The enormous academy towered over the city's central, upper-class residential district. It was like… the whole world revolved around that place…
I couldn't stop myself from thinking that well-known thought, famous for it's rumor of having been thought by the headmaster himself. As I looked up at the skyscraping school, my thoughts continued to wander. The very idea of my class here being the 98th… It's unthought-of. Not a single soul expected the school to rise from its blood-red ashes and host another twenty classes.
I could've stood there all day, thinking of Hope's Peak and how I, and many others, was going to move in today, classes starting tomorrow. Anyone could've thought that all day, I'm sure. The world's best school that accepts only Japan's best students, an achievement all success-seeking children dream of. But a person cannot simply stand outside a school forever and attend it. Picking my bags up and taking a deep breath, I stepped forward.
In the present, I'm thinking still, wondering of how I even got from stepping through the gate to an empty desk in an empty room that held a feeling emptier than it was. Iron plates guard the windows and a camera is hung, pointed towards me. Slowly, I stand up, creeping over to the door. Unsure of my surroundings, I guide the door open gently.
I then find myself in a hallway, which doesn't help me much, considering the lack of directions. Sighing, I take this upon myself, treating it as a way to explore and get to know the school.
The hallways are just as vacant as the classroom, not a single soul being present, a vague taste of despair takes control of the halls. Locked doors galore and ominous signs pointing, confusingly, to several directions are the only things I can really find. The only place to look for people here that seemed logical was the dorms… Or apparently "Hotel Despair," the doors covered with plates, each one holding a name and 8-bit character of it's own. I pay less attention to the characters than I do the names. Irie, Larsen, Kryly, Shizuri, Ridgley are only a few of the fifteen names listed besides my own. Doorbells are beside each door, and after ringing a good half of them, I give up and return in the direction of my starting point.
Just as I finally pass back by the classrooms and into the hallway lit with green lights, I begin to hear echoes of chatter. After spending what felt like an hour in this labyrinth of solitude, I run after the echoes, only slowing down to carefully place my hands on the door, unsure whether or not I should go in. It takes a moment to decide. Sliding them down to the handle, I think, "This is the room. The room where the others are." The door slides open gracefully, revealing nine people, standing there, not even taking note that another being has just walked in. My eyes work their way above their heads, when I see it. A giant door, not just any giant door, the giant metal door iconic for it's history of being the saving and undoing of the 78th class of Hope's Peak. It's unspoken of; we're only forced to learn about it in history class, though it's obvious the teachers would've wanted to teach something else. We only spend a short fifteen minutes on the subject, simply going over the setting; iron plates, cameras, a giant metal door blocking our escape, and most importantly, a fight to the death.
When I look back at the teenagers standing in the room, it couldn't be any more noticeable they had already figured that out. They stared at the door as if it were their executioner.
I realize I'm still holding the door and I let go of it. It makes a slam when it goes back to its closed position, causing the group to turn around.
"Yet another one… Why don't we all introduce ourselves? I'm sure this wanderer would enjoy it very much." The person who speaks up is a girl, dressed daintily in an elegant Lolita-like short blue dress, orientated with pink roses. Her black hair is tied in messy side buns, bangs ending right above her pink eyes. "I'll begin," she continues as she walks towards me, and bows. "I am Kaori Shizuri, Super High School Level Historical Re-Enactor. I'm sure you and I will become excellent friends!" Shizuri smiles, a cue for me to speak.
"Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic," I rush through my words, still taking everything in.
"Such a wonderful title," she says as another comes up to me, this one wearing a short red qipao and white stockings. Her hair is blond and quite long. Her figure is quite feminine and has a noticeably large chest. As this girl begins to speak, I see Kaori retreat back into the crowd, and begins to speak with someone else, most likely about our situation.
"My name is Chouko Irie," just as I hear her name, I recognize her immediately, she's quite famous for her blog, perhaps the most popular blog in the world, talking about her constant travels around the world. "I'm the Super High School Blogger," she continues. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Fusao. I would love to talk, but there are countless people you must meet," Irie says as she guides me towards the crowd, taking me away from my isolated spot. With a smile, she speaks. "Go ahead, don't be shy, talk to whomever you wish!"
A little uncertain, I approach a boy, his hair blond with the tips dyed blue, reaching his chin. Another feature I notice immediately is the silver stud above his right eyebrow. His outfit is quite interesting, I find myself staring at it for a moment or two. He wears a blue ski jacket with fur trim on the hood and black jeans, with ripped holes at the knees. He shows no interest in me, so I am forced to begin this introduction.
"My name is Naoki Fusao, I am the Super High School Level Psychic, and you'd be?" He observes me for a moment before speaking.
"Isamu Nagase. DJ." Nagase ends there, seeming to be holding back. I take it as a blessing as I step away, and turn to girl, around the same height as Nagase, towering over me by at least six inches.
"Ah! M-my name is Natalya… Natalya Kryly! Uh… Su-Super High School L-level Skydiver. You call me Natasha, yes?" Her speech is not broken from shyness or nervousness, but rather unfamiliarity with the Japanese language. She seems to be awfully fond of hearts with her blond side ponytail decorated with several heart-shaped pins. Over her white blouse, she wears a yellow sweater vest and a red tie, matching her red skirt.
"Nice to meet you, Natasha," I say. "I'm Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic." Natasha smiles in response, just as I'm whisked away by a tug and a hair ruffle, much to my dislike. A roaring laughter fills the room, covering the others' conversations. I struggle to turn in the grasp of this person. When I am able to turn, I first analyze his neck-long black hair and purple eyes. His attire is quite boring compared to many of the others with his white dress shirt and black dress pants.
"Ichirou Nakahara! Nice ta meet ya! I'm the baker!" He has a goofy smile filled with excitement. He continues to ruffle my hair, treating me like his little brother and continues to speak. "Aw man! Can you believe all the famous people here? First there's Irie and Hanaba and Kryly! But then there's also you! Wow! I can't believe all of this!... But then again we're all famous now, right?... In fact that's how I know half these people…" His laugh comes back again as he lets me out of his grasp. He spins me around and pushes me towards Shizuri and the girl she's talking to, causing me to topple over onto them. Shizuri lifts me up carefully and brushes me off as if I gathered dirt while I was on the ground. Behind me, I hear Nakahara burst with laughter yet again and yell "Sorry!"
"Ah, the relationship of men, something a woman can never experience," Shizuri says longingly. My eyes drift over to the girl Shizuri was speaking to, her green eyes glued on me. When I look at her, I see a lot of black. Black hair, black blouse, black skirt, and black shoes. Though her appearance does hold some color with blond stripes in her hair and scarlet X patterns on her skirt. On her blouse, "Aika" is written on the chest. When she steps forward to speak to me, I notice the soapy aroma coming from her.
"I'm Aika Suji, Super High School Level Violinist," she says. "Feel free to just call me Aika! No surname necessary! I hear you're the Super High School Level Psychic! Does that mean you can read my mind?" She speaks in a very clear and friendly voice, showing her personality off just like everyone else.
"No, I can't read minds… But I receive visions of the future… A person's success, love-life, children, that kind of stuff."
"That's amazing! Did you have to train or something or was it just natural?"
"No… It's natural…"
"Oh! Is that personal? I'm sorry," she, like many others, offers a smile. If we have been captured for yet another Life of Mutual Killing, it's going to be a long life. I can't see most of these people killing each other.
"It's fine," I answer in politeness, causing Aika to smile bigger.
"Excuse me, but perhaps you should meet the others. Who knows how much time we'll have together that's this peaceful," Shizuri states. "After all, if this is what we all dread it to be, there might be less time than we think."
"Of course," I say, scanning the group for someone I haven't met yet. I then finally see a person I haven't spoken to yet. As I approach her, I notice she too is much taller than me and that she has green hair, reaching her mid-back. The girl is dressed in a yellow dress shirt with a black vest on top with blue shorts and dress shoes matching her vest. She seems a bit nervous, keeping an eye on the door I entered from. It takes her a moment to notice that I've walked up to her, and when she does, she perks up.
"I'm Jui Hanaba! Super High School Level Magician!" She offers a hand to shake, to which I accept.
"I'm Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic."
"So I've heard! I wonder if they'll be time to show off our talents to each other… That would be fun with all these talents we have!"
"It would, I guess," I reply. I'm then tapped on the shoulder and quickly turn to find a boy with brown hair, spikes and red highlights poking out the bottom of the gray baseball cap he wears. He wears a red button up shirt and black pants and sneakers that have both red and black.
"I believe I am the only person you haven't met quite yet," the boy says. "My title is Super High School Level Knight, and my name is Manuel Blackburn."
"Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic," I say, rushing through my words, eager to get this over with.
"Lots of introductions, eh? Too many for you?"
"I was going to meet everyone no matter what, might as well get it done in one shot."
"That's some good optimism you've got there."
After the introductions, Manuel brought us into a new subject. We began to discuss what our situation even is.
"Perhaps it's some sort of memorial!" Nakahara exclaims.
"Let's face it, the door, the windows, the cameras, we have been trapped in the 78th class's world full of murder," Manuel says
"Maybe they never took the door down. The plates would be easy to put up within a few days," Nakahara continues.
"Nakahara, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't go as far as this for a memorial. Why would they even have one now?" Aika says gently.
"Well, if you add the years it took to bring hope back to the world and the twenty years between the 78th and 98th classes, you get twenty-five. A quarter of a century! That's when lots of companies have big anniversaries, so maybe they're having like a twenty-five year memorial for their friends. Who says this here door needs to mean death and despair?" He sings out his words, his smile from earlier still hasn't diminished.
"That's idiotic! How do you even come up with such bulls***?" Nagase spits out at Nakahara
"Awww? Is somebody being a grumpy-grump? The headmaster… Err headmasters are Naegi Makoto and Kyouko Kirigiri, right? Why wouldn't they have a little remembrance for the fall of the world and their friends?" Just as Nagase was about to say something, Shizuri interrupted.
"Both Nakahara and Nagase have a point… It could be either, we just don't know until we receive a message of sorts…"
"There's only ten of us… Would that really be sufficient for a game of murder?" Aika says.
"It does seem a little too small…" Irie remarks, agreeing with Aika.
"Is this really everyone?" I ask, causing several heads to turn towards me in confusion. "Maybe the others are somewhere else, maybe they're having their own meeting right now, wondering the same things as us." A moment of silence took over, the others contemplating my point.
"They could be somewhere else!" Hanaba says, excited at the thought.
"S-so where do w-we look for the o-others?" Natasha asks, turning to me.
"Anywhere, I guess."
"So shall we head out?" Shizuri says, standing up. She is then followed in the motion by Aika and Nakahara. They begin to walk towards the door, causing Natasha and Hanaba to panic, both then jump up and rush to them. Next to rise is Manuel, who is then followed by Irie, leaving me on the ground with Nagase. He takes a moment to watch the others leave, then follows suit.
"This is going to get annoying quickly, isn't it?" He stated blandly, halfway out the door.
It takes me a moment to realize I'm the last one and rise slowly and make my way out, only to find our little group barely ten feet away from the door. A good half of them are investigating the poorly drawn signs posted on the walls, taking the appearance of a child's drawings.
"We'll never get anywhere with these drawings…" Aika whispers, disappointed.
"The school isn't too big, I'm sure we could find them within an hour or so if we search carefully," Irie says, trying to cheer Aika up.
"How stupid are all of you? You didn't think to even investigate the damn prison you're trapped in?" Nagase says, receiving several shakes of the head in response.
"I-I was m-more concerned in find-ding p-people than-n s-surroundings…" Natasha said, under her breath.
"What's the point of learning your surroundings if the people you're trapped with could change them at any moment," Manuel stated.
"What do you mean by that?" Shizuri asked, tilting her head.
"What would I mean? For all I know, you might decided to rearrange a room I've been, just to throw me off. Wouldn't it be best to get acquainted with my fellow prisoners to learn who they are? That way it would be simple to know who to keep an eye on."
"You can 'logic' through this all you want. Either way, you dumbasses don't have a way of justifying your stupidity," Nagase says. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: The first murdered! I can't resist the thought as Nagase gives a harsh you're-all-dumbasses-and-you're-all-below-me glare to several select students.
"This isn't the time to fight. Nagase, would you please tell us what the problem is exactly?" I say, trying to break any heated argument about to come up.
"There are shutters in front of all the stairs. We're trapped on the first floor," he says, far more gentler than when he was insulting us.
"Thank you," I state automatically.
"Well, this'll make it much easier to find the people!" Hanaba says enthusiastically.
"Unless they happen to have ended up on the second floor... Or perhaps the third..." Manuel says, causing a large drop in enthusiasm and several sighs of disappointment.
"Let's begin searching for them, then make conclusions," Shizuri suggests.
We didn't dare split up, being stuck in this famously lethal setting with strangers tends to make some people paranoid. It was no little than our group of ten, exploring the school in search of the missing students. Many of the locked doors raised some people's suspicions, refusing to dismiss it immediately. A few of the locked doors included the AV room, the infirmary, and strangest of all, the gymnasium. It took quite awhile to move on and head to the dormitories, where they went over the same process as me, even after I warned them I had already rung every doorbell. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we began to head back, we saw a boy, his head poking out of the cafeteria. The moment he notices us, he steps out entirely and motions for us to come.
"It was getting a little boring," he says. "You guys are lucky, you got a fuller, more complete group of people."
"How many others are with you?" Irie says, excitement in her voice.
"Six," he claims while turning back to the cafeteria. We follow him as we go in, and it is admittedly smaller, and because of that, quieter. The group abandons their table to come to talk to us, and our group quickly dismantles and heads towards the new faces, with the exception of Hanaba, who runs towards one of the girls, no doubt, she had met her before.
As for me, it doesn't take to long for me to come face to face to a blonde haired girl, a cold look in her hazel eyes. Before she begins to speak, I can guess what her Super High School Level title is, just by her gray pencil skirt and matching gray jacket-top, highly resembling a business suit. She stands a little tall, but I assume that to be because of the red heels she wears.
"The name is Rin Larsen, Super High School Level Businesswoman. You would be?" There's a touch of snobbishness in her speech, but I disregard it immediately to introduce myself yet again.
"Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic. It's nice to meet you," she nods, then walks off to meet Irie. It takes a minute or two for another girl to come up and meet me, yet again, and easy guess. Though her tied back brown hair and shining sapphire blue eyes don't give away much, it only takes the eyes a few centimeters down to see her lolita maid outfit with stockings to know what she is going to say.
"Hello! It's wonderful to meet yet another person! My name is Kirei Nagai. My title is Super high School Level Maid," she says with a smile. The amount of smiley people is a little strange, especially for our situation. Admittedly, I was hoping to see a few more stern and serious people with this group, besides the one I have already met, to even out the personalities a bit. Though I know I shouldn't lose hope, or that I should be judging these people based on their cheerful personalities, in fact it may even be great living here, seeing as how all these people can maintain their cheerfulness.
As I continue to lose myself in my thoughts, I don't even notice when the boy who greeted us at the door is standing right in front of me, seeking my introduction. His medium-length black hair, despite it's messiness, is probably his best physical quality. It would seem he isn't one to care about looks too much. Considering his black tee underneath his blue and gray jacket-hoodie and black pants, dark colors seem to be his favorites. The only thing to ruin the dark colors coming from him are his white sneakers, the color not browned from dirt and other street debris. I then realize I have caused an awkward silence, and immediately break from my observations to speak.
"Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"It would have been far more interesting if you were to have said that five minutes ago," the boy says as he walks away. Baffled, I watch him as he walks away, though not for too long, as I am soon greeted by a small girl, whose body is kept well, her tied-back golden hair shining beautifully, even without the sun's light.
"Oh, Rimushita…" She says, facing the boy. Turning to me, she continues. "That was Neisan Rimushita… The Super High School Level Writer... We've all discovered he can be a bit rude, though we aren't sure why. But I for one, am absolutely certain it's only because of stress!" Her face shines with joy. "I'm Suchiri Shimizu, Super High School Level Contortionist," she does a quick bow, then continues to talk. "I do hope you like me… But there are a few others you haven't met yet, correct? You should meet them, Naoki," it doesn't take two seconds for her to wave over Hanaba and another girl over. When they get next to me I realize that the girl bears the same face as Hanaba, even the same clothing, only with minor color differences such as the vest and shoes being white. Luckily, I'll be able to tell them apart from not only that, but their hair. Exactly the same cut, only green for Hanaba and blue for the girl.
"Presto! I cloned myself!" Hanaba laughs. "Just kidding! This is my twin, Furi Hanaba! Super High School Level Illusionist!" Two Hanabas? I think as I automatically make the adjustment in my head to call Jui and Furi by their first names.
"... You are the psychic, correct?" Furi asks with no emotion, causing me to take a moment to realize she asked me a question, not that she made a statement.
"Yes! Of course!" Just being in the presence of Jui's energy causes me to perk up some too.
"What an excellent talent… Perhaps we can all teach each other the ways of our own," Furi states blandly.
"Oh! That's right! All three of our talents are pretty close, right?" Jui says, sing-songily.
"Yeah," I reply. Just as I start to sneak away to meet the next person, Jui says something to Furi that catches my ear.
"Hey sis, you don't think mom's first day was like this do you? You know, it being all empty and stuff."
I don't dare speak up, it would be rude to interrupt their conversation without having an invitation.
"Sis, don't you remember? For the past week she's been calling us and telling us about her first week. She said she was greeted at the door by teachers and the headmaster. Not only that, but they were booming with excitement. I for one would expect twice that excitement this year, especially with them introducing the international class…"
Then this could be...
"Heheh!... I always miss mom when she travels…" I hear Jui says as I finally slip away.
"Woah, sneaking away from the ladies? Sheesh, that's low," A voice from beside me says.
"It's not… I was… They were talking, I was giving them privacy," I say defensively as I turn to the voice. I find tall, muscular brown-haired boy, wearing yellow jacket atop a blue vest, patterned with gray. I feel a heaving sense of intimidation as I look up to him.
"Privacy? You won't find that here! We're living in this school for the whole school year. We all may as well be room mates."
"Of course," I say, slowly regaining my confidence.
"Patrick Ridgley, Super High School Level Football Quarterback. Don't forget it."
"I won't. I'm Naoki Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic," just as I say it, I slip and fall, and hear a quick laugh from Patrick, but then am pulled up by someone else. The one person I haven't met. I turn to see him, finding only a man of gray. Very little of his brown hair pokes out of the hood of his gray hoodie, the gray matching his gloves and jeans.
"I'm Hikaru Hayazaki, you're Fusao, Super High School Level Psychic, aren't you?"
"I am, you Super High School Level is?"
"Matchmaker," Hayazaki says. For such an abstract talent, he seems fairly normal. I would have imagined someone far more nosy to make his matches, though it crosses my mind he may just be holding back for first impressions.
Just as I open my mouth to say something more, the sole monitor in the room flashes to life, the screen lit dimly, with a bear's silhouette on the screen. A silent, but ominous "Upupupupu" can be heard, putting us all under a spell of fear.
Ahaha, there's the first chapter.
I'll let you guys vote in the comments for right now (Don't have time to make a poll, I'm just about to run off for tonight's performance at my school for the play. Closing night! My schedule is going to clear up after tomorrow!)
Who do you like? What do you think? Are the characters good? Please tell me by reviewing!