At first, everything is white.

As I open my eyes slowly, all I see is a painful, bright white. But then I blink, and slowly, it clears away. There is still white and brightness, but now it forms shapes. A ceiling, high and rectangular. Lighting. And there are shadows, creating hollows and showing me that this is indeed real.

Am I dead?

I blink again, once, twice, three times. I breathe, and discover there is something covering my mouth and nose. I move my hand hesitantly, and when that works I try my arm, and discovered it is hooked up to something. All strange details, but as I attempt to sit up and put these details together, someone lets out a high-pitched squeal and distracts me.

"You're awake! Oh my god, you're awake!"

The voice is familiar, and when I turn my head to look at the astonished female face, I find that that is familiar too. There is a bandage wrapped around her head-which doesn't match anything I remember-, but she doesn't seem the worse for wear, apart from an expression of shock and deep, dark circles under her eyes. She utters my name, and then just stares.

"I-I'm going to get the others! And a nurse, okay? I'll be back soon!"

I have no time to say-or rather, indicate my assent- before she stumbles away. In the time she is gone, I attempt to sit up again, but I can't, and instead I look around from my vantage point. I'm in a hospital room, and if that girl's-no, my classmate. She's my classmate. As I list the facts of the situation in my mind, her face matches up with a name that's been floating around, and I remember this.

She's a classmate. One of my classmates at Hope's Peak Academy. And…

No…..wait. Is that….

Images and sounds fill my mind. A weird mock-up of a courtroom, a black-and-white teddy bear, the blurry figure of a person laughing about the world that had ended. Blood, a knife, a gun, a trashed room, a cold pale hand. Being told that we needed to investigate, find out who the killer was, if we wanted to survive, over and over. There is more, but the more these things come flooding in, the more indistinct and chaotic they become.

I don't understand. I need…..

My classmate comes back at that moment, with five others roughly our age behind her. A nurse and a doctor push past them and come to me. The doctor is the first to reach me, a benign looking old man with calm grey eyes. But that isn't enough to reassure me. I want to know what's happening, why I'm here, how it is I remember what I remember (or think you're remembering, a part of me taunts), not to mention where….where….

But when I try to speak, the doctor puts a hand on my shoulder and says my name firmly, but not unkindly, and stops me from trying.

"Calm down. "He tells me. "You'll be able to speak soon. Just give us a few moments."

He keeps speaking after that as he and the nurse start to examine me, explaining everything he is doing, and the range of injuries I've had, and how long I've been under (a week and a half, as it turns out). I comply, numbly, not knowing what else to do, and out of the corner of my eye I see the girl and the others-my classmates-slip in cautiously and gather around the end of my bed.

I scan each and every one of them, matching their faces to the names and information to my memory. Each one fills me with a little satisfaction, an overwhelming sense of I'm so glad you're safe. But….there's someone missing. I go over and over the line my classmates form, but still, the person I am expecting to see just isn't there.

What….? Where….?

Eventually, the nurse removes my oxygen mask, and almost instantly hands me something I quickly realise is an ice chip-something I quickly realise I need. As soon as I finish, I hold my hand out for more, and she taps two more into my palm from a cup, before setting it on the table. I notice there's also a cup and a bottle of water there too.

"Right, you should be fine now. You seem up to it, so I'll let you have some time with your classmates. They've all been worried about you."

"R-right." Even now, with my thirst is somewhat parched, the words stick. "Thank you."

The doctor and nurse leave, and just like that, the six standing at the end swarm forward, all saying my name, telling me how glad and relieved they are that I'm awake, voices overlapping. One of the girls hugs me too tightly, but since I've become used to it from being in class with her, I just let her. The girl who I first saw when waking up sits on my bed, while two of the others grab a chair, and the remaining two stand nearby.

"Okay, okay!" one of the standing boys snaps, rolling his eyes. "Shut it for now! Don't you think he's got questions of his own?"

They all fall silent and stare at me, all wide-eyed and sheepish. For the first time, I notice they all look pale and drawn, with dark circles under their eyes. Haunted, is the first word that occurs to me, looking at them. And I suspect it's by the same things that I'm starting to remember, the details that are gradually starting to pull themselves together.

"D-Didn't the…" I have to pause for a moment. "Didn't the world end? I remember….that-"

"Lies. It was all lies." The same annoyed boy replies. "Nothing was wrong, that was just-"

"Oi!" my classmate with the bandaged head scolds mid-sentence, frowning. "You could word it kinder, y'know?"

"Why? There's nothing to be kind about! We were lied to!"

"Not entirely."

The spat abruptly halts as we all turn to the girl sitting on a chair next to me. Even by the standards of the others, she looks incredibly pale and drawn, her arms wrapped around herself as she stares at me, looking almost afraid. It makes no sense to me, but even as I realise this fact something else tugs at the back of my mind.

"It wasn't the apocalypse, but bad things were happening outside during….that time…attacks, murders, they said. But the Future Foundation, and the police and all, they managed to contain most of that. It was just….just us they couldn't get to in time."

"No! No, he didn't…he can't have, he wouldn't do anything like that! He's not that kind of person. Listen to him! And you, just tell them that you didn't, that you couldn't have! Please, tell them….!"

It's her voice, I know that. Her, during that time. But where she was so impassioned before, now her voice is barely a whisper, and I have to lean in to catch any of that.

When she has finished, she looks down at her lap, hands fiercely bunching the material of her skirt, and though I badly want to ask what she means by 'the Future Foundation', I put it together, vividly, the memory of standing in that mock courtroom for what the weird bear (?), putting in a vote to damn yet another classmate….the weird sense that I was getting revenge, justice, but that the cost was too much…

Suddenly, I can't look at her, so I deliberately turn away and look down at my own hands, at the tubes running through them, how thin and bony they look. Though the memories have been dribbling in rapidly since I opened my eyes, it only now dawns on me how injured I must be. How worried everyone was, how worried-

"Where…." I ask abruptly. "Where is….?"

That person's face, the one I've been looking for but haven't been able to find amongst these friends of mine. I see their face so clearly in my mind, and yet I can't manage to say their name to ask for them. But it turns out that I don't need to, for when I look up, I see something dawn in all their eyes, and they all look at each other, uncomfortably.

"I thought you remembered everything." My angrier classmate is the one to respond, eventually, though now he seems less angry.

"It sounded like you did, anyway. "He shrugs. "But, I guess it'd be easy to believe otherwise, wouldn't it? But sorry, mate, but-"

"No." I cut him off mid-sentence. The girl in the chair, still looking down, murmurs my name and an apology, but I find it hard to look at her. It's not her fault as such, but at the moment, I just…

"Don't say it. Don't say it." I tell him, shaking my head. "Don't….."

My protests die away, and I give up, cover my face, and cry.

I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry.

It's been about a month since we were all released from hospital, a month and a half since we were rescued in the first place. I should have been released earlier, really. I got off scot-free in comparison to some of the others, when we were running to get out of there before the entire goddamn building exploded. But whatever. It didn't seem right to leave them, after that. Perhaps we weren't all buddy-buddy before, but it wasn't like I hated them or anything that extreme.

And now, we're bonded forever.

I don't think there is anyone else in the entire who had the experience we did, who's specifically gone through this particular ordeal. Certainly of all the different ways life could have fucked us up, we somehow ended up with a unique one. So now we have that in common. And I think that's made me closer to them. Even if some of them are real pains in the butt, I quite like that.

But for me, that's something to think about later. Right now, it's about figuring out how the hell to put my life together and what to do next. Now we're out of the hospital, we've all been put up in a guest suite in Byakuya Togami's mansion. The same Byakuya Togami who once attended Hope's Peak, years before we did, as an SHSL Heir. It is not something I'd ever imagined happening, but when Enoshima started to wreak havoc in the name of Hope's Peak, he was one of the main people who thought of coming up with an organisation specifically for combatting it. So along with various other Hope's Peak alumni, Togami formed the organisation that everyone now knows as the Future Foundation. And they did indeed manage to stem the new wave of terrorism that…that goddamned poor excuse of a person -and their idiotic minions-… had created. And they did, eventually, somehow manage to get to us. Which is great, of course.

But as far as I'm concerned, it was all too late. Too little, too late. Easy for me to say, sitting here now, but even if I'd found them insufferable at times, they were my classmates, for crying out loud. Perhaps if they'd figured things out earlier, more of us would be here now, enjoying Byakuya Togami's guest rooms and sitting here figuring out our futures while waiting for arrangements could be made for us to go home.

"AHEM."

I blink and shake my head, and hear my name being called, and turn to look at one of my female classmates /fellow survivors, pouting at me.

"What?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. She lets out a puff of air and sighs in deep annoyance.

"You always gabbed on at us for drifting off randomly and now you're doing the same thing?!"

I roll my eyes, but smile.

Great, now I'm having the pot-kettle-black expression turned on me. Wonderful.

"Sorry. I was just thinking…." I look around me, and push all my thoughts of the Future Foundation away. I'll probably be jotting it all down later, an account to keep for later, when I'm actually doing something in my life and I can surely say I've moved on. But for now, they're pushed away, and I look around at my classmates, all of us sitting on sofas around a coffee table. I lean over to grab a biscuit, and then nibble at it.

"So, what are we talking about again?"

"Keeping in touch." I look over at who's sitting directly opposite me, and I swallow down a scream of outrage at the world. If I got off scot-free, then he got the worst of it, for sure. In a coma for a week-and-a-half, still in a wheelchair now. And so sad looking. To be fair, we're clearly all sad looking, but even so.

"You mean, after we go our separate ways. I…it seems silly, wanting such a reminder, but I want to keep in touch. As friends. We're still classmates, right?"

"Yup, yup!" the girl who scolded me chimes in. I notice she's been holding a pen. "I'm writing addresses and phone numbers and stuff, but given that we all lost our phones, and stuff like that….yeah. It's a bit patchy at the moment, but we'll figure something organised out."

"Like a chat group?" another boy asks. "Or a mailing list?"

"Or both. " I point out. "If we're keeping in touch, it makes sense to do it in as many ways as possible."

"It does." Another of the girls agrees, smiling faintly.

Everyone grins at her almost immediately, myself included. I mean, we're all sort of looking after each other, given the circumstances. What else would we do? But in her case….back then, after that one particular trial, she took it the worst, with good reason. She needed, and still needs, a little more looking after than the rest of us. Heck, even the guy sitting opposite me now is in a better condition than her, which is saying a lot. But either way, she's been so pale and ghost-like after coming out, seeing her smile feels pretty damn special. Not to mention the fact that now at least instead of being almost folded over with her arms around herself, she's actually sitting straight like the rest of us, her hands folded over her stoma-wait. What?

I narrow my eyes, and then blink.

Huh.

Well, alrighty then. I won't ask about that now, but somehow I'm both surprised and completely and utterly not surprised at the same time. Where did they even get any privacy during the game….? Or was that before…? Actually, never mind that. Though I don't particularly want it to, my brain's gonna bend for a while thinking about that. Just another thing to add to the list. But if my assumption is right, then I guess it just makes it even better that we'll always be around to rally around each other.

Because we're bonded, forever.

"Yup. We could meet, from time to time, in person." I add. "Especially for those of us who can at least get to each other by train or something. But anyway, whose biscuits are these? Did someone on Togami-san's staff make them?"

I chew on it appreciatively. This, for some reason, breaks the ice a little and a couple of the others reach for the treats on the table.

"Actually, Andou-sempai did. "The girl next to me corrects. "She's brought these over this morning, apparently. They still taste super-fresh, like they just came out of the oven though, it's too good….."

She trails off as she takes another bite of her own snack, humming appreciatively. Can't say I blame her for it, really. These are divine.

"Andou-sempai is….." I frown and think, trying to remember if I know the name simply because she's a Hope's Peak alumni, or if we've met her in the time since we escaped.

"No, wait, never mind!" I declare, once I've located the memory of a woman wearing pink fluffy clothes. "I remember."

This, for some reason, makes everyone laugh. I honestly don't see quite what's so funny, but all the same I find myself laughing along with them after a few beats. Man, it feels so good to laugh.

"Say, should we give ourselves a name?!" the girl next to me asks eagerly once we've all calmed down. I gawp at her.

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Like, a group name or something? I dunno. I just thought of it and figured it might be cool, y'know?"

"What sort of name would we even give ourselves?"

"Worst comes to worst, it'll be a handy way of naming our group chats, once we've set that up."

"But we don't need anything special for that, just something like Hope's Peak classmates, or whatever."

"HP Classmates, then."

"That sounds like we're in a video game."

"Or like that brown sauce deal-you know what I mean by that, right?"

I don't, but I decide let that one go.

"Ehh….."

"To be honest, the idea's kinda chee-"

"SHSL Survivors."

Once again, the discussion is silenced, this time by the boy sitting opposite to me. We all just stare, for a moment.

"What do you mean by that, mate?" I ask, eventually. He takes a moment to think about it.

"We're SHSLs, aren't we? And we….somehow, despite everything, survived this. And we really were not meant to. And so….."

"I see?" I sort of get where he's got the idea from, but at the same time, what am I meant to say to that?

"Isn't it more accurate to say that we were SHSLs though?" one of the other points out. "I mean, it's not like the school's ever going to open again, not after this."

"So?" Predictably, the protest comes from next to me, accompanied with the usual pout. "We still went there! Besides, he's right, technically. We're all SHSL Survivors! Plus, it sounds cool."

"Yeah, I suppose…"

"It's a little corny, but I appreciate the sentiment well enough."

"Yeah, no, I like it too."

"I like that."

They all turn to look at me, and I groan.

"What? I'm not your goddamn leader!" I sigh. "But fine. I like it a lot too. Happy?"

"Yeah, actually." The one who suggested it looks at me with the most grateful look, that all I can do is smile back. Even if my feelings for them all end up tipping back towards the leave-me-alone-you-utter-pains, I'll always be glad to see them happy after this. Always.

Because we're bonded, forever.

"Woo-hoo! How about we toast it, then?"

"We're still minors, we can't even have alcohol! Also, we don't have any drinks here right now, alcoholic or otherwise!"

"Who said a toast had to be alcoholic?"

"I could always go and ask for something to drink….." comes the hesitant offer.

"No, no, it's cool. We can always toast with biscuits, right?"

"…..that is the most bloody ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

But for some reason, the idea catches on. And though it honestly makes me long for relative solitude for the next century or so, I find myself grinning and grabbing yet another biscuit, to toast to the idea that we are all SHSL Survivors.

I frown at my reflection as I try to comb my hair so it hides that scar. As obtrusive as it was, the bandage that had been around my head was at least useful in that sense. But of course, I don't need it anymore. Perhaps I could invest in a hat or three, when I get out of here.

Oh, get a grip. It hardly matters that much.

I was fine with things when the bandage first came off, with only the other Survivors seeing it, pretty much. But now we're going back into the outside world. Back home. I should be excited, but all I'm thinking about right now is my stupid hair and that stupid scar.

In the end, I decide to just forget it, and clip back my fringe in the way I used to do before all of this happened. Let them stare. I just finish up the rest of my hairdo, and then stuff the rest of my things into my suitcase. My brand new suitcase, mostly filled with brand new clothes and other items, all courtesy of the Future Foundation, given that most of our personal possessions got completely destroyed in the escape. Their reach really is pretty large, even if Hope's Peak is pretty much over now as a school and a name and everything. They even gave us all shiny new phones, too, which was kind of them. It feels kind of weird, using all this stuff that doesn't quite feel like mine yet, but still, it's not as if there's anything else to be done, given the circumstances.

Plus, there's no use rebuffing a kindness.

"Hey!" I hear my name being called out from the other side of the door. "Stop daydreaming in there!"

"I'm not daydreaming, dummy!"

Well, I sort of was, but I'm not about to tell him-the resident grump of our little group- that and give him another reason to blather on.

"Then get a move on, we're all waiting!"

"Okay, okay, I know!" I gather up my stuff quickly, and take one last look around the room. It's pretty in here, and the bed was so freaking cosy, I'll kind of miss it. But it looks like a fancy hotel room, really. And no matter how fancy a hotel room is, I suppose it doesn't compare to home at all.

Home….at last…

I open the door and level a look at the boy standing there. He sighs long-sufferingly, but reaches to take my larger suitcase without a word, and we go down the stairs together.

"We're going out by the back entrance." He tells me.

"What, why?"

"Reporters are milling around the front, somehow they got wind of the fact that this is the day that we're going home and they want shots of it so they can cobble together some sort of story."

"Oh, geez, I've had enough of being the story!" I complain. "Can't they just let us be?"

"I guess it's just the 'human interest' of it. We are pretty much all that's left of the very last Hope's Peak student batch, after all."

"Yeah….."

Everyone else is at the back door, all of them holding onto their own bags. He hands me my large suitcase, and goes back to his own things, which he had clearly left there before coming to me. One of Togami's Men-In-Black type subordinates is assisting on of our other classmates, who is still in no state to really properly carry anything apart from one simple messenger bag. Togami is standing with them too.

"Alright then. I presume everything is in order, and you're all ready to go."

"Yes!" all seven of us chorus.

"Very well then, I shall take you to where the car is waiting."

He strides off without looking back, and we all follow quietly. Given the number of doors and the twisting pathway through the garden that we end up taking, I wonder if this is more of a secret entrance than simply a back entrance, but soon enough we reach the road, where a large car with tinted windows waits. The driver window is rolled down, and I can see that the driver is another of Togami's Men-in-Black types.

Huh, at least any nosy reporters won't get to see anything.

There are also two men and a woman waiting there, calmly standing by the car. I recognise them immediately-Kyosuke Munakata, Makoto Naegi and Kyouko Kirigiri. Hope's Peak alumni, and Future Foundation members. Naegi beams when he sees us.

"Good morning!" he says, greeting each of us in turn, by name.

"I hope you all slept well, given that at least some of you have quite the journey."

"Yes, we did, thanks." One of the girls replies. Naegi nods, pleased.

"Awesome!" he launches into a chat about inane things, filling us in on the various other things that have happened in the world (well, apart from the stuff relating to our ordeal, which we sort of know), as he and the other two help us to load our luggage into the boot of the car. When that is done, we stare expectantly wondering what they want. Eventually, it is Munakata that speaks.

"Since you'll all be going back to your homes and hopefully resume your lives, we wanted to come and see the seven of you off." He explains.

"Yes," Naegi agrees. "It's been wonderful getting to know you all, even if it was under horrible circumstances. But you've all been working so hard to recover, mentally and physically, and I know you'll be fine. I'm proud of you all."

"Thank you, Naegi-sempai." I say for everyone. He nods at me and smiles.

"Yukizome wanted to come and see you off as well, but she's still…..not well." Munakata's usually stoic face creases for a moment as he admits this, and then clears, though he has to rub his forehead as though massaging a headache. I suspect he'll be going straight back to his own home once we're on our way.

"Don't listen to him! Don't give in to what he wants! This is an order, as your teacher."

I shudder at the memory, and slap my cheeks to pull myself together.

"Are you all right?" a soft voice murmurs next to me. I turn, and smile at its owner.

"Yeah, I am, thanks." I try to sound as reassuring as I can. "How about you? I mean, you look glowing, but are you really okay?"

She laughs a little at that, and then sighs.

"I suppose I will be. Eventually. I have to be, there isn't just me to think about."

"Yeah. That's how it is for most of us: we'll all be okay, eventually."

Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later, though.

When I turn back around, I realise there's a whole lot of handshaking going around, as though we're really important people, special or something. I suppose we were once, but that time's long over, really. What I have left of the before, I'll hold onto for sure, but we've come back down to earth now, so it feels weird to know we're held in such high regard. Then again, given the whole ordeal, perhaps there's some respect, because we were brave or something. That's something I've heard a lot-we were brave, courageous.

I didn't feel brave, back then.

But I beam, and shake Munakata's hand, and then Naegi's, Kirigiri's and finally Togami's. Somewhat surprisingly, Togami then opens the door, and indicates that we should get in now. The girl I was talking to prepares to get in first, but I stop her.

"Wait a moment!"

"Oh?" she regards me curiously. "What's the matter, have you forgotten something?"

"Oh for God's sake!" I pout without turning to the voice-I don't need to do that, to know who it is.

"No! But what about a group photo, before we go?" I explain, digging into my shiny new shoulder bag to get out the shiny new phone, and turning it on to the camera app.

"Why?"

"We are all getting dropped off at different places." I turn to the boy who answered, and smile gratefully.

"Exactly, so we may as well do that quickly-ah, there is time for that, right? It shouldn't take long." I check with the adults.

"If you must, then do it." Togami says.

"It's no skin off of my nose." The driver adds, voice oddly sunny for someone who's dressed like he is. If this were another situation, I'd probably laugh about it.

Maybe one day, in the distant future, you will.

"Ah. If you'd like, I'd take the photograph for you." Naegi offers. I pretend to consider this, but since it would be easier than a selfie, my decision is made quickly.

"Yes please!" He doesn't need showing how it works (obviously), so I drag everyone into a suitable position and then settle myself.

"Alright then!" Naegi says once we're all ready. "Say 'Cheese'!"

"CHEESE!"

The phone camera flashes-once, then another time-before Naegi checks the photos and hands the phone back to me.

"Thank you, sempai!"

"Not a problem!"

We all pile into the car, and I end up at the end, next to the car door I settle my shoulder bag on my lap and fiddle with my seatbelt, and then look up as Togami peers into the car at us.

"I hope that all of you will go on to make something good of your lives. However, either way, should you need anything at all, do not hesitate to call us, or anyone at the Future Foundation, and we will do everything that is in our power to help."

"Shouldn't the Future Foundation be over by now?" the resident grump asks.

"There's still investigations to complete, and other loose ends to tie up. And the trials, for those of the various perpetrators who are still around for us to apprehend." Kirigiri answers from somewhere behind Togami.

"Ah, I see." With the frown, I can't tell if that answer pleases him or not, but it doesn't seem to matter, as he just nods and leans back in his seat again. Togami looks us over one more time, and then nods and straightens.

"Well then. Goodbye then, Class 78."

We're not Class 78. Class 78 was all 18 of us, back when things were normal. We're the SHSL Survivors now.

"Bye!" I say, cheerfully along with the others. Togami closes the door, and there is a few more moments as some of those sitting in the middle struggle with seatbelts.

"Alright, is everybody buckled up and ready to go?"

We all answer in the affirmative, and then, with a loud start, we're off and away towards the rest of our lives.


Probably not the best time in my life for me to start an SYOC, but what the hell. Once I get into post-graduate stuff, and eventually (hopefully) into a job, who knows when I'll even have the time to start something like this. The better time really is now. And in any case, I've had this idea knocking around in my head for a long while, but initially decided not to go for it. I only got my second wind with this idea when describing it in a review on another SYOC fic I'm really enjoying at the moment (if anyone's wondering what fic that is, it's 'Danganronpa Airlines: First Class Despair')- go have a look at it, it's a really cool fic so far ^^). But yeah, though I'm a busy bee, I am very invested in this idea and so this fic will remain active, and will definitely finish...eventually. And I have two complete SYOC fics behind me anyway-one for DR which I finished four years ago ('Outsider Perspective'), and a more recent one for Assassination Classroom ('Ending the End Class'), so I know how to slug through things and finish them.

But I digress. This SYOC is, somewhat obviously, an AU, one where The Tragedy didn't happen, but those trapped inside the Mutual Killing Game were made to believe the world had indeed ended...only to find out the lie when they escaped/were rescued. The prologue is basically the first-person POV of three of the seven Survivors during the more immediate aftermath of the MKG, and the vast bulk of this story is going to be about the seven Survivors reuniting seven years later, and how the events they went through have had long lasting effects on their lives. So the Mutual Killing Game's events will be revealed to you through flashback, dialogue and other aspects of the story as it goes on (I am also going to scatter in a few special chapters that have short scenes of things leading up to the MKG in general, but I'll explain that more when we get to that).

So anyway, the characters I am hoping to receive from you are the entire class of 18: 7 Survivors and 11 dead. I know it's kind of weird to ask you to send me already-dead characters, but it's kind of the nature of the story, so...yeah. But the fact of them being dead doesn't make them less important. As for the Survivors...well, I tried to be as non-specific as possible in the prologue, but the fact of it there are some hints as to possible character relationships and personalities/circumstances etc. You may use those as prompts if you like, and even mention it in the form if you're specifically basing your character off of a particular part of the prologue, but by all means don't feel restricted in this. In the end, I have to decide what fits anyway, all you need to do is be creative and put your best efforts in! Ah, and also, I will be accepting multiple characters from the same person, and I don't mind if they are related to each other. In fact, that would be great if I had some already-done pairs. Of course, I don't want all my characters to have been pre-paired, as I'd like the chance to brainstorm and plot some relationships, but yeah. Pairs are allowed.

Anyhow, I am rambling a lot. To keep this Author's Note from becoming too long, the form is on my profile, and below I have put some rules and guidance so that you know what I expect and to help you out. So yeah, I hope you'll enjoy this SYOC, and please leave feedback! (And if you have questions, please feel free to ask them!)

Rules and Guidance

1)The first and most important, given the nature of this SYOC-if you look at the form, you'll notice three overarching sections-A, B and C. Section A is compulsory for all submitted characters, regardless of if they are a Survivor, or one of the dead. There is a question at the end of this section that asks you for the status of your OC, and this will either be 'Survivor', 'Killer' or 'Victim'. If your character is alive and therefore a Survivor, you should then fill in Section B after you've gone through A. For a dead character, so a Victim or a Killer, fill in Section C.

2)Speaking of the form, I've put a whole lot of tips and guidance in brackets after various sections. Please read through those, as they are there to help you. But obviously, when sending in the form, delete out those bracketed bits. It'll give you more space, which means you can be more detailed in the app. And detailed is always good :)

3)In this AU, Hope's Peak is still a Japan-based school. Therefore, I want the majority of the cast to be Japanese. However, I won't dismiss foreigners out of hand, and will probably accept a few in the final class list.

4) The age range of the characters for section A is 16-18. The actual story is taking place seven years later, with the bulk of it being in the summer holidays (July/August time), and so depending on their birthday, if you are sending a Survivor OC, then the age to put in Section B will probably be between 22-25.

5)As far as genders go, though I am accepting of all genders, I don't trust myself to be able to write anything beyond the binary male or female. Therefore, I would only want males and females in the cast. And though I don't necessarily want even numbers of each, I want the ratio to be somewhat balanced. As far as sexuality goes, this I feel a little more confident in being able to portray, so go wild (if necessary)

6)When it comes to repeating talents, I definitely want a Lucky Student in my class list somewhere, and as Student Council President is also a talent that gets recycled in three year spans, I would probably accept one of these depending. I might also accept NDRV3 talents, or variations on existing talents (for example, having a different type of dancer or musician). But any straight-up repeats of DR1, SDR2 or DR3 talents I do not want, at all, simply because there will be AU versions of those characters making side appearances of varying significance-as you'll have already noted in the Prologue. So asides from Lucky Student and Student Council President, I want original talents-be as creative as you like here.

7)And what of recycled characters, I hear you wonder? Well, ideally, I'd like a new character (or characters), specifically created for this fic. However, if you have an already character who was rejected from the last story you submitted them to and you'd like to try them again, feel free to do so. Other cases I will allow recycled characters is if the story they're in hasn't progressed past the prologue in six months or more, or if the story they were in has actually gotten scrapped. Otherwise, new characters please.

8)The no Mary Sue/Gary Stu thing goes without saying, but I am saying it anyway- PLEASE no Mary Sue/Gary Stu type characters

9)The maximum amount of characters each person can send to me is four. I have mentioned elsewhere in this author's note that I accept and even encourage pairs being sent to me. So if you plan to send four characters, this means you can either send me two pairs, one pair+two stand-alone characters, or four standalone characters.

10) Applications to be sent by PM only-in fact, multiple PMs, since there is no way that both sections of the form will fit into one PM. Plus, I want detailed applications anyway, so multiple messages is good. As long as the messages for one application are all in the same conversation thread, it's all good ^^. And on a lighter note, if you're an SYOC writer yourself and I've sent you an OC, I've probably made your inbox hell during the time you were gathering characters, so feel free to do the same!

11) Though this isn't first-come, first-served, I do encourage starting sooner rather than later. My final deadline will be two months from now. Or rather, a little over that. This is because although there will be obviously exceptions, my most likely update days will be Sundays, so it's more convenient for me to close the submissions on a Sunday. Today is Sunday the 8th of Jan,but as an exact two months from now would be on a Wednesday, this means that the final deadline is 12th March. However, not only might I close it before that depending on how many applications come through for me to choose from, I hope to acquire the OC who will be my protag within a month, and update with the chapter introducing him or her around that time as well.

12) Updates on the status of the SYOC will either be included in the most recent chapter, or somewhere on my profile. If I'm busy and the update looks like it will be a long time in coming, profile is more likely since typing something there and saving it is a damn sight quicker than the whole author-note-chapter uploading rigmarole. Not to mention that it is SO disappointing to see an email about a chapter update only to see that it's not a chapter. I don't want to do that. Speaking of updates, after the SYOC is closed, any important announcements about the update rate of the story etc. will also either be in the note of the latest chapter, or on my profile. But that's me getting ahead of myself there…=P