As Sachiko, Ryoji, and I are exploring the old abandoned building of Hope's Peak Academy, I begin to wonder why Ryoji and Sachiko would be put together (speaking of, why didn't I get a buddy!?).

Sachiko and Ryoji aren't from the same class. Going by what Sachiko said, she's a Third Year student in Hope's Peak and owing to my first meeting with him, Ryoji is a new enrollee - meaning he's a First Year student. I'm not sure how they would have any connection to each other, especially with Sachiko and Ryoji coming from entirely different worlds - the Medical Department and Gaming Department respectively. The chances of them getting to know each other are pretty slim.

While I'm lost in thought, Sachiko suddenly stops, pulling my attention back down to Earth. Ryoji and I are a bit confused until she speaks in a low tone, "Someone's coming." and she pulls me and Ryoji into a classroom that doesn't have a door. We push ourselves against the wall to avoid being seen. Sure enough, we eventually hear two distinct voices.

"Ah, I'm so sorry sister, I'm not sure what to do anymore."

"Ugh, where is everyone? Why haven't we seen anybody?"

Sisters?!

I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was my first intuition right? Did Junko and Mukuro really come back from the dead?

No, I can't come to that conclusion based solely on the fact that these two are sisters, that's the only 'proof' I have.

I mean - who's to say reincarnation or revival isn't possible in a world of Ultimates? A teenage girl started the apocalypse out of boredom, after all.

I look at Ryoji and Sachi. Sachi has a rather grim expression on her face, I guess we might have the same thought - or maybe she's just really guarded. Ryoji however was making weird faces and squinting his eyes a lot. Maybe he can't see anything? Sachi is nearest to the door frame and next to her is me and then Ryoji.

As we start to move farther away from the door, suddenly we hear a huge crash. It's Ryoji - he hit a table with a chair on it and caused the chair to fall down on the floor. He laughs nervously and Sachi puts her head into her hands in frustration - he even raises my blood pressure a bit. This is a life or death situation and it seems like this kid isn't taking anything seriously.

Obviously, the loud noise attracts the attention of the two sisters outside.

"It came from there, go check it out!"

"Why me? Let's do it together, sister, just like old times, hm?"

"Tsk. Haven't you heard, dear sister? I'm a solo act now."

"Hey, that was low - AIIIE!"

"S-Sumire, you clumsy little-!"

We hear a yelp and suddenly a white haired girl is falling into the room, catching herself on her hands and knees with a grimace. She looks around quietly for a moment before she spots us. With a fearful look on her face, she cries out, "PLEASE SPARE ME!"

Well, that's definitely not something a kidnapper would say so I guess she isn't evil...but she could be putting on an act.

The girl has extremely wavy silver hair with tips dyed red that rests just above her shoulders. She has icy blue eyes covered by red framed glasses and fair skin. Being the magnificently observant Ultimate Paparazzi I am, I can tell that this girl is wearing a bunch of makeup stuff but it's done so well that she looks like she isn't wearing any - don't ask me what it's called, I'm a fan of Ultimates, not makeup. The girl is wearing a loose, off the shoulder long sleeve shirt with horizontally alternating black and red stripes. Her pants are plain light blue jeans with the bottoms cuffed to show off some plain blue socks and red converse.

The three of us maintain our position by the wall as we observe her a little longer. She doesn't seem like the kidnapper type but we can't be too sure.

Junko was the Ultimate Model and multiple boys and girls alike had a crush on her, and she was bat-shit crazy.

The girl on the floor quickly shakes her head to the person standing outside and hides her face with her hands. We stand there awkwardly for a while until the girl speaks again, staring at us nervously through the cracks in her fingers.

"M-My name is Sumire Kotobuki, I'm the Ultimate Cosmetologist - please, I don't know how we got here - my sister and I are innocent!"

Sumire Kotobuki

Ultimate Cosmetologist

Ah, the name Kotobuki I immediately recognize. And if she's here the person outside is...

The girl who was outside, her sister, immediately enters the classroom when Sumire starts speaking to us and helps her up, looking at us distrustfully the whole time.

Just as I suspected, they're twins.

She has wavy silver hair, tied into two low hanging pigtails that reach just below her shoulders, with two strands left out to frame the sides of her face. Her eyes are icy blue - just like her sister - and her skin is fair. And unlike her sister, she isn't wearing any make-up. She wears a long sleeved blue sheer shirt, underneath a sleeveless blue figure skating dress, reaching mid-thigh. The shirt has glitter all over it, and the dress has many sparkles and bedazzled, similar to a gaudy figure skating outfit. She wears black tights, and white lace up skates with the blades taken out. In contrast to all the blue, she has a silver necklace with a small ruby pendant.

The girl looks at us with an unreadable look on her face. Then, she suddenly puts on a strained, friendly smile. "Hello there. My name is Shion Kotobuki and I have the title of Ultimate Figure Skater. It is nice to meet you."

Shion Kotobuki

Ultimate Figure Skater

Just as I suspected. There's only one pair of twins famous enough to be enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy and that's the Kotobuki twins. Children of famous Olympic figure skaters, it was only natural for them to follow in their parents' footsteps. At a young age, Sumire and Shion were very skilled and were already gaining fame, but one day it's like Sumire suddenly decided to stop figure skating and went into MeTube doing Cosmetology.

They're both very famous, with the rise of the beauty community in MeTube, Sumire became one of the biggest MeTube sensations there is, she's just so positive and friendly that people are attracted to her. It also helps that she's considered to be one of the more unproblematic Beauty Gurus…

Shion, however, is much more niche. Her fans are sports fans and that demographic is much smaller than Sumire's MeTube platform. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't make Shion any less popular than Sumire. As expected of true Ultimates, Shion is famous enough to have her own fanbase.

It's to be expected when you're twins but they often get compared a lot, like who's more successful, for example. Some people argue Shion because she's continuing the famous Kotobuki legacy of figure skating, and some people argue Sumire because she was able to branch out and create a name for herself without relying on her family name.

I still remember the time when Sumire quit figure skating. It was a huge scandal, people were theorizing left and right: 'Shion is the favorite child' this, 'Sumire is weaker than Shion' that, even 'Shion is blackmailing her sister'...just your typical nosy things like that.

Apparently, no one knows what really happened. But if you're an investigative reporter like me, you would know. The truth is-

"Um, why is he just standing there?" my thoughts are interrupted by Shion's voice.

Oh no, I was fanboying in my mind again, wasn't I?

"After we introduced ourselves he just zoned out." Sumire says as she dusts herself off.

They both stare at me, one look judging and one look wary. "Weirdooo." the girls say in unison.

I laugh and smile apologetically, "Hahaha, I must have been in my reporter trance, I apologize." I say. "My name is Tatsumi Endo and I'm the Ultimate Paparazzi."

The two relax a little bit after I identify myself as an Ultimate.

After introducing ourselves to the Kotobukis, we exchange information but unfortunately Shion and Sumire don't know any more than we do.

Again, this whole thing just weirds me out. I mean, aside from the being kidnapped thing.

There's absolutely nothing that connects me, Sachiko, Ryoji, Sumire, and Shion together. Ryoji, Sumire, and Shion are new enrollees, Sachiko is a Third Year, and I myself am a Second Year. All of our talents are different enough, too: an athlete, a gamer, a pharmacist, a beauty technician, and a glorified stalker…hey, at least I'm self aware.

Argh! Why aren't things making sense to me-?

"So you two are like twins right?" Ryoji asks, turning to the twins in question.

Why do people keep interrupting my musings? And huh, I guess he doesn't know who they are.

The sisters exchange a confused look. "Obviously." Shion answers.

Ryoji laughs, "Hahaha, that's weird. I would have thought you two would have, like, the same talent." he says.

...Is this boy stupid?

"Unfortunately, Hope's Peak doesn't accept people with the same talent in the same year." I explain to Ryoji. "And even if they did, Sumire doesn't figure skate, or at least doesn't do competitions any more." I say, glancing at said twin, trying to pry the issue.

Okay, so maybe I don't know the truth but I think my theory is the most plausible.

"Yeah, I do mostly MeTube stu-" before Sumire can even finish her sentence, Ryoji zooms right over to her.

"Oh, wow! You do MeTube too!?" Ryoji asks excitedly. "If you're a cosmetologist then you must be in that Beauty Community thing, right? Do you do that 'Spill The Tea' stuff? I don't wear makeup - obviously - but I think those are super fun to watch!"

"Yeah, well, I don't like to get involved in that drama." Sumire says with a small smile. "Heh, my you are just full of energy, huh." Sumire laughs, still clearly feeling a little wary of Ryoji, Sachiko, and I.

My eyes drift towards Shion. There's an odd look on her twin's face...hm? Do I sense a bit of.. jealousy? My oh my, the possessive twin type, huh? Scandalous…

…

…

…

Get it together, Tatsumi.

Ryoji is practically bouncing in place, "What's your channel's name?" he asks. "Mine was 'Splango'!"

"Mine is 'Skating into Cosmetology', a long channel name I know." Sumire says with a smile.

Ryoji opens his mouth to speak again but Shion speaks first, interrupting their conversation.

"As much as I'm enjoying this little talk-" obvious sarcasm is obvious, but who knows. Ryoji doesn't seem to even be aware of it because he's just smiling. "-I think it would be better if we continue our search for an exit." Shion says casually but I can tell that she just doesn't want their conversation to go on.

"I agree." Sachiko says, entering the conversation. "I think it would be better if we split up, so that we can cover more ground, let's all meet up in the cafeteria once we're done."

The cafeteria, huh? Sachiko seems to know a lot about the layout of this place. She and Ryoji must've gone there before we met up.

"I'LL GO WITH SUMIRE!" Ryoji shouts and quickly goes to Sumire's side. Chuckling slightly, Sumire discreetly steps away from Ryoji, obviously feeling awkward.

"No, Sumire is coming with me." Shion says and without waiting for a response, she takes Sumire's hand and pulls her out of the room to continue exploring.

Dejected, Ryoji slumps down but quickly perks right back up, "I'll go with them!" he declares and runs out, following the Kotobukis.

"Well, I guess we're together." I say as I turn to face Sachiko.

Sachiko nods. "We have no time to waste. Let's go." she says and walks out of the room.

Sachiko and I decide to check out the cafeteria first to make sure that it's a safe place to meet up with Sumire, Shion, and Ryoji - assuming that Shion lets Ryoji stay with them, that is.

The old Hope's Peak cafeteria is exactly what I expected it to be: fancy. There are glass walls on one side that are all cracked and the explosion that destroyed Mukuro Ikusaba's body can still be seen. The red floors have turned into a brownish color from neglect, the tables and chairs are all in disarray with some tables missing legs, and the wallpaper is peeling. This place gets creepier and creepier with each room I go into, I swear.

As we enter the cafeteria, we are immediately greeted with the strangest scene.

A rather short boy - he can't be any taller than 5'5" - is standing on top of one of the cafeteria tables laughing maniacally. The boy is unusually pale and he has a small frame. He has big purple eyes and messy white hair. He wears a white shirt under a black windbreaker zipped all the way up to his neck, I can see the white shirt peeking out from the bottom of the jacket. The main zipper of his jacket is gold and there's two of what seem more like choice design zippers on his left breast pocket that are gold as well. He has on white shorts with way too many pockets that clearly serve no purpose whatsoever and purple sneakers with white accented laces and sole lining.

Beside the table the first boy was standing on there's another boy, this one on the taller side despite his rather young looking face - maybe around 6" - playing a flute. He is an average individual with an average skin tone and sickly dark plum colored eyes. He has ash blonde hair with messy side-swept bangs and tufts poking from each side. He's pretty fit compared to the average person. The boy wears a traditional white-collar tuxedo shirt with a few alterations. The shirt buttons are small and black. He wears a lavender bow tie tied onto the collar of the shirt. His dress pants are black, and he wears a leather belt in the same color. Lastly, he wears white marching band shoes that are somewhat worn down and white silk gloves on his hands.

"Greetings loyal subjects! You have entered the kingdom of Kuroda! Bow before the great Takagi Kuroda, the ULTIMATE VILLAIN!" the boy on the table declares, posing like, well, a villain.

Takagi Kuroda

Ultimate Villain?

I immediately recognized this boy the second I saw him.

Obviously, he isn't the Ultimate Villain.

Takagi Kuroda is the nephew of a well known theater producer who helped him get his start in the theater world. His shows always sell out because he always plays the villain characters with so much gusto and the right amount of energy, people are always entertained.

I've been to one of his shows before and I have to say, he is very good. Too good in fact, that I discovered he almost never breaks character. I mean, even right now as he stands in front of us laughing maniacally, he's in character.

To a normal person he would be very convincing but to me, a professional paparazzi, I know the truth. This is Takagi Kuroda, the Ultimate Thespian

Takagi Kuroda

Ultimate Thespian

Takagi is a very well known figure in the Hope's Peak celebrity world, people always want him in movies, but Takagi always speaks about his love for theater rather than movies. People support his decisions and love him for it, however there will always be that small group of people who criticizes him. They say that his talent is wasted in the small niche world of theater and that if he became a movie actor instead, he would be more famous.

Honestly, I think he's doing fine where he is now. He's an Ultimate after all, which means he's very well known. He appears in magazines, TV interviews, and more. And personally, I think he just fits the definition of a theater nerd more rather than a movie star.

"So what about your friend there?" Sachiko says, pointing at the tall boy. "Is he going to introduce himself as well?"

"This is my loyal minion!" Takagi gestures towards the gentle giant. "He is Kikuo Furuhata, my Ultimate War Musician!"

Kikuo Furuhata

Ultimate War Musician?

Obviously there is no such thing as an Ultimate War Musician (as far as I know, and I know a lot).

This is Kikuo Furuhata, the Ultimate Flautist.

Kikuo Furuhata

Ultimate Flautist

Kikuo is a musical darling. He became famous by attending multiple musical contests where he absolutely demolished people with his moving musical abilities. I personally really love his music, it's so soothing. Listening to it while I do my work just calms my soul.

I don't have much to say about him. He's so mysterious, he doesn't talk a lot. Consequently, he has a small but very loyal fanbase, they love his music and his 'shy' demeanor.

That's what most people believe him to be. Shy. But those people are dumb. If you just take the time to observe him for a bit you can tell that he just has selec-

"Well, minions? Are you going to bow to me or will I have to execute you?"

Once again, I am cut off from my musings. Jeez, can't people let me fanboy in peace?

Sachiko scoffs, "As if. Are you behind all of this-?" Sachiko's tone swiftly turns threatening so I quickly step in.

"Sachiko, I know these people." I put a hand on her shoulder. "Takagi isn't some villain, he's just a really, really dedicated thespian, and I can tell you for sure he isn't behind this. I'd stake my collection of Ultimate cards on it." I whisper to her.

"Your what-?"

"Just go along with it, it's much less work."

"STOP WHISPERING IN MY PRESENCE, PEASANTS! IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!" Takagi demands, stomping on the table.

"Forgive us my lord!" I say as I kneel down, gesturing for Sachiko to do the same. She looks at me weirdly but picks up the ends of her lab coat and curtsies. "I am Tatsumi Endo, the Ultimate...uh, Investigator, my lord." I introduce myself and look at Sachiko, urging her to do the same.

"I am Sachiko Yoshifumi, the Ultimate Plague Doctor." Sachiko introduces herself.

Damn, who knew the serious studious girl would be so quick to play along?

"Perfect. Now, why have you come to my land?" Takagi asks, calmed. He gestures for Kikuo to continue playing his flute and Kikuo obliges.

"Yes, uh, Lord Takagi, we seek...refuge in your kingdom. We are exploring this area and wanted to use this...castle to be a safe haven." I try to explain while trying to stay in character. Takagi can get really, really mischievous if he gets upset. Better be on his good side for now.

"I see." Takagi nods. "Well, seeing as I am such a benevolent ruler, I will let you do as you please. HOWEVER, there will be an exchange." he adds quickly and points at me. "You will work for me. I require your intelligence, Sir Tatsumi. You hold valuable information in that little head of yours." Takagi says and crosses his arms, putting on a confident smile. "In this game we seem to be trapped in, knowledge is power, and I have a feeling you have a lot of it."

"I see." I say, standing up. I clear my throat, "Er, I shall accept your conditions." I say. I look over at Kikuo, still playing his flute peacefully and obediently. I nod towards him and he returns the gesture.

"Well then, my king, Lady Sachiko and I shall be off. We are to explore this land further." I say as I turn to head out of the cafeteria.

There's a beat of silence before: "Good luck in your travels, Tatsumi. Wouldn't want you to kick the bucket so soon." Takagi says in a grim tone, all his previous theatrics gone.

I nod again, sharing a look with Sachiko. "Of course."

Sachiko and I head out of the cafeteria.

"What the fuck happened in there?" is the first thing Sachiko says as we exit the cafeteria.

I laugh, "I'll explain but we can't waste any more time than we already have, there's more ground to cover." I say as we head to our next destination.

"Okay, fine, but you better have a good explanation because that was the weirdest thing I've ever done."

A/N get wild go crazy