"How very strange," a slight murmur came from the counter. A tall eighteen-year-old with long braided black hair sat on it casually, arms crossed and brows furrowed above his green eyes. "Should the one who called us here be present at this moment?"

EZAKIYA LIN

SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL PLASTIC SURGEON

"Hmph." A sixteen-year-old with a somewhat 'punk' persona stuck up her nose, pointedly looking away from him. "It's not like I came here 'cause I wanted to, anyway. There just wasn't much else to do. God, I hope whatever that thing was hurries up so I can get out of here."

Ezakiya tilted his head to the side, somehow looking both curious and not. "Do most Forensic Analysts speak and look like that, Mikyoko-san?"

MIKYOKO SHIZU

SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL FORENSIC ANALYST

"Shut up!" she hissed. "What – you don't think I could be a scientist? Ever hear the saying 'looks can be deceiving'?" Her eyebrow twitched as she said so, irritation clearly showing.

The Plastic Surgeon righted his head, shrugging at the same time. Goodness knows how. "I did not think that saying pertained to you."

"I am going to tear out your innards and feed them to the cro–" Mikyoko looked just about ready to do exactly what she had said, but footsteps from the staircase not too far away started getting louder to be noticeable. The duo paused in their antics and turned to look at the staircase (Mikyoko a bit reluctantly), where a brunette and a blonde. The latter seemed to be very curious about everything, while the former looked straight ahead, completely ignoring the Surgeon and Analyst.

"Oh? Miss Kirigiri! There're more people here!" the blonde exclaimed, walking up to them with a very pleasant smile on her face. "Good day to you. I'm Friday Jones, the super high school level Trapper."

"Hm? You're… a dude?" Mikyoko said in obvious surprise, poking the left area of his chest. Friday let out a tired sigh as Mikyoko's eyes widened in shock. "What? But… that defies all the laws of nature…"

Ezakiya subtly rolled his eyes at the Forensic Analyst, muttering under his breath something along the lines of 'how someone like her got to be a scientist', then stuck out his hand to Friday. "Ezakiya Lin, Plastic Surgeon. Good to meet you."

The Trapper shook his hand, nodding happily, and turning to look at the brunette standing a few ways away from the three of them. "They're just about okay, Miss Kirigiri. Definitely not the ones who called us here. And they're not gonna kill us either… I think."

Kirigiri spared them a glance, sighed, and hesitantly turned to face them. "Kirigiri Rin. … We're done here." Saying so, she calmly walked even further from the small group and took a seat on the numerous orange couches surrounding the perimeter of the lobby.

Friday stared after her, a bit concerned, but nodded anyway and turned to converse a bit more about where they might be with Ezakiya. Mikyoko scowled and looked away, staring at the staircase expectantly.

He'd woken up in a strange room, had proceeded to investigate his surroundings, and had been interrupted by a very loud announcement about going to the lobby via the stairs.

Well, screw that, he thought as he adjusted the black headphones hung around his neck. I'm taking the elevator.

KASHINI SORA

SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL PSYCHOLOGIST

The ding echoed pleasantly as he walked in. Inside was already two other people who were standing as far away from each other as possible; a boy with a black mop for hair that partially covered his hazel eyes and a fifteen-year-old girl with long brown hair in a ponytail.

"Oh. Hi." The girl blinked her brown eyes, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "You are another one of those super high school levels, aren't you?" By the tone of her voice, Kashini was more than a hundred percent sure she didn't doubt herself.

"Yes." He bowed. "Kashini Sora, Psychologist. You?"

She looked away slightly, and the Psychologist caught a glimpse of a spray of freckles across her face. "Kato Miharu. Trivia Master."

KATO MIHARU

SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL TRIVIA MASTER

He nodded, then turned to look at the male, who was fixing his black leather gloves restlessly. "And you?"

He looked surprised, for a moment, before nervously recollecting himself. "Name? My… uhh, Edward… Hidaka. Antique Collector."

EDWARD HIDAKA

SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL ANTIQUE COLLECTOR

"But. Um. Do you know where we are?" Edward asked unsurely. "So far, I've only met Kato here, and then that announcement… and everything looks like what you'd find in a hotel." He cocked his head, hearing the faint sound of classical elevator music in the background. "Even these things have their music in them. It's all so… hotel."

"True," Kato said. "I have looked around and discovered several places one would normally find in a five-star hotel." Under her breath, she murmured, 'though it is not like I have ever been to one'. "I see this is only the second floor, and the numerous staircases leading to the next are all blocked by iron bars. I have tried the elevator with Hidaka-kun and we could not access the other floors besides the ground floor." She paused. "It appears as if our captor is insistent on making us all go to the main lobby."

As soon as she finished saying that, there was another familiar ding and the elevator doors opened to reveal a multitude of people. Counting quickly, Kashini observed fifteen people; a little more than what he had expected. No matter. He got off the elevator, along with the other two beside him, and tried not to get to close to anyone else. He noticed the girl do the same, as well as Edward, who attempted to slink off as inconspicuously as possible.

Kashini looked around, but he saw the same confused expression in everyone's faces, which probably meant they weren't the ones who sounded the announcement. Well, whatever. Whoever it was that was clearly trying to imitate a dying cat; they'd come.

For now, he'd observe.

"Miss Kirigiri, I'm sure you'd have to get to know others… at least know their names, yes?" Friday tilted his head, looking pleasantly at the Detective. Kirigiri sighed, trying her hardest to avert her gaze, but he had such bright blue eyes… a bit like one of her parents' friends. One she particularly disliked, but…

"Getting to know others leads to trusting," she muttered. "And trusting… eventually leads to betrayal… in a place like this." She glanced at the potted plant a few ways away. "Have you ever heard of Hope's Peak Academy?"

Friday frowned. "I don't think so…"

"Good." After a while of the blond staring curiously at her, she let out a resigned sigh. "I… am going to have to go and 'get to know' these people, won't I?"

"I'll help you?"

"Fine…"

So Friday cheerily led her to the first person nearest to them, who was conversing with a couple others. "Hello all!" he greeted. "Good day to you. I'm Friday Jones, Trapper." He gestured to Kirigiri to introduce herself, since the brunette looked a bit lost.

"My name? … Kirigiri Rin. Detective." She bowed politely. "It is, um. Good to meet you." More like I don't really care…

The girl with navy blue hair scrutinized Kirigiri and Friday for a moment, her silver eyes lingering on the Detective for a moment longer than proper, then smiled. "Well, you guys certainly don't look dangerous. Name's Takahashi Haruna, Soccer Player!"

The one in the dark blue trenchcoat and black yoga pants bowed, a bit more steadily than last time. "Suukoi Fuyu, Trainer. Zhis very nice to meet you."

The shortest among them, a girl with neck-length ponytailed black hair, scribbled quickly on her notebook before presenting it to the duo. "FenHuang Qi, Chessmaster. You can call me Phoenix, I suppose."

Friday nodded, smiling. "Well, it's very nice to meet you all. Have you any idea how we have gotten here?"

"Hmm…" Fuyu tilted her head, pondering over it. "Vell… I remember falling asleep in my bed after a hard day's training… and zhen I voke up in vone of those very nice hotel beds."

"Same," Qi wrote. "Besides the training part."

Takahashi nodded. "Yep, me too! There was that stuffed bear on my bed, too… if whoever brought us here is trying to make us more comfortable, it's not working!"

"You mean the black and white one I found?" a new, low-toned and yet adorable, voice asked. They turned around to face the newcomer, who had fairly tanned skin and chest-length brown hair neatly tied into a sidebraid. She smiled. "It was really quite lovely, if you ask me. Oh, but my name's Annabelle Celadon, the Gardener. It's wonderful to meet you."

ANNABELLE CELADON

SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL GARDENER

"I think I'll bring it with me when I get to go home," she said, clasping her white gloved hands together. "It'll be a lovely addition to my bed. I heard there was a pink and white stuffed bunny around here too! I'd love to go and look for it right now, but I'm afraid that will have to wait, I suppose."

Naïve, Kirigiri thought instantly. A bit like… the Programmer. Or the Swimmer?

As Friday bid them their 'see you later's, he got her to learn how to strike up an actual conversation, and the Detective hesitantly tried it out on the next person she saw. He had short and messy brown hair with one spike noticeably sticking out (Dad, Kirigiri found herself thinking, but shaking the thought away) and a dark red zip-up sweater. "Hello," she said as nicely as she could. Which, of course, made it come out emotionless. "Um. I'm… Kirigiri Rin. Detective. You?"

"Huh? Oh." The seventeen-year-old stared down at the shorter girl, somewhat amused at her height. "Hey. I'm Naratai Reed, the Artist. Guess it doesn't mean much now, though."

NARATAI REED

SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL ARTIST

"How… come?" His height, which was clearly 5'5" and above, irritated Kirigiri to no end. Curse her short stature! She managed to stay perfectly calm, of course. Kirigiri Rin was the very epitome of calm.

"Hm." He looked away coolly, hands shoved in pockets. "Well, we're trapped in some shit-ass hotel and now the asshole who called us here isn't even bothering to show up. What do you think?"

She frowned at his choice of swears. She had been raised by two parents who probably have never sworn in their life – well, one of them, anyway. But even that remained to be seen. "Even the most worthless-seeming talent can have some kind of use somehow, sometime, surely?"

"Maybe." Naratai let out a sigh. "Whatever. Don't you have somewhere else to be, kid?"

"I'm fourteen," she argued weakly.

"Yeah, and I'm a cupcake." He scoffed. "Now hurry up now. You and your little friend are going around introducing yourselves, yeah? No time to waste, then. That asshole of a captor is gonna show up anytime soon, now."

Kirigiri nodded slightly, turning to look at Friday for assistance. The blond merely shrugged helplessly and bid his goodbye to the Artist, before moving on to the next person.

The tall, thin man was certainly something that caught their eye. He was painted completely gold, with a gold suit and pants. He turned his bald head to look down at the short duo curiously.

"Hello," Friday greeted, happy as ever, though his eyes were slightly wider than usual. "I'm Friday Jones, Trapper. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Kirigiri Rin, Detective," she said curtly, bowing. "You?"

Bringing out a notepad, the golden man scribbled on it quickly and showed it to them, smiling somewhat. "Sorry, I'm mute, but it's nice to meet you two as well. The name's Maxwell, the Human Statue, but call me Goldy please."

MAXWELL "GOLDY" TUNGSTON

SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL HUMAN STATUE

"How come you're… um, well, gold?" Kirigiri asked. She waited patiently for Goldy to write down his answer and show it to her.

"I'm a performer of sorts," he explained. "And that's my talent, really. To stand still like a golden human statue."

"That's very interesting," Friday exclaimed, who looked genuinely curious. "I've never heard of a talent like that, but I think I've seen one of your performances on TV before. How do you do it?"

As Goldy and Friday 'conversed', Kirigiri wandered off a bit further. She'd done way too much talking than she was used to; she was tired of it all and just wanted to go back home. But no; this had to happen, just like what her parents warned her, and now she had to find a way out of this and kick their captor's face. Which was probably a certain black and white bear…

"Nyaa–well, it looks like most of you unintelligent humans are finished being unintelligent humans, nya? Goodie good good!" A high-pitched squeaky voice that sounded like it was being broadcasted across the entirety of Japan echoed in the lobby. "It's just about time for me to make my graaaand entrance! Nyahahahaha!"

As soon as that creepily strange laugh finished, a black and white cat jumped out from behind the counter, doing a backflip while it was doing so. It was about the size of the stuffed bear from before, and if everyone hadn't seen it just move on its own, they would have thought it was a stuffed cat.

One half was white, the other, black. The white side had the general look of a normal housecat, while the black half looked demonic, with its spiky red eye and grin that clearly showed its sharp, dangerous looking teeth. A tail with similar coloring flicked behind it, waving about like an actual sentient being.

"Nyahahaha~ all you stupid humans being friends with each other make me laugh!" it exclaimed, clutching its stomach and letting out more 'nyahahahaha's all by itself. A few minutes later, Annabelle spoke up.

"Is that a talking stuffed animal? It's… kinda lovely, if you ask me." She held her hand up to her chin, smiling softly.

Definitely the Swimmer, Kirigiri thought. The black-white cat had surprised her mildly, but certainly not as much as everybody else.

"What the hell? A talking stuffed cat?" Naratai yelled out. "Why the hell is that thing alive?"

"Well, of course I'm alive, dearest Nyaratai," the cat said, waving its paw in the air disapprovingly. "And I'm not a stuffed toy! I'm Mononeko! The manager of Hope's Peak Grand Hotel!"


I'm so tired I literally cannot bring myself to write anything ever again and just curl up under my blanket and sleep forever. But anyway, here's an unexpected new chapter, introducing everyone but three OCs (who are still undergoing creation) and Mononeko! Dun dun duuuh. Also, I'd appreciate it if you guys start voting for who you want for Free Time Events (either via PM or reviews, I don't really care). Like this:

I want (this person) to spend time with (this person)! (Or something. You know. Vote for anyone, even your own OC, because why not.)

Also, tell me who you ship. Because I'm shipping everyone so hard it's painful.

Marei, 25/1/14