AN: This is going to be an AU story. Although, there will be some things that are canon that exist. This is also the prequel to my other story "Salvation Within Retribution" which is part of what will now be a trilogy. This being the first in the series.

AN2: The cast will be only my OCs this time around. Enough of my rambling, let's get on to the story which I hope everyone enjoys!

AN3: All thoughts from the MC will be in italics outside of speech.

Well, here I am, standing in front of what I am supposed to live in until the second tragedy ends. To be frank, I don't even understand why the Future Foundation would want to protect me. I did reject that letter of invitation for Hope's Peak Academy after all. Am I really that important? I certainly never thought that to be the case. The people of the world may consider me the ultimate novelist, but they always seem to never care about the man behind the novels I write. I include my bio and everything. Except, just about nobody reads those. Heck, I never even read them, so that makes me a hypocrite. The point is, they always want me to keep writing and to never stop. Why is it that I have to do that? The whole idea of ultimates got into everyone's heads once Hope's Peak Academy came into existence. Now anyone who's absurdly good at one thing is given the title and are practically forced to do said thing for the rest of their life. Then it all went to hell and now I'm here, hoping that I can just rest easy until everything is "taken care of." Because, thanks to my title, I'm supposedly being targeted by the remnants of despair as they're called.

I wait a moment to take a final look at the outside world. Aside from the large metal vault door embedded in the small mountain in front of me, everything is quite beautiful. A definite juxtaposition to how the rest of the world looks. There are many large and smaller trees with orange and yellow leaves surrounding the area. Leaves also cover the ground and the yellow grass is quite short. I could hear birds chirping in the distance and an obnoxious cricket.

I really do find the crickets annoying, because I swear that you can never find them and shut them up.

"Are you just going to stand there?" A gruff voice asked, interrupting my thoughts. "The vault doesn't open up via staring intently at it."

I looked to my left to see a slightly taller man compared to my height of 5'7." He has a stocky and very muscular build, and a beige skin tone. He has long dark gray hair tied into a ponytail that hangs behind his head. He also has 4 light gray wide lines of hair reaching just to his ponytail. His eyebrows are dark gray and are hard angled. He also has dark gray sideburns that reach to his jawline and point outwards to his nose. Overall, his face is very sharp and defined, with a big, slightly pointed nose, medium sized, mid-set ears, and a strong and sharp jawline. With a pointed chin, and deep blue, sharp eyes that look very wary. His clothing consists of a pure white, unbuttoned trench coat with a cyan trim, a chocolate colored loose fitting tank top, pure white uniform pants and black military style boots. He is wearing one white leather glove on his right hand, while the other is wrapped in mottled bandages. His golden sheriffs badge glimmered in the light as it sat upon the right shoulder of his coat with his name imprinted underneath it

"Sozen Motozawa"

I happened to recognize that name, this man is the Ultimate Sheriff, responsible for catching many of this world's worst criminals. He always does it so flawlessly as well, at least that's what all the media says. That said, I do feel honored to be in his presence and much more protected.

-Sozen Motozawa: Ultimate Sheriff-

"Don't mind me, I'm just gathering my thoughts and taking one last look at nature before being sealed underground for who knows how long," I responded with a relaxed sigh. "I do know that it requires a password entry to open and I got the password like everyone else."

"Well, I can understand that sentiment, at first I thought you just needed help opening the door. it's important to take in what you won't see for a long time while you still can," He said as he walked towards the keypad on the vault doors. He pressed the numbers 49034 and the doors made a clicking noise, then they spun around till the crease lined up vertically and began to slowly open up. They were quite noisy, sounding much like two boulders being dragged across metal.

"So Sozen…" I started, struggling to think of what to say next, I bit the bottom of my lip for a second. "What do you think of all this? I personally am glad that there's people out there that care about our well being, although I just want to get this over with as soon as possible. At the very least, I can still write to take my mind off of everything."

"It comes as no surprise that we'd be safeguarded by the higher powers, this world needs people like us," he said with a shrug, but then his face turned grim. "Except, I can't help but think we don't know what we're in for…"

"As in, in for bad or good things?"

"To be front, bad things," He stated firmly, crossing his arms. "I know that the Future Foundation has everyone's best interests in mind, but in the past, anything involving ultimates being brought together ended up going to shit. After having met some of the many scarred individuals that suffered such events, I'd rather not be able to empathize."

'I certainly can't doubt his suspicions, as that has in fact, been the case most of the time. Both with Hope's Peak Academy itself and those precarious killing games I've heard about.'

The doors made a loud *Clunk!* sound as they opened all the way, allowing the warm air to flow freely. Some leaves were blown through the doors by a cold rush of air from outside.

"Well, it's either stay out here in the cold or into a relaxing, warm environment," I commented as I headed inside. "I'd much rather risk it in here than out there."

Sozen gazed into the room that had revealed itself to him, he seemed reluctant, but he eventually stepped inside as well. The room was pretty empty, the only thing in here was the vault doors, and elevator doors with windows in front of us. The walls and floors were all made of steel, and had a bluish tint to them. A moment later, I heard the vault doors begin to close behind us, sealing us within this underground facility.

I walked up to the elevator doors and they opened once I got close. The elevator was quite clean and matched the room we were currently in.

"You may take the first step," I said to Sozen, gesturing my arms out towards the elevator. It's only polite and why not treat someone like the ultimate sheriff nicely.

He rolled his eyes and walked on in. I followed soon after. He pressed the only button in the elevator and we began to descend. As we stood in silence, I decided to stare into my reflection in the window. I did dress quite nicely, because I wanted to look presentable to the other ultimates and whoever else works here.

I have an average build and skin tone. I have neatly combed dark blue hair that reaches just past my ears on all sides. My eyebrows match the color of my hair and are nicely trimmed. I have average ears, a thin, slightly pointed nose, and pale blue thin-almond shaped eyes. I'm wearing a clean black dress shirt that's buttoned up fully to support my graceful golden yellow bow tie. On top of the shirt, I'm wearing a dark blue chic vest with 5 golden yellow buttons. It has a fairly deep v-line, which causes the vest to line up perfectly with the jacket's v-line when it's buttoned up. It has a simple, but elegant blanket plaid pattern, giving the suit a dignified and elegant look. The 5 buttons of my single breasted jacket have been left unbuttoned, it's a casual look which still manages to look classy. The jacket is the same length all around, it has no vent, there's a pocket on either side and there's a breast pocket which contains a stylish pocket square. I'm wearing pants which copy the style of the jacket, both in color and pattern and they create a perfect balance with my shoes. I'm wearing a lavish pair of black split toe bluchers. To top it all off I have a trendy black belt, which can be accompanied by a silver watch and a golden yellow scarf wrapped around my neck, reaching the center of my back.

"I'm Omezo Miyasaki the Ultimate Novelist by the way," I said, holding my left arm out for a handshake.

"I was wondering when you'd introduce yourself," Sozen said as he gave me the firmest of all handshakes. "I think you've already figured out who I am right?"

After he released his hand from mine, I found myself rubbing my hand in slight pain.

Had he gripped my hand any harder, I'd have regretted my decision to come here already…

I gave a quick nod. "Yeah, Sozen Motozawa, the ultimate sheriff. Your name does pop up a lot, and your badge gave it away as well," I pointed to his badge.

"Good to know that you can read, most people seem to disregard the name tag entirely," he said with a grin.

The elevator soon reached a stop, and the doors slid open. The first thing I saw was a girl waving hello to us. She was quite smaller than me. She has a slightly thinner than average form, got quite generous curves, probably D's for breasts and warm ivory colored skin. She has medium length, messy, unkempt forest green hair that almost looks like vines growing out of her head, and forest green, ragged eyebrows. Her hair also had large, extravagant pink and white flowers in it. Her face looks pretty average, with a normal sized soft nose, medium, mid-set ears, and monolid eyes that match her hair. Her clothing consists of a split sleeve, seafoam green shirt, a dark green asymmetrical skirt, knee high, seafoam green socks, and dark green moccasins. Looking closer, her skirt has many images of different animals depicted on it, ranging from mammals, reptiles, avians, insects, arachnids, and marine wildlife. Not every animal was present, but the more common ones were, with a few exotic ones here and there.

She was standing in a two person wide hallway, with three doors, one in the back, and one on both of the walls. The metal door on the right was colored white, while the other two were a cool blue. I could see a vertical crease in all of them, most likely meaning that they slide open that way.

"Hello there you two!" she cheerfully said. "So that makes sixteen, meaning no more will arrive."

Sixteen then? Is that really all the ultimates left right now? I can see why the Future Foundation deemed our situation more dire than I thought.

"How late were we to the party?" Sozen questioned, crossing his arms.

"Only about 10 minutes since the last person arrived," she answered, putting a finger to her cheek with a smile. "Soooooo! Who are you two exactly?"

"I'm Sozen Motozawa, the Ultimate Sheriff," Sozen said, pointing to his badge. "This here is Omezo Miyasaki, the Ultimate Novelist."

I raised my hand in a quick hello. "I could've introduced myself, but yeah that's who I am."

"And I'm Erena Takagi, the Ultimate Biologist! Lover and studier of all life on earth!" She announced happily. "And in space."

-Erena Takagi: Ultimate Biologist-

"There's life in space to study?" I gave her a quizzical look.

"No," she replied curtly, furrowing her brow. "But if there was or ever is, I would be studying it. That's the point I was trying to get across."

"Right..." I said with a shrug.

Why do I find myself believing that she actually does think life exists out there? Not that I'm a skeptic or anything.

"I think it's time I try to find the people that should be working here," Sozen said as he walked through the doorway on the left.

'Now that he mentioned it, I'm surprised that no personnel was here to welcome us...'

"Wait! There's actually no-" Erena tried getting his attention. "Aaaannnnd he's gone. Oh well."

"Were you about to say that there's nobody but us ultimates here?" I asked, my eyes looking off to the left.

"Oooo, perceptive aren't you? That is exactly what I was going to say," she responded, with a smile while clasping her hand together. "Can you guess what my favorite animal is?"

"Ummm, is it a panther?" I responded, taking a wild guess, as there's really no way to tell just by looking at her, since she has many different pictures of animals on her shirt.

"Errrrrrrrr!" she said, imitating a buzzer while giving me a thumbs down. "It was a trick question, as I love them all the same."

She gave a joyful laugh and I awkwardly laughed with her. "Yeah, you sure got me there…" I said uncomfortably.

Quite the quirky one isn't she, a bit too much so. I am a stranger after all. Is she like this with everyone?

"Hehehe, wooo, hehe!" she continued to laugh, while slapping her knee.

"It wasn't really that funny you know? It was just a simple trick."

"You only say that because you were the one tricked," she teased with her hands on her hips. "I thought the answer was quite obvious. That made it so much more funny."

"Yeah, I'm not really the best when it comes to trick questions and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here," I admitted, scratching the back of my neck.

"Oh, I am totally going to have so much fun down here with the rest of you people!" she said joyfully, another laugh escaping her lips.

"I'm sure you will, but I'm going to go meet the others now," I told her as I waved goodbye, leaving through the same door Sozen left through. I could still hear Erena laughing as I left.

"Man, he's so awkward, it's hilarious!" she loudly said to herself as if no one could hear her.

Yeah, quite quirky indeed, but I suppose we need someone like that down here even if my brain can't handle them. She did say that there was nobody but us ultimates here, which is… Worrying to say the least.

-Lounge-

I entered what I presumed to be the lounge. It had a large screen imitating a fireplace, which from a distance looked real, with furniture surrounding it, That furniture being two white armchairs and a red couch. There was a lone ceiling light in the center of the ceiling, a bar with many wooden stools around it, and two medium sized tables with four tall metal chairs with a single white cushion around each of them. There was also a pool table shoved in the back right corner of the room. The room had the same metal walls as everything else, but the floor had a black carpet over it this time. There was only one other door in here on the right wall.

I noticed a man sitting down in one of the armchairs, sipping away at some tea. From here I could tell how flamboyant he was from his ey clothing.

"Hello there sir sitting in the armchair," I said semi-loudly.

He cranked his head around in the chair to look at me and stood up, putting his tea down on the coffee table in front of the couch. It now occurred to me how effeminate this man looked. He wasn't too much taller than me. He has soft and smooth looking skin, a slim build, with slight curves, and a chestnut skin tone. His fuchsia hair is quite long, reaching just below his upper back, while he has a long cowlick that is pure white swept and curled to the left. It looked quite fluffy, sparkly, and was practically glowing. Overall, his face looks very sophisticated, with a petite nose, small, mid-set ears, prominent cheekbones, thin fuchsia eyebrows, and almond shaped, blue-violet eyes. He is also wearing a lot of makeup, with black eyeliner and mascara, faded, lavender eyeshadow, barely noticeable blush, violet lipstick, and some sort of vine-like pattern is painted in violet from the left side of his neck up to his left cheek and small white roses bloom from the vines. His clothing consists of a fuchsia single breasted tailcoat with a matching fluffy boa, worn over a pure white dress shirt, violet bell bottoms, and white pointy dress shoes that look like they've just been polished, and black socks. He was also wearing a single earring that looked like a ruby sun hanging from his left ear, a silver belt with a sparkling fuchsia star featured prominently on the front of the belt.

"Ah, A newcomer to this underground place of beauty I see," he said, sounding mesmerized, looking me up and down. "One with a good taste in fashion as well, though you could use a little more…" he uses his right hand to circle around his head, "Up here. No matter though, as I am Arishige Hashiba, the Ultimate Cosmetologist, and I'll have you looking unique and absolutely fabulous in no time!"

-Arishige Hashiba: Ultimate Cosmetologist-

"Or you would be if I wanted any cosmetics, which I don't by the way. Makeup makes my face uncomfortable," I say, putting my hands up as if to say 'back away.'

To be front, I lied, only because I didn't want to offend him by saying how much I disapprove of cosmetics on myself.

"There's a product to solve such issues though! Isn't that fantastic! Such amazing inventions people can come up with these days," he said with a smirk. "I would like to know who you're though."

"I'm Omezo Miyasaki the Ultimate Novelist, and It's still no, Arishige, not that I doubt your abilities, I just don't like to use cosmetics that much," I reaffirmed. "That said, I never thought so much cosmetics would ever look good on a guy, but here you are."

"Oh yes! I do have such a glorious makeover don't I?" he said with an arrogant tone while cockily pointing to himself. "You could too if you just shed any doubt you have for the power of cosmetics on yourself."

He's like a walking advertisement for his own business. Except there's no changing the channels with a live person.

"I probably could, but have no interest in experimenting right now, as I have other people to meet and greet," I said, pointing to the door behind me with my thumb.

"Meeting new people is also such a grandiose thing as well, so much so that even the creepy gals behind you were interested in speaking with you!" he exclaimed, sitting back down in the armchair. "After you're through with them, we'll establish an appointment for you! After all, you didn't say that you had completely no interest in cosmetics! Besides, you could always try cologne or perfume."

Great, not only are there apparently creepy girls behind me, but he also still insists on freaking convincing me to try his cosmetics, despite the fact that I showed absolutely no interest. *sigh*

I swiveled around to come face to face with two girls that looked identical as each other. I jumped back a little as both of their noses were very close to mine. They weren't that much smaller than me. They had a petite form, with soft skin that hides their decent muscles. They have ample breasts, but are quite curvaceous on the lower half, and have ghostly white skin. Their hair is long, reaching to their waists, and is styled in quite a unique way. It's a combination of jet black and magenta, mostly magenta, with a straight fringe on the forehead, two black leather bands hold together many long strands of hair extending from the sides of their head in a double ponytail-esque fashion, there are five braids that create a swirl pattern of magenta and jet black, two in the front off to the sides of their face, one in the back, and the final two are mixed in with the ponytails, the rest of the hair is completely straight, but it looks as if it's just a bunch of leather strands sticking out of their head. The light seems to make their hair shine with how much gel that has been put into it. They have jet black, well trimmed eyebrows that give their expression a sultry look. Their faces are well defined, yet soft at the same time, with small pointed noses, small mid-set ears, slim, defined jaw lines with rounded chins, and magenta, oval shaped, upturned eyes. They have black eyeliner and magenta lipstick on. Their clothing consists of a tight fitting black jacket, and underneath it, a black and white blouse. Furthermore, they have a black double layered knee-length skirt, with the magenta inner layer being longer, lacy thigh high black leggings, and black bondage boots. They are also wearing large magenta bows upon their chests, and a black corset. The only thing that deviated them apart is that one of them has mini angel wings and the other has mini bat wings.

"Hello, we are the Ultimate Twins, Rikako & Shuuyo Tsuchida," They said at the same exact time in an off putting voice while curtsying. "Who might you be, morsel?"

-Rikako & Shuuyo Tsuchida: Ultimate Twins-

'Morsel, that's what they decide to call me? Why are so many ultimates weird like that?'

"I am Omezo Miyasaki, the Ultimate Novelist," I answered. "You don't mind telling me which one of you is who right?

"This is Shuuyo, the estranged archangel," the one with the angel wings proclaimed, posing with her right leg out and her left hand to her heart.

"And this is Rikako, the dastardly demon," the one with the demon wings announced, posing with her arms crossed, her left hand holding her fingers out straight, and her right hand with her fingers curling.

"I'll keep that in mind… hopefully," I told them with a nervous smile. I could also feel a sweat drop slide down my face.

"Oh, I think he's afraid sis…" Shuuyo said into her sister's ear.

"Awww… He sure is sis."

"Like a deer in headlights," they said together in a monotone voice. "It's always the same reaction with everyone."

"I'm not that scared, just uncomfortable, that's all," I defended, curling my fingers up to my lips. "I just wasn't expecting to see two sisters who are basically the same person down here."

And I'm pretty sure you two are purposely freaking everyone out.

"If we weren't the same person," Rikako started, staring into her sister's eyes.

"Then our talent doesn't exist… and that would be unfortunate for us," Shuuyo finished, closing her eyes while holding her and her sister's hands to her chest.

"But you're going to have to deal with us for the rest of your time here, so we do so hope you will be willing and comfortable around us eventually, hmhmhmhmhmhmhm~" they said as they put their pointer fingers under my chin. I just scrunched up my face until they stopped touching me. The way their laugh resonated between the two of them just sends chills up my spine.

"I think it's time I move on to other people now," I quickly said. I wanted to get out of this room as soon as possible. "Be sure to distract Arishige while I'm gone."

I didn't want to have to deal with him trying to get me into a meeting with him after all.

"Oh, we will have a grand time pushing him around…" they said emotionlessly as they strutted over to where Arishige was sitting. They began to stroke his fluffy white hair.

As I walked through the door, I heard Arishige yelp in surprise. I let out a short laugh.

-Cafeteria-

This place was obviously the cafeteria, as it looked just like any old cafeteria. It was quite large and had a tall ceiling. There were four large rectangular tables with metal chairs accompanying each side of the table. There were two double doors on the wall directly in front of me and another door on the right wall. The kitchen was located on the left. The walls were just like the rest of the places, but the floor was made of ceramic tiles, creating a diamond pattern of black and dark blue tiles. It was even absolutely spotless. I could also sense the smell of turkey coming from the kitchen.

I went up to the kitchen to check out the smell. There was currently salad, turkey and muffins in different trays. I could also see all the condiments anyone would need at the end of the table of food.

Pretty good options I'd say, at least they left food for us despite the fact that nobody but us ultimates are here right now. Unless one of us made the food, then I'd be taking my gratitude back.

I took one of the gray trays sitting next to me on the metal table. I took some salad, one piece of juicy turkey and a single muffin, placing it all on my tray. I reached the end of the table and poured myself some water in a plastic cup. I normally like my salads plain so I ignored the salad dressings. I placed my tray down to grab a packet of butter for my muffin, but I accidentally bumped my tray.

"Oh shoot!" I shouted as I slammed the tray back down on the table only to fling the muffin, turkey, and some of the salad in the air.

Great, bad luck already. At least the floor is clean.

I heard someone yell "I gotcha!" Then I saw a man in a teal jumpsuit swiftly catch the muffin from the air, catch each of the salad leaves in a large white bowl, and then make a final dive for the turkey just before it hit the ground. He had landed at my feet, holding everything in his hands, with a unsure smile on his face.

Wasn't expecting that display of swiftness in such a short amount of time from some random individual. Where did he even come from?

"You're lucky I was here to save your food from a nasty fate, heh," He said, handing me the food while still laying on the floor. I took this moment to observe him, with a confused and surprised look on my face. "I almost didn't notice it since I was in the kitchen arranging the freezer. I came out at the right time though."

He was quite a bit shorter than me, but not to the extent of Erena's height. He has a feeble build, and a pale complexion. He has medium length, curly cherry red locks, and s shaped cherry red eyebrows. Overall, his face has soft and weak looking features, with a small, rounded nose, small high-set ears, a weak jawline, big forehead, and gray hooded, downturned, brown eyes. He is wearing two gold studded earrings in each of his ears. He is wearing a modified teal jumpsuit, as the sleeves only reached his elbows, and has what looked like soap bubbles rising up from the legs of the suit. He is wearing dark brown boots, a gold pinky ring on his right hand, a chain necklace with an actual bar of rose pink soap as the pendant. He also has a utility belt with many small cleaning utensils hooked to it, is wearing a teal cadet style cap with the bill pointing slightly to the left, and he is currently holding a mop in his right hand.

I reached my hand out to him, and he grasped it as I helped him up.

"Thanks for the assist!" he said to me, brushing off his clothes with a hand whilst checking his entire body. "Name's Noritoshi Sugiyama! the Ultimate Janitor, or better known as the "Cleanliness Hero!" He turns his back to me and points over his shoulders with both of his hands to the image on the back of his jumpsuit of him holding a wet mop like it was a spear with the name "Cleanliness Hero" underneath it in yellow. "But you can just call me Norito if you'd like." Then he held out his hand with a pleasant smile.

-Noritoshi Sugiyama: Ultimate Janitor-

I give his hand a casual shake. "I don't have as 'grand' of a title as you have, but I'm Omezo Miyasaki, the Ultimate Novelist," I greeted, giving him a somewhat genuine smile. Not that I don't like him, he's already one of the better people I've met, simply because he's chipper and hasn't annoyed me yet.

"Oh I don't care about titles or how famous you are, as long as you're nice, hygienic and responsible, you're a likable person in my books!" He mentioned, giving me an approving thumbs up. "And you seem like that type of person."

He's not wrong, I do tend to be nicer, I do like to keep my hygiene in check, and I clean up after myself. Although, I don't think only those three things make a great person, but I guess it doesn't take much for some people.

"Thanks for recovering my food by the way. Although, I don't think it really mattered considering how shiny the floor is," I said, showing my gratitude.

"I know that it may look clean, but there's still leftover chemicals from my recent cleaning of it, and we wouldn't want food covered in that going into your stomach, possibly killing you now would we?" he stated, grabbing the tip of his hat with his right hand. "Even what I use to kill bacteria and the like are just as dangerous as the little germs themselves."

"Did you use bleach or something? Because I doubt a little soap would kill me," I asked, unsure of why he was making such a big deal of it.

"No, I didn't use any bleach, just soap and water, but it would have affected the taste of your food making your first meal here not as great as it would have been. That's terrible in of itself!" He exclaimed, shaking his head with a smile.

I suppose he has a point, but I doubt the taste of soap is that overwhelming. That and I think the floor is quite dry at the moment.

"You certainly take the well being of others seriously, guess that's why you call yourself a hero of sorts," I commented, scratching my hair. "But, did you seriously clean all of this yourself?"

I can only wonder when he arrived here and what amount of time he had to do that.

"Well, someone here has to do the dirty work and purge this place of scum! Who better, but me for the job? And my work here extends the entirety of what we have access to," he announced proudly, puffing his chest out. "I even did it in an hour tops!"

"That fast?" I questioned, raising a brow.

"It's really not that impressive, considering that we don't even have access to many rooms right now," He responded with a shrug.

Why would that be? It probably has to do with the reason no workers are here. Maybe they're just preparing the other rooms.

"It's appreciated though. With you, things may be a bit more enjoyable down here," I told him, giving him a real smile.

"Heh, all in a day's work!" he exclaimed, spinning his mop around like a baton. "Whoops!" he suddenly fumbled it and dropped it to the floor with a clang. He looked down at it for a moment with an embarrassed look on his face. Then quickly scooped it back up, looking back at me. "That didn't happen."

"Riiight." I made a zipping motion across my lips with my left hand. "What happened again?"

"This guy gets it!" he said with a laugh. "Well, I've got to hit the toilets now, be seeing you!"

He then strode towards the farthest door away from us.

Norito is thankfully someone I can deal with down here and he'll be quite helpful too. A little hyper sure, but tolerable. Hopefully, the rest of the ultimates are tolerable and comfortable to be around. Guess I should eat my recently rescued food now.

I took my food to one of the tables, sat down, and then noticed a cheerful looking girl enter the cafeteria and sit down next to me.

She's about a couple inches shorter than me, is pretty skinny, has prodigious breasts, you can tell she still has some strength in her arms, and has slightly pale skin. Her long bleached white hair is styled in triple braids, each braid is a different color, from left to right it's pasty green, sky blue, and sunflower yellow. Each band is tied together at the base by three different types of musical notes, a quarter, eighth, and sixteenth note. Overall, her face is aristocratic, with a slightly larger, refined nose, medium, low-set ears, soft jawline, with a chin with the barest amount of point to it, and light brown, deep set eyes. She wears a maroon dress that covers just one of her shoulders, leaves the other uncovered and flows down into a graceful draped neckline. It's a close fit which makes the dress look comfortable, yet elegant and stylish. Her arms have been left uncovered. The dress' waist is wide, but it's a slim fit. An elastic band within the dress perfectly accentuates her waist and breaks up the dress nicely. Below the waist the dress widens and has several asymmetric layers from top to bottom. The dress reaches to just below her knees and is longer at the sides. She's wearing cone heels, a strange, yet seemingly perfect choice. She's also wearing a lavish necklace and an opulent bracelet.

So it looks like I'm not the only one dressed for the occasion, not that it really matters. I can't help but feel like I recognize her from somewhere. I know that I should be thinking that with every ultimate I meet here, but I normally don't pay attention to the outside world that much. I only really know of a few ultimates, Sozen being one of them.

"Ah, so you must be Omezo, Norito told me you had arrived after I left the bathroom," the girl said in a soothing and elegant voice.

"Yes, I am Omezo Miyasaki, the Ultimate Novelist," I confirmed, taking a bite of my turkey. "And you are?"

"I'm Sukey Ejiri, the Ultimate Band Director, and it's quite nice to meet you Omezo," she said in a friendly tone with a warm smile.

Now I know why I recognized her.

-Sukey Ejiri: Ultimate Band Director-

"On the occasion, I've actually listened to your band before while I wrote my novels... I can say that you do a great job teaching them," I complimented in remembrance.

Her light brown eyes lit up in response. "That's funny, because I've also read one of your novels… "Angel of the Fallen Painting" I believe," She said with a short giggle. "You are deserving of your title I'd say."

That was my second novel, it was a mystery/drama book about a crime committed by a female artist who commonly uses angels in their work. She had killed a man in such a way that related to one of her paintings and she got caught by a detective, who saw the resemblance of what the angel was doing in the painting in the crime.

"You're not the first person to say that to me," I stated, stuffing some salad into my mouth, chewing then swallowing it. "I'm guessing that you want an autograph right?"

"No, I don't see a need for it, it's rewarding enough just to meet the man behind the books in person," she said, twirling one of her braids between her fingers. "Besides, I don't have anything of value for you to sign."

This comes as a surprise for me. "Huh, most people always want me to give them an autograph whether they have anything of worth for me to sign or not. They even have me sign parts of their body," I said cringing at a certain memory coming back to me. "Even places where no pen or marker should go on a human's body…"

"That's… quite disgusting to hear," she started, covering her mouth as if she would puke. "People can really be too obsessed sometimes."

"They certainly can be, just so you know… I didn't even bother actually signing there for those people," I mentioned, because I don't want anyone believing I would do something so vulgar.

They also acted like I was the bad person there for rejecting their nasty request. The human race can be perplexing at times.

"I figured that you wouldn't have," She confirmed with an understanding look. "I do hope the others haven't been much of a bother for you yet."

"Well, a couple were kind of annoying, but I've only met seven people, including you, so far," I informed her in between some bites of my food.

"You should get to meeting them soon as it's important for all of us to have a colorful harmony with each other since we will be living with one another for a while down here," she proclaimed, raising her arms in the air cheerfully. "Of course, a few people here have clashed with that harmony already, but it can always be resolved in the near future."

That was certainly well said, but it makes sense considering her talent. A band director should want everyone to get along after all.

"You won't have to worry about me, I've been doing my best to find the others to meet them," I assured her with a grin and a shrug, quickly finishing my meal soon after. "Suppose I should resume that mission now. So this is goodbye for now."

"Alright, be seeing you later Omezo!" she said, waving goodbye, with her head cocked to the right with a pleased smile.

I gave a quick wave back as I placed the tray on the counter near the kitchen. First, I tried to open the double doors, but found that they were locked shut, so instead I left through the single door on the left wall that I saw before. It was the same one Norito had gone through, so I assumed I'd be seeing the bathrooms eventually. First though, I walked through a short hallway with one metal door at the end with a sign above it saying "Ultimate dorms". I went through the one at the end first, and entered quite the extravagant room.

-Ultimate Dorms 1st floor-

This room was vastly different from what I've seen so far, as it had more of a regal style to it. There was a large gilded chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling, high above the ground. It created a ton of light with it's crystal-like light-bulbs that hung from it's 16 curved arms. The walls were quite far apart from each other, creating a very large space in the room. The ceiling was even higher than the one in the cafeteria. There were many cone shaped lamps lining the walls, lighting up the room. I could see a balcony up above across from me with mahogany railings. It looked as if it was embedded in the wall rather than outstretched like most balconies. There were two wooden spiral staircases that lead up to it on the left and right sides. The walls were covered with a beige wallpaper and had what looked like birch trims. The floor was made from ceramic tiles, with a large black square carpet strewn across them, it was only a third of the size of the room. There was a door on the left with two golden plated signs, one saying "Botanical garden," and the other "Bathrooms." I saw another door on the right of the room with a similar sign saying "Art room," and a metal door in the wall underneath the balcony, between the stairs, with a sign on the front of it with the word "Laundromat" engraved in a medium sized golden plate. There was also a boy tinkering with a scanner that was on the wall to the right of the door.

I walked up to him and saw that he had some strange device hooked up to the scanner.

He was a bit shorter than me. He has no noticeable muscles, has a slightly larger than average form, and has yellowish skin. semi-long pearl white hair that is very messy and sticks out in various locations from underneath his beanie, and pearl white average eyebrows. Overall, his face has a combination of soft and defined features. He has a rounded, average nose, low-set, small ears, soft jawline, and a small forehead. His orange eyes show a clear sign of his Asian descent. Covering his eyes, he wears some sort of holographic visor; the holographic part of it is light blue, while the metal parts are shiny and white. His clothing consists of a walnut colored beanie, dark purple hoodie with the left sleeve torn off, navy blue straight jeans, and white tennis shoes with dark purple laces and black soles. He was wearing some electronic device like a watch on his left wrist. It has a screen, multiple buttons, and what looks like a speaker on it. It looks like it was made by the same people that made his visor, with a sleek metallic design. It was currently hooked up to the scanner. He also had a navy blue bag slung around his left shoulder, hanging by his right hip.

I watched him as he swiftly tapped on his device.

Is he trying to hack into the keypad? Whatever the case is, he doesn't seem to care how suspicious it looks.

"Hey there," I greeted, tapping on his shoulder, he jumped and turned to look at me and gave a sigh of relief. He didn't say anything. "Who're you anyways?" I asked nicely.

"011010 011100 101001 010011 010010," he said, without emotion, while straight faced.

Binary code? Is he actually a robot or something? How stranger can things get today?

"So is this some kind of joke or are you quite literally incapable of human speech?" I asked with a confused look on my face.

He stared at me for a few seconds, smiled and shook his head. "Heheheheh… I'm just joshing ya! I'm no robot or anything crazy like that, but that was my introduction in binary code," he admitted, pushing up his glasses. "I am Heikichi Yoshizawa, the Ultimate Hacker. Trust me, I'm human."

-Heikichi Yoshizawa: Ultimate Hacker-

I never thought anyone could make sense of binary code, let alone figure out their name using it. Unless he was just saying random numbers and is lying to me. Not like I would ever figure out if that was the case or not.

"Um… anyways, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with that keypad?" I questioned, raising a brow.

He scoffed. "How long were you standing there watching me?" he asked, scratching underneath his beanie. "And to answer your question, the laundromat is locked for some reason, and I'm trying to hack this keypad to unlock it, that's all, no biggie."

"No biggie? I don't think the staff of the facility would appreciate you hacking into their systems like this," I chastised, tapping my fore finger on my arm..

That said, I still have no idea if they're even here, let alone tracking their systems.

"There's no staff here to even care about it as far as I'm concerned. So I don't think it'll become an issue," he defended, shaking his head with a smirk. "We deserve to be able to wash our clothes at least, is it a bad thing for us to have access to that?"

"My guess is no, it's just a laundromat," I agreed. "No large corporations would need to hide a laundromat of all things."

"Exactly, but now it shouldn't be a problem!"

*Click* Soon after he said that a turret slid out of the wall above the door, aiming directly at him.

"What did you do!?" I said in distress, looking ready to dive out of the way.

Ultimate Hacker, but he still managed to trip security. Maybe he's not the best after all.

"Huh, whoops. Better remove that…" he said, with no worry at all.

He started fiddling with his device, his fingers moving at lightning speeds, and then the turret receded back into the wall.

"Strange, strange indeed…" he mused, looking thoughtful as he stared at his device. "The turret only activated when I unlocked the door. That must mean that it responds when the door is opened incorrectly."

Who does he think he's fooling? Treating what just happened like it was nothing.

"Is that really what you have to say after you nearly get shredded?" I inquired. I mean, I envy his calmness, but it's only human to fear death. Unless he lied about being human.

"I know what you are thinking, but I had no reason to worry," he answered with a smirk as he stood up.

Sure…

"I always know how to handle situations like that, you should have more confidence in the Ultimate Hacker," he reasoned, fixing his beanie.

"Do you at least have any suspicions towards this place?" I questioned.

It's best I try to see what everyone thinks. Maybe one of them will shed some light on this.

"To be honest, this situation with no one being here besides us sixteen feels very… Cliché, like horror movie cliché," he said, folding his arms across his stomach and leaning forward. "Might even say that it's Killing Game cliché."

"Sozen said something similar," I responded flatly.

But is it really true? Did the Future Foundation let this happen or did this slip by?

"Susan?" He said, scratching his head, clearly misheard what was just said.

I said it loud and clear, how did he mishear that?

"Sozen, the sheriff," I corrected.

"Oh, right, him. He accused me of breaking the law as I worked on opening the door," he mentioned, frowning. "Though he did not do anything other than that, so I guess I was let off easy."

"You say that like you have been apprehended before," I pushed. If there's a chance he's a criminal, I would like to know what I'm dealing with.

"The only person who's apprehended me was my mother for hacking into her computer since mine broke," He said with a shrug. "She was quite flustered, maybe it was because of her search history…"

Just don't tell me what was there.

"Anyways, I am going to search for the security room so I can shut it down, seeya!" he announced as he strolled out of the room.

Again, I don't understand how he treats everything like it's "no biggie" as he said. But, if this is a killing game, he'd be quite helpful. There I go, expecting this to be that game, until I see a psychotic bear, I cannot be sure about that.

Not wanting to stand around I made my way up one of the spiral staircases to come face to face with a hallway. In the middle of the hallway, where it divides to the left and right, is a small little area with a laundry chute and a cart sitting next to it. There were 8 doors on either side of the hallway. Above the doors were small, pixelated pictures of people. I recognized a few of them as the people I've met and myself. At the end of both directions there was a water fountain. The carpet was a nice warm blue color, and the walls were patterned the same as downstairs. The doors seemed to be made from rich mahogany with brass doorknobs and a peephole.

-Ultimate dorms 2nd floor-

This looks like a hotel, but I don't understand why we would get access to the laundry chute but not the laundromat, that is pretty much counter-productive.

I made my way towards room 5, because it had my picture above it and that must mean it's mine. Before I made it there, someone slowly stepped into the hallway out of room 3, stuffing something into their pocket.

I noticed that he was quite tall, taller than everyone else I've met. He has defined muscles and a slightly slimmer than average build, with porcelain skin. His hair is well combed and brushed to the sides. On the right side, his hair reaches his shoulder and covers his eye halfway, while the left side only reaches his ear. The right side of his hair is jade colored and the left side is jet black. His eyebrows are jet black and look as if they are pointing at the bridge of his nose. Overall, his face looks longer and slimmer than most, his nose small and pointed, ears medium sized and high-set, his chin is pointed, and has jade colored, sharp eyes. His outfit consists of a onyx colored duffle jacket with the collar sticking out, the inside of the collar is jade colored, a cape that seems to be made up of bones that were melded together, straight legged onyx jeans that looked like they were stitched up with jade colored yarn, and onyx combat boots with metal latches. He also is wearing a necklace made up of talons, gems, and mini skulls, with a jade colored pentagram as the pendant. The most peculiar thing was the fact that it looked like spikes of bone were sticking out of the back of his right arm, each one curving towards his arm like a knife.

"You don't look like someone who wants to be spoken to," I commented, covering my mouth afterwards.

Actually, I meant to keep that to myself but I have a habit of thinking aloud at the worst times. Maybe he's friendly? One thing is for sure, I'm about to find out.

"..." He did not even waver one bit, though I noticed his lips curl down.

I waited for a bit, but a response never came, he just continued to stare forwards.

Any longer and I'd believe I'm talking to a statue.

"Hello?" I asked, giving him a small wave.

"Greetings… You should know that it's proper to greet a stranger rather than making an insulting comment towards them," he told me, shaking his head as he turned to face me. If anything made me uncomfortable, it's this guy's stare.

"Why the silence then?"

"I was waiting for you to say hello or at least wave. That is all," he explained, standing up straight. His face returned to a neutral expression. "It's how all mortals should greet when they meet, correct?"

Then I assume he won't tell me his name until I do.

"I'm Omezo Miyasaki, the Ultimate Novelist, and you are?" I said. I'm starting to get tired of introducing myself, the line is getting stale at this point.

"I am Masakado Kashiwa, the Ultimate Cult Leader, please, just call me Kado or master Kado or overlord Kado or king Kado, if you wish."

-Masakado Kashiwa: Ultimate Cult Leader-

I'll admit, I have not seen many ultimates, but a cult leader? Is that a talent that should be recognized?

"Now that the formalities are out of the way, let's get on to business," he said, keeping the same expression.

I do not recall needing to do anything with anyone down here, let alone a cult leader. So what "business" is he speaking of?

"What sort of business are you talking about?" I asked, my brows furrowing.

"Tell me, what was your first thought when I told you my talent?" He quizzed, touching the point of one of his spikes. "Honesty is appreciated and expected."

Not going to test him, might as well comply.

"I was astonished that a cult leader would be recognized as an Ultimate," I answered, not sounding entirely sure of myself.

"Hmph, a common thought it is," He said, looking unimpressed. "My explanation for it is that my cult does not give any reasons to be ignored."

That is… a broad reason. That can be good or bad. Why not just say what he does if it is not something people would appreciate enough to call him an Ultimate.

"I don't want to assume anything, but you don't kill people do you?" figured it's best to get this question out of the way. I do know that not all cults do sacrificial rituals and what not, but it pays to find out.

"..." he thought for a moment. "We've sacrificed many, thousands even, I remember all their horrific looks as their blood left their body, but that's no issue is it?" he said, pulling out a ornery, black dagger. He turned it over and tested it's sharpness with his thumb.

He has some nerve admitting that, I cannot even tell if he's lying considering how he said it. Even if he is, the fact he said it in that manner is creepy and fucked up. That, and he also took out a knife. I'll play along a bit more; hopefully, he does not end up attacking me.

"Uh… It is an issue, a very big issue, especially with our um... current situation," I countered, slowly getting more nervous.

"Cult leader," He said, smirking with his head cocked. He put the knife back in its sheath and placed it in his pocket.

"Huh?" I said, not really understanding what he means by saying that.

"You should know that cult leaders often lie, especially when they wish to recruit someone into their cult," he informed, twirling his necklace.

Now I get it, but he can't expect people to just know that he's lying when they speak to him for a total of three minutes or so.

"Right, I just did not know what to expect from someone I just met, you know?"

"I encourage you to take everything I say with a grain of salt, that is my advice," he advised, crossing his arms.

Peculiar how he gives advice that lessens his chance of getting away with lying.

"So what you're saying is, that you and your cult have never killed anyone?" I inquired.

"My point exactly. We only worship, gift, and recruit, that is all," he responded, giving me a small grin.

"Who do you worship?"

"You can know, if you gain my trust," He said straight faced.

"I'm not that curious about you Kado," I replied curtly.

That was a lie, how could you not be curious about this guy? I just don't want to keep this conversation going any longer.

"Then you've failed," he said, closing his eyes while looking away from me.

"Failed what?"

"My test, if you had succeeded you would have become my servant in this facility, but now you are nothing. A truly missed opportunity," he informed me, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I uh… never wanted to be anyone's servant, that's too much service to be indebted to for someone like me."

"Then we shall conclude this conversation, till we meet again Omezo," He said, walking towards the closest staircase.

A man shrouded in mystery is just what we needed down here... one that may or may not have killed at least one person before. I will need to be cautious around him even if there is not a Killing Game happening.

I then went up to room 5, my room, I tried opening it but it did not work.

How come I cannot open mine? I just witnessed Kado leaving his. There must be a key for it that I need to get.

I was about to walk away, but then I heard a clicking sound, like a door being unlocked. So I attempted to open the door again and it worked. I pushed it open and entered the room, shutting the door behind me.

-Omezo's room-

That's strange, if it opened like that then maybe that means someone else unlocked it, which would entail that there is staff working here or at least someone has access to whatever opens these doors. Every minute things become increasingly weird down here.

I took a gander at my room. The room itself seemed to be designed with me in mind. The walls were midnight blue, and the carpet was golden yellow, matching my scarf. There was a mahogany desk in the back right corner of the room with large stacks of paper on it, a computer, and even a typewriter for some reason. I would never use such a loud and annoying machine but it's cool I guess. I also noticed a circular mahogany container with all the writing utensils I could ever need in it and a lamp with a flexible neck. Of course, there was a bed sitting in front of the back wall in the center. It had fluffy looking white pillows, a blanket matching the walls, a white mattress, and white sheets. Next to it was a bedside mahogany table with a small lamp on it. I noticed that there was a simple looking bathroom off in the far left corner, it did not have a shower or tub. Finally, there was a closet made from the same wood as everything else, centered on the left wall. They said that they would provide us with everything we needed so we did not have to bring anything, which has been true so far. So I should see clothes when I look in the closet.

I opened it up, and well there was clothes and shoes; however, all of them were identical outfits to the one I'm wearing now.

This is the outfit people see me in all the time so it makes sense, but that does not mean it's the only thing I wear. It's no matter though, things like this do not bother me.

Finishing up my observations of the room, I left to be unnervingly close to a very excited looking girl wearing a very strange outfit.