Prologue: Sea of Stardom (Part 2)
Warning!
This is a Danganronpa Fic, so expect dark and serious themes! But also fun and whimsical themes! Enjoy!
"So Miss Pheme, what did you think of our first four stars?"
Pheme sat in a chair, facing away from the other figure in the room. She was looking over some assorted documents, studying them intently. After a moment, she finally answered the figure.
"What do I think? Well..."
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"I..."
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"I loved it so much!" Pheme exclaimed, reaching her arms to the sky in her joy.
"The way they ran, the way they talked, the way Ms. Akiyama's screams in the dark echoed in my mind... words cannot describe it."
Pheme got out of the chair and faced the other figure. The figure looked deep into Pheme's eyes, noticing her pupils dilating. That wasn't the only thing they noticed. They could see... the raw insanity in her eyes as well. They didn't comment though. They just waiting for Pheme to continue talking.
"How long? How long is it until I can see our next four? I can't wait! My sheer excitement can't be contained!"
Now, the figure decided to speak.
"That is our next course of action. Figuring out which of our remaining twelve stars will go in the next studio. You remember what the next studio is correct?"
"Oh? The next studio! Of course! It's the..."
Pheme stopped for a moment, her previous uncontainable excitement dying down.
"The... Um... Ah! The Comedy Studio!" Pheme announced to just herself and the other figure.
Pheme's excitement started to build up again as she danced around the room.
"I love a good laugh! A good joke! The art of making someone laugh is amazing! What a lovely art! I love it so much!" She half-sung as she continued to dance around.
The figure started to say something, most likely in attempt to get Pheme to calm down, but Pheme cut them off as she stopped dancing around.
"Ah! I know what you're going to say! Worry not! I already know which four stars should go to the comedy studio!"
Pheme shoved some documents in the figure's face, then pointed to four pictures on the documents.
"Those four! Oh I'm so excited to watch them! Watch them struggle! Watch them thrive!"
Throughout all of this, the figure's expression never changed. All they did was just wait for the right moment to speak.
"These four? At once Miss Pheme. Now, are you ready to give the signal?"
"I am always ready!"
Pheme stopped and took a deep breath.
"Ready..."
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"Action!"
I heard the faint hum and buzzing from the fluorescent light above me as I slowly came back to consciousness. My mind felt very hazy... like I was slowly waking up from a month-long nap. I barely even had the strength to lift up my head from where it was laying. After considerable effort, I lifted up my head, and started to drag my spirits out from the depths of sleep.
When I did, I realized that I was laying my head on a hardwood countertop. I'm surprised that it didn't hurt. I noticed a small pile of drool next to where my head was laying as well.
"Oh wow! I must've been sleeping rather hard..."
The person started to look around their surroundings.
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"Where... am I?" The person said aloud.
It seemed to be some sort of bar. The bar itself was a large circular shape, surrounding a pillar in the center. Then there was the aforementioned wooden countertop surrounding the inside of the bar. On the other side of the counter, there were countless bottles of alcohol, and seemingly all of them were fresh and unopened. The person glanced over the counter, and saw some quite pristine equipment. Very nice cocktail shakers, strainers, the lot of it. It seemed rather clean as well, which they liked.
After they were finished admiring the bar itself, they looked around more. And they quickly noticed three other people with them in the circular bar, all seemingly still knocked out. They were separated all around the entire bar as well.
"What... is happening? Why am I here? I'm not even old enough to drink!" They said to nobody.
They leaped out of the barstool with a lithe grace, and headed towards the nearest person to them. They figured it was their best chance at getting answers for this strange situation they were in.
The person they headed towards was sleeping on a table this time instead of the bar counter. He had his head lying in his large arms as he drifted through dream world. Also, "large arms" is probably an understatement. The person looked over the sleeping guy before they approached him.
The guy was muscular, his muscles being very noticeable, and he appeared to be quite in shape. He had tanned skin, perhaps due to working under sunlight? Then from what they could see of his face, he looked quite ruggedly handsome. His face was square-shaped, and he had black hair that would reach his shoulders, but it was tied up to a ponytail. The man's eyes fluttered open for a brief moment before closing once again, allowing the person to spot his brown eyes.
Then they looked at his clothes. He dressed a bit simply, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
He wore a gray t-shirt with a logo for "Kaneshiro Construction Co." on it. Over that he wore black overalls with the left strap unbuttoned so it flops down. Then at his feet, he wore black boots. It didn't take long for the person to realize that the his man was a sort of construction worker. But that was enough ogling! They needed to wake him up, and get some answers. It was technically illegal for them to even be in a bar, so they were a bit nervous about the whole thing.
They got closer to the sleeping guy, and gave his left arm a poke. Even just lightly touching his muscles threw them back a bit. But they didn't relent!
They kept on poking his left arm. They had to wake him up somehow.
Poke.
Poke.
Poke.
They knew they should be more cautious of this weird situation, but they couldn't help but find it funny. Just poking this big guy until he woke up. It was more amusing than they thought.
Poke.
Poke.
Poke.
But it was about to quickly get a lot less amusing for them. They kept up their harmless poking, not noticing the large man slowly stirring at the poking.
Poke.
Poke.
Poke-
They were stopped on their ninth poke. The previously sleeping man had a fiery rage that had quenched any drowsiness he might've been feeling. His blazing brown eyes quickly turned and stared directly at the poking perpetrator.
"Can. You. STOP! You little shit! STOP POKING ME!"
The now awake and frankly terrifying man swiped the person's arm away from him with great force.
"GET AWAY ME!" They yelled out, intimidated the other person even more.
The poking perpetrator quickly retreated away from the big and angry man.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It was just a joke! Don't hurt me!" The words flowed out fast as they retreated under the table to hide.
"Please don't hurt me!" They retreated as far under the table as they could, their voice shaking.
The man looked under the table at the frightened person. They were about to rage even more, but started to hold back once they saw them slowly starting to cry. He took a deep breath, and stepped back, facing away from them.
From underneath the table, the person could barely hear the man muttering something.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. I'm calm. I'm calm. Just calm down..."
They kept shaking under the table as the man kept muttering vaguely confusing things to himself. After a few minutes, the man faced back towards the table and stared at the person under the table with a much more gentle expression.
"Hey. I'm uh- sorry if I scared you. I really didn't mean it. Just a... nasty habit. You ok?" The man reached their arm out towards the person.
Their shaking hadn't completely stopped just yet, but they held out their hand to the man.
The man pulled them out from under the table as gently as he could, and sat them down where he was previously sitting and sleeping.
"You alright? I'm sorry for scaring you." The man asked again.
It didn't take long for the person to respond.
"Yeah, I'm ok! I'm sorry for freaking out. You... seem like a nice guy!"
The man was taken aback by the comment. Really? He came off as a nice guy? He... didn't expect that.
"Uhh- thank you I guess? I swear that that anger isn't who I am. Just... some issues I have."
There was a brief silence between the two individuals before the man spoke up once again.
"Oh! I should probably introduce myself huh? It'll probably make you a little less scared at least! I'm Joji Kaneshiro! I own Kaneshiro Construction Co.! I'm the Ultimate Carpenter too. So let me know if you need anything built!"
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not scared anymore. You really do seem nice!" They reassured him.
"Oh! I should introduce myself too!" They let out a slight giggle before continuing.
"You may call me Lake Beaumont. And I am an Ultimate as well, just like you. I'm known far and wide as the Ultinate Ballet Dancer. It's a pleasure to meet you Joji!"
Upon Lake's introduction, Joji started to look over the young Ballet Dancer.
Lake was fair-skinned with a slim and slender build, but more on the feminine side. They had pale blue eyes, and they had straight lavender hair that went down to upper back level.
Then Lake wore a loose lilac top and white dress pants. They wore lilac ballet shoes along with white socks.
All in all, they definitely had the look of a Ballet Dancer.
"So, now that I've calmed down, I wanted to ask you a question Lake."
"Oh? A question for me? Of course! Fire away!"
It was probably a long shot but...
"Do you have any idea of where we are right now?"
Lake looked around the bar once more at Joji asking that.
"Well, I'd assume some sort of bar. It's rather fancy and clean as well. Seems high-class. Other than that, I'm not sure." Lake thought more about the situation as Joji looked around himself.
"I'm not an avid drinker, but this ain't no bar I've seen before." Joji stomped his foot with a raised eyebrow.
"I agree! I'm not old enough to drink yet, but this seems..." Lake drifted off for a moment.
"I'm not sure of the word for it."
"Yeah..." Joji muttered under his breath.
"But even if we don't know where we are, we can say one thing for sure!" Lake stood up, struck a pose, and announced to the two of them.
"We..."
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"Have been kidnapped!"
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Joji stayed silent.
"I... suppose we have."
It seemed rather obvious right? But the gravity just hadn't sunk in for Joji yet.
"Shit... Why us?!" Joji felt his rage slowly growing, but just took deep breaths to calm down.
"Unfortunately... I don't have the answer to that question." Lake frowned.
"But I know we can figure it out! We just have to believe in ourselves!" Lake raised their fist into the air, in attempt to turn their frown upside down.
Joji sat down, and started to think more on it. It took him a couple of seconds before he got an idea.
"Say, Lake, you said you were an Ultimate too?"
"Correct! The Ultimate Ballet Dancer! I'm quite skilled too!" Lake started to lightly dance around the table the two were at.
"Okay. Then I wonder..." Joji thought to himself a bit more.
"I think that might be the reason."
Lake stopped dancing.
"Oh? My Ballet is the reason?"
"Yes- oh uh- no. Not specifically that. I wonder if it's because we are Ultimates that we got kidnapped. Ultimates have commonly been the center of much attention and controversy. You watch the news much? I do. Ultimates being kidnapped is surprisingly common. You just don't think it'll happen to you until it actually does..."
Lake thought as deep as they could about what Joji said.
"I don't watch the news much, but I trust your insight! If that's the case, we need to get out of here!" Lake said excitedly.
Joji stood up after hearing Lake's enthusiasm.
"You're right! We're not gonna mope around some bar! Let's get the fuck out of here!" Joji's energy was reaching its peak. He was ready to get out of here.
He looked around for an exit, which he hadn't actually done yet. Neither of them had. But as they did...
"Wait Joji! We haven't talked to the other two people in the room yet! We should do that next before we try to escape!" Lake exclaimed.
Joji was reluctant. He wanted to find a way up of this place now. But he knew Lake had a point.
"I... yeah. Yeah you're right. We probably should."
Joji's energy started to die down as Lake wandered towards the next nearest person in the bar. And they were still sleeping too.
Similar to Joji, she was sleeping on a table. She had her right arm outstretched over the table where she was lying, with her head laying on the hardwood surface.
As Joji was looking around the bar some more, trying to calm himself down, Lake looked over the sleeping girl.
Immediately, she looked a lot like a trendy and popular girl you'd see in a teen movie or tv show.
The girl had long perfectly curled at the ends bright purple hair that ends just above her lower back and shimmers in the light and looks almost magenta from certain angles; her fringe is parted to the right and she had longer bangs framing the sides of her face and a hair ahoge that sticks up and bends halfway atop her head. She had dark purple eyebrows, and after her eyes fluttered open for a brief moment, Lake saw her big round bright baby blue eyes that had heart like irises.
Lake wasn't the biggest makeup connoisseur, but even they could appreciate it from time to time.
The girl had perfectly done mascara with winged black dark purple eyeliner and her eyeshadow looked like a pretty sunset ombre of purple, pink, orange and yellow hues in that order from bottom to top respectively. She had a heart shaped face, button nose, pale pink lip gloss, a porcelain fair skin complexion with naturally rosy cheeks and two small vertical moles underneath her left eye.
Then looking more over her body itself, not in a weird way, Lake saw her svelte, super feminine, slim hourglass figure along with an ample C cup sized bosom. Lastly, her nails had a purple look with white flower detailing on each nail. Her nails seemed very well manicured.
Lake then drifted her eyes from the girls body to her clothes. The girl had on a pretty hot pink princess babydoll dress that had a transparent glitter pale pink skirt over her dress' pink skirt. The dress' pink sleeves seemed custom tailored for the dress with straight sleeves with ruffle ends near her hand accented by white ribbon straps around the sleeve cuffs. Over the dress' waist was a cinched white bow belt. Over that she wore a comfortable bright blue sheep's wool hoodie that she had in an off the shoulder style look.
On her lower half she wore purple socks with a pair of pink, blue and white wedge sneakers that had pretty hearts and emoji designs on the sides. For accessories she wore a pink heart gemstone silver ring on her left middle finger, a rose gold flower crown ring on her right ring finger, a silver heart locket necklace around her neck, a pink faux pearl headband atop her head and a crystal geometric rose gold bracelet on her left wrist.
While Lake was admiring the Sleeping Beauty, Joji just wanted to be done with this. Lake was still looking over the sleeping girl, before Joji went up to her brazenly. He took the girl's shoulders and hoisted up her, so she could sit straight and proper in the chair. And like Joji wanted, it definitely woke her up.
The girl looked around groggily, before meeting Joji's face with her own.
"Uhh..." The girl let out, still obviously not fully awake. But Joji didn't exactly care.
"Hey! You awake?! Who are you?!" He yelled directly in her face.
"Joji!" Lake reached out for Joji's arm to pull him away, but given the size difference, their effort didn't do much.
Lake got the girl's attention before speaking to her. "Don't worry about my friend here, he's a good guy! But we want to know who you are! Are you ok? Learning about each other is important!"
Joji turned away with a huff as the girl finally got conscious enough to speak to the pair.
"H-huh?" She let out before her eyes widened. It was hard to glean from her expression, but both Lake and Joji swore they saw some sort of cogs turning in her head.
But as they were distracted, the girl hopped up out of her chair with her arms in the air.
"Like, what? OMG, where is this?" She looked around the bar.
"This place is soooo drab. How can it be mid and boujee at the same time?? Ain't no way I'm staying here for long. But GOD my followers need to know about his place, so they can stay away from his freaky place!" She covered mouth as she laughed, and began feeling her pockets, seemingly to find her phone. But to no avail.
"No way I lost my phone... that's totes lame!" She let out a long sigh, before remembering that two people were watching her.
"Oh! Hiya! Who are you two?"
Lake and Joji were both rather stunned by what this girl was saying, so it took them a second to respond. Lake did the talking for them.
"Hi there! I'm Lake and this is Joji! We think we've been kidnapped along with you. We're trying to escape, but we wanted to meet you first! Who are you?" Lake asked nicely.
"And can you hurry it up please? I'm eager to get the hell out of this place." Joji added while tapping his foot to the ground over and over, clearly getting impatient.
"OMG you two are soooo crazy!" Her high pitched voice let out.
"But you seem pretty cute and chill! I love your fit!" She said to Lake.
"You seem to be doing the most with that attitude, but you're still cute!" She then said to Joji.
"But you really don't know who I am? That is absolutely sending me!" She rolled her head around in an exaggerated manner.
"Well... whatevs. Guess I fell off..."
The three stood is silence for a moment before the girl spoke up again.
"Naaahh! I'd never fall off! I have waaaaay you much clout for that to happen! Obvi???"
The girl had said so many things in the last minute, seemingly expecting Lake and Joji to actually understand them. Joji's patience was wearing thin.
"Listen, you got a name or what? Just tell us already, I'm getting real annoyed here." It was blatant how much Joji was trying to hold back his anger.
"Ew, aggressive men give me the ick." She muttered as her face shifted to a more disgusted look, before shifting back to a more jubilant expression.
"Ok ok... I know you two are just waiting for the tea right? Wait no more! My name is Raiha Miyahara, don'tcha forget it! And I slay as the Ultimate Trendsetter! Does "Riactionista" ring any bells? That's me! Obvi!"
"No it doesn't ring any bells." Joji said with a flat voice.
"Hmm..." Lake hummed.
"Hey, I think I have heard of you! My uh-" Lake paused.
"My best friend follows you! She loves your content! And I think it's called... "Me, My Dress, and I?" She loves that store!"
Raiha's smile just continued to grow as Lake spoke.
"OMG you are sooooo gasing me up but I looove it! Talk about me more!" Raiha asked, and Lake obliged.
The two dove into a conversation that wasn't particularly deep, and they seemingly forgot the world around them even existed. Joji had enough of this. These people knew that they're kidnapped right?
Joji sighed to himself as he looked around the bar once more, and spotted the final girl in the room, the one they haven't met yet, slowly coming to consciousness.
Joji made a probably wise choice, and left the pair of Raiha and Lake to talk as he went over to the other girl. She was sleeping in a similar position like he was, although she was at the bar itself this time. Joji looked the girl over.
She... wasn't particularly eye catching. She seemed somewhat average in height, coming off as a little bulky in a rectangle shape since she had a flat chest and balanced proportions. Despite being bulky though, her limbs and body shape come off as more limber and sort of frail as well.
The next thing he noticed was her hair. She had wild white hair that is medium in length, ending at her chin, and that had flat side bangs. She had two long wild wisps of hair hanging below her side bangs like weeds, spiraling out. The back of her medium length hair was outstretched like wings, looking spicy. She finally has two small ahoge's on the top of her hair.
The girl was looking around and taking in her new and strange surroundings. But Joji noticed something strange. She had an unnerving and emotionless facial expression on her pale and frail looking face, that was in a straight frown. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, with the right eye being bright yellow that sparkles like the sun and the left eye being misty white with a black spiral. Just an overall... strange appearance.
His eyes shifted to her clothes next. She wore a white sleeveless dress with a yellow and black ruffled underskirt that was super puffy and large. Under that are black shorts that expose the top part of her legs before transitioning to her yellow thigh high boots, with black heels that look like bee stingers.
The boots had a very large appearance. She had silver spikes on her boots, and a yellow spiked collar, wrist cuffs, and headband, with copper spikes down the center of her dress. She also had black biker gloves that start to give her the appearance of a rock star rather than a pop star.
Overtop the sleeveless dress was a yellow crop top rock looking leather jacket. She had a yellow and black color scheme with some black belts and a bee looking zipper pull on her jacket. The shoulders of the jacket have some spikes that came across rather intense. Joji also spotted a small microphone hanging out the side of her jacket.
The girl had quite the appearance, and didn't even notice Joji examining her. The girl stayed sitting on the barstool, just looking around. Joji didn't want to play any games. He just wanted the girl's information, and he wanted to escape this weird place. So he walked up to her and waved his hand in her face, hoping to catch her attention.
"Hey, you ok? What's your name?" Joji actually tried to help a bit more tactful this time around, but it didn't help much. Though the girl didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed fairly unfazed by everything happening.
"Heya! A new face in a new place? How are you?" The girl said with an over enthusiastic tone.
Joji was thrown back, pretty much just because, after Raiha, he half-expected this other girl to use weird slang too.
"I'm uh- good! I'm good! And I'm Joji Kaneshiro! W-who are you?" He asked the strange girl.
"Me? I'm Bessie B. Blossom, taking the scene! I'm the Ultimate Pop Star, at your service! So tell me! What's the buzz Joji?"
Joji kept on having trouble responding to this girl, whose name is apparently Bessie. He had only heard Bessie speak a few words, but her tone and expression were rather... eerie. He didn't know how to word it correctly. He tried to put it out of his mind for now.
"The buzz huh? Well, it looks like you, me, and the two others over there have been kidnapped." He pointed with his thumb behind his back at Lake and Raiha, both who were still gossiping.
"We... kidnapped?" Bessie looked around the bar once again.
"Yep. Kidnapped. I want break out of here as soon as possible, but the lavender-colored one over there insists on getting information first. So make it quick Bessie. Do you know anything important, or can I just get to breaking down this damn wall already?" Joji's aggressive and impatient tone came across rather blatantly. But it didn't faze Bessie. Nothing fazed her it seemed like.
"Information? Of course I got that! Don't fret my little helper!"
Helper? The hell did she mean by that? Joji was about to question it, but Bessie continued talking before he could.
"So, I have lots of information for you! My memories... seem to all be here!" She patted her hands on her head a couple of times.
"I think... it was after a show. I was living it up on stage, singing and entertaining the crowd. I was giving them the song that they needed! We all were grooving and having a good time."
Bessie said all of this with a simultaneous cheery and blank tone, so it came out very oddly.
"But... it was in the middle of it. I heard... a loud noise in my ear. Like something was screeching yeah? It was all in my ears, then my brain, then my head, then my ears again, then my head again! It was the weirdest sound I've ever heard! I thought I was losing it! Like a sort of malfunction or something? But..." Bessie paused. Like she was thinking hard about what to say next, or perhaps she was fetching her memories. Joji really wanted her to get to the point, but he just dealt with it.
"The sound got so loud! But, no one in the audience heard it? They were grooving and jamming to the beat, but my voice wasn't soothing them anymore. The sound had stopped me from singing! I looked behind me, at the curtain that was behind me. I squinted my eyes as hard as I could to see what was behind it, and what it was shielding my eyes from!" Bessie paused again. Joji really didn't like how showy she was making this. But the story was actually heading in an interesting direction.
"So? Was there something behind the damn curtain?" Joji urged her to continue.
"Yes! I peeked through the gap, and saw a pair of bright and gleaming blue eyes staring at me! Someone was back there!" Bessie paused once more, but frankly, Joji was hooked on the story. This was nothing like what happened to him before he got kidnapped.
"They started saying things to me... things... I can't remember! But I walked back behind the curtain and..." Bessie's fourth pause. Now Joji was still impatient with how long she was taking, but he was also getting impatient because he wanted to hear more of her story!
"So what happened? EXPLAIN!" He let out a bit of his rage, but he turned around to take some deep breaths before he could escalate.
"Well... I can't! My memories stop there! Next thing I know, I wake up in this strange and sensational place! And I met you Joji, my new little helper~!"
Joji sighed and put his hands on the counter.
"Bessie? How can you recount an event like that while... being so nonchalant?"
"Hm? Whatever do you mean? I'm never nonchalant. I'm the shining sun Bessie B.!"
Joji sighed ever louder.
"Alright. Not sure what I expected. Thanks for the story Bessie, but I want to keep this moving." Joji turned away from the bar counter and towards Lake and Raiha.
"HEY! YOU TWO! GET OVER HERE!" He yelled out, despite them being barely 20 feet away.
Both Lake and Raiha covered their ears at the sudden resounding voice.
"Yo Joji, if you don't calm down, I'll like, literally have a menty b!"
"Yeah, there's no need to yell Joji! We're all friends here!"
Raiha then Lake said as they went over to Joji and Bessie.
As Raiha neared the side of the bar where Joji and Bessie were, she stopped.
"O. M. G. You are NOT Bessie B. Blossom are you?!" She blurted out, clearly towards Bessie.
"Why yes I am~! Bessie B., at your service!" Bessie got off of her barstool in a very stiff matter to walk over to Raiha.
"I looove your work! My Riactioneers and I follow your work religiously! And that last song you recorded? You sooooo ate that up! Tell me, what are you up to now? What's the tea?"
Joji stopped this before it could happen again.
"Raiha? Can... you... please... SHUT UP?! CAN YOU GET SERIOUS PLEASE? WE ARE KIDNAPPED! WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE ARE, OR IF WE'LL GET HELP! SO STOP THE GOSSIP AND COOPERATE FOR GODS SAKE!" Joji ended his rant with a fist slam against the wall. He was breathing heavily. Joji was so damn annoyed with how casual these three were being. We just wanted out of this place already.
But Joji turned away from them.
"Just... Lake. Can you handle this? I gotta calm down..." Joji wandered towards a corner of the bar.
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The three were awfully silent after Joji's outburst, before Lake was the first to speak up.
"I promise Joji isn't a bad guy! He just sometimes comes off the wrong way. Please believe me you two!" Lake pleaded.
"Oh totally Lake. For a guy who looks like such a snack, he's reeeeal aggressive. But... he's right. I should lock in here. This is a serious situation." Raiha lost her joyful grin and replaced it with something a lot more... mellow.
"And don't worry about me!" Bessie chimed in.
"Joji is my little helper, just like all of you! So he can't be that bad!" She ended with a wink.
Lake breathed a quick sigh of relief, then turned to Bessie.
"You were... Bessie right? It's so great to meet you! Raiha and I overheard you telling Joji about how you got taken? We want to hear the story too!"
"Of course! I'm all hunky-dory to tell my story! Listen in and listen well!"
Bessie explained her story of her memories before she got kidnapped with Raiha and Lake. After the story, Raiha was the first to react.
"That. Is. Crrrrazy! That has me absolutely shook!" Raiha shivered in place for a moment.
Lake thought to themselves for a moment after hearing Bessie's story.
"That... is strange. That isn't anything like how I remember. Oh, don't worry! I totally trust you Bessie! But my memories are a bit different..."
"Well? If you have different memories, then spill the tea sis!" Raiha added with a hand motion, as if to urge Lake along.
"Well... I remember it was after a solo recital of mine. I was walking home, and I got a call from a friend of mine. They sounded really scared and worried about something. I wanted to help them of course, and they said to go to an alleyway nearby. I went there, and say nothing at all! Then I had this dreadful feeling overtake me. I saw out of the corner of my eye, men dressed all in black running towards me. Then... nothing. I believe I blacked out unfortunately."
Raiha reached her hand up into the air as if she was going to take a selfie, but she brought it back down and tapped her pointer figure against her nose. She was thinking deeply about something.
"That is high key crazy. My memories line up with yours Bessie... but not Lake. That's wild!" Raiha exclaimed.
Bessie thought to herself for a moment, though it was hard to tell that she was, due to her wide open eyes.
Lake thought to herself as well about the conundrum.
"I... do believe my memories are intact. I vividly remember what happened that night..." Lake tapped the tip of their pointer finger to their chin as they thought about it.
"Like, I'd never doubt you Lake! But... my memories match with Bessie's! I'm boutta explain."
Raiha got into a pose and expression like she was "boutta" start vlogging.
"Bessie B., you've been on the Yapping Yachiho before yeah? I was too! It's a bit extra, but still pretty fire! Anyway, I just got done with an interview with Yachiho herself! So, I was walking out of the studio on my own right? I have constant people surrounding me, so breaking away from them felt so good. That feeling absolutely slapped. Oh- well actually it probably didn't slap that much. I ended up here right?" Raiha rubbed the back of her head and let out a small giggle.
"But anyway, I wanted to flex my fit while I walked out of the studio. But I didn't even get out of the studio! I heard a voice speak out to me from a door right next to the green room. I couldn't make out what it said though. I was like "can you hop off please?" Well, I didn't say that, because the door opened on its own. Inside of it... I saw bright and gleaming blue eyes staring at me. It was like, so sus? But... I walked in the door anyway. And lo and behold, I was cooked." Raiha huffed.
"So there. Bessie and mine are similar, but not yours Lake! Freaky huh?" Raiha exclaimed.
Bessie was seemingly unbothered by it.
"I know my memories are the truth, and it's as simple as that!" Bessie did a finger gun pose as she said that.
Lake was trying to take in their stories, thinking about what it might mean. They didn't know why their own story was different. But they realized they didn't have all the stories yet.
"Hey! Joji! We want to talk you for a second. Can you come over here?" Lake yelled towards him, while keeping a gentle tone.
Joji looked towards her in surprise, before sheepishly smiling.
"Oh yeah? I should be good now, so yeah, what's up?" Joji walked back towards the group.
The three smiled at him as he walked back towards the group, but they suddenly stopped as he approached.
As Joji approached the group again, a sudden loud screeching noise started up, like someone was booting up old audio equipment. Everyone went to cover their ears in shock.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Joji yelled over the noise.
"FR, this sound can step off!" Raiha added.
"This... isn't very pleasant..." Lake was third.
"Hey! I use sounds like this in my jam sessions! Did one of my little helpers do this~?" Bessie was last, seemingly not bothered by the inane sound.
Finally, after roughly 30 seconds, it stopped. And a voice started talking, like it was coming over an intercom.
"Oh? Hello my darling stars! I'm so elated to see you all in good health!" The voice announced, almost singing her words.
The group of four looked around the bar, and discovered an intercom at the ceiling of the bar, next to the center pillar.
The four looked towards the intercom, waiting in anticipation for what might be said next.
"Ah, I see you have found the source of my voice! Wonderful! We shan't delay any longer then! My darling stars! Please look to your left!"
None of the group liked listening to the voice, possibly of the one who kidnapped them, but they did as they were told. To their left, a door had appeared from the wall.
"W-what the hell? That wasn't there before!" Joji yelled as he pointed at the door.
"We are all sure that wasn't there before, right guys? My memories can't be beat, so I know for sure!" Bessie said. It sounded like she should've smiled while saying that, but she kept her same unnerving expression.
"You needn't worry about the details my darling stars! Just walk through that door, and it'll be okay!"
The four stood frozen for a second, contemplating what to do. But Joji was the first one to take action.
And by action, he just went up and opened the door.
"Joji! Are you sure we should just listen to it? Is it safe?" Lake asked worriedly.
"Eh, to be honest, I don't care. I want to leave this damn place. And if this voice is giving us an exit, I'm taking it!" Joji half-cheered as he just... walked through it.
Lake nodded to herself. "Bessie! Raiha! Cmon! Let's go after him!" Lake walked with a brisk but gentle pace after Joji.
That just left Bessie and Raiha in the room.
Raiha nodded at Bessie before going to follow after Joji and Lake. But Bessie stopped her by putting her hand on her shoulder. Raiha quickly turned around after feeling the touch.
"Um? Like, what's up Bessie?" Raiha asked with a happy expression.
But Bessie wasn't happy. She didn't seem happy at least. She looked deep into Raiha's eyes, like she was trying to find something. Bessie's intense glare was starting to freak Raiha out. But there was still... something about it. Something she... couldn't put her finger on. Raiha started to look into Bessie's eyes too, but their staring contest was cut short.
"OI! RAIHA! BESSIE! LETS MOVE IT!" A yell that was almost certainly Joji echoed from the neighboring room as both Raiha and Bessie were shook out of their trance. The two girls nodded to themselves as they went and joined Lake, and they went through the mysterious door...
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And when they did... they saw... a stage. More accurately, the group of four were standing on a small and quaint stage. Bessie was plenty used to stages due to her Ultimate Talent. But nothing quite like this.
"This... isn't the type of stage I'm used to..." The Pop Star muttered.
"This stage... isn't for Bessie B. Not groovy enough. It tells me... this is more for a comedian." Bessie reasoned.
"Huh? Comedians low key give me the ick. What's the deal with this place?" Raiha looked around. Besides for the stage, there were multiple wooden table and chairs in the audience. There was even another separate bar way in the back. This... Raiha had an idea what this was.
"You are so right Bessie. Are we... in a comedy club?" Raiha further reasoned.
The voice from earlier decided to chime in again.
"Correct, Ms. Miyahara and Ms. Blossom, I am so proud of you for figuring it out!" They congratulated the two.
Bessie didn't react at all, but Raiha sure did.
"Eh, comedy clubs are mid at best. But some weirdos on the internet just love these places, so I, as the Ultimate Trendsetter, had to see if they were worth it!" Raiha praised herself.
"Oi! Uh- weird voice! We followed your instructions, and even figured out what this place is! Can we just go yet?! This shit is getting ridiculous!" I wonder how many times Joji's impatience had been tested so far?
"Even I must agree! This has been... both eventful and a tad dreadful." Lake added.
"Forgive me Mr. Kaneshiro and Mx. Beaumont, but I'm afraid you're not quite done yet! Though you are close though!" The voice announced to them both.
Joji rolled his eyes, but kept silent. His anger management therapist would be very proud of him.
"Now, listen up! My glamorous stars, do you see that device to the left of you?" The voice asked.
"Why does the voice keep calling us stars...?" Lake whispered.
"Hell if I know..." Joji whispered back.
"Well, aren't we stars? We all have Ultimate Talents. Are we all amazing?" Bessie whispered. Raiha made an expression like she agreed with Bessie's assumption.
The four stared at each other for a moment, before realizing that they should be following along with the voice. What was it they said? To the left of them?
They group looked to the left and saw what the voice was referring to. It was a strange and oblong golden machine. On the top of it, it said "Goddess-Brand Laugh-o-Meter(tm)." It was a... weird machine.
"Hm! Now what could this possibly be?" Bessie sauntered over to the strange machine.
"I'm so very glad you asked Ms. Blossom! That is the Goddess-Brand Laugh-o-Meter(tm)! Amazing isn't it?"
Raiha looked the machine over. "Uhhh... TBH, what is a "Goddess-Brand" anything? If I don't know the brand, nobody does!" Raiha crossed her arms.
"My dear Ms. Miyahara, that does not matter now! All that matters is your ability to make it work!"
They all looked at each other in confusion. Make it work? What does that mean? Almost as if the voice could hear their internal concerns, it responded to them.
"Ah, I suppose you are confused? Don't fret! That's only natural!" The voice reassured them.
"But the way it works is simple! First, let me do something..." After the voice stopped talking, the group of four could've sworn they heard a muffled *snap* from over the intercom. Next thing they knew...
Strange shadowy figures appeared in the audience.
The group looked in shock as these figures popped up in all of the seats from out of nowhere. They... looked like people. But they weren't people. None of the could put it into words.
"This is... strange." Bessie muttered. Unfamiliar figures filled her vision. And if Bessie was saying something was strange, that meant it was strange. But almost like a gear turned in just the right way in her head, Bessie had a realization.
"Hey, I understand! As they our audience? The Ultimate Pop Star has entertained and dazzled plenty of fans from across the world, so I recognize the feel!"
"Wow! Ms. Blossom! I'm so proud of you! Oh, it truly wasn't a mistake bringing you here!" The voice gleefully said.
"Indeed! You four are now comedians! You must entertain our wonderful audience! You may work out your bits and jokes however you like. But the audience must laugh for the Goddess Brand Laugh-o-Meter(tm) to fill up! And once that does, you can leave!"
Joji got a fire in his eyes at the prospect of getting out of this place already.
"Seriously? That's all we gotta do? Hell yeah, let's do this!" Joji was excited to flex his funny bone, but Lake and Raiha weren't completely convinced.
"Like... this is so sus. I don't trust this RN." Raiha crossed her arms.
"I..." Lake seemed a bit on the fence. They didn't know what exactly to think.
"I'm... not sure. Ms. Mysterious Voice? Are there any other details we need to know?" Lake asked.
There were a few seconds of silence before the voice spoke up again.
"That... is a very good question Mx. Beaumont! There are a few more details!" The voice exclaimed.
"Ok, what are they? Spit it out already!" Joji implored.
"You must calm down Mr. Kaneshiro! I will explain them now!" The voice started explaining, like they just said.
"First, you only have ten minutes to accomplish your task! Second, and the most important part... is what happens if you fail! If you do fail in your mission..."
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"You die. Exciting isn't it?!" The voice dripped with a mortifying glee.
Fear washed over the faces of the four Ultimates at the revelation, but the voice didn't care.
"Also, your timer has already started! You now have nine minutes to bring the comedy! Good luck my stars! I hope you succeed!" The voice said, signing off.
They didn't know what to do. Did the voice really say... die? No way. It wasn't serious was it? But the one person who didn't let the stop them was Joji.
He just went up to the microphone that appeared on the stage, and tapped it a few times to test it.
"Joji! Please be careful with that! We don't know what to expect!" Lake held their hands together as they begged Joji to be careful.
"Cmon Joji! Cook up a joke!" Raiha excitedly cheered.
"Hell yeah! I'm not gonna listen to this "we die" nonsense! If it wants a joke, they'll get a joke!" Joji yelled.
Joji cleared his throat.
"So, a polar bear walks into a bar and says to the bartender "I'll have a rum…………………. and coke." Then the bartender asks, "What's with the big pause?" Then the bear shrugs. "I was born with them."" Joji got a proud smile on his face at the joke.
Raiha facepalmed, Bessie didn't get it, and Lake just... didn't know what to think. And in case it wasn't obvious, the audience didn't like it either. The silence was deafening.
"W-what the hell? That was a good one!" Joji tried to defend to his joke.
"I... agree! I loved your joke Joji! It was very... funny? Yeah! Funny!" Lake tried to comfort the poor carpenter.
Raiha just facepalmed harder. To her, he definitely didn't cook up a cook joke. She then moved to the microphone.
"Move." She asked Joji. Actually, it was less of an ask, and more of an order. Joji actually stumbled a bit out of the way, though not on purpose.
"What? You think you can top my joke Raiha? No way!" Joji was still very proud of it.
"Ummm? Obvi? You're the real joke here Joji. Just lemme do it." Raiha said with a slightly snarky tone. Joji just walked away and huffed.
Raiha took a quick second to prepare herself before attempting her idea on how to woo the audience.
"OMG. Hai hai Riactioneers! So you won't BELIEVE what happened to me! So-" Raiha then went on a tangent, like she was talking to her followers.
The other three did not understand why she'd opt for a strategy like this.
"Is this Raiha trying to be funny? I don't think I get it. Am I missing something?" Bessie asked the other two.
"Heh. I knew she had nothing on me!" Joji proudly said.
"I think it's good! I believe in Raiha!" Lake said with an optimistic tone, trying to stay positive about the questionable stratagem.
Bessie thought to herself. She didn't really understand humor that well. Her mind drifted away from Raiha and towards the Goddess-Brand Laugh-o-Meter(tm). Frankly, it was very pretty. It had a very nice gold sheen. Befitting the name, there was a meter in the center of it, presumably meant to measure the laughter of the audience. But something... seemed strange about this to Bessie. It seemed rather unstable. For how alluring it looked, it looked a bit shoddily built.
"I wonder if I can do this~...?" Bessie whispered.
Bessie proceeded to push the Goddess-Brand Laugh-o-Meter over onto its side, causing to subsequently break into countless pieces.
"Wow! I knew it~!" Bessie seemed to be proud of herself for breaking the machine, but it sure didn't sound like it.
The other three turned over in the direction of the sound of the Goddess-Brand Laugh-o-Meter(tm) breaking in shock.
"Woah! Are you sure that's okay Bessie?" Lake asked, unsure about it.
"The hell? Doesn't that ruin our way of escaping?!" Joji was concerned.
Raiha turned around last. She was clearly a bit too immersed in whatever she was saying to the audience.
"Holy...! Go off Bessie B.!" Raiha laughed.
Bessie just stood there, perhaps not too impressed with her deed.
"It looked pretty unstable. It was like it was calling out to me...!" Bessie said, before quickly turning to look out into the audience, like she sensed something.
And she did indeed sense something. First, the shadowy figures that made up the audience had disappeared. Next, a door opened up from out of nowhere in the back of the audience, and let in a blinding light into the bar.
"Oh wow! It did more than more than I thought~!" Her tone didn't convey it, but Bessie actually seemed happy.
But while Bessie was seemingly happy, Joji was both relieved and excited.
"That an exit? Hell yeah! Let's get outta here!" Joji jumped off the stage and ran straight out the door, leaving the other three behind.
"Please wait up Joji! We should all leave together to be safe!" Lake ran after him.
"Huh. I guess we should've let Bessie cook from the beginning!" Raiha followed after Joji and Lake.
"I should've been the one to save us..." Raiha muttered, with no one hearing her.
After the first three had left, Bessie had also jumped off the stage, and looked around once more.
"This... is weird and mysterious place! I wonder..." Bessie thought deeply to herself. The gears in her head with turning. She was getting an idea. What is that idea? You'll have to wait and see!
"Oh! I shouldn't leave my little helpers waiting~!" Bessie hopped towards the door, before turning around one more time.
"Bessie B. ... is out!" Bessie struck a quick pose before joined her companions in leaving the bar.
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Here we are! Part 2 of the prologue! I really hope you enjoyed! And I hope you enjoyed our next four characters!
For their creators, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about how I wrote them, please let me know! I want to do all of these great characters justice!
Besides for that, the deadline is still July 4th. I'll do some more early acceptances in late June, so look out for that!
Well... I think that's it! Once again, I hope you enjoyed! Don't get crushed under the weight of fame darlings!
And have a good day/evening/night!
Our Glamorous Stars
1. Kei Aikawa - Ultimate Lawyer [theotakureader101]
2. Kuroko Kurobara - Ultimate Hypnotist [MrUtenaHolic]
3. Yoshino Akiyama - Ultimate Horror Novelist [DeathlyJazzHands55]
4. Genjiro Mashimoto - Ultimate Wrestler [Grandma Sue]
5. Joji Kaneshiro - Ultimate Carpenter [SureJahn]
6. Lake Beaumont - Ultimate Ballet Dancer [KadachiNova]
7. Bessie B. Blossom - Ultimate Pop Star [CandleFire45]
8. Raiha Miyahara - Ultimate Trendsetter [Prince PokePersona]
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