at the scattered groups of students across the deck. He notices Ningyo talking with a girl a bit taller than him in a sundress and figures that it's a good a place to start as any and walks over. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"Ah! H-hi Takisawa."

"Hey Ningyo. Who's your friend?"

"This is-"

"M-my name is Yu-Yukimori Tsukiko. I-I'm a ballerina," the girl blurts out while fiddling with her braid. Takisawa recognize the name. His little sister was a big fan of her performances and liked to watch them on TV. He had never understood what was going on or why her dancing was so impressive, but he had humored his hsister and watched the dances with her all the same.

Yukimori Tsukiko - SHSL Ballerina

"Oh. Nice to meet you. Y'know, my sister was a big fan of yours. Heh. I bet she'd be jealous if she knew I met you in person."

She giggles. "Y-yeah. I...guess I'll talk to you later?"

Her farewell wakes Takisawa from his thoughts. "Huh? Oh. Yeah. Nice meeting you and all that."

Stepping away, Takisawa looks around and makes his way towards another cluster of students.

Hello again. This is the first of what will likely be a three-part introduction and "Meet the Students" segment of the story. Note that I AM still accepting OCs, so get on that guys! If you have already submitted a character, but I have not accepted, it is likely that I am still waiting for some more submissions. The ones I have accepted are the ones that stood out to me iin one way or another, whether by personality, background, or way that I thought they could fit into the plot.