DangaronpaV4-2: REboot (SYOC CLOSED)

by hurgleplargh

Everything has an audience, no matter how small. And every audience has a desire that needs to be fulfilled. Danganronpa's here to do that, bringing it back with a brand new Killing Game, filled with blood, tears, and complicated, ruthless murders that you'll just sink your teeth into! Or so we hope. Ratings can only go up when they've hit rock bottom after all. *MAJOR V3 SPOILERS*

3. Chapter 1: A Fountain of Blood (Intros)

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm happy to have finally completed the introductions chapter because holy shit did it take me awhile. I thought about splitting this into two parts, but I just couldn't find a smooth enough cut in the middle, so I just left it as a 15k chapter. You can go through it at your own pace instead.

I'm seriously so in love with this cast so far, so to everyone whose character(s) got accepted, thank you so much! We're only at the intros, and I'm already having such a blast with all the different personalities. That being said, if you notice anything about your character that seems OOC, feel free to send me a PM about it. I tried my hardest to follow your forms, but obviously, only the owners know their characters best.

Speaking of cast, there has been one change. My friend, who had a slot reserved, changed her character. The official cast list has been updated accordingly, so you can check back on that to see the change!

Only warnings for this chapter is some strong language and sexual discussion (that is what happens when an Ultimate Courtesan is your protagonist, people). Later on, maybe when the first murder happens, I'll change the rating to M.

But for now, relax, sit back, and enjoy :)

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"Know what Danganronpa is?"

The second I heard the husky voice, the hologram vanished, leaving me with a cold, black and white tablet. I glanced up. There sat a boy in the bed right beside mine. He dangled his legs off the edge of the pod, playing with a very similar tablet to the one in my hands.

"You don't?" I asked, shifting to match his position.

"No, I do." He said. "Unfortunately."

I took a moment to take him in. He certainly wasn't anyone I'd met from Hope's Peak Academy; I had attended classes there for three months, and I'd never seen anyone with hair like his. He had spiky, dark red hair that, though sporadic and messy, seemed to be styled purposefully. His light olive skin was smooth with a nice glow, like maybe he went out of his way to take care of his skin. He certainly seemed like a man who took extra care of himself. His eyebrows were thin and groomed, and he dressed himself with a red-collared dress shirt with a sleek, black suit vest. He matched it with a pair of black dress pants, a leather belt, and black dress shoes. I noticed a white handkerchief stuck a bit out of his pocket.

I glanced back up into his eyes and noticed the gorgeous lavender colour. In a game like this, I couldn't help but cautiously look for any sort of malice or devious intent. But there wasn't any, as far as I could tell. This guy seemed genuinely gentle and kind. Hopefully, if this really was Danganronpa, I could place my trust in someone here.

I opened my mouth to ask a question, but he cut me off.

"'Where are we?', 'How long have I been asleep?', 'What do they mean, Danganronpa?', 'Does this mean we'll have to kill each other?' Yes. Those are all valid questions, but I can't provide you an answer, so there's no point in asking me." He said. Bit of a smartass. "What we should be focusing on is how we're getting out of here."

"O-Oh, yeah." Truth was, I wasn't going to ask any of those questions. I simply wanted to know what his name was.

Then, it was almost as if he read my mind. "Oh!" He laughed a bit. "I don't think I've introduced myself. My name is Kara Watanari. I'm the Ultimate Oneirologist."

...: Kara Watanari / Ultimate Oneirologist :...

So there are other Ultimates here.

Smiling, I jumped off the bed and walked over. I put out my hand to shake his.

"Gonna be honest, Kara, I have no idea what that is." I said.

Kara laughed. "Study of dreams."

"Ah, gotcha. I'm Ryuu Maekawa. Nice to meet you." I said. He took my hand, gave it a firm shake. Then he pulled away and focused back on the tablet in his hands. When he tapped it open, a green hologram appeared over the device, giving him a handful of options. Dialog, Friends, Truth Bullets, ChatPal, Pet, Settings. None of those made any sense to me, but Kara tapped the icons with complete confidence. I felt kind of awkward just standing above him, so I took a seat on his bed beside him and tried to make conversation. "So, uhm, you're a student at Hope's Peak? I don't think I remember-"

"Male Courtesan." He said. "So you do have a talent."

"W-What? How did you-"

"Why do you dislike hippopotamuses in particular?"

"How did you know that?!"

Kara smiled at me a bit, then tapped at my tablet. "Play with your Monophone, Ryuu. It's kind of fun."

My Monophone...?

Obviously, he meant the tablets we all seemed to possess. It seemed to be the only item I had. All my school books, my backpack, my Bluetooth - all of it was nowhere to be seen. The only thing I still had from that day - assuming I was kidnapped a couple days ago like my body feels like - was my clothes. I still had the white dress shirt I decided to wear, along with my favourite pink tie with cheesy red hearts, undone and dangling around my neck. I still wore my black jeans, with the suspenders dangling casually at the sides of my legs. And I still wore my pink dress shoes - which, in hindsight, was probably a bad idea if I had no other clothing options here. If I knew I was gonna be kidnapped and shoved into an old Killing Game franchise, forced to wear the same outfit for the rest of my time here, Goddamnit, I would've wore my favourite light-up sneakers. I definitely would've been a fan-favourite if I had those.

With a sigh, I copied Kara, pulling out my "Monophone" and tapping the hologram on. At the top, it had my name, "Ryuu Maekawa", and beneath it had all the same options Kara's Monophone had. I tapped on Dialog, and a lengthy set of rectangles with our names appeared on the screen.

Kara Watanari - "Male Courtesan."

Kara Watanari - "So you do have a talent."

Ryuu Maekawa - "W-What? How did you-"

Kara Watanari - "Why do you dislike hippopotamuses in particular?"

"Woah, that's weird." I said. "Whoever's writing this even wrote in my stuttering."

Ryuu Maekawa - "Woah, that's weird."

Ryuu Maekawa - "Whoever's writing this even wrote in my stuttering."

"..." Quickly, I shut down the Dialog app. Needless to say, that was freaking me the fuck out. "...That's really fucking weird."

"Yeah, can't say I completely understand that function." Kara said. "But now we know someone's listening to us all the time."

"That's not comforting." I said, then finally tapped on the Friends icon. A pink page of silhouettes appeared, most with question marks floating above them. However, there was one without a question mark and an entirely filled out form. Beside it was a pleasant head shot.

...: KARA WATANARI :...

...: ULTIMATE ONEIROLOGIST :...

HEIGHT: 5'4

WEIGHT: 130 lbs

LIKES: Sleeping, novels, sweets

DISLIKES: Scary movies, spicy food, people disregarding dreams

"Oh, wow!" I said. "That's kind of cool!"

"Kind of. Look, you have one on my phone." Kara said, tilting his hologram in my direction. He was right. On his screen, there was a filled out form just like Kara's and a photo of me I didn't remember taking. I eyed my tousled, dark brown hair, tied up in a low ponytail just like I had it done now. My light blue eyes still had my spark behind it, so I couldn't have taken this photo unwillingly, and my skin still had the recent tan I got from the work I had to do in the Hawaii, so it had to be recent. But I couldn't for the life of me remember this moment. Who was I posing for? Who was I smiling for?

I ran through the form I didn't remember filling out.

...: RYUU MAEKAWA :...

...: ULTIMATE MALE COURTESAN :...

HEIGHT: 5'10

WEIGHT: 139 lbs

LIKES: Cute things, laughter, own body

DISLIKES: Loneliness, seafood, hippopotamuses

"Geez, I don't remember filling this out, but it's all accurate." I said.

"Then I'd love to hear about your honest dislike for hippopotamuses." Kara said.

I laughed. "Who honestly likes them? They're just my least favourite animal. No particular reason." Kara hummed, tapping through a bunch of people's information that I didn't have. I noticed each person had a square at the top corner of their head shot and pointed it out. "What're those?"

"Oh, those are Friendship Cubes apparently. When you feel like you've bonded enough with someone, you can tap here and send them a Friendship Cube. I guess it's just a way to let them know you enjoyed their time, or you feel like you're a little closer with them." Kara explained.

"Well, it looks like you've got some bonding to do." I said. Guy had zero of these handy "Friendship Cubes".

"Well, we all just woke up and met each other only about four hours ago."

"Wait, did everyone meet each other except for me?"

"Yep. No one wanted to wake you. You should introduce yourself now that you're awake, Ryuu. Get some of their information and their Friendship Cubes." Kara said. He slipped off the bed and onto his feet, clicking his Monophone off and putting it back into his pocket. "If you'd like, I don't mind accompanying you and showing you around. I've already scouted the whole area and met all other 15 students of our class."

"'Of our class'? But I've already met the students of my 2nd year class. I've been going to Hope's Peak for, like, three months." I said.

"We're all just as confused as you. Apparently, we're all 2nd-year students, but - like you were saying - we don't remember each other. We remember entirely different classmates." Kara said. "But it's a question without an answer, so let's not worry about that. Let's focus on what we can, what we know. Why don't we get you acquainted with everyone here?"

"Sure, yeah. I guess." I said. It started to settle in that I was alone. Alone in an entirely new environment, with entirely new people I knew nothing about. I didn't have my best friend to lean on. I didn't have my mother to call and relax to the sound of her pep-talks. I couldn't even confide with any school counselors. I was a fish from a small pond, thrown into a unexplored sea. Anything, anyone could be here, and I'd have no guidance or support. And if this really was Danganronpa, another game set up to make us all kill one another for survival, then that really meant I was up against something I had no chance of beating. Reality was, it was more than likely I would die here.

Kara seemed to notice my shaking hands before I did. They weren't brought to my attention until he gently took my hands in his and slowly pulled me off his bed. It was a silent gesture, but it clearly said the words I needed to hear. You'll be okay.

I shook off my anxiety and smiled at him. "Okay! Who should we start with?" I glanced around the bedroom, noticing two other boys still in their beds. One was tall with brown hair, the other average with grey hair. Their beds faced a doorway with a glowing male-restroom sign; must've been some showers and toilets and such. However, despite being right next to one another, the two of them seemed lost in their own worlds, paying the other no mind at all.

"Let's start with Taeki." Kara said. I nodded, but having no idea which one that was, Kara guided me to the other end of the room. We approached the tall guy with brown, clean-cut hair. He toyed with his Monophone, completely invested in the hologram. He didn't move an inch when we walked up next to his bed, and he certainly didn't move when I tapped him on the shoulder. I looked to Kara for an answer, but he just shrugged.

"Hi there. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. Guess I'm kind of a heavy sleeper, haha!" I said. "My name's Ryuu Maekawa, and I'm the Ultimate Male Courtesan."

And to that, this "Taeki" guy said nothing.

Kara and I waited patiently for a minute or so, but the guy didn't react at all. He just kept tapping away at the hologram like I wasn't even there.

I decided to try again. "Sorry, I don't know if you heard me. My name's Ryuu-"

"U-Uh, yeah. I-I heard you." Taeki said. He didn't make any sort of eye contact. In fact, he just shrunk further back into his pillows during our very brief exchange of words. I really didn't want to make him uncomfortable, but I needed to get some sort of introduction out of him. So I tapped at him a bit more.

"Great! So then you know my talent. Would you mind telling me yours?" I said.

Finally, he looked up at me, if only for a couple of seconds. I finally saw his chocolate brown eyes, his thin brows, and his soft, oval face. Then it was gone again, back to his hologram. "I'm Taeki Maguro. I'm the Ultimate Strategist."

...: Taeki Maguro / Ultimate Strategist :...

Strategist. Well, he did give off an intelligent vibe. Looking a bit closer, I noticed Taeki wasn't Asian at all, which was surprising for Hope's Peak students; as far as I knew, they only accepted close locals when they rebuilt, considering they didn't have the funds yet to hand out scholarships to foreign students. He was a handsome Caucasian boy, with short, clean-cut brown hair and matching brown eyes. He seemed to be pretty fit too, as far as I could tell with his layers. He wore a grey camouflage shirt, covered with a dark blue jean jacket with wool padding. He seemed to be wearing black sweatpants, though it was kind of hard to tell with the blanket covering his lap.

"You look comfy," I said. "You're wearing a way better outfit than mine. Hell, if I knew I was gonna be kidnapped, I would've wore my pajamas! These jeans are killing me. You've must've predicted this with your strategist super powers, huh?" Pajamas and light-up sneakers. Oh yeah, I definitely would've been the coolest-looking guy of the season.

Taeki didn't say anything, of course. I think I already used up his maximum word-count of the day. Knowing I wasn't going to get anymore out of him, I pulled out my Monophone and clicked Friends. Now, Taeki's silhouette no longer had a giant question mark over it. Instead, a close-up photo and a bunch of information popped up.

...: TAEKI MAGURO :...

...: ULTIMATE STRATEGIST :...

HEIGHT: 6'

WEIGHT: 148 lbs

LIKES: Cooking, puzzles, anime/manga

DISLIKES: People who test his patience, people who are unintelligent, people jumping to conclusions

Huh. That's a lot of "people" he dislikes...

Curious, I leaned over his shoulder and glanced at his hologram. I thought he might've been scrolling through the Dialog or Settings app, but instead, he was playing with a little 8-bit, green and pink bird. He tapped the various options: giving it snacks, giving it love, giving it water, giving it toys... So he was ignoring me to take care of a virtual pet.

Well, can't say I blame him. The bird is cute.

"You're not actually playing that, are you?" Kara suddenly said. I looked up at him, confused as his eyes shifted between Taeki and the other mystery boy in the room. He didn't explain until I asked him. "Haven't you noticed? Taeki's not actually playing with that bird. The bird is clearly starving, but he keeps giving it water."

I noticed Taeki's eyebrow raise. Kara was right on the mark.

"Look. He's not watching his hologram. He's watching Akira." Kara said, Akira clearly being the grey-haired kid on the bed across from Taeki's. "So you're cautious of him too, huh?"

"C-Can't blame me." Taeki mumbled. His voice was a little lighter this time.

"No, I can't." Kara said, and I finally clapped my hands to get their attention.

"You guys! I'm not following!" I huffed. "Who's Akira and why are we cautious of him?"

"Quiet down." Taeki said, his eyes back down to his chibi bird.

Kara just gestured towards him. "Why don't you go see for yourself?"

"Alright," With Kara following behind me, I marched over to Akira with confidence. He had a funny, charming look to him. He sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, eating scoops upon scoops of ice cream straight from the container. He had this childish smile on his face and a twinkle in his bright red eyes. His grey hair was simply cut, hanging just out of his face. He wore a wrinkled, long-sleeved white shirt, unmatched with a red tie that had prints of golden skulls. Like Taeki, he also had the clever idea of wearing black sweatpants and comfy black sneakers. There wasn't much about his physical appearance that screamed "CAUTION". He actually seemed kind of cute to me.

I walked up to the end of his bed, placed my hands on the edge, and leaned forward with a smile. I could feel Kara's nervous stance just behind my shoulder. "Hey! I'm Ryuu Maekawa. I don't think we've met. I'm the Ultimate Male Courtesan."

Akira took a long time replying. He stared up at me for a couple minutes with his big, red eyes, just nibbling away at his large container of chocolate ice cream.

Seriously, what's with everyone giving me the silent treatment today?

Then he finally spoke, in a very cheery tone. "You look incredibly tasty."

"Oh, thank you!" I said, flipping my curly hair. "I do work hard on maintaining my appearance."

"Mmhm. You sure would look delicious with a look of pure terror on your face. I'd love to see your despair as your love ones are brutally murdered right in front of your eyes."

"Awh, thank you!"

"You'd watch helplessly as I tear out the lungs of your family and friends. Their screams of horror and utter pain would echo through the room, deafening you and making you curl up on the floor. You'd just plead, and plead, and plead, and plead, and-"

"Really? Thank you very much!"

"And then I'd finally walk up to you, grab you by your blood-stained hair, and slice open your neck like a I'm slicing up my sandwich for lunch! Ah! Then your arteries would burst open, creating a marvelous showcase of blood! Your insides would spew out of your neck like a fountain, showering the corpses of those you held dear to your heart! And I would clap and cheer at the sight!"

"Wow! That's so sweet! Thank you, really. You flatter me."

Kara suddenly but into our conversation. "W-What is wrong with you, Ryuu? Clearly, he's not complimenting you!"

"You don't think so?" I said, tilting my head. "I mean, he's clearly joking. And hey, even if he wasn't joking, that was such a detailed murder-fantasy, I obviously must be a very special victim to him. I think it's more on the compliment-y side than the insult-y, don't you?"

"You've got to be kidding me." Kara said. Clearly, this guy had no sense of humour.

Akira piped up again. "Actually, I'm veeerrrryyyyy serious. You haven't heard of me, huh? I'm Akira! And I'm the Ultimate Serial Killer! Tah-duh!"

I laughed and pulled out my Monophone. "Good one, Akira! So what's your actual talent?" I tapped open his now unlocked silhouette and scanned through his information.

...: AKIRA :...

...: ULTIMATE SERIAL KILLER :...

HEIGHT: 5'7

WEIGHT: 130 lbs

LIKES: Fun, murder, sweets

DISLIKES: Boredom, bitter foods, lack of sweets

"Oh." I said. "You're actually a serial killer."

...: Akira / Ultimate Serial Killer :...

"So, uh, you actually want to murder me and make me into a blood-fountain, huh?" I said, slowly. Mom never trained me on how to talk to psychopathic serial killers.

Akira nodded really fast, then shoved a large scoop of ice cream in his mouth. "I sure do, buddy! But don't you worry; I can't kill anyone. Hope's Peak made sure of it. They hypnotized me when I arrived there. Put me in a dark room and made me look at a golden clock spinning around my head and stuff. They chanted a whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo, and voila! Now I can't kill anyone, no matter how much I want to. They said it was for the 'safety of their students' or some shit. I dunno."

"...Does brainwashing still work on a victim if they know they've been brainwashed?" Kara asked.

"Oh, yeah. Doesn't change a thing. I can beat people up, but the second I'm about to send the finishing blow, my body goes rigid, and my mind just screams at me to stop. It's really weird. All I can hope is that I manage to kill someone accidentally. In the meantime, I'm keeping myself busy with ice cream."

"Awh, that's great, my little psycho friend!" I said, grinning from ear to ear. Then I quickly whipped around to Kara, wide-eyed, and mouthed, "Let's go." And we hurried out of the bedroom.

Once we safely escaped the sights of our new murderous classmate, Kara and I found ourselves at the end of a long, pristine white hallway. The white, metal floor was illuminated with strips of green lights, just beneath several doors. Eight doors exactly, including a large, heavily gated elevator in the middle. There was a control panel beside it, the only option being "down". Above the panel, there were green lights writing out B2. At the other end of the hall, there was a large flat-screen TV. Just like everything else, it was bordered with green neon lights. Unlike the boy's room, there were no windows at all. Just the seven doors and an elevator.

I sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Geez, an Ultimate Serial Killer? What were the scouts thinking?"

"If it makes you feel any better, you had the least gory murder description out of the rest of us." Kara said with a forced laugh. "I think he might like you the most."

"Great! So I'll get to watch you all die before he kills me last. Sounds good."

The two of us couldn't help but laugh out loud. It was such a ridiculous situation. Randomly, we're shoved into some sort of enclosed home, told we're in a cancelled Danganronpa game with no other information, and forced to befriend a whole bunch of ridiculous strangers with ridiculous talents. One of which being an actual, psychopathic serial killer.

But my laughter was good sign, I thought. And the fact that I felt comfortable laughing with Kara was an even better one. Maybe I had only met him thirty minutes ago, but Kara seemed reliable, and I knew, despite my laughter now, I would desperately need someone to lean on later. I knew this laughter would turn into loneliness - and soon into fear. This wasn't a safe environment. I was alone. I knew those thoughts would hit me soon.

But for now, I relaxed, resting my arm on Kara's shoulder. That was easy with his short height. "Alright, Friendship Guide, take me to the next insane classmate of mine."

"Sure. I'm not entirely sure where everyone is, but we might as well check every room so you have an understanding of this floor." Kara said. He guided me straight to the door across from the boys' bedroom, and I followed him without any hesitation.

Through the white door, we stepped right into an extravagant kitchen. The room was more than big enough for multiple chefs to run around and make literally anything they desired. The kitchen walls were covered with many sparkling, stainless steel appliances, most of which I had no idea how to use or what it was for. Right in the middle, dividing the kitchen, there was a large steel counter. Above it hung all different kinds of utensils and tools. Knives that could heat up to any temperature dangled above, along with various spoons, whisks, measuring cups - anything you needed was available to you. Walking through the kitchen with Kara, I noticed a bread machine - pop any ingredients you'd like and it'd pop out loaves of fresh bread in seconds; Advanced freezers - detects which items need to be frozen at their ideal temperatures, organizing them into various compartments accordingly; and an ice cream maker - much like the bread maker, you can put in any ingredients, and it'll whip it up into smooth ice cream. It was absolute heaven.

Walking around to the other side of the counter, Kara and I noticed a long-haired girl crouching in front of a short freezer. She clearly hadn't noticed us yet, so Kara and I walked up to her slowly, trying not to scare her.

But despite our efforts, the girl jerked a bit when she saw my feet within her vision. She popped up from her position and fixed her hair a bit. "Sorry, sorry! I'm surprised I didn't notice you two come in. My apologies."

"Oh, don't worry about it," I said. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. "I just haven't met everyone yet. I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Ryuu Maekawa, Ultimate Male Courtesan."

The girl nodded, and I shook her gloved hand. "Quite nice to meet you, Ryuu. I'm Furanshishu Asuka. I'm the Ultimate Archaeologist."

...: Furanshishu Asuka / Ultimate Archaeologist :...

"Ultimate Archaeologist? That's amazing. You must've discovered some crazy stuff." I said.

Her light blue eyes lit up at that. "Oh, you think so? I really do love what I do. I've traveled all over the world for my expeditions, and I've met so many wonderful people. If you ever have the time, I'd love to tell you about it."

"And I'd love to hear about it." I said, genuinely. She seemed like a girl with huge storage-containers filled with stories, all just sitting at the back of her mind. She just seemed so confident and lively. She had a heart-shaped face and lightly tanned skin, probably from all her traveling and excavating. Her light, auburn hair was long with thick curls, tucked out of her face behind her ears. She wore dark blue, rectangular glasses that only made her light blue eyes pop out even more. I noticed she was fairly toned, clearly very healthy and, dare I say, absolutely gorgeous.

Furanshishu wore a white, sleeveless blouse, tied up at her front, just above her khaki shorts. She had a navy bandana wrapped around her neck, and on her hands, she wore a pair of firm-grip, dark grey gloves. Just covering the ends, on one wrist, Furanshishu wore a high-tech watch - a design I'd never seen before - and on her other wrist, she wore a cute bracelet with charms of typical Egyptian symbols. I noticed a pyramid, an Egyptian cat, a cat-eye symbol, a pharaoh's mask, and probably more I couldn't see. She also sported an expensive brown backpack, clearly made for adventures and expeditions. It was probably designed to fit lots of tools helpful for her work. On her feet, she wore a pair of multi-coloured ankle socks, along with a pair of heavy-duty grey hiking boots.

"But, uh, 'Courtesan', huh?" Furanshishu's higher-pitched voice jerked me out of my thoughts. "That's a peculiar career for someone your age."

"Yeah, I know. But it's honestly not as sleazy as it sounds." I said.

"Have people been bothering you about it?"

"Oh, no. Actually, so far, no one I've met gives a shit."

Furanshishu laughed, placing her hands on her hips. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. Kara here just gave me a weird look, Taeki didn't talk to me whatsoever, and Akira's a serial killer, so I obviously had more questions about him than he had for me." I said, successfully making Furanshishu laugh more. Once our laughter died down, Furanshishu turned away and went back to whatever-the-heck she was doing. She crouched down and stared into the open freezer.

"So, uh, what're you doing?" I asked.

"I'm waiting for the ice cream to restock." She said, not looking up at me. "When we first got here, there was only one container of chocolate ice cream, which Akira took and ate in the dinning room. I watched him eat all of it in twenty minutes. He's a weird guy. Anyway, later on, I was in the kitchen with him when I saw him pull another chocolate ice cream container out of this very freezer. So someone had to restock it. I'm waiting to find out exactly when and how the food restocks here."

"Seems like a trivial thing to focus on though. We should be searching for a way out instead." Kara said. Furanshishu shrugged.

"How long have you been waiting here?" I asked.

Furanshishu glanced at her watch. A blue hologram displayed above it, showing her a compass, the time, and the current weather.

"Four hours, nine minutes." She said.

Shit.

So I nodded, then crouched down next to her. Together, we stared into a freezer filled with nothing but ice cream containers of various flavours - all but chocolate, the mystery we were anxiously waiting to be solved.

"Oh, Ryuu, you're not serious." Kara grumbled behind me, but I didn't move an inch. It was a very mysterious mystery! I needed to know! "Ryuu. Come on. Don't make me stand here for hours waiting for chocolate ice cream."

I didn't answer him. This was more important than anything else in that moment.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Suddenly, Kara grabbed my collar and dragged me away from Furanshishu and the fridge. I protested as he dragged me across the floor, but he didn't care to listen. He just rolled his eyes and took me all the way out to the halls. Furanshishu politely waved goodbye, but I didn't have the chance to wave back. Dude was stronger than he looked, that's for sure.

Once we were back out into the halls, I jumped back onto my feet and glared down at Kara. "Hey, man! Don't cockblock me!"

"'Cockblock'? Is that what that was about? So you were just interested in Furanshishu and not the ice cream?" Kara asked, glaring back at me.

"Well, okay. No. The ice cream mystery was actually really peculiar. Like, that sounds seriously freaky. How do you think it works?" I asked, but Kara wasn't having it. He only replied with another eye roll. "But that girl was seriously pretty too. I would've gladly spent five hours with her staring at a freezer."

Curious about her, I pulled out my Monophone and tapped on her information. I saw Kara pouting and glaring at the floor now. "She's okay, I suppose." He said.

I ignored Mr. GrumpyPants and read through Furanshishu's form.

...: FURANSHISHU ASUKA :...

...: ULTIMATE ARCHAEOLOGIST :...

HEIGHT: 5'6

WEIGHT: 112 lbs

LIKES: Strawberries, delicate pottery, carbon-dating

DISLIKES: Pasta, hot chocolate, designer clothing

I tilted my head. "What the hell is carbon-dating?"

Kara opened his mouth to reply, but the second he did, a girlish squeal echoed down the halls. We turned around, noticing the door at the very other end of the hallway was left open. I couldn't help but smile. There was something about making new friends and first introductions that got me childishly excited.

I slipped my Monophone back into my pocket, grabbed Kara's hand, and strode down the hallway and into the open room.

Unlike the spacious bedroom and kitchen, this room was particularly small and dim. Honestly, it was sort of nice; with all the bright lights and white walls, this place was pretty harsh on the eyes. Here, the walls were dark grey metal, along with dark wooden flooring. There were two sphere-shaped machines - a very expensive Quickie Laundry washer and dryer. I only saw these kinds of machines owned by my most affluent clients. They could wash and dry your machines within seconds, and it'd organize the clothing individually and wash them accordingly, so there was no need to organize loads beforehand. Beside the Quickie Laundry machines, there was a large dusty container, constantly letting out a quiet hum. An unsteady, wooden ladder leaned on the side of it. I think it was a water tank, but it looked like some sort of device from maybe a century ago.

In front of the washers stood a young boy and a girl. The boy seemed to be fumbling with a laundry basket and a small pile of feminine clothes. The girl, who I noticed was dressed in pale blue onesie pajamas and a white sailor hat, clapped her hands and cheered for the boy. It didn't take long for them to notice me and Kara when I approached them.

"Hi there! I don't think we've met yet." I said, placing my hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Nope! I don't remember your face at all!" The girl said, beaming up at me.

The boy paused for a while, staring into his laundry basket for a moment before he replied. "U-Um, yeah. I don't think so either."

I peered into the basket the boy was holding. Inside, I saw a what looked like a girl's sailor Halloween costume. There was a white blouse with a thick blue collar and a loose white ribbon. Beside it was a matching blue skirt, high-waisted with four white buttons and frills stitched on the inside, and a pair of ankle-high socks. I glanced up at the boy. Surely, they aren't his. He paid me no mind, as his eyes shifted between the laundry basket and the advanced washing machine in front of him. There were hundreds of different settings you could put it on, so it was easy to get overwhelmed by all the buttons. I knew from working with a client who had a thing for gothic-styled maids.

The kid clearly had no idea what he was doing, so I leaned forward, opened up the machine, and tossed all of the basket's contents in. Then I simply pressed the "Go" button, and the insides begun to turn. The loud rumble of the machine echoed through the laundry room and down the hall.

"U-Uh, I-I..." The boy stuttered.

"There's a bunch of shit you can make this do, but if you just need to run a simple load, all you have to do is throw it in and start it up." I said. He was so short and shy, it took all my strength not to pat him on the head. "It'll be done in about thirty seconds."

The boy eyed me up and down, pausing for a moment. "...Are you... possibly... the Ultimate Maid?"

"If you want me to be." I said, tossing in a wink.

The boy's face went bright red. "W-What? What do you mean by that?"

"Haha! I'm just teasing ya. No, I'm the Ultimate Male Courtesan. And my name's Ryuu Maekawa, by the way."

Just as the washer stopped rumbling and sang it's simple, finishing tune, the young girl spoke up. "I have no idea what that isssssssssss, but I'm Okinawa Otonari, and I'm the Ultimate Sailor!"

...: Okinawa Otonari / Ultimate Sailor :...

"A sailor, huh. So I'm guessing those are your clothes in there and not this guy's." I said, pointing to the short, unknown boy beside me. Okinawa grinned and nodded her head quickly. She was a pretty cute, youthful girl; I assumed she hadn't gone through puberty yet. She had pretty pale skin, emerald green eyes, and a round face with cheeks I really, really wanted to squish. Her hair was the craziest thing about her - all pastel-y and layered. It was short, just barely reaching her shoulders, and her layered bangs were pulled out of her face with a dark purple bunny clip. Her hair was mostly dyed a pastel green, but it had strips of pastel blue, purple, and pink all in random spots. Though she wore her pajamas - I assume because her clothes were in the washer - she still had her white sailor hat on. Looking closer, it had a matching blue brim to her uniform, and it had a cute anchor design right at the front.

Okinawa didn't say anything to that. Instead, she jumped up next to the boy and poked his shoulder. "Hey! Are you done yet?"

"Um, no, I still have to dry them." He said, pulling her sailor suit out of the washer. Despite her constant poking, the boy gave her a gentle smile and held up the white blouse for her to see. "But look, the tomato sauce came out completely."

"Yeah, but it's not done yet. You're so slow. You don't deserve to be called the Ultimate Assistant!" Okinawa pouted.

The boy sighed as he tossed Okinawa's suit into the dryer. "Y-You're mistaken, Oki. I told you, I'm not the Ultimate Assistant; I'm the Ultimate Lab Assistant." This "Lab Assistant" turned on the dryer, and the loud rumble carried throughout the room again. As we waited for the dryer to finish, the boy turned to me and apologized. "I'm sorry, I think I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Ashurri Popurra, but, um, you can just call me Ash if it's easier for you."

...: Ashurri Popurra / Ultimate Lab Assistant :...

Ash was a lot like Okinawa - cute, youthful, sort of Lolita-like energy to him. Ash was pretty short and thin, with an angular face and almond-shaped eyes. He had pretty pale skin and a cute, small nose that was dotted with faint freckles. His chestnut-coloured hair was scraggly, cut just before his chin. He tucked some of his hair behind his ears, but he had a long fringe that still hung in front of his eyes. It wasn't until he tilted his head a bit that I got a good look at his eyes, and when I did, it took me all my strength not to gasp. His eyes were striking. Two different colours - one bright green, and the other bright red. There's no way those are natural, right?

Looking at his clothes, it was stupid of me not to guess he had something to do with science. He wore a long white lab coat with an infinity symbol embroidered on the front pocket and a light green shirt beneath it. He also wore a pair of knee-length, brown shorts; a grey belt; matching grey socks; and a pair of green sneakers. On his head, he wore a pair of plastic science goggles, and around his torso, he had a brown satchel with who-knows-what in there. The only thing I could see were some pens and empty test tubes sticking out and clipped onto the sides. On his left wrist, he wore a digital bracelet, which seemed to have a lot of options on it. I had no idea what it was used for.

"Sure, Ash. Nice to meet you." I said, and we politely shook hands.

As Ash began to take Okinawa's clothes out of the wash, I curiously pulled up their information on my Monophone.

...: OKINAWA OTONARI :...

...: ULTIMATE SAILOR :...

HEIGHT: 5'1

WEIGHT: 120 lbs

LIKES: Bunnies, cute things, calm seas

DISLIKES: Violent seas, non-bunny animals, bullies

./.

...: ASHURRI POPURRA :...

...: ULTIMATE LAB ASSISTANT :...

HEIGHT: 4'8

WEIGHT: 92 lbs

LIKES: Raspberry ripple ice cream, orange juice, squirrels

DISLIKES: Chocolate milk, avocados, being abandoned

Reading through their information, I just couldn't help myself. I laughed, then bent down to their height. "Oh my goodness, you two are just way too cute! I had no idea Hope's Peak Academy accepted children now, not just teenagers!"

"Children...?" Ash said.

"Nah-uh, me no children!" Okinawa giggled. "I just turned seventeen!"

"Y-Yes, and I'm sixteen." Ash said.

I gasped. No way. I stepped towards Ash and placed my hands on my knees. "Wooooooowwwwwww! That's amazing!" I exclaimed. "Never in my life have I ever met someone like you: a 4'8, 16-year-old boy. Wow. You're like a mythological creature! So cute!"

Ash stuttered out some unintelligible words, his face completely flushed red from ear to ear. Okinawa jumped up beside me, copying my position - hands on her knees, crouching down to Ash's adorable height. Daring, she reached forward and squished Ash's cheek a bit, and he was too flustered and speechless to push her away.

"Yeah! You are really rare! You're like a unicorn!" Okinawa said. "Yay! I have a unicorn as a personal assistant! I'm so lucky!"

"I-I... Uh..." Completely tongue-tied, Ash failed to come up with any sort of response. All he could do was stand there, blushing at our cooing.

Suddenly, I felt the familiar tug of Kara grabbing my collar. "Okay, you've had your fun. Let's go before you can insult him anymore." Kara said. He took me by surprise, but I was ready for Kara's strength this time. I stumbled forward, cursing as we left the laundry room, but at least I managed to stay on my feet.

Kara slammed the laundry room door shut the second we set foot in the hall. He finally released my collar, forcing me to readjust my shirt for the second time because of his rough-handling.

Kara sighed. "Ryuu, you seem like a genuinely nice guy, but I feel like a babysitter right now." He said. "Let's try to make these introductions brief, okay? And maybe stop flirting with people. And maybe stop teasing them. And maybe you should actually do up your tie and try to look like a proper gentleman and-Ryuu? Ryuu, get back here! Stop running around without me! My God..."

I could just hear his frantic footsteps behind me as I ran down to the other end of the hallway. I didn't stop for him whatsoever. I headed straight for the door next to the kitchen, both eager to meet the rest of my classmates and to bother Kara that extra bit. His little lecture only made me want to tease him even more.

I slipped open the door to find a large, spacious dinning room. There was one large blue table, surrounded by exactly sixteen pod-chairs that resembled our beds. The pods looked just as comfortable as the beds, with many features available on the arms. There were buttons that adjusted the angle of your chair, buttons that made miniature tables pop out in front of you, and some arrows that let you move anywhere around the room as you please. Above the table, there was an extremely large oval dip in the ceiling. I also recognized these from some of my more fortunate clients. If you adjusted the control panel beside the door, you could change the environment of the room to nearly anything you want. It would change not only the image on the ceiling, but it would also change the lights and temperature accordingly. You could eat under the romantic moonlight, in a humid rain forest, beside the tropical waves, in a winter wonderland; the options were practically endless.

What worried me though was the portrait hanging at the other end of the room. It was a large, framed photograph of Monokuma, the star mascot character of Danganronpa. His black and white features, along with that one, creepy red eye were so distinct. Anyone who wasn't living under a rock knew exactly who he was and what he was affiliated with. On the wall hung a pair of handcuffs on either side of the frame. He was comically wearing a cute police hat and proudly holding up a large taser and a gun. It would've been cute had he not reminded me where I was, what I'd be forced to do...

No, even if this is Danganronpa, we won't give in to the game. I thought. Most of us know exactly what's going on, so we'll be able to make smart decisions and resist all the motives. We'll be out of here in no time.

Kara finally caught up to me in the doorway. He reached up and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Ryuu, you have got to stop running all over the place."

Purposefully ignoring him, I noticed two couples in the dinning room. At one end of the dinning table, there was boy and girl, clearly separating themselves from the other two. They looked closed off from the rest of their surroundings, just focused on each other and their conversation. At the other end of the table, there were two cute girls, laughing and giggling. One of the girls glanced at me for a moment, but quickly went back to talking to the other girl. They looked like they were definitely gossiping about something.

Wanting to pop their bubble, I walked up to the boy and girl first. They were so wrapped up in their quiet conversation that they didn't even notice me or Kara until I spoke up.

"Hi there! Man, you guys work fast. Everyone only met each other, like, five hours ago, and you're already going on a date? Crazy." I said, flashing them a cheesy smile. Both of them instantly went red. While the boy hunched forward, blushing to himself and playing with his button-up, the girl grabbed her steak knife and pointed it at my chin.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you say something like that?!" She said, each word only turning her face redder.

I wasn't really intimidated in the first place, but I was happy when the blushing boy began to laugh; the girl slowly lowered her knife to stare at him. His laugh was gentle, quiet, and his face began to flush from his happiness rather than embarrassment.

"Etsuko, calm down. It's okay." He said in a gentle, handsome voice. He then turned to me to explain. "I'm sorry for her. We're not on a date or anything; we're brother and sister, you see."

Whoops. "Oh, cool! I've always wanted a sibling. It's pretty lucky that you both got accepted into the same class, huh?"

"It is. I'm very grateful." He said. No shit. Having someone you knew and could most definitely rely on in a place like this was a miracle. "We've already met Kara, but, um, your name is...?"

"Oh, It's Ryuu Maekawa. I'm the Ultimate Male Courtesan."

The boy tilted his head. "You're a... courtesan? That... must be interesting."

Kara cleared his throat and butted into the conversation. "Tsuneo, why don't you introduce yourself to Ryuu?"

"O-Oh! R-Right! Sorry, t-that was a rude reaction!" "Tsuneo" said, but I shrugged. I didn't think it was rude at all. I mean, it's a pretty normal reaction considering I pretty much told him I'm a prostitute. "Anyway, I'm Tsuneo Yokoyama, and I'm the Ultimate Florist."

...: Tsuneo Yokoyama / Ultimate Florist :...

Tsuneo definitely fit the cliche image of your sweet, local florist down the road. Tsuneo was pretty short, similar to Kara, and his face and chocolate brown eyes were round and youthful. However, he seemed to have dark bags beneath his eyes, like the kid seriously needed a nap. His skin was tanned, and his longer, raven-coloured hair was parted in the middle. He styled it like mine, pulled back into a short, low ponytail at the back of his head, but his hair was probably an inch shorter or so.

He wore a long-sleeved button-up, rolled up just before his elbows, and black, straight paints that were rolled up just above his ankles. He sported a pair of carefree, brown sandals and a pair of silver, circular-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose. Around his torso was a lavender apron with embroidery flowers all across the fabric, and in his hair were some cute flower clips. Sweet guy.

I pulled up his information.

...: TSUNEO YOKOYAMA :...

...: ULTIMATE FLORIST :...

HEIGHT: 5'3

WEIGHT: 127 lbs

LIKES: Etsuko, flowers, dramas

DISLIKES: Sweets, peanuts, glitter

So the obvious reaction here was to reach into my pocket, grab the pile of glitter I kept, and toss it out on top of Tsuneo and his sister Etsuko. No pizzazz. No exclamation. Just pink and green glitter, all over their beautifully cooked steak dinner. Kara, Tsuneo, and Etsuko were completely silent.

And so was I, for a moment. Until I couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing.

I snorted. "Haha! Okay, c'mon. You have to admit that was a bit funny." I said, grinning. The other three had yet to laugh, let alone smile.

"...Why do you even have that?" Kara asked.

"Do you know how hard it is to get glitter off your body and your clothes?" Tsuneo asked, his voice suddenly a bit lower than before.

"Dude, do you even know how perfectly cooked that steak was?" Etsuko grumbled. "That was the most beautiful medium-rare I have ever seen in my entire life, and now it's covered in freaking glitter."

"Yeah, that steak looked delicious - I'd still eat it; yes, sometimes I find glitter in my ears; and hey, you'd be surprised how much of my clientele get turned on by glitter, or take me to glitter-involved parties." I said, still laughing. It was kind of too perfect of an opportunity, okay?

"I-I have so many questions about your line of work..." Tsuneo mumbled, pulling little bits of glitter from his hair.

"Let's leave the questions for another time," Kara said. I noticed his cheeks were a bit flushed. "Etsuko, would you mind properly introducing yourself?"

"Yeah, I'd mind." Etsuko said, poking at her steak.

I noticed Tsuneo kicked Etsuko's leg lightly. "Etsuko-"

"I'm good, thanks. I'm done talking to this sleazy whack-job." Etsuko said. She took a moment, staring at her now-sparkling steak. Then finally, she shrugged, took her knife and fork, and dug took a large bite out of it.

"Correction, I'm a classy whack-job." I said.

Etsuko glanced up at me, chewing unladylike with a dull expression. "You'd get along well with Minnie."

"Minnie...?" I said, then Kara gestured towards one of the gossiping girls at the other end of the room. This Minnie, covered in glittery make-up and a gorgeous off-shoulder dress, looked absolutely glamorous. I whistled. "Well, I sure hope so."

"Gross." Etsuko said.

"C'mon, Etusko. Just be polite, and he'll leave us alone..." Tsuneo said. I think he didn't mean for me to hear that or something.

Etsuko rolled her eyes, then finally introduced herself. "Etsuko Yokoyama. I'm the Ultimate Figure Skater. Are we done now?"

...: Etsuko Yokoyama / Ultimate Figure Skater :...

That was certainly believable. Etsuko had a beautiful, muscular physique, and though her personality didn't really match, she seemed to have a pretty graceful body. Her skin was similar to Tsuneo's, maybe a bit paler. She had an oval-shaped face and round, pink lips. Her raven hair was pulled up in a clean, high bun, only leaving her choppy bangs hanging just above her hazel eyes. She wore a navy blue track suit over a baby blue figure skating costume. It had a high neck and a short skirt with two cute bows at the hips. Embroidered all over were various complicated snowflake designs, completed with glued-on rhinestones. Beneath, she wore a pair of black tights and matching black combat boots. Around her bun, she had a blue hair-tie with a cute flower connected to it.

I nodded, told her it was nice to meet her, and pulled up her information on my Monophone.

...: ETSUKO YOKOYAMA :...

...: ULTIMATE FIGURE SKATER :...

HEIGHT: 5'5

WEIGHT: 119 lbs

LIKES: Tsuneo, winter, iced lattes

DISLIKES: Warm weather, hot drinks, liars

"I see," I said, slipping my phone away. "So Tsuneo's the younger one right? By how many years?"

Etsuko snorted a bit, and Tsuneo let out an almost childish huff. "No, actually, I'm the oldest. I'm eighteen, Etsuko's sixteen."

"Wow! I never would've guessed, not with your height and all." I said. "There's so many short guys here, you know. Kara, Ash, you... It's hilarious. And adorable. You guys should start a club." I tapped my chin, laughing to myself as I thought up a name. "Oh, I know! The Small Guys Club."

Tsuneo and Kara were absolutely silent. Their faces were pink, but their eyes were dark, glaring daggers into my soul. Etsuko, on the contrary, slid out her hand and reached out towards me with a flat palm. I noticed the small smirk on her lips and returned her low-five.

A couple minutes of dark silence later, Tsuneo finally responded in that kind, gentle voice of his. "Ryuu, you smile like a kind person, but you're actually an asshole, huh?"

"Oh, most definitely." I said, smiling my "kind person smile". Having finshed our introductions, I grabbed Kara's hand and pulled him towards the other couple in the room. "Anyway, nice to meet you two! I'll leave you to your date now!"

I winked at the siblings, and both of them just sighed and returned to their glittery meal.

Kara and I approached the other two girls in the room. The both of them lounged in their chairs, leaning over their armrests and laughing with one another. I took a moment to groom my hair and straighten out my cuffed sleeves before I approached them.

I tucked my hands in my pockets and sauntered over. "Hellllllooooooo, ladies," I said.

The glamorous girl, who I distinctly remembered was Minnie, puckered her lips and waved back at me - just a feminine wiggle of her fingers. The other girl giggled to herself, leaning back and shifting her eyes between the two of us.

"Hi there," Minnie said, her voice a lot deeper and sensual than I was expecting.

"Minnie, right? I've been hearing a lot about you." I said.

Kara tapped his chin. "No, I don't think you have. Etsuko only mentioned her once to you-"

I stepped on Kara's expensive-ass shoes and continued my conversation with Minnie. "Word on the street is you and I are a lot alike and that we'd get along. I thought I'd come over here to see if it was true."

"And? What do you think now that you see my beauty up close?"

I stepped up a bit closer and, slowly, placed my hand on her armrest. "Well, Minnie, I'm no photographer, but I have to say, I can definitely picture us together." I said. Both Minnie and her friend both giggled at my cheesy pick-up line, which was more than enough to make me smile and continue on. "So other than being sexy, what do you do, Minnie?"

"I'm an entertainer."

"Should've guessed. You've been very entertaining to me." I said, and the girls laughed. "Hm, I don't think our chemistry is any laughing matter, Minnie."

"No? You don't think you're forcing this a bit, darling?"

"You're leaning into me, aren't you?"

There was no denying that. Minnie and I were pretty close to one another, the both of us leaning on the same armrest. We gazed into each other's eyes. There was this playful, flirtatious electricity between us, both of us silently measuring each other up - for what, exactly, I didn't know. Minnie was a seriously gorgeous girl, and she certainly knew it. She had a beautiful fair complexion, making her green eyes pop. Her dark brown hair was long and thick, hanging down in glamorous, movie-star curls. She wore an off-shoulder, knee-length dress that showed off her figure, matched with a pair of long brown gloves and five-inch heels. Around her neck, she wore a beautiful, teardrop-shaped locket. Minnie was probably the only person here with such heavy make-up. Her eyes were shaded a deep brown, and her eyebrows were drawn in perfectly a little higher up on her head. When a smile pulled on her ruby red lips, a charming dimple was shown on her left cheek. She batted her long, false eyelashes at me, and I cocked my head.

Both of us were clearly waiting to see what the other would do next. Daring to break the silence, I playfully said, "So, my place or yours?"

Minnie leaned in an inch closer. "Let's take this to yours, honey."

That's when the other girl laughed out loud, a bit harder than before. "I'm pretty sure you both have the same 'place'." She said.

I pulled back. "Huh?"

"Have you figured it out yet?" Kara asked me, a small smile on his lips.

"No...? What are you two talking about?"

Minnie laughed, placing her gloved hand on mine. "Oh, sweety, you're so cute. Let me introduce myself. My name is Minnie Van Dryver, the epitome of female beauty! Not only that, I'm also the epitome of male beauty as well, when I go by Masashi Kou, at least. I'm the Ultimate Drag Queen."

...: Minnie Van Dryver - Masashi Kou / Ultimate Drag Queen :...

"...Oh." I said.

"I'm sorry for Ryuu's behaviour, Minnie. Thank you for humouring him." Kara said, slightly pulling me back towards him.

"No, no! I still stand by my words. Minnie, you're an absolutely beautiful woman. You're extremely talented." I said. "You're definitely going to have to share some tips with me. My cross-dressing isn't half as good as yours."

"Of course I'm beautiful. You don't need to tell me twice. But I wasn't aware you cross-dressed." She said.

"Oh, right! I never introduced myself to you ladies. I'm Ryuu Maekawa, and I'm the Ultimate Male Courtesan." I said. "You can probably guess how cross-dressing factors into my career."

Minnie and the other girl nodded, and I pulled out my Monophone briefly.

...: MINNIE VAN DRYVER - MASASHI KOU :...

...: ULTIMATE DRAG QUEEN :...

HEIGHT: 5'9

WEIGHT: 147 lbs

LIKES: Roses, snow, sea

DISLIKES: Thorns, Christmas, fish

I glanced through the hologram, noticing the other girl's eyes on me. She rested her chin in her hand, watching me with analyzing eyes. I closed the hologram and tilted my head at her. "Is there something on my face?" I genuinely asked her.

She blinked a bit. "Sorry?"

"You've been staring at me this whole time." I said. "Actually, I think I noticed you looking at me since I first walked into the dinning room."

The girl paused for a bit, then let on a small smile. "Hm. I hadn't noticed." She said. Despite my earlier flirting with the two of them, all of my focus was on Minnie, since she was so blatantly flirting back. This girl, on the other hand, hadn't really done much but watch me and laugh at our interactions. So it surprised me a bit when she suddenly flipped her hair and crossed her legs. She leaned forward, staring into my eyes with a sort of mischievous gaze. "My name's Naho Sakata, by the way. I'm the Ultimate Actor."

...: Naho Sakata / Ultimate Actor :...

So I usually have a pretty good hold of myself, but with the way this cute girl started twirling her hair and fixing her pastel jumper, I couldn't stop myself from blushing. She wasn't exactly glamorous or "unique" like Minnie - no, she had a fairly "average" look to her - but something about the way she was talking to me suddenly made my heart beat quickly. Naho had slightly tanned skin and a heart-shaped face. She had dark eyes and dark hair, grown long all the way to her waist with sweet straight bangs cut just before her eyes. In her hair, she wore a sparkly pink Alice band, matched with a sparkly pink bow at the top of her head.

Matching her pastel hair accessories, Naho wore pastel pink jumper with a comical unicorn stitched into it. Only the collar and the cuffs of her undershirt stuck out beneath it. She wore a pair of black skinny jeans, tucked under a bunched up pair of unicorn-printed, lavender socks. She had these adorable white trainers with solid pink soles and rainbow-coloured laces. On her wrists, she wore a bunch of solid-coloured bracelets - all pastel blues, greens, and yellows - and pierced through her ears were a pair of unicorn earrings. I noticed, as she ran her fingers through her hair, that her nails were painted all different colours of the rainbow.

"A-Actor, huh?" I said. Suddenly, my voice was a bit unsteady. I had noticed her before, talked to her before, but now, for whatever weird reason, I was getting flustered. "So do you do theatre work or behind-the-camera work?" As Naho answered, I pulled up her now filled out form on my Monophone.

...: NAHO SAKATA :...

...: ULTIMATE ACTOR :...

HEIGHT: 5'5

WEIGHT: 130 lbs

LIKES: Unicorns, parsnips, fluffy slippers

DISLIKES: Long skirts, math, tomatoes

Well, the unicorn-love's fairly obvious, I thought to myself.

"Actually," Naho said, "my acting's a bit different. I'm usually hired by families or people who are lonely and looking for friendship. I'm hired to act out certain roles in people's lives - friends, daughters, siblings. That kind of thing. I recently worked with a family whose daughter ran away from them, so I pretended to be her for a couple months whilst they figured everything out."

I nodded. "Oh, I see. That's a lot like my kind of work, except..."

"Except you sleep with your clients." Minnie said, blunt.

"E-Except he acts as their romantic partners." Kara corrected as he fiddled with his suit. His cheeks were flushed red again, which was kind of funny when I realized it matched his red hair.

"Nah, Minnie's description is more accurate." I said. I turned to Naho and shyly kissed her hand. "A-Anyway, it was lovely to meet the both of you. Naho, I'd love to talk about our careers sometime."

"Mmhm, me too, Ryuu." Naho said, a confident smirk on her lips.

Kara and I left the dinning room after our goodbyes.

"Well, we saved the best two rooms for last," Kara said, not hesitating to take me to the next room down the hall. "I assume the last of our class will be there."

He said the last two rooms, but as I glanced up and down and brightly lit hallway, I noticed there were three doors I had yet to go through. That wasn't even including the ominous, gated elevator which had yet to be explained. Now, our hands were pressed against each other's naturally; no longer was it a conscious gesture. Kara seemed set on approaching the door at the far end of the hall, right across from the laundry room, but I tugged him back.

"Wait a second, what about the third door?" I said.

"Oh. Well, the door beside our bedroom is the girls' bedroom." He said.

"Uh huh."

"..." Kara narrowed his eyes at me. "Uh huh...?"

"...So? I don't understand."

"Ryuu, we are not going to the girl's bedroom."

"Why not? One of the girls I haven't met might be in there." I said.

"Then we'll meet her later! It's private for them! We're not going in there like a couple of perverts!" Kara exclaimed. So far, Kara had remained pretty calm, and his voice was always mellow and polite, so it was a bit surprising to hear him suddenly so loud.

"Huh? But I'd be the only pervert." I said. "You don't even swing that way."

"W-Wha...? When did I-" Kara stuttered, blushing bright red again. He didn't need to tell me. It was part of my job to be able to tell what everyone was into in a matter of seconds.

Laughing, I pulled him towards the door he originally wanted to take me through. "Alright, alright! No ladies' bedroom, I promise."

I slid open the far door, and an instant wave of chemical-scented air wafted by me. The two of us stepped in to find a huge swimming pool. It was in the centre of the room, designed with a curved, almost peanut-like shape. The pool looked deepest in the middle, gradually getting more shallow on both ends, right up to a short set of stairs out of the water. There was an elevated rectangle in the middle of the pool - no idea what that was for. In the corner of the room, the was a circular hot tub, which, at the moment, shone with green lights. You could probably change the colour of the lighting with the control panel near the door, and I wouldn't be surprised if you could change the pool's colour as well. Observing the control panel more, you could also adjust the heat of the hot tub, the maximum being "Boiling". Not sure why anyone would set it to that temperature...

Surrounding the pool were spotless white tiles, and along one of the white walls was a large shelf carrying hundreds of white towels. There were two girls here - one organizing and folding the towels, and the other mopping the already clean floor. Kara and I walked over to greet them.

"Hey, girls. I didn't expect to see people voluntarily cleaning around here." I said. The two of them looked at me with a lack of expression.

The ponytailed girl playing with the towels spoke with a soft, deep voice. "Hi. Do you want to join our club?"

"I'm surprised you already formed a club," Kara said. "We've only been here for maybe five or six hours."

"Well, it just kind of happened naturally." She said, fluffing out a towel. "Chinami and I didn't want to talk to anyone, so we hid in the pool room, and now we kind of have this Anti-Social Club going on."

"Sounds like fun!" I said with a smile. "So what do you do in this club?"

I noticed the other girl, who had messy black hair and a bandana wrapped around her head, glanced around the pool room in silence. She held the handle of the mop close to her chest and shrugged. "So far? Avoiding people and cleaning."

"W-Well, you didn't have to clean, Chinami." The ponytailed girl said, blushing and fiddling with a towel in her hands. "It's just that t-the towels were bothering me, okay? I-If you read the tags, you'll notice they're all from different companies, and if you l-look really close, you'll notice they're all different tones of white. A-And they weren't folded very well, so, uhm, I want to organize them." She turned to me, a bit awkward and avoiding eye contact. "H-Hey, do you think I should organize them by company name, alphabetically, or by, uh, colour?"

"By colour, you mean barely noticeable different shades of white?" I said. The girl shrugged, and I copied her. "I guess by colour...?"

She nodded and got on it.

"Yeah, she just started doing that when we got here, so I thought I'd clean too." Chinami said. "It's kind of second nature to me anyway, being the Ultimate Janitor. Oh, yeah, I forgot to introduce myself to you. My name's Chinami Hojo. Oh, wait, was I supposed to say my name before my talent? Eh, whatever. No going back now."

...: Chinami Hojo / Ultimate Janitor :...

Chinami was an interesting looking girl. She had slightly tanned skin and a round face. Her hazel eyes were sort of dull, lacking the energy and liveliness everyone else had. She had an average build; she stood at an average height, with a flat-chest and skinnier hips. Her black, shoulder-length hair was unkempt - tangled with choppy layers. She accessorized herself only with a red bandana wrapped around her head. Otherwise, she wore a navy blue, baggy polo shirt with long sleeves and a pair of lighter, faded jeans. Both of these had various patched up holes and stains in random places. With all that effort put into trying to salvage her clothes, she might as well just by new ones. She also wore some scrunched up white socks and a pair of black sneakers. In her back pocket, I noticed a pair of rubber teal gloves dangling out.

"Very nice to meet you, Chinami! I'm Ryuu Maekawa, and I'm the Ultimate Male Courtesan." I said, flashing her an energetic grin.

Chinami just stared at me with a dull, emotionless expression. "Okay."

Geez, tough crowd. "And your name is?" I asked, turning to the other girl.

She stopped rolling up towels just long enough to quietly introduce herself. "Uh, Kiyomi Takata. I'm the Ultimate Stand-up Impressionist."

...: Kiyomi Takata / Ultimate Stand-up Impressionist :...

With the way she held herself, I never would've guessed she was in the entertainment business. She had fairly pale skin and tired, deep brown eyes that refused to make eye contact with mine. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a basic ponytail that just barely touched her shoulders. A cute, straight fringe was left hanging just above her eyes. Kiyomi wore a stylish Prussian-blue blazer with white, vertical stripes with Hope's Peak Academy's logo printed on the front. She wore it over a white, long-sleeved blouse and grey, straight pants that were sort of faded at the knees. On her feet, she wore a pair of classy derby shoes with some white ankle socks sticking out. I realized she was a shorter girl, though maybe she would've stood taller if she stood with proper posture.

"I see! I'd love to hear some of your impressions, Kiyomi. I bet you're hilarious on stage." I said.

Kiyomi just blushed and turned back to the towel shelf. "N-No. I'm really not great. I just-uhm..."

"Kiyomi, you're literally the Ultimate Stand-up Impressionist. You have to be good."

"I-I... N-No, there are better people out there."

"But they weren't scouted and invited to Hope's Peak Academy. You were!"

"W-Well, y-you know... I'm sure there's a lot of d-drunk people who work there w-who don't know what they're doing and-"

I groaned. "Kiyomi. Shut up. You're amazing. Just take the compliment, okay?"

Kiyomi just went silent, and, if it was even possible, avoided my eyes even more. I decided to just shrug it off. I'd get her to hear my compliments one day, I'm sure.

"So are you joining our club, Ryuu?" Chinami asked.

"Your Anti-Social Club?" I said. "Well, I don't know. You guys aren't doing so well. You guys keep saying you're anti-social, but you keep talking to me and Kara."

Chinami and Kiyomi looked at each other at this revelation. Their faces were blank, but clearly, they hadn't thought of this.

"Oh..." Chinami said.

"Well, I'm gonna pass on the Anti-Social Club and finishing greeting everyone, but I wish you all the best with your people-avoiding and unnecessary cleaning! See you later! Have fun!" I exclaimed. I tried to throw in some extra cheeriness in hopes to get either one of them to smile a little, but the two of them just nodded quietly and went back to mopping and towel folding. The pool room filled with an awkward silence, so Kara and I quietly shuffled out into the hall.

The second the pool door shut behind me, I let out a lengthy yawn. "Geez, I feel like those two just drained all of my energy."

"Mmhm. I suppose they're not the most lively people here." Kara said, failing to hold back a yawn himself. Rubbing my eyes, I decided to read through Kiyomi and Chinami's forms on my Monophone.

...: CHINAMI HOJO :...

...: ULTIMATE JANITOR :...

HEIGHT: 5'6

WEIGHT: 134 lbs

LIKES: Reading, warm showers, tile flooring

DISLIKES: Snow, cigarettes, stairs

./.

...: KIYOMI TAKATA :...

...: ULTIMATE STAND-UP IMPRESSIONIST :...

HEIGHT: 5'2

WEIGHT: 105 lbs

LIKES: Silence, humour, Internet memes

DISLIKES: Clutter, attention, discords

Chinami and Kiyomi - they both seemed like lovely people, but I'd need to find someway of talking to them without losing all my energy. "Please tell me the last room is a karaoke bar or something. I need something to wake me up." I said.

Kara smiled and took my hand, quickly guiding me across the hall - to the door right beside the laundry room. "It's even better than that."

Kara pulled me into another, brightly lit room. However, it wasn't just white lights and green beams; this room had all sorts of flashing lights, changing and flashing to the beat of a remix playing through the speakers. In front of me was a few short rows of theatre chairs, all white with various neon-coloured cushions. In front of the chairs was a large wall, completely made out of a flat screen TV. There were four, neon green podiums - two on either side of the screen. Two of them had wireless VR headsets resting on them, along with a pair of high-tech motion-sensor gloves and boots. The other two podiums had their VR sets taken off, I assumed by the girl and the boy standing in front of the screen, playing some sort of horror game with the VR headsets. There was a third girl as well, sitting on one of the chairs in the front row. She seemed to be watching them intently, cheering them on with a grin.

"Okay, you're right." I said to Kara. "This is way better than a freaking karaoke bar!"

"I thought you'd like it." Kara said.

I didn't waste anymore time. I ran over to the front row where one of the girls sat, a bit of a skip in my step. I sat beside her, my eyes glued to the horror game on the screen and its incredibly realistic graphics.

"Hey there," I said to the girl.

"O-Oh, hi!" She said with a cute smile. "I'm Ameko. You must be the guy who wouldn't wake up."

"Sure am," I said. "Ryuu."

"Nice to meet you." Ameko said. The two of us turned away from the screen long enough to shake each other's hands. She quite pretty, with her beautiful white skin and her striking baby blue eyes. Her hair was short, cut just before her shoulders with bold, straight bangs. Some of it was clipped back with some waterdrop-shaped hair clips, but most of her bangs hung in front of her forehead. She had an oval-shaped face, and she stood at a pretty average height, which made her extremely thin figure that much more noticeable. She wore a white shirt under a black, baggy sweater. She also wore a cute, blue and black checkered skirt, a pair of black stockings, and some white sneakers.

I turned back to the screen. "So what're they playing?"

"Bloodbath Death." Ameko said. I noticed Kara hesitantly taking a seat beside me as Ameko explained. "It's this horror game where you have to try and kill each other in various settings and levels. You run around, using items that set up gruesome traps, send murderous psychos or animals or monsters after the other players... That kind of thing."

Ameko seemed like a sweet girl so far, so it was weird to hear her talking about such violent stuff in that gentle, kind voice. "Are you into games like this, Ameko?"

"O-Oh, I wouldn't say that. But I do know a lot about these kinds of games. Or at least with this one..." Ameko bashfully tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "B-Because I was part of this game's creation. I'm the Ultimate Voice Actor. You'll see me in the credits of this game - Ameko Amane."

...: Ameko Amane / Ultimate Voice Actor :...

"Oh, I didn't realize that, Ameko." Kara said.

"Y-Yeah. I've been apart of the creation of a bunch of games, though I mostly do voice over work for animations." She said, blushing a bit. "I voiced the character that Yume is playing."

Yume, I assumed, was the girl with one of the VR headsets on her. She seemed like she had a lot of points - clearly, she was winning - but just when the three of us looked back up at the large screen, her character got attacked by a giant, murderous wolf. Her character screamed, "MOTHERFUCKER!" as she was tackled to the ground - a voice that was insanely hard to believe was Ameko's. Yume herself screamed and stumbled back. As her character was brutally ripped to shreds, Yume lost her footing and tripped right onto Ameko's lap.

Yume reached up and slipped off her VR headset, her boisterous laughter filling the VR room. She turned to Ameko, apologizing through her laughter. "Sorry! Sorry! Tsutomu's insanely good at this shit."

"Uhm, y-yeah, it's no problem at all, Yume..." Ameko said, unsteady and a blushing mess.

Yume finally untangled herself from Ameko and her chair, popping back onto her feet with a grin. She began to slip off her gloves when she noticed me and Kara. "Woah, you're new. I thought I'd met everyone." She said, for a moment glancing at my shoes. Then she cracked her knuckles and flashed me an energetic grin. "Well, time for another introduction, I guess. My name's Yume Igarashi, and I'm the Ultimate Who-The-Fuck-Knows!"

I tilted my head. "...Sorry?"

Kara explained. "Yume's the only one here who doesn't remember her talent."

"Really? Why don't you just check the Monophone?" I asked, pulling out my own and tapping on Yume's icon.

...: YUME IGARASHI :...

...: ULTIMATE ? :...

HEIGHT: 5'5

WEIGHT: 143 lbs

LIKES: Death metal, technology, video games

DISLIKES: Heights, manual work, healthy food

"See? I'm not that stupid; don't you think I would've checked that by now?" Yume said. "I was doing so well against Tsutomu in that game, I thought for a second I might be the Ultimate Gamer or something. But, uh, I guess not."

I guess she really doesn't remember her talent... Well, there is one of those people in Danganronpa every season, isn't there?

...: Yume Igarashi / Ultimate ? :...

Yume's energy and confidence was pretty refreshing. She was fairly pale with a heart-shaped face and slender, dark-brown eyes. Her hair was long, pin-straight, and dyed purple with a golden fringe hanging in her face. Yume wore a graphic t-shirt with the word, "IZANAMI" written on it with bold, white letters. A white skull with crossed bones seemed to be "Izanami"'s logo, whatever that was. Over that, she wore a dark denim jacket, matching her dark denim skinny jeans with torn holes on the knees. She wore black and white sneakers with a pair of black socks. Yume accessorized herself with a pair of fingerless black gloves and a choker necklace with shiny, silver spikes sticking out of it. I admired her two lip piercings and her silver earrings; the girl was pretty stylish.

Still holding Yume's holographic form and head shot, I realized I hadn't looked into Ameko's information. I tapped on her silhouette.

...: AMEKO AMANE :...

...: ULTIMATE VOICE ACTOR :...

HEIGHT: 5'6

WEIGHT: 103 lbs

LIKES: Rain, forehead kisses, strawberry cheesecake

DISLIKES: Despair, timid people, own family

Suddenly, Yume's hand started waving through my Monophone's hologram. "Hello? Stop ignoring me and introduce yourself, man."

"Ah, my apologies! My name's Ryuu Maekawa. I'm the Ultimate Male Courtesan." I said, smiling up at Yume.

"Courtesan...?" Yume blinked at me for a moment. Then she gasped, grabbed her VR headset, and spoke to the other guy who was still playing the game. "DUDE! WE HAVE AN ULTIMATE HOOKER IN OUR CLASS!"

Gasping in excitement, the boy ripped off his VR headset and whipped around to face us. Behind Yume and this guy - Tsutomu, I remembered his name was - the horror game immediately paused, sensing the players had taken off their equipment. Tsutomu faced the chairs with a large smile until I stood up to introduce myself. Then, suddenly, his smile disappeared.

"Oh." Tsutomu said.

"Hey, what kind of reaction is that?" I said with a laugh. "Don't worry, if it's the fact that I'm a guy, I'm pretty good at cross-dressing. It wouldn't take long before you forget I'm a guy if you wanted to hire me or whatever."

"R-Ryuu!" Kara said, standing up behind me.

"What?"

Tsutomu shrugged, slipping his hands into his lab coat (Ultimate Scientist?). "No, it's not the whole guy thing. I bat for both teams." He said bluntly. "I'm just not attracted to you. You're too tall."

"Too tall?" Kara said.

"Yeah, you're almost my height. I don't like it."

"Well, there's nothing a man can do about that. Don't you think what your saying is a bit insensitive?"

"Nah, it's okay, Kara." I said. It really didn't bother me at all. "I'm Ryuu Maekawa! I'm technically called the Ultimate Male Courtesan, by the way. Not the Ultimate Hooker."

"Well, I won't judge your career choice," He said, totally judging my career choice. "I'm Tsutomu Kiyomizu, and I'm the Ultimate Toxicologist."

...: Tsutomu Kiyomizu / Ultimate Toxicologist :...

Tsutomu was an interesting guy. He was the only one out of us guys with pretty short, cleanly trimmed beard, fading gracefully into stubble up his face. He was probably an inch taller than me, but with his lanky, awkward slouch, we were pretty much on the same level. His skin was pretty pale - not as pale as some other people here, but it really showcased his dark eye bags; clearly wasn't getting enough rest. His poisonous purple hair was pretty sick, all fluffy with a side fringe just above his deep green eyes.

He obviously wore a creased lab coat, with his sleeved rolled up so you could see the light hairs on his arms. Beneath that, he wore a simple black graphic t-shirt with a purple skull and a splatter design behind it. Tsutomu also wore a pair of cargo shorts, a brown belt with tubes of green and purple liquid attached to it, and a pair of brown sandals. On top of his head, he had a pair of reading glasses, and his ears were pierced with small, grey skull earrings.

"Toxicologist, huh? Maybe you and Ash would have a lot to talk about then." I said. I certainly knew nothing about Tsutomu's line of work.

"'Ash'? You mean that dwarf with the Christmas eyes?" Tsutomu asked.

Kara crossed his arms. "Dwarf?"

I tapped my chin. "Christmas eyes...?"

Before Tsutomu could continue our conversation, Yume stepped in and stared at me with such intensity, I swore her eyes were sparkling. "Hey, so what's it like screwing old men?!"

"Pardon me?" Kara spoke up before I could say anything.

"I mean, surely what you do is illegal, isn't it? You're underage! You can't be getting paid to have sex with adults, right?"

"Well, it's not just sex, especially for someone with the title of a courtesan." I explained. "I have to take on the complete role of people's romantic partners - that includes all the vulnerability and emotional love and support. Sometimes, I'm just paid to spend a day getting coffee with someone as they rant about their issues in life, or just to spend an evening with someone at their house, making sure they feel loved and no longer alone. People have different preferences as well, and it's not just their sexual tastes, it's their emotional tastes as well. People respond better to certain personalities, and I have to find that personality and apply it as fast as possible."

Kara nodded along, genuinely interested and enlightened. Tsutomu and Yume paused for a second. Then, Tsutomu clicked his tongue and bluntly said, "Yeah, but you do basically just have sex with people."

"Well," I said, "yeah."

"Okay, but having sex with people isn't really talent." Yume said.

"Pfft, says the girl who doesn't even remember her talent." Tsutomu scoffed. Yume stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh, no. It's a talent." I said. I turned to Yume. "You're a bisexual with a preference for cute things, despite the rugged appearance you but on. Emotionally, you're probably more likely to open up to someone unlike you - bit more on the patient side, and maybe a bit of a nerd themselves so you have some things in common. Your ideal date night is probably an evening at home, playing video games with your significant other and dancing to loud music on the balcony. Also, you have a foot kink, but that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Yume was speechless.

"Anything I missed?" I asked. I couldn't help but gloat a bit, okay?

Surprisingly, Tsutomu and Kara were the ones to flush red. Yume just kind of nodded at me, and we shared a moment of silent mutual respect and understanding. Tsutomu took a couple steps back and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets.

"H-Hey, you're not gonna analyze me next, are you?" Tsutomu said, increasing the distance between us by the second.

"I already have, but I won't say your kinks out loud. They're way too embarrassing." I said with a shrug. Tsutomu's eyes went wide in horror, and I couldn't help but laugh. Actually, the guy had nothing embarrassing on him, not as far as I could tell at least. I just said that to scare him.

"Okay, well, we should really get going now!" Kara said, a slight crack in his voice. "Thanks for introducing yourselves! Bye for now!"

Suddenly, I was being roughly pushed out of the VR room. I managed to get a short wave goodbye in before Kara pushed me out into the hall, and the only person who waved back was Yume with a smirk on her face. Kara slid the door shut before I could do anything else.

"My goodness..." Kara huffed, brushing off the front of his suit vest. After a moment of silence, Kara finally met my eyes and said something. "Hey, I apologize for their behaviour in there. They were being rude to you about your talent and all."

Huh? Does he think I'm offended? "Is that why you were in such a rush to get me out of there? Kara, I appreciate that, but I'm chill with it. I really like talking about my talent and what I do." I said. I clicked open my Monophone and tapped the final, unlocked silhouette in my Friends app.

...: TSUTOMU KIYOMIZU :...

...: ULTIMATE TOXICOLOGIST :...

HEIGHT: 5'11

WEIGHT: 161 lbs

LIKES: Toxins, sugar, coffee

DISLIKES: Salt, cold, tea

Hm, seems like a number of people here have a sweet tooth...

"You shouldn't let people talk about you like that though, Ryuu. You deserve to be treated with respect." Kara said. He took this a lot more seriously than I did.

So I tried to ease the tension a bit. "Kara, are you being overprotective because you're falling for me?"

Kara didn't say anything for a bit. I noticed his cheeks blushed a bit as he adjusted the cuffs of his red shirt, his eyes now shifting to a corner of the hall. Then, he finally mumbled, "Ryuu, are... are y-you... flirting with me?"

"Um, sorry. It's kind of a habit with me. I flirt with everyone. I can't stop myself, haha..." I said, quietly. I worried I had gone a bit far, made him uncomfortable. I had been poking and teasing at him all day.

Before Kara could say anything, a soft ring echoed from my Monophone. I took it out of my pocket again, noticing a little notification on my ChatPal app. Only a second later, Kara got the same text tone, and his hologram displayed a notification as well. We tapped on the app at the same time. We both had an automatic message sent from someone named PinkSkull.

PINKSKULL: Hello. Welcome to DanganronpaV4.2. On behalf of our audience, I'd like to tell you how much we appreciate you being here. It means a lot to the world. And it means a lot to our sales to. Now that every has officially met each other, please make your way into the hallway for a special announcement. And please do so within the next minute or you will be punished immediately via internal combustion. Thank you. We appreciate your compliance.

"I-Internal combustion...?" I said. I wasn't entirely sure how that'd happen, but the words left a sour enough taste in my mouth for me to comply and avoid it. I turned to the flat screen on one of the hallway walls. "That's probably where the announcement will be, right?"

"...Yes. That's a good assumption." Kara said, quiet. I didn't ask him what was wrong. I didn't have to. We both knew what was swelling up inside one another: fear. We both knew what was coming, and frankly, for a lack of better phrasing, we were scared shitless.

I took a deep breath. Inhale. Multiple doors slid open around us and the rest of our class began to crowd around the TV. Hold. A quiet murmur of fear and uncertainty began to echo through the halls. Exhale. I took a step forward to join everyone else.

But then Kara grabbed my arm. "Hey, uh, Ryuu..." He said, still blushing. "Uhm, I just wanted to say... Don't... Don't be sorry."

For the first time, Kara managed to make me blush. "Fine then," I said. "I'm not sorry at all."

Then the two of us stepped up to the crowd, together, with Kara still gently holding onto my arm.

---

Phew. Thanks for reading this stupidly long chapter. If there's one thing I hate doing, it's describing characters' appearances and their clothes in big, chunky paragraphs T_T So I'm thankful this intro chapter's finished. Let me know if you have any thoughts, concerns, etc... Oh! And let me know what you think of our disaster of a protagonist, Ryuu! I think I'm having too much fun with him.

Probably won't be another update for awhile. Fair warning now: I'm an incredibly slow writer. But I hope when I do update, you'll come back and enjoy :)

Again, have a good 2018, everyone! Hope it's better than 2017.

With love,

-hurgleplargh