Hey there, apologies for the long wait! Just want to reassure you that this story isn't dead, I've just been struggling to juggle this on top of stuff irl. Recently found a nice groove to my schedule, though, so I hope to get chapters out at least once a month now!
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
"I-I'll be off to look around the rest of the school, then," Sora said, turning to head out of the storage room, her mind still reeling from Tohru's discovery. It had been concerning enough to think about the fact that she nor any of the other Ultimates she'd asked could remember being brought to this place without remembering how, and doubly so when faced with the fact that this place likely had no relation to Hope's Peak.
She didn't even want to think about what finding so many weapons stockpiled in a room like this said about their situation, nor what it said about whoever put them here, someone who had the ability to basically kidnap a whole class of Ultimates. Were they plotting some kind of ransom? Did anyone outside of this place even know that they were missing?
"I'll see you around then, Sora," Tohru said, bringing Sora out of her thoughts as he looked up from one of the many crates in the storage room, putting down a knife that bore a serrated edge. For his part, the mystery Ultimate didn't seem too fazed or shocked about their situation, an oddly curious look dancing across his emerald irises. "I look forward to getting to know you better."
"Same here!" Despite everything, Sora replied with a smile, giving Tohru one last wave as she left the storage room.
With that, the raven-haired girl found herself back at the same crossroads that she had at before, a hallway heading down both to the left and the right, supposedly each leading to a section of the dorms, according to what she remembered from talking to Kanna. The room I probably should've woken up in should be on in the girls' dorm... I'll save that for last then, might as well get a bearing of what the other rooms should be like first.
With that thought in mind, Sora turned towards the left, walking down towards where the boys' dorms should've been. Thankfully, it seemed that Sora was right on that part, seeing as the hallway she was walking down branched off both forward and towards the left once again.
Thinking back to what she had seen from Kanna's map back in the dining room, both the boys' and girls' dorm rooms were lined along hallways that traveled in a square of sorts. So these branching paths are actually the same path just meeting up again, huh? That would make the actual shape of this area a square, then. That matched up with what Kanna had shown her, at least.
It was worth noting to Sora that the walls were painted a different color from the rest of the building that she'd seen so far, these walls being painted a muted shade of blue in comparison to the peeling white that had been the norm for the rest of the building. While the color used to paint the walls had changed, the quality of the paint matched up, the walls of where the dormitories were peeling just as much as Sora had seen from the rest of the building.
Taking a look at her pad's map, Sora could see that a small part of the boys' dorms had been filled out, leaving her to fill out the rest on her own. "It couldn't hurt to get a complete map of the place," Sora said to herself, starting to walk forward down the hallway, putting her tablet away once more after seeing it start to fill out.
It wasn't long before Sora had run into another person, though, being greeted with both a new face and a familiar one once more. Both of them were standing by an open door, one of them carrying a load of clothes over one of his arms. She quickly recognized the familiar face as Yukiko's, calling out to her with a wave. "Hey, Yukiko!"
"Oh, hi there, Sora!" The blonde-haired girl let out, turning her gaze away from the person she'd been talking to and looking over in Sora's direction. Evidently, she had left Ruhani for the time being, currently talking to a rather tall young man. "Funny seeing you here!"
"Your name's Sora, then? Pardon me, I've been making my own way around this place, but I don't believe I've made your acquaintance yet," He said, smiling down warmly at her. His height was one of the first things Sora had noticed about him, noticing he practically towered over Yukiko, looking to be just a couple of inches over 6 feet.
Being well above her own height, Sora couldn't help but look up at him, a smile of her own spreading across her face in both greeting and amazement. "Pleased to meet you, my name is Tamasaburo Sakakibara. In terms of Ultimate Talents, mine would be the Ultimate Butler."
Tamasaburo Sakakibara
Ultimate Butler
"The Ultimate Butler, huh?" Sora repeated in a lower voice to herself, taking another look at Tamasaburo. He certainly looked the part, being dressed up in an outfit that seemed way too formal for a normal high schooler. His outfit consisted of a white dress shirt and a neatly tied navy blue tie, both of which were tucked under a gray vest, which in turn was worn beneath a black tuxedo jacket with silver buttons along the flaps connected by two chains. Below his waist wasn't any different, seeing as he wore black dress pants to match his tux, tied neatly with a belt.
His gloves caught Sora's eyes, though, the raven-haired girl taking a look at the white accessories, noticing some kind of character inscribed on the back of them. From what she could see, though, it seemed fitting, looking to be some kind of katakana, a Japanese character that stood for 'obedience.
Crystal blue eyes gleamed down at Sora, the girl noticing that his hair was silver as well, not unlike the shade she'd seen on Tohru. And even through his clothes, Sora could see that he was fairly built, most likely through experience in assisting others throughout his life.
"A Talent that I've been granted for a good part of my life, and one that I hope to make use of and perfect here," Tamasaburo replied, even his posture being one fitting for an Ultimate Butler, one arm across his front, carrying a load of clothes while the other lay still at his side. "In fact, I was going around and making sure that everyone's wardrobe was in order, as a courtesy, of course."
'Well, his personality seems to fit his Talent to a T,' Sora thought to herself, before having another look at the clothes Tamasaburo was carrying on his arm. They all seemed to be pretty similar, in fact, they all looked exactly like the jacket that Yukiko was currently wearing...
"Interestingly enough, I found that all of the rooms were locked when I was going around," Tamasaburo continued before Sora could question it. "From what I've seen, they lock by themselves, and open using those tablets that everyone seems to have. I myself was locked out of my room, until I used my tablet, that is. Of course, I humbly knocked on all of the doors I went to."
"So these tablets double as our room keys, huh?" Sora let out, taking her own tablet briefly and looking it over. Her next thought was to ask Tamasaburo how he was able to figure out whose rooms were whose, but her eyes soon caught something that answered her question. Glancing over at the open room that Tamasaburo was standing, Sora noticed a pixelized image of the butler on the door, one that wasn't unlike the ones that were on her tablet's roster of students, an image that resembled him well.
With that question answered for her, Sora's attention went back to the pile of jackets on Tamasaburo's arm. "Sorry for asking, but you said you went to all the rooms, right? Then... why do you only have Yukiko's clothes with you?"
"Well, for the people that did wind up opening the door for me, I found that not only were their closets filled up completely by outfits identical to the ones that they had on already, but that they were impeccably clean as well," Tamasaburo replied. "In fact, I was hard-pressed to find a single outfit that required my attention, as unclean as everything else in this school is."
"For the Ultimate Butler, that's definitely saying something..." Sora said, before reiterating her question. "But then what happened to Yukiko's clothes?"
"A-Ah, that was my fault!" Yukiko butted in, a sheepish look on the blonde's face. "I had gotten some soda from the kitchen and went back to my room when Tama here came knocking on my door. I guess it was just my luck that I was looking around in my closet when it happened..."
"Geez, some luck for the Ultimate Lucky Student, huh? Getting your clothes wet without a washing machine in sight," Sora joked, unable to keep a smile off of her face at the thought of the big, humble Tama spooking Yukiko into messing up her clothes, despite all the concerning stuff that she'd been discovering. "Shouldn't your Talent prevent stuff like that from happening?"
"Hey, for all the good luck I get, there's bound to be some bad!" Yukiko replied, a grin on her face as well, albeit more sheepish than the one Sora was currently wearing.
For his part, Tamasaburo shifted the clothes he was currently carrying, allowing them to rest more suitably along his arm. "Well, Miss Yukiko, perhaps good fortune will find you once again, and we'll wind up finding a washing machine. And if not, I'm willing to wash your clothes myself in the bathroom sinks until we find a better solution."
"C-Come on, Tama, you don't have to do all that!" Yukiko said, although the small smile and light blush across her cheeks were enough for Sora to see that she didn't mind all that much.
"Nonsense, it is simply the role that I am willing to play for you," Tamasaburo replied, a gentle smile spreading across his own face as he turned his gaze towards Sora. "And of course, my offer extends to you as well, Miss Sora, should you or anyone else require my assistance."
Her own silver eyes looked upward to meet Tamasaburo's, smiling appreciatively up at the butler. "Thanks, I'll be sure to keep your offer in mind in case I need anything!" Sora said, smiling at both him and Yukiko. "Nice to meet you, Tamasaburo, and it was good to see you around again, Yukiko!"
"Same here, Sora!" Yukiko said, a smile of her own across her face as she waved Sora goodbye, the raven-haired girl picking up a couple of voices further down along the boys' dorms. Not recognizing them as voices that she'd heard before, Sora figured she'd go and meet them, and fill out the rest of the boys' rooms on her map in the process.
With that, Sora turned towards where the voice had come from, having heard it further down the hallway lining the boys' dorms. The raven-haired girl continued forward down the hallway, her eyes glancing at the pixelized portraits that were placed along the doors, recognizing some of the boys she'd met already.
Shin, Kenji, and Tohru's were all rooms that she could identify, among a bunch of others that the silver-eyed girl hadn't met yet. Two of those people were just a ways up ahead of her, interestingly enough; both of them boys and one of them being one of the portraits she'd seen on her way.
"You know, this would be a WHOLE lot easier if you just dropped the cloak and dagger shtick," One of them was saying, an individual standing at about 6 feet, if Sora had to guess. From where she was, he seemed to be a similar height to Shin, the boy kicking lightly at a box at his own feet.
His voice was loud and yet raspy and low at the same time, echoing a bit off of the halls. His hair was a sloppy mess of brown, styled into a mohawk that looked to be about two inches or so in length, dyed blonde along the upper last inch. "Or do you just expect me to pick that up myself?"
Leaning against an open door, Sora noticed his figure was rather lean and muscular, something that she would've expected to see on an athlete. On top of that, he was wearing a dark green jersey shirt with black workout shorts, black cleats completing his athletic outfit.
Two things definitely stood out about him, though, as Sora soon noticed. Firstly, he seemed to have a large amount of burnt tissue covering his lips, chin, and throat; even reaching down to his chest. And secondly, this being the thing that stood out the most; he lacked arms, only having two small stubs that ended just after his shoulders.
Sora's gaze must've lingered on him, for more than she had realized, because she soon found herself on the receiving end on a glare. His eyes were sharp and gray, a shade not unlike her own. "Oh, enjoying the show, are ya?"
"Oh, sorry," Sora found herself saying, watching as the look in the boy's eyes only harshened. Figuring she misspoke, Sora started over. "Sorry, I've just had a lot on my mind while looking around this place and meeting everyone..."
Noticing his glare only lessened slightly, Sora stepped forward, almost extending her hand before catching herself. "My name's Sora Amamiya, the Ultimate Jack-of-All-Trades, nice to meet you! And... you are?"
"The Ultimate Jack-of-All-Trades, huh...? That must be nice, having everything come easy to you," The boy let out, frowning a bit to himself. "Oh, and my name's Kisho Ashido, but Hope's Peak likes to refer to me as the Ultimate Soccer Player."
Kisho Ashido
Ultimate Soccer Player
"Hope's Peak likes to refer to you?" Sora questioned, her mind picking up on the way Kisho had brought up his Talent. "Do you not like the title Ultimate?"
Kisho chuckled, a raspy noise coming out of his mouth. "Look, I'm probably the farthest thing from an Ultimate. Hope's Peak cares only about talent, if I had any of that I wouldn't have to work so damn hard just to keep up with the best players. All I am is a token disabled kid brought in to make the school look more 'disabled friendly'."
"I'm sure you have a great amount of Talent if you were able to get into Hope's Peak!" Sora insisted, despite Kisho scoffing in reply. "I bet you've got tons of skill on the field!"
"Skill maybe, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any Talent in me," Kisho replied, glancing down at his feet, kicking lightly at the box in front of him again. "Hey, mind helping me bring this back into my room? Mr. Cloak and Dagger over there's just been staring at me the whole time, and I can't pick this up for obvious reasons."
He glanced across the hallway, at the other boy leaning against the wall. The other boy looked just a bit shorter than 6 feet, maybe by a couple of inches or so. Sora could see why Kisho kept him referring to him with the term 'cloak and dagger', he was dressed almost entirely in black.
The boy was wearing a black coat that he'd left unbuttoned, revealing a white button-down dress shirt underneath, along with black dress pants and black dress shoes. He had charcoal black hair as well, combed into a side-swept pattern that covered his right eye, the eye that was left uncovered being a deep shade of blue.
"He's just been staring at you?" Sora questioned, the raven-haired girl moving over to the box in front of Kisho. "You don't even know his name?"
"Nope, like I said, he's just been-" Kisho let out, before the boy quickly cut in, his voice clear and smooth, especially in comparison to Kisho's. There was a faint tone underlying his voice, although it was so faint Sora thought she might've imagined it at first, unsure of what it was.
"Mikado Itake, if you have to know my name. And while we're sharing Talents, mine is the Ultimate Manipulator." He informed, turning his gaze to Sora as he spoke, much to Kisho's visible surprise.
Mikado Itake
Ultimate Manipulator
Eyebrows raised slightly before relaxing, Kisho let out an annoyed sigh. "Well now, you've got quite the shady Talent, don't ya, Mr. Cloak and Dagger?"
Mikado turned his blue eyes back to Kisho at that, letting out a scoff as he replied. "Feel free to call me whatever sobriquet you wish, but don't presume to know anything about my Talent."
A dry raspy chuckle found its way out of Kisho's mouth, the soccer player smirking in return. "Eloquent, ain't we? That all your Talent is, just a lot of fancy words?"
Mikado's eyes narrowed slightly, his mouth a thin frown after Kisho's retort. His stance shifted slightly, his arms falling to his side as he glared over at Kisho. Sora couldn't put her finger on it, but something about watching Mikado like this felt… off.
"If you're concerned about words, I suggest you should watch yours," The charcoal-haired boy let out, his voice becoming slightly lower as he made his threat. Kisho only chuckled again, apparently pleased that he had finally gotten some kind of reaction out of Mikado.
"Concerned about my words now, Mr. Cloak and Dagger? Gee, maybe with that fancy Talent of yours, you could t-" What happened next was so quick, Sora questioned whether she was seeing things, rubbing her eyes slightly. Mikado rushed forward, closing the distance between him and Kisho, cutting the soccer player off with a swift punch to his gut.
Letting out a surprised gasp, Kisho found himself falling down to the ground, while Sora left the box behind to move in between Kisho and Mikado, although she wasn't sure what she would do if Mikado deigned to strike Kisho once more.
Mikado simply smirked, however, turning away from Sora and Mikado. "I would hope that you have a better understanding of my Talent now. You're invited to mock it again, at your own peril, of course."
"What're you talking about, you just ran up and punched Kisho!" Sora protested, frowning as she glared at Mikado. Hearing a 'Tch,' from the boy behind her, though, Sora turned to look at Kisho.
The pained look on his face was gone now, replaced with an annoyed expression, which in turn was paired with a rather deep frown. "Manipulation, huh…?" Kisho let out, beginning to get himself off of the ground. "Tch, help me out Sora, would'ya?"
Sure, but didn't he hit you pretty hard, though…? Sora thought to herself, taking another look over Kisho, placing her hands around his torso as she helped. Whereas she would've expected Kisho's jersey to be ruffled, or show any sign of being struck, she couldn't find any. And with Kisho's pain apparently gone, it was almost as if Mikado didn't even-
"Body language, hand gestures, choice of phrase, and vocal cues," Mikado let out, not even looking back at Sora and Kisho as he started to walk down the hallway. "Which do you think I used to pull my little 'cloak and dagger' trick? I'll bid the both of you farewell for now, and leave you to ponder that question."
"So…" Sora let out, hardly believing what had just happened herself, watching Mikado walk away, his visage slowly disappearing down the hallway. "He didn't really hit you?"
"Hell if I know…" Kisho let out once he was back on his feet, glancing downward at the ground. "But if he wants to show off 'Talents'..."
He suddenly kicked his left foot forward, his cleats making contact with a sizable pebble on the ground, sending it flying. Sora watched as the pebble flew, bouncing off the wall on the left, the one to the right, and the left then. Not once did the pebble start to lose speed, continuing to ricochet off of the walls and down the hallway.
Eventually Kisho let a smirk play across his face as the pebble neared its mark, reaching the end of the hallway just as Mikado smugly turned the corner. As the charcoal haired boy turned the corner, the pebble followed right behind him, a smack! echoing back down the hallway.
"Heh, that definitely makes me feel better," Kisho said with a chuckle, any annoyance gone from his face, a satisfied look replacing it. He turned his attention back to the boxon the floor, glancing at Sora. "You don't mind picking up that box now, do you?"
Sora blinked, having found herself still staring down the hallway. "Oh, sure! I'll help you bring it into your room now!" She said, nodding as she bent down to pick up the box.
When she lifted the box up, however, she was met with the sight of Kisho grinning widely. Confused, she tilted her head to the side, a questioning look in her eyes. "Is what's in this box that important?"
"Nah," Kisho replied, that wide grin still on his face as he started to walk into his room, making a motion with his head for Sora to follow. "Now that Mr. Cloak and Dagger's gone, I can be properly psyched about having a cute girl helping me out!"
Sora was already entering Kisho's room when she heard that, her cheeks turning slightly red as she stopped in her tracks. "H-Huh?"
After her initial embarrassment, Sora helped Kisho unpack the stuff in his box, which was evidently full of clothes that looked identical to the ones he currently had on. After hearing something similar from Tama and Yukiko, Sora assumed the same applied to everyone else, as strange as it sounded.
Still, she learned from Kisho that the clothes weren't in the box initially, as they had been in the closet when he had woke up in his room. Asking him further about the clothes, she found out that he'd made a mess in trying to inspect his closet and had strewn most of his clothes on the floor. That was when he said Tama had shown up, committed to properly cleaning and folding Kisho's clothes, having gotten a cardboard box from somewhere.
Having found him overbearing, though, Kisho shooed him off, urging him to find someone else to help. He'd left the cardboard box in the hallway when he'd left, though, leaving Kisho to start pestering Mikado about helping him carry the box in. When she asked him, Kisho said he wasn't sure when Mikado had shown up, and he didn't seem to care much about when.
Something that did stand out to Sora though was the fact that Kisho had spoken about coming to the school, and then waking up in his room with no memory of being there.
It was something that matched with what the other students had told her about their own experiences, and yet didn't add up with her own... The fact that Sora had woken up in that classroom on her own, as opposed to in a room like everyone else she'd asked, was troubling to say the least.
Still, after filling out her map of the boys' dorm rooms, Sora was currently on her way to the girls' side, passing by the storage room where she'd met Tohru once more. Each of the boys she'd met had a room of their own, each with a pixelated portrait in the same style that she'd seen by Tamasaburo's room. She could only assume the same would apply to the rooms on the girls' side, and she was growing interested in seeing if she had a room for herself.
After a short amount of time, Sora found her way to the girl's dorms. The walls were painted a pink shade over here, one that seemed to be as muted as the blue from the boys' side, and much like the entirety of this place's walls, the paint cracking and dry. Aside from the peeling paint- which Sora had long since stopped noting as important information, Sora couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be a low noise coming from behind her.
It was almost as if something was rolling down the hallway behind her, so Sora turned her head to the side, curiously expecting to see the source of the sound. Suddenly, from her right, a girl on a skateboard zoomed around a corner, letting out an excited whoop as she rolled down the hallway.
She sped by Sora, before pushing the back end of her skateboard down, coming to a halt in front of her. Sora couldn't help but take note of her technique as she kicked on her skateboard, sending it flipping upwards and catching it in her right arm.
The skating stranger looked her up and down, before smiling widely. "Heh, haven't seen you yet, have I?" Like with the other students, Sora looked her over, taking in her appearance.
The skater was shorter than her, by about one or two inches, yeah, but with people like Shin, Kisho, and Tama walking around towering over her, it was almost refreshing to meet someone shorter than her. Aside from being small, she had a rather average build, with a chest that was a bit bigger than Sora's own. Her skin was rather pale though, something that Sora noticed because her outfit was showing quite a bit of it.
Looking back up at the girl's face, she noticed that the girl still had that smile on her face, crimson eyes glinting excitedly at Sora. Her hair was colored lilac, tied with red bands into two buns. Aside from her buns, two locks of hair framed both sides of her face, as well as an ahoge atop her head that formed the shape of a heart.
As for her outfit, the girl was wearing a rather loose and low-cut white tank top over a red camisole, the camisole tucked in underneath black denim shorts. And for her feet, she wore beat-up hightops that looked like they should've been thrown out a long time ago.
Taking it all in, Sora blinked before registering what the skater girl had said. "Well, yeah, we haven't been introduced yet. I'm Sora Amamiya! Nice to meet you, I'm the Ultimate Jack-of-All-Trades!"
"Jack-of-All-Trades? Interesting! Maybe a bit flashy sounding, but I like it!" The girl smirked and pointed her unoccupied thumb at herself, exposing a tattoo along the inside of her left forearm, depicting a VII, the Roman numeral for the number seven. Even taking a closer look at her, Sora noticed that the girl had a number of bandaids all over her body.
Wow, this girl's pretty banged up… Sora thought to herself as she smiled appreciatively at the girl's comment. Somehow I don't think it's anything new to her… maybe she's the Ultimate Skater?
"Hehe, I'm betting that you're wondering what my Talent is now," The girl said, almost as if she had read Sora's mind. Her mannerisms seemed to be a bit fidgety, the lilac-haired girl shifting her body from side to side as she talked. "I'll just keep you wondering for a little while longer then! I don't think it'll be too hard to guess though, and you seem a bit more quick on the uptake than a few others I've seen."
"I don't suppose your Talent is being the Ultimate Skateboarder?" Sora suggested, offering her first guest as the two girls began to walk down the hallways of the girls' dorms. Like the boys', it seemed to be a rectangular hallway that looped back onto itself.
"Nope!" The girl replied, her heart-shaped ahoge bouncing as she walked alongside Sora. "Guess my skateboard and I made a good impression though, good guess! For now, though, my name's Unmei! Feel free to call me Mei, though!"
The two of them continued to walk along the hallways, Sora spotting portraits of the other girls she'd met so far along the way, besides doors to rooms like she'd seen with the dorms belonging to the boys.
"So! Sora, what do you think of this place so far? Assuming you've been to enough places to form an opinion, of course!" Unmei, or Mei continued, turning her head to send a friendly smile Sora's way.
Sora took this opportunity to pull out her tablet, making her way to the map function. She had already entered the girls' area in tandem with Mei, the area now having lit up on her map. Aside from a section up on the top left of her map, which would've been near the classroom she'd woken up in, her map was now completely filled.
"Well," Sora started, a finger coming up to scratch a spot behind her ear. "I've definitely seen enough to form an opinion on this school. It definitely is strange… The last thing I remember before waking up in this place was walking into Hope's Peak, but the state of this place makes me think it's anything but."
"Hm, I guess you'd expect a school like Hope's Peak to be better looking, right?" Mei replied, her crimson eyes looking over to the walls surrounding them.
"Yeah, stuff like dust everywhere, and paint drying and peeling off all the walls really doesn't seem like things you'd find at a prestigious school for Ultimates," Sora agreed, spotting a pixelated portrait of Mei beside one of the doors. "Huh, guess this is your room, then?"
"Yep! That's the room of Unmei Nagato, the Ultimate Daredevil!" She said with pride, before letting out a small gasp. The smallest of frowns on her face, she curled her hand into a fist, banging it against her forehead. "Dammit, did it again…" she grumbled.
Unmei Nagato
Ultimate Daredevil
"Hm, did you mess up your little game that quickly?" A voice called from ahead of them, Sora looking ahead to see another girl up in front of them.
Looking over the final girl, Sora found that she had a rather slim, almost athletic figure. She was about a couple of inches away from Sora and Mei, but the raven-haired girl could still tell that she was around her own height, give or take an inch or so.
She had long hair, colored dark red and currently tied up into a ponytail. Sora noticed that her hair was dyed leading up to the ends, a gradual coloring that reminded her of a warm flame. Some of her was tucked out of her eyes as well, kept to the side of her head with dark hair slides. Her eyes themselves were a shade of light green, bright and intelligent, with her ears studded with rather large star-shaped accessories.
As for her outfit, it consisted of a short-sleeved white t-shirt worn underneath a pair of dungarees that went down to her knees, the legs rolled to that point. The dungarees themselves were colored much like her hair was, with pastel shades of yellow, pink, and purple, all fading into each other in an ombre effect.
One of the straps for her dungarees, the one of her left shoulder was undone, and she was wearing red slip-on trainers with trainer socks of a similar color. In addition to all that, she was wearing a white flower choker, along with a white bracelet on her right wrist.
Mei's eyes focused on the sight in front of her, her crimson eyes lighting up in recognition. Her brow furrowed slightly, so much so that Sora barely noticed it. "Ah, so it's you again. Well, for your information, I didn't mess up that quickly!"
"For your sake, I hope you didn't," The other girl replied, a calm smile on her face as she approached the pair. "Annoying as it was, you seemed to get some enjoyment out of keeping your Talent from me."
Mei blinked, looking at the other girl with almost a blank look as she turned her head slightly to the side. The faintest of smirks played across her lips, though, as she opened her mouth to reply. "Nothing wrong with having a bit of fun, is there? Or maybe you're just a bit salty that you didn't get to guess my Talent?"
"I'm not sure that you exposing your Talent to me is a failure on my part," The redhead replied, placing her arms behind her head. Her voice seemed almost frighteningly calm, actually, her voice somewhat quiet while still sounding self-assured. "If anything, I'd say the fault's on you."
Sora flicked her eyes between the two of them, as Mei whipped her head back towards the girl. Huh, these two seem somewhat hostile… Maybe they got off to a rocky start? The Ultimate Jack-of-All-Trades thought to herself.
It seemed as though Mei was about to make a retort towards the other girl, leading to Sora hastily intervening. "A-Anyways!" The raven-haired girl exclaimed with a slight flail of her hands, looking over at the redhead. "I'm Sora Amamiya, the Ultimate Jack-of-All-Trades! What's your name?"
"The Ultimate… Jack-of-All-Trades…? Does that mean that you're good at everything then?" The other girl said, blinking over at Sora.
"Kinda, when I got scouted, they told me that it means that I have the potential to master anything and everything!" Sora nodded slightly as she grinned at the girl.
"Wow, that's kinda awesome! So that means you'd just be naturally talented at anything you try? Must be really nice." The girl let out a small smirk, nodding in approval. "Don't go stealing my Talent, now."
"Speaking of Talents, shouldn't you have introduced yourself by now?" Mei spoke up, having stayed silent while watching the other two girls exchange words, her eyes looking around restlessly.
"Ah, that's right!" The redhead nodded, forgetting her prior disagreement with Mei and agreeing with her. Her next words were said with pride, her voice light and relaxed all the while. "I'm Ume Ashihara! The Ultimate Best Boy." The girl said with pride.
Ume Ashihara
Ultimate Best Boy
Upon hearing her Talent, Sora couldn't help but realize something different about the way Ume spoke her Japanese. I didn't notice it before, but while she uses feminine terms to refer to herself, pretty much everything else in her way of talking is masculine, like the other boys I've talked to so far.
Still, Sora grinned after Ume said her Talent. "It's great to meet you, Ume!" Still, Utimate Best Boy? I can't say I've ever heard of what that is… seeing as she's not a dude, I guess it's not a title akin to Pageant Queen or something of that nature.
"What even is the Ultimate Best Boy?" Mei questioned, her eyes lighting up with some interest as she glanced back at Ume. "I mean, you are a girl, right?"
"Hm…?" Ume let out, slightly tilting her head to the side with a questioning look on her face, before her lips broke out into a small girl. "Oh no, I'm definitely a girl. Being a best boy… hm, I guess it'd be easier to think of it as being kind of like a stagehand. I excel in backstage work for theater and movies, and not to toot my own horn, but I can pretty much handle running the departments I help out myself."
"I would've been a little surprised if you were a boy…" Sora let out, giggling sheepishly before she continued. "So, you work with cameras and lighting?"
Ume nodded. "Those are the two areas I find myself working in the most, working as basically the right-hand man to the lead gaffer and lead key grip."
"Lead…?" Sora trailed off, as Ume let out a slight chuckle.
"Gaffers work with lighting and electricity, and a key grip means someone who deals with camerawork and the like," The fiery-redhead explained. "Basically, it requires me to have quite a bit of skills under my belt, but I don't mind, seeing as I've been bitten by the theater bug since I was a little kid."
"That sounds cool and all," Mei let out, bouncing slightly on the soles of her feet, her gaze looking reminiscent. She's pretty fidgety, huh? Sora observed before the lilac-haired girl continued. "But nothing can top the feel of the thrill you get when you do what I do!"
Ume's features clouded over slightly at that, tossing a glance Mei's way, looking as though she was about to make a retort towards the Ultimate Daredevil. Seeking to avoid being in whatever was going on between the two, Sora cut in, her voice coming in between the two Ultimates once again.
"W-Well it was nice to meet you guys, but I think I'm gonna go and check out my room now." Sora said, moving past Ume and walking down the hallway, waving bye to the two girls as she left.
Now that she could recognize all of the portraits along the girls' hallway, it wasn't long before Sora found a portrait that resembled her own appearance. There was one thing that bothered her about her little portrait, though, something that she remembered discarding shortly after waking up.
That weird black and white hairpin was depicted on her portrait, causing Sora to frown a bit. It wasn't something that she ever remembered wearing, and yet whoever had made these portraits had seen fit to include the pin that looked like some weird bear.
Nevertheless, Sora took out her tablet as she approached her room's door, remembering how Tama had told her it doubled as a room key. Holding it to the doorknob, she spotted an electronic lock above it. The lock had a red light, turning green about 5 seconds after Sora held up her tablet.
Hearing a click from the door, Sora opened her door up, entering her room. She'd been in Kisho's room while helping him unpack his clothes, and hers seemed to be of a similar design. The paint for the rooms was in a noticeably better quality than the other walls in the school, and both rooms were painted a pale yellow.
The room itself was simplistic, a bed, desk, and a closet being the most noticeable features in the room. Walking over to the closet, Sora opened it up, finding a number of copies of the clothes she was currently wearing.
It was kinda weird, but what was even weirder was the fact that the desk in the room was pretty clean. With how beat down everywhere else seemed to be, she hadn't expected her desk to be this clean.
Walking over, Sora traced the top of her desk with her hand. Definitely clean, she confirmed, bringing her fingers together, feeling no dust lingering on her fingertips. Better cleanliness, better quality overall, if this is my room, it won't be too bad…
With that thought in mind, Sora sat on the edge of her bed, setting her tablet down beside her. The raven haired girl took a moment to breathe, recounting everything she'd experienced after waking up so far. Let's see… For starters, I woke up in an empty classroom with blocked off windows, with a weird black and white bear pin in my hair. No memory of how I got there, the last thing I remembered was walking up to the entrance of Hope's Peak.
Thinking this was Hope's Peak, I exited the classroom, exploring this weird building. The paint is peeling, stuff is dusty, and although there were classrooms, there were no teachers or anything like them around. I did meet a bunch of other Ultimate students, though, sixteen of them exactly.
All of them remember walking into Hope's Peak, but unlike me, they woke up in their own dorm rooms. I haven't asked about the hairpin I had, but it's pretty weird that we found ourselves in different places. Each with their own Ultimate Talents, if it wasn't for this weird situation, I think I'd enjoy being in a class with them.
After I met Shin, the Ultimate Detective, in the kitchen, however, this situation went from weird to very concerning. 17 students who were supposed to go to Hope's Peak, waking up in a place with no memory how they got there? That was concerning before Shin suggested that this place might not even be Hope's Peak.
The Ultimate Jack-of-All-Trades subconsciously touched her red bow, fidgeting with the material. And that was before I found that weird room with all the weapons. It's not like I've met an Ultimate Weapons Master so far… And I still can't get over how abandoned and empty this place is… There's no teachers… nobody… And it doesn't seem like that many people are that suspicious of this place, even considering the weird way everyone woke up.
To be fair, maybe they haven't noticed or seen stuff like the weapons room… But even people like Tasai who said they'd been all over never mentioned anything about that room. Maybe he didn't want anyone to panic?
"Come to think of it… there was someone who seemed to be wary of this place as well." Sora hummed, as she eyed her tablet, picking it up in her hands and tapping on the Profiles function.
The Rules and Regulations, as well as the Notes function still seemed to be grayed out, she noted, with the Profiles, Maps, and Journal section still available to her.
"Where is he… Ah! That's right," Sora went through the Profiles, noticing that 17 out of the 18 icons were filled with pixelated portraits of the Ultimates she'd met so far. Still, she found Shin's portrait, clicking on it and being presented with an image of him. "The Ultimate Detective, Shin Takanaka."
He was certainly interested in exploring the school, even leaving Kenji to keep an eye on those double red doors I saw earlier. Sora thought, thinking back to where she'd met Kenji and Masumi. I wonder if he's stumbled upon that weapons room where Tohru was. With how wary of this place he seemed to be, that'd definitely be something to show him…
Right then, Sora heard a weird sound, bringing her out of her thoughts. It was a staticy, buzzing sound, followed by a shrill, high-pitched voice.
"Ahem-! Testing, testing! You brats better be able to hear me!"
The raven-haired girl jumped up at that, her ahoge bouncing with surprise. That voice definitely didn't sound anything like a student, and with the way it was talking, it was the first sign of anyone being in this place other than the students. She quickly scanned the room for the source of the noise, noticing a monitor in the corner of her room.
The screen itself was blank, but the voice was still coming out of the speakers nonetheless.
"Esteemed guests of the Ultimate Complex! If you can hear this, report immediately to the auditorium! If you don't…" The voice sounded again, before giggling. "Well, we wouldn't want anything to get in the way of your new school life here, now would we? Be sure to be there or be square!"
A click came out of the speakers as the voice stopped talking, as if a microphone was turned off. Her mind racing, Sora thought of the possible places the auditorium could be. The only places she hadn't checked yet was the hallway directly opposite of the dining room, and whatever was behind those double red doors.
"Judging by the Profiles, I haven't met everyone yet…" Sora let out, looking over her tablet once before putting it away once more. "But I'm pretty sure everyone's gonna be heading to the auditorium after hearing that message…"
Standing up from her bed, Sora touched a hand to her hair ribbon, steeling her nerves as she walked out of her room. Faced with the first real chance since she'd woken up to find answers, Sora decided to go about finding where the auditorium was.
If only she had any idea what was in store for her…
Next chapter will be the final part to the prologue, where the premise of the killing game and our final Ultimate will be introduced! Again, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to bring the next one to you soon!
I've been thinking about making a Discord for this story too, feel free to let me know what you think of the idea!
