This new clearing is roughly 200 meters in diameter. There is a pond in the middle of it, roughly the size of a large swimming pool. Many small cabins surround the pond in a semicircle, and three larger buildings are located on the opposite side. From where we're standing, we can see several students exploring the clearing.
"There seems to be a lot here. How about we split up into groups and explore?" Ayumu suggests. We all nod in agreement. Kazi leads Usagi to investigate one of the cabins, Mayoi decides to accompany Ayumu, and Chiyoko runs off to go talk to a couple of new students. I start to follow her, but I accidentally walk into somebody. We both fall to the ground. Many small pieces of paper, which the person was presumably carrying, flutter around us.
"I'm so sorry!" I quickly apologize, scrambling to pick up the pieces of paper. They turn out to be playing cards. I finally take a good look at the person I (quite literally) ran into. It's a girl, a bit older than me. She wears a dark blue top hat, a light yellow cape, a black skirt, and a black top with silver buttons.
"It's no big deal," she responds, helping me pick up the cards. When we're done, I help her up.
"Let me guess... Ultimate Magician?" I ask.
"Wow, how did you know? Are you the Ultimate Psychic? Ooh, what number am I thinking of?" The girl looks at me incredulously. I laugh.
"No, I'm the Ultimate Seamstress. My name is Nana Shiruku. Well, you're wearing a top hat and a cape, and you're carrying around a deck of playing cards. I when you put two and two together, it's pretty obvious."
"Huh, I guess you're right. Well anyway, the name's Yasu Michi! It's awesome to meet you. Thanks for helping me out. How about a magic trick as thanks?"
"Sure, why not?" I say, smiling. This girl just gives off a really cheerful vibe. Yasu shows me a card, the ace of spades. She puts it in her hat, then proceeds to shuffle the deck. She takes the first card off the top of the deck, and it's the ace of spades! Then she takes her hat, shakes it out, and shows it to me. It's empty!
"Wow, how did you do that?" I ask. I'm actually pretty impressed. I've never really seen many magic tricks in general, and Yasu's a professional.
"A magician never tells her secrets," Yasu says, giggling. "So, know anybody else around here?"
I tell her about everybody I've met so far. I point out Chiyoko, Usagi, and Kazi to her. I don't see Ayumu or Mayoi. They must be in one of the buildings.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to remember how you got here, would you? Nobody else does," I ask.
"Nope, sorry. Maybe if we explore more, we'll figure it out!" Yasu says.
"Yeah. I think I'll talk to more students. What'll you do?"
"Kazi and Usagi look like they're going to explore one of those big buildings. I'll go join them. See ya later!" Yasu runs off.
I finally go to join Chiyoko, who is talking with a boy and a girl. The boy wears a button-down shirt, khaki shorts, a bow tie, and sunglasses. The girl wears dark brown cargo shorts, a white shirt with grey birds, and a tan sleeveless jacket.
"Oh, Nana! This is Sekai Kimyō and Hotaru Amemori. They're the Ultimate World Traveller and Ultimate Dart Thrower, respectively," Chiyoko explains.
"Nice to meet you two. I'm Nana Shiruku, the Ultimate Seamstress."
"It's nice to meet you too." The boy, Sekai, gives me a bashful smile.
"Yeah, ditto," Hotaru says.
"So, do they know anything?" I ask Chiyoko.
"Hey, what do ya mean by that?" Hotaru asks, looking slightly offended.
"Um, I mean, do either of you know how you got here?" I say.
"No... I just woke up in the maze. I suppose it was the same for the rest of you?" Sekai says quietly.
"Yeah..." Chiyoko mutters. We stand in silence for a few moments before I speak up.
"Well, you three can stick together. I think I'll continue exploring on my own," I say.
"Okay, see you," Hotaru says. The group walks off toward the other side of the pond. I decide to examine one of the cabins. They're square, and about five meters in length. The name plate on the door reads Hiro Takahashi. There's a picture of a pixelated boy underneath the name.
"Hm... Is this the name of another student?" I wonder aloud.
"Yes, actually," a voice says from behind me. I jump in surprise. When I turn around, I see a boy who somewhat resembles the boy on the nameplate. He wears an olive green sweater vest, a navy blue tie, a white dress shirt, and black slacks.
"Um, are you Hiro Takahashi?" I ask.
"Yes," he says. He seems reluctant to talk.
"So, what's your Ultimate Talent?" I ask.
"How do you know I'm an Ultimate?" Hiro asks, looking slightly surprised.
"Everybody here is an Ultimate. I'm Nana Shiruku, the Ultimate Seamstress. Wait, does that mean you haven't talked to anyone?" I ask.
"No, I haven't spoken to anybody. I've... Been too busy investigating. Anyway, I'm the Ultimate Cult Expert," he says.
"Oh, that seems interesting," I say.
"Seems? How much do you know about cults?" He asks.
"Er, not that much..." I reply.
"Well, it isn't really a subject I'd expect a seamstress to be apt in. My job is quite... Extrodinary," Hiro says. I can hear the pride in his voice, but I'm slightly put off by his backhanded statement. What does being a seamstress have to do with knowing about cults?
"So, why do think we're here?" I ask reproachfully.
"Possibly to participate in some sort of ritual. It would make sense, with what seems to be a mass kidnapping. I remember being in a situation very similar to this one. I believe it involved dismemberment. I forget of what, though. I deal with so many cases, they do begin to blur. I do remember barely escaping with my life..." Hiro says.
"Er, well, hopefully that's worse case scenario. I-I mean, why us?" I stammer. Like I wasn't worried already.
"Hm... That, I have yet to deduce. I shall go explore some more. Would you care to accompany me?" Hiro asks.
"No thank you. We'll cover more ground if we split up, right? See you!" I walk away quickly, not giving him a chance to respond. I'm afraid that if I stick with Hiro, he'll just freak me out even more. I join a group of three students, two boys and a girl. The girl seems to be arguing with one of the boys.
"How about you try actually contributing?" The girl says coldly.
"I just don't understand why you're unable to follow the simplest of instructions," the boy responds.
"Guys, can this wait...? Oh!" The other boy notices me. "Heh, sorry about them. My name's Yuki Souichiro. I'm the Ultimate Freerunner. Hey! Are you guys gonna introduce yourselves?" The others ignore him. Yuki sighs.
"No? Okay then. Her name's Ikari Nitta. She's the Ultimate Surgeon. She can actually be pretty nice, but she's kinda angry right now." Kinda? Yuki continues.
"He's Shuzo Nakadai, Ultimate Movie Director. He's, um, bossy, which is how he managed to upset Ikari. He usually doesn't talk all that much, though," Yuki explains. Meanwhile, the others seem to have noticed my presence.
"Oh! H-hello. Um, 'actly howlong youben there?" Ikari stammers, clearly embarrassed. I think she meant to say, "exactly how long have you been there?"
"Not too long," I reply.
"Guys, this is Nana Shiruku, the Ultimate Seamstress. Don't bother introducing yourselves, I did it for you," Yuki says.
"You should've alerted us. Ikari, I barely understood what you just said. Try speaking slower," Shuzo says. He then goes completely quite. I just love him already.
"Yes, blame him for your own ignorance," Ikari scowls, backed to her poised self.
"U-um..." I stammer. All of the arguing is making me uncomfortable. Yuki seems to notice this and clears his throat.
"Hey! It looks like everybody's gathering near the exit to the clearing. Let's go join them!" Yuki says, nudging the pair toward the group.
"Hey, wait." I stop Yuki. "Could you do me a favor? A friend of mine is still in the maze looking for someone. Do you think you can go find them?"
"S-sure thing! Um, what if I get lost? I wouldn't want to miss whatever we're talking about," He asks, blushing slightly.
I think for a bit before an idea comes to me. I put my hand into my left pocket. Bingo. I pull out a spool of white thread. I always carry some thread and a couple of needles in case something requires mending. I hand the spool to Yuki.
"Here, use this as a marker. Tie it to a tree or something and unwind it as you go. My friend's name is Osamu. He's wearing a red bomber jacket, and the guy he's looking for is wearing all black. If you run into that guy, catch him."
"Er, okay? Either way, thanks for the thread. That's a pretty clever idea. I-I'll go look for them!"
Yuki runs off, and I follow the other two to the end of the clearing. All of the others seem to have gathered there already. I notice a fire pit with a few logs surrounding it. We stand around for a moment before Kazi speaks up.
"So, how many of us are there?" He asks.
"Fifteen in total. We're missing three at the moment," Hiro says.
"How do you know?" Hotaru says with her hands on her hips.
"I know because there are fifteen of those little cabins. Each cabin is clearly for one us, as they are labeled with our names. Fifteen cabins mean there is a total of fifteen students. There are thirteen of us gathered here right now. Therefore, we're missing three. Must I spell it out for you?" Hiro replies hostilely.
"W-well..." Hotaru's eyes darted from person to person. I guess she's counting. "What about those bigger buildings?"
"Ooh! Ooh! I know! Me, Kazi, and Yasu checked one of the buildings out. There was a kitchen filled with food!" Usagi piped.
"Yeah, there seemed to be some sort of cafeteria as well. There was also this weird vending machine, but it didn't seem to take normal money. There was some sort of scanner attached to it, but it looked too big to take credit cards," Yasu said.
"I believe Ayumu and I explored the second building," Mayoi says.
"Ah, yes. The front room contained washers and dryers. There were two other doors, but they were locked. Judging by the signs on the doors, they seemed to be bathrooms," Ayumu says.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, the doors to those cabins were locked too. I wonder how we're supposed to open them," Chiyoko says.
"Yuki, Shuzo, and I explored the final building. It was a storage room filled with miscellaneous objects," Ikari says.
"Speaking of which, I wonder when Yuki and Osamu are coming back?" I wonder aloud. Suddenly, a voice calls out.
"HEY!" It's Yuki and Osamu, holding a very disgruntled Tamasine between them. As soon as he sees the girls, he straightens up.
"You can let me go now. It's not like I'll be going anywhere with all these lovely ladies around," Tamasine says, flashing a grin at the girl closest to him. Which happens to be Ikari. She rolls her eyes and steps away.
"Anyway, what did we miss?" Osamu asks.
Ayumu explains what we've learned to the three.
"We actually found something too," Yuki says, pulling what seems to be a small tablet out of his pocket. "This fell out of my pocket while I was chasing after Tamasine. Watch this."
Yuki pushes the button on the front of the tablet. His name is displayed on the screen, followed by a list of sorts. An odd symbol with the number zero next to it is in the upper-righthand corner of the screen. Yuki selects "Report Cards" on the list. A list of our names appears. He taps on the first name on the list, which happens to be Osamu's. A portrait of him comes up, followed by his name, gender, height, weight, age, likes, and dislikes.
"You don't like statues?" Usagi asks curiously.
"N-no, I don't. They're just... Creepy," Osamu replies, clearly embarassed.
Yuki exits out of the profiles and selects "Map". It shows a map of the clearing and the maze where we woke up. The exit we are standing next to is simply labeled "Answers." What does that mean? Each of our cabins are marked, as are the cafeteria, bathrooms, and storage room. The other three choices in the main menu are grayed out, but they're labeled "Mini Game", "School Rules", and "Truth Bullets".
"Let's go explore!" Usagi says, running towards the exit. For the first time, I notice the sign placed in front of the exit. It looks like it was made by a five-year-old. The words, "Warning! Beware of bears!" seem to be written in red crayon. They're followed by a picture of the oddest bear I've ever seen. It had a white belly and muzzle. The left half of the bear resembles a simple white teddy bear with black eyes. But the other half was downright demonic looking. It's body is pitch black, with an oddly shaped red eye. It has a wide, pointy-toothed grin. Despite how childish the whole thing is, it freaks me out.
"Are you sure?" I ask. "It could be a dead end. What if the maze leads to the exit? We should thoroughly search it. We wouldn't-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just follow me!," she says, not looking back. You didn't listen to a word I just said, did you? Suddenly, she freezes. We all do. A loud laugh rings throughout the clearing.
"Upupupupupupu..."
A/N Hm, I wonder who that could be? Anyway, now that we've met all of our participants, time to properly credit all of the awesome people who's OCs are in the story. Thank you all so much! Also, says I'll try to get the next chapter out quicker, takes over a month to update. Yeeeeaah... Sorry about that. Thanks for being patient with me.
Nana Shiruku~Ultimate Seamstress~Genie of the Fourth Wall
Mayoi Miyazaki~Ultimate Aromatherapist~SDproductions
Tamasine Heike~Ultimate Theif~mpjindustries
Osamu Akiyama~Ultimate Fencer~TheStuffIlike
Kaziyuki Tsujimoto~Ultimate Toymaker~Kkepicness
Usagi Osagawa~Ultimate Firework Maker~SethRollinsandBoDallas
Ayumu Oshiro~Ultimate Oneirologist~Kiwikowa
Chiyoko Ayizaki~Ultimate Archeologist~Jaide00
Yasu Michi~Ultimate Magician~CaptainQuackin
Sekai Kimyō~Ultimate World Traveller~culture
Hotaru Amemori~Ultimate Dart Thrower~ShadedLyht
Hiro Takahashi~Ultimate Cult Expert~Limeade Space Dorito
Yuki Souichiro~Ultimate Freerunner~bluesnowkitty
Ikari Nitta~Ultimate Surgeon~globalization
Shuzo Nakadai~Ultimate Movie Director~xoxoCharcleffxoxo