(AN: PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE! Both the one in the beginning and at the end.

First off, I want to preface this author's note by giving out a big apology to those who did not get their applications chosen. Hopefully they'll stick around with the story, but if they don't, I'm real sorry. I got a ton of spare applications, so obviously, not everyone was going to get in.

Also, I wanted to add a disclaimer of some sort. In almost each submission, the most common tragic backstories were about abuse and death of a parent/close person. Now, obviously, not all sixteen students will have had their parents decapitated in front of their face, so unfortunately, if I feel the need to, if I think that the backstory doesn't reflect the character as well as it could, I might just change it. It won't change anything major ABOUT your character – it's just that I can't have everyone parentless throughout the whole thing. Even in a Danganronpa world, that's like a new level of unrealistic. This isn't me scolding you or anything, but it is a warning, so if I suddenly make it so that your character lived a fancy life in a villa/mansion with their super rich parents that spend every weekend in Hawaii, you won't bash me for changing your character at all. Of course, the category of "Tragic Backstory" was always just a possibility in the first place. If you all can understand this, I will be grateful.

Similar to that, is that many of the applications wanted their characters to be a master investigator, but in tune with the last section of this author's note, there can't be sixteen Kirigiri's. So if you feel like your character is getting less of a role in investigations and class trials than preferred, just a warning here.

Though that was slightly negative, I'm going to also thank everyone who sent in an application. I felt really honored that so many people were willing to write up a character for my story, and while I do prefer making OCs of my own, I loved every one of them and I will do my best to write them as you all do see fit.

Just a heads up, if your character is killed first or if you character ends up surviving, it doesn't say anything at all about what I think about your character. Every death and culprit in this story is chosen at random unless your character participates in the plot twist of mine in some significant way. Which is also under my control.

Enough of that. Character intros, yay! I'll be splitting them up into numerous chapters since the time I have is slight to work on each chapter. The next intro chapter will probably wrap everything up though… so yeah.

Also, returning from my other FanFiction is a soundtrack thing. If you copy and paste the soundtrack name into YoutubeRepeater or something, it acts as a compliment to the story. Completely optional, but I always liked to listen to the soundtrack when I was reading SDR2.)

Soundtrack: Aria of Soul (Persona)

…

…

…

…Hello?

…Are you awake yet?

I opened my eyes and ended up in a chair. In front of me was the man that I remembered confronting me before, and Nanako, the lady who I remember doing my hairstyle. What was this..? I thought this was just a dream? Was it reality to me..? I tried getting out of my seat, but my hands were chained to the back of it. I struggled to break free, but I failed miserably as the man chuckled at my misfortune.

The crickets chirped as the man got up, putting the mask over his face, and approaching me with a menacing aura. As he walked over to the window, the crickets stopped, as if breathing in a poisonous air and falling down dead.

"I see you are awake," the man said. "Do not be alarmed – you are asleep. I am not causing a catastrophe on the outside world like you think. In fact, I wanted to talk to you."

…Talk to me?

"Why?" I asked, my voice darker and deeper than I imagined – as if I was seeing a completely different side of me.

"You see, I want to chat a little with you…"

"Why?" I asked.

"I just want to keep up to date… you are very special to me anyways," the man replied. "Don't be so obnoxious. I just want to have some friendly banter."

"Is friendly chaining me up to this chair?" I asked, my old personality flying past me.

"You think I would trust you to walk alone?" the man asked, chuckling into his hand. "Did you hear that Nanako? My, my, did what I do to you have that much of an aftermath?"

"…Aftermath?"

"Yes, well, you do seem a bit fazed right now," the man told me. "You barely remember a thing, do you?"

"What should I remember?" I asked, still struggling to get out of the chains. "I remember my parents. I remember all my happy memories. I remember all my friends back in middle school. What am I exactly forgetting?"

The man smiled a little, and patted my head as if I were his domain. He coughed a little into his hand, and then continued to speak.

"Yes, well, the real reason why I called you here, was for a little warning shot."

"What warning shot?" I asked. "For what?"

"Do you remember where you ended up before you came into this world?" the man asked. "If I recall, you thought you were in your wonderful dorm room at Hope's Peak Academy, no? Then you fell into darkness, no? Did you not awaken in a first-class submarine, taking you to places unknown?"

My eyes widened at his dark comments. "H-how do you know all that..?"

"…I have my ways," the man said. "I just want to warn you… your experience here might be a bit more, unstable, than usual."

"What are you talking about?!" I yelled, jerking my hands and body around to free myself. The chair toppled over on its side – I could feel the man's horrifying gaze as he looked down on me with a flare of pity.

"My, my…" he said silently. "Perhaps now isn't the best time to talk about you with this, is it?"

"Tell me what you're talking about first!" I yelled. "You're not making any sense!"

The man chuckled some more, and placed his hands on my cheek. "What a beautiful night, isn't it?"

"You're being creepy," I whimpered. "Just tell me what's going on… please!"

The man shook his head. "I cannot tell you that. You will find out sooner or later though, don't you think?"

The man nodded to Nanako, and she stuck a needle into my head.

"I thought we'd be ready to have an idle conversation, Keiko! But I guess we can't yet. Not until you have a full grasp of the situation around you." The man was yelling, and I could feel my body drifting farther away from the two. The chains were set free, and I reached my hands out, screaming as I accelerated into darkness. "Perhaps you'll be ready next time!"

Music halts

I jolted awake up in my bed, grabbing my forehead, which was dampened with sweat. I took a look in the mirror – and realized that I was already in my school clothes. I recollected what happened within the past few moments, and then I sighed. I couldn't remember anything about that dream – and I only remembered the terrible moment that I realized we were underwater.

There was a curtain in front of the porthole in my room. Tossing it aside, it was undeniable. We were definitely, most certainly underwater. I saw a beautiful fish swim past my window, and I pressed my hand up against it. The fish were attracted to it – it swam towards me, and I pressed the window even harder. Was I really stuck underwater?

I was surprised on how well I seemed to have taken this news. I'm underwater, and yet I'm thinking of how the fish are doing. I was supposed to be at Hope's Peak Academy. I was supposed to follow in the stead of my parents, yet I was stuck down here in the middle of nowhere. As I grieved to myself, there was a loud knock on my door.

"Huh?" I gasped in surprise.

I walked over to the metal door, and I yanked it open, revealing a new face. His hair was teal, and it was slightly long, with some of it hanging loosely over his left eye. There was a tattoo under his right eye, resembling the feather of a bird, and he was smiling at me, reaching his hand out.

"Oh, hello," I said. "Are you one of the new students here?"

The boy didn't respond for a few moments, and then he nodded.

"Yes," the boy said. "Pleased to meet you."

I nodded, and smiled back. "It's nice to meet you to!" Shaking his hand, his eyes were centered on me, and he didn't speak for a minute. Later, he turned around, and motioned at me to follow him.

"Come," he said. "We need to go the gymnasium."

"Excuse me?"

"The gymnasium. We need to go there."

"What?" I stammered. "There can't be a gymnasium underwater..!"

Soundtrack: AoE Second Suite Movement 5P+3P

"And what is so hard to believe?" asked a voice from behind me.

"What the?!" I screamed. I slowly turned around, and I screamed, jumping into the boy's arms. He effortlessly kept be afloat as I saw a stuffed dog walk around me. "Okay, that's creepy!"

"I'm not creepy, I'm adorable!" the doll protested. "Meow!"

"Why are you meowing?" I sighed. "Though, I guess if you weren't walking, you'd be pretty cute."

"I'm still adorable," the doll continued to protest. "You can't change that about me, meow."

"…Still, you are a dog that meows," the boy said. "I don't really get it myself."

"Whatever," the doll sassed. "My name is Meowykins. I'll be your P.E. teacher, got it?!"

MEOWYKINS

The P.E. Teacher

Appearance: An adorable stuffed dog! Meow!

"That's cute," I swooned. "Meowykins. So! Meowykins! Are you defunct, or something?"

"Woah!" Meowykins said, shocked. "I'm surprised that y'all aren't acting so scared! When I approach other people, they always swat me away, saying, you're a talking doll! Get away from me! Except I'm not a doll! I'm a cute dog! Meow!"

"I think you made your point that you're a dog," the boy sighed. "I was just taking Keiko to the gymnasium for the assembly. She fainted on the submarine, after all."

"As did half the other students!" Meowykins exclaimed. "It was a hoot! Meow!"

"That doll is creeping me out, just a little bit," I said to the boy, pinching my fingers together. The boy let me down, and I stood up on my feet, and I walked towards the doll, crouching in front of it. I poked it, and the doll seemed to glare at me. Raising my hands up above my head, the doll walked out of the room as I mentally pushed myself aside. As Meowykins walked away, I faced the boy. "By the way, I didn't get your name! Let's introduce ourselves! My name is –"

"You're Keiko Umino," the boy said. "I'm correct. …I know you from horse races, right? You are an Equestrian?"

I tilted my head. "How'd you know that? Not like any of my horse races were broadcasted…"

"…I. Don't know," the boy said.

"O-oh," I stuttered. "A-alright, so, what's your name?"

"…Mirai Minoshiro," the boy said. "Pleased to meet you. I don't know what my talent is, so please do not ask."

MIRAI MINOSHIRO

SHSL ?

Appearance: He has teal hair that extends over his left eye. His eyes are a dark emerald green, and he has a tattoo of something resembling a bird's feather under his right eye.

"Why not?" I asked, regarding his talent. "How could you forget something like that..? If it's not rude for me to ask."

"…I. Don't know," Mirai said. "I... really don't know."

I nodded, thinking how strange he was in the back of my mind, but discarding that thought in the realization that it was incredibly rude to think that way of others.

"Come," Mirai said. "I know where the gymnasium is. I can show you."

I nodded, and followed Mirai down a long narrow pathway, to face the other students. Disregarding the fact completely that we were in a school underwater, and that there would be plenty more terrors to come my way.

Music halts

Soundtrack: Re Beautiful Morning

Following Mirai down to the gymnasium was a neat experience. Well, I said that wrong. It was more the scenery around me. I hated to admit it, but where we were was a really neat place. The hallways were made of complete glass, meaning that I was literally walking with the fishes. I even ran down the longest hallway there was as fish followed, only for me to face embarrassment as Mirai watched smiling. Reaching the gymnasium, I saw a few others shaking their heads.

The gymnasium was surprisingly normal. It appeared as a normal highschool gymnasium, save for the glass ceilings and walls. The floor was still glass, but there was hardwood planted over it, and a big stage at the end of the gym with a podium on top of it.

"…The girl woke up," Mirai announced. The others lifted their heads, and began to advance slowly towards me. I raised my hand and waved, but no one waved back. Which disappointed me… "Her name is Keiko Umino. Grace her with respect."

Mirai walked away and out of the gymnasium, leaving his mysterious aura behind, and a girl approached me, throwing out a cigarette.

"So? What do you think?" asked one of the girls abrasively, tilting her head at my direction.

"Who me? About what?" I asked.

The girl snorted, and stood there. The atmosphere suddenly dropped anchor, and the entire gym fell silent with one of the most awkward moments I've ever faced. I'd go as far to say it was just a little creepy.

"Anyways, you think we're gonna be okay?" the girl asked. "'Course, we're underwater, right?"

I nodded in response, mostly to only acknowledge her question. "S-so, what's your name?"

"…Ryoko. Ryoko Ieyoshi."

RYOKO IEYOSHI

SHSL TATTOO ARTIST

Appearance: Ryoko has sandy blonde hair that extends to her chin and partially covers her left eye. Her eyes are a deep blue – and a little creepy.

"Tch," she said, walking away. I felt like I needed to bow down to her at some point, but someone else came along to stop me. His red fedora was stunning…ly expensive, and he was wearing a red button up shirt with a tie. He had a complete collection of thousand dollar clothes on him.

"Yo," he said, smiling and giving out a peace sign. "She's a little off, isn't she?" His voice was gentle, and he outstretched his hand towards me. "Noah Sloan. Police Officer extraordinaire."

NOAH SLOAN

SHSL POLICE OFFICER
Appearance: With jet black hair, he has really expensive looking clothes. A red fedora, red button up shirt, black pants and shoes, and a simplistic black tie.

"Of course, if she lays a hand on you, I can always shoot her."

"That's not really something to joke about," I laughed.

"Hmm, I guess," Noah sighed. "Haha, I wasn't actually going to shoot her though!"

"Obviously," Ryoko said from the distance. "I can hear you, ya know."

Noah cringed and stepped towards Ryoko and began to chastise her as someone else came up to me. He was extremely buff and built, and I felt almost crushed under his mighty pressure as if he tackled me to the ground and wouldn't get up.

"Darling, are you alright?!" he asked worryingly, and completely out of what I thought his character would be. He took out a bag and gave me a tissue. "There, there, wipe your tears."

"Um, thank you very much," I said. "I'm not crying though. I'm Keiko Umino."

"Pleased to meet your acquaintance," he swooned. "I'm Micky Storm, your trusty bodyguard."

MICKY STORM

SHSL BODYGUARD

Appearance: He's extremely buff, but his personality is non-threatening in contrast to this. He's wearing a white tank top shirt and green cargo pants, like a veteran in the army, except, well… he's a highschooler.

"I'll protect you whenever you need it, darling," he said in a high pitched voice. "Just call when you need me, alright?"

I nodded, and smiled. "Thank you for your kindness. You really are a bodyguard, huh?" Micky nodded in returned and skipped away. As he did, someone else approached me. Her hair was a golden brown, tucked away into a ponytail, and her blue eyes complimented her maid's uniform.

"H-hey," the girl said. "U-um, I think you dropped s-something."

She pointed on the ground at a piece of paper. I shook my head and gave her a smile. "No, that isn't mine. Don't worry about it."

"O-oh," she said. "But still! I-I should probably go pick it up…"

"The staff will take care of it," I said, still smiling. "C'mon, what's your name?"

"O-oh, right, my name," the girl said. "I'm Kirei Nagai, the maid."

KIREI NAGAI

SHSL MAID

Appearance: Her brown ponytail and blue eyes match perfectly with her black and white maid uniform.

"I-I'm not really good at lots of things," she said. "But I'm good at cleaning – so, I'll clean for you sometime. Yeah, I'll clean for everyone! Hehe…"

"That's nice," I said. "Don't slave yourself though, alright?"

"W-wow!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?"

"T-that's one of the only times I've been said something like that," she swooned. "You're really nice, aren't you?"

I smiled, and nodded. She skipped away happily, and I was approached by two others. One of them was jogging in place as she approached me, with navy blue hair with black streaks, and a sailor uniform.

"Yo!" she said. "Getting ready to train – how 'bout you?"

"N-no," I said. "I just got here, after all."

She nodded. "But one must always have time to train at some point. You will train at some point, do you hear me? And then we will fight to the death in the center of a boxing ring with thousands of flashing lights and screaming fans!"

"That's a little far-fetched," said the other student. He had a buzzcut, with black hair sprouting on top of his head, and his eyes were a deep yellow. "I doubt there's that kind of thing." His voice was pitched in an extremely quiet tone, and he shot a smile in my direction. "Hi, I'm Hideki Komiya."

HIDEKI KOMIYA

SHSL DANMAKU GAMER

Appearance: Wearing a black buzzcut, he looks like an ordinary student, with a blue T-shirt and cream white shorts.

[AN: A "Danmaku Game" refers to the sub-genre of shoot em' up games. The "American" term for this name is commonly referred to as: Bullet Hell. A famous example would be the Raiden Fighters series.]

"Nice to meet you," I said back. "I'm Keiko Umino."

"Hey, don't forget about me!" the other girl shouted. "I'm Takayashi Haruna!"

TAKAYASHI HARUNA

SHSL SOCCER PLAYER

Appearance: Her navy-blue hair is completed by her stylish white streaks, and a peach toned skin. She's wearing an ordinary sailor outfit, and a long wavy hairstyle that is tucked to the side with a hair clip.

"Hey! You disappointed in me?"

"N-no," I responded. "Nice to meet you."

"…You're way too loud," Hideki said. "Your words are harder to dodge than the barrage of bullets that come my way when playing danmaku games. I hope you know how much I love playing those games. It's so exciting, being attacked by a huge amount of bullets flying at supersonic speed towards your way, and you have to narrowly dodge those bullets and shoot those coming towards you in order to beat the game and kill the final boss – it's an exhilarating rush that I'm always glad to partake in, but there isn't much in the genre with I do not agree or endorse, so –"

"Okay, that's enough," Takayashi interrupted. "You're into this crap too much, you know?"

The two fought continuously as I stepped out of the way to let themselves settle their own thing. Sighing, I looked around, and everyone was busy taking thought of the situation – which wasn't a bad idea. While I was taken aback by the scenery and ambivalence and my new classmates who willingly welcomed me, I forgot the real issue at hand: we were at an underwater school.

Worried, I tried to get my mind off of it. I approached these two students; one was crouching in a ball, and the other was sitting on stage, his forehead pressed against his palms. The one crouched in a ball had red hair, and she was wearing a white sweater with hearts. Her boots were midnight black, and there was a closed locket around her neck.

"Hi," I said approaching her. "Are you okay?"

"W-w-what do you mean by that?!" she stammered. "U-um, I'm fine, yeah." She hiccupped, and stared in front of her with fearful eyes. "I-I'm okay! Really! Just, you can go now, heh… I mean, that's not an insult. B-but I want to be alone."

"I-I understand," I said, slightly startled. "Just take care of yourself, okay? What's your name, anyways?"

"D-did I do something wrong?!" she said out of the blue. "J-just don't tell anyone about me, okay?! I don't want to be like that, okay?! I'm Yayoi Adachi, a-and I hack things. N-now, please..!"

I raised my hands, and nodded frantically.

YAYOI ADACHI
SHSL HACKER

Appearance: She seems very ordinary, with red hair, a white sweater with a heart on it, plain shorts, and black snow boots. There's a locket wrapped around her neck that's shaped like a heart. It's closed, so I can't see what's inside of it.

"I-I'm sorry," she whimpered.

"It's okay," I said. "Try and relax."

She nodded, and gave a slight, yet forced smile. Smiling back, I approached the guy next to her. He was wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. His blond hair extended to his chin, and he wore white and blue sneakers.

"What?" he asked me harshly. "I'm thinking here."

"O-oh," I started. "I just wanted to know your name – that's all."

He sighed, and raised one eye. "You want to know my name, huh? I can't imagine why."

"W-well, we are going to be classmates," I said.

"Classmates, huh?" he asked. "Well, in my opinion, we won't be great classmates, because of the fact that we are stuck under the fucking sea, right?"

"B-but still," I protested. "I want to at least get your name… I'm Keiko Umino, by the way."

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, showing thorough irritation, and then he opened both eyes and stood up on stage. He was very tall, and he had a muscular build – not overdone like Micky, but you could tell he's in good shape. "Hikaru Nise," he told me. "You happy? Now you know my name, and that I'm a prisoner."

HIKARU NISE

SHSL PRISONER

Appearance: His blond hair frames his face and extends to his chin. He is very tall and has a relatively muscular build, and he wears white and blue sneakers. The top of his orange jumpsuit is unzipped, revealing a white wife beater.

[AN: A "white wife beater" is a white tank top style undershirt. It's very popular in movies to portray the stereotype of abusive men.]

"Now let me think, please," he said. "I don't really want any trouble."

"R-right," I said. I walked away, heavily intimidated, and wondered how it was possible to get into this school by becoming a prisoner. I figured I could ask him later, though he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would just come out and say why. Walking away from Hikaru, I came upon a girl with pinkish red hair. It was tied into a ponytail, with an addition of a giant purple bow. She was sitting against the wall, her arms wrapped around her shaking legs.

"Y-you're Rhyssa Kaeda..!" I stammered.

She turned in my direction and gave a slight smile.

RHYSSA KAEDA
SHSL GAME SHOW HOST
Appearance: Her fusion of pinkish and red hair is tied back into a ponytail, complimented by a huge purple bow on the left side of her bangs. She's wearing a red button down shirt over a long white one, and she wears a black shirt, white leggings, and ruby red flats.

"W-well, I see," I said. "That's cool..!"

"You seem uncomfortable," Rhyssa said. Her voice was strained, and tired, and she seemed like she was forcing herself to talk to me.

"W-well, I've seen you on TV," I said. "You have a… interesting personality, if that's not rude of me to say?"

"…Oh…" Rhyssa said, with a stressed tone. "That's just a separate personality of mine… if someone comes up to me and tells me I'm a bitch or something, I'll just tell them I act that way to increase ratings… I'm a pretty good actor, anyhow."

"I-I see," I responded in relief. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

"No, it's fine," she said. "I get asked that all the time, and we have bigger issues to worry about right now, right? Seeing as we're trapped underwater."

"I hope it isn't real," I responded. "Maybe it's some green screen, or something."

"Big-ass green screen," she said, chuckling a little bit.

I nodded in agreement, and crossed my fingers, hoping that some sort of green screen really was our true reality right now. Walking away from Rhyssa, I approached these three students who were huddled closely together. As I walked up to them, one of them stood up immediately after seeing me come their way. His eyes were a deep violet color, and he shot his direction immediately into mine. He had white rimmed glasses, and blue hair ending on the base of his neck. He came in closer and closer towards me, and I backed up a little.

"Uh, hi," I said, as I advanced backwards and he advanced forwards. "W-what's your name?"

"Kaito Aikami," he said with a smooth voice. "I'm a Word Twister."

KAITO AIKAMI

SHSL WORD TWISTER

Appearance: His blue hair and white glasses are additions to his purple polo shirt, black buttoned vest with a red hemline, black slacks, and three hair ties on his right wrist. A hair pin is pinning the side of his bangs to the side – which is shaped like a heart.

[AN: The creator of this OC explained that a "Word Twister" was basically being extremely good or clever with his words, whether it be a stroke of genius sarcasm or something to make everyone feel good about themselves.]

"Are you introducing yourself to others?" Kaito asked. "I hope you know that I'm always here to comfort you, should you ever feel stressed about our current situation…"

"Thanks, but I'll be okay," I said, my palms slightly sweaty. "Er, I'm Keiko Umino. Nice to meet you."

"And nice to meet you to," Kaito said, winking.

Kaito took a few steps to the right, and a girl sitting behind him spoke up.

"Honestly," she sighed. "You really are a playboy."

"I don't jump at all girls I see," Kaito said in rebuttal. "Besides – I didn't come on to you."

"Not very smooth," the girl said back. She didn't talk at all after that, and went about as nothing happened. Her hair was a silvery-white, and there was a red lock of hair on the side of it. Wearing a black long sleeved blazer, a black skirt, and high heeled boots, she seemed to be the kind of girl who was studious, yet rebellious at the same time with her cool hair color.

"Oh, hi," I said to her. "Um, I'm Keiko Umino! You are?"

She didn't respond for a second, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I was just observing you. I'm Umnei Shirosaki. I solve problems."

UMNEI SHIROSAKI

SHSL SOLVER

Appearance: Silvery-white hair with a red lock on the side, and a black long sleeved blazer with an added black skirt and high heeled boots.

[AN: By solver, this refers to the solving of any problems, such as academics, computer code, business, hieroglyphics, whatever.]

"What do you mean by problems?" I asked.

"Anything," she responded, her answer incredibly vague. "One plus one equals two, for example."

"You don't even need to be a high-school student to know that," said the other person. "Honestly, they let anyone into Hope's Peak these days…"

"That's brutally honest," I said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Yoshinori Ai," she responded to me. "I'm a digital artist – which is actually a little more useful than one plus one if you ask me."

YOSHINORI AI
SHSL DIGITAL ARTIST
Appearance: Wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with a blue coat wrapped around her waist, and a red tie, and dark brown hair, she's an ordinary highschool student.

"…I was hoping that you'd have more information," Yoshinori sighed. "But of course, that's okay. Not all solvers are like that. In fact, I guess I'm sorry, since I don't know what kinds of problems you solve yet. But you did say one plus one equaled two… I'm confused now."

"You got me confused too," Umnei said, sighing.

As Umnei and Yoshinori argued about whose talent was better, I noticed one person that I haven't met yet. I approached the boy who had an incredibly plain look: a white T-shirt, blue shorts, and short dusty blonde hair. He was sitting in the corner, sketching on a notepad and drawing something.

"Hello," I said approaching him. "Um, who are you?"

"…Furo Shirohashi," he said. "I draw."

FURO SHIROHASHI
SHSL SKETCHER
Appearance: A relatively childish look with blonde hair, a white T-shirt, and blue shorts.

"That's neat," I responded. "What are you drawing now?"

"Nothing," he responded. "…Just the gym. I draw everything I see."

"Really?" I asked. "That's cool – what else have you –"

"Your tone of voice makes me sound like a child," Furo responded with irritation in his voice. "Please to not speak that way to me. Everyone does and it's annoying."

"O-oh," I said. "Sorry. I'll just leave you alone then?"

"Please do," Furo said. "At least until I finish this drawing."

I nodded, and walked away quickly, leaving Furo alone in his little corner.

After meeting everyone, I waited a little while longer until Mirai came back into the gym. Meowykins followed behind him, holding a basketball.

"…Please stop following me," Mirai said in a monotone voice.

"You ain't too old to be playing with toys?" Ryoko asked.

"I-I think it's cute," Kirei said. "Everyone should have a childish side… right?"

"Sure, except not with dolls," Yoshinori said in reply. "…I mean, that's just what I think. I'm not sure if most people play with dolls at this age. Do they?"

"A-are you trying to say something about me?!" Yayoi asked with fear in her voice. "But I haven't done anything!"

"We haven't said anything to you," Hikaru said. "What are you getting on?"

"That's enough," Mirai said. "While he was annoying, he does have something important to announce."

"…Information?" Yoshinori asked, her face lighting up.

"Yes!" Meowykins replied. "You are all in this underwater realm, and you all seem very confused! Which is why I am holding a meeting in the cafeteria ASAP! I hope to see y'all there! Let's have smiling faces across the board – your school year is about to start!"

Music halts

Meowykins began to talk, and I continued to listen. However, halfway through, I began to feel… dizzy. The walls and stage around me began to turn fuzzy. Mirai took a quick glance at me, and he began to raise his eyes. I saw Micky take a look at me too, and come to my assistance as I fell down on the ground. I was being enveloped in darkness… what was… happening..?

Soundtrack: Aria of the Soul

"…It seems you have created your links with the people around you," the man said. "While I can explain what I wanted to talk about before, I wanted to confirm your memory."

As I sat down chained to the chair, my past dreams flowed back into my mind faster than ever. I remembered everything, and was ashamed to realize that I forgot the dream before. It was clear to me – these guys were my enemy. I wanted to maintain by kind personality, but it wasn't possible with these people.

"Nanako, please bring me a coffee," the man said, as he sat up from his seat. "Now! Let us get to business! Do you remember something about myself mentioning an unstable journey for you?"

"…Yes," I responded darkly.

"Good! Your memory is still intact – that is great to hear. Hopefully we can maintain this consistency throughout your days at the underwater school of Hope's Peak Academy."

"An underwater school..?" I asked. "You know about its past?"

"I cannot tell you what I know," the man said. "Just what I intended to tell you about when I summoned you here."

"You summoned me?"

"Indeed. You see, if you look at me as someone threatening to you, you will never remember anything I tell you, and you will always remain a clueless soul, trying to get past the sadness and despair that will soon await you. I called you here, just for a small warning! Yes, I do believe I said that before, a warning from me to you, to tell you that your future for this particular journey will be a tough one."

"You're just repeating the same thing with your fancy words," I growled. "Get to the point! Why am I chained here? What's going on with the school?"

"I can't tell you that!" the man said, shocked. "I believe I just said that as well! What a hypocrite to chastise me of my word choice, when you can't get it down inside your mind, that I cannot tell you anything about your school life right now. It'll ruin the… festivity, of the matter.

I stayed silent, and let the man continue.

"I cannot tell you what lies directly ahead of you. Like I said, there is a certain festivity involved. A… fun romp, so to say! Well, it may not be particularly fun to you, but it is a big entertainment for me! While the buildup to my words was rather exciting, I regret to inform you the final product is anti-climactic, and the only reason I called you here was to warn you about the amount of times that we'll have to chat, so to speak."

"So to speak… you use that a lot, don't you?"

"So to speak is the perfect word to finish off a vague statement," the man said. "Well, it works almost every time! Anyways, you and I will have a wonderful chat like this daily from now on. That's all I would like to inform you about."

"…That's it?" I said. "You spouted all that crap for this?"

"I told you that the product would be anti-climactic," the man sighed. "No matter what I do to you, you always can't get a thing."

"What?"

"Goodbye now, Keiko. I look forward to your next visit."

The man snapped his fingers, and my world turned into darkness, yet again.

I came to again, waking up to Mirai's harsh slaps. He slapped me incredibly hard twice before he realized I regained consciousness.

"She's awake," Mirai said. "Let's go."

"W-wait!" Takayashi protested. "She was just knocked out!"

While the others argued amongst themselves, I placed my hand on my forehead.

I tried to remember…

But what did I dream about..?

(AN: Not too pleased TBH… not any of your guys' fault but I'm not sure I captured each character well enough. It was just the introductions but still.

Anyways I'm probably going to work on a pattern schedule AFTER I get the introductions and Prologue done, meaning one week I'll release a chapter for Alpha first and then release one for Plus, unless I get bored of Plus and decide to work on Alpha.

Anyways, you guys can start voting for Free-Time events with some of these characters, though you might want to wait to get a better personality. I really don't mind.

Hope you guys liked it and sorry of the introductions weren't up to snuff.)