Danganronpa: Salty Waves and Bloody Coral (HIATUS)

by Prince PokePersona

Ever had dreams of waking up underwater? Swimming with the fishes seems like fun, but not to a young boy with amnesia and no clue of what's going on. Alongside a motley group of strange people called "Ultimates" it's up to this boy and these strangers to uncover this ocean mystery..will they succeed...or will they drown in a void of their salty tears under the sea? (SYOC CLOSED)

2. Prologue: Salty Character Intros Pt 1

Editors: Pain X65, Crimson Spider Lily & SanityRequiem

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"You'll never amount to anything you little shit…"

"Why are you such a baby... you need to grow up and stop acting like such a pussy…."

"No one wants to be around someone as spineless as you…."

"What a little girl….can't even fight his own battles….fucking wuss…"

"Everyone hates you…..you're just an obstacle in their way…."

"I wish you were never born…"

---

I felt nothing but cold darkness wash over my skin, as I felt the chilling breeze caress my face as I winced from the ensuing pain that travelled slowly up my spine. My entire body was numb and I felt like the intense pressure from the entire world was pressing itself against me like one giant metal weight.

I don't really remember much after passing out for a brief moment, but I vaguely remember waking up in a strange room with an aquarium like aesthetic. I remember the sounds almost vividly, the gushing bubbles that passed upwards to the surface, the passing by fish that swam by carefree and the scratching noises coming from the coral attacking the glass wall.

"Ugh….w-what is g-going on…" I sleepily remarked, opening my eyes slowly, "So bright….i-it stings.."

I managed to open my eyes slightly, only to be instantly blinded by the clear white light appearing from above me. I shakily nudged my arm, hoping that it was awake as I barely managed to get it a few centimeters off of the cold hard floor that I was laying on. I cringed in pain as trying even to move around comfortably was painful, almost as if someone was stabbing me with a knife every time I tried to move an inch.

"Y-You can do this…" I unconvincingly tried to motivate myself, "C-Come on…"

As much as it hurt, I bore through the immense pain and was able to propel my body up slowly, even if I felt like a wobbly piece of jelly attempting it. Even sitting was tiring, but I managed to get my body to a waist level position, hovering my arm over my eyes to protect it from the harsh rays of light peering in from above. I felt like a shell of a person, without a skeleton to support myself, I felt limp and unstable.

"W-Where am I?" the few words that escaped my mouth were the most important ones I've spoken since awaking in this place.

I perused my surroundings, taking one more look at where I ended up. As I recalled from before I fell face first on the floor, this was some sort of room, maybe a bedroom of sorts. I spotted the bed with the purple covers and pillows resting in the corner, the built-in closet close by, next to the full-sized mirror and that prominent desk with the miscellaneous items resting on top of it. I took one more look to the ceiling, after my eyes had adjusted to the unusually incandescent lighting in the room. Despite having seen it already, I was still baffled and astonished by the glorious view in front of me; it was breathtaking.

A clear picturesque image of crystal blue waters swishing against the glass ceiling and sloshing around as a few wave crashed could be indistinctly heard in the distance. The bright neon colored fish passing overhead were alluring to look at, almost hypnotizing in a sense as each one glittered the ocean with an array of color as their scales reflected off the white light coming from above. The green seaweed contrasted harshly with the light blue color of the pristine water and the kaleidoscopic colors of the coral that decorated the exterior of the ceiling, accentuated the water's mysterious yet calming allure.

"A-Am I in a-an aquarium?" I wondered to myself, musing over the thought briefly, before suffering a small headache, "Agh….I need to s-stop laying around...I need t-to get out o-of here…"

I then tried moving my feet around to position them to stand up, before realizing that the pins and needles in my feet hadn't subsided as I gritted my teeth in sheer agony.

"Agh!" I winced in pain, shaking my leg awake.

I continued trying to move around, bearing with the immeasurable pain and trying again in my attempt to stand up. I placed my pale feet onto the aquamarine tiled floor and felt the cold surface jolt my feet awake as I managed to stand up slowly and unsteadily.

"W-Woah!" I fumbled around, swaying randomly as I pressed up against a nearby wall, "T-That was too close for c-comfort…"

The left side of my body pressed smoothly against the walls of the mysterious bedroom as I felt the brisk sensations crawl slowly up my spine, while I embraced the chilling temperatures with a grimace stuck to me the entire time.

"I need to f-find out w-what's g-going on," I mumbled to myself, heading over to the closet, "B-But first...I need to find s-some clothes…"

I nervously looked down and noticed that I was still half naked, wearing only the aforementioned purple spotted black underwear. I slowly trudged over to the wall closet and felt my legs slowly giving away as I managed to make it a few feet to ward it. I pulled it open as my hand cramped up slightly from the simple tug.

"O-Oww…" I cracked a few fingers, hoping to get some blood flowing through, "I h-have to do this…it's too c-cold in here…"

I mentally steeled myself and persevered, pulling open the closet door with a considerable amount of force as they swung open easily. I almost knocked myself back into the nearby mirror, but I regained my uneasy balance and inspected the closet's contents in front of me. The odd thing about it, aside from the fact there was even anything inside of it, was that there were multiple articles of clothing, all neatly organized and all from the same make and brand. Even stranger, they were all the same outfit with not much difference between the suits of clothing.

"Oh well….it's b-better than f-freezing to death.." I muttered meekly, shakily reaching for a shirt.

The closet was filled with a few items that included a silk purple button down dress shirt that I immediately put on without hesitation as I slowly felt the warm fabric touch my skin, fitting perfectly.

"W-Why do these c-clothes fit me p-perfectly?" I questioned that idea, as I don't remember wearing them before or even seeing them in my life.

Shrugging off the thought, I grabbed a few more articles of clothing such as a pair of neatly pressed black dress pants that reached to my ankles, black socks that stopped at my ankles, a pair of black and purple sneakers that looked to be about my foot size, a dark grey knitted sweater that I put over my shirt and I slowly started to feel warmer and warmer by the second.

"It f-feels like a soft b-blanket…" I hugged my body to get some friction going through my system, "W-Who left me t-these?"

After buttoning up my shirt, adjusting the coat over it, zipping up the pants and lacing up my shoes, I felt a bit more comfortable and less sickly. I noticed that there were a few more items inside of the closet that looked to be accessory sets of sorts to probably compliment my look.

There was a maroon and dark blue striped bow tie that looked to be already tied and clipped together and what looked to be a pair of hair clips that were fashioned into the outlines of a silver star and a silver crescent moon. Unsure of what to do, I took the accessories and put them on my person, neatly fixing the tie around my shirt collar and placing the star outline clip on the right side of my head and the moon outline clip on the left side of my head.

"I-I'm not sure if t-this is right….oh well," I sighed deeply, accepting the gratuitous accessories and stepping over to the full-sized mirror to look at myself better.

My messy raven black hair were still swept from side to side, but the hair clips pulled back some of my bangs and made my hazel sad eyes look a bit bigger and rounder. The dark ensemble, accompanied with the purple attire, made me look like some kind of gothic librarian. I didn't really have any complaints with how I was dressed; I didn't have any other choice than to wear what was presented to me.

"I look a bit b-better...I don't look like a f-freak.." I mumbled to myself, noticing my appearance in the mirror, brushing around my hair, "Now what w-was on that d-desk.."

My movement had improved slightly since putting on some decent clothes as I walked over to the brown desk and pulled the fallen seat up from the floor to then sit on it, observing the table's contents carefully.

I spotted the brown empty picture frame resting on my desk, still nothing inside of it or underneath it. There was the blue notebook with a black cow outline on the front cover and a few pens resting next to the neatly folded clothes.

"W-Whoops I forgot those were there…" I shook my head, rubbing the sides of temples, "M-Maybe I'm losing it after a-all.."

Ignoring the clothes for a minute, I grabbed the notebook and pens and noticed there wasn't anything written inside of the book; not even from the beginning to the end of it. It was an enigma as to why I had any of this, especially the other strange item resting on the desk: the brown teddy bear.

I glanced over to the bear, picked it up and held it's furry body in my hands. It's brown eyes stared back at me as I played with the purple glitter ribbon around its' neck casually.

"Is this m-mine?" I asked out loud, looking at the bear from top to bottom, before noticing a small white name tag underneath the bear's butt, "Is this a n-name?"

I squinted to read the tiny black text on the white tag and made out the words 'Kazumi Toriyako'. I rested the bear back down onto the table as I questioned the validity of the bear's owner's name. I don't really remember who I was, nor did I remember what my name was. Was this name tag my first clue as to what it was?

"Is this t-teddy bear m-mine?" I seriously wondered, "I g-guess it is….if it's w-with this other stuff...then that m-must mean it's mine and t-that was my name."

KAZUMI TORIYAKO - ULTIMATE ?

Even though I wasn't too sure if my name was Kazumi Toriyako, if I were to encounter someone or something in this mysterious place, then I'd have to use this name as a default in case they get suspicious. I accepted that name as my own as I turned to my side and my foot kicked the purple, white and black owl shaped small backpack onto the floor.

"Is this m-my backpack?" I inquisitively thought, eyeing the bag from top to bottom, "L-Looks like a little k-kid's bag…"

I held one of the bag's straps, rested it onto the seat as I grabbed the folded clothes and rested them inside of the built in closet, hoping that I didn't inconvenience whoever put them there. I closed the closet door and returned to the desk, observing the items once more before losing my train of thought and almost giving up.

"I might a-as well use t-these…" I sighed with disappointment, unzipping the top of the bag and putting the items inside of the small backpack.

I put the picture frame, notebook and pens inside of the owl bag as I reached for the teddy bear, and tried fitting it inside of it to no avail. It seemed it wasn't spacious enough to fit the bear without a furry part or two sticking out or crushing it.

"I have a f-free hand...I can c-carry this," I inevitably decided, holding the bear in my right arm and zipping up the backpack and putting it over my shoulders carefully.

I felt like I was going to school or something with the way I was dressed, almost like a first grader going off to kindergarten or something. I must have been older than that, but my whimsical attire suggested something else entirely. I had the body of a teenager but the apparel of an elementary school student, it was almost embarrassing to even be thinking of that let alone imagining how creepy it must have be to wear something as childish as that.

"T-Time to find a w-way out of this r-room," I mumbled, looking around for an exit, before spotting a dark blue wooden carved door in front of me.

"P-Please be a w-way out…" I prayed, hugging the teddy bear to my chest, as I approached it and twisted the metal door handle.

I felt the smooth metal on the palm of my hand as I pulled the door towards me and closed my eyes, expecting to see a set of stairs or some kind of exit. As I slowly opened up my eyes, instead of an exit, I came across a long wide hallway that looked almost similar to the room that I was in but went both left and right in directions.

"Aww m-man…" I tilted my head down, sighing defeatedly as I brushed around my messy hair, "I h-had a f-feeling it wasn't g-g-going to be t-that easy…"

I shook off that inconsequential notion of finding an easy exit and took in the environment around me, a bit confused as well as amazed by what I saw.

The floors were tiled a dark cyan color with the walls sporting the same fish like decal that was present inside of the room I woke up in. The entire room itself was like one giant walk in a tunnel you'd see in any large scale water park, where the ceiling was replaced with a clear transparent glass fixture and a beautiful image of the blue ocean water glistened above my head. I noticed some more species of fish pass by, some larger than others as a few other aquatic life passed by such as grey sharks with beaded black eyes, dark green turtles swimming aimlessly around the water, small tinier rainbow fish swimming underneath the predators above them and hiding inside of the colorful coral nearby and a few rocky formations leaned close to the tunnel's exterior shape; almost as if the rocks formed around the tunnel or something built underneath them.

"W-Wow….t-this is so pretty.." I took in the magnificent view, completely distracted from escaping this weird and enigmatic tunnel of wonder, "F-Focus Kazumi…..or w-whoever I was.."

Unsure of which direction to go, I headed to my right and walked down the hallway as a sense of dread washed over me. I felt the millions of fish swimming above my head all staring simultaneously at me, as if I was a criminal on the run. It was unnervingly scary and the sheer feeling that I was being watched unsettled me even more.

"W-Where do I- agh!" I felt my body lunge forward as I fell face first onto the floor, seeming to have tripped over something solid, "Agh….oww.."

I dropped the items I was holding and greeted the cold tiled floor. The intense pain from falling over was quadrupled due to my already debilitated state; it felt unbearable, but I had to push through the pain if I wanted to leave this place.

"Mgrh…" a voice groaned softly, "Mmmhm…"

Eventually getting up from my fallen state, I turned around and came face to face with the thing that tripped me over, or more specifically someone. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating that there was someone in front of me, but to no avail, there was indeed someone there.

The figure was resting on the floor, almost in a sleep like state, as if they were trying to get a quick nap in before doing anything else. Their body rested horizontally in the hallway as their hands were cupped underneath their head and their legs were outstretched and resting on top of each other evenly.

"W-What?" I seriously wondered, getting a better look at who I bumped into.

The sleeping person on the floor was a girl. Her chest length dark brown hair, which I almost confused for being colored black, was tied up in a messy bun with a few messy strands framing the sides of her face as she slept almost peacefully. She had a very skinny figure and her fair skin only accentuated her natural looks even more.

She was dressed in a red cowl neck sweater that almost looked a bit like a blanket with how it hugged her skin, black skinny jeans rested comfortably on her legs and at the side of her person were a pair of mid calf boots and a pair of black round-framed glasses that she probably set aside so she could rest easier on the floor.

"W-Who is she?" I mumbled to myself, picking up the teddy bear that I dropped after my fall, "W-Why is she s-sleeping there?"

While I did admit I was kind of in a hurry to find an exit, my inner curiosity took ahold of me as I knelt down to the girl's level and watched her closely to see if she was responsive or even breathing at all. I didn't really see much movement, but saw her body move up and down briefly, probably from breathing through her nose as she slept quietly.

"M-Maybe I shouldn't w-wake her.." I thought to myself, trembling nervously as I watched the sleeping girl curiously like some creepy stalker, "I s-should leave before she g-gets suspicious."

As I turned around, I felt the edge of my owl backpack brush against her sweater as I felt her body move around a bit more. I guess I should have been a bit quieter in my approach, from the looks of it, it seemed that I had rudely awakened her from her nap.

"Mrgh...w-who's there?" she sleepily groaned, slowly opening up her eyes and swishing her hand around her person, as if she were looking for something, "Where are my glasses?"

She kept waving her hands around looking for her aforementioned glasses, as I noticed them next to her person on her right. Thinking momentarily, I was a bit unsure of how to approach her, should I help her out or leave her hanging? I pondered on the idea for a few moments, before deciding to do the right thing and headed over to retrieve her glasses for her.

"E-Excuse me…" I muttered out anxiously, "A-Are these b-by chance y-yours?"

I held out the pair of glasses and handed them to her as she turned to face me. Her eyes were squinted tightly and I guess she heard my voice, as she began grabbing the air, before taking the glasses from my hand and resting them onto her face.

"Ah..thank you," she thanked me, fixing them on her face, "That's much better.."

I uneasily stared at her as she stood up from her resting position and dusted off her baggy looking clothing. I nervously stood there, too anxious to speak to her and too fearful to ask her if she was alright or even who she was. I did get a close look at what her eyes looked like; they were a bright purple color , as well as droopy with a few black bags underneath to emphasize the tired look on her face.

"Oh, I didn't see you there," she started the conversation, talking normally to me, "Thanks for giving me my glasses...umm, who are you?"

She patiently awaited my answer as I stood there trembling in my shoes. I quivered and shook in place, unsure of what to tell this random girl I just met whilst searching for a way to escape this place. I was completely petrified as to how to approach the situation, since I didn't really account of the idea that anyone else would be here.

"Are you alright?" she asked, giving a very stoic smile accompanied with a passive tone in her voice, "You seem a bit shy, where did you come from? I've never seen you before.."

"I-I uh…" I anxiously mumbled, unable to conjure up proper words to speak, "I'm not s-sure...I uh...don't know w-what's going on."

"I see," the mysterious girl mused, raising an eyebrow as she looked at me from top to bottom as if she were analyzing me, "Do you at least know what your name is?"

Oh shoot, I was so baffled for words I didn't know what to say to that. To be honest, I had no clue of who I was nor did I even know if I should tell her who I was. Even if the name I was given felt like a fake name, I had to give her something, otherwise she would get suspicious of me.

"I uh...my n-name is K-Kazumi T-Toriyako.." I stammered, breathing a sigh of relief after having gotten that out of the way.

"Alright Kazumi…" the girl, while still feeling a bit unconvinced as sweat dripped down my forehead, gave me a lazy smile and reciprocated the greeting, "Even though you woke me up rather abruptly….you helped me find my glasses, so it's all good."

"O-Oh..I see…" I shivered nervously, feeling even more relieved that she believed my potential fake name.

"Nice to meet you, Kazumi," she sleepily greeted, yawning into her hand as she stretched her arms out some more, "I'm Yumeji Motome, you can call me Yume for short, if you want to."

"A-Alright Yumeji.." I responded back dubiously, "W-Where are we?"

"Oh, you don't know?" she seemed almost surprised by my question, "If I remember correctly….we were all invited to this place by the headmaster I think…"

"H-Headmaster?" I asked her, unsure of what she was talking about, "I d-don't know w-what you are t-talking about.."

Yumeji sleepily blinked her eyes at me, as I was too sheepish to question her further or press her on the issue. She breathed in a deep sigh as she tilted up her glasses and continued to converse with me even though it was her doing most of the talking.

"I'm pretty sure, I got this letter from the headmaster...asking me to join this program or whatever…" she scratched her head, thinking on her words, "Apparently, I'm an Ultimate student and I was invited to join some prestigious school or something to that effect."

Ultimate student? School? Letter? I had no clue of what she was talking about nor did I have the faintest idea of what she meant. I don't even remember how I got here, let alone receiving a letter to any kind of school.

"I'm sorry Yume..I d-don't r-remember getting a l-letter…" I answered her directly, "I d-don't even k-know what an U-Ultimate student is…"

Yumeji was in complete disbelief, but you couldn't tell from the very passive look on her sleepy countenance. She twirled a strand of her hair around and thought over my words briefly, before coming up with another topic to talk about.

"How can you not know what Ultimate you are?" she asked me, almost as if I should have known this like second hand knowledge, "I'm the Ultimate Oneirologist, what about you?"

YUMEJI MOTOME - ULTIMATE ONEIROLOGIST

"I-I'm sorry..w-what are you t-talking about?" I had even more questions after she said that, "W-What's an Oneirologist? And w-what is an U-Ultimate exactly, I really d-don't know."

She almost seemed too stumped for words given my responses to her basic questions. However instead of immediately jumping to conclusions, she put her hand to her chin and pondered on what I just said to her, almost like a therapist would to their patient when evaluating their mental state.

"To answer your questions, I study dreams, or dream therapy to be exact," she told me, giving me a bare bones idea of what she does, "Tell me Kazumi...do you remember anything at all?"

She hit me with a loaded question right from the start, almost as if she were pressing me for details like a hard boiled detective or something. I felt like my personal space was being invaded by her very hefty and puzzling questions.

"I d-don't remember m-much, Yumeji.." I answered her question, hoping to pry some information out of her also, "I-I just r-remember w-waking up in a s-strange room...I h-have no idea w-who I am...nor d-do I know h-how I got here."

Even though I kind of gave her much to dwell on and think about, she didn't seem at all flustered nor did she interrupt me to ask me another question. She listened to me carefully, assessing my situation with a calm mind and very logical approach.

"I see...well then Kazumi," she trailed off shortly, summarizing her thoughts, "If what you are saying is true, assuming you're telling me the truth, then you have a form of retrograde amnesia."

"A-Amnesia?" I mumbled sheepishly, "W-What do you m-mean, Yume?"

"I'm saying that in your vulnerable state, you have no memory of who you are, nor do you possess any idea of how you got here, is that correct?" she said almost like how a professional doctor would.

"Y-Yeah…" I nodded my head in confusion.

"Then according to my knowledge in psychology...it seems you have an acute case of amnesia," she crossed her arms lazily, "But that's just an educated guess...I did just meet you after all, so my hypothesis is rather unfounded for the time being."

"O-Oh..that m-makes sense…" I agreed with the oneirologist a bit too readily.

"Which also means you don't even remember what your Ultimate Talent is either," she deduced, observing me rather closely, "This is very intriguing indeed."

"What d-does that e-even mean?" I asked her, still unsure of what an Ultimate student was or what it entailed, "Why d-did you c-call yourself t-that, Yume?"

"Because as an Ultimate, I am good at what my talent suggests," she explained, yawning softly, "I'm considered a teen prodigy in that sense, since my knowledge in my field surpasses that of a regular trained professional's...or so I'm told."

That makes a bit of sense I suppose, even though I still had a few more questions than I did concrete answers. Despite the oneirologists' patience with my incessant questions, it seemed it was wearing a bit thin, judging from her sleepy purple eyes blinking and looking heavy upon her face.

"I s-see...thanks Y-Yume…" I responded, both assured and frazzled at the same time, "I'll b-be sure to k-keep that in m-mind...even t-though I'm s-still unsure of e-everything you just s-said."

"No problem, I suppose," she shrugged her shoulders, still keeping an indifferent face throughout, "I going to continue my nap, it was nice to meet you, Kaz."

"K-Kaz?" I asked, curious as to why she referred to me by that name, "Is t-that a pet n-name?"

"Maybe…" she gave me a sleepy smile, removing the glasses from her face and resting them back on the ground close to the walls, "I hope you and your teddy bear find what you're looking for, Kaz."

I looked down at the teddy bear I found and stared at it's button eyes listlessly, forgetting that I was still holding it the entire time. Almost immediately, Yumeji started falling back asleep, her body positioned comfortably leaning against the walls and out of the walkway. The first person I met and so far I still had no clue of what was going on or why I was even here.

She provided me with some insight on what was going on, but when she started deviating the conversation to talking about getting accepted to a school is where I immediately got lost. I guess I should keep looking and not question it at that point.

I left the somnolent oneirologist to continue sleeping by the wayside as I continued my pursuit for an exit. I walked down some more long hallways; all sporting the same clear underwater ceiling view that transpired above my head. As much as I wanted to stay and watch the beautiful scenery, I didn't feel safe staying still in one spot for too long, I needed to get out as fast as possible.

I walked uncomfortably down another long hallway and heard a lot of swishing and thumping noises coming from somewhere outside. I searched my surroundings and turned my attention up at the ceiling and saw a fierce sight unfold before me.

I witnessed what looked to be a giant orangish red squid with long wiggly tentacles wrapped around a grey whale. Both sea creatures seemed to be fighting with each other, almost as if it was either one or the other. The whale did its best to wriggle free from the constrictive squid as the squid started squirting ink into the ocean water to blind the whale as they both fought.

"Fascinating…" remarked a voice coming from nearby, "I never thought I'd witness a feat this spectacular up close."

I nervously panicked and looked back into the hallway and came face to face with another figure that was in the middle of the hallway, observing the sea creatures fighting each other. I was both frightened as well as intimidated by the person that was standing in front of me.

The person was male and to say he was imposing in figure was an understatement. His black hair was cut low and fashioned into a buzz cut look with sharp dark green eyes that look intensely focused on the fight itself. He was very muscular with a rather large frame and his tanned skin and rugged looks only made him a force to be reckoned with if anything. I noticed that there was a semblance of a beard on his face; almost faint like a five o' clock shadow and his hands were rough and rather callused with a lot of hair on his arms and a bit on his chest from what I could see. His body was littered with scars from his arms spreading to his chest and there was a small scar that was underneath his right eye, only making him more intimidating to look at.

He wore a light brown muscle shirt which did nothing but only highlight his tight and muscular arms and parts of his upper body even more, he was impressively buff and looked to be a lot older than he appeared. He wore tan camo pants that were tucked into heavy tan boots that were laced up high, which made him look like some military soldier or some type of combat fighter. Around his neck, I noticed a black string necklace that rested snugly on his rather large chest with a what looked to be a lion's canine tooth as a pendant. Wrapped around his waist inside of a dark brown holster was a large hunting knife that made me gulp intensely.

"Y-Yikes!" I mentally screamed, hoping to not make any noises as to alert him to my presence, "H-He's so s-scary.."

I was too flabbergasted to say anything and I was beyond terrified to approach or speak to the muscle bound giant standing before me. I wasn't sure whether confronting him at all was a good idea or if it was just signing my death warrant, either way I was potentially a goner if I misspoke or crossed him.

"Amazing...I never expected that," the muscular man seemed impressed with the fight happening above our heads, eyeing it like a spectator at a football match.

I looked up towards where he was staring and noticed that the squid had given up and went limp. The whale then began swallowing the squid whole, as I covered my mouth in horror at the sight in front of me. I had never seen something as gory and fierce like that up close, it was beyond mystifying but also worrying.

"Impressive, isn't it?" the man said, almost as if he were talking to someone, "Don't you think so, pal?"

I looked back to where he was, turned my head around and searched the area for who he was talking with and noticed him standing face to face with me as I nearly jumped in my shoes.

"Agh!" I jumped from the initial shock, slipping and falling to my feet before getting pulled back up with great force, "O-Oh uh...wha?"

"That was a close one," the man remarked, grabbing my skinny arm with his large hand and almost crushing it, "Better watch ya step there bud, or else you might become fish food."

"I-I'm s-sorry...I didn't m-mean to u-upset you.." I shakily apologized to the man, picking and choosing my words carefully, "P-Please don't h-hurt me!"

I quivered and shook in his presence, cowering and covering my head as I closed my eyes, hoping that my death would be a quick one. I was paralyzed with fear as I didn't feel his hand grab me or lunge at my neck.

"Hahaha, such an odd guppy," he chuckled loudly, his laughter almost echoing throughout the empty halls, "I'm not gonna do anything to ya."

"Y-You're not?" I recovered and opened up my eyes slowly, "Y-You're not g-going to h-hurt me?"

"No, I'm not," he chuckled, slapping me forcefully on my back, almost breaking my spine with his massive hand, "I'd never harm someone as tiny and fragile as you!"

I wasn't really sure how to respond to the man's very boisterous comments. I was too stupefied with fear and potentially sore from spinal damage to respond back to the large man. I was afraid if I pissed him off, then I'd be at the receiving end of his extremely sharp hunter's blade.

"T-Thanks...I guess?" I acknowledged his attempt at wry humor with a nervous thanks, "W-Who are you?"

"Oh right, sorry bout that pal!" he then straightened his stance and cleared his throat, "Name's Dragomir Kita, you can call me Drago if ya like!

He then smirked and crossed his arms together, acting as if he were trying to impress me or something. He seemed almost impressed with himself as he continued to introduce himself to me.

"Or if ya want to refer to my title, I'm the Ultimate Zoologist!" he proudly remarked.

DRAGOMIR KITA - ULTIMATE ZOOLOGIST

Dragomir? That name doesn't sound Japanese at all, I guess he must be a foreigner or something. From the way he spoke, I could hear an accent in his dialect, along with his Japanese being rather shaky and sounding a bit rough around the edges. Also, zoologist? He must study animals if I remember correctly, which could explain his fascination with that fight as a whole.

"N-Nice to meet y-you, Drago…" I nervously extended my hand to him, "I-I'm K-Kazumi Toriyako...I uh...d-don't know my t-talent."

"Kazumi huh?" he looked me up and down, taking in my name, "Well no matter, I do hope that we get to know each other well, ya hear?"

"O-Oh uh sure...D-Drago…" I responded instinctively, almost like a scared deer staring at the headlights of a car.

Dragomir made a small smile, uncrossing his arms and approaching me closely, putting his hand on my shoulder as he pointed upwards after shaking my hand almost a bit too roughly.

"See that, that's the Colossal Squid fighting with it's mortal enemy the Humpback Whale," he directed my attention to the whale devouring the squid's remains, "It's a fight between two rivals, forever fighting for basic survival, one of them ends up as the winner while the other ends up bones and faecal matter."

"I-Is that s-so?" I wondered, a bit intrigued but also worried for the squid as the zoologist continued to regale me with his personal narration of the fight's outcome, "I d-didn't k-know that…"

"It's cool, ain't it?" he asked me rhetorically, as I nodded my head, going along with what he was saying, "Notice the marks and scratches on the whale's body? That's from the squid's teeth and tentacles, which was used to attack the whale, since the squid has sharp claws on each one."

"I-I see...h-how v-vicious.." I sweatdropped as Drago got a bit too close for comfort, "T-The poor squid.."

"Haha don't be sorry, Kazumi," he patted me lightly on my back as he looked back up, "This is the natural order of things, called the circle of life, it's an eat or be eaten world out there. You're either predator or prey."

It was rather impressive how much Dragomir knew so much about sea creatures. Remembering what Yumeji said, this must mean he has a lot of extensive information about this kind of stuff, since it's his job to study animals and their behavior patterns. It was still impressive how a man of his size was able to become so intellectual about something like this, almost as if he experienced stuff like this firsthand.

"See these scars on my body?" he then directed my attention to his arms, showing off his glorious biceps and triceps, "I got these deep ones from wrestling with a lioness and this one large gash from wrestling with a large grizzly bear."

My eyes lit up as he kept telling me about each individual scar. It was captivating how each one had its own little story to tell. I was impressed and stunned by his battle scars and he seemed more than willing to regale them to me as he talked, clearing his throat as he finished showing me his personal victories.

"Your little bear friend reminds me of that exact grizzly," he pointed to the teddy bear in my possession, "Except that fierce beast didn't wear such a feeble purple ribbon around its wide neck, haha."

I held up the teddy bear and observed it closer. I had no idea that a toy this adorably innocent could have been inspired by something so ferocious and fearsome; it was mind boggling. I titled my head to the side as I hugged it and sighed deeply, realizing that I was getting off track of my current goal of escaping.

"W-Well it w-was nice meeting y-you Drago…" I waved to him nervously, shaking less than before I talked with him, "T-Thanks for t-teaching me something n-new."

"Same to you, bud!" he smiled proudly, bearing his pearly white teeth at me as he put his hands on his hips, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue watching the critters duke it out with each other."

"O-Ok...b-bye.." I bade goodbye to him, passing by him and headed further down the hallway.

I left the zoologist as I walked down the long narrowing corridors of this mysterious aquarium. I'd met about two people so far and I was just as confused as to why they were here and why they were talking so casually after possibly having been kidnapped, if that was the case for them as it might have been for me. It made no sense as to how they were taking this situation lightly or why they're not as freaked out as I was. Were they under the impression that they weren't in any danger? One thing's for certain, I wasn't going to stick around for long to find out.

I eventually came across a set of purple double doors leading to another room labelled with the sign 'Dining Room' written in black text, plastered on a white scroll similar to that of a treasure map.

"H-Here goes n-nothing…" I mumbled nervously, pushing open the doors and entered inside, "O-Oh my...t-this v-very large.."

As I entered into the room, I was rather surprised by what I saw. I was too stunned for words as what I saw before me looked imaginary, almost beyond man-made conventions. It was like something out of a dream almost with how magnificent it all was.

The room was as tall as a mini skyscraper with how big it was and I felt my soft mumbling echo throughout the wide room, even though I couldn't see anyone else inside. The massive room resembled that to a large ballroom you'd see in a fancy five star restaurant; to say it was opulent and well decorated was an understatement.

The floor was furnished with smooth dark blue carpets that felt like I was walking on top of a cloud as I moved around observing each detail of the room. The walls were plastered with a fun, almost childlike, aquatic wallpaper that sported multicolored fish with cartoonish beady white eyes, green seaweed dancing in the water's depths and even treasure chests that was filled to the brim with jewelry, gold coins and even priceless gems. There wasn't any ceiling in this large room, which seemed to be a running theme for this mysterious aquarium, as I could see the ocean's waters and fish swimming carelessly overhead with the faint sunlight peering in from above, giving the room a dim ambience. There were sharks, dolphins, turtles and even small fish swimming by as I watched them all swim past each other harmoniously in sync with the ocean's movements.

The room itself comprised of a stage that was in the far middle back of the room, with purple curtains resting at the sides of the stage, a grand piano resting comfortably on the hardwood floors and a few other instruments resting nearby. There was a drink bar on the opposite end of the room, near the entrances of the large room, the bar itself had lots of beverages such as water, fruit juices, carbonated sodas from every famous brand and to top it all off, even alcoholic beverages as well like whiskey, vodka and beer. On the walls of the dining room, there were wall lamps in the shape of orange glitter sea stars that shone a bright fiery dazzling light, giving the room a more dramatic effect.

For furniture, there seemed to be a bunch of black bar stools lined up next to the drink bar, tas well as about two giant round tables that almost took up the entire room itself with about twenty two seats, eleven seats to each table respectively. Each table was covered with a white tablecloth and there were light blue dinner plates placed neatly near each chair, along with a fork, knife, spoon and clear glass for each person. There were glass vases that were filled with clear water and in each vase there were a bouquet of purple anemone flowers, each one surrounded by small fountain like display showing a picture of a stonefish squirting water out of its mouth and pouring water into the glass circular layer surrounding the vases. There were sea green ribbons laced around the edges of each table and there was a gold sparkling shine sprinkled around the carpeted floors to give off a whimsical effect. To complete the dining room's ritzy presentation, there was a large diamond chandelier hanging from near the top of the room and dangled precariously over the middle of the room on a strong metal chain.

I was stunned by the gorgeous decor that made this room look ten times as amazing. It had the formal and professional look of any high class restaurant, but the gimmicky wallpaper and over the top decorations made it look like some children's themed seafood restaurant.

"Ahoy there! Glad I finally found some actual people in here!" shouted a loud voice coming from nearby the drink bar, "What are ye doing here, lad? Ye look like just a lil nipper to me."

I turned to my right to face whoever it was talking to me and saw someone sitting behind the drink bar counter, a smile plastered on their face as they jumped over the counter, knocking over some bar stools and approaching me almost a bit too close for comfort.

The person was a girl, who looked a bit too enthusiastic from how much she was moving around. She was around average height, maybe a few inches taller than me and was at a healthy weight with quite a lean figure. She had fairly decent toned arms and legs, but they didn't look overly impressive like Drago's. She had a pear-shaped body with moderate curves and a rather large chest, but that's not really something I'd care to mention in too much detail.

She had an oval shaped face, with a subtle pointed chin and a light olive complexion with small dimples near her cheeks, which highlighted her natural features even more. She had wide hazel eyes which looked almost round with how she was smiling, a pointed nose and thin lips which were colored a cherry pink color. Her dark fuschia pink hair was unevenly parted with thin purple highlights that were spread down her hair and loosely flowed down her back, bouncing around as she moved around, ending near her waist. Her hair was quite messy and wispy, with a few spiked ends that hung in the front of her face and reached near her shoulders with a few tucked behind her ears. Her fringe was jagged and parted down the right side of her face and looked to almost dangle in front of her round eyes.

However, what stood out the most about her was her rather bizarre clothing. It consisted of a white blouse with the collar folded back and slight ruffled sleeves that were folded back to her elbows, revealing a few faded thin scars on both of her arms. The top section of her blouse was undone to display a small amount of her cleavage and over the blouse was a sea green waistcoat vest with silver rounded buttons reaching her waistline. She wore a pair of hazel colored trousers that were folded back at her knees with finely embroidered pockets, simple brown sailor sandals strapped around her ankles and secured to her feet. On her back was a long navy colored coat that flowed behind her as she walked and I could see the fine embroidered details in it as well as a folded collar and silver studded buttons.

Her accessories were just as wild as her attire, which only made her stand out of a crowd even more. There was a large, wide rimmed dark grey hat, similarly to that of a pirate captain's resting on top of her head. She wore sapphire jewelled earrings in both of her ears, a bronze colored chain around her neck with a rather large medallion that was larger than her face, almost the size of a tea coaster, and that had an engraving of a crossed trident and anchor symbol. There was a silver skull and crossbones brooch attached to the left side of her waistcoat, a black leather belt with a silver rectangular buckle attached to a holster which contained a short cutlass. In another holster on her belt, there appeared to be a sailor's telescope with her pockets filled with something I didn't get a good look at. To contrast with her pirate garb, there was a silver wristwatch around her right wrist and a charm bracelet with an anchor, turtle and seashell charms on her left wrist. Around her right ankle was a green seaweed like anklet that only added to her pirate aesthetic. Lastly, she carried a hazel canvas backpack on her back that probably contained her possessions and other valuables.

Describing this girl's entire look in of itself was a mouthful. She had so much going on all at once and the bright colors made her stand out ten times more in this rather fancy setting, almost a clear distinct contrast between the elegance of the room and the carefree and almost wild outfit she wore. She looked like a genuine pirate cosplayer or someone who arrived here from ancient times and was stuck in the present from how she was dressed.

"W-Who are y-you?" I nervously asked, shivering in my shoes at her bombastic presence, unsure of what to say.

"Shiver me timbers!" the strangely dressed female shouted, jolting me out of my dazed state, "Ye must be a landlubber to not have heard of me!"

"U-Um…I d-don't know w-what's going on, m-miss," I quivered whilst talking to her, a bit overwhelmed by her intense personality.

"Well I don't blame ye," she said, seeming a bit jittery while she talked, almost like a kid who had too much sugar, "Not everyday someone comes face to face with a great pirate captain!"

"P-Pirate?" I asked, confused by her extreme tone, "W-What are y-you talking about, you d-didn't tell me w-what your name is?"

"Aye landlubber, if yer eager to know so badly, remember me name well!" she took a few steps back and posed, grabbing what looked to be a sharp cutlass she pulled out from a brown sheath around her waist, "Name's Captain Takara Hamasaki, arr I be the Ultimate Sailor, matey!"

TAKARA HAMASAKI - ULTIMATE SAILOR

So the oddly dressed girl was an Ultimate too and liked to behave like a pirate. Even though it kind of explained her entire outfit, I felt that it was more of a persona if anything. I mean, there's no way someone like her is an actual pirate, she even said she was a sailor herself. I was ten times as puzzled after meeting her, but I decided to humor her as she continued waving her cutlass around almost daringly as she swiped it around in the air, trying to get my attention.

"A-Ahoy? M-My name is K-Kazumi T-Toriyako...it's n-nice to m-meet you T-Takara," I timidly greeted her, extending my hand out to give her a handshake.

She then took her free hand and spat in it, slapping my hand with hers as she shook it vigorously. I felt her slimy wet palm touch mine as I cringed mentally, wanting to retract my hand out of pure disgust. However, the handshake lasted a bit longer than I imagined as she shook it roughly, almost dislocating my wrist in the process.

"Aye nice to meet ye Kazumi-lad! I bet you'd make a great first-matey on deck! What do ye say? Do ye want to pillage and plunder whilst sailing the great Seven Seas?" she asked me instantly after my greeting, letting go of my hand and leaving it covered in her wet saliva, "I think yer teddy companion would want in on the fun!"

"U-Um...n-no thanks, C-Captain.." I winced from the slimy handshake and wiped my hand on my pants, "I-I'm not a s-seaworthy s-sailor…"

"Now that's not how a first mate is s'posed to be!" she seemed a bit upset with those words, "I tell ye there's nothing better than that for me! The sea is my true love; I've sailed many leagues and oceans, been on adventures beyond your wildest imagination, me hearty!"

The sailor's very broken vernacular left me both bewildered as well as curious as to what she meant. I imagine most sailors aren't as capricious and unpredictable as her. Then again, I've never met one before, so this was a rather interesting first hand experience.

"I-I have t-to go n-now, T-Takara," I slowly inched away from her as to not let her be weary of me, "I r-remembered I n-needed to do s-something.."

"Fair sailing, Kazumi!" she tipped her captain's hat at me, "May you find your treasure on your own azure path!"

The sailor then hustled back to the drink bar as she began rummaging around and fixing herself together a drink as pieces of cardboard were thrown around the dining room. I noticed another set of double doors, apart from the one I entered through, and made a rather swift exit like a cornered animal who escaped a ferocious predator.

I barged right through the double doors frantically and felt it hit something, as I was about to leave. It was a loud slamming noise as whatever I hit felt like it hurt, as I stood still after that.

"Oww what the fuck!" a male voice yelped in pain.

"S-Sorry!" I immediately responded after closing the door behind me, "I d-didn't see you t-there.." I extended my hand out to the person up.

"Don't fucking touch me, bitch," he pushed my hand away rudely, "You better apologize for almost breaking my nose, idiot!"

I looked down at the floor and saw the person I accidentally hit, rubbing their forehead in pain as I scrambled to check to see if they were alright. I blinked nervously and got a look at the person I unfortunately ran into; it was another guy.

He had shaggy light green hair that looked like a messy mop on top of his head, light grey eyes that seemed almost soulless when I looked into them and he had freckles across his cheeks. He was rather slender, almost thin and looked to be a few inches taller than me.

He wore a black shearling jacket with brown fur that looked like a skinned animal hide with a white t-shirt underneath, black pants with a black belt around his waist and he wore brown boots that looked worn out and old.

He had a very normal look to him; nothing that noteworthy, but then I started freaking out after slamming the door on him by accident. I was too anxious and scared to apologize as he arose to his feet and dusted off his coat. An annoyed and almost angry look was plastered on his face as he stared at me with a demonic and 'you're so dead look' on his face.

"Excuse me, gentleman," interjected another voice into the conversation, that sounded female, "What seems to be the problem here?"

I turned my head to see who it was that was intervened and saw another person approach the irritated guy and I. It was another girl, but she looked different compared to the male I just hit accidentally.

She had light blue hair styled in a wavy bob that fell an inch past her pointed chin. Her skin was tan, giving off a very natural look to it that contrasted with her dark blue eyes and hair. There was a small raised raised scar on the bottom of her chin and she had a very average build with an hourglass figure and noticeable curves.

She was attired in a more formal outfit compared to the guy. She wore a three piece suit that consisted of a blue dress shirt, light grey vest, jacket and pants that looked well tailored and expensive. She wore sensible black pumps on her feet, giving her a professional working woman vibe that was apparent from first glance. I got the feeling that she came from a wealthy family, given her rather fashionable and professional look and presentation.

"This shithead slammed the door into my face," the shaggy-haired male gritted his teeth angrily, "I was just minding my own business when it happened, he needs to fucking apologize."

"Oh, really?" the well dressed girl mused over the man's words, "And what do you have to say to his accusations, sir?"

"I u-uh...I'm s-sorry.." I sheepishly responded, hugging the teddy bear in my arms, "I-I didn't m-mean it, i-it was an a-a-accident.."

"Bullshit," he growled at me, grabbing my shirt collar tightly, "You think a half-assed excuse like that is going to cut it, coward!"

I was too shaken up to counter his furious response. A trickle of sweat slid down the sides of my head as I started panicking and breathing erratically, fearing that I was going to get beaten.

"Boys, please! Let's be civil about this!" the girl stepped into the argument, yelling at the both us, "Let go of him this instant and let's talk this out like gentlemen! Alright?"

Her firm tone seemed to have rattled the green-haired guy as he let go of my shirt collar, clicking his tongue and grumbling underneath his breath. My face was red and my heart was pounding rapidly, as if it wanted to escape from my chest from how absolutely terrified I felt.

"Now, let's try this again," she cleared her throat, maintaining her calm demeanor, "He apologized to you for the misunderstanding and now you must do the same."

"You're not the boss of me, lady," he muttered under his breath, sighing angrily.

"What was that?" she raised an eyebrow at him, "I didn't seem to catch that remark, care to repeat it?"

"Fine!" he shouted rather loudly as his voice echoed throughout the hall, "I'm fucking sorry for roughing you up...whoever you are."

After regaining my composure, I adjusted the bowtie around my neck, fixed my sweater and hugged my teddy bear nervously. I slowly started to catch my breath as I shook less, knowing that the girl's presence was here to help mediate the conflict between us.

"I-I'm K-Kazumi Toriyako...I-I'm sorry f-for h-hitting you, u-umm…" I trailed off, unsure of what his name was.

"Don't mention it," he shrugged off my apology, grumbling out his name "Name's Kimiya Iwasaki, Ultimate Ice Sculptor, nice to meetcha or whatever…"

KIMIYA IWASAKI - ULTIMATE ICE SCULPTOR

He's an ice sculptor? I didn't really get that vibe from him, given his rather abrasive greeting. I guess we got off on the wrong foot if that's the case, but his rather hot-headed and pugnacious threats kind of made me think something else entirely, almost making me question if that was actually was his talent was. I just hope he didn't melt his ice sculptures with his fiery attitude, then he'd be out a job.

"Now then, that wasn't so hard now was it, Kimiya?" the well dressed girl huffed, calming her voice and remaining the mature one, "Are you alright, Kazumi?"

"I g-guess so…" I anxiously responded to her, still a bit drained from the interaction with the ice sculptor, "It's v-very nice to meet you, miss…t-thanks for i-intervening.."

"The pleasure is all mine," she stood up straight, nodding her head contently, "Iena Kaya, I'm the Ultimate Judge. It's no worry, it's my job after all."

IENA KAYA - ULTIMATE JUDGE

My mind was trying to process the entire situation that just unfolded, as Iena and Kimiya both gave me their names and introduced themselves accordingly. They were almost stark contrasts with each other as Kimiya was tapping his foot irritably and Iena looked at me with a concerned face as I brushed some dark hair out of my face and my face turned back to its pale complexion.

So they're both Ultimates too, which meant that everyone I've met so far has had some sort of talent or job that they were good at. It seemed that with the people I've met so far, something told me that this was just the beginning of this wild experience of trying to escape this weird facility. I just hope the rest of these so called Ultimates weren't as polarizing as these two.

"J-Judge?" I questioned her talent, "Like i-in a c-c-courtroom?"

"Not that kind of judge," she fixed her grey jacket and buttoned it up, sighing with an almost disappointed huff, "More like judging food eating contests, beauty pageants and stuff like that. I don't blame you for confusing the two honestly."

"Then what's with the high and mighty attitude eh?" Kimiya scoffed at her, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

"Pardon me for being the mature one in the conversation," she retorted to his petty response with a confident smirk, "It's my job to see that disputes and scuffles reach a peaceful conclusion after all."

"You know what, this is pointless," he rubbed his forehead delicately, brushing past me and hitting my shoulder almost purposefully, "See you two never."

Iena's rather arrogant-sounding tone seemed to have made the ice sculptor even more peeved than he was at the moment. He shook his head and then walked out of the hallway and into the dining room area where Takara was. I wanted to warn him that she was extremely excitable and probably the last person he wanted to see in his riled up manner, but I was too scared to voice my thoughts to him at that time, out of fear he might lash out again.

"What a petulant child," Iena put her finger to her lips and thought, "Is he trying to prove how tough or manly he is or something?"

"I-I'm not s-sure…" I meekly answered her, "I d-don't really b-blame him, s-since it's k-kind of my fault.."

"Well, in any case, it was nice to meet you, Kazumi," she patted me on the back, trying to console me, "Please make sure to stay out of trouble next time, okay?"

"A-Alright.." I responded to her unusually caring suggestion, "T-Thanks I-Iena.."

The judge waved to me as she went inside of the dining room area after Kimiya. As the double doors swung open, I noticed Kimiya and Takara talking with each other, or rather the sailor was chatting his ear off as he covered his ears to drown her out, noticing the disgruntled look on his face. The judge decided to intervene into the mix as the doors closed behind me, waking me out of my daze.

"W-What a w-weird group of p-people.." I thought to myself, sighing with relief as I went down the hallway and left to continue my search for an exit.

I passed through some more hallways, watching the fish slowly swim above my head as I wandered down the almost empty hallways of this mysterious aquatic facility. Each twist and turn I took, it felt like a never ending maze with no clear map of where to go in sight. Finding a door, let alone an exit, was like finding a needle in a haystack inside of this place, all the winding hallways looked the exact same to me, and the dim lighting in each corridor only made me feel even more drowsy and lethargic.

"W-Where is that e-exit," I sleepily mumbled, yawning as I slowly started to feel even more tired and weak, "W-Why does this p-place all l-look the same…."

I almost gave up searching for an exit until I came across another room marked 'Rec Room' and noticed a bright aquamarine colored door in front of me. Out of sheer curiosity, I turned the handle and entered inside, hoping once more that there was an exit somewhere inside of the room.

I entered it and instead of finding an exit, I emerged into something that was anything but that. It was large, but not as ginormous as the dining room, that's for sure. The room had a variety of things inside of it that caught my attention, it was almost hard to focus on one thing given how much was going at once.

The floor was fashioned with a light grey carpet that felt rougher and more scratchy compared to the soft material used in the dining room's carpet. The wallpaper had the same design as the dining room, but instead of fish, there were sharks and dolphins swimming around in a purple soda like version of the ocean, accompanied by dancing starfish with black top hats and canes dancing on the wallpaper. There were white seashell wall lights inside of the room that gave off a brighter view of it as a whole than the dining room.

There were about two dark blue couches inside on opposite ends of the room with three lavender pillows on each one. Party lights that shone in rainbow hues brightened up the room's already incandescent aura and nearly gave me a headache with how illuminous and off putting it was to look at. There was a pool table in the middle of the room with a bunch of billiard sticks and a box filled with hand chalk resting on the back wall with a stick stand with about five billiard sticks and a bunch of colorful balls resting inside of a metal triangle mold keeping them in place. On another end of the room, there was a red and green dart board with a black background left open with a few darts stuck inside of the memory foam of each point slot. There was a karaoke machine with two microphones on the side of the small rectangular box and there were a few buttons on the machine with a screen on the front to display the song that was playing as you sung along. It almost looked like some variation of a jukebox as there were a bunch of discs inside of the machine and bunch of numbers on each button.

As well as that, there were about two pinball machines inside of the room, one was brightly colored and had a circus like theme to it with the name 'Cirque De La Mort' and the other machine had a more sci fi like element to it and was called 'Star Journey' with flashing blue lights. Lastly, the room had two small round tables with about two black chairs to each one; one table had an entire chess piece set, both with black and white pieces and the other table had what looked to be backgammon or something similar.

"I-Is this l-like a p-playroom?" I thought in my head, observing the room and noticing the same aquatic overhead view above me, "S-Still no e-exit…oh w-well.."

As I scoped out the room, I spotted three people inside of it. There were two guys and one girl inside of the room and each one looked to be preoccupied with doing their own thing. One of the guys was talking with the girl and the other one was sitting on the couch and fiddling with something in his hands.

The guy talking with the girl stood out to me the most. He had light pink hair that bordered on a cotton candy white color and look like a silky ribbon, long and lusciously flowing behind his back and hung all the way to his belly button. His minty green eyes looked piercing and deep, almost as if looking directly into them would turn you to stone. He looked to be of average weight, a bit skinny, and he looked to be a few inches taller than me.

He wore a grey parka with a fake white fur hood that he wore up on his head, which made his hair lay over his shoulders. He wore a jacket and cropped button up top underneath his parka, from what I could see, but I couldn't make out the color. His white pants had a soft pink-colored train attached to the back of it, held together by a belt, and it seemed to be half a foot behind him. He wore black knee-high boots tied with white lacing, along with white bows behind them while, for accessories, he wore a silver chain around his neck, a pair of crystal snowflake earrings in his ears and three silver bracelets on each of his wrists.

I wasn't really an expert on fashion, but he looked to be someone who could easily stand out of a crowd even if he wasn't trying. His look screamed 'notice me and bask in my glory' but I shouldn't be too quick to judge his taste in clothes. I almost confused him for a girl with how feminine he presented himself, but from his overall build and attire, I kind of had a feeling he was a guy. The girl he was talking to, was just as fashionably attired as he was, almost with similarly colored clothing but of different make.

The sole girl in the room had long golden blonde hair that tied into a high ponytail with bangs framing the sides of her face. Her warm brown eyes were accentuated with black eyeliner, giving off a small winged effect and her eyelashes fluttered with black mascara, having highlighted their butterfly-esque nature. She had a very slim but svelte figure to her, with slight curves and an average bust that looked perfectly fitting against her light skin tone.

She wore a pink heart sweater on her upper body that snugly hugged her skin. Black floral leggings on both of her legs as well as black ankle boots, which seemed to finish off her simple yet runway look. Underneath her sweater, I noticed a small magenta mini-skirt that I almost missed and assumed she was wearing no lower piece and was just walking around half naked.

To complete her model-like appearance, she wore a pair of gold feather earrings in her ears and there was a gold necklace with a gold key pendant hanging around her neck.

She was very pretty, almost as if she was a real fashion model herself; her entire look from head to toe had this very doll like aesthetic that made her look like one of those Darbie dolls that most young girls would play with. It seems she and the pink-haired fashionable man were hitting it off rather well. The two of them seemed to be having a fun conversation, he chuckled and she giggled as if they each were joking about an inside joke or something.

The other person in the room, the boy sitting on one of the couches, seemed to be fiddling with something in his hands. He seemed to be intensely focused on what he was doing as I tried to get a better look of what it was that he was doing.

He had wavy strawberry blonde hair that was really wavy, like beach waves almost. His eyes were a golden hazel color and were brighter than mine, giving off a more youthful glow to his round-like face. His cheeks were slightly blushed against his lightly pale skin and it only added to his very childlike appearance, accompanied by the fact that even though he was sitting down, he looked to be shorter than me by a few inches. He had a very thin build but had an average skinny kind of look that didn't make him stand out too much.

He wore an oversized peach sweater that almost covered his hands, which I had to double take at, with a pair of light grey sweatpants on his lower body that gave off a very comfy look. On his feet were a pair of white sneakers and covering his head was a light red plain baseball cap that did nothing to hide his wavy hair.

He reminded me of one of those kids from those cereal commercials with the comical mascot who tried to steal the cereal from him, but ended up failing entirely because of their wacky over the top schemes. His very youthful appearance made me question whether or not he was my age, but it was hard to tell from far away. He seemed to be playing with a bunch of colorful yarn that rested next to his person as he handled a bunch of metal knitting needles; he seemed affixed to what he was doing, almost entranced.

"Ooh! Someone else is here!" the knitting boy jumped excitedly, alerting the other two in the room, "It's so exciting, it's so very nice to meet you!"

"U-Umm…" I was taken aback by his rather jumpy greeting, almost falling back on my butt but I was able to maintain my balance, "H-Hello t-there…"

"Oh ho, another cutie enters the room," the fashionable man entered the conversation, "You have an interesting look to you, sweetie, going for a very emo geeky look I see."

"W-What? T-Thanks I g-guess?" I quizzically responded to him, unsure of how to respond to his semi-complimentary greeting.

"I guess so, not really something to be impressed by, that's for sure" the blonde girl remarked, crossing her arms and approaching me alongside the two boys, "But he's not worth your attention, Lev."

"I-I'm sorry?" I titled my head at the girl's rather abrupt and slightly rude comment, "W-What do you m-m-mean?"

"Play nice Aphie," the man called Lev told the girl he playfully called Aphie, "He's obviously confused about where he is, but I could tell that just from his entire ensemble alone~"

"Oh really, I didn't know that!" the hyperactive younger boy reacted, "I don't really see an issue with his clothes, I think he looks good!"

"Hmph, I wouldn't expect someone who's dressed in hand-me-downs, to understand," the fashionable man scoffed at the younger boy who didn't really seem all that phased by his curt remark, "Such exquisite charm is lost on a simpleton like you."

"I'd be better off advertising a line of cat food than talking with people as unglamorous as them, Lev," the blonde girl sneered at the both of us, "Let's just go somewhere else instead."

The conversation was going too fast for me to comprehend what they were talking about, it almost gave me whiplash. It seemed as if I was getting complimented for my outfit, told I was insignificant and then told that I wasn't worthy of talking to them or something. My train of thought was all over the place as I had a hard time fielding their incessant and jumbled rambling.

"E-Excuse me...b-but who a-are you p-people?" I asked them meekly, hoping that I wasn't interrupting their important conversation.

"Oh, how rude of me, sorry about that~" the fashionable man cleared his throat, gesturing at me with a bewitching smile that was intensified by how handsome he was up close, "Well then cutie, my name is Lev Moroz. I am the Ultimate Fashion Designer. If you're here for fashion advice, then, I'm your man, unless you want my number, then I'd be happy to oblige~"

LEV MOROZ - ULTIMATE FASHION DESIGNER

After Lev introduced himself, it made sense why the glamorous-dressed girl was calling him Lev earlier. I got the impression that he was trying to be friendly with me, but it came off a bit overly flirtatious if anything, but I didn't really pay it any mind. Also, his very high-end clothing made even more sense knowing that he was a fashion designer; maybe he made those clothes himself, which would explain the very hand-stitched look of it all.

"N-nice to m-meet you, Lev-" I was about to introduce myself, before the blonde girl interjected into the conversation and added her two cents.

"Can't forget about me!" she chimed in, giggling almost playfully, "I'm the gorgeous Aphrodite Zhang! Not like you'll forget a name as glorious as mine. I'm the Ultimate Pageant Queen."

APHRODITE ZHANG - ULTIMATE PAGEANT QUEEN

Pageant Queen? So, she's a model but more so for beauty contests? I guess that makes a bit of sense, but how is being pretty and fashionable a talent? It made sense for Lev to have a talent like his, but I was just as confused about Aphrodite's as anyone else's.

"Now that that's out of the way," she flipped back some of her hair behind her head, "Let's go back to talking about a fashion line inspired by yours truly, Lev!"

"In a moment sweetie," the fashion designer halted the pageant queen, "I need to know the name of this averagely dressed cutie, first."

"I uh...um...K-Kazumi T-Toriyako…" I mumbled my name out to them, scared of being interrupted again.

"Well then Kaz," Lev chuckled as he leaned over and whispered something into my ear, "If you ever need help looking for a new outfit, I'd be more than ecstatic to make one for you~"

"O-Oh...thanks f-for the o-offer, Lev.." I responded with a surprised and embarrassed look on my face after his lips met my ear, making me blush intensely.

"Don't mention it," he remarked, winking at me flirtatiously, "Now Aphie darling, where were we?"

"Finally!" she squealed almost a bit too excitedly, "Now then, I was thinking about an all pink line of dresses and skirts..."

The two of them continued chatting over fashion as it seemed they were already acquainted with the other, heading over to the other side of the room. I'd never imagine those two to fit so well together that they almost looked like some sort of power couple with how good they looked together. It was almost a match made in heaven if anything.

"Hey! Hey Kazumi!" the other boy tapped me on the shoulder, looking at me with a doey-eyed look in his eyes, "Do you like knitting?"

"K-Knitting? U-umm...n-not really," I responded to him, a bit perplexed by his random request, "I'm n-not really an e-expert…"

"No, silly head!" he shook his head, "I mean do you like wearing knitted goods? Do you have a favorite color? Favorite preference of yarn?"

His rapid fire questions caught me off guard as he kept asking me a lot of questions, almost like a curious kid in elementary school asking his teacher a question. It was very overwhelming as his barrage of questions didn't seem to end, eagerly awaiting an answer like a puppy dog.

"S-Sorry, b-but w-who are y-you a-again?" I politely asked him, without trying to sound blunt or too forward, "I d-didn't r-really understand w-what you j-just said."

"Oh, no problem, I'm told that a lot!" he giggled childishly, "I'm Wayne Fukumoto! Ultimate Knitter and all! Now, do you have a favorite color?"

WAYNE FUKUMOTO - ULTIMATE KNITTER

I didn't fully understand what Wayne was talking about, but knowing the fact that he was a knitter made a bit of sense. His rapid fire questioning tired me out a little bit as I decided to end his ceaseless torrent of interrogative questions.

"W-Well I guess I l-like purple…" I told him firmly, trying to get him to back off for a bit.

"Ooh, what a royal color, much like a king!" he chirped happily, grabbing one of his knitting needles and jumping back onto the couch, immediately getting to work on something, "Don't worry Kazumi! I'll make you the bestest sweater you've ever seen!"

"O-Oh okay...t-that's not really n-necessary, W-Wayne," I sweatdropped at his eager beaver-like behavior.

"It's no biggie! I always make gifts for my friends and people I like!" he said, getting to work on knitting a sweater using bright purple yarn, "It'll be done in a jiffy!"

He was quite….expressive. I didn't mean that in a bad way, but his attitude was kind of all over the place and he seemed a bit too frantic, but in a more energetic fashion rather than a worried manner. I decided to leave the knitter and the other two to their devices as I took the opportunity to escape from the rec room with my sanity intact.

I left the room hurriedly as I stopped near a wall, taking a few small deep breaths. I had never felt so claustrophobic in my entire life; it was as if I was being trapped by an imaginary wall with how those three approached me. My mind almost broke down hearing them talk to me all at once and I felt like I was being ganged up on even though that clearly wasn't how it came off as. I've met even more people who called themselves Ultimates and I still didn't know what they meant by that.

This facility kept getting stranger and stranger with all these long winding hallways and large rooms, it felt as if there wasn't even an exit in sight. It gave me a massive headache and I felt sickly looking at the same thing over and over again, I just wanted to lie down and get some rest as I felt the life drain from my body. I walked down some more hallways, trying to avoid looking directly up due to the light shining down as I came across another door in the long hallway that was labelled 'Lounge'.

"H-Hopefully I can some r-rest inside of h-here…" I sleepily remarked, slowly starting to feel faint as I approached the door.

I twisted the metal handle open and sluggishly entered the room, on the verge of passing out. As I entered into a room, I noticed that it was just as different as the other rooms, but had pretty much the same layout with maybe a change in decor.

The interior had dark black carpet that felt soft like the dining room's and I was tempted to sleep on just that instead of the couches. The wallpaper was light orange with a sea like background and a bunch of manta rays and sea urchin surrounded by song notes in bubbles. The room had a very calming atmosphere to it. It had the same ocean view but looked to be surrounded by rocks and colorful coral, must have been a coral reef on top of the room.

The room was furnished with about three different purple couches, each with creme orange pillows neatly stacked. In the center of the room there was a wide glass coffee table with a bunch of magazines resting on it that I couldn't make out the titles of. There was a purple glass vase in the center of the table, filled with water and a bouquet of pink carnations. There seemed to be a mini-fireplace at the far end of the room, but it wasn't a traditional one as there was a TV monitor displaying an actual fire but I could feel some of the warmth pass through the screen. There were a few normal round lamps hanging from the ceiling that shone a natural looking blue light that made the room even more peaceful to relax in and gave it a soothing aura, almost like mood lighting.

I noticed two bookshelves that held a wide variety neatly-lined and color-coded books as well as a few decorative blue and green marble vases resting on top of each one. To finish off the coziness of the room, there were a few windows that displayed another ocean view with two purple mini-curtains that covered them if you wanted to rest inside. The room was the perfect place for anyone to enjoy a quiet moment's reprieve.

"I appreciate your kind words, but I'm not interested," said a female voice inside of the room.

"I'm only saying what's only facts," said a male voice inside of the room as well, "I wouldn't call you pretty, otherwise."

"While you say that, I can't help but feel your attempts to flirt with me are futile, in all honesty," the girl's voice was blunt and straight to the point.

"I like a girl with your kind of personality," the male's voice said, sounding a bit flirtatious in tone, "It just makes you look even more attractive as a person."

I turned to where the conversation was taking place and saw two people inside of the room already. They were a girl and a guy, the latter sitting down on one of the couches while the former was sitting in a black wheelchair opposite to the man.

The girl in the wheelchair had dark black hair that was very long and rested on the arms of her wheelchair and complimented her chocolate brown eyes. Her fair white skin had a bunch of freckles on it as it gave her a very girl-next-door kind of look. She had neatly trimmed fingernails that were filed shortm which probably meant she liked to look presentable and neat.

She wore a cream blouse with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath. She wore dark jeans and, funnily enough, she didn't wear any shoes. To complete her normal look, she wore a black headband in her hair as well as a black wrist watch around her left wrist. Her look was both simplistic as well as minimalistic and comfortable, giving her a business casual look or one of those lazy day looks.

The guy she was talking, on the other had, had a weird style in terms of clothing and his appearance made him stand out a bit more compared to the girl.

He had messy shoulder-length violet hair with very bright pink highlights that made him stand out even more in the room. To contrast with his hair, his eyes were olive-colored and almond-shaped and his skin was fair white. He had a scar on his left cheek and a mole underneath his right eye that made his rugged looks even more attractive. He was very skinny and looked thin but, as it is underneath his clothes, it was hard to tell.

He wore a white camouflage hoodie over a black shirt with pink scales patterned on the left side, contrasting his hoodie's simple fashion. On his legs were a pair of violet slacks with a single pink stripe running down the leg of each side and he wore a pair of black comfortable loafers. I noticed he wore a pair of black goggles around his neck and the fingerless gloves on his hands both looked handsewn and were probably one of those DIY projects or something similar.

He had a very odd sense of style, his purple hair and pants clashing with the hoodie, and to say it wasn't eye catching would be untrue. I bet he and Lev would have had a huge discussion over what he was wearing and the fashion designer would probably make him better clothes or something.

"O-Oh..p-pardon me...I didn't m-mean to interrupt.." I meekly said, trying to get their attention.

Both of them turned to face me as the girl in the wheelchair brushed back some of her hair and the guy with the violet hair looked at me with an almost intense stare in his eyes.

"Oh, hello there," the girl shook her head, cupping her hands in her lap, "Don't worry about it, I was just explaining to this guy that I wasn't interested in being his girlfriend."

"Well, that's rude," he stood up from his seat and pushed back some of his violet hair, "I was just being cordial is all, there's no need to brand me as some foul pervert."

"Uhuh," the girl in the wheelchair rolled her eyes at the man, "Anyway, it's very nice to meet you, Vivienne Morris, Ultimate Trader, but you can call me Viv."

VIVIENNE MORRIS - ULTIMATE TRADER

"N-Nice to m-meet you Viv...I'm K-Kazumi T-T-Toriyako…" I hugged my teddy bear tightly, "I d-don't know w-what my talent i-is.."

"Oh, is that so?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at my comment, "Well then, I don't want to interfere with your personal affairs, I just wanted some time alone to gather my thoughts. That was the plan, until this guy started complimenting me unnecessarily."

"Like I said, I'm just stating the truth," he winked at her, giving two finger guns, then turning as he looked at me intensely, "And you, Kazumi, are just too precious for words."

"E-Excuse me?" I blushed at the violet haired guys' random remark.

"You heard me," he chuckled, approaching me as he patted me on my head and smiled proudly, "I just wish I could adopt you and make you my son, that's just how adorable you are."

"U-Uum...t-thanks I guess?" I sweatdropped at the man's overly friendly greeting, "W-Who are you?"

"Oh yeah, my bad," he took a step back and rubbed the back of his head, "Name's Torakusu Chihiro, Ultimate Sniper, call me Tora."

TORAKUSU CHIHIRO - ULTIMATE SNIPER

"S-Sniper?" I asked, a bit confused by what he meant by that, "So y-you specialize in g-guns?"

"In more ways than one," he remarked, seeming a bit jittery and anxiously excited for some reason, "But let's call it that, I used to go to military school, so it's not really uncommon for me to practice and be good at shooting rifles"

"I-I see.." I nervously responded, a bit frightened about what he meant by that, "I-I just came in h-here to rest...I h-have a bit of a h-headache.."

"Is everything alright, Kazumi?" Vivienne asked, rolling her wheelchair over to me, pressing her hand to my forehead, "Did you take any medicine?"

"N-No, not r-really, V-Viv.." I shook my head at the trader, "I just w-w-woke up a little stiff is a-all…"

"I'd be more than happy to grab you some blankets, Kazumi," Torakusu insisted, looking at me with a worried look on his face, "You'll feel much better if you were warmed up."

I felt overwhelmed with gratitude as if I were a child being taken care of by his parents. The trader and sniper both had this worried look on their faces, as Vivienne instructed me to rest on one of the couches and Torakusu left the room to grab some blankets. I just met these people and they're already acting this kind to a stranger, it was oddly bizarre.

"While it might not be the best to move," she sighed, "I think it's good that you didn't faint on the floor."

"I g-guess...t-thank goodness for t-that…" I nodded weakly, noticing an accent in her voice, she must be a foreigner as well like Drago, Lev and Aphrodite.

She then wheeled her chair over and began typing something on a small black tablet-like device that she held in her hands. She seemed almost a bit too preoccupied with the device as she glued her eyes to the screen almost religiously.

"S-So what kind of t-trading do you d-do, Viv?" I asked her, hoping to make some small talk with her.

"Cryptocurrency, stocks, bonds, all that kind of stuff," she said, giving me a rather straightforward answer, "It's nothing impressive, but it's a living."

"I s-see…" I silently responded, feeling the awkward tension in the room getting even more tense as each minute passed by.

I guess she wasn't someone who was used to small talk. I was almost tempted to ask her about her situation with her wheelchair, but I was too scared of offending her so I kept my mouth shut instead. I wriggled around nervously, rested my backpack on the ground next to the couch and laid my body flat on one of the purple couches.

"Hey Viv, w-what's an U-Ultimate?" I asked her politely, noticing her putting down her phone in disappointment.

"Well, that's a rather loaded question, Kazumi," she turned to face me, moving her wheelchair around, "I'm still understanding it myself, but I guess it's about being the best of the best in your field, I suppose."

Her response seemed genuine from the way she spoke. The trader nervously twirled her hair around and sighed deeply, I guess speaking about this kind of thing hit home for her. She shook her head and gave a small confident-looking smile as the door to the lounge opened up. Torakusu had arrived back quickly, carrying a large purple folded blanket in his arms and walked over to us.

"Here you go, champ," he smiled, resting the blanket over my body, almost similarly to how a parent would to their child, "Don't want you getting cold now, heh."

"W-Why are you t-treating m-me like a c-child?" I asked the sniper, a bit confused by his spontaneous generosity, "A-And to s-someone you j-just met?"

Torakusu seemed almost offended by my question, tugging at his hand sewn black gloves and looking at me with a serious look in his eyes. It almost felt like I hit a nerve with him as I saw him recoil back in irritation, but then his mood switched back into an indifferent disposition.

"Don't know really," he shrugged his shoulders, brushing back some of his violet hair, "You just have that innocent look to you, I just can't help but want to keep it like that."

His rather cryptic words made me a bit uncomfortable, but kind of embarrassed at the same times as I started blushing intensely, feeling like someone special to him. A smirk formed on his face as he turned to the trader, fidgeting around in her wheelchair and playing with her phone.

"Why don't we let Kazumi rest now Viv," he told her, opening the door for her like any gentleman would, "Let's go find the others."

"Might as well," she rolled her eyes at the sniper, "Take care Kazumi, don't push yourself now."

"O-Okay.." I nodded my head weakly, watching as the two of them left the room, with Torakusu flipping off the lights in the room and letting me rest.

As I wriggled around on the couch, I looked at the teddy bear and held it up in my arms and stared back at it, the warm light coming from the above aquarium view dimly liting the room as I yawned loudly.

"I g-guess f-finding an e-exit in this p-place is going to t-take a while…" I thought in my head, tugging at the purple ribbon around the bear's neck, "W-Who exactly a-are these people? W-Why are t-they here?"

It was strange if anything. I woke up in this strange place, no memory of who I was or how I got here and I'm here resting when I should be scrambling to find an exit. Why do I feel so weak? I feel so tired all of a sudden and I don't understand why? Is this a side effect of whatever it was that stole my memory from me?

I gave up thinking about that for the time being as I hugged the teddy bear, feeling less alone as it's emotionless stare and oddly comforting body made me feel like I wasn't lonely. My body felt even more weak ever since waking up and I started to feel ten times as drowsy as my eyes started to slowly close. The intense weight pushing down my eyelids and the grogginess of walking around this headache induced aquarium only contributed to my sleepiness even more as I passed out almost instantly.

All I remember after that was my vision getting blurry and the cool waves of the ocean view lulling me to sleep. I felt lighter than air in that moment and all I could ask myself was something I'd never considered since waking up?

Was my memory stolen on purpose?

---

A/N: Hello hello hello lovely people, how are you all doing? I hope you all are doing well and here we are with the first set of character intros for this reworked version of my second story!

I bet you weren't expecting this chapter to come out so soon, now did you XD, welp even I'm surprised at how fast I was able to get this new chapter out so soon as well. I've just been in a slightly energetic and motivated mood lately and a bout of inspiration hit me the other day and I kind of powered through these character intros like no one's business, it was insane XD.

I've been doing fine for these past few days. I've been struggling with a personal bout of mental health and depression lately due to my IRL issues and I wanted to take my mind off of it by writing my feelings in my stories. I just wanted to say thank you all so much for supporting me through my tough times and sticking with my stories even with my rocky and shaky upload schedule. I know it's a long journey, but it honestly makes my day to see you all excited to read my chapters X3. As a dedicated writer, it means a lot to me that you all like my stories and are awaiting them, thank you all so much.

Enough rambling, I hope you all enjoyed these first set of intros, the last eleven intros are coming soon, but there is no way I'm going to make the next one as quickly as I did this one, I'm not that good XD. It will take me some time to make, but I'm even more pumped to get this story and I hope you all enjoy it when it comes out.

That's all I have to say, I hope you all have a lovely day, night, holiday or whatever it is you're celebrating and I will see you all in the next upload or whenever I decide to post next.

Also Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone out there, I hope you all have a nice vacation and stay safe out there, I hope you all are doing well and I will see you lovely readers, authors and otaku later.

Bye bye!