What he'd seen of the city wasn't that bad so far. It was open, looked like your average city. The weather was warm and it was sunny. The streets weren't dirty, the buildings mostly looked new. One of the two things about this place that unsettled Kazuma was that there were only sixteen people present, including himself. He also discovered something else on his way to check out the Yokai Apartment Complex. The city was closed off. There was a high wall enclosing the place, standing maybe a few miles above the ground. He hadn't really noticed it at first because he'd been busy meeting everyone else, but he was more than a little afraid right now.

He'd nearly reached the apartment building when he added a third item to the list. A second section of the city was blocked off with a gate. Why wasn't it open? How do you even open it? How the hell did they even end up in a walled-off city anyway? None of this was making sense to him. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his head for now, deciding that he should get the whole group together after meeting everyone and they could assess their situation.

Staring up at the building looming over him, Kazuma was at least relieved that they wouldn't be living in a dump. The Yokai Apartment Complex, despite it's ominous name, actually looked quite elegant. It stood four stories high and had a design to it that looked like it was a place for wealthy people to live in. He grabbed pulled open the front door and walked into the magnificent looking lobby. There was a polished wood receptionist desk to his left, large orange colored lights decorating the walls and bathing the lobby with a warm brightness. Similar looking polished wood tables were spread out along the walls, each holding a flowerpot containing a different exotic-looking flower. He looked up to see that he could see the upper floors as well as noticing a girl hanging from a railing just a little too late. She let go as the people cheering her on noticed him and began a protest.

"Wait, Misaki-!"

She dropped down fast towards Kazuma who had no time to react as the people on the upper floor shouted pointless warnings, and suddenly he found himself on the floor being weighed down by the crazy girl. With a groan, she disentangled herself from him and stood up. He was able to actually look at her now. She had brown hair that was cut short but still covered her left eye, the eye he could see was brown like her hair. Her top was red and she wore a leather jacket, both stopping at her belly button. Holding up her black jeans that were ripped at the bottom was a belt with a skull clasp. She also wore black boots.

"Alright, that's not exactly what I intended to happen there. Sorry about that. I'm Misaki Rin, daredevil extraordinaire! What's your name?"

"Kazuma Minami, my title is horror novelist." He said while rubbing his head, staring up at her. "What the hell just happened?"

"One of my daring stunts! Dropping from a second floor railing down to the ground floor! I would've done something better but so far, I'm not seeing any good opportunities for better stunts." She pouted a bit at that last part.

"Ah, I'm sure there'll be opportunities. Don't sweat it."

Misaki held out her hand and pulled him to his feet, a grin on her face. "Y'know, you're alright. I've got to show those others that I can do some crazy stuff, so don't hang around the lobby for the next thirty minutes or so."

"Right, I'll be sure to do that. Hey, if possible, could you let others know that I intend for us all to meet up at the diner in about two hours?"

"Heh, you got it!" And with that, she bounded over to the elevators to head back up to the railings. Kazuma felt like she'd probably injure herself if she kept this up, but sighed and headed towards the elevators as well. As he approached it, he took notice that there were three elevators. Two of them were normal elevators but the other was olden-looking with a gate door. It was off to the side, unlike the other elevators. He attempted to press the button but it didn't open. He also noted that it went down to a lower floor and didn't go up to the above floors. Brushing it off as a service elevator, he returned to the other two and ascended to the next floor.

The map on his e-Handbook stated that two people were on this floor. Stepping off the elevator, he wandered a bit in search of them. He came upon a coffee shop, which definitely proved to him that this wasn't the common apartment complex. Inside the coffee shop was a girl who was short and skinny. Her skin was tanned and she had brown hair pulled into a ponytail, held in place by a sunflower shaped hair tie. She wore a long-sleeved white shirt under a green jacket and had on a white and yellow striped tie. Her short skirt was dark green in color, and she had on white knee-high socks with black shoes. Her right hand was focused on her tie, fixing it and making sure it looked presentable. Figuring he could use some energy for that slowly sinking feeling he was getting about all this, Kazuma entered the coffee shop to get a drink as well as talk to her.

Looking up from her own coffee, she saw him enter and closed the notebook he hadn't even noticed she had. Drinking the small cup he'd prepared, he sat down at the table next to her and introduced herself. "Hi there. I'm Kazuma Minami, Super High School Level Horror Novelist."

"Midoriko Haseyama, Super High School Level Gossiper. Tell me you've seen what Misaki's been doing!"

"Afraid I have. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got a face full of her boots."

"Oh dear." Midoriko opened her notebook back up, writing down a few things. It appeared that the notebook she had was nearly half full from whatever it was she was making notes of. He couldn't even focus on what she was writing with the speed at which her pen flew across the paper. Upon finishing, she returned her pen to her pocket and closed the notebook.

After being filled with pointless information about everyone else that she'd picked up for twenty minutes, Midoriko finally seemed like she'd let him go. Finishing his cup, Kazuma tossed it in the trash and then went to leave. As he went out the door, he paused. She was good at spreading stuff.

"If you don't mind, could you inform everyone else that I'd like us all to meet up in about an hour and a half?"

"Ooh, a big group get-together? Leave it to me!"

With a word of thanks, Kazuma exited the coffee shop and headed down the hallway. After wandering a bit, he finally found the other person who'd been on the second floor. There was a balcony with a direct view of the city. On it stood a boy. He had slicked back hair, short and spiky and black in color. His eyes were the color of amber and he had on a yellow t-shirt, a black and white strip running down the left side of it. His blue jacket depicted a shield as well as a rifle and gun crossing. His jeans were half black and half white and he had a small black goatee.

He looked to be deep in thought as he stared down at the city. Kazuma approached and tapped his shoulder, to which the boy turned around and greeted him warmly.

"Hello! I'm Vector Litgen, Strategic Tactician. I'd like it if you just called me Vechs though."

"Kazuma Minami, and I write horror novels. What...exactly is a strategic tactician?"

"It's just a fancy term for me being the person coming up with all of the strategies when I was in the military."

"Wow, that sounds actually sounds pretty cool."

"I don't know about that, ha. I just liked being useful to my team."

Kazuma talked to him for a little longer, the two of them standing out on the balcony and looking down. Occasionally they'd spot a fellow classmate outside, wandering around in exploration. After a bit, he invited Vechs to the diner meeting.

"Yeah, I'll be there. I've been quite curious as to what's going on as well."

"Great, I'll see you then."

Kazuma turned and left, officially being able to dub the first floor the Recreation Area as it was just a coffee shop and a few rec rooms. He assumed the apartments would be on Floor 2. Making his way back to the elevator, he boarded it and found the second floor had six people upon it when inspecting the map on his e-Handbook. He saw name tags for Kimiko, Mamoru, 17 and Misaki but the other two would be the remaining students he hadn't met yet.

Getting off the elevator, he found he was correct in assuming that this was the apartment floor. Walking down the hallway, he found there were nameplates on each door and continued on until he found a name he didn't recognize. The first room he found had a nameplate reading AVANNA BUNKO. He knocked gently on the door.

After a few moments, the door was opened and Kazuma was face to face with her. Avanna had brown hair reaching just past her shoulders and startlingly grey eyes. She had an orange top and wore a green knitted jacket as well as black jeans and brown combat boots. On her wrist was a black watch. She looked at him questioningly. "What do you need?"

"I was just trying to meet all of my classmates as well as inform them of a meeting I wanted to hold in about an hour. I'm Kazuma Minami, Super High School Level Horror Novelist."

"Well, I'd assume you already know my name from my door but my title is Bassist. What's this meeting supposed to be for?"

"It'd be at the diner, and I wanted to discuss some things I've been noticing about the situation we're all in."

"You mean like why we're in a city when the last thing we all remember is being at Hope's Peak? Why there's a giant wall keeping us from leaving here? Why the rest of the city is gated off? I'd like to know those things as well. You can definitely count on me to show up at the diner."

"Great! Well, I've got one last person I haven't met yet, so I'm going to run off and do that now. I'll see you in an hour!"

Avanna silently closed her door and Kazuma took his leave, reading through all of the nameplates. Finally he found the last student he hadn't met yet, the nameplate reading RIKIYA ORIHARA. After knocking on the door, he was greeted by a boy who was a few inches taller than him. Rikiya had short but wild black hair, a streak of dark blue running through it. His frame was slender and his eyes were a light green-yellow color. He wore a navy blue sweatshirt and old jeans that had a few holes in them and were streaked with dried paint.

"Hi there!"

"Hey. I'm Kazuma Minami, Super High School Level Horror Novelist. I wanted to meet all of my classmates and invite them to a meeting at the diner in an hour. I wanted us all to talk about a few of the mysteries surrounding this city."

"Ah, I'm quite curious as well! I'll tag along with you then. And before I forget, since you gave me your talent, I'll give you mine." He smiled at him, and then proceeded to tell him in a perfect imitation of Kazuma's voice. "I'm the Super High School Level Mimic."

Kazuma stared in surprise, not having expected Rikiya to imitate his voice. The other boy laughed a bit from the reaction, then said a few parting words in his regular voice before retreating back into his apartment. Kazuma decided then to go meet back up with the others and inform them of his plans.

Using the map on his e-Handbook, it wasn't hard at all to locate Kimiko, Mamoru and 17. Kazuma felt it better to let 17 rest for now in hopes his memory would return and they could finally really know him. Knocking on the door to Mamoru's room, Kimiko opened it and greeted him.

"I'm officially done meeting everyone now, and I noticed a few things while I was out."

"Hm? What is it you've noticed?" Mamoru questioned, definitely curious to the surroundings he was unable to see for himself.

"Well, for one, there's giant wall enclosing the city. There's a gate that's blocking us off from the rest of the city limits. Then I got to thinking more, with some help from Avanna. The last thing I remember is being at Hope's Peak, so what happened? How'd we get here in the first place?"

Kimiko looked troubled from all these new thoughts, as did Mamoru. He spoke up after a moment.

"Yes, these are all quite alarming things. What do you propose we do about it?"

"I've already planned a meeting at the diner for all sixteen of us to assess and discuss our situation." Kazuma glanced up at the clock. "With the time I spent finishing up my introductions, there's about 45 minutes until everyone starts gathering."

"This is quite the predicament, but I believe all will be well! I have hope that nothing bad is going to happen!" Kimiko said with a smile, attempting to brighten the mood. That was when it started. A monitor Kazuma hadn't even noticed was on the wall suddenly crackled to life. The static was thick and he could barely see the outline of a figure on it. A voice came through. The voice was sort of child-like but the tone was full of darkness.

"Testing, testing! Hello? Can you all hear me? This is an announcement! I'd like for you all to gather at the gazebo in the center right now! Get a move on, this is important!"

An uneasy feeling of dread filled Kazuma as the announcement finished and the monitor clicked off. Who was that? After a few moments, the three were out in the hallway and he could see 17, Misaki, Avanna and Rikiya were out and just as confused.

"Who was that on the monitor?" Avanna asked, a question no one had an answer to.

"I don't know, but we better get down there. I have a bad feeling about this." Misaki responded, leading them towards the elevator. After descending and exiting the apartment complex with everyone else, they all headed towards the gazebo.

Little did they know that a life of despair was just about to begin.

(A/N:) And there we go! The introductions of all sixteen students has happened, and now things are about to get crazy! I'm sorry to everyone who did not get in, but I had quite the amount of entries to pick from! And now here's the list of all of our characters below!

Kazuma Minami, SHSL Horror Novelist
Kimiko Harumashi, SHSL Maid
Ami Hitomi, SHSL Linguist
Tenri Nonaka, SHSL Harpist
17 - Talent Unknown
Rei Kaya - SHSL YouTuber
Emiko Ichigawa - SHSL Medium
Mamoru Arakawa - SHSL Mathematician
Sumiko Akiyama - SHSL Thief
Kaede Noboru - SHSL Astronomer
Israfel Harker - SHSL Angel
Misaki Rin - SHSL Daredevil
Midoriko Haseyama - SHSL Gossiper
Vector Litgen - SHSL Strategic Tactician
Avanna Bunko - SHSL Bassist
Rikiya Orihara - SHSL Mimic