I stared at the eye, all sorts of thoughts running through my head. Negative thoughts, like, 'Are we really in a killing game?' and 'Did the Ultimate Despair have a hand in orchestrating this?'

But I also tried to remain optimistic. The Tragedy is long gone, and people like the Future Foundation must be looking for us by now. The entire country must be looking for us by now! Hope's Peaks return was a wildly televised (and a little controversial) event, so I'm sure once people hear that a group of students were kidnapped, they'll be searching high and low for us.

"If the pieces of shit who kidnapped us think we're going to kill each other, they got another thing coming." Shion scoffed.

"Yeah, we won't let them get what they want..." Yoshiharu nodded, a serious look in his eyes.

"Are you sure about that?" A voice ominously inquired. I looked over to see Aya, no longer glancing at the ground and instead looking straight at us. "Don't you think the students in the first killing game thought the same thing? In the second? Or how about the third, which involved members of the Future Foundation, who's very goal was to combat things like despair? The point is, everyone thought that they'd all work together and survive until the end, but we all know what happened..."

"Geez, no need to be so negative," Zato huffed. "Those killing games were different! The first two involved memory wipes and the third involved brainwashing!"

"All I'm saying is that we better be prepared for something bad to happen," Aya shrugged. "After all, this is a killing game we're talking about..."

I shuddered at the sudden change in Aya's personality. But she was right. People who kidnapped 23 junior high students would definitely be twisted enough to do something crazy.

Thankfully the tension in the air resided as another two doors opened consecutively. This time, two girls stepped out of one. One looked confused and a little scared while the other bore a stone-faced expression. Two boys stepped out of another one. One looked angry and the other had red hair

They noticed us and walked towards us (a few more reluctant than the others.).

"Um, hello? Do you know where we are?" The confused girl asked. The stone-faced girl stood noticeably behind her, seemingly uninterested in the conversation.

"Sorry, I don't know where we are," I bit my lip. "But, by the looks of things, we may have been kidnapped to participate in a killing game..."

"Killing game?!" The red haired boy gasped. "Why would you think that?!"

"W-well, we don't know for sure, but there's a lot of evidence that supports it..." I explained, gesturing to the red eye on the doors and the list on the wall.

"Fucking hell, you got to be kidding me..." The angry-looking boy loudly sighed and facepalmed.

"Hey, what are your guys' names? I'm Setsuna Arai, the Ultimate Test Subject." I tried to change the subject, giving the best smile that I could manage. Everyone else introduced themselves as well (with me having to remind Shinya to do so...).

"I'm Tomomi Hijiribashi." The confused girl smiled. "I am the Ultimate Shrine Maiden. Please, call me Tomo."

Tomomi Hijiribashi - Ultimate Shrine Maiden

The Ultimate Shrine Maiden, as expected, is beautiful and well-dressed. Her long raven hair falls down to her mid-back, with blunt bangs just above her droopy, yellow eyes. Her skin is fair, and she's a little shorter than the average height of a female junior high student.

She wears a traditional shrine maiden's uniform, a classic Japanese shrine maiden uniform that consists of a plain white kimono covered by a white haori with a black crane pattern, also a red hakama, red obi, and a pair of red wooden geta. She also looks to be carrying a gohei.

Tomo is pracitcally a celebrity. Because of her young age and strong work ethic, her small rural village blew up into a Japanese land mark. People from all over the country came to visit and worship the village's resident God, Inari. I wonder what happened to her and her village during the Tragedy...

"Alright, let's get this over with." The angry-looking boy wasted no time in jumping into my conversation with Tomo. "The name's Haru Ayano, the Ultimate Primary School Teacher. Got a problem with me? So fucking be it."

Haru Ayano - Ultimate PS Teacher

Haru has messy black hair, with a very slight brown tint. Is it just me or does every boy here (so far) not know how to style their hair? He has bright red eyes and is fairly tall, with an average figure. He wears a green jumper, blue jeans, and dull green shoes.

It may have been my imagination, but I couldn't help but notice very faded scars on his chin, forehead, and hands. He also appears to have a black eye, but it looks like it is already healing.

I'm supposed to believe that this vulgar boy works with children? Either he's lying about his talent, or his personality is completely different when it comes to children. I can tell with his personality, he is going to cause quite a few arguments and possibly even physical fights, which based on his wounds, he is no stranger to.

"Hi there!" The red haired boy spoke up, smiling brightly. "My name is Jao Pargu, the Ultimate Puppeteer. It is very nice to meet you!"

Jao Pargu - Ultimate Puppeteer

His facial expression is almost a little too happy.

Jao's medium-length hair is a dark red color, and is left unkempt. He is around an average height, but he looks rather frail.

He wears a white shirt with the words 'In Control' written diagnolly across it (reffering to his talent, I presume). He also wears a black, hooded, overcoat, jeans, and black sneakers.

Seriously, his smile is creeping me out a little...I can't say I've really heard of Jao, but he certainly looks like the Ultimate Puppeteer. I vaugely remember going to see a puppet show a few years ago, and I'm 90% sure Jao was the puppeteer. I remember him being extremely talented, and I had kind of a 'crush' on him (give me a break, I was 9!). Just something about his personality is so endearing...

I think a few minutes went by before Tomo nudged the only student who hadn't introduced themselves yet. "Um, Hikari? Are you going to introduce yourself?"

The girl presumed to be 'Hikari' shook her head.

"Oh, alright then..." Tomo sighed. "This is Hikari Ieyasu. She is the Ultimate Tactician. She solved the room's code even while half-unconcious!"

Hikari Ieyasu - Ultimate Tactician

Hikari's hair is long, wavy, and light brown. Her eyes are a interesting shade of gray, and looked even more devoid of emotion than Shinya's. Hikari is lightly tanned and boasts a modest figure and an average height.

She wears a black tank-top, with a black armband around her upper arm, black jeans, and dark brown combat boots. She also wears a dark green jacket around her waist.

I tried to keep my mouth from hanging open. The Hikari Ieyasu?! She is related to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan! It seems like Hikari followed in her ancestor's footsteps.

"Can Hikari speak?" Haru frowned.

"H-Haru!" Jao gasped. "You can't just ask something something like that!"

"Yes, she can." Tomo revealed, unphased by the question.

"Then why isn't she?" Haru questioned.

"Because I don't want to." Hikari answered, crossing her arms.

"Uh, are you fucking serious?" Haru scoffed. "I don't wanna be here either, but the least you can do is speak when spoken to!"

"Yes, I'm sure the advice of a primary school teacher will change my mind." Hikari said, still retaining an expressionless face.

"The fuck you just-" I had to quickly pull Haru back as his face grew red and he lunged at Hikari.

"Oookkk, everyone, let's calm down!" I advised, desperately trying to hold Haru still.

"Let go of me!" He demanded, thrashing around in my arms. But I held on as tight as I could. I wanted to glare at Hikari as she did nothing but stare at us with her arms crossed.

"Damn, we've only known each other for five minutes and fights are already breaking out..." Shion commented, slightly amused.

"Oh God, this reminds me of that one joke about the man and the parking meter!" Zato looked a little panicked as he hid behind Shinya, who didn't seem to mind. Or maybe it was that he didn't care.

"Yo, why don't we all, like, chill out?" Yoshiharu sighed.

"Oh, Inari-sama, please help us..." Tomo pleaded, looking rather distressted.

"Enough!" An unknown voice bellowed. The commotion stopped.

We all turned to see two newcomers in the middle of the hallway. The person who said it appeared to be a girl wearing a cowboy hat. A short boy stood behind her, awkwardly looking at us.

At this point, Haru had stopped thrashing, so I slowly let him go. It looks like he was too startled by the sudden voice to do anything to Hikari.

"Um, who're you?" I asked, walking up to her. "I'm Setsuna Arai, the Ultimate Test Subject."

"I'm Kazuko Remington. Some of you may now me as "Blackjack" or the "Despair Hunter." Kazuko replied. "I'm the Ultimate Gunslinger."

Kazuko Remington - Ultimate Gunslinger

Kazuko has black hair tied up into a pony tail and brown eyes. Her pockmarked skin is tan, and she has a scar extending from her left cheek to her chin. She wears a white shirt underneath her brown leather vest, which dons a silver star badge. She also wears brown denim pants, brown cowboot boots with brass spurs, and as mentioned before, a tan cowboy hat.

The Despair Hunter...I heard stories about her during my time at the Future Foundation. She went around, single-handedly fighting the Ultimate Despair. Even after she was injured badly and was sent to one of our hospitals, she healed up and returned to the outside world almost immediately. Apparently, the Tradegy struck while she was performing at one of her shows, hence the cowboy costume she now wears today...There are other details, but I'd rather not think about them right now...

"The Despair Hunter?" Tomo's eyes widened. "I-I didn't know you were still alive!"

"Y-yeah, I thought the Ultimate Despair from Class 77 killed you..." Yoshiharu scratched his head in confusion.

"Hm?" Kazuko frowned. "That is obviously untrue. Those are just rumors."

"I-I see." I nodded, a little intimidated. I turned my attention to the boy beside her.

"Er, I'm Matthew Portman, but almost everyone calls me Mac. I'm the Ultimate Electrician." The boy offered me a small smile.

Matthew Portman - Ultimate Electrician

Mac is rather lean and short, with blonde hair and brown eyes. He's also rather pale. He wears an interesting burlap shirt, brown slacks, and work boots. Additionally, he wears black rubber gloves and a floppy cap lazily placed on his head.

An electrician?! The amount of things Mac must know! Although I obviously wasn't a fan of the fact we were trapped in here, having someone with knowledge about how to fix things (cough, cough, these lights) is extremely helpful.

"Hey, is something wrong with your arm?" I asked, noticing something between Mac's sleeve and his glove, which was pulled down a little.

"Hm?" Mac raised a brow. "Nope, everything is fine."

I nodded, a little concerned, but it was probably nothing. "Um, anyways, that makes 12 of us, right? Only 11 more to go..."

"There's 23 of us?" Shion asked. "Shit, that's a lot of other people to deal with..."

"23...what an odd number." I heard Yoshiharu mumbled.

"What do you mean?" I inquired.

"He means 23 is an odd number. It is both odd that it's odd, since the previous killing games had even numbers." Hikari suddenly spoke up. Suprised, I looked over to see her leaning against the wall, looking at the list.

"And none of those 23 are the Ultimate Lucky Student!" Zato chimed in.

"Huh...you're right," I realized. "Every killing game has had an Ultimate Lucky Student-"

"Except this one." Aya finished. "It's obviously due to the fact that no lottery was held this year, given that the Tradegy just finished. And besides, we attend Hope's Peak Junior High, not Hope's Peak Academy."

"But still...it is weird." Tomo said.

"Yeah, it's like something is missing. Like, something feels off..." Mac added.

"Um, Shinya, what do you think?" I asked the cryptanalyst. Even though I knew he didn't want to be apart of the conversation, I still felt bad after realizing that he hadn't talked since the revealation about the red eye on the door.

"What do I think?" Shinya repeated. "What I think is that the mastermind is trying to confuse us."

"Confuse us?" I frowned.

Shinya shrugged. "We're thinking of what happened during other killing games, and expecting it to happen during this one too. That's our problem."

"Jesus, we're just thinking of theories..." Haru scoffed.

"Yeah, it's not going to kill us to think about what this killing game will entail." Jao nodded.

Shinya shrugged once more, going back to looking at the ground.

The 'room' fell silent, until the familar sound of a door opening drew my attention. This time, three people came out of the room. I realized that this was because of the odd number of us. Among the three, there was two boys and a girl.

The first boy looks like he'll collapse if you poke him. His skin is pale white and he is among the short classmates. He has black hair, mostly covered by a red beanie, and emerald green eyes. He strangely wears a red scarf, despite the warm weather outside. He wears a dark gray long-sleeve shirt over a red shirt, with sleeves so long they cover his hands. He also wears black sweatpants, white sneakers, and a satchel.

The girl is only a little taller than the first boy. Her sleek, medium length hair is dark brown, and she has bangs that red just above her red-muddy brown eyes. Both her shirt and shorts are navy blue, and appear to be made of a material you can swim in- like nylon or spandex. Her shoes are also navy blue, and she wears a white, oversized lab coat.

The second boy is also short, just like the other two. He is slender and pale, and has shoulder-length, messy black hair, with dark blue eyes. I'm a little jealous because of how long his eyelashes are...He wears a traditional yukata, colored black, with a grey floral print. The obi sash is white and secured by tied in the back.

They noticed us and came over.

"Don't tell me this is another killing game..." The second boy sadly frowned.

I gave a sympathetic look. "It seems like it. I'm Setsuna Arai, the Ultimate Test Subject."

The second boy smiled at me. "Whatever this is, we'll get through it! I'm Kazuo Kinuya, and I've applied to Hope's Peak Junior High under the title of the Ultimate Seamster."

Kazuo Kinuya - Ultimate Seamster

"Oh, wow, I've actually ordered something from your textile shop once!" I admitted. "The line was really long, but it was worth it in the end."

"Heheh, sorry about that." Kazuo chuckled. "Our shop was pretty popular, huh?"

I nodded. "Hahah, popular is an understatement." I looked over at Kazuko, realizing something. "Hey, would it be OK if we called you Kinuya instead? It's just that Kazuko and yours' names are really similar."

"Of course!" He nodded. "That's completely fine."

"Alright, cool, Kinuya!" I giggled. He smiled at me before going off to introduce himself to everyone else.

I approached the girl, noticing she wasn't making an effort to introduce herself. "Hi! I'm Setsuna Arai, the Ultimate Test Subject."

The girl offered a very small smile, that looked forced. "...My name is Izumi Usui. The Ultimate Marine Biologist." Her voice sounded calm and soothing, like the ocean after a storm...I don't know why I just made that awful analogy.

Izumi Usui - Ultimate Marine Biologist

"Izumi Usui?!" I gasped. "Didn't you discover a new species?"

"Yes." She sighed, maybe a little annoyed about hearing that question over and over again. "...But it's no big deal...it's more common than you think."

"But still, that's amazing!" I praised. "You knew that you had discovered a new species when you were just a child!"

Izumi shrugged. "...I'm very dedicated to marine biology. This is why I applied to HPJH...but now..." She trailed off.

I sighed. "Yeah, it sucks, huh? But I'm sure that we'll get out of here soon."

"Perhaps." Izumi said.

"Well, you should probably introduce yourself to everyone. There's quite a few of us, and there's still more people to come." I advised. Nodding, Izumi left without a word.

She seems nice, albeit a bit peculiar. I'm sure as long as I don't annoy her too much, we'll get along.

I looked over to see the first boy, standing alone, still near the doorway of the room he came out of. He looked nervous, as he twiddled his thumbs and glanced around him. I approached with caution.

"...Hi." I gently said. His eyes shot up.

"U-Um, h-hi..." He gulped.

"My name is Setsuna, the Ultimate Test Subject." I softly spoke. "What's your name?"

He tugged at his scarf, perhaps a nervous habit, but cleared his throat. "I-I'm Toshiyuki T-Tadao...U-um, I'm the Ultimate Toymaker. You c-can call me Toshi, s-since my name is so l-long, if you w-want."

Toshiyuki Tadao - Ultimate Toymaker

The Ultimate Toymaker? So cute! I haven't heard of him, but I bet he makes the cutest things. Maybe he and Haru will get along, since both of their talents involve children? I sure hope so, since both of them seem like outsider types.

"It's nice to meet you." I smiled, trying my best not to scare him.

He looked like he was trying to smile at me, but because of his nervousness, it looked more like he was about to cry. "It's n-n-nice to meet you, t-too! "

Just as I was about to say more, someone's voice spoke up. "The smudge!"

I looked over to see Yoshiharu looking at the list on the wall. "The smudge." He repeated.

"What is it?" Aya questioned.

"Yeah, seriously, you're starting to scare me." Tomo nervously laughed.

"There is an Ultimate Lucky Student in this killing game," Yoshiharu claimed.

"What the fuck?" Haru frowned. "Where the hell on that list does it say Ultimate Lucky Student?"

"Yeah, do you need glasses, Yoshi?" Shion joked.

"It's because we can't see it," Yoshiharu sighed. "Because it's this black smudge."

A/N: Yay, got a new chapter up! :) Please let me know what you think of the chapter and story so far, and if I'm portraying your character correctly. If not, I'll be sure to fix how I write them ASAP.