Kaede Akamatsu woke up to darkness.
The young girl froze as she abruptly came into consciousness within an extremely cramped space, four walls constricting her movements hugely. The front wall had three horizontal slots, through which some light was shining onto her face.
'Those lights being turned on must have woken me up' She quickly deduced, before frowning. Kaede took stock of a few facts. First of all, her name was Kaede Akamatsu. Secondly, she was remarkably calm about this situation. And thirdly...
She had no idea who or where she was.
Fumbling slightly in the darkness, she maneuvered a hand from where it had been pressed uncomfortably against her side, feeling the wall in front of her for some kind of handle or switch. Sure enough, her fingers grasped at a latch, and before she knew it the wall- which was of course actually a door- swung open. The sudden lack of resistance made her fall rather unceremoniously onto the ground.
"Ow..." She whined, rubbing at her head from where she had hit it. "That's gonna leave a bump...not a great start to your first day of memory, me." She quickly scrabbled to her feet, and took stock of her surroundings.
She was in a classroom. And although Kaede had never stepped inside a classroom before to her knowledge, this was definitely an unusual one. The only features by which she recognized it as such where the rows of desks, a larger desk for the teacher at the front of the room, and a blackboard.
The discrepancies started to show up with the blackboard, which was in fact an extremely wide computer monitor embedded into the wall, though Kaede couldn't see a corresponding terminal.
There was also a security camera in one corner of the room.
The floor was smooth and tiled, and a dull grey. The walls were grey too, and the windows to her right were blocked off with some kind of shutter. Kaede walked over and pulled at them experimentally, but they did not budge an inch. She couldn't see any kind of mechanism for them either.
The only source of light in the room was the harsh fluorescent lamps mounted into the ceiling, which stung her eyes quite a bit. Squinting, she turned about-face so that the windows were on her left and the doorway leading out of the room to her right. The small space she had exited was a locker, and another one sat next to it, still closed. She reached forward and shut the door of the one she had emerged from, and was surprised to see her own face staring back at her: there was a small mirror on the door of the locker, just above the horizontal gaps.
Kaede had been so busy investigating the room, she hadn't really thought much to investigate herself. She was pretty, though she didn't really have anything to compare it to; long blonde hair framed her face, with a long ahoge sweeping out to one side almost comically. Her fringe was pinned back out of her purple eyes with some rather plain looking hair-clips, and the rest of her outfit didn't give her much to go on either. It looked like a fairly average 'schoolgirl' ensemble – black shoes and knee high socks, a purple pleated skirt, and a white button up and tie covered by a sleeveless and lilac sweater. None of it was emblazoned with any emblems or logos she could use as a clue to her identity.
"Well, I suppose it wouldn't be that easy." She thought aloud, hands reaching up to grab her backpack straps. Wait, backpack? She blinked, and looked again. Sure enough, she'd been wearing a backpack the whole time. It felt moderately heavy- perhaps the items inside contained a hint?
Before she could get to that however, the locker next to the one she'd been sleeping in started to rattle, something inside struggling against the metal. Kaede took a step back in alarm and almost shrieked, before logic took over.
'Someone else must be in the same position I was.' She felt a little bit silly for thinking it was some kind of monster or something. Still, this was a very unnerving situation regardless. She reached out her hand and pulled at the handle, yanking the locker door open.
A person came tumbling out, and Kaede quickly realised her miscalculation as they landed on top of her, knocking her flat on back. She yelped as her head hit the tiled floor for the second time today, and the person accidentally assaulting her yelled as well.
Her vision swam, and she must have blacked out for a second, because a moment later the person was standing over her, looking panicked and saying something to her. With a groan, she sat up and slapped both hands to her cheeks, which somehow cleared the ringing in her head.
"-all right? Can you hear me?" Now that she was focusing again, she looked up at her new acquaintance. They were rather androgynous in appearance, with a pale face and chin length midnight blue hair. Their outfit was rather interesting- a large black hoodie with long sleeves shrouded much of their upper form, along with a set of worn, faded jeans and a pair of dark brown hiking boots. They wore a black baseball cap on their head, pulled down low and at an angle to cover their eyes. They had a thick belt looped around their waist, on which several colored plastic containers hung.
'The only skin showing is their hands and their face, and even the face is mostly obscured' Kaede mentally catalogued. 'Most likely insecure and not very social. Treat with delicacy.'
...
"...What on earth?" Kaede muttered in reaction to her own thoughts as much as anything else. That was a rather...odd thing to think when first meeting someone, wasn't it? Or maybe it wasn't. It's not like she had any kind of reference point.
Unfortunately, it seemed the person took her words as aimed at them, and shrunk back.
"Ah...again, I'm sorry. This is all my fault..." They were breathing heavily, their hands quickly moving to clutch one of their containers closely, trembling.
A switch flipped in Kaede's brain, and she shot to her feet immediately, an apologetic smile on her face. "No, no, I should be sorry! I'm the one who opened that locker suddenly, you couldn't have known you'd land on me." That seemed to calm them somewhat, but they still looked wary of her, so she moved forward just an inch or two.
"What's your name?" She asked softly, reaching a hand out to hover just above their shoulder, but not fully committing to the action- asking them permission. She noted idly she was about an inch taller than them.
"...S-Shuichi Saihara." A boy, then. Said boy reached up to adjust his cap. His eyes darted to her hand apprehensively, so she withdrew it.
"Well, Shu-ich Sai-hara~" She said with a bright smile, stretching the name out on her tongue, testing how the syllables sounded, smirking a little as his pale cheeks blushed slightly. "...You don't have anything to worry about. I'm fine, see? You didn't hurt me."
"...Yeah." He returned her smile somewhat awkwardly, but he did seem a little less shaky. "...Sorry, I was just so shaken by waking up in that locker and then finding a girl knocked cold on the floor under me." He looked around worriedly, taking stock of his surroundings. "Where...are we? I've never seen a classroom like this before. And...why was I in that locker?"
Kaede cocked her head to the side slightly. "So...you have seen a classroom before? You have memory of that?"
Shuichi looked at her quizzically. "Uh, yeah. I think everyone except very small children has seen some kind of classroom before."
'So, he has more memories than I do. Interesting.' Kaede thought to herself, but otherwise simply hummed in response.
Shuichi laughed nervously, hand reaching up to grab the brim of his cap again. "Ah, you're probably more interested in my Ultimate Talent than some classroom, huh?"
"Ultimate Talent?" She peered at him intently. "What's that?"
He was more startled by this than anything else so far. "Huh? You don't know about Ultimate Talents? How is that possible?"
Kaede grinned sheepishly. "Humour me. Pretend I'm a simpleton who knows nothing about anything."
Shuichi hesitated, but then began to explain. "Well...someone with an 'Ultimate' talent is considered to be the very best at what they do, in whatever area that happens to be. The titles are officially handed out by the Ultimate Initiative to young people of high school age, who are then invited to attend the Ultimate Academies to nurture that talent." He glanced off to one side, seemingly embarrassed at having talked for so long.
"I see, I see." Kaede absorbed this new information hungrily, arms crossed and eyes closed in concentration. "So the building we're in right now, is that this 'Ultimate Academy?'
"Of course." Shuichi responded confidently. "One of them, anyway. I've not seen pictures of the inside, but I was standing just outside the academy before I woke up in that locker."
'Or perhaps you were moved somewhere else while you were unconscious.' Kaede thought privately, but she didn't air her concerns. Shuichi seemed the type to panic easily.
"So...why do you think we were put in those lockers?" She asked carefully.
Shuichi sighed dejectedly. "Probably a prank by some upperclassmen. That sort of thing happens to me a lot."
"What do you mean?" Kaede frowned.
"A-ah! Nothing!" Shuichi quickly responded. "A-anyway, I'm sure we can find a teacher or something in a bit. But...if it's alright," He looked at her shyly, and she noted he had rather long eyelashes. "...Could we finish introducing ourselves first?"
Kaede doubted very much that the explanation for the strange scenario was something as innocent as a prank, but once again she stayed silent, smiling at her new friend once again. "Of course. What's your talent, Shuichi? I'd love to hear it."
He smiled back, and unhooked one of the containers from his belt, holding it up to the light, revealing it's contents through the translucent plastic. It was a miniature terrarium, with a layer of sand and soil, leafy foliage and stones, and...
...A rather large, fierce looking stag beetle.
"I'm the Ultimate Entomologist." Shuichi said with just the slightest hint of pride, and Kaede could feel his expectant look on her even as her own gaze was locked to the enormous critter, her stomach suddenly lurching.
"O-oh." She said queasily. "That's uh, um..."
'Shit. I don't want to upset him, but...I'm really not a fan of bugs, especially big ones...'
She plastered the biggest smile on her face she could possibly muster. "It's, uh...it looks very...healthy?" She slapped a hand to her forehead. "Uh, it looks very strong. Er, it's very pretty. It's-"
"It's okay." Shuichi chuckled, returning the container to his belt, much to Kaede's relief. "I get that most people are grossed out by insects...but if people take the time to learn about them, you'll find that a lot of species make very good pets."
"Ehehe...no offence, but I think I'll settle for a cat or a dog." Kaede responded. She felt a little mean, but it's like not she could magically stop thinking badly of something so creepy looking. "So...what does that title entail, exactly? Have you collected the most bugs in the world?" She tried to spin the conversation in a more positive direction.
Shuichi seemed to brighten up at that, although he still seemed a little shy. "Ah, well, collecting specimens is one aspect of it, yes. But I also do a lot of work in other areas- like helping safely remove dangerous insects from a building, or saving endangered species, or even discovering new ones!"
He was talking excitedly now, practically gushing. It was pretty cute in all honesty, even if she wasn't a fan of the subject matter.
"I've even been working on an experimental study in how to genetically engineer bugs we get resources from- like spider silk and bee's honey- to have all sorts of beneficial properties. That could change a lot of industries, and-" Shuichi suddenly seemed to realise he'd been gushing, and his mouth tightened in a grimace, his hand moving once again to pull his cap down low. "Ah, um...sorry...you probably don't care about all that."
Suddenly, Kaede felt a rush of unexplained anger. She stomped over to him, and poked his chest with a finger. "Hey! Don't be so hard on yourself!"
He recoiled as if struck, and she instantly felt bad. But she continued on. "Shuichi, there's nothing wrong with being passionate about something. Even if I don't get it, I'm happy that you wanted to share it with me." She hesitated, then gingerly reached out and adjusted his cap, moving it out of his eyes. "...You should be more confident, Shuichi. You're a pretty cool guy."
"...Me? Cool?" Shuichi said disbelievingly, looking at her like she was crazy. "You don't really mean that."
Kaede smirked. "Shuichi I can say with one hundred percent certainty that you are the coolest guy I know." She didn't add that it was only by default.
His cheeks lit up in a fierce scarlet even as he smiled shyly. "Heh, if you say so..."
"I do say so." She said matter-of-factly. They both smiled at each other, a companionable silence resting between them for a few precious moments.
It was quickly shattered though, as Shuichi coughed politely. "So uh, yeah. That's me in a nutshell. And your name is...?"
"Oh, right!" Kaede jumped, cheeks flushed. "Of course, of course. Let's see...I'm pretty sure my name is Kaede Akamatsu, and my Ultimate Talent is...presumably, none!"
Confusion bloomed across Shuichi's face. "...Pretty sure? ...Presumably? What does that mean?"
"Heh...truth be told..." Kaede reflexively reached up to rub at the still-sore spot on her head. "My name is the only thing I can remember ever since I woke up in this classroom. Crazy, huh?"
"You mean, you have amnesia?!" Shuichi raised his voice in alarm. "T-that's..."
"Before you go ahead and blame yourself," Kaede cut him off curtly. "I had amnesia before you knocked me to the ground, so it wasn't from that."
"O-oh, alright." Shuichi said, relieved. "Heh...that obvious huh? Still, we should probably get you to the school nurse or something."
"Yeah, probably." Kaede said disinterestedly. She knew that there would be no school nurse. She wasn't sure how she knew, but something in her gut told her it wouldn't be that simple. "Speaking of, shall we get going?"
He nodded, and the two of them moved over to the classroom door. Kaede gripped the handle and flung it open.
What awaited them was a long corridor with the same dull grey walls and floor, and the same bright white lights in the ceiling. The whole building gave off the impression of extremely uniform, strict design. There were no windows whatsoever, but there were a few doors with signs above them indicating them as other classrooms. Taking a few steps forward and then turning to look back, the classroom they came out of was 1-A.
The corridor stretched for quite a bit before turning a corner, and there was no one in sight.
"Perhaps there's someone in one of the other rooms?" Shuichi offered, to which Kaede nodded mutely. The duo quickly strode other to 1-B and opened the door, peeking inside. It was empty.
They hurriedly checked the others – 1-C, 1-D and 1-E, with no differing results. Shuichi looked a little nervous again, but he still seemed hopeful.
"I'm sure that...everyone is probably in the assembly hall, or gym or something." He explained.
"Hm." Kaede hummed non-noncommittally.
They kept walking, and turned the corner. And any further denials died on Shuichi's lips.
The corridor transitioned into a wide open area, which seemed to be some sort of hub for various other passageways. The ceiling was six floors high, and there were walkways around the edge of the walls that served as the floor for those levels, thought the centre space was cut out and they could see all the way to the roof of the sixth floor. There was a set of stairs leading up to the first walkway on each side, but both were blocked by a metal grating.
Towering up through the central space, reaching just shy of the third floor, was an enormous statue of a cartoonish bear. It's left side was white marble, with a friendly and cute face like a mascot you could find anywhere. The right side however, was made of some kind of pitch black stone and had a sinister stretched grin showing off sharp teeth, and a jagged red eye that glowed red with some of installed light source.
The two-toned bear loomed over them, seemingly posed to observe anyone passing under it. The area at it's feet seemed to be some kind of open plan food court, with tables and chairs and a long, circular counter which contained various food items on display, though no one was manning it.
Kaede peered up curiously at the statue, and felt herself overcome by a wave of nostalgia. It was kind of cute in a morbid sort of way.
"W-what the heck?" Shuichi on the other hand, was less impressed. "This...this doesn't look right...where on earth are we?"
"Hey, look at that!" Kaede exclaimed as she extended a hand to point. "There's a person by the base of the statue."
Sure enough, there was. From this distance all Kaede could make it was that it was a girl with blue hair. Said girl had looked over at them upon hearing them talk, and was now walking toward them.
"This...this is..." Shuichi was breathing heavily in deep gasps.
"Hey." Kaede turned to him, and gently took one of his hands in hers. He flinched, but didn't pull away. "I know it's scary and confusing. But we have to stay calm, okay? Can you do that for me?"
Shuichi winced, squinting his eyes shut. "I...I'll try, Kaede." He opened them again and let out a long exhale. "Okay...okay. I can do this. We need to think about this rationally..." He glanced down at their clasped hands. "Um..."
"Oh, right. Sorry!" Kaede squeaked, and let go.
"Oh, hello there!" A high pitched, breathy voice suddenly interrupted. Turning, Shuichi and Kaede came face to face with the girl who had been by the statue. In addition to her striking blue hair which was tied back in a rather large bun, she wore an expensive looking pair of rimmed glasses that made her eyes look rather large and bright.
She wore a long black dress with grey frilly apron over the front, and her hands were covered by navy blue formal gloves. All in all she gave off the look of a stern housekeeper, but her dyed hair and cheery voice ruined the illusion.
"Are the two of you alright? Quite a few people apparently hurt themselves mildly when they woke up." She inquired worriedly, hands clasped in front of her.
"Yeah, I bumped my head on the floor after falling out of a locker." Kaede said. "And you are?"
"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Tsumugi Shirogane, and I'm the Ultimate Maid. If either of you ever need assistance with anything, please don't hesitate to ask." The maid followed her introduction with a deep curtsey. "For starters, I have first aid training, so I might be able to help with your head injury if I can locate a kit anywhere."
"Ah, well I wouldn't really call it an injury, just a bit of a bump." Kaede laughed it off, holding her hands up placatingly. "So...a maid, huh? Makes sense to me, you've got the sexy curves and the uniform and everything." Kaede felt herself blurt out as her eyes roamed Tsumugi's body appreciatively.
"K-Kaede!" Shuichi exclaimed, somewhat scandalized. Kaede blinked in confusion.
'Where did that come from? I sounded like a dirty old man just now...'
To her credit...Tsumugi barely batted an eyelid, and merely chuckled softly. "I'm afraid that while I have served many masters and pride myself on being able to accomplish any request, it's probably not quite as romantic or elicit as you think. In fact, the service I get requested for the most is bodyguard work."
"Bodyguard? Huh, I would never have guessed..." Shuichi mused, still side-eyeing Kaede a little bit. "Anyway...do you know anything about where we are or what's going on? You mentioned 'others'."
Tsumugi nodded. "The two of you bring the total up to sixteen of us, if I'm not mistaken. We all woke up somewhere in this building, and the last thing we remember before that is that we were about to walk into the Ultimate Academy."
'So I'm for sure the odd one out with no memories whatsoever.' Kaede thought. "Where is everyone else right now?"
"We all split up to investigate. So far we haven't found anyone else...or any sign of an exit." Tsumugi said with a sigh. "I'm not going to lie...the situation is very troubling. I stayed here to see if I could at least prepare some refreshments for everyone, but that's impossible."
"Why impossible? Isn't there a display case full of food right over there?" Shuichi asked.
"Yes, but...well, it's easier to just show you." Tsumugi responded cryptically as she turned and walked back to the food court.
Kaede and Shuichi glanced at each other, then followed. The watchful gaze of the enormous statue felt like it was burning into them from above as they got closer to it's base.
As they approached, they saw that the counter looped around in a circle, and included some fridge freezers, ovens and grills built it into along with the displays filled with food, with one small opening in the circle for a person to fit through and stand inside. Tsumugi stood by a freezer, and motioned them over.
"There's quite of lot of equipment and food here," She explained. "But look closely." She then reached out and tugged on the freezer handle, but it didn't budge at all. "All the places food is stored are locked, and the stove or grill won't turn on either."
"Hrm..." Kaede hummed to herself as she peered closer, searching for a cause. Then, she spotted it: the one common element in the design of each object. "Oh, it's because-"
"You need the master key, nyeh." A tired sounding girl's voice interrupted Kaede's deduction. Turning, she saw an incredibly short girl approach, looking almost childlike. She had striking blood red hair in a bob cut, and wore a burgundy long coat that reached down to her thick, oversized fuzzy boots. The coat was open slightly and underneath she seemed to just be wearing a plain red vest and a pair of smart pants. Her hands were in her pockets, she walked with a slight hunch, and her eyes looked exhausted.
"Oh, Himiko! You're back." Tsumugi said cheerfully, to which the newcomer responded with only a brief glance at the maid.
"Nyeh...if you look closely at all of this equipment, you'll find that each one has a strip of metal somewhere." Himiko explained in her odd voice. "That's a card reader. So, there must be some kind of key card or similar that's used to open them. A lot of the rooms I've investigated so far use them."
"Oh, I see..." Tsumugi said. "Any sign of the card?"
"No." Himiko said bluntly, then turned to Kaede and Shuichi. "...Who are you?"
Kaede bristled. Something about this girl rubbed her the wrong way. "I'm Kaede Akamatsu, and this here is Shuichi."
"Nice to meet you." Shuichi said cautiously. He squirmed uncomfortably as Himiko turned her eye on him.
"...The Ultimate Entomologist." She said, sounding bored.
"Eh? T-thats right." Shuichi said, surprised. "How did you guess that?"
Himiko sighed deeply. "Not guessed. Deduced."
"Deduced?" Kaede questioned, catching on. "Then that would make you..."
"Fall to your knees!" She suddenly said with much more enthusiasm, raising herself up to her full (though still rather lacklustre) height. "Criminals and villains run and hide from the all seeing eye of Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Detective!" Her sudden impassioned speech was apparently a bit much, as she immediately slumped back into her hunch with a sigh.
"The Ultimate Detective? Wow, that's amazing!" Shuichi enthused, clearly impressed. "Let me guess- you could tell just by looking at my outfit what my talent was, using your deductive reasoning and powers of observation?"
"No, I just looked you up online before coming here." Himiko deadpanned.
"O-oh..." Shuichi deflated. "I guess that would be the easy way, yeah."
"Yeah, it mentioned the names of who our fellow classmates would be in the freshman letter we all received earlier in the year." Tsumugi added. "So, it looks like it was definitely one specific class that was brought here."
"Wait..." Kaede cut in her, brow furrowed. "So...you did research on the everyone who was set to attend the Academy, right Himiko? And all of those people are here now?"
Himiko eyed her cooly. "That's right."
"Then...did it say anything about me?" She asked hopefully.
"No...it didn't." The miniature detective said, eyes narrowing. Then, she turned on her heel and started walking away. "Nyeh...I have more areas to look into."
"Ah, wait! Himiko!" Kaede shouted after her, but it seemed she was being firmly ignored by the young investigator. "What the hell is her problem?" She muttered to herself angrily.
"Ah...don't take it personally, Kaede." She's been like that with everyone." Tsumugi said consolingly, but Kaede wasn't convinced.
She knew the look in Himiko's eyes: suspicion and distrust of Kaede specifically. And just like the bear statue, it felt...
Nostalgic.
Disturbed, Kaede turned to Tsumugi to explain. "It's just...I haven't been able to remember my talent, or much of anything, since I got here. I was hoping she might know something."
Tsumugi's eyes widened. "Oh, that's terrible! You must be so frightened and confused...that means its more important than ever we take a look at that bump on your head!"
Kaede sighed. "It's not that, don't worry. Anyway...I..." Her thoughts were swirling in her head, and
she felt a little sick, but she tried not to let it show, smiling brightly. "I'm not gonna let something like that get me down! Come on, Shuichi?"
"Eh?" Shuichi yelped as she linked her arm with his, pulling him along as she choose a direction at random and started walking. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm going to do some investigating of my own. I'm going to get to the bottom of what's going on around here...and who I am." She said cheerfully, a bounce in her step. "And you get to be my partner Shuichi!"
"Don't I get a say in this?" He grumbled, but she could see the corners of his mouth quirk upward slightly, and he didn't pull away this time.
"Nope." She responded cheekily, to which he rolled his eyes. And together, they started to walk down another corridor, their destination unknown.
16 STUDENTS REMAIN
Howdy all. This is a fic I've been nurturing for a while, and I'm quite eager to see it grow. While not perfect, V3 was my favourite entry in the series and I want to explore it's characters even more. I think you'll find some of the talentswaps I've made quite interesting. Please feel free to leave a comment and a like, and I welcome criticism/theories/etc.