16 Ultimates are invited to Felicity Park for a special "abroad education" every year. Unlike other education abroad, you can't apply to study in Felicity Park, you have to be chosen by the park staff themselves, often twice over. To be accepted, you need to be a high school student, and you need to excel in a field far beyond anyone else in the world. This earns one the title of Ultimate, and an invite to the prestigious Felicity Park. Most all world leaders or successful household names count Felicity Park among whatever time they spent studying abroad as students. In simple terms, if you study at Felicity, you're set for life.

That's how it was supposed to go anyways.

Turns out my own year of Ultimates wasn't quite as lucky.

I should introduce myself. Imagine, if you will, a tall, suave young man, dressed in a tweed jacket, khaki pants, brown loafers, and sporting one kickass beige trilby hat, hiding his neat black hair. That's me. Yours truly, Akio Kirigaya, The Ultimate Attorney. I've always had a bit of an interest in law, or more specifically, I've always liked watching crime dramas, and when you come from a long line of lawyers, you have certain expectations placed upon you, so I coasted along the road of my life and ended up here. Really, that's it. I may have never lost a case, and I'm the youngest person in the world to pass the BAR, but it's not like I tried to do all these things, I've just...been lucky I guess. Maybe lucky isn't the right word though, but once again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Back to Felicity Park. I was currently standing at the large gateway to the reserve, ready to enter it and see just who was either chill or crazy enough to make the same decision to go as I did. We wouldn't know anyone here, after all. With a quick nod to reaffirm myself of my path thus far, and a small twist back and forth of my favorite trilby hat, I pushed through the gate, ready to face my future head-on.

I had no idea what I was in for.

PROLOGUE: Welcome to Felicity Park!

-Felicity Courtyard-

"Hi!" A small girl with long, cloud-like white hair, dressed in nothing but a white skirt, chimed cheerfully as she looked at me with bright blue eyes. "Are you part of the reserve trip too?"

"Yeah, I am." I responded without missing a beat. "The name's Akio Kirigaya, but you can call me Akio if you wanna."

"Really?!" The girl's eyes widened. "Alright Akio, I'm Yuki Imari, and I have a similar rule about my own name! Feel free to call me Yuki! Let's both do our best to create a great year!"

This girl...she's so peppy, even this early in the morning. I'm not sure a cool breeze guy like me will be able to keep up with her.

"You're awfully chipper. Did something good happen?" I asked, to which Yuki nodded rapidly as her smile grew.

"Oh, something wonderful is happening right now! I'm meeting so many people and they're all my classmates! From an Ultimate Knife-Thrower to an Ultimate Seamstress, and you're the Ultimate Attorney, right? That's so cool!"

"You find this that enjoyable, huh?"

"Well of course!" Yuki grinned. "I wouldn't be the Ultimate Motivator if I couldn't ever feel motivated myself now would I?"

-Yuki Imari: Ultimate Motivator-

"I guess so." I agreed as I noticed the fourteen other students besides the two of us that had gathered in the courtyard. I felt as though I owed it to myself to try to talk to all of them.

I'm a boy, and can identify with boys, so I decided to talk to the nearest male contestant first.

"Hey man." I said as I walked up to a golden blonde boy dressed in a pink polo shirt and tan cargo shorts. He turned back to me and smiled.

"Hey man to you too, my man. What's up? I'm Mabuchi Mizushima. Call me Mizu if you want to get informal with me. My first name is for the ladies only."

"Hey Mizu, I'm Akio Kirigaya, The Ultimate Attorney, what's your talent?"

"My talent?" A mischievous grin spread across Mizu's face. "I'm the Ultimate Conman. I've managed to not only trick millions of suckers out of their last dime, but I was also never even scouted to study abroad here in the first place. I forged my documents and had a friend slide them in, proof of my talent, I suppose."

"Well, that's what I expect from an Ultimate Conman." I gave a small laugh.

Mizu gave a heartier laugh before shaking his head and looking at me.

"Don't fall for that story." He warned. "I was lying just now. I was scouted just like the rest of you, obviously. You think Felicity Park of all places would really fall for a tactic like that? I'd be worried if they did."

"So, are you not the Ultimate Conman?" my eyebrow rose.

"No, I am, and I've got the dough to prove it back home." Mizu turned his back to me but kept eye contact over his shoulder with a knowing smile. "In any case, it was a pleasure talking to you, Kirigaya. Hope you learn to tense up a bit soon."

-Mabuchi Mizushima: Ultimate Conman-

I...could hardly get a good read on that guy, especially with how formally he spoke. Still, he didn't seem like a bad person, despite what he might have claimed his Ultimate talent was.

After wandering for a bit around the courtyard, I finally found another student who was free to converse with.

Aside from his tool belt and gloves, he looked like possibly the most average guy I had ever met in my life. He had messy black hair, round soft eyes, peachy skin, and was dressed in a grey sweater and large baggy jeans.

"Shigetoki Takagi" He introduced himself. "The Ultimate Toy Maker. You?"

"'Sup Takagi?" I asked. "I'm Akio Kirigaya, the Ultimate Attorney. You ready for our year abroad, man?"

"If by ready, you mean ready to be done with it, then yeah." Takagi crossed his arms.

"Did something happen?" I asked.

"Yeah, something did happen." He responded. "I found out that we'd be stuck here in this reserve. How am I supposed to practice my craft in the middle of nowhere? I need a space to work, man!"

"Maybe they'll have one here." I suggested. "Not like we've seen all of the reserve yet."

"A little too optimistic there." Takagi sneered. "I bet you'll be disappointed."

Don't you think you're the one being a little too pessimistic? Whatever, he'll get over it eventually. I should keep introducing myself to the others.

-Shigetoki Takagi-Ultimate Toy Maker-

I came across to girls arguing with each other. One was more petite, with bright blonde hair that rested on her left shoulder in a curled ponytail. She was dressed in a black cocktail dress, which I found an odd fashion choice to say the least. The other girl was taller and more willowy in stature, her long black hair covering slightly pointed ears, and her dark green eyes not giving way to the glare of the first girl's soft brown ones.

"I already told you, it's pronounced Flautist." The first girl argued. "I will not have you, like, using such a lame-ass term to describe me instead!"

"But, Flutist has become a more popular word to describe the profession." The second girl shrugged with a grin that vaguely reminded me of the ones that Mizu was giving earlier."

"What's going on ladies?" I asked, walking up to them. "The name's-

"Akio Kirigaya." The first girl turned to me, clearly not in the mood for conversation. "I've heard about you. Family of lawyers, you're the Ultimate Attorney. I suppose you'll be useful then." She held out a hand as though I was meant to kiss the back of it. "Ruma Yano" She announced herself. "The Ultimate Flautist. If you are as useful as your talent, then I may deign it acceptable to associate with you. Rejoice."

"Don't mind, miss prissy-pants over here." The second girl turned to me. "She's not used to not being somewhere where her only human contact is her rich family. Anyways, it's nice to meet you. I'm Waki Akazawa, The Ultimate Acrobat!"

"The Ultimate Acrobat?" I asked.

"Jumping, Contorting, Climbing up walls, I leap like a ram from mountaintop to mountaintop, and not to mention, I've been voted most attractive performer in my circus troupe 3 years running."

But we're in high school...should I be worried about that?

-Ruma Yano: Ultimate Flautist-

-Waki Akazawa: Ultimate Acrobat-

After finishing introductions with both Yano and Akazawa, I was approached by a tall guy with tan skin, long black hair in a single braid, wearing nearly nothing, save for many bead necklaces as well as a large loin cloth.

"I notice you're going around talking to the plebeians." He opened. "Allow me to save you the trouble, none of them are worth your time. Honestly, only I am, really."

The douchebag radiating from this one is strong.

"And what are you?" I asked. "The Ultimate-"

"The Ultimate Tea Brewer" He replied before even giving his name. "I imagine you're familiar with Soto Tea Company?"

"You're Benjiro Soto?" I asked in disbelief. "I always thought that guy was some old man!"

"Well, that was mighty stupid of you." Benjiro sighed. "Don't tell me I came over here just to talk to another waste of a Felicity Park applicant…I really thought everyone here would be on my level, too."

"Well that was mighty stupid of you." I laughed, saying his words back to him.

He silently glared at me before walking away.

What's with that death glare? If you can't take it, don't dish it out.

-Benjiro Soto: Ultimate Tea Brewer-

Having dealt with Soto for as long as I'd have cared to deal with him anyways, I moved on to another student, a female in a large green sundress and equally large beige picnic hat. Her hair was dyed red, and she had light brown eyes on her fair-skinned face, dotted lightly with freckles on either upper cheek.

"Sure are a lot of interesting people here, huh?" I led as I approached her.

"Huh?" She quickly turned to look at me, apparently having been preoccupied with something else.

She looked around.

"Wait...me?"

"Yeah, I was talking to you. There sure are a lot of interesting people here, huh?" I repeated.

"Oh, yes!" She smiled. "There certainly are! I feel...somewhat ashamed at my own talent though, after talking to a few of them. I'm Oriana Katsuragi, The Ultimate Seamstress. It's nice to make your acquaintance."

"I'm Akio Kirigaya, Ultimate Attorney." I introduced myself in kind. "And if you're the Ultimate Seamstress, you must be really good with threads and needles right? I imagine you'll be popular amongst those who regularly need their clothes patched up."

"You think so?" Katsuragi blushed slightly. "That's reassuring, hearing an Ultimate say that."

"You're an Ultimate too though, aren't you?"

"I guess…" Katsuragi sighed. "I'm not really trying to make a living off of sewing though. It's just a hobby I do in my spare time. If I turn to it for profit, I'm afraid I'll lose that desire to do it that I have now, you know?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I see where you're coming from."

There was silence for a little while.

"Well then…" Katsuragi looked away nervously. "I guess I'll see you later."

I guess she'd rather be alone for a bit to process everything. Alright, time to find some more students to talk to.

-Oriana Katsuragi: Ultimate Seamstress-

The next boy I met was up with Soto in terms of memorable outfits. He was dressed in a tan explorer's vest over a white dress shirt, wearing tan cargo shorts, round frameless glasses, and a tan explorer's hat. He looked like he was about to go hiking in a jungle back in the 1600s. "Akio Kirigaya." I announced as I approached him with a hand. "Ultimate Attorney. Feel free to call me Akio if you want."

"Ah!" He smiled. "Iesada Yamanami, Ultimate Archeologist. At your service, Akio. Please, feel free to return the favor and call me Iesada. My last name can...be a bit of a handful to some people."

"So, you're in that get-up for archeology?" I asked.

"No, I'm in this get-up because I love the West's era of exploration!" Iesada proclaimed loudly. "I'm not about to uncover any interesting remnants of history here, I think, but I certainly can and will explore every nook and cranny of this reserve!"

"Well, you feel free to do that…" I said as I parted ways with him.

He also seemed like a nice person, if perhaps a little overly enthusiastic.

-Iesada Yamanami: Ultimate Archeologist-

"Excuse me." I felt a feminine hand placed on my shoulder.

I turned around to see a platinum blonde girl with attractive violet eyes, incredibly fair skin, and remarkably large assets, covered only just barely by her white tank top. Her stomach and midriff were almost insultingly visible and her denim short shorts also seemed to barely fit on her. Her open-toed wedges showcased her dainty feet, each toenail coated in a scarlet polish to match both her fingernails and her lipstick. If I didn't know any better, I'd have guessed she was some sort of pornstar with the way she dressed. "Are you having fun introducing yourself to everyone? Is Felicity to your liking? Anything you need?"

Well, I guess an introduction would be nice.

…

…

"Is there anything you need? Anything at all?" She asked again, and I realized I was too struck by her beauty to have answered the first time.

"Oh, right, my bad." I laughed as some blood rushed to my face. "I'm Akio Kirigaya. It's nice to meet you."

"It's great to have you here, Akio!" The girl smiled. "I'm Emiho, and you can call me Emi! It's nice to meet you as well!"

"Wait, what's your last name?"

Emiho's smile became a frown as she looked at the ground, sadly. "I don't like being formal. It goes against my talent" She explained as she looked back at me and a more coy grin began to form "but you're a handsome little devil so I guess I don't mind letting you know. My full name is Emiho Kazetani, and I'll be our class leader, since it's only natural for The Ultimate Hostess."

"Is that why you kept asking me if everything was to my liking?" I asked to a nod for an answer. "Wow, I almost thought you were working here for a second."

"I got here earlier than everyone else." Emi replied. "And I did help set up the dorms so in a sense, I've already worked here. A hostess exists to pleasure her guests after all."

"I wouldn't phrase it like that." I laughed. "It might give others the wrong idea."

"Ohohohohohoho...oh, Akio, that idea wouldn't be wrong!"

So she's actually wearing that outfit for *that* purpose?! I felt a little bit like throwing up, imagining what she must have done to get this title at a high-school age.

Emi's flirtatious grin turned into a sinister grimace. "What's with that look? I'm not making fun of your barf-inducing hat, am I?"

"Sorry, not judging!" I quickly put my hands up as though I was being mugged by this chick. "I'll be on my way now. It was nice to meet you, Emi!"

"Have a fun time with everyone Akio!" Emi grinned sweetly as I hurried away.

Something tells me we're not actually going to get along.

-Emiho Kazetani: Ultimate Hostess-

Shaking off both my lust and repulsion, I continued introducing myself to the other students.

I noticed a girl with her black hair tied up in a ponytail on the back of her head. She was wearing a sequined red dress along with dark green heels. She quickly turned and for a split second, her ice-blue eyes focused in on me, before darting away along with the rest of her head.

"Excuse me." Against all better judgement, I decided I might as well introduce myself.

"You're excused, no go away." She commanded. "I don't need you uglying up my breathing space."

"That's enough out of you." Another girl said. She had long dark brown hair, large round eyes of the same color, somewhat tanned skin, and was wearing a black tank top and navy blue skinny jeans. I turned to thank her, but her glare seemed almost as unwelcoming as the first girl's.

"I'm Tara Maeda." She introduced herself to me. "And I'm known as the Ultimate Knife-Thrower. Be careful. Sixteen high profile teens aren't just left to their own devices without any staff to interact with. There's trouble brewing."

At the time, I remember thinking Maeda must have been crazy, but now I wish I had believed her. "I'm Akio Kirigaya." I introduced myself back to her. "The Ultimate Attorney."

Hearing this, the first girl shifted her glare back to me, and, quite bluntly, said her name and talent. "Take Uematsu, Ultimate Ice Skater." As soon as she was done with the breath she used to introduce herself, Uematsu began to storm off.

-Take Uematsu: Ultimate Ice Skater-

"What's up her butt?" I asked Maeda, who rolled her eyes.

"How would I know? I suggest you just don't associate with her, and, for the record, try not to talk to me too much either. I'm only at this stupid school because of the success rate of its graduates. I need the money for something important."

"But you won't say what it is?"

"It doesn't matter what it is!" Maeda rose her voice, causing a few students nearby to look in our direction.

"Sorry." Maeda looked away. "I got ahead of myself. Still though…" She turned and walked away. "Don't pry into the affairs of others. Especially mine."

-Tara Maeda: Ultimate Knife Thrower-

As I continued to introduce myself to the others, I came across a boy with dark brown skin and long dark red dreadlocks. He was dressed in a white dress shirt, black blazer, and black dress pants with dress shoes.

"Hey man, name's Akio Kirigaya. How you doing?"

Silence.

"Hey...you there?"

Silence.

"Alright, I guess you must not-"

"Kano Nakauchi" The boy yawned, "I….am the *yawn*...the Ultimate Geologist."

"Are you tired?" I asked.

"*yawn* Yeah. But I manage."

That's...good. I doubt I'll get anywhere by continuing to talk to this guy, I better move on.

-Kano Nakauchi: Ultimate Geologist-

The next boy I came across was rather robust, and dressed in a grey jumpsuit. He had tan skin, black hair, and brown eyes. "Oh hey!" He smiled upon noticing me. "Are you here as an Ultimate too?"

"Sure am." I replied. "I'm Akio Kirigaya, the Ultimate Attorney."

"Sweet!" The boy responded. "My name's Akinori Suzukaze, but feel free to call me Kaze. As you can probably guess from the dirt all over my jumpsuit...I'm the Ultimate Miner."

"That's an interesting ultimate talent to have."

"Oh, there's been weirder." Kaze laughed. "I'm looking forward to working with you as the year progresses!"

This guy strikes me as a total yes-man. It's actually kind of unsettling to be honest.

-Akinori Suzukaze: Ultimate Miner-

After having a pleasant first talk with Kaze, I had only two students left to talk to, a boy and a girl, and, as luck would have it, they were in the same area. They were not interacting with each other, but since I had business with both of them, I decided to call out to them at the same time.
"Hey, you two!" I called out and they turned their heads to look at me as I approached them. "My name is Akio Kirigaya. I'm the Ultimate Attorney, and I've been introducing myself to everyone. What are your names?"

The boy answered first. "My name?" He asked with a grin. He was dressed in chainmail armor and sported both a sword and shield. I couldn't tell his hairstyle or color, only that he was by far the tallest among us, and his eyes were of a silver color upon his pale skin. "I, Hiroyuki Asano, am known far and wide, and I strike fear into the heart of evil as the Ultimate Gladiator!" Asano gave a pose. "I will never give up the ideal that I fight for, and likewise it will never die!"

"What ideal is that?" I asked.

"JUSTICE!" Was the booming reply I heard before my ears started to ring. "As long as there is justice, there is Hiroyuki Asano, and as long as I am Hiroyuki Asano, there will be justice!"

-Hiroyuki Asano: Ultimate Gladiator-

It was at this point that the girl spoke up. She had long wavy black hair, hazel eyes, fair skin, and from her black top and black denim shorts, she exuded an overwhelming aura of confidence.

"It's too bad your justice is useless here." She shrugged with a grin. "Especially something as suggestive as that ideology too. You alone are not an arbiter of what is good or bad, justice or injustice. My version likely differs from yours greatly. For instance, veal is delicious, and I'll eat it whenever presented the chance."

"How can you say such a thing?!" Asano gasped. "To willingly support the cruel treatment of such a helpless-"

"But enough about you, muscle-head," the girl chimed with a fake smile as she turned to me and it became more genuine. "Let's focus on you. Kirigaya right? I'm Shiro Mamiko, and if you're paying attention, you'd have been able to hazard a guess by now that I'm the Ultimate Hunter. You learn everything you wanted to learn?"

"For now, yes. Thank you for your time."

"Oh, don't worry attorney, I don't plan on wasting any more of it talking with you, so humoring you right now was the least I could do."

This chick...the size of her ego is on par with Soto's!

-Shiro Mamiko: Ultimate Hunter-

I checked the time, wondering when any supervising faculty would get here.

10:30.

That's later than I would have expected. Where are the teachers? Where is anyone?

And that's when it happened.

The ground started to shake.

"Cucoocucoo…" An almost whimsical voice emanated throughout the courtyard. "Attention this years lucky 16 Ultimates! Welcome to Felicity Park! The park that you can never leave! Trapped like the little birdies you are in my cage!"

Almost immediately after the voice welcomed us, a large fluorescent panel began to rise out of the gate and surrounding walls, until it formed a complete dome over the entire park. Furthermore, large opaque walls dropped down in front of many different paths to other areas of the park. Only the courtyard itself, the road leading towards the dorm area, and the road leading towards a garden remained unaffected.

"What the fucking hell?!" Yano asked, in a huff. "What's going on?"

"He can't hear, you, idiot." Maeda scoffed.

"Yeah!" The whimsical voice replied in agreement. "I can't hear any of you! But I can see all of you! So why don't you flap your way to The Gazebo in Monoshroom Garden, and we can all have ourselves our first true meet and greet! Our abroad experience won't start until everyone gathers there, so try to hurry it up!"

"Where is that area, does anyone know?" Mizu asked calmly.

"It's at the far end of the garden from here," Emi replied. "But it wasn't supposed to be named M-"

"Well, I'm heading to The Gazebo then." Mizu shrugged.

"Wait!" I protested. "I think this thing is some kind of-"

"Trap?" Mizu smirked. He held out his hands. "Look around you. We're already trapped in here. Right now, the only one of use that for sure has any answers is the…" he gestured with his hand "thing that I just heard telling me to go to the gazebo. Besides, sitting around would just be too boring."

"I shall go as well!" Asano announced. "I will make sure that justice remains an established part of this park!"

"W-wait!" I continued to protest.

"It's obviously just some not very well-thought out jape by the staff here at the facility." Soto sighed. "Honestly, I thought Ultimates like you guys would be able to figure that shit out on your own. Come on, let's go to the gazebo."

One by one, everyone eventually began to make their way towards Monoshroom Garden, until I was left alone with Yuki.

"Come on, Akio!" She exclaimed "We should really all stay together at a time like this, just in case, you know?"

"I guess so" I sighed, realizing that my vote to ignore the ominous voice had made no difference to anyone.

"Hey, don't look like that!" Yuki smiled at me as we both began to head down the pathway. "Maybe Soto is right and everything is fine! What if we're heading to a welcoming party? Let's try to stay optimistic!"

With those words, we walked towards the gazebo, holding onto the possibility that this was all part of the course as hope.

-Monoshroom Garden: Red Gazebo-

"So, we're all here now…" Iesada wiped his forehead, arm brushing under his explorer's hat, as we all gathered at the gazebo.

"I can't say I'm a fan of the color design for this useless hunk of wood" Uematsu pouted. "Gazebos are useless enough already without being this bright red eyesore."

"Well well well!" The unsettlingly whimsical voice from earlier announced. "It looks like everyone is finally here! Everyone, please direct your attention towards the front of the gazebo!"

As we all looked towards the front of the gazebo, overlooking a large field that I could only assume was part of the reserve itself, the body that the whimsical voice had come from finally revealed itself. An animatronic plush doll in the shape of a harpy eagle perched itself on the northernmost rail, facing everyone. The right side of the eagle was a brilliant gold while the left side was a dark onyx. The gold side's eye shone silver, while the onyx side's eye was a rusty bronze, and the eagle's blood red beak seemed almost as though it was fastening both sides of the strange contraption together.

"I am Monowashi!" It cawed as it spread its wings wide in a show of grandeur. "I am the Facilitator of Felicity Park, and your Supervisor for your abroad education!"

"Well, I have never seen you before in my life!" Emi accused, pointing one of her sharp fingernails at the bird. "That's enough of this charade, Shigetoki. Turn that monstrosity off this instant!"

"Wha-?!" Takagi gasped shrugging with both his hands before pointing to his side as he faced Emi with a glare. "I didn't make that fucking thing! How could I have when there's nowhere for me to fucking work!"

"Well someone made it, and you sure as hell fit the bill!" Yano joined in.

"Guys, we shouldn't be arguing about this!" Yuki tried to calm everyone down. "We should at least listen to what the thing has to say."

"I think Yuki's right guys…" Kaze nodded while folding his arms in agreement. "Better to know what we're dealing with."

"Finally, some sense being spoken." Mizu brought his hands up and shook his head condescendingly. Remaining in the same pose, he nodded his head towards the eagle-bot. "Yo, Monowashi, you have a reason for trapping us in here or is it just for kicks? If it's money you're after, you can have mine."

"Oh, I don't need money." Monowashi rose a wing to his face. "I'm quite the rich little boy, in money, in power, and in knowledge! But mostly in power! Cuccoocuccoo."

"Right." Soto stroked his long ponytail like a snake. "This farce has gone on long enough. We know you're the staff, so just get on with our orientation."

"Orientation, right! That's what I called you all here for!"

"H-huh?!" I was dumbfounded. "Really?"

Had...had Soto...been right all along?

"Can't run our killing game without going over the rules first, after all!"

Guess not…

"I'm great at killing game!" Mamiko snickered. "Lead me to the best hunting grounds you got! It rabbit season yet? I've got a trap I want to try!"

"Oh, no, it's actually Ultimate season right now!" Monowashi laughed. "Rule 1: You want out of this park? You kill a fellow Ultimate and get away with it!"

"Well, how does one know if they've gotten away with it?" Mizu wondered to the shock of most of the other Ultimates present.

"M-Mizu, what the heck man?" Iesada pulled his hat back in surprise. "You aren't actually taking this seriously are you?"

"Of course not...yet." Mizu gave a nonchalant shrug. "But that bird certainly is, so why not let him explain his rules."

"I agree." Maeda crossed her arms. "Nothing will happen if we keep interrupting the bird."

"Thank you!" Monowashi squawked with a quick flutter of his wings before he puffed his chest out. "Ahem, Rule 2: After a murder has occurred, a certain amount of time will be allotted for investigating the case, after which a Class Trial will be held.

Rule 3: During a Class Trial, the surviving students debate in an attempt to discover the blackened, or y'know, the one who murdered their classmate! If the blackened is successfully discovered and convicted, they'll receive punishment, but if they manage to fool their peers, they get to go free, and the rest of you receive punishment! Ain't that a kicker?"

"By punishment…" Asano put a hand on the hilt of his sword. "I doubt you are referring to a small reprimand or a slap on the wrist, correct?"

"Hm...it's kind of hard to explain for a birdbrain like me." Monowashi lowered his head before gesturing his onyx wing out past the gazebo into the large field it overlooked. "Better to just show you the fate that awaits."

"Show us what?" Uematsu finally decided to contribute to the questioning, her sequined red dress reflecting the rising sunlight.

"Um, what else?" Monowashi mimicked her tone back at her. "A sample punishment! Emi!"

"M-me?" Emi's face drained of color as she pointed to herself.

"You!" Monowashi pointed a wing at her as he grinned almost devilishly. "Aren't you wondering where your superiors have gone? I have them! Let's use them as an example. After all, it's a teacher's job to show their students how to solve problems, isn't it?"

"Not when they teach a humanities course." Takagi muttered under his breath.

"Now then…" Monowashi flicked his onyx wing and tossed small pairs of binoculars to each of us. "Watch along as your staff participates in a sample punishment, for your benefit!"

"I...I'd rather not…" Katsuragi hesitantly picked up the binoculars.

"I'll be fine, Ori!" Yuki smiled as she patted Katsuragi on the back. "As long as we stick together as a group, I'm sure it doesn't matter what we see through those binoculars!"

"I'd do as the strange bird says for now." Asano put his armored hand across his chin in a thinking position. "If any injustice is done, he'll answer to me."

"Ooh, big talk from someone who can't even fly!" Monowashi flapped his wings in a showboating display before once again pointing out to the large field the gazebo was overlooking. "Cuccoocuccoo! Let the sample punishment for the Felicity Park Staff begin! Pay attention folks!"

Led by Mizu, one by one, each of us looked through our binoculars until only a couple of us remained. Nakauchi, Emi, and myself.

"Well," Nakauchi yawned, rubbing his eyes before looking through his own binoculars, "let's get this over with."

Emi gave me a look of distrust.

"You're not looking through them yet. Are you responsible for this?"

"I could ask the same to you. You said you got here first didn't you?" I replied as calmly as possible given the circumstances.

Emi visibly winced at the accusation. "I suppose I did, but you got here last. Setting up for something maybe?"

We both realized we wouldn't get anywhere in this circle of argument and instead decided to look through our binoculars to see what, exactly, this Monowashi character meant by 'punishment'.

As I looked through my binoculars, I saw about five adults dressed in matching uniforms, resembling those of park rangers. Each one of them was tied to a different wooden stake sticking out of the ground, all of them clearly struggling to get out. They were too far to hear audibly, but they were definitely screaming as their faces made clear.

As the sixteen of us looked on in horror near a proudly posing Monowashi, the skies over the field began to both brighten and darken, half and half, and began to swirl over the bound staff members.

Soon, we all saw what I could say without exaggeration was around ten thousand pairs of eyes open up.

-Punishment: Prometheus Park-

All of a sudden, a flurry of eagles of similar size and shape to Monowashi himself began to swirl and fly down towards the staff members, with talons and beaks sharper than needles and perfectly glistening, becoming stained with more and more blood as they slashed and clawed at each of the staff members, robotic feathers, viscera, and gore flying everywhere in the carnage.

The many Monowashis all made sure we could each see clearly as they visibly tore out the staff members' livers, before dropping them near the Monowashi leading us, who scooped them all up as his clones went back to gauge out the eyes of the faculty, each member now just barely hanging on to life.

As the Monowashi clones all dispersed, and the faculty members seemed to finally realize that the horrendous carnage had come to an end, the main Monowashi flew down to the field as well, eating each park member's liver himself as his razor sharp wings slit each of their throats, severing arteries, causing blood to spout up in the fashion of some kind of horrific fountain, which the Monowashi clones then all began to play in like a bird bath, revelling under the corpses of the staff members.

I slowly brought myself back from my binoculars.

I could hardly believe what I'd just seen. I couldn't even process it at first, really.

"No…" Emi's eyes were shaking with horror. "N-no...NO!" She shrieked as she ran up to the gazebo edge.

"Mr. Imada! Miss Wakaki! Miss Sekiguchi!...Mr. Dokuro...Mr….Yokoi…"

"Oh puh-lease." Soto rolled his eyes as he fiddled with the end of his ponytail. "Your theatrics aren't gonna work after that. Asano, lock her up. It's pretty clear she's behind this."

"What just happened was a horrendous injustice." Asano clenched his metal covered fists. "I vow that I will see whomever is responsible brought before justice...Emi. You stand accused by Soto. What say you in your defence?"
"I...I didn't...do it…" Emi was clearly out of it. She seemed the most shocked out of everyone here, to be honest.

As an attorney, I've witnessed evidence of murders countless times over, so I perhaps took it a little better thans some of the others.

Yano clutched her shoulders as though she was trying to hide inside a makeshift shell. "I...I want to go back home…"

"M-me too…" Katsuragi twiddled her fingers, giving nervous glances to everyone at the gazebo.

"Looks like things just keep going from bad to worse." Takagi sighed with his hands on his hips.

"Who would spite justice like that…" Asano wondered through a hung head and gritted teeth.

"Maybe...we can…" Even Yuki was having some trouble thinking of a way to motivate everyone after that display.

"H-hey.." Kaze looked at Mizu. "You said you're the Ultimate Conman, right? This is all one cruel joke, right?"
"I have plenty of ill-gotten gains." Mizu admitted. "This isn't beyond my capabilities...but to tell if it's real? The only way I could do that would be to see the bodies in person."

"Hrm." Akazawa thought to herself before looking out over the gazebo. "Maybe I can make that jump and check for us."

"Oh no!" Monowashi appeared before us once again. "That area is off limits right now!"

Just as soon as he broke the news, metal shutters closed off the gazebo, save for the entrance we'd used to walk onto it.

"You!" Asano shouted as he drew his blade. "You may be animatronic but you still killed our honorable teachers! For that, you must face justice! En garde!"

"Asano, wait!" Takauchi yelled, but it was too late, the gladiator was charging the bird.

"What's with all the hostility? I showed you an example! Cuccoocuccoo" Monowashi chirped as he attempted to fly out of the gazebo, only to be met with opposition by Mamiko, holding up a bebe gun. "I say you let him tear you apart. I'd like to see what's inside of you."

"Guys, maybe we shouldn't-" Iesada also attempted to speak but to no avail.

Mamiko shot her gun.

Asano swung his blade.

Two knives flew, one taking Mamiko's bullet, the other disarming Asano, allowing Monowashi to fly out of the gazebo, landing safely on the trail outside.

"Stop." Maeda ordered, picking up both knives. "You just saw that this...thing isn't the only one here. There were at least ten thousand out there. Getting rid of this one won't solve any problems."

"Getting rid of all of them might!" Asano exclaimed.

"Wrong!" Monowashi chirped. "I'm mass produced, so the only way to destroy me for good would be to shut down production, oh, but you can't do that since you're trapped in this tiny section of the park!"

"Wait, hold up!" Takagi gestured to stop with his hand. "You're telling me this thing is being mass produced? Fucking hell, how? Where?"

"Why are we listening to this cretin animatron at all?" Asano bellowed his question.

"Well…" Mizu grinned as he stroked his chin confidently. "I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one am listening to the bird because he's already told me how to leave. Kill one of you guys, and get away with it."

"Mizu!" Yuki gasped. "You shouldn't even joke about something like that?"
"Who's joking?" Mizu glared at her. "I wanted to study abroad, not see some horror show. If one of you has to bite the bullet for my happiness, that's a small price to pay, as far as I'm concerned."

"We haven't even looked around the park yet though!" Yuki responded. "There might be another way out!"

"*yawn* there is?" Nakauchi was only half listening. "We should at least look for it."

"Wait! Cuccoocuccoo, wait you guys!" Monowashi chirped as he fluttered his wings. "I need to explain a few more rules! Rule 4: Felicity Park is yours to explore at your discretion, so go wild. Rule 5: When committing a murder, a blackened may kill no more than two Ultimates. It wouldn't be hard to get away with the murder if you murdered everyone systematically, after all!

Finally, Rule 6: I, Monowashi, can remove or make new rules as I see fit!"

"What if someone convinced you to remove that last rule?" Soto asked, clearly just to be difficult. "Then how would things work?"

"Well, then whatever other rules are in place at the time would be permanent!" Monowashi laughed as though the answer was obvious.

"I...I still think we should look around the park." Yuki decided.

"Alright, let's pair up in groups of four." Iesada confirmed. "As Monowashi said, someone could kill two people, so groups of three aren't safe."

"One last thing before you guys go! Cuccoo!" Monowashi let loose his gold side wing and 16 electronic tablets dropped to the ground. "Your E-Badges are your student IDs at this park! They're state of the art, waterproof, indestructible, handy dandy guidebooks for you with all your information and double as keys to get into your dorm rooms! Only your E-Badge can open your specific dorm, but you can let in whoever you want! I'm a bird, I don't care about what debaucherous activities you teens get up to! Cuccoocuccoo!" And with that announcement, he flew off into the park.

"Oh! I have an idea!" Yuki looked at the E-Badges on the gazebo floor. "Why don't we use these things to determine the groups! Will make four piles of four without looking at them, and then all head off and search various areas of the park that we can access right now!"

"Fine by me, I guess." Nakauchi yawned.

"A fair plan." Maeda agreed. "We may even turn up more information on what exactly is going on."

"Hey, anything to keep me away from Mizu." Takagi shrugged giving Mizu a glare. "Dude's putting everyone even further on edge than we already are."

Mizu said nothing in response, but smiled at Takagi as though he was a parent reassuring their child about getting a flu shot.

"Emi…" Katsuragi noticed that Emi hadn't gotten up from her knees on the floor. "Are you alright with that plan?" She gently put a hand on Emi's shoulder.

"I...didn't do it, Benjiro." She looked up at Soto, a mixture of deep sadness and unrelenting anger in her eyes. "How dare you even suggest such a thing!"

"Miss Kazetani…" Soto shook his head as he twirled his ponytail around. "You have to remain level-headed in an emergency like this one. You aren't shaping up to be the class leader you professed you'd be earlier today."

Wow...I'm worried about Mizu's plans too, but this guy...he's just the pinnacle of Assholery.

"Well…" I finally decided to back Yuki's idea. "Let's make four piles then. Four E-Badges to each one."

"Right!" Yuki nodded.

After separating the piles, we turned on all the E-Badges to see who was where.

Group 1 consisted of Asano, Akazawa, Takagi, and Mizu.

"What was that about being kept away from me?" Mizu asked an utterly stunned Takagi.

"Aw come on!" The toy maker complained. "I demand a re-shuffle!"

"Not a chance!" Asano protested. "Your preferences don't outweigh our need as a group to cooperate!"

"Besides, I'm more interested in tall and slender over here." Mizu approached Azakawa. "You're the Ultimate Acrobat, right? Care to show me how you practice?"

"Behave yourself and I'll think about it." Akazawa flirted back with a wink.

"Gross." Takagi rolled his eyes. "Let's just head out and get this over with. We should all meet back up somewhere when we're done looking around though, right?"
"This gazebo should suffice for now." Asano decided. "Onwards, crew!"

Group 2 consisted of Emi, Katsuragi, Kaze, and Mamiko.

"Alright, I can get behind this group!" Kaze grinned. "Myself and three lovely ladies!"

"All of which are probably smarter than you~!" Mamiko trolled with a grin. "Besides, it looks like it's mainly just you and me, miner boy. Emi's a little out of it, and Katsuragi's filling the role of her support. We'll bring 'em along with us of course, but don't expect much in way of conversation from either of them."

"This is...alright too, I guess." Kaze gave a small laugh. "Hopefully they'll see fit to help once we start looking around. Could really use our class leader's insight about this park after all."

"S-sorry…" Emi gave a half-assed apology as the four of them left.

Group 3 was made up of Uematsu, Nakauchi, Yano, and Iesada.

"This group fucking sucks!" Uematsu complained. "Nakauchi's half-asleep still, Yano's a bitch, and Iesada's just...weird."

"I might be sleepy…" Nakauchi yawned "But I'm a professional geologist. I can detect the slightest change in soil composition like it's nothing. So if anything is out of place, I'm the one to talk to."

"And I am the Ultimate Archeologist!" Iesada proclaimed. "I can tell easily when structures were built, and their original purpose with a negligible margin of error."

"Well, Yano's still a bitch." Uematsu complained.

"You're not any better, ice-princess." Yano flicked her hand defiantly. "But if you wish for me to leave you alone for the birds to devour, so be it." She snapped her fingers and began walking away. "Come along, boys" she ordered. Nakauchi and Iesada both followed after her while Uematsu kept a close but safe distance from the rest of them.

This left Group 4 still at the gazebo.

Yuki, myself, Soto, and Maeda.

I'm glad I'm with Yuki, and Maeda seems like the responsible type but…

"Well, I suppose I'm at least with the attorney." Soto sighed in overall disapproval of the group he'd been placed in.

You aren't exactly a help here, yourself, buddy…

"Well, it looks like…" Maeda said as we all took a look at our E-Badges, each one displaying our full name and ultimate talent as they signed us in to their home screens. "We have quite a few areas to check out. First, there's the 'Nesting Grounds'."

"Sounds like that's our dorm area." I realized.

"Indeed." Maeda nodded her head as she continued looking through the E-Badge. "Among it are many different sections of the park. There's also Monoshroom Garden, which includes this area here, The Gazebo."

"Well, since we're already here, why don't we check it out first?" Yuki suggested.

Soto and Maeda both had no objections, and all three of them turned to me expectantly.

"Um...you guys looking for something in particular?" I asked.

"Akio!" Yuki teased. "You're clearly the most involved in investigations out of the four of us! Why not be our group leader?"

"Leader is a bit of a stretch, but I share the same sentiment." Soto agreed.

"You too?" I asked Maeda who shrugged.

"I don't really care. Just get something done."

"Well, alright." I sighed. I directed them all to search various points of interest.

-Monoshroom Garden: Red Gazebo-

I, myself, took a look around the outskirts of the gazebo. I couldn't move all the way around it, thanks to the walls put in place by Monowashi, but I did notice a few interesting things about the structure, namely that it seemed bolted into the ground. I had always thought gazebos were made of wood, so I found that odd at least.

"Akio! Akio!" Yuki's voice echoed from inside the gazebo. I walked in to see her pointing to a small line on the floor, around the edges of the structure. "It's a crease, it's a crease!"

"Hm…" I wondered to myself. It did seem strange now that I thought about it.

"These metal shutters…" Maeda tossed a knife at the one that was blocking the view to the field where the punishment had taken place. The blade didn't even make a dent.

"A full force attempt to dent the metal and nothing." She concluded. "This suggests the other barriers put in place have similar defenses."

"Speaking of the other barriers." Soto gave his own input. "I've been feeling along them and where they connect with the gazebo, they form somewhat of an arc with this gazebo being a central point."

"Uhm...I'm sorry, I'm not the best at math, lol." Yuki gave a laugh, "Can you…"

"Walls form pizza slice, gazebo is the tip of the slice." Soto sighed.

"I'm a little hung up on the crease and the reinforcements for a gazebo though." I decided.

"I think it warrants a bit further an investigation, but we can share those initial findings with the others when we all meet back up here." Maeda suggested.

"Then let us head to the next area." Soto decided as he walked off, forcing the rest of us to follow him.

-Monoshroom Garden: Flower Beds-

As we approached the Flower Beds, we noticed that Katsuragi was looking among them as well.

We walked along the gravel pathway connecting the flower beds to the rest of Monoshroom Garden, and as we came closer, Katsuragi took note of our group.

"Oh, hello!" She waved. "Are you admiring the flowers too?"

"Katsuragi, what happened to the rest of your group?" I asked, somewhat concerned.

Sensing my fear, Katsuragi smiled. "We're all fine, no need to worry. Emi's perked up since she reached the Outdoor Lounge. Mamiko's been investigating a Target Range, and Kaze's by the fountain. We're going to meet up at the lounge and move on later, when we're done investigating."

I looked over the flower beds. Red, yellow, blue, pink, white, and purple flowers all filled the beds in varying rows and patterns.

"It's so pretty!" Yuki clasped her hands with a giant smile. "Who arranged these?"

"According to Emi, she was the main arranger." Katsuragi put a finger to her cheek as she checked her memory. She then smiled as she put her own hands to her heart. "I agree so much, as well! Truly these flowers radiate beauty and smell divine! This whole area just feels so...peaceful. I can see myself spending a lot of time here."

"I don't see why." Soto shrugged. "None of these flowers can be used in tea brewing. I'd hoped for at least some chamomile to be growing around here, but nope. Nothing but colored weeds."

"Benjiro!" Yuki gasped as she brought a hand to her mouth. "You shouldn't just spout out insults like that!"

"I think you should look at some of the patterns made here, though." Katsuragi ignored Soto as she continued. "Look there in the top left, it's a yellow sun, surrounded by pink flowers! It's like an evening! And there in the middle right, is a picture of the red gazebo where we all just were!"

"This is all lovely, of course." Maeda sighed. "But is there any means of escape to be discovered in this garden?"

"We could dig up the weeds-" Soto began to suggest, before Maeda pointed a knife at him without even looking.

"You speak up unprompted again, that braid of yours gets cut off."

Soto shut up and held his braided ponytail behind his head defensively.

"I'm afraid Soto is correct though." Katsuragi sighed. "With the exception of what's under the flowers, there's not a chance this area has any means of escape within it."

"Well, let's keep moving then!" Yuki suggested. "We still have a lot of ground to cover!"

-Monoshroom Garden: Fountain Plaza-

"What kind of fountain is that?!" I asked, taken aback by the giant fountain's motif of what appeared to be…

"That's Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden," Kaze, who was on the other side of the fountain, responded. "According to Emi, the staff chose this design after the spirit of making the reserve a paradise away from the rest of the world."

The water pouring from the fountain itself was a clean blue, though I didn't quite care for where it was spouting from.

"And is there a reason the water is spewing from their genitals?" Maeda asked what I couldn't bring myself to.

"Um...something about sin?" Kaze shook his head. "It's honestly lost on me. But I want you to notice something interesting about this fountain. Look at what it's made out of!"

"Isn't it some kind of glass?" I wondered aloud.

Maeda tested it the only way she knew how, tossing one of her knives.

It bounced back off the statue, a lot more dinged up than before, while the statue remained pristine in condition.

"Is that diamond?" Yuki's eyes widened. "Wow! That's soo cool!" She was beginning to bounce up and down.

I'm glad you can still find a way to get excited in the middle of all of this, Yuki, but maybe tone it down for our sakes.

"Yeah, that's diamond all right." Kaze nodded with a smile, flicking his miner cap's light on to signify a correct answer. "So good luck breaking that. Not sure why the staff felt the need for so expensive of a centerpiece for this area, nor why they wanted to be sure it wouldn't break."

"Oh, that's easy!"

Monowashi flew in from above.

"The bird again!" Maeda gripped her knife.

"What do you want this time?" Soto rolled his eyes.

"I'm here to answer your pressing question! Why is it important that this fountain doesn't break? That's because it's also a water filter! This is where the ickiness of any contaminated liquid drained down a sink or flushed down a toilet gets purified before going back into the circulation of Felicity Park's plumbing! Thankfully, all the icky parts happen just under the surface, so the fountain water is always clean! Still though, I'd recommend not drinking from it unless you absolutely have to...or you're into golden showers from a statue!"

And just as soon as he appeared, Monowashi flew off again.

"Well…" Kaze took his hat off, holding it in both hands over his chest. "I suppose that's nice to know."

"It is." Soto agreed. "We've learned, with certainty, that clean water is available for us. We won't dehydrate any time soon."

"Other than that though, this fountain doesn't offer much." I concluded as I finished inspecting the fountain. "Let's head on to the next area."

-Monoshroom Garden: Outdoor Lounge-

"Welcome to the lounge, ladies and gentlemen!" Emi smiled as she turned around at the counter of the outdoor bar. A bonfire pit sat a couple meters away from her, with various logs and chairs surrounding the pit, for the sixteen of us to sit on. "Anyone want any beverage? Yuki? Tara? Akio? Assface?"

"Look." Soto was about to explain himself, before he remembered Maeda's threat and gave her some pleading puppy dog eyes.

"Fine." Maeda rolled her eyes as Soto turned back to Emi.

"Look, I only said what I thought was the most logical conclusion at the time. Don't take it so personally, or it'll seem like you're really the guilty party."

"I helped build this freaking park!" Emi snapped as she put her hands on her hips. "How can I not take it personally when you claim I'm responsible for that horrendous murder of the very teachers who allowed me to work here with them in the first place? I'm the only one of us that knew any of them!"

"That's what makes you the most suspicious." Soto explained his reasoning. "You, Nakauchi, Kirigaya, Takagi, and Mizushima. You're the ones I've got my eyes on."

"I can understand each of those, but why Nakauchi?" I asked, a little confused.

"What kind of lame ass talent is Geologist?" Soto smugly asked as he shook his head.

Ah, okay, so he doesn't actually suspect Nakauchi, he's just deciding to be a douche to someone else.

"In any case, Emi, I'm glad to see you're feeling a little more social!" Yuki smiled at Emi, who returned the same smile.

"Thank you so much, Yuki! You get drinks for free from now on!"

"Yay~!" Yuki sang. "Wait...aren't you worried you'll run out?"

"No?" Emi cocked her head. "The Outdoor Lounge restocks it's beverages, and also replaces lost game pieces. The bird said as much at least."

"Game pieces?" I inquired.

Emi pointed to the other side of the counter than the bonfire pit. There was a billiards table, a rack of pool cues, a dartboard hanging from the bar's small straw ceiling, and a cabinet full of darts, playing cards, and all manner of board games.

"Wow, you must feel really at home here as the Ultimate Hostess." I observed.

Emi grinned. "All it needs is a runway and a pole, and I might as well be at home~" she giggled as she saw my face redden in reaction to her suggestive flirt.

"Escape wise though, this lounge has nothing. It's pretty much exactly the same as it was when the faculty and I designed it."

"What's different?" Soto asked, getting a glare from Emi in return.

"I already said what was different, dumbass. I'm not about to run out of ale, spirits, or game pieces anytime soon because they're all restocked and replaced. Now, for the rest of you…"

She smiled at Yuki, Maeda, and myself.

"Who wants a gin and tonic for the road?"

After politely declining the alcohol, our group moved on to the final area of Monoshroom Garden.

-Monoshroom Garden: Target Range-

As we made our way to the target range, Maeda was the one who began to get excited.

On a rack, where Mamiko was standing looking over the same, was a vast assortment of various weapons. A couple guns, some bows and arrows, and a wide array of various kinds of knives and daggers all sat long the large rack.

"I thought it'd be a matter of time before you showed up here, Maeda." Mamiko greeted us. "Take a look at the targets down the range, too."

All shapes and sizes of targets stood along the giant stretch of gravel pavement. Some were bullseye targets, some were in the shape of humans, some animals, some targets moved, and some targets stood still, and they were all at varying degrees of distances from the giant golden line with onyx lettering: "From Here".

"This area is perfect for me." The knife thrower gave her first smile since coming here, though it quickly disappeared. "Unfortunately, it's probably quite dangerous under the circumstances."

"Actually, you wouldn't believe how safe it is." Mamiko smiled in response. "Think about it, a place to store any and all weapons! Now if someone uses a gun to commit a murder, there's no way they can pin it solely on me!"

"What about ballistic markings?" I inquired. "You know, bullet fingerprints."

"Well, I'm not going to be the one committing any crimes, so even if my weapon is used, anyone can take it if I store it on the rack here!"

"How is that in the least bit safe?" Soto crossed his arms.
"It deters a would-be killer that was planning to kill in that particular fashion." Mamiko shrugged.

"Yeah, that's about as least as you can get in the phrase 'least bit safe'." Maeda agreed.

"Well, you guys go and play detective all you want." Mamiko shrugged. "With no game in sight, I've got to settle for these moving targets as a way to pass my time."

"No way out?" Yuki asked, disappointed.

"No way out." Mamiko responded as she knocked on the wall behind the rack and trailed it all the way to where the furthest target resided. "Nada!" She shouted.

"I'm a bit curious about something that I'd like to check here before we leave." Maeda said to the rest of us as she grabbed a knife from the rack and tossed it at a target about halfway down the range without any effort whatsoever, and the knife rushed through the target in question.

"Alleyoop!" Monowashi cawed from the sky as he came in and brought the knife back to the weapons rack, as well as a new target to replace the broken one.

"So, the targets can break, but they're replaceable." Soto pretended as though this was all the information he needed.

"And Monowashi brings thrown objects back to you!" Yuki clapped her hands.

"Bzzt! Wrong!" Monowashi crowed as he perched on the weapons rack. "I only bring back projectiles that miss and fall on the ground! The exception of course are bullets! Once a magazine is used up, I replace it with a new one!"

"Don't you think these guns being available to everyone makes killing incredibly easy?" I couldn't help but ask the bird, who nodded in agreement.

"Well of course, but come on! How many of you kids know how to properly handle a gun? My bet is only the Hunter there, and maybe the Toy Maker. Would you risk your own life just to take someone else's twice over? You'll already have to deal with Class Trials! Cuccoo, toodle-loo!"

And Monowashi once again flew off.

"Well, that was an experience." Maeda sighed.

"We still have the Nesting Grounds to check out!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Then let's head over there at a reasonable pace." Soto agreed.

-Nesting Grounds: Dorms-

"Tents!" Uematsu was pacing up and down the pathway. "Our 'dorms' are fucking tents!"

"It looks like Nakauchi's loving his tent." I noticed that the door to Nakauchi's tent was open and he was asleep in it already.

"I'm surprised he can sleep in this condition." Soto folded his arms. "Still though, a shame our geologist is asleep when we have a flower bed for him to examine. Seems just a tad suspicious."

"Right?!" Uematsu hastily agreed with Soto.

No...please...don't give each other any ideas…

"So…" Yuki looked at the tents. "It seems like boys are on the east side, girls are on the west. On the girls' side, from north to south, it's Ruma, Shiro, Tara, Ori, Emi, Take, me, and Waki at the south end!"

That's Yano, Mamiko, Maeda, Katsuragi, Emi, Uematsu, Yuki, and Akazawa, in order from north to south.

"And on the males' side…" Soto looked. "In the same north-south order, it's Yamanami, Mizushima, Nakauchi, Takagi, Myself, Suzukaze, Kirigaya, and Asano.

That's Iesada, Mizu, Nakauchi, Takagi, Soto, Kaze, my own tent, and Asano, in order from north to south. I'm pretty happy with both my neighbors, to be honest, and being directly across from Yuki isn't so bad either.

"We should check inside our dorm tents before we move on to another area" Maeda suggested. "We also shouldn't expect to find any escape route in our living quarters, so this is likely pure information we're obtaining now."

"And you wanted me to lead the investigation." I joked at Maeda's agency. She blushed nervously a bit before heading towards her own tent in silence.

As I approached my own tent, I took note of the scanner.

"Without scanning your E-Badge, the tent won't unzip" A now awake Nakauchi scared the ever-loving shit out of me as he gave his advice from directly behind me.

"For fuck's sake man!" I gasped. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Just trying to help…" Nakauchi shrugged. "Uematsu woke me up since I left my tent unzipped and told me to make myself useful."

"Well, why tents?" I asked.

Nakauchi tilted his head in confusion. "Ambience?"

"Yeah, but...isn't it super easy to force your way into a tent?"

"It normally would be, but if even one tent is being forced into, all sixteen tents have an alarm that will go off to alert everyone. Other than that, the material around them is completely soundproof, according to Monowashi. Good thing too. I snore."

"What's inside the tent?" I asked as I pressed my E-Badge to my tent's scanner, which lit up blue as it recognized the QR code, allowing me to unzip the tent.

"Not much." Nakauchi replied as I pulled down the tent's zipper to see a small sleeping bag, along with a cupboard and a reading lamp. Inside the cupboard were autopsy reports and evidence files from random murder cases all over the world, as well as the court rulings of those cases. "Just a bed, and something to do with your talent. My tent as an assortment of rocks from various areas, and software for determining rock composition for instance. Oh, and also…"

I had noticed what Nakauchi was about to point out already. "A whole bunch of outfits matching the ones we're wearing now."

"Well, this is all good to know, I suppose." I decided to close my tent up for now.

I waited patiently until Yuki, Maeda, and Soto had returned from their own tents, and we left for the next area.

-Nesting Grounds: Dining Area-

The scene before our eyes was not what we expected to see.

Asano was covered in bits of gold and onyx metal, holding a rather dulled sword in one hand and a shield with a whole bunch of crushed circuitry in the other. The ground of what was otherwise a perfectly normal dining area full of picnic tables and barbeque grills in a park was littered with what I could only assume were defunct Monowashi.

"Come on out, bird! I'm not afraid of you or your army! The Ultimate Gladiator never yields when justice is on the line!" He shouted at the top of his longs.

"Asano, what the actual hell is going on here?" I asked, in a state of utter surprise.

"The contemptible avian has taunted me with limitless meals, but that is his undoing! When I have limitless energy, I can attack him and his cronies as much as I desire! An army of ten thousand means nothing!"

"Does the phrase 'mass produced' also mean nothing to you?" Soto rolled his eyes. "For every one of those birds you kill, about ten more have already taken its place. Your efforts are futile."

"Justice is never futile!" Asano pointed his sword at Soto, who shot his hands up in a surrendering pose.

"Kirigaya, back me up here, the armored idiot is wasting his time!"

Hey, don't rope me into your opinions! Fight your own battles!

"Look, that doesn't matter right now." Maeda decided. "Asano, you said the food was limitless? What kind of food is there?"
"All kinds." Asano replied, realizing that Monowashi was probably not about to send any more clones in his general vicinity and sheathing his sword.

"So if anyone is particular about the food they eat, I would assure them they needn't worry."

"Well that's great!" Yuki smiled. "We have replenishing food, we have clean water, we have entertainment, we aren't going to die out of starvation or boredom anytime soon at least!"

"That seems as a matter of course though." Maeda brought her fingers to her chin and thought about it. "If a dead body is discovered, who or whatever is controlling Monowashi wants to be sure that it was a murder and not something like an illness or an act of nature. Otherwise the purpose of this whole killing game is defeated."

"Well, it doesn't sound as nice when you say it like that…" Yuki kicked around some gravel.

"In any case, you four should be careful while exploring the rest of the Nesting Grounds." Asano warned us. "Not only can the avian of anti-justice appear from wherever he wants, whenever he wants, but Mizu's been positively giddy since we got to this area, and that doesn't bode quite well."

After thanking Asano for his warning, as well as warning him to save his energy, we moved on to the next area.

-Nesting Grounds: The Camp Store-

"I so want to shop. It's been too long." Yano complained as we walked into the building in the middle of the nesting grounds. Inside there was a large assortment of items, all incredibly random and, on the whole, useless. Mizu sat on one side of the store's counter, the clerk's side, and Yano stood on the other one.

"Judging by the way you're dressed, beautiful, you don't have a wallet on you." Mizu replied with the devil's smile. "But if you're willing to pay in a different way, perhaps I can be convinced to part with some of my wares."

"Um, ew. No thanks." Yano flicked her hand at Mizu and turned to leave, noticing the four of us in the doorway of the building.

"Man of the hour over there is pretending to play store clerk." She rolled her eyes. "You'll find nothing of worth here at all."

"That's not true, and you're just embarrassed because you know you want me as much as I want you." Mizu smiled from his place at the counter. "If you stop by my tent later, I promise to let you in."

"Ugh." Yano nearly gagged in disgust as she stormed past the rest of us.

"Wants you to die in a fire maybe." Maeda mumbled when she was sure Yano was gone.

"Why, my dearest Tara, are you suggesting a bonfire date?" Mizu wondered jokingly only to be met with a knife flying just past his cheek.

"We got a tsundere!" He announced as another knife took out a couple strands of his golden blonde hair.

"Mabuchi, please, this is serious!" Yuki pleaded.

"Hey, I am too!" Mizu replied. "If I'm going to be stuck here and it ends up that I can't kill any of you, you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to find some carnal entertainment!"

"What a sad life a conman must lead." Soto shook his head.

"I think we're about done in this store if there's nothing of actual value to be learned here." I decided.

"Wait." Mizu stopped me. "There is one thing I guess you should know. Come here, man. Your ears only."

I walked up to the counter and leaned my ear in towards Mizu.

"Shh." he whispered in my ear. "Act natural, but let me warn you now...Yuki is one crazy chick, and I don't mean crazy in a sexy way, I mean crazy in a stabby way. I can understand if you don't trust me, but if you're even just a little bit curious, come to my tent tomorrow night. I didn't get to be the Ultimate Conman without noticing lies when I see them. If you're scared, know that Emi and Akazawa will be there too. Now, act like I just told you that everything in here was actually confectionary. Break."

"W-wait, really?" I asked as I broke away from him, unsure of absolutely everything he had said.

"Really and truly." Mabuchi took out what appeared to be a gimmick lizard toy and took a bite out of it.

He handed one to each of us.

"He says it's confectionary…" I decided to play along for now, not having decided on whether or not to trust what he said about Yuki.

We all bit down to taste gooey plastic which we spat out immediately.

Mizu laughed at his prank as we left the building.

-Nesting Grounds: Bathrooms-

"We can't all go into the girls or boys bathroom." Yuki giggled as though she was in elementary school. "Tara and I will take the girls bathroom, Akio and Benjiro, you two take the boys bathroom."

"Do we really have to investigate the toilet?" Soto asked as he and I entered the bathroom to find Iesada doing exactly that.

"What a strange anomaly these toilets are!" He exclaimed. "They look positively pristine but they're ancient."

"Wait, what?!" I asked, once again dumbfounded.

"Gah!" Iesada bumped his head on the toilet tank as he stood up to face us.

"Ah, Akio, Soto, nice to see you both had the same idea. If there are pipes under the park, then perhaps we can escape through the sewers!"

"I didn't have that idea." I admitted.

"I had it, but found it idiotic" Soto clearly lied about whether or not he'd actually had the idea.

"I thought the same thing, but then I thought about not myself getting through such small and cramped pipes, but someone with the title of Ultimate Acrobat is probably great and contorting her body!"

"You want Akazawa to crawl down the toilets? Somehow, I don't think she's up for that." I responded.

"It's a bit of a moot point now anyways." Iesada shrugged with admittance. "We can't take out a toilet in the girls' room, and she can't come into this one."

"Did Monowashi say that?" I asked.

"Well, no…" Iesada admitted. "But he did say that these toilets weren't porcelain and wouldn't break easily. So I decided to check them out, and as I was saying when you two walked in. They're ancient. If I could break one, I'd love to bring a piece back to my tent for some carbon dating."

"I suppose an archeologist would need to know approximately how old various things are, but I'm surprised you can perform carbon dating in your tent." I acknowledged Iesada who proudly tipped his explorer hat.

"I'm the Ultimate Archeologist for a reason, you know!" He smiled with a thumbs up from his free hand.

"You two leave all bathroom investigations to me! There's about three other toilets and a couple of urinals for you to use, but this specific stall will be dedicated to Operation Bathroom Deuces!"

"An apt name for the operation." Soto backhanded as we left the bathroom and met back up with Yuki and Maeda, who had also made no real discoveries of any kind. We headed to the final area, other than the front courtyard, which we already knew as sealed off completely, that we hadn't been.

-Nesting Grounds: Trash/Recycling Tent-

Like the dorm tents, this one required an E-Badge to unlock. Thankfully though, it was already open. Inside were bins upon bins for trash and various recyclable materials.

Akazawa and Takagi stood in the center of everything.

"Oh, hey you four! Where have you been?" Akazawa asked with a smile. "I've been climbing all over the place, and let me tell you, we cannot fly out of here. We're trapped in a large dome, like a bird cage."

"Is that why there's a whole bunch of bird-bots tormenting us?" Maeda asked, crossing her arms.

"I don't know, but whoever's making them is doing a bang-up job of it." Takagi rested his hand on his forehead. "I took one of the ones you no doubt saw Asano playing with in the dining area and tried to fiddle with it in my tent as much as I could, but I can't make heads or tails of most of its features. He might look like a demented child's toy, but his design is closer to a legitimate robot, or maybe a secret military weapon? My point is he's no fuckin' toy. I don't think it'd be easy for any shmuck to recreate him, so wherever he's being mass produced, it's likely the only place."

"I didn't expect people hanging around the trash to have such insightful information. I'll make a note of this." Soto smugly looked at his braid.

"Ugh." Takagi groaned. "First Mizu, now this guy. Can't catch a break today."

"Oh, Mizu isn't that bad." Akazawa rolled her eyes. "A bit of a pervy creep, but I'm not worried about him."

"You're not worried about the Ultimate Conman?" Takagi's eyes widened. "You're either the bravest or craziest gal I know."

"I'm not worried about him, but I'm plenty afraid of the situation in general. Whoever set this up clearly was aware of our talents, and has done just about everything they can do to make escape an impossibility by means other than the door we all came through. The door that won't open until one of us 'graduates'. Anyone who isn't first and foremost afraid of that, that's someone to watch out for."

"In any case…" Maeda moved on. "What's the deal with the trash and recycling here?"

"Every morning, Monowashi picks up the trash and every night, he picks up the recycling, and he takes them to somewhere we can't reach, yet, at least, and the bins are empty again. That's about it.

"But this tent needs an E-Badge to get into." I realized. "Are you saying Monowashi has one of those?"
"It's possible." Takagi agreed before bringing up his own idea. "But it's also possible someone controlling the bird remotely also has remote control over the E-Badge readers on the tents that have them."

"I think Takagi's theory holds the most water right now." Akazawa concurred. "But that about wraps all of this up. We should head back now."
"I guess we should head back too, then." Soto sighed. "How useless the lot of you were in my investigation…"

We were all too tired to make an effort to stop Soto from speaking, and decided to just head back in silence.

-Monoshroom Garden: The Gazebo-

"So...is that everything?" Asano asked as we all shared the same information with each other four times over, with a single exception.

"Actually, we still haven't talked about the gazebo itself." I pointed out. "Yuki, didn't you notice that strange line in the floor?"

"Yeah look, here, parallel to the edges of the gazebo!" Yuki pointed excitedly to the crease she'd discovered.

"It's possible that it's just a design choice." Katsuragi suggested.

"Yeah, I suppose it could be…" Emi folded her arms under her breasts. "I didn't care to much for this gaudy gazebo so I didn't have much hand in its design. Same goes for the dorm tents."

"I guess standing around here isn't going to get us anywhere, huh." Kaze grinned sheepishly as Nakauchi gave a yawn.

"I think I'm going to turn in for the night, get some sleep. We can decide what we'll do in the morning."

"That's a good idea, I think." Mamiko agreed. "We're of no use if we're fatigued and tired. We need to be well rested to make the best decisions."

"Then let's add a general rule that we should try to follow." Mizu, of all people, was the one to suggest. "When night falls, we stick to the Nesting Grounds, and if we have to leave, leave in groups of at least four."

"Seems like a simple enough rule." Soto shrugged. "Very well, I second it."

"Can someone I actually respect third it so I don't feel weird agreeing with those two?" Takagi asked.

"I like the rule too!" Yuki piped up.

"There we go." Takagi sighed with relief. "Same."

"Alright, we'll put our first unofficial rule into effect right away." Asano decided. "Now, where should we meet when we wake up tomorrow?"
"I know where!" Emi's eyes lit up. "The Outdoor Lounge! It's full of games the early risers can play with each other while they wait for everyone to get there!"

"That sounds like a good meeting place then." Akazawa nodded in agreement. "But this meeting, do we absolutely have to go to it? Didn't we just team up looking for a way out of here and come up empty handed? What else do you expect us to do?"

"I suppose you don't have to come if you don't feel like it." Yuki seemed disappointed.

"All the better then." Soto gave a smug grin. "I'd been growing tired of you plebeians."

With that, he followed Nakauchi to bed.

One by one, they all went to bed.

Soon, it was just myself.

I noticed the sun setting, and decided I'd rather not hang around into the night.

-Nesting Grounds: Akio's Room-

I lay down in my sleeping bag, thoughts swirling around in my mind.

Part of me still couldn't believe any of this was happening.

Part of me was relieved I'd been in dangerous situations or had dealt with dangerous clients before.

However, most of me was filled with dread. Dread for what the future held.

I'd thought I'd be having fun studying abroad when the day began, but now...now I could no longer feel.

Everything was numb.

In that state, I blanked out, unsure of whether or not I had truly fallen asleep.

Students Remaining: 16

1: Waki Akazawa: The Ultimate Acrobat

2: Hiroyuki Asano: The Ultimate Gladiator

3: Yuki Imari: The Ultimate Motivator

4: Take Uematsu: The Ultimate Ice Skater

5: Emiho "Emi" Kazetani: The Ultimate Hostess

6: Oriana Katsuragi: The Ultimate Seamstress

7: Akio Kirigaya: The Ultimate Attorney

8: Akinori "Kaze" Suzukaze: The Ultimate Miner

9: Benjiro Soto: The Ultimate Tea Brewer

10: Shigetoki Takagi: The Ultimate Toy Maker

11: Kano Nakauchi: The Ultimate Geologist

12: Tara Maeda: The Ultimate Knife Thrower

13: Shiro Mamiko: The Ultimate Hunter

14: Mabuchi "Mizu" Mizushima: The Ultimate Conman

15: Ruma Yano: The Ultimate Flautist

16: Iesada Yamanami: The Ultimate Archeologist