A/N: I decided to upload the first part of the prologue before I close the submissions since I don't have all the characters yet, but I'm still really excited to write the story! This time, Tsukushi wakes up and meets a few people, but not everyone! Remember, even if your character does not appear in this chapter, but his/her name are on the roster in the last chapter, they are still in the story, don't worry! They'll be introduced one or two chapters later, is all. Also, tell me what you think about my writing style/chapter length/whatever you want, really, in the reviews! Yamazaki out.


"What the hell?" was the first question that came to mind when I opened my eyes, hoping to find myself in the warm comfort of my own bed, covered with my own bedhseets, inside my own bedroom, but being given the exact opposite. The room I was confined in was much, much different from mine.

It was a relatively big, rectangular room, its walls coated in white, except for the one opposite the wooden door, which had a giant drawing of a blue eagle, towering over the bed I was sitting up on. The bed itself was made of sturdy-looking, light brown wood and had a rectangular headboard with a wing motif carved onto its corners, as well as plain, navy blue bedsheets - the ones I was sitting on - sprawled on the mattress. On either side of the bed were two wooden bedside tables, although darker than the headboard between them, with a lamp standing proud on top of each of them. As I regained my strength, I stood up and felt the blue carpet under my bare feet as I studied the rest of the room. There was a wooden desk on the corner, and laying on top of it, a single sheet of paper with something scribbled onto it - I ignored it for the time being, though. Inserted into the wall to my right was what looked like a wardrobe, although upon further inspection, all the hangers inside it boasted the same exact thing: a pair of black jeans, a red t-shirt or a dirty-white hoodie, and the floor of the cabinet was slightly covered by several pairs of black sneakers, all neatly spaced apart. I closed the wardrobe and eyed the door next to it - a clean, white bathroom with the same eagle painted on the wall above the toilet.

I walked over to the sink and observed my reflection in the mirror. Were it not for me blinking constantly - a pretty bad habit of mine - my green eyes would look completely empty and lifeless, my skin was drawn and pale constrasting my tanner self and strands of my red hair escaped the hood of my dirty-white hoodie. It took little to no time to remember the clothes in the wardrobe and connect the dots - the outfits in the cabinet were exact replicas of my current ensemble. "What the heck..." I repeat audibly to myself, defeated and confused, before turning the lights off and leaving the bathroom, making a quick beeline to the paper on the desk.


Welcome to Sierra Resort!

Our humble establishment has been chosen by the staff of Hope's Peak Academy as the resting spot for their students during the duration of the MKG activity, hosted by the school principal and the remaining staff members. We offer any and all facilities we possess, including our sixteen best suites and indoor pool down in the basement floor. On the second drawer of your desk, you'll find your personal Hope's Peak Academy Electronic Handbook, or Electro-ID, your room's unique card key, and a sheet concerning all the details regarding your accomodation! Have a nice day!


I dropped the paper back on the desk and took a step back, eyes wide. "H-Hope's Peak...? I was accepted...?" I asked myself, as there was no one else around to answer my question. In a sloppy rush, I threw the drawer of my desk open and checked its contents: a jet black, rectangular device about the size of a regular smartphone with the Hope's Peak logo emblazoned in the back, a white keycard, rounded around the edges and in its center, the same blue eagle that was painted on my walls. Finally, a small piece of paper with a red strap attached to the top right corner. It read as follows.

Name: Tsukushi Hananari
Age: 17 (seventeen)
Room: Eagle Suite

After catching my breath and wrapping my head around all the information that'd just been tossed at me, I took the one pair of black sneakers that was by the bedside table - probably the ones I was wearing before I crashed - and made my way to the door, keycard in hand and handbook in pocket. As I heard the lock on the door click unlocked, I walked out my room and onto a short hallway with only one exit. Figures, I got the room that was the farthest away from the exit possible... rotten luck, I guess, but it's not particularly a big deal. Rushed, I closed the door and sprinted down the corridor, searching the surrounding area for anyone at all. As I eyed the plates on the doors, I noticed all of them had different thematic names, all pertaining to birds like the eagle, the owl and the swan, amongst other, pretty creative ones. More importantly, however... all of them were empty. Or at the very least, whoever was inside wouldn't answer my banging on the door.

It wasn't until I took a step outside the white walls and wooden floor of the corridor that I finally found another hallway with a different set of rooms. The room between the two corridors was much bigger and less oppressive than the rest of what I'd explored, which is my room and the other corridor so... it's not really saying much.

It was coated in the same white walls that the 'Eagle Suite' and the hallway were, and the wooden floor boards were a direct continuation of the corridor's. Decorating the rectangular room were a few armchairs, rested against a wall to my right, with bookcases in between them and a couple coffee tables - almost like a lounge room. In the southern wall, windows gave off a good view of a giant wall, similar to the one in China, but much, much taller.

What's going on...?

After taking in my surroudings, I headed off to the other hallway and proceeded to knock on every door, yielding the same results as before. Confused, I asked myself. "Am I really alone in this place...? Wherever it is...?" After pondering for no more than a few seconds, I sprinted back into the lounge and went down the stairs with all the speed my legs could handle. I was met by an equally large room, except there were a few differences in furniture placement. The bookcases and armchairs were no longer along the northern wall, as they'd been replaced by a wooden structure resembling a reception desk. The eastern and western walls, where the doors to the corridors upstairs led, were now double doors with a plaque reading 'Kitchen' to the east, and 'Staff Room' to the west. The south of the room was boasting two spiral staircases that led to the second floor, as well as a way downstairs, to what I believed to be the basement. Between those two spiral stairs, the exit door presented itself, creaking in the gentle outdoor breeze. I ran across the rectangular rug that posed as the centerpiece of the room and bolted out the door, being met by a girl's eyes.

"Now then, look who decided to wake up! You sure took your time." the girl joked, a smirk growing on her face. Taking a moment to observe her physique, I noticed big, hooded blue eyes that shone on her pale, freckled skin. She boasted chest-length, strawberry blond hair that was tied in a ponytail behind her back, as well as a short fringe that covered a bit of her forehead. She was dressed in a green sleeveless hoodie, a hint of a black body warmer peeking through the lower hem of it, tight, brown knee-length shorts and brown boots, as well as black, leather gloves covering her hands.

Completely oblivious to what she had just said, I threw myself onto her and gave her a big hug. "Oh thank god, I'm not the only one here! Please, listen to me... I don't know where I am, nor why I'm here an-"

"Calm down, dude, calm down..." she patted me on the back before awkwardly inching away from the hug. "We're all in the same position. You were the last one to wake up, you know?" her words confused me even further.

"All in the same position, you say? You mean... there's more people here?"

She lay a hand on my frightful arm. "That's to be expected, no?" she joked. "We're in a huge city, after all. As much as that makes sense though... we can't find anyone here. Everyone I've seen in this giant prison are the rest of the Hope's Peak Academy freshmen. No citizens at all."

Did she just say... "Hope's Peak Academy?"

"Yeah." she nodded assertively. "You're one of us as well, are you not?" I simply nodded in response, as I was too shocked to speak. "That's right! All 16 of us are Hope's Peak Academy students, and we're all confused as to why we're here. No one knows why, or how, but we woke up here in this inn with no recollection of what happened to us."

I tried remembering anything from before I woke up, but drew a complete blank. I hadn't thought it up to this point, what with the shock of being trapped in an empty hotel/inn, all by my lonesome, but when I focused and tried to recall what happened before I crashed in the room upstairs... nothing came up. I looked around and finally, back at the bulding I'd just come out from. 'Sierra Resort', its name, was presented in big flashy letters, carved in a sophisticated font, onto a wooden rectangular panel with the corners cut like quarter-circles. The patio I was standing in was quite nice, too. A stone mosaic floor, surrounded by bushes and flower pots all around, and a white plastic table with a parasol and two or three chairs on either side of the door. The little garden that had us enclosed had a little wooden curral-like door that had been thrown open, presumably by... this girl here... speaking of which...

"I didn't catch your name." I combed a hand through my red hair and smirked in embarassment. "I'm Tsukushi Hananari, the SHSL Defense Attorney! It's a pleasure to meet you."

The girl smiled back with her eyes closed. "My name's Yuzuru Kanzaki, and I'm the SHSL Assassin!" she announced excitedly, making me flinch. Noticing my tension, she gasped and added. "No, no, you don't have to be scared of me! Please, don't be, actually! I'm... a really nice girl, I guess. I wouldn't hurt you! I... I hope we can be great friends?" she brought one hand to her chest and held out the other one for me to shake, which I reluctantly did, making her sigh in relief. "Sorry, it's just... well, being an assassin has people believe you're a crazed serial murderer or a psychopath, or both, but in reality, some assassins are pretty chill people! Like me! Not to be conceited or anything." she chuckled awkwardly.

YUZURU KANZAKI - SHSL ASSASSIN

"That's okay, it was just the shock of finding it out." I chuckled back. "You don't look like a bad person, at least. Can you show me around, please? If that's not too much to ask for, anyway. I don't wanna be a drag to you"

"Not at all!" she proclaimed excitedly. "I was hoping you'd ask me to, actually! So, where should we start? You've checked out the inn, but in this sector of town there's a few other places you should see! There's an arcade, a ranch, a flower shop, a diner and a supermarket! All of which can be pretty useful if we end up staying the night here."

"How would a flower shop prove useful...?" I thought, being careful not to think aloud like I sometimes catch myself doing. "The supermarket sounds like a good place to start. I haven't had anything to eat... but I also don't have any money, you know? Does the kitchen inside have anyone? Or anything?"

She sighed and shook her head. "I told you, Tsukushi, this place is completely deserted! We're the only ones here. There's not anyone in the supermarket either, so I'm pretty sure you can eat whatever you want from there, if you've got the guts to do it." she added that last part with an air of joking mystery around her, making me a bit uncertain on whether or not I should trust what she says. Not like I have that much of a choice, though. "So, what're you waiting for? Come on!" I noticed she was already on her way out, passing the wooden door.


On our way to the supermarket, I noticed a slight vibration in my pocket and stopped instinctively. Yuzuru heard my footsteps suddenly stopped and turned around, seeing me holding my Electro-ID. "I think this thing just vibrated." I explained why I'd stopped.

"Have you checked your handbook before?" she asked, receiving a negative nod from me. "Figures... want me to explain some stuff to you on the way? At least what I know of it from messing around and asking other people. It's not much, though."

I walked up to her side and proceeded to walk towards our next destination alongside her. "Any information is good information. You'd be stunned at how many times little details decide the outcome of a trial! During a murder trial last year, the major turning point of the case was a soda can that'd fell during the struggle. It goes to show how the little things can be important later on." she nodded, eyes wide by my rant. Maybe that was a little too much, Tsukushi.

"Anyway..." she dismissed my rant "This baby right here has a few useful apps! These are the report cards..." she pointed towards a purple option, the first on the main menu. The screen had seven options in total, each of them coloured in a different colour of the rainbow, and the background behind them was a plain black with a white logo - the logo of Hope's Peak Academy. "...then there's the messages, the camera, the map, the gifts, the pet game and the options menu. They're all pretty self-explainatory, but give them a try! These babies have it all!"

I started fussing around with the menus and becoming more comfortable with the layout of the Electro-ID. Firstly, I opened the report cards, which was the one that piqued my curiosity the most. There, three lines of five squares each presented themselves, as well as sixteenth rectangular portrait on the side that took all three rows - mine - and my name below said portrait.

Funny thing is, I don't recall ever taking a mugshot like this... Memory loss sucks.

The remaining squares were all blacked out, apart from one, the third one in the bottom row - which, instead of being completely black, was replaced by a mugshot of Yuzuru. I clicked on said mugshot and was taken into sort of an information booklet regarding her. It had things like her name, title, height, weight, likes and dislikes, but what called my attention the most, was the strange six-pronged star in the top right corner of her mugshot. No idea what that could be, but it's probably not important.

I skimmed through the messages and the camera as they were pretty simple, and the pet game was just a simple game, not unlike Nintendogs or other pet simulators. The options menu simply changed the colours, font and size of the text, as wel as the background and message ringtones - quite similarly to a phone. The gifts, however, were something not me or Yuzuru knew about or could understand. I mean, we had a pretty good idea of how gifts work... just not in this handbook thing, get it?

But anyway, the only app left was the map, and that's what intrigued me the most. A circunference drew itself and filled itself in, dividing itself into five equal-sized triangles - although the base of it was curved to match the circunference - and a rectangle heading south. Between the pointy end of the triangles, another smaller circle appeared. Confused, I wasted no time and asked Yuzuru what all of it meant.

"I don't understand too well either, but what I know is this. We're inside this giant, circular walled city, and it's divided into a few sectors. We're in Valley Views right now, but according to the center circle, a.k.a. the Plaza, and the map in our handbooks, there are four other routes you can take and they all lead to different parts of town!" she explained, me giving a comprehensive nod sometimes as I followed her explanation "There's a catch, though. All the other parts of the city are blocked out."

"That means we can't even go and check the other places out?" I ask, a little disappointed. I was pretty curious to check the remainder of town some time after I find out what the heck was happening, but it looks like we're not going anywhere now. "That sucks." I whined, right as a supermarket-looking structure came into view. My prediction was proved right when Yuzuru said the supermarket was now in full view.

As the glass doors of the supermarket slid open, I was immediately taken in by the sight of long, large aisles, filled with shelves upon shelves of supplies. The floor was made out of small, square, grey mosaic tiles and the walls were painted a very light - almost pastel-ish - yellow. The shelves where the food and the other reserves lay were all sturdy and metallic green structures, filed parallel to each other. Hanging from the ceiling above each aisle were yellow carboard panels, listing everything that can be found in the aisle below them, making for easy navigation of the ample building.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a girl's head peeking out of the chocolates aisle and looked towards her instinctively. "Herr Kanzaki, is that you?" she voiced, sort of lowly and quite calmly, as if she was munching on something while speaking. The assassin beside me nodded and greeted the girl, calling her over so she can be introduced to the 'last kid' which I assumed meant 'me'.

"Tsukushi, I'm honored to introduce you to one of the many students that joined the efforts to find what's going on here!" she announced, gesturing the girl over with a quick hand motion. The girl didn't hesitate on leaving her previous position behind the shelves and started walking over to us. As her details came closer and closer, I was able to bring her freckled face and grey eyes into focus, and I observed she was also sporting messy, shoulder-length black hair with a fringe, similar to Yuzuru's, except it had a bit of a pointy end to it, covering her entire forehead and a slight bit of her eyebrows. She was wearing a plain, black, long-sleeved button-up shirt, and a red bow-tie around her neck, as well as black skinny jeans and boots. Tied around her waist was what, at first, seemed like a black sweatshirt, but in reality it had a bunch of space-inspired motifs on it drawn in white.

"Hello there!" I was the first to greet the girl, holding my arm out for a handshake. "The name's Tsukushi Hananari. SHSL Defense Attorney is my title, if you're curious" I chuckled, and she stopped mid-handshake to sigh and shake her head."

"Another lawyer? Ya son dos." I tilt my head at her annoyed statement. "Não sabes? There's aussi a SHSL Prosecuting Attorney roaming around town as well. She was here a little bit ago, along with the tapdancer girl and the magician dude... But that's hardly important now, ja?" her speech was a mess of different languages, much to my dismay since I understood little to no foreign idioms. "Je m'appelle Maruko Inubarashi, and my skill is the SHSL Translator! Don't ask me to translate anything for free, though! I'm fluent in english, français, deutsch, español, português and italiano, and I also know a bit of danish as well!" she bragged, introducing herself.

MARUKO INUBARASHI - SHSL TRANSLATOR

"You're not fluent in Japanese?" I ask, confused. A japanese student known for her linguistic prowess in foreign idioms would most likely have to be fluent in her own language as well, especially of said talent was recognized by Hope's Peak... right?

She shook her head and held out both hands in a 'stop' gesture, expression now a bit more serious. "I didn't feel to mention japanese, of course! Je suis from Nippon, after all! What have you been up to? Romantic date? A walk? Trying to escape this town? Por favor share."

"I woke up a few minutes ago. Yuzuru offered herself to show me around, and that way I get to meet the rest of the students around here as well so it's a win-win. How about you? Are you doing anything in particular?"

Maruko raised her arm and pointed to the aisle she'd been in with her thumb, cocking her head to the side. "Jeg was over there, getting some supplies pour notre groupe so we can have some food for later, ja? Speaking of which, I should go back to my task! It was great meeting you, Herr Hananari."

"Oh, would you like some help? With whatever 'no tree group' needs, I mean!" Yuzuru tried and failed to mimic Maruko's french - that was french, right? - while offering her help.

The translator simply laughed at Yuzuru's pronounciation error and turned her back to us, stepping ever closer to the next aisle. "I'd love it, tak. But aren't you showing Herr Hananari around? Dejarlo ahora would be quite rude, oui?"

"I don't mind!" I was quick to give my rebuttal to Maruko's problem, making her and Yuzuru look at me, startled by my sudden reply. "I can just show myself around. I'm gonna go grab a snack or two and be on my way. You two have fun, okay? It was nice meeting you, Maruko!" I was responded to by two smiles and a farewell from the two girls. Promptly, I made my way to the drinks aisle.

It wasn't long before I was browsing through the cookies they had on display, a liter-bottle of water under my armpit, wetting the sleeve of my hoodie and the shirt I had underneath. I took out a packet of my favourite chocolate chip biscuits - ones I hadn't eaten in at least two months, since my birthday - and spun on my heels, calmly pacing over to the front of the supermarket, now that I had finished my 'grocery shopping'. That is, indeed, what I wanted to do.

"Hey, hey, hey, where do you think you're going, pipsqueak!?" a rough, deep voice rang from behind me, startling me silly. I didn't even have the guts to turn around right away - I just stood there like an idiot, snuggling my food and drink, shivering uncontrollably from the sheer fright that the male voice behind me made me feel. Hesitantly, I cocked my head to the side and started turning, slowly, being met by someone I was not expecting.

The boy that stood no more than three feet behind me, hands clenched into fists resting on his hips was the very definition of a body builder. His every visible muscle was bulging with tremendous force against his tan skin, his grey eyes were serious, and showed a bit of fiery determination, his forehead was furrowed, as were his eyebrows, and there were beads of sweat all over his naked torso. That's right: naked torso. He was only wearing a pair of grey gym shorts and black sneakers, much similar to mine, coincidentally. The spiky, silver haired mountain stomped towards me slowly but surely, causing small quakes in the ground everytime he heavily put his feet down.

"Wh-What do you want, sir?" I stuttered rather monotonely as I quivered in place, looking up at the man that towered above me - making him stand at, at least, around 6'3'' - with nothing but fear of what's to come in my eyes. For anything I know, he thinks I'm stealing these and is going to kill me right here and now - in a supermarket. Oh, what a way to go.

He was now little more than an inch away from me, his rigid pectoral muscles right in front of my face. He grabbed the packet of cookies I stored in my right hand, and rose it above my reach. "What is this!? Chocolate!? Why would eat such a horrible, disgusting thing!? That's why you're so flabby, pipsqueak!" he shouted in my ear, making me flinch at every harsh word that dropped out of his mouth. In an instant, he rose his other hand in the air, making me close my eyes, awaiting the impending beat down, only to hear a crunchy sound coming from above - which thankfully, meant that it wasn't any of my bones.

I opened my eyes ever so slightly and watched as the purple packaging of the cookies was crumpled on the floor, crumbs scattered around it. The brute gripped my hoodie and held his face closer to mine. "Chocolate is the worst thing you can put inside your body, dude! Why, if you weren't so cute, I'd be beating your ass right now for even thinking about eating such disgusting produce! Protein bars are what your body needs, you hear!?" My eyes instinctively widened at the second statement he shouted into my ear.

"Cute...?" The question fled my mouth before I could react, making me a little terrified of the outcome.

His grey eyes widened, making the scar he had on his left cheek ever so prominent. "Y-You heard that!? FUCK! I-I didn't mean that, okay!?" he kept shouting louder and louder before eventually calming down, a full minute of me being frozen in fear later.

With a sigh of relief, I bring my now free right hand and held it closer to my chest, feeling my heart pounding against it. Apparently this guy is just a health nut, not a terrorist that wants me killed. And he thinks I'm cute! That's reassuring, I guess. "I... I'm sorry for eating chocolate, sir. Those are my favourite cookies so I... I couldn't resist!" every word I spewed was said with the fakest blame I could muster. I wasn't ashamed for eating chocolate cookies, mind you, but if this guy gets that idea on his brain, I can kiss my life goodbye.

"I haven't seen you around, have I?" he completely ignored my excuse and went straight on to the point, his voice a little lower than before.

"I don't think you did... I woke up a little bit ago, Yuzuru was showing me around..." I held out a hand, hoping his handshake wouldn't crunch my fingers like the packet of cookies before it. "I'm Tsukushi Hananari, SHSL Defense Attorney, nice to meet you, sir."

He shook my hand with tremendous strength, making me wince inside. "Riou Ryielo, SHSL Boxer. Don't be surprised if I forget your name." he withdrew his hand back into his hip, mirroring his other one. "Stay out of trouble so I don't have to punch your guts in, okay? And I don't want to ruin that pretty little face, either."

RIOU RYIELO - SHSL BOXER

"My what? Pretty little face?"

"FUCK!" he cussed under his breath and pushed me off the way, flinging me onto the shelves before stomping angrily out the supermarket. Someone has anger issues, and probably aren't comfortable with their sexuality. Then again, it took me quite a while to be comfortable after coming out, so I understand his point of view, I guess...


After switching the chocolate chip cookies for a healthy alternative, just so I wouldn't have my face punched in if Riou saw me, I left the supermarket and followed a random street. Not long afterwards, the straight road led me to a futuristic-looking light purple building dotted with neon lights - that, because of the time of day were turned off - and a giant turned-off neon sign that read 'HALFPIXEL' above the glass double doors that marked the entrance. After checking the map on my Electro-ID, my suspicions that this building was the arcade Yuzuru had mentioned were confirmed. Maybe it was the gaming kid in me that led my legs in, but I'd like to say I'm stronger than that to resist the temptation.

The inside of the arcade was pretty ample and very nice. Pinball machines, air hockey, gaming consoles and retro arcade machines were all lying around orderly, lit up in different neon colours - that stood out in the otherwise dark room. The room's floor was made of colourful mosaics, much like the ones you see in the stereotypical disco, flashing in the many colours of the rainbow, but it was then turned off, aside from three tiles in the far corner. As I took a step forward, I noticed the reason as to why that was - the mosaics light up when you step on them. That's cool as hell.

One step at a time, I went from blue, to yellow, to hot pink, and back to blue as I approached the two people at the back of the room, faces dimly lit up by the purple neon lights around the outlines, and the display of the arcade machine they were standing in front of. As I got closer and closer, their features became clearer and more focused.

The male standing next to the girl who was playing some music/rhythm styled game was light-skinned and looked a bit fragile in build. Upon hearing my steps, he turned around revealing its facial features and clothing more clearly. He boasted short, icy blond hair with short bangs that were parted in a three-quarters to one-quarter kind of 'ratio' if you will, and dreamy, cerulean blue eyes that a were a bit hooded and clouded. His outfit was anything but predictable, be it for the periwinkle vest that failed to cover the long-sleeved, clean white shirt he wore, a black bow that shared the collar with some kind of strap that held the red cape on his back, periwinkle pants and black shoes. To top it all off, a stereotypical magician's top hat stood on his head . black with a red stripe a little bit above the bottom edge of it.

"Is someone there?" he looked directly at me, probably not seeing me clearly with the change in lighting from the bright display of the arcade machine to the darkness of the room. I simply nodded, and greeted him and his gaming companion with a short 'Hello there'. "Hello! I don't believe I've heard your voice before, are you by any chance the owner of the Eagle Suite back at the inn?"

"I am! I overslept, I'm guessing. Woke up about an hour ago, I think. Name's Tsukushi Hananari, nice to meet you!"

The girl behind her had yet to turn around to see who the visitor - me - was, but the guy's warm smile made that all forgivable. A bit quieter than I'd expect, he introduced himself. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Tsukushi! My name is Yori Hanamichi, the SHSL Magician! I'm quite known for disappearing and reappearing acts, perhaps you've heard of me?"

YORI HANAMICHI - SHSL MAGICIAN

The name certainly rang more than a few bells. Yori here was known worldwide for being the youngest magician in the world, taking his first show at the age of 5, and winning his first award because of it at the age of 7. Ever since, he's been travelling around the world with his own circus troupe, Cirque des Fleurs, and has received worldwide acclaim for being one of the best and most traveled magicians, of not the most, in all of Japan. What is perhaps the most surprising part of this guy's upbringing in the magic realm, is that he, as all good magicians should, was self-taught, which means that he either created his own tricks or spotted how to do them by observing other magicians' shows. If he really did all that at age 5, then he was very deserving of entering Hope's Peak under the title he'd been given.

"Pardon, are you lost in thought?" he broke me out of my mental recollection of his character. "As the SHSL Magician, I can wake you up from that silent trance with a quick hypnosis trick! Of course, more involved magic tricks will require previous preparations, but I'd love to show them to you! It is my job to entertain, after all, correct?"

He struck me as the polite type from the very begginning, but there was something off about him. His blank stare, for one, made me kind of uneasy as it seemed he wasn't quite focusing on my face - or me, at all, for that matter - nor behind me, since there wasn't anything to look at behind me from what I gathered. He just looked like he was contemplating the air in front of him, in a sense. "Um... Yori? Is everything okay? You look like you're spacing out." I try to contain my curiosity but am unable to, words rushing out of my mouth. I just hope he doesn't find it rude.

"No, no, I don't find it rude at all!"

"W-Was I thinking out loud again?"

"Is that a habit of yours? I wouldn't have guessed." he laughed lightly and stuck his hand in his pocket, taking out a black and white magic wand. "I simply sensed some remorse in your voice when you questioned me. If you must know, however, I do indeed have something of a disability. I cannot see." With a quick flick of the wrist, he gripped both sides of the wand and pushed them to either side, unveiling its retractability, and dropped an end of it to the floor. "My magic wand doubles as a walking stick, and I usually have someone alongside me, guiding me wherever I need to go."

Blind? A blind magician? How the hell is he able to do stuff like card tricks without seeing? "I take it that the girl over there is your 'someone', now, right?" I asked, pointing to the girl beside him, still enthralled by the flurry of arrows that swam up the screen as her feet move in quick succession to match the symbols on the mat below her.

"It's kinda rude to talk about other people when they're right next to you, you know?" the dark-skinned girl chimed in, her voice soft but noticeably foreign. Upon looking at her, I noticed she was now looking back at me, the game screen reading 'GAME OVER - NEW HIGH SCORE' in big flashy colours. Her dark blue hair was pulled up in a bun, bangs pulled back as well, forming a giant contrast between it and her light-creamy-coloured eyes. Her outfit consisted of a light blue button-up shirt with sleeves that ended a little above the elbow, with a brown vest dotted with black floral patterns on top of it and a black bow tie around her neck. Her legs were covered in dark-brown slacks and black shoes on her feet. She also donned a hat, similarly to Yori next to her, however, her headgear of choice was a fedora instead of a top hat, black and white in colouring.

"My apologies, Frances."

Frances? That's quite the unusual name. Must be a foreigner, I guess. "Yeah, yeah, it's okay, buddy." she chuckled and gave Yori a light tap on the back, before turning to me and holding her hand out. "Hey kid, the name's Frances. Frances Baishou, SHSL Tapdancer. Take your time learnin' how to say my name, please, I don't like mispronounciations, yeah?"

FRANCES BAISHOU - SHSL TAPDANCER

"Will do." I met her hand and she shook it firmly, almost like a man would. "I'm Tsukushi Hananari-"

"The SHSL Defense Attorney." she interrupted, completing my introduction for me. My eyes widened, had she heard of me before? "I heard you loud and clear when you introduced yourself to Yori here, don't sweat it." she flashed me a big smile. "You're the one who wouldn't wake up, right? Asuyo was pissed about that, she wanted to organize the rooms back at the hotel by gender while we're here."

"Excuse me, who?"

"Asuyo!" Yori chimed in, repeating the other girl's name. "She's another one of us Hope's Peak students, but she left a little while ago along with the Prosecutor." There we go again, talking about this SHSL Prosecutor... I really want to meet her as soon as possible - having someone half-share a talent might be a good starting point to make conversation, after all.

"Did they tell you where they'd be going?" I asked, determined to find the other legal warrior in this damned city.

Yori and Frances exchanged quick glances - how did she manage to keep her combo while not looking at the screen? "The florist, if I recall correctly." Yori nodded, confirming his own statement in his mind. "It's a little far away from here. If you go down this road, then turn left, you'll reach it."

How the hell does he know? "I'd think you couldn't see wherever you were going, Yori... so how did you know?"

"And I cannot see, true" he chuckled "But, even if my eyesight is not the best, I have a remarkable sense of direction, if I do say so myself."

I mouthed a quiet 'oh' and apologized for the question before leaving the arcade, three sets of eyes on my back - or so I sensed. Probably just my imagination, though. To the flower shop I go.