PROLOGUE
Chapter 4: The rest of the crew.
Day 1
Tartarus Keep
15:30
I exited the botanical garden and went back to the main hall. The amount of teasing and flirting Akihiko was producing in the presence of two lovely ladies was getting too much for me to bear. It also brought back the bad memory of my girlfriend-less high school years where I spent most of my time in the library.
Inu was still there when I got back, sitting all by himself. He waved at me like some Superman fanboy desperately wanting to get his attention among the crowd of thousands cheering, and I gave a thumbs up in kind. Where should I explore next?
Kitchen
Storage room
Feeling my stomach grumbling from the conversations I just had as well as the antics I was part of, I quickly headed into the kitchen for some refreshment. The place looked surprisingly normal, as in it looked like something I would find in a restaurant or a luxury cruise, instead of a strange, spooky, medieval-themed castle. As I entered, someone else was already there, a girl. Still munching on her sandwich in a manner I could only describe as rodent-like, she gave a gesture indicating she noticed my presence without lifting up her face to see me.
She had a frail body, fair skin and dark blue shoulder-length hair that curled up at then end, a very distinct cowlick on top of her head. She wore a voluminous light brown overcoat filled with pockets, which, in turn, were overladen with tools, mechanical parts and objects I could not distinguish. For all I knew, she might as well have the lock, stock and double barrel to construct a terminator just from the contents of her pockets. She wore a tank top underneath the coat and black leather gloves. The girl's bottom consisted of dark blue cargo shorts and steel-toed boots.
Her coat was dirty and in a poor condition similar to Inu's. Also like Inu, she sported a number of injuries, most notably on her left ear which looked as though she earned from an unfortunate encounter with Mike Tyson. Ever since my acceptance to Hope's Peak Academy, I had thought having a talent should make you feel good and proud; a superhero I might not be, but someone special I was, and I was overjoyed to be it. But now, the sight of my fellow students challenged that view. I was relatively intact when exercising my talent, albeit for a rather morbid view on humanity, so I could not understand what it meant to destroy oneself for the sake of your dream and desire. I love accountancy for sure, but to sacrifice my body and mind to it? Not a chance.
Perhaps I was just different. Perhaps not all talents were so harmless as mine.
Having devoured the last of her snack, she said, "Oh, hey there. I don't think we have met."
"No," I said. "I only woke up recently. I am Amelda Mason, the Ultimate Accountant. A pleasure to meet you here."
"The pleasure is all mine," the girl nodded. "I am Piket. Elizabeth Piket. Call me Eliza. That's with a 'z', not an 's'. As for my talent, I am the SHSL Tinker."
Elizabeth 'Elize' Piket
SHSL Tinker
"Tinker?" I asked. The connotation itself was a rather unpopular one, in this day and age, considering that occupation had mostly been replaced by highly trained mechanics, so at first I almost thought she came all the way from Wonderland. "So you work with machinery?"
"Machinery consists of the majority of my field," she explained proudly. "But I always try to expand it as much as possible into other aspects as well. In all honesty, they should have branded me the SHSL Inventor for all that I did."
In all honesty, there were three types of people I generally distance myself from: the greedy businesspersons, the jerk, and the overzealous inventor. The first category stemmed from my profession and what had happened to my family in the past. The second was obvious; God damned them all to hell. And the third was the result of the many trials I took part in as auditor and government watchdog against corporate criminals. Of the people I stood against in court, many were as smart as they were insane, geniuses who used their inventions to destroy humanity instead of improving it.
The man who brewed chemicals that burned quicker and more intense than anything seen before, obsessed with setting everything and everyone aflame.
The man who could control temperature and made a suit to keep himself permanently cold, responsible for nearly putting the country into a new Ice Age.
This girl did not look like a super-villain, but she fit my image of an overzealous inventor.
"Cool," I said, trying to suppress whatever doubt I had and sounded as natural as possible. "Wait, are you that lady who created the under-jacket that senses your sensitivity and automatically scratches your back with its fibre made from jellyfish bone? I don't remember your face, but you were on Forbes magazine, weren't you?"
Elize stared at me for a moment. A very awkward moment. Then, she said, "Ahhh, no."
"Oh, sorry. Must have taken the wrong person," I apologised. "What is your invention?"
"Prosthetic limb," she replied. "It's only a prototype, actually. I have…not actually had so much testing with it. However, with my skills and dedications, its completion is inevitable. Following that, the world will know my name next to the likes of Edison and Bell, for I am Elizabeth Piket."
"Anything else?" I asked, unsure how Hope's Peak Academy would accept her on the basis of what she could potentially become as opposed to what she was right now. Other than Hakagure with his (probably sham) prophecy-telling, I didn't think they were the type that looked forward to dubious events and consequences in the future. "Anything that has been recognised?"
"Well,…a lot, actually," she raked her head for something to say. "There were the…um, lipstick that changes its colour periodically, the jar that recognises fingerprint and sounds an alarm to the nearest police force should it not match its database, oh, and the razor that produces foam by itself as well."
Suffice to say, I had never heard of any of these, nor did I believe they were helpful in any way. I was at a loss of words when she noticed my confusion and changed her mood.
"Ehh…"
"You don't trust me, do you?" she asked, a hint of venom in her voice. "You think my talent is a joke and I should not be here?"
"It's not like that," I said, trying to put my thoughts into words that would not offend her.
"It's not the result that matters," she claimed. "It is the creativity involved in it. Can't you see the beauty of it, to imagine what it should be and what it should not, and then strive to make that happen for real?"
"For you maybe," I told her frankly. "Creativity in accounting was, by all means, illegal. There are standards and conventions we have to abide by. Any deviance constitutes felony."
"Accountants, always acting smart," Elize complained. "One of my parent's friends told me her invention was turned down after the accountants calculated its costs outweigh its returns. I mean, what the fuck does that even mean?"
"It means you will lose money if you go on producing it," I told her. "Screening products, contracts and customers is a basic process in all businesses."
"But people's lives will be improved," the self-proclaimed inventor insisted. "Who cares about how much money can you make out of it?"
That, I believed, was one of the many fundamental flaws of accounting: failing to recognise the importance of non-financial factors and public welfare over profit. One of the many reasons why I gave up working for any profit-making company and chose my career as a watchdog.
"Money makes the world go round," I replied. "While I disagree with the way businesses work, I can hardly blame them. Us humans are always strangely drawn to material wealth, even when we already have plentiful."
"Oh, shut up," Elize barked. "Your kind are so boring all the time. You have a heart, don't you? Why not use it?"
I thought about it for a moment, pondering about my passive manner when it came to sensitive subjects. I had nothing to say, really. Nothing I could have done to change. As for my response, I merely shrugged.
"OK, fine," said Elize, exasperated. "If you want to see something really amazing, then check this out." She produced a dish with a roasted lamb chop on it. "I call this, the lamb that tastes like chicken. And do you know why?"
"No," I said.
"Because it looks like lamb but tastes like chicken, you idiot," the tinker shouted angrily at me, which I was too unimpressed to argue. "Care to have a go at it?"
"Of course," I consented. All of this exploring and talking had made me quite hungry, and since roasted chicken was my favourite (I did hope it was indeed chicken as she said), I was more than happy to dig in. Perhaps the inventor was not so bad after all. Perhaps we would finally get along somehow.
As I took my first bite, I noticed two things. One, it really was chicken as long as it entered my mouth. On the dish, the brown, juicy lamb chop was as clear as crystal. How she conceivably faked the smell, taste and even texture of the food while maintaining its appearance was beyond me. Two, I may not be Gordon Ramsey, but I could tell with certainty that…
"It's raw," I complained. Swallowing it was one of the toughest things in my life and it took considerable effort for me to not spit it out.
"What?"
"It's undercooked," I repeated. So raw, in fact, if there were an SHSL Vet around here, they might be able to bring this poor fellow back to live. "I am not eating this crap."
"Damn it," Elize cursed. "I was trying so hard trying to emulate the taste and smell that I might have turned the stove a little small. But still, the invention is a success isn't it?"
"Maybe, but what are you trying to prove with this?" I asked.
"What are you talking about?" Elize asked, confused.
"Why use does this have? I thought lamb was more expensive than chicken. Can you do the other way around?"
The tinker seemed to have lost it. She threw the dish at me, which I barely dodged without having its grease spraying all over my jacket. "Fuck you. I am done with you here. I need some privacy to work on my next invention. Get out. Shoo."
At this point, Elize shoved me off the room, but not before I snatched a pack of grapes from the fridge. It might not be enough to sate my hunger, but that would have to do. Besides, that raw lamb that tasted like chicken ruined my appetite like a bent card in a card house.
Tartarus Keep
16:00
I left the bottle containing Inu's jelly juice of doom behind. It was almost empty at this point and I just knew how most so-called inventors were curious to the point of irrational. Elize might not be a full-fledged inventor yet, but she definitely had the mindset of one. Sure enough, a moment later, an explosion shook the castle and smoke billowed from the door slid to the kitchen. The inventor, like Ashley, got just what she deserved for getting on my bad side.
I did not always get mad. But when I did, it was time for vengeance.
Now, for what looked to be the final room in this part of Tartarus Keep which I had access to.
Storage room.
The storage room was back to the castle's medieval feeling with wooden crates lining up next to walls. Inside them were soap, shampoo, blankets and a variety of household objects. Whoever trapped the students of Hope's Peak Academy in here clearly intended to have us stay for a while. For the very least, with all of these, it did not seem like I would have to live like someone in the 16th century, which was a good thing by any account because I had bad memories with skin disease. But then again, with no television or the internet or anything that connected me to the outside world, this did not look much better.
Two persons were already in there. One was a tall and lithe girl. Red highlights fashioned in a loose bun adorned her silky black hair. She wore a light pink halter top with a black knee length skirt, light pink flats on her feet and a black jacket. The other's appearance was the stark contrast, a bulky-looking fellow in a mining suit, complete with waterproof jacket, black gloves, orange trousers and safety goggles. The two of them together reminded me of a caterpillar and a twig. It was a bad example, but, being an accountant, my imagination was nowhere stellar.
The two were rumbling through the crates when I arrived. They turned around and greeted me.
"Hi there," said the boy. "Didn't see you before. I am Hokuto Yamazaki. They call me the SHSL Miner. And this is Akai Omakase, the SHSL Ballerina."
"Call me Kai," the girl chimed in cheerfully. "Very nice to meet more of our fellow Hope's Peak Academy students in here."
Hokuto Yamazaki
SHSL Miner
Akai 'Kai' Omakase
SHSL Ballerina
"Good to know you guys," I replied. "My name is Amelda Mason and I am the Ultimate Accountant. What are you guys looking for in here?"
"Nothing too specific," Hokuto said, pointing wearily at the columns of crates. "I am a miner. Throughout my life, I have been digging my way to hidden prizes beneath the earth, coal, precious minerals, half-forgotten treasures of ancient civilisation to name a few. I am hoping I could find something here that would deliver us to our greatest fortune of all: freedom."
"And I am giving him a hand," said Kai, smiling like a juvenile on getting her first A plus. "I do wish to get out of this place as soon as possible."
"Underground is one thing, a castle is another," I said sceptically. "You can see that the walls here are not just rocks and earth, but concrete as well. How are you supposed to dig through that?"
"I'll find a way," Hokuto assured with a confident voice. He placed his hand on his chest solemnly. "Believe me when I say I have been trapped in far worse places and still made it out in one piece. Mine accidents are…quite common where I came from. This is one challenge I will not back down from."
"Have you asked for others in this?" I suggested. We were all Ultimate Students around here for a good reason, so there was bound to be others with the right skill to assist in this endeavour. "Elize is an inventor. Maybe she can come up with something."
"I already talked with her," Hokuto sighed. "She threw a tantrum on me, saying that inspiration must come from within and I just can't tell her what to invent and she would do it."
No surprise there.
"What about Inu?" I gave another. "He's quite good with chemicals. Perhaps he can concoct something that will blow us out of here. You are a miner, aren't you? So you must be quite the explosive expert."
Hokuto thought about it for a second. "Huh, you are right. I did not talk to him much back then; the guy was too jumpy. But I now see it was a mistake on my part. I will check up on him to find out. Thanks for the advice."
"No problem," I said. "We all want to get out of this hell hole of a place, don't we?"
"Of course," said Kai. "Let us all pool in what makes us special and something great will come out of it."
"Yeah, let's do that," Hokuto concurred serenely. "Still, I would like to go over all these crates. Just to see if we get lucky at anything. Care to help?"
"Sure," said Kai.
I shrugged. "Why not?" Since we were stuck here as a group of sixteen, any one of those board games that could be played by a party of people would be great. And unlike Mario Kart, these would never destroy friendship. At least I hoped so.
As the three of us searched through the crates, I stumbled across a porn magazine depicting a woman ensnared by what looked like Kraken tentacles. For whatever reason, the Japanese seemed quite fond of evil sushi bites exacting their revenge against humans. From an American perspective, I could never see the appeal of this. And those breasts. No way they were real. No freaking way.
Or could it…?
"Amelda," Kai snapped me out of my attention. "What are you doing with that…that…" Her eyes told me she saw the situation as being awkward. But there were quite a few feelings which I was dead to, small sacrifices on the path to acquiring my talent, and sexual arousal was one of them. However, that might be due to….
"Nothing," I told her calmly. "It's not my taste anyway. What's with the tentacles anyway?" The ballerina was dumbfounded. Perhaps I had just made a culturally sensitive statement, in which case it was careless of me, though how could tentacles be of any significance to anyone was beyond me.
"Sorry," I apologised, scratching my head nervously. "I did not mean to upset you."
"It's not like that," Kai said quickly. "Just…that thing away quickly."
"Find anything useful in there?" asked Hokuto, glancing over the two of us having an awkward staring contest.
"Not yet," I told him, throwing away the salacious magazine I was holding.
We continued for a few moments until I finally got what I was looking for: a container full of board games we could all play together. Hokuto repudiated the idea of staying in this place for long, not with his outstanding talent and iron resolve, but I was willing to prepare for the worse. Besides, even after getting out of here, chances were we would still be having a lot of time together as classmates, so some bits of fun probably wouldn't hurt.
"I am not getting anything useful around here," Hokuto concluded after a while searching. "Mason, do you think you can help me get to that crate up there? It will require a ladder. I hope you can hold it for me." He pointed at the container placed all the way up on top of the stack. Unlike the others which bore the plain colour of processed wood, this one was painted in rainbow. A line was written outside it, saying 'Danger. Keep away from children and cubs'. I wondered what kind of animal lived in here that might come in contact with its content.
"Are you sure you want to open it?" I frowned. "There is a warning. I'm not sure if it is safe."
"Nonsense," Hokuto dismissed. "I refuse to be held back by such trivial threat. For all we know, the most useful items might be placed in there, under the guise of something dangerous, a mind-trick played by our captor."
I had no idea how to argue with that. Besides, it piqued my curiosity enough that I would like to know what was inside that crate and why would someone put a warning outside. "All right," I conceded. "But if we die, I will kill you in the afterlife."
And so I did as he asked, keeping the ladder still and he climbed up and reached for the excessively colourful crater.
"Be careful," said Kai.
"Don't worry about a thing," Hokuto replied. "I am an expert in this. Safety is always my first…"
The miner's attempt at pulling out the crater went awry. It was heavier than he thought when he took it out of its position. Unable to bear the weight, Hokuto slipped and nearly dropped the thing. He retained his grasp at the last moment, but all the contents spilt out uncontrollably. Words failed to describe my horror at the warning being made into form: the crater was containing an arsenal of medieval weaponry - swords, maces, axes, flails only to name a few. A quick glance was enough to tell me they were not just for show; a crusade could be waged with these.
And all of them were raining down on Kai.
"Watch out," I shouted.
The ballerina was speechless. Instead, she sprang into action. In front of my very eyes, Kai sidestepped and flipped, slid and bent her body, evading the torrent of war items with the deftness and precision of an actor on stage. Only thing was that she was allowed no preparation and had to improvise all of these on the spot. Not a single weapon touched her by the end.
"Wow," Hokuto cried out, amazed.
"Good Lord," I exclaimed in disbelief.
"See?" said Kai cockily. "I can handle it myself. Thank you very much."
At this point, a sword which had somehow clung to the crater finally fell. It hit Hokuto's helmet and bounced off harmlessly from him. Kai, on the other hand, too proud of herself for her most recent feat, was caught off-guard. The weapon landed right in front of her and, with a heart-piercing 'whoosh', split her face in half during its spinning descent. The ballerina dropped like a puppet cut off from its strings.
"Oh, God no!" I bellowed. This was not supposed to happen. I just knew her for a few minutes, and now I had to bear the blood of hers on my hands, all because of my negligence.
"Kai!" Hokuto also screamed in distress.
As I came over to the fallen classmate, I found that the blade had actually missed her by a margin and only managed a small gash on her forehead. Still, it was a close shave. An inch closer and it would have been fatal.
Yet…
For whatever reason, the first thing I felt was neither relief nor happiness. When I said I was dead to sexual arousal, I still stood by it, but something about the sight of her life fluid made me a bit…excited. I never remembered having this feeling before. Then again, there were quite a few things I could not bring myself to remember, such as how I got to this place. Against myself, I was kinda disappointed there wasn't more blood spilt.
"Are you all right?" asked Hokuto as he held the ballerina's body tight in his arms. The miner was in obvious distress at the consequences of his action and I could see tears coming from his eyes as he checked her injury. "Speak to me. Do you see that light?"
"That was….," Kai stuttered. "Let's not do it again."
"I am so terribly sorry," the miner wheezed. "It was all my fault. I disregarded the safety protocol and almost killed you. What a terrible miner and friend I turned out to be."
"That's okay," the ballerina smiled nervously, her frail body still in the arms of the much larger boy. "It was my bad for being careless as well. Uhm, can you do me a bit of favour?"
"What is it?" asked Hokuto quickly, almost without thinking.
"Can you…get off me?" said Kai, her face flushed red. "You are holding me too tight."
"Oh, sorry," Hokuto blushingly let her go. The ballerina breathed heavily and looked as if she had just escaped from the weight of a boulder.
"In any case," I chimed in. All the drama going on between them was tiresome, to say the least. As someone from the US, I had had my ass saved by others with superior powers in the past, and I felt neither obliged nor proud because of that."We should do something about that injury. Maybe there are medic kits inside these craters. Let's look for them."
It took a minute for us to find some bandages for Kai. The injury did not look serious, but it was better to be certain now than be sorry later on. No other treatment was deemed necessary.
After that fiasco which nearly cost the life of one of us, our willingness to search had dried out. As we stood at an impasse not knowing what to do with all these craters, plus all the weapons that just fell out, a shrill voice rang out.
"Attention all Hope's Peak Academy students. Your Overlord will be making a public announcement shortly in the main hall. Your attendance is required. The chopping block awaits those who go absent, regardless of reasons, so do try and be there."
"Overlord?" Hokuto creaked. "Who the heck is that?"
"I don't know," I replied. "But given how they have decided to title themselves, whoever holding us here might be one of those delusional psychopaths."
"We should head back then," Kai voiced concernedly. "Perhaps he will tell us why we are here and what he wants from us."
"All right," Hokuto agreed. "Let's go then. We will…go through this storage another day. And I will need to have a talk with Inu about concocting something to blow us out of here."
"Fine by me," I said. "Just make sure to follow safety standards when handling explosives next time." The comment drew a snigger from Kai and a blush from Hokuto.
"Stop chewing out on me," the miner grumbled. "I learned my mistake, okay?"
Tartarus Keep
17:00
Us three went back to the main hall, me bringing some of the board games I found, and were joined by others who gradually entered. Yume strolling in with his vividly decorated wheelchair. El Viento carrying Inori and Kazuki like two pieces of log. Minako with red glasses painted on her face, the Pranking Queen who accompanied her quickly making gestures to others not to let the cat out of the bag just yet.
Akihiko was still on his flirting streak jumping from one girl to another, earning half-hearted giggles and confused looks from some, and outright malicious stares from others. The fellow was too smart and handsome for his own good, the type of person who always went in the middle. While he was an approachable person, I had better stay the hell away from him whenever a female was nearby, less my dreadful memory of all those lonely years came back to haunt me.
"I hope you have met all our classmates," said the SHSL Police Woman Rin as gave me a powerful shove in the back, nearly causing me to lose balance and hit the floor with my face. "Been having a fun time?"
"Yeah," I answered. Placing the board games on the table, I took a moment to recount my little adventure.
Did I nearly kill someone? Yes. Three times even.
Did I make an arch-nemesis with someone? Yes.
Did I drive someone up the wall? Yes.
Did I get into an overly complicated and secretive plot with someone? Hopefully not, but most likely yes.
And did I meet someone I could not wait to be friend with? Of course.
"It was decent," I remarked casually. "And your grand scheme? How is that?"
"Been working on it," Rin admitted. "Now that we may know the identity of whoever is imprisoning us, our chance of getting out of here is bound to increase. To defeat the enemy, we must first know who they are, correct?"
Before I could reply, a hand nudged me on the side. I turned around to see a petite, if not scrawny, fellow with flawless skin, a face that looked like an angel and orange spiky hair. A navy-blue cape was held in place by a silver pin on his uniform and around his waist was a white apron bearing the line 'Toshishai Delivery'. He looked so innocent and sweet that some of the girls here seemed to have trouble resisting the urge to hug or pet him. He wore a dark uniform and black pants. This fellow, unlike Akihiko, I had no jealousy against when it came to being a magnet for the opposite sex; he was clearly attracting others in an unwilling way, and not the type of adoration he would enjoy. In fact, I almost felt pity for the poor guy.
"Hello there," I said.
"Thank you for your attention," he took a deep breath and said in an overly formal manner. The guy probably only spoke with people during businesses given how he tried so hard to put up a straight face in front of me. "May I ask if you are Amelda Mason?"
"I am," I said. "What is this all about?"
"My name is Tatsuya Toshishai and uhh….it's….nice to meet you," he stammered a bit at this point. "I am the Super High-school level Delivery Boy, also known by some as the 'Delivery Angel'. You know,…because of how I look. I really hope we can make good acquaintances."
Tatsuya Toshishai
SHSL Delivery Boy
"A pleasure to meet you too," I answered. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"As a matter of fact, there is," he said and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "I have been told to give you this."
"From whom?" I asked.
"A secret," Tatsuya replied. "As a deliverer, it is one of my most kept value to honour the privacy of the messages that I take from one person to another."
By that, I could tell whoever sent me this did not want others to put their nose into. Only one person came to mind. And there he was, the Ultimate Private Detective Fitzgerald, standing in a corner by himself, casting wary gazes upon others as though we were subjects for a study. Under normal circumstances, he could have gotten Ebola and died and I would not be bothered the slightest. However, the situation was peculiar and, as much as I hated to admit, his involvement might be just the leverage we needed to get out of this place in one piece.
In the meantime, I had no choice but to grin and bear his anti-social personality.
"Thanks," I said. Making sure that nobody else was peeking, I read the note as quickly as I could.
It said: "Sorry for any inconvenience with this method, but I would like to let you know I am always on your side. I hope you are the same to me. Below is the prophecy as written. Whenever you find any clue regarding its meaning, please let me know. Do not reveal this to others. The eyes and ears of the enemy are everywhere in this castle, but I know a place where we can have our solace. Any further discussion must take place outside their surveillance. I will contact you again when I am certain it is safe to do so. In the meantime, stay silent." Written right underneath was the full of the prophecy, followed by Fitzgerald's signature.
"Would you mind showing me its content?" asked Rin, playing more on the good cop rather than bad one.
"I don't think so," I replied, putting away the note. "The law dictates that the privacy of what messages I receive is within my right."
"Unless that very message in question is related to unlawful actions or poses a threat to others," replied Rin sharply.
"Do you have any solid proof?" I challenge with an even tone.
"No," the police officer replied curtly.
"You don't have the permission from the authority," I told her. Though it pained me to deny her, I could not betray Fitzgerald. He might be a bit weird and obnoxious, but his trust in me was something I was not going to take lightly. Like lawyers, all accountants must always put the benefits of their clients at the top of the list of priorities. "So until you can prove it, whether I reveal to you the content of this is entirely at my discretion. No offence, but I think I will keep this between me and whoever sent this."
"Fine then," Rin shrugged. "But if there is anything I could do to help, you are missing it out."
"I am sorry."
"No hard feeling," the policewoman gave me a hearty smile. I could tell it was genuine. Seeing her like that made me feel much better already, though my little business with Fitzgerald must still be honoured. "I understand you are just a bit shaky about all of these, as well as my background. But do know that I do what I must and it has served me well so far. In time, I hope I shall earn your trust as well."
"It is in my interest that it happens as well," I replied. I turned to the delivery boy and addressed him, "Thanks for sending me the message. I really appreciate your diligence. I wish the same thing could be said about the one who wrote this."
"Of course," said Tatsuya, face flushing red with happiness. "I am always glad I could be useful."
"By the way, are you open?" asked Rin.
"What…do you mean?" the delivery boy panicked. "I..am still t-too young for…"
"No," Rin corrected. "I will need to coordinate our group, and given the lack of equipment available, I would like you to be my mouth. Are you okay with that?"
"Well, yes," said Tatsuya happily. "It will my honour to provide you service. Just call me when you have anything and I will be there without fail."
"I will count on you," Rin replied with a smirk.
At this point, the mysterious high-pitched voice blared out again: "Greetings to all my lovely subjects, and welcome to Tartarus Keep. I hope you have had a good time in my domain so far, but things are just getting started."
"Who the heck are you?" demanded El Viento. "Show yourself already."
"Sheez, impatient much," the voice continued. "All right, all right. And here we GO!"
A thick smoke covered the two thrones. It dispersed as soon as it appeared, revealing what looked to be a cuddlier version of the coin-flipping homicidal maniac sitting on the king's throne. The teddy bear was dual-toned, half black and half white. The white part looked like any normal stuffed animal, fuzzy and warm, while other half exposed a malicious aura.
The bear raised its hand, or should I say its paw, to hail us.
"A beary pleasant day to you all. Now bow before me, for I am Overlord Monokuma, the Master of Tartarus Keep."
Author's Note: So here we go. All characters have been introduced. If yours is not here, then I must apologise, but I intend to keep the roster at exactly 16 students. Don't let up hope just yet, for your character may still appear as Future Foundation, Ultimate Despair or third-party member.
Now, regarding the direction I am setting out with, you can expect the game to feature several things, one of which is that the main character will not be just the generic viewpoint character who everyone can relate to. He is an Ultimate Student, and I wish to make him as interesting as the characters you send me. The main source of inspiration comes from both the games and the anime in the Danganronpa franchise, and also Detective Conan manga and the Facebook game Criminal CaseHope you enjoy this so far.
Aside from some obvious references, can anyone tell who are the two people Amelda Mason used as examples of inventors going bad?
Sorry for a mistake on my part with Elize where I mistook the name of her talent a bit. I hope you are not too bothered by it.
Thanks for reading.