Act 1-1: A Debonair Despair Affair...In Midair

(SD CAME UP WITH THE NAME - LIME)

(I TAKE NO CREDIT SHUSH - SD)

My name is Ashley Jubilee Jung. I am the Super High School Level K-Pop Idol. I'm attending Hope's Peak Academy, and am currently on my way there via flight…

Is what I would have told you before I blacked out.

Before that, I've seen the world around me spiral out of control. A robotic, black-and-white, talking bear came out of nowhere, destroying the idyllic peace and friendship aboard the jet with his talks about murders and despair. I still couldn't get how he was able to take over our flight so...effortlessly.

Right now, I'm floating in a hazy, murky pool of my own subconscious. I'm not quite sure how long I've been out, but I estimate it to be three hours? Four? Definitely couldn't have been more than a day though…

My shoulders feel heavy, and I feel queasy...This feels like the time the girls and I had to undergo an intensive choreography session. Where exactly am I, and what in the world is going on?

"Oh, Juvi…"

I froze. That voice...That nickname…I hadn't heard it in a very long time, and I was planning on keeping it that way. How-

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed activity. A boy who looked no older than I was now stepped out of the shadows with a beckoning finger.

"You little squirrel," he cooed, "Did you think you could evade me forever?"

Oh no. Not him. Never him.

I turned to run, but before I could, I felt him grab me by the shoulders and turn me around.

"Nice try, Ashie…" he stroked a finger down my face, like he used to all those years ago, "But I'm always two steps ahead. And I always will be."

I heard the familiar cha-click that spelt doom for me whenever I heard it.

"You know what this collar's for, right…?" His hand raised itself, a steel choker in his grasp, as he smiled.

I struggled against his grasp, but it was to no avail. It didn't matter that I was now twice as old as back then - I still couldn't escape his clutches on my own.

"It's for little raccoons...like you!"

I woke up with a start.

Gods... I heaved, still terrified from the nightmare, That was...just, no. Never again.

It was then I realized I wasn't quite where I last remembered myself to be.

Getting up from where I lay on the satin sheets, I patted the queen-sized bed as I surveyed my surroundings. Next to said bed, on the adjacent wall, there was a desk that was attached to the wall, along with a small lamp. Directly across from me, a wardrobe stood by the far wall. Nothing much else of interest was there, which was worrisome, because there wasn't even a window, or any indication of what time it was.

I stood up shakily, the room shifting in front of me. I groaned - this was making me slightly nauseous. But I wasn't going to get any answers just lying around. Passing by an ajar door that led to the bathroom, I made my way along the corridor to the room's door, which-

*klonk*

After a quick test, I determined it was metal. Gripping the handle, I slowly opened the door inwards, only for my brown eyes to meet blue eyes.

Well, eye.

"Ashley!"

"Hideki!" I wasn't sure what I was more relieved about - the fact that I wasn't alone where I was, or that at least a familiar face was here with me.

He looked concerned. "Are you okay? You look really nauseous."

"Yeah, no kidding," I breathed out, "How long have we been out for?"

"I don't know, myself," he glanced down the corridor, where I noted the fourteen other doors that looked exactly like mine, to the end of the hallway, before our attention turned back to each other. "In any case, let's go. The others have already left before us."

"Got it." And the two of us were off.

As we paced down the hallways, I heard him ask, "Do you remember anything after the halothane?"

"Hal-what now?"

"Sorry, my bad, sleeping gas." Hideki explained, "In any case, do you remember anything after Sasha getting dropped by a fire extinguisher?"

"You saw that too?"

"Hard not to - whoever did this to us, they didn't use a proper anesthetic, like the ones in my surgery unit. Honestly, it's not surprising someone resisted it. I just thought it would be someone slightly...larger."

I skidded to a halt. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Those more massive in size are harder to knock out, just like how they're harder to intoxicate. Sasha isn't exactly, well...her physical appearance suggests that she is not of an entirely healthy weight."

"I think she did say something about sleep being for the weak, though…" I shook my head, "Or maybe I was just imagining things."

"No, she did, but she was probably joking. Or delirious. Or both. Wouldn't put it past her. Either way, I'm sure there's a reason she resisted the gas."

We walked in silence for a few more minutes, before arriving at a sign that pointed to 'Atrium'. That got me wondering: where exactly were we to have such a place as an atrium?"

"I think that's where they are." Hideki claimed, "We agreed to meet at the most accessible location, and I don't think there's anywhere else we can go."

"Okay then." I reached forward and opened the door.

The atrium was exactly what it said on the sign: an atrium. Two interweaving staircases led up behind a gigantic fountain, with a statue of a unicorn rearing up, water erupting from its horns. Around it was a small walkway, with a podium centered directly in front of the unicorn's hooves, sufficiently in front of the cascade of water. A large chandelier, flanked by several smaller ones, provided most of the light in the place, blocked from the outside with a huge curtain.

The rest of my classmates had already gathered, and were in various states of action - and panic. Todd was swinging around the chandelier, either having way too much fun-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Or, judging by the screams, probably freaking out badly.

Ava was brandishing a hockey stick, Xiang's hands grasped a wooden staff, Eric held an antique-looking rapier, Maya a wooden sword, and even Faen had assumed a defensive position, brandishing a cast-iron frying pan. All five had their 'weapons' directed at us, before lowering their guard when they realized it was, well, us.

"Ms. Jung!" Faen called, "Mr. Kenta! It's good to have you with us, safe and sound!"

"Je suis tout à fait d'accord." (Translation: I totally agree.") Lucille smiled, walking over to help prop me up. "You do not seem well, Ashley. Are you all right?"

"If she woke up as disoriented as the rest of us," Xiang intoned, "I think she's still trying to catch her bearings."

I looked around. "Where are Sasha and Nico?"

He sighed. "No one knows, unfortunately. We can only hope for their safe return."

"In any case," Matthew pondered, "Does anyone know where we are, since we all know we were knocked out?"

In unison, almost everyone shook their heads.

"If I knew zhat, I would have told you!" Jackie loured.

"Easy, Jackie," Matthew held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, "I'm sorry if I offended you, but really, does anyone know how we're going to find out where we are?"

"That's easy! You won't!"

We all turned around to see the one thing we least wanted to ever see again: Monokuma.

"You again?!" growled JJ, "What did you do to us?"

"Do you honestly think he'll give you a straight answer?" Maya deadpanned.

"I'm bear-y sure I said something like that before..." Monokuma appeared to think, before shrugging his shoulders, "But yeah, if I told you that, it'd be really em-bear-assing for my status as the paws-itively jerkass principal!"

He's worse than Sasha and Yukari at puns, I thought to myself, Seriously, he's unbearable- oh, jeongmal, I'm doing it too?!

"So, let's get to the best part - the rules!"

"TODD DOESN'T PLAY BY YOUR RULES!"

Leaping down from his perch, Todd landed squarely on the bear, feet-first. "Todd didn't become ringmaster to play by a bunch of stupid rules all over again!"

"Gyah! Rule number one!" Monokuma struggled under his hold, "Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN GYAH THAT'S MY SPLEEN!"

"So he has a spleen," mused Tien, "Fascinating."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Huh?" Todd's ears pricked up at the sound, "Did anyone other than Todd hear that?"

Beep. Beep. BEEP.

He wasn't; I could hear the beeping as well, although where it was from...escaped...me.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Todd, get off Monokuma, now!" I screamed.

"Todd doesn't like this sound!" he yelled back, scrambling off his stand on top of the bear.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Ava was the first to realize. "It's a bomb!"

"Zhat can't be good!"

"But I'm too young and too beautiful to die like this!" I heard Jackie cry.

"I want to go home!" Eric hollered.

Amongst the chaos, however, Maya's expression was solemn. "So, this really how it's gonna end, huh...How quaint."

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP-

"Allow me!"

Fearlessly, Xiang shoved his pole under Monokuma (...wow, did that come out wrong), and flipped him up into the air, whereupon he got tangled in the chandelier's crystals.

"Everyone, duck for cover!" Matthew cried out above the din, before I saw him notice the person right beneath said chandelier. "Look out-"

BTOOOOOM!

Shards of glass rained from the heavens, as the entirety of the candelabrum broke off its fixture and collapsed. The bulk of the steelware came crashing down onto Jackie-

Before Matthew tackled her out of the way, and into me.

CRAAAAASH!

The ringing in my ears took forever to stop, and I couldn't see anything than my hands, which I had instinctively brought to my face when the blast had occurred.

I don't plan on getting plastic surgery anytime soon, thank you very much.

"Hck!" I coughed the sawdust out of my system, before rubbing my eyes. That seemed to have the effect I would have rathered, because my eyesight started to clear up.

"Ashley! Matthew! Jackie!"

I heard our names being called, before the prone figure in front of me raised his hand. "We're fine! At least Jackie and I!"

"So am I!" I added in, and from the sounds of our voices, the others found us quickly

As they pulled us out of the rubble and helped us to our feet, Jackie turned to Matthew. "Tu m'a sauvé la vie? Merci..."

"I really hope that was a compliment."

"Close enough to one."

Dusting myself down, I turned to survey the others. Luckily, most of them were similarly unharmed, with only some people still checking their ears, presumably to see if their hearing was working.

"S-someone is so totally getting sued for negligence!" yelled JJ, in an attempt to sound brave, but it was clear he was as scared as the rest of us.

"That wasn't negligence!"

Out of nowhere, Monokuma reappeared, before giggling, "It's what happens when you harm the headmaster! Does that make sense to everyone?"

"Merde!" Lucille yelled, shocked, "Where ze hell did you come from?"

"Whatever could you possibly mean?" Monokuma twirled in place, "I've always been here!"

"No you weren't!" Eric rebutted.

"Yes I was!"

"No you weren't!"

"Yes I was!"

"No you weren't!"

In response, Monokuma flared out his claws. "Bitch, don't make me cut you."

"Whoa!" Eric ducked behind Xiang, which, in all honestly, was both a hilarious and slightly disturbing sight.

"Psst, any idea where else to throw him?" I heard Lucille whisper from behind me.

"None." It was Ava. "Also, you're grabbing my arm too tight."

"As I was saying…" Monokuma paused, and appeared to think. A lightbulb released itself from a hatch in his head and lit up with an audible 'ding!', before he turned to address us again.

"Actually, why should I waste my breath on you bastards? I'll let your handbooks, or, shall I say, your Electro-IDs do the talking for me!"

He reached behind him with his left hand, and pulled out a stack of what looked like mobile phones, before reaching behind him with his right, and bringing out a comically-oversized slingshot, which I would have had quite the laugh over had it not been faced at us.

Monokuma laughed, as he slammed the end of the slingshot into the ground, and pulled back its elastic, holstering the mobile phone-like devices. "Think fast, chucklenuts!"

In one swift motion, the sixteen...'Electro-IDs', I believe, were released, and flew towards us.

Now, I know what you're thinking, and yes, I may make it sound like it wasn't such a big deal, but that was because it happened so fast, none of us really had the time to feel shocked or surprised. The only thing we could do was catch. And either we caught it, or we didn't. It was a test of our reflexes.

"Look out!" "...!" "Kyah!" "Ouch!" "Whoops!" "Ack!" "Oof!"

And needless to say...not all of us passed.

I remember instinctively bringing my hands up to catch two of them, while the third that was barreling straight for my face was blocked by a gloved hand - belonging to Hideki, who had also gotten his own.

Xiang caught his effortlessly, and so did Ava. Maya snatched it out of the air, while Todd went one step further and caught it between his feet.

Faen caught his in the frying pan he wielded, and I was astonished to see that even after impacting such a hard object, the Electro-ID appeared to be completely intact and unscathed. Conversely, another Electro-ID collided with a comparatively softer object, although…

"...Bollocks."

Eric keeled over, clutching his groin with his free hand. While he had caught his own Electro-ID, Tien had dodged hers, leading to the unfortunate accident. Tien looked half-guilty about it, but she was covering her face with her sleeve and shaking, so I assumed she was also holding in a laugh.

Johan and JJ were also hit, but they had the fortune to only be hit on the head. While Johan looked outraged, JJ had an incredibly deadpan look, as if this wasn't the first time he had the honour to be smacked in the face by a foreign object.

In more tamer accidents, Jackie, Lucille and Matthew had simply fumbled and failed to fully catch theirs, dropping them due to the speed they had impacted their hands.

"Was zur Hölle?! Monokuma, you esel, why would you send three of these at Ashley?!" Hideki demanded.

"Well, Comrade Activist and Flatty McWashboard aren't here, so someone had to catch for them-"

"DON'T CALL ME COMRADE! And how is she flat when I'm the one who's literally agender?!"

"Why does everyone judge me on my lack of boobs?!"

I turned around. In the commotion, Sasha and Nico had entered - the former leaning against the latter's shoulders as though she was about to collapse. Both had extremely annoyed looks on their faces.

Now that I mention it, that was the first time I'd ever seen Nico show anything other than a smile. And she looked angry.

Monokuma giggled. "Exactly. You would have taken it as a compliment, comrade. I wanted insults."

Sasha sighed. "If I ignore him, will he go away?"

"Or can we tear him to pieces?" Nico snarled.

Xiang sighed in response. "We tried both, sort of. The broken chandelier was the result."

Sasha cursed in a language I couldn't recognize (probably Russian or...Yiddish, was it?), before she sighed. "So, what did we miss, anyway?"

I tossed her her Electro-ID, which she caught in one hand despite most likely being concussed. Nico didn't fare nearly so well - distracted, she let her ID hit her-

Right in the chest.

"THAT DIDN'T EVEN HURT! AND I'M PISSED THAT IT DIDN'T!"

"Right, now, if you turn on your Electro-IDs, you'll find the list of rules on one of the tabs under your main profile!"

I flipped the device open, and tapped the touchscreen, which bore Hope's Peak's logo. Immediately, it flashed to life, before showing a picture of me, and my particulars.

Name: Jung, Ashley Jubilee

Age: 17

Sex: Female

Height: 164 cm

Weight-

...Well, I doubt any of this information will be leaked to the public, so, oh well.

Weight: 48kg

Bust si-

Uh-uh. I'm drawing the line there. Moving on.

SHSL: K-Pop Idol

[Home] [Rules] [Map] [Call Monokuma]

Ignoring the startled cries from Sasha and Johan (something about getting their gender wrong?), I tapped the Rules tab, which popped up into a bigger screen.

[Rules]

#1: All violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly forbidden. Destruction of any surveillance cameras are illegal.

#2: "Night Time" is designated to be from 10pm to 7am. During "Night Time", there are places that will be out of bounds to students. The water supply will also be shut off.

#3: All students should be sleeping in the designated rooms provided. Anyone found sleeping anywhere else will be punished accordingly.

#4: You may investigate however you want, whenever you want. However, no locked doors may be broken into. All rooms, however, will be unlocked for investigation time.

#5: A culprit who kills a fellow student (or students) will "graduate", but only if they can convince the other students that they are not the culprit, and successfully pass the Class Trial. If the culprit succeeds, the culprit will be accepted into Hope's Peak immediately, however, all other students will be punished. If the culprit is proven guilty, only they will be punished.

#6: There can only be a maximum of two people dead per trial, so as to prevent default winning by mass murder.

#7: A "Body Discovery Announcement" will be made after three students find a corpse, followed by the release of the "Monochrome File".

#8: The loaning and/or borrowing of ElectroIDs is strictly forbidden. Both parties will be punished if caught.

#9: You are free to attempt to escape at any time. Be forewarned that your only exit is down. Straight down.

#10: Rules are subject to be added at any time by Headmaster Monokuma.

"Oh. Did I, perhaps, forget to say? Upupupupupupupupupupupupu!" Monokuma grinned ferally. "Welcome to the Hope's Peak entrance exam, ya bastards! There's only one thing you have to do to pass: get away with murder!"

Entrance exam…?

Eric was completely white - well, whiter than he normally was, anyway. "You bloody wanker! Are you seriously telling us to off each other just to get into Hope's Peak?"

His voice sounded one octave higher than it usually was.

"Well, what else do you think I'd be telling you?" Monokuma sniggered, "Seriously, you people are supposed to be Super High School Level students, but your intelligence is bear-ly passable!"

To attend Hope's Peak, we have to get away- Ohcomeonnotthepunsagain- with murder…?

"That's just about the most bullshit thing I've ever heard!" JJ complained, "What kind of legal aid bureau could have possibly approved such a lethal testing process?"

"The same one that allowed us to kidnap you, duh!"

"That's not answering my question!" He pointed an accusing finger at Monokuma. "I want evidence that you have any right to do this to us, and I want it now!"

"Certainly! I'll just go get my-"

In an instant, Monokuma had disappeared and reappeared directly in front of the Lawyer, brandishing his claws. "WHY DON'T YOU SHUT UP AND REST YOUR DAMN CASE?!"

"Gyah!" JJ collapsed back, held up by Maya, who was right behind him. "H-Hey! Y-You can't be serious?! What about our families? How did you get them to agree to this?"

"Yeah!" Ava echoed, "My father would never agree to this!"

A similar round of agreements followed, causing Monokuma to sigh, before pulling out a megaphone from who-knows-where.

"For the last time, ya bastards!" Monokuma yelled into it, "You're here because we're pitting sixteen of the brightest foreign students of Hope's Peak against each other to the death for my amusement! It wasn't legally approved with your parents or guardians or whoever the hell's in charge of you, so deal with it!"

"...We?"

Jackie placed her hands on her hips, and stared icily at the bear. "What do you mean…'we'?"

"Oooooopsie! I said too much!" Monokuma shrugged, "Eh, meh, schmeh, might as well. You don't think I'm the only one in charge of this establishment, do you?"

That was true...he had to have been programmed by someone, and I doubt he could have moved us here all by himself.

I shivered. The thought of Monokuma placing his paws on me was just...bizarre.

"My boss is watching from the sidelines to make sure none of you pricks royally mess this up! She, or he, I should add, will be making sure your entrance exam proceeds as smoothly as butter!" He giggled, "Puhuhuhu, butter."

Sasha breathed out. "Okay, now I'm sure."

"Sure of what, Sasha?" asked Xiang.

"You'd better not be jumping to conclusions." Matthew warned.

"I'm not," said Sasha. "My thesis is simple. Who else has called me 'Comrade'? Who else was involved with Hope's Peak? Who had the power to bring us here? WHO HIT ME WITH A FIRE EXTINGUISHER?"

"You don't think-" started Faen.

"Yes, I do!" She pointed at Monokuma and screamed, "Yukari Nishiyima, the Super High-School Level Pilot, is the one controlling Monokuma!"

Monokuma grinned sheepishly and waved a finger in her face. "A cute thesis, but I can't tell you if you're right or not! That would be cheating! Perhaps you should...how do the kids say it? Check yourself before you wreck yourself? You should do that, Comrade Activist."

Sasha looked taken aback. "He got the meme right...sit down, Sasha. He's trying to get a rise out of you." She turned to Monokuma. "Okay, I'll bite. But I'm onto you, Nishimiya."

She created a 'V' with her fingers and drew a line from her eyes to Monokuma. "I'm watching you."

"Then come find me if you can! I'll be waiting for you at the cockpit if you can even find your way there!" Calming down, Monokuma turned to the rest of us. "Anyways, ya bastards, any final questions?"

"One last one, then." Xiang stared at the Electro-ID, before speaking, "What does rule nine even mean?"

Monokuma smiled. "I thought you'd never ask!"

He whipped away the curtain, and we gasped as we saw the ground, or rather, didn't.

Instead of familiar ground, the surrounding zone was a literal sea of clouds. The morning sun shined from its position just above it, indicating that at least twelve hours had passed from our afternoon flight, and we were so high up that all we could see were the white masses. There was no telling where in the world we were above.

But that must mean...we're on-

"An airship?!" Todd yelped, echoing my thoughts. "Todd really doesn't like the look of this!"

"No way...No bloody way!" Eric gasped.

"He's correct-a-mundo! Welcome to the Hope's Peak Commercial Despairship! We're flying at an altitude of forty thousand feet, and our current population?" Monokuma pointed at us, "YOU!"

Act 1-1 FIN

16 Students Remaining

A/N:

*Soulja Boy plays in the background*

Sorry, couldn't help but make that reference. :3 ~ SD

Lime back here with the review replies.

A Dingus With Sweet Shades: Hmm, make Matthew less confident, then? I'll keep that in mind. This chapter he was fairly cautious, but also brave, so I'm not sure if that qualifies as confident, but in any case, I'll try to tone it down in the future if it'll help.

Khronovision: Sasha is definitely a polarizing one. Also, Sasha X Fire Extinguisher is a canon (fanon? IDK) ship now. Xiang HAS been really quiet in the past few chapters. Hopefully you guys got to see a little more of him this chapter. He's a great character, he just hasn't shown up enough for everyone to know that. And Jackie is amazing! Just reading her profile makes me jealous tbh. Oni difficulty? What I wouldn't do to get on her level…

Also, thank you so much for all of the sprites! What you're doing is super nice and, although I can't speak to the others since I'm not their creator, Sasha looked amazing! (Now I can try, and fail, to sketch the moment when her head came in contact with her red, inanimate lover. Preserve it for posterity, the works.)

PowerPlayer: Murder O'Clock won't be for at least another chapter. At least. I'm not telling you exactly when it starts. That's cheating.

Sasha and the fire extinguisher was SD's idea, I believe (yep, it was, thank me; #humblebrag ~SD), and it had me in stitches the entire time. I feel like she had it coming, though. And I'm glad that you liked the free-time. Yeah, Sasha does have a lot more to say than what she actually does say, and I'm glad that you guys can at least start to see that side of her. Hopefully she won't die before you can see the rest of it! (I know full well if she's going to die or not. But you guys don't, and I'm going to keep it that way.)

So that's two times that people have said Xiang needs more attention. I'll be sure to keep that in mind in the next chapter. Of course, all of you can do your part by voting for him in the next free-time poll (hint hint wink wink nudge nudge).

(It's SD again. Just gotta say, Maya is a creepily cool chick. We'll get to write more of her, and you guys to see more of her, if you know what to do and do your part. :3 ~SD)

BigBob: Hideki and Jackie, hmm? Interesting. Sasha X Fire Extinguisher is not only canon (fanon?), but also my OTP. And as for Ashley X Nico, well, to quote Parks and Rec, 'Anne and I are both tragically heterosexual.'

Hmm. We see a lot more of Matthew this chapter, so I hope you like him more. I mean, the dude did risk his life for Jackie.

Sasha and Nico, hmm? Can't tell you whether or not you're right, but you've got solid reasoning. I can definitely see someone killing Sasha in anger, although right now, she's pretty much out of commission, what with that 'hickey' her new boyfriend gave her.

Which, now that I think about it, would make her a sitting duck. Make of that what you will.

Hmm, that's fair. I hope she doesn't become annoying for you. If I may, what parts of her did you find annoying? (Other than the sleeping gas. There was a reason for that, and Sasha was the one on the receiving end simply because she was the one who we would get the most humor out of getting brained with a fire extinguisher. As for that reason? To be revealed, of course.) I'll let you read this chapter before casting any votes for you.

I mean, there's like...4, 5 tops reasonable people in a group of 16. I can see how Johan would look good by comparison.

And you can thank Arcana for writing the bear.

LongTimeReader19: Thank you for the kind words! Hopefully this chapter answered some questions and created some more.

PSISomething: Thank you so much! I really appreciate your support!

Penumbro: Ah, everyone loves an attractive, overly polite butler. Faen X Ashley and Nico X Todd, huh? Both valid options...we'll just see how everything develops.

And by a Maizono situation, you mean Nico (or Sasha I guess, but Nico would be a much closer fit) dying? Well, I can't say for sure, but I'm definitely evil enough… To quote the guide for troubled birds, "I preen for Satan."

Yeah, someone offered you chocolate bunnies for Faen. Choice is up to you - I'm just the middleman here.

HeroinOfDarkness: Thanks so much. Yeah, Sasha getting knocked out was easily my favorite part. And I'm glad you liked the pillow fights! There may or may not be more where that came from.

Sekrin- Lord of Monsterds: Tien, huh? I'll keep that in mind.

And if you don't mind me asking, what would be shocking about Eric's death? I mean, just look at the guy...he's practically begging to get stabbed with the way he acts. He's got like, what, Lucille, Johan and Sasha, at LEAST, pissed at him.

Whether or not that's a clue is open for interpretation.

And now, Limeade's question of the chapter *theme song plays*. If you could choose one of the characters assuming a defensive position in the Atrium (Faen and his frying pan, Maya and her wooden sword, Eric and his dorky antique rapier, Xiang and his bō-staff, and Ava and her hockey stick) to fight, which one would it be? Which character would you want to be your ally in a zombie apocalypse? Why? Which ones would you choose if you weren't limited to those five?

And on a more serious and story-related note, SD's request of the chapter: Please PM to Limeade an extended wardrobe for your character. Basically, we would like three outfits in particular: a (more casual) everyday one, which is an alternate to the outfit your character is wearing right now; a swim outfit (unless your character swims in the...uh...skinny dips. Which would potentially kill Sasha); and a sleeping outfit. If you don't, or can't think of one, we'll create one for your character within reason, although we highly recommend you do send it in to prevent any accidents. Thank you. Cheers.

Limenote (again): And remember to vote in the free-time poll on my profile!