Fifteen horse girls stood in an elevator as it slowly descended. The tension inside was palpable. Each of us suspiciously glanced around. There were more unknowns here than knowns. But I could tell that every one of us believed one fact. There was a murderer standing inside this very elevator.

The doors finally opened, revealing a courtroom. Podiums were arranged around each other in a circle. On the one across from them there was a portrait for the one girl who was no longer with us.

Atop a chair behind sat a strange creature. Four legged, with hooves at the end of each limb. It almost resembled a giraffe, but with a shorter neck. Its body was divided into two parts. On its right side, it was almost completely white, except for its black eye. On the left, it was almost completely black, except for its strangely shaped red eye.

The strangest part of all was that despite being a completely unknown creature, it claimed to be a horse.

Monouma let out another annoying laugh.

"It's finally time… for the Class Trial Derby."

To even begin to make sense of this ridiculous setup, let's start from where it all began.

First, an introduction. I'm Nice Nature, a horse girl and a student of Tracen Academy. I wouldn't really say there's anything special or noteworthy about me compared to some of the shining stars here.

Today was meant to be a normal school day like any other, but everything between me entering the building and waking up here is a complete void.

An empty classroom with the exception of myself. The windows boarded up with steel.

From end to end, I was undoubtedly the only living thing within this room. If not for the strange appearance of this room I would've assumed that I'd just fallen asleep before, after or during class, but that's clearly not the case.

Well, that and the fact that I somehow ended up in my race outfit somehow tipped me off.

Was it just me here? Am I alone in this strange new environment?

As I contemplated my situation in the silence, I could've sworn that I heard the sound of faint footsteps getting louder. As if to confirm those suspicions, a girl with a ponytail and excessive energy burst through the door just a moment later.

"Ah! I found Nature!"

Guess I wasn't alone after all.

"So you're here too, Teio."

There were too many questions that I could've asked in this situation. My brain began to tumble over itself, trying to work out the optimal opener.

"How are you doing?"

"Uh, I'm totally fine, just a little confused. I appreciate the concern, but that's kind of a weird question in this situation, isn't it?"

Mission failed. In spite of my abject failure in questioning, she was kind enough to keep answering.

"Everyone else had questions like 'Where are we?' or 'What's going on?', y'know?"

It led to some useful information after all.

"So it's not just us?"

"Yeah, if I've been keeping count correctly you're the sixteenth to be found."

I wonder if that's too high or too low. Sure, compared to the total number of Tracen students, only sixteen of us being here seems low. But at the same time it feels like too many for a strange place like this. Oh well.

"So where are the others?"

It was almost impressive how much better I'd gotten at asking questions in that single minute, if only it was possible to brag about such a thing without seeming absurd.

"Sure, I'll lead you to them."

I followed Teio in a quiet run through the halls, noting all of the other boarded up windows.

After two turns, we reached a room with fourteen other girls present. More than any of them, what caught my attention was the giant vault door at the far end of the room.

But sadly, before I could even ask a single thing, a strangely distorted voice rang out into the room.

"Ahem! Testing! Okay, it seems to be in order. Can all students please hurry to the gymnasium? Failure to comply will result in… well, I shouldn't ruin the surprise."

I don't think a single one of us was prepared for that. While the majority of us stood in disbelief, one girl stepped forward.

"The responsibility of leading the way should naturally fall to the class president! Bakushin after me, everyone!"

As we Bakushined into the gymnasium, I stuck near the back of the crowd. To be honest, I didn't feel confident enough to lead the way in an unfamiliar place like this. It just felt as though anything could pop out at us at any second. With that much uncertainty I could only respect the tenacity of Sakura Bakushin O, leading the entire group with a rhythmic pace.

A small part of my mind did wander onto the question of whether she was leading us by conquering her fear, or because she was incapable of feeling such a thing, but I decided that in this situation there was no point wasting mental energy on questioning the incredible and awe-inspiring power of Bakushin, so I pushed those thoughts aside.

As we finally neared the stage, it became apparent that we were the only ones in here. I suppose the only thing stranger than being called to a room by a mysterious person is getting to the room and not even finding the person in it.

What's that? You think I'm going to regret my words in just a second? You think this is the sort of set up where someone says something and is comedically contradicted just a second later? Sorry, but my reading of the situation was still applicable even after it happened.

What popped up on the stage wasn't a person at all. It was a strange, unrecognisable creature. It resembled a cow, but far more stretched out. In that case, it would've been apt to compare it to a giraffe, but it was too short for that. What was even stranger was its coloration.

Its right side was all white save for the eye and nose. The right was all black, save for the toothy grin exclusive to that side of the mouth and its jagged red eye.

"Welcome to Tracen Academy. My name is Monouma!"

If I had to say anything about the name, I suppose it's that it was fitting. A normal name would be unbefitting of something as otherworldly as that.

"What the hell is that!?" A girl with flowing, white hair exclaimed in surprise. "That strange, unidentifiable, completely unknown lifeform!"

The purple or pink (I honestly wasn't sure) haired girl standing to her left sighed.

"You don't have to overreact to that extent, I think we're all confused by what that is meant to be."

"I know full well what I am, so there's no way I could be an unknown lifeform!" The unknown lifeform argued back. "I'm Monouma, this academy's headmaster!"

More confusion.

"Seriously, you don't all gotta get so worked up over this." A girl with sharp teeth told us. "It's just some remote controlled toy."

"I'm a lot more than that."

"Just one thing, quickly, Monouma.." The girl in the lab coat requested a pause. "I'm fully unsure whether this falls under being too obvious to ask or not obvious in the slightest, but is that name of yours… meant to be in reference to horse girls like us?"

"I'm glad you asked. Bears have gotten a bad image these days. As a well-beloved mascot and headmaster, I can't possibly afford to be associated with crackheads like those! So I'm Monouma."

"Ah, I suppose I was naive to have expected anything that wasn't nonsense from your mouth. No, maybe it isn't right to say mouth. Your speaker?"

"Now that's all the horsing around that anyone has the patience for."

"So you make bad puns, too. You are definitely a unique creature."

"To save time, I'll throw all the exposition at you at once. We're going with three bullet points. One, you're all trapped in here permanently! Dos, there's one condition in which I'll consider setting you free! And finally C, the condition is murder!"

To be honest, I was too overwhelmed by this to even think of pointing out the way that she'd presented this list.

The entire room was now in a state of panic.

"Hm, I guess three is too little to cover it all. How about we go with some slower exposition after all?"

"We don't have to!"

After yelling that, El Condor Pasa dashed forwards.

"Fool! Stop! What are you doing!? I'm a god, how can you kill a god?"

"You're not a god, you're just some weird creature. If I just smash you to pieces then you'll stop saying stupid things like that!"

As she was wildly shaken around, Monouma started to beep.

"Beeping won't help you escape."

The beeping only sped up.

"Hey, toss that away!"

For some reason, Air Shakur yelled that at her. Not wasting any time, El threw Monouma towards the stage.

After a moment in the air, the beeping reached its terminal point. Monouma spontaneously combusted.

My vision was completely clouded over by the blast. The heat was what reached me first. Then the sound completely overwhelmed my ears. With all of that out of the way, the burst of orange light filled my vision completely.

The shock of losing two of my senses at once was far greater than anything I'd ever experienced, under that pressure my body fell limply to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

For just a moment before it detonated I thought that with how far away it was we'd be fine, but I guess the real thing is a lot different to the movies.

As those senses returned to me, I noticed that many of the other girls in the room had reacted in the same way. Through some miracle, it didn't seem as though anyone had been hurt.

Before I could even begin to process any of this, I was distracted by a noise from the stage.

Monouma reappeared, completely intact.

"Well, there you have it. I said you couldn't kill me."

"You tried to kill me just now!"

"Yes, that was the point. Violence against each other is fine, but violence against your headmaster is strictly forbidden. Well, that was fun the one time, but if we did it again we'd be called repetitive. Better get more direct threats."

As she said this, the stage opened up once more. Two massive turrets appeared on stage, pointed towards us.

"Don't underestimate the cent-, or should I say, don't underestimate me."

No one even panicked at this point, what I felt was closer to shock.

"Oh, right. I suppose now's a good time to hand out your tablets. Kids these days can't focus unless they're watching three videos at once or something like that, right? So everything important is on there."

It's a bit late, but I guess that reading through this will be good enough as an introduction to everyone here.

Tokai Teio, SHSL Dancer

Mejiro Ryan, SHSL Bodybuilder

Nice Nature, SHSL Bronze Collector

Gold Ship, SHSL Gold Ship

Tosen Jordan, SHSL Fashionista

Eishin Flash, SHSL Perfectionist

Air Shakur, SHSL Programmer

Fine Motion, SHSL Ramen Enthusiast

Mejiro Mcqueen, SHSL Baseball fan

Matikanefukuikitaru, SHSL Clairvoyant

Agnes Tachyon, SHSL Mad Scientist

Agnes Digital, SHSL Horse Otaku

Rice Shower, SHSL Assassin

Mihono Bourbon, SHSL Cyborg

Sakura Bakushin O, SHSL Class President

El Condor Pasa, SHSL Wrestler

I stared in slight disbelief at the audacity of the title this tiny monochrome horse had given me. While I knew that challenging her authority was likely to get me riddled with bullets or blown up, this was something that I just couldn't stand.

As though she psychically detected my plight, she boldly announced

"If any of you have a problem with your titles then you should simply consider running faster."

I meant to read over the rules next, but before I got on with that Monouma spoke once more.

"Well, I think I've said enough. I'll be back whenever I'm needed. So for now… how about you take this time to get familiar with this situation. It's best to start scheming as soon as possible. You never know who around you might be looking to take you out."

And so, the creature claiming to be a horse began to laugh. The cries of upupupu echoed through the halls before she finally disappeared from our view.

"So if what she's saying is true…" Mejiro Mcqueen thought aloud. "Then we really have to kill each other?"

"Hmm. Well, there could still be another way out, but to be honest I don't feel like going against her when she has weapons like that."

I felt a lot of stares directed to me after saying that.

"I'm not saying that I'm for murder or anything, just that I don't want to get shot!"

"Horse girls having to kill each other… that's so horrible that I can't take it!" Agnes Digital yelled while holding her head. "You should all just use me as a sacrifice to escape instead of being stuck here!"

"You do know how the rules work, right?" Shakur asked. "That'll still result in either one or all of us except one being dead."

"Well, don't worry about it!" Gold Ship seemed to be easygoing despite everything that had just happened. "I mean yeah, a lot happens. But I doubt any of us would be crazy enough to resort to murder!"

Twelve hours later Gold Ship was found dead.