Hey there! Hope this update isn't too late. I would have finished it sooner, but I've been feeling rather sleepy lately (don't worry I won't go into the light). There will be one more chapter involving character introductions, and then that'll be it. We'll really get into the story after that! Speaking of the story, I recently asked the owners of the characters whether or not their character would be up to being the mastermind, and I got some pretty good offers, but I think I have a character selected that will fill the role perfectly. I won't say who though :D Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the story, and I hope I portrayed the characters up to the owners standards. Reviews are always appreciated!

The door creaks open and I'm faced with... just a room. A large one at that, full of tall shelves and large cabinets.

"What in tarnation?" Marissa murmurs from behind me. I take a step inside. The walls and floor are the same concrete as the hall, but the cabinets and shelves are metal, like the tables. On the shelves are sets of unlabeled boxes; the cabinets seem big enough to store a body. I walk over to one of them and open it, and nearly jump out of my shoes when something comes falling out.

"Crackers!" Marissa laughs as she holds up the box of food.

I give a shaky thumbs up as I calm my pounding heart.

It almost stops altogether when I hear a muffled noise coming from the shelves. I turn my head towards the noise, and instinctively reach for my backpack.

"Hello?" I call out, going into full investigative mode.

Marissa meets my eye. She grins and nods excitedly. I look back at the shelves, pull out the EMF meter, and start to walk towards it. There's nothing on the meter. I peek my head around the shelf, and scream. As does the woman kneeling on the floor.

She throws the box that's in her lap at me in surprise, and I catch it with my face and fall on my ass. Marissa shouts too, and grabs a box from the shelf, ready to throw. Hazuki gasps at the sudden commotion from outside the room.

I'm convinced that I'm dead, until I feel someone's hand on my arm.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright? I didn't mean to throw that at you, dear, you just startled me," Someone spoke softly. I open an eye, and look at the woman crouching next to me. A friendly looking, slightly tan face hovers above me, her eyes soft and caring, her eyebrows furrowed with worry, and a small smile on her lips. Her hair is brown and mousy, but looks thick and silky, just going past her shoulder. A small bundle of her hair is gathered in a ponytail near the side of her head, her fringe falls just above her brow, and her long bangs hang on both sides of her face, framing it. Her build is average and solid; she is a little bit chubby, but her wrists are surprisingly thin and her hands calloused and long. She's dressed in a long dark grey sleeveless cardigan, a short sleeve jewel-colored blue shirt dress, and a pair of black leggings. Her converse like shoes are black with little silver stars printed all over them. There are silver hoops in her ears, silver chain bracelets on her right wrist, and a black leather watch on her left. There are two black hair clips at the top of her head, and when she gives me a hand to help me up, I notice her chipped nail polish, each finger is painted different color. Her overall aura screams elegance and kindness, and I feel as if I could entrust her with all of my secrets.

I would never do that ever though, not in a million years.

She pulls me to my feet - I notice she's only about an inch taller than me - and picks up my EMF meter, which I had dropped when I fell.

"What's this thing?" she asks. Just as I'm about to tell her, Marissa starts yelling again.

"Well praise the holy cow! It's ol' Junjun in the flesh!" the cowgirl shouts before delivering a backbreaking hug to the poor girl.

"Hello Marissa," she groans while being crushed in the southerners arms. When she's released, she takes a deep breath and tries to lock her spine back in place.

"What're you doing here?" Marissa asks.

"Do you mean this room or this entire place?"

"Yes,"

The girl sighs. "Well, I'm not sure where we are or why we're here, and I assume you two don't know either, but I came in here trying to find something that would turn on the lights, and lucky me I find the circuit breaker," she points to the silver box on the wall behind her. So she's the one who turned on the lights. "Then I start going through boxes, trying to find some extra clothes, or maybe an instrument of some sort, but so far I've found nothing…" She looks at me. "I'm terribly sorry, I don't believe we've met," She hands the meter back to me.

"Oh, um, no we haven't…" I murmur. "Uh, I'm Saki...Hisakawa," I hold up the meter. "SHSL Paranormal Investigator,"

She smiles warmly. "It's good to meet you, Saki. I'm Jun Yangai, the Super High School Level Musical Therapist. It remains to be seen if we will get along or not, but let us hope we do,"

Jun Yangai: SHSL Musical Therapist

"Oh...so do y-you attend the American division?" I ask.

She nods."It's kind of a long story,"

"Hey, how's your brother?" Marissa asks.

"Which one?"

"The cute one,"

Jun squints at the cowgirl. "You mean Isamu? Yeah, last time I checked he's fine. Why do you ask?"

Marissa's cheeks flush and she grins. "No reason," Jun shakes her head and turns back to me.

"So what is that thing?" she gestures to the EMF meter. "Do you use it for your talent?"

"Oh, uh y-yeah. It's for measuring the electromagnetic field of an area, and when there's an overcharge or irregularity in the field it goes off. Good for hunting ghosts or alien tech," I smile and pat the machine.

Jun gives a small smile. "You seem passionate about what you do,"

"Of course, I've been doing it since I was young," I grin as I recall my youth, talking to my first ghost in a graveyard, searching for cryptids in caves and forests. It seemed so perfect then, but all good things come to an end eventually. And they did.

"Hey, I think I hear someone else out there," Marissa said, looking towards the door. "Maybe we should meet 'em,"

Jun nods, I shrug. Before I know what's happening, the cowgirl grabs Jun's wrist and my hand, and pulls us with her towards the hallway, but she tugs a little too roughly, and my hand comes loose and falls to the ground. As plastic and metal hit the concrete floor with a clunk, both girls scream.

"...fuuuuuuck…" I whisper.

"Holy fucking shit, I just tore off your hand! Fuck, fuck fuck! I just tore off your FUCKING HAND."

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod,"

Calmy I pick up the hand and pull off the glove concealing the artificial limb.

"Um, calm down...please...it's just my fake hand...please stop screaming…"

"What happened to yer hand?!" Marissa shouts.

"Uh...it was cut off in a...um...attack. From an insane man during, uh, one of my investigations…"

"Oh dear," Jun says. She gives me a hug and I stiffen up. "I'm so sorry, sweetie,"

I pat her arm and clear my throat.

"Eh...you don't need to be sorry, it happened a while ago...sorry for scaring you guys,"

Hazuki peaks in. "You guys alright? I heard y-you scream several t-times," he eyes my hand. "How'd th-that fall off?"

"I, uh, pulled too hard," Marissa says. She still sounds shaken up, but she smiles nonetheless. Hazuki nods, and starts to smooth out his hair, one of his few neat freak ticks.

Suddenly, someone else pokes their head into the room, making me jump slightly.

"Yeah, you guys scream a lot. I could hear Marissa from the other end of the hall!" A girl who's way taller and way fitter than me steps into the room and saunters up to me. "Could I take a look at this?" she gestures to my hand.

"Oh! U-uh, sure?" I hand her the prosthetic, which she begins to examine, while I examine her.

This girl seems too perfect to be real. When she smiled at us, I was nearly blinded by her teeth. Her cream colored skin was free of blemishes, save for a scar that I notice on her left arm. Her emerald colored eyes gaze thoughtfully at my hand, her long lashes complement them well. Her auburn hair is pulled back into a bun, her bangs framing her heart shaped face, a hairstyle much like mine, but a lot cleaner and overall better. She wears a black crop top with the words 'CRIME SCENE' written across her chest in big white letters, a pair of maroon high-waisted shorts, black thigh high socks, and a pair of maroon wedges. A simple white scarf is wrapped around her neck, and a few pens and a black notepad stick out of her short pockets.

"Do you mind explaining to me what happened to you?" the woman's eyes shine with curiosity.

"Uh, a-actually…it is a bit of a...sore subject... but basically, Future Foundation had sent me to an a-area to, um, t-try to get in contact with v-victims of the Tragedy, and I was a-attacked by some d-despair freak. He, um...cut my hand off and...um, he ate it...right in front of me," Jun gasped.

"He ate it? Raw?" the woman asks with an eyebrow raised.

"Y-yeah," I shift uncomfortably.

"Well, Future Foundation should know better than to send someone into dangerous territory unprotected. Just another example of why they're the real menace behind all this," She gives me my hand and grins at me. I resist the urge to shield my eyes.

"Sorry for all the questions. I was just interested in your story is all," she extends a hand. "I'm Reina Abrams, the SHSL Mystery Novelist, it's nice to meet you. Whoever you are,"

Reina Abrams: SHSL Mystery Novelist

I shake her hand, relieved that her grip is a lot looser than Sora's. I've definitely heard of Reina before. I'm mean, I've read her books religiously, especially her first stand alone novel, Ghosts in the Graveyard. There weren't any actual ghosts in it, rather a couple of murderous kids who dig up graves, pile their victims into them, and rebury them. The ending is this really morbid but beautiful suicide scene, where they bury each other alive. It wasn't a very popular book, but it remains to this day one of my favorites. It's kind of weird to have one of your favorite authors approach you and start to question you about your prosthetic hand, though.

"Um, I'm Saki Hisakawa...wh-what do you mean when you say Future Foundation is th-the, uh, real menace?" I ask.

She laughs. "Don't get me wrong, hope and all that stuff is great and all, but it can be blind. Especially when it comes to pushing people in front of the bus to get what they want,"

"Huh?"

"Haven't you ever read the whole conspiracy theory on Future Foundation? There are rumors that Co-chairman Kyoko Kirigiri and Makoto Naegi are in cahoots with the surviving members of the Remnants of Despair, and responsible for the formation of a new group of despair obsessed people. I think the writer of the theory goes to your division of Hope's Peak," Reina slips the notebook and a pen out of her pocket and flips through the pages. "I have her name here somewhere,"

"Um, is it Rinka Nono?" I ask.

She grins. "Oh my God, yes it is! Is she here?" I nod. "Ooooh, fantastic! This is just like one of my novels. I'm gonna go find her!" and just like that, Reina is gone.

Marissa smiles sheepishly. "Uh, she's a lot more excited than usual, ain't she Junjun?"

Jun shrugs. "Probably because of the situation. It's got to be giving her loads of story ideas right now?"

"Wait, so y-you guys...know her?" I ask.

"She's in Marissa's class," Jun says. "Normally she isn't that active. Usually she's just talking to her little group of friends or is tirelessly writing and researching for her next book,"

"Oh she's a real hoot alright! She has a morbid sense of humor, and talks a lot about corpses and stuff, but she's funny as all get out!" Marissa says with a laugh.

"I...am s-so confused," I mutter as I attach the prosthetic to my wrist, and slip the glove back over it. The girls watch uneasily.

"Uh, hey, sorry 'bout ripping your hand off. I feel real bad," Marissa takes her hat off and holds it to her chest.

"Please don't be sorry...a-accidents happen," I give her a small smile.

Hazuki watches silently from the door. Behind him I see...some guy...watching us with a smirk on his face.

"Uh...do you know that guy too?" I ask Jun and Marissa. They look out the door.

"He's two years above me...I've seen him, but I ain't met him," Marissa say while putting her stetson back on.

Jun just sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "He's in the class above me. I know him,"

"Um...do you...like him?" I ask.

I watch as the therapist grits her teeth. "Let's just say that he's a bit of a dick, and I don't really care for his company," she sighs deeply. "Out of all the people to end up in here…"

"Jeez, if he's sucha bad dude, then we should just avoid 'im" Marissa said with her hands on her hips.

"We can't. His sights are locked on us and it'll be impossible to get past him," she puts on a smile that is so obviously fake that I cringe. "We just have to go up to him, chat for a moment or two, and leave,"

"...okay?..." I mutter. Jun starts to the door, followed Marissa and I.

"Walter, great to see you? It's been a while, hasn't it?" Jun says to the man.

Hazuki grabs my arm. "S-saki, this man scares me,"

"Um, you're afraid of everyone…" I say.

"Y-yeah, but in a different way. Like when I talked to him, he made me feel gross. L-like he wanted to get into my head, l-like h-he wanted to u-use m-me and h-hurt me,"

"..." I don't say anything.

I take the time to inspect the stranger further. He's a few inches shorter than Hazuki, and his build is a lot like Hazuki's: slim and thin, but with more muscle. His hair is red and slightly curly, falling just above the nape of his neck. Over his dark blue eyes is a pair of black framed glasses that stand out against his fair skin. He wears a red dress shirt underneath a black suit jacket, accompanied by a clean white tie. To complete his attire, he has a pair of black jeans, black boots that shine even in the dull light, and a black fingerless glove on his left hand.

He smiles as we approach him, revealing a set of teeth as white as his tie. "Mrs. Yanagi, lovely to see you again. I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure of meeting your friends," he looks at us, and tilts his head. "More commoners such as yourself, I assume,"

He speaks in a chillingly monotone british accent. Hearing it makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry. There's something in his voice that makes me very afraid of him.

"Uh...I'm Marissa Steele, sir. I'm an underclassman...class 7…SHSL Cowgirl" Even Marissa sounds afraid of him. This is the quietest I've heard her so far.

His eyes met mine, and I feel like I want to die. "I'm...Saki Hisakawa, from the Japanese division...I'm the, u-uh, SHSL Paranormal Investigator,"

He laughs, cold and sharp. "Paranormal? That's quaint," slowly he extends his gloved hand towards me. "Well, my name is Walter Tidwell, I attend the American branch of Hope's Peak Academy under the title of Businessman,"

Walter Tidwell: SHSL Businessman

I shake his one gloved hand with my one gloved hand. His gaze pierces mine, so I avert my eyes and look at the floor. Hazuki's right, this dude is creepy. I want to get away from him.

Jun seemed to pick up on my discomfort. "Well, Walter, it was great catching up and all, but we need to get going,"

"Aww, but I just got to meet your little friends. Why would you leave so soon?" he said, staring at Jun.

She looked away. "Because...there's other things to be done. Goodbye," with that, she spins around and starts walking in the other direction.

"Fine. I do hope we meet again soon," he adjusts his glasses and walks the opposite direction.

Hazuki grabs my arm again. "See, I t-told you,"

I simply nod, too stunned to say anything. Then I link my arm in the chess master's and we follow Jun and Marissa down the hallway into God knows what.