Sayaka Maizono is a member of the 78th class of Hope's Peak Academy, her talent known as the Ultimate Pop Sensation. Today was more than any day for Sayaka, however. The pop sensation's spring concert is later that evening, and she hoped to spend the remainder of time practicing at school. However, an unexpected development arrived when Sayaka came to a dead end while working her usual route to school. Thanks to a violent car crash, the road was bordered off, which of course, meant Sayaka's passage to school was no longer accessible.
If it were any other day, Maybe Maizono would've turned 180 degrees and direct home to find another way to school. But it *wasn't* any other day. Sayaka had to be there for her concert and dish out any last-minute rehearsal she could. Surrounding her trail to school wielded a dark, vast jungle. As Maizono recalled, this jungle stretched close to the school, and she could cut through the jungle and still manage to reach school on time. With no other options, Sayaka stared at the haunting, overgrown labyrinth, took a deep breath, and took her first step. Now that Sayaka roamed the deep land for a few minutes, she grew uncomfortable, and her stomach was in knots.
"This place is terrifying… I hope I can get out soon." Sayaka muttered as she stumbled through the jungle. Even though sunrise finally broke by then, little to no daylight shined through thanks to the lofty, thick trees shielding Maizono. Luckily, Sayaka utilized her phone's light source from its flashlight to see where she was heading. Even then, Maizono only grew anxious; hell, she was precarious that the conveniently placed path along her surroundings wouldn't lead her to Hope's Peak. That was until she looked up and recognized a familiar shape through the peeping holes of the trees—Hope's Peak Academy.
"You're okay, Sayaka. The school is nearby. Nothing's come out to get you. You're not going to die. You're only irrational," she pep talked herself. Though her message was a little encouraging, it didn't do much to calm her nerves. As a way to distract herself, Sayaka hummed one of the songs from her concert. Eventually, the humming turned vocal, and Sayaka pretended she'd been escorted through an immense crowd of fans as she sang her heart out. It was almost like Sayaka left her body as she forgot she was in a jungle a few minutes prior while her authentic self wandered on autopilot.
Little did the blue-haired pop sensation know her inevitable peril was swiftly looming. Sayaka's dream world vanished from sight after sensing a soft, wet feeling dispersed among her feet.
"What the?" she thought. Sayaka's reaction resulted in her lightly juggling her phone before accidentally dropping it. She immediately reached out to retrieve her phone but stopped herself when she got a look below her. The ground below her transformed into gooey, yellow mud.
"Uhhh..." She uttered. Maizono was so lost in her bubble of melody, she didn't realize she stumbled into a bog. Sayaka hesitantly grabbed her phone and wiped the gunk off her phone. Fortunately, her phone was still functioning, but that was the least of her worries. Maizono attempted to lift her right foot but quickly learned they were locked in tight to the sludge. A similar result came from trying to raise her left foot, and the mud squelched in response.
"Eww, this is gross!" Sayaka sulked. "It's probably ruining my shoes too!" Fortunately, Sayaka was only wearing her usual school uniform and nothing special, but she rather not dirty up her clothing, especially since the academy was just yards away. With that in mind, Sayaka used all her strength to free her foot from the muddy trap. After some tugging, she managed to free her left foot, encased by a glob of yellow and her shoe almost slipping off.
"This is… really nasty. But it's okay. I have my spare uniform in my backpack and can slip those on." Sayaka thought as she jostled her head toward her backpack. At that same time, she placed her now freed foot back on what she thought was solid ground, only for her foot to plunge into more wet soil beneath her. Confused, the pop sensation observed her surroundings further than before, and that's when she realized something. All of her surroundings had transformed into a large pool of mud.
"When did this get here?" Sayaka wondered. But that shouldn't be her fixation. She needs to get out of here. Once again, Sayaka clutched her leg in an attempt to set it free, but the suction around her foot grew stronger as she tried to wiggle it free. The mud gurgled and slurped at its human victim and refused to let go. Maizono could feel her legs descend inch by inch as she tried to free herself, and a wave of terror formed over her face.
"I'm sinking!?" She shouted. The mire engulfed her calves and bubbled louder as it munched down Sayaka. "Maybe I can lift weight off myself to prevent me from sinking," Sayaka thought. Sayaka tossed her phone to the side, as well as her backpack to remove any weight from her. Though removing weight helped to an extent, Sayaka was still going nowhere but down.
"Why? Why am I still sinking?" Sayaka thought. As the goop swallowed her knees, the pop sensation came to a horrifying realization.
"Am I in… q-quicksand!?" Sayaka stuttered. It didn't take too long for her to receive an answer as the morass continued sucking her down. "Oh my god! I'm in quicksand! I need to get out of here now!" She exclaimed. With that in mind, she knew she had to act fast. Maizono's next course of action was pressing her hands against the quagmire to propel herself. That plan flopped immediately, however, because she overestimated how much the mud could hold her, thus her arms broke through immediately.
"Oh, how am I going to get out!?" She cried as she pulled back up her dirty hands. At first she thought to call for help, but there's no way anybody would be nearby. And the last thing Sayaka needs is embarrassment. This was a predicament she had to disentangle on her own. The pop sensation cringed as the muck reached her crotch and made gross gurgles and tried to distract herself by observing the area. Unfortunately, nothing was in her range that would release her from her silty tomb aside from numerous bushes that could not support her.
"Why? Why do I have to be trapped here!?" Sayaka shrieked. She only wanted to perform today standing atop an esteemed stage in all her glamour, not bogged down in a pool of quicksand getting filthy. Sayaka's emotions spiraled out of control and she began to thrash and battle the gunk in desperation to set her free.
"Let me go!" She yelled. "I've had enough of this!" Unfortunately for her, this would be counterproductive and cause her to sink deeper into the quagmire. After a few minutes, fatigue set in and Sayaka needed to catch her breath. At least now she calmed down after releasing her frustration upon the muck, however, that came with a costly price. After Maizono regained composure, she looked down to see now she had sunken to her ribcage.
"It's no good. I'm only sinking deeper!" She exclaimed. But Sayaka was not ready to give up. She refused to give in to the mire and quickly conjured up a new plan.
"My backpack!" The pop sensation thought as the lightbulb in her head shimmered. After replaying her morning, she recalled a conveniently placed rope tucked in. Though she doesn't remember why the rope was there, Maizono tilted her head to reach for her bag. That is until she didn't feel anything resting behind her.
"Oh yeah, I threw it to the side earlier." Sayaka groaned. Though her backpack was in reach, grasping the bag was going to be strenuous. Sayaka learned her lesson from before that the more she moved, the further she sank, so she had to be careful not to agitate the quicksand anymore than she already had.
"Mmph! Come on! Unngghh! Almost there! You got this, Maizono!" She said, trying to encourage herself. Eventually Sayaka clutched the backpack and quickly unzipped it to find the rope. Sure enough, there it was, gently placed beneath the other objects. Sayaka ripped the rope out of the bag, tossing it to the side once again. The pop sensation's next objective was finding something to tie the rope to. The rope was lengthy, so finding a target whether it was close or far would be no issue. To Maizono's left stood a large tree with sturdy, thick branches.
"Perfect!" She cheered. Sayaka made her move and aimed for the branch. The rope gracefully landed on one of the branches and locked in. Sayaka let out a sigh of relief that this nightmare would finally be over. The pop sensation began slowly pulling herself out of the quicksand.
"Yes! Yes! It's working!" Sayaka shouted with delight. Progress was finally being made and the quicksand was losing its grip. Despite Sayaka having dirtied herself greatly, all she had to do was clean off and change into her spare uniform. She could forget this ever happened and perform at her concert in all its glory. Unfortunately, Sayaka still had plenty more to go. Just when she freed her waist from the slurry, the branch holding the rope snapped. Maizono was immediately shot back down and plummeted even deeper now to shoulder level.
"No...NO!" Sayaka whimpered. Despair arode any emotion and expression the blue-haired idol possessed and tears began streaming down her face. To make matters worse, the mire was angrier than ever, occupying intense bubbling and strengthening its suction around Maizono. The moment finally hit. The quicksand finally broke Sayaka.
"HELP! SOMEBODY! I'M SINKING IN QUICKSAND!" Her pleas for her echoed throughout the jungle "I'M NOT READY TO D-DIE!" Death. It finally dawned on her that this was it. This was the end for her. Nobody would find her trapped in this quicksand bog, and even if they did, what could they possibly do? Tears filled Maizono's face like waterfalls and all she could do was accept her fate to the mire. As the goop engulfed her shoulders leaving her neck and head above the surface, Sayaka tried to catch her breath and calm down. She had to embrace it and be brave. The girl closed her eyes and thought of what to say about her approaching demise.
"I… I…" Maizono couldn't find the words she wanted to say in her final moments. She did not anticipate her life ending so soon when there was still so much for her left. While she scrambled to phrase her final message, Sayaka could feel something grip her. She opened her eyes and before she knew it, she had been yanked and freed from the deadly quicksand.
"Huh…? What just…?" At first Sayaka had no clue what happened, but when she could feel solid ground beneath her, it dawned on her that someone had set her free.
"I'm free! Thank you so much…" She trailed off before she realized no hero stood before her. Not a single ounce of life surrounded her. Did she only dream she fell into the quicksand? No. She definitely was coated in thick yellow mud.
"That's strange…" She thought. But she needed to get out of that wretched jungle immediately. She almost died in quicksand today because of this place and was most definitely late for school. However, she had to fix herself. No way would she go into school looking like *THAT*! Sayaka was about to remove her clothing when she remembered some person did in fact just help her. Are they staring? Have they been watching her sink this entire time? No way would she strip down in front of someone. She didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl.
"Alright, I'm done with this place. Goodbye forever!" Maizono snarled. Maizono grabbed her belongings and wiped off as much mud as she could before heading out. The only course of action she could take was sneaking into the school bathrooms without anybody noticing and pulling herself together from there.
"No way am I telling anybody about what went down today!" Sayaka shouted in her brain. Eventually Maizono left the scene and advanced to the school grounds.