GrimGenesis's Story Idea, Draft, and One-Shot Collection and Storage

by GrimGenesis

A collection of unedited Story Rough Drafts I have from time to time and potential One-Shots I might do in the future. Anything that isn't a full story I'm working on at the moment or side stories/what if scenarios for my stories will be stored here for feedback and so that whenever I get stuck with my main stories, I still have something to post.

1. Shattered Reality (Fangan Draft)

A/N: So just to briefly explain what this is, this story will be where I put any rough drafts, story ideas, or one-shots. It will be a collection of ideas I post without any editing or revision just to post something when my main story posts slow down but I still have something random I've written I want to show. Chapters may or may not be removed if they ever become part of a separate story.

I have plenty of rough drafts from when I started writing to whatever I write when I'm bored. Plenty of these are things I might eventually want to expand on, so any comments, suggestions, or criticisms are welcome.

This first chapter is the unfinished prologue for my original Danganronpa story (which one day might become a fangame I hope? I can dream.), 'Shattered Reality'. If you are a fan of my Danganronpa Story Entertaining a Small Thought, you might recognize many of these characters, or at the very least one of them.

This is a pretty old draft I haven't touch in a while. Google Docs tell me the last time I worked on this was back in 2022, which feels like a lifetime ago when it comes to my writing. I've wanted to go back and actually finished Shattered Reality one day. Maybe if people like what they see here, I'll get on that after EaST is finished.

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Shattered Reality

Prologue

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Darkness. That's all I could see. Darkness. My body twitched as it tried to understand what was happening. All it knew was I couldn't see anything, or smell anything, or hear anything. My body could tell that wherever I was, that it was cold, like I was pressed up against metal. I tried to move my arms in an attempt to push off the metal and regain some semblance of warmth, yet despite my struggles, my body refused to cooperate.

I stayed still, laying there on the metal. I could now feel myself breathing, though it felt like there was something close to my face, as my breaths were hitting something and being sent back to my face. Was I… in something right now? As I thought this, I heard something, some sort of gas I think, being poured into where I was. As I breathed it in, I started to feel even more sleepy and dizzy.

Before I could return to the sweet embrace of sleep, I noticed an outline of a person finally entering my view. My eyes weren't fully working though, as the only thing I could see was the person's mouth. It was twisted into a cruel smile, as if reveling in whatever inhumane and cruel thoughts fueling whatever horrific fantasy it imagined.

Just as I was thinking that I would never forget this terrifying smile: I forgot it all.

It felt as if I was floating within a motionless void. Nothingness surrounded me, though somehow, this nothingness was comforting in a way. It was the only thing that I knew was true, after all.

I couldn't seem to remember anything. It was as if everything that I was had been torn from me, leaving only my body as an empty husk. I suppose that I just have to accept that this is what I am now. That was the only thought in my head at the time. But just as I started to embrace the emptiness, It all came rushing back into me. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. I never believed people when they say that they saw their life flash before their eyes, but that's the only way I could describe this.

Every memory, every thought, every emotion, everything that made me me, it all came pouring into me at once. I felt immense pain as I tried to understand all the information pouring into me within a single second, and after that second was over, the pain was gone, forgotten about. The void no longer existed. There is no longer that comforting nothingness. And at once, I understood everything.

"My name is Asuka Wada, and everything that is going to happen is a result of what I wanted."

---

"Urg…"

I groaned as I shifted my body around. This position is incredibly uncomfortable. I groaned once again as I continued to lay my head on whatever hard and cold surface that I was resting on.

What was happening again? I feel like I should know. Urg… all I know is that I'm still tired. As I continued to complain to myself as I attempted to fall back asleep, I noticed something unusual: a steady rocking of sorts. I could feel myself slowly and steadily move up and down. Huh. That's unusual indeed.

…

"WAIT A MINUTE!" I shoot upwards in a swift motion as I yell out. "WOAH-!"

It's only then that I noticed that my sudden quick movements have caused the stool that I was sitting on to start tipping over.

"NONONONONONO-!" I call out, desperately trying to convince the stool to stop falling, but my negotiation fails as I am sending flying onto the floor with a loud THUD.

"Ow…" I groan as I slowly pick myself back up.

I gaze at the stool, which was now tipped over on it's side, with a deadpan expression. Why does this always happen? I sigh, knowing that it was still all my fault. I guess I'm still a clutz.

Now back on my feet, I dust myself off, noticing I'm wearing my usual outfit. It was my favorite dress. It was a light grayish color with aquamarine laces and frills. The skirt went down to my knees and was full of frills, while the top had long sleeves that went to my hands and were elegant, like the rest of the outfit.

To top it off, I had matching black heels and decorative black feathers in my shoulder-length blonde hair. The latter of the items matched well with my emerald green eyes. And to finish the look, I also had black stockings and a green ribbon on my right wrist.

Looking good, as always.

While patting myself clean, I notice that the things I usually keep on my person, such as my phone, are gone. Super weird. I close my eyes while putting my hand on my chin, trying to piece everything together. I don't know where I am or why I'm here.

The last thing I remember was traveling back home after my tour around the country. I remember talking to my manager and then calling-.

"Hmm?"

I began calling… who? That's when I realized something scary. There were multiple holes in my memories. I still knew who I was and what I've done throughout life, but there were so many blanks in the memories. It feels like I've forgotten something really important.

"Alright, Asuka. Get it together." I say, trying to quell the small bits of fear that were invading my mind. "Let's at least try to understand what's going on before you go full-on panic mode." I took a deep breath, and then I started to look around the area.

Even at just a glance, I could tell this appeared to be a recreational or fun room of some sort. In the middle of the room was the counter I was lying on, on it were an assortment of different board games and card games.

The counter was connected to a single pillar to the right of it. The pillar itself also had a gaping hole in the middle of it that was used to hold objects in it like a shelf. On the other side of that pillar was a table with a piano keyboard on it. Behind me was a table that had computer monitors lining it, with each monitor pressed up on the wall. In the draws under each monitor were gaming consoles of some kind.

To the upper right of the counter was a giant window that was bigger than even a door. In front of the huge window is a foosball and a small shelf of books. They appear to be all kinds of different types, from classics to comics. Moving left of the window was another counter. This one had many electrical appliances and cords under it. In the drawer it had was an assortment of CDs, DVDs, and game disks, all organized and put in cases that were labeled.

To the left of that was a table covered in chips, snacks, and coda. There was also a jukebox next to that table. It was about as big as me, but it appeared to be powered off. In fact, all the electronics had no power at all. Above the jukebox to the left was a flat screen tv. It also had no power, of course. In between the wall of monitors and the tv was a red, plastic couch, a matching footrest, and four red beanbag chairs.

To the right of the foosball table were four doors with a red EXIT sign above. I figured they were emergency exits, so I avoided opening them. Finally, in between the emergency doors and the monitors, there was a glass door. Next to the door was a sign that had the words "Luna Club Room'' on it, with what appeared to be an image of a crescent moon next to the words.

I took in all the information. So right now I am in the "Luna Club Room", but I'm still unsure of where I am specifically. It also doesn't help that the name "Luna Club" doesn't bring about any kind of recollection.

That's when I remembered the rocking that I felt earlier. Actually, I'm still rocking up and down for some reason. It's then that I hear what sounds like something crashing against an object outside. It almost sounds like-.

"Hang on! That's-!"

I rush over to the giant window and stare outside in bewilderment. I was right. That crashing sound, it was waves. All I could do was stare out at the endless blue, unsure how to even process it all. I'm on some sort of ship that appears to be in the middle of an ocean.

"What. The. Heck?!" I can't contain my scream as I back away from the window.

What is going on? Where am I? Why am I here? Was this supposed to happen? Why can't I remember? Within that single second, panic spread throughout my entire body. I couldn't help but start thinking of the worst possible outcome. Was I kidnapped? Am I a hostage for something? Am I in danger? Why am I here?!

It was only when I heard footsteps that I snapped out of my panic. Who was that? Did they bring me here? Are they dangerous? I stared at the door, completely still, as the footsteps got louder. The person outside seemed to be getting closer, and eventually, the entrance door started to open.

My eyes widen in surprise. It was a boy that seemed to be the same age as me.

He was dressed in what appeared to be very casual clothes. He wore a large, thick, purple hoodie that had fur on the ends of the hood and sleeves, and around his neck were black and white wireless headphones. He had his hoodie partially zipped, showing a white undershirt. He also wore black pants and white shoes that had black soles, along with a silver ring that had a blue gem on his right hand.

But out of all his features, the most discerning were his sharp, blood red eyes and short hair that was white like a fluffy cloud, and just as messy as one too. I notice that a small part of the boy's hair looks like a sharp antenna, and I nearly chuckled to myself despite my fear, since I also had an ahoge, though mine is more curved and longer, while the boy's is sharp and a bit shorter.

I stay still and silent, waiting for the boy to make a move. The boy had immediately seen me when he entered, and he had frozen in place. His gaze was focused, like he was seeing entirely through me.

I gulp nervously. I would be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated by him for a while. But the nervousness quickly disappeared and the boy's eyes relaxed, now giving off a carefree, almost tired feeling. The boy quickly smiles and raises his hands in a relaxed but also swift motion as he signals me to relax.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out. I wasn't expecting a person to be in here, so you caught me off guard as well." The boy gives me a lighthearted laugh and a small smile as he rubs the back of his head.

I immediately relaxed, though I'm not sure why. Something about this boy seemed so… nice. Like his presence was just calming. I felt like I finally stopped freaking out about the suddenness of my situation and could now think clearly about it.

I usually tend to panic when a bunch of bad stuff happens at once, but now that I was calm I could think about this in a more positive way. Hopefully anyway.

"So that makes 16 people in total, huh." He softly speaks as he puts his hand on his chin and stares off into the distance. He quickly turns back to me though with an apologetic look though. "Sorry again. I was just thinking about stuff. We haven't even gone through introductions yet, right?"

"O-oh! Right! I completely forgot about that!" I say. I cleared my throat and looked at the boy with a smile, my nervousness now faded away completely. "Let me go first then. I want to get a good, proper introduction!" I say, a little excitement coating my words. The boy nods and I continue. "My name is Asuka Wada, The Ultimate Singer. It's a pleasure to meet you!" The boy's eyes widened a small bit.

"An Ultimate?" The boy pondered. "That's a surprise. If I recall, people who have the title of 'Ultimate' are incredibly talented in a given area, and because of their immense talent, the governments of the world created the Ultimate Initiative to help further develop those talents, right?"

"Yep. That's essentially it. The Ultimate Initiative gives the title of Ultimate to talented young people like high schoolers and young adults and then gives them funds to help develop those talents, along with other benefits like scholarships and better positions in work or life in general."

"I see. And you're an Ultimate? A singer, right. That's pretty amazing. There are a lot of singers out there, so it's amazing that you have the title of Ultimate Singer. You must be more than incredible at it!"

"O-oh I don't know about that." I chuckled a bit while hiding the slight tint of red that started to warm up my cheeks. "I mean, I guess I have done a lot of world tours, and sold a lot of albums. I've done plenty of concerts and they are always completely packed with people, but I never really thought it was that big of a deal at first. I was too busy having fun, I guess. Ha ha ha…"

"Wow. To already have performed countless concerts and tours being just a high school singer, that really is incredible!"

"H-heh. Thanks." I said as I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. I then turn to the boy with a look of curiosity. "What about you? You haven't introduced yourself yet."

The boy looked like he was about to speak, but he stopped and began to think, a bit of nervousness seeping out of his expression.

"Well, this is certainly strange." He said with a chuckle.

"What is it?"

"I didn't think about it when I first woke up, but considering that the few other people that I met are Ultimates as well, it's definitely strange."

"Wait, there are others here?" I asked. "Oh yeah! You said there are 16 of us here, right? And they're Ultimates too?"

"Yep."

"That is strange that there are a bunch of Ultimates in that same place, but what does that have to do with you?"

"Well, I haven't really thought about it much, but with all these Ultimates around, I think that I must be an Ultimate as well."

"You think?" I questioned as I tilted my head.

"Yeah. It's strange, but the more I think of it, the more I feel like I am some kind of Ultimate, but for some reason, I just can't bring myself to remember what my talent is." The boy then chuckles again while sheepishly twirling a small portion of his hair. "So not only can I not remember how I got here on this ship, but I can't remember my talent. Pretty weird, right?"

"That is strange. It sucks you can't remember your talent if you are an Ultimate." I then stopped and thought more about what he said. "Wait, you also can't remember how we got here?"

"Nope. The others I met also couldn't remember."

"So we each have amnesia?" I asked. "That seems very unlikely due to the circumstances."

"That's what my thought process was as well. It's too strange and, honestly, too suspicious that we all just suddenly have such similar gaps in our memories. Oh-!" The boy then stopped himself and face-palmed as he turned back to me apologetic. "I just remembered I never gave you a proper introduction. I just started to ramble about my memory problems. Sorry 'bout that." He then gave a small heart-felt smile and offered his hand out.

"My name's Rin Wakuri. I don't know what my Ultimate talent is, but I hope we can still get along regardless." I took Rin's hand with a smile of my own.

"Likewise! I know I can be in pain sometimes, so I hope we can still get along." Afterwards I looked at Rin to ask him about what he said early. "So you said there are 16 of us here?"

"Yes. From what the others have told me and from counting the people they've met and who I've met, There are, as far as I know, about 16 people here on this ship. More specifically, 16 Ultimate Students, if we count me as an Ultimate." Rin said jokingly. "But it's strange. Only 16 people, highschoolers at that, are all alone on a cruise ship. I wonder where the adults are."

My ears immediately perked up.

"Did you say cruise ship?" I asked, the excitement being obvious in my voice.

"Yeah. There's a map outside near the stairwell. The ship is called the Constellation and it's a huge cruise ship." Rin stated, not really noticing my growing joy. "I guess the ship's name is why this room is called the 'Luna Club Room'. There is a space theme on this ship to an extent I suppose." It's then that Rin sees my face that's brimming with energy and he raises an eyebrow. "Is something the matter?"

"Oh, you know, just trying to contain myself after hearing that I'M ON A CRUISE SHIP!" I shouted, unable to keep it in anymore.

This is definitely what I needed to hear: something good! I know that this is a weird situation, but I couldn't help but be a little giddy about being on a cruise ship. (Ok, maybe "a little" is an understatement.) This outburst only made Rin more confused.

"And you're happy because? "

"I've never been on a cruise ship before! This is exciting! I wonder what's on the ship!"

"Did you forget that we were probably kidnapped and brought here?" Rin looked at me with a look that said "are you serious" as he looked at me. I chuckled at his disbelief at my excitement.

"Well… that's true. I mean, it would be a lie if I said I wasn't scared of this whole ordeal, in fact, before you came in here, I was panicking pretty badly," I admitted shyly. "But I won't let that stop me from trying to be optimistic. Now that I'm calm again, I can think more rationally. For example: if we were in danger, then why haven't our captors done anything to us yet? I think if we were in danger, then we wouldn't be able to walk around and explore the ship, or even talk to each other right?"

"Yes, that makes sense. I immediately had the same thought when I woke up." Rin said. "It's just strange that you're calm since most people would probably panic a lot, though I guess we aren't normal people by any standard."

"I suppose. I guess my optimism tends to let me at least ignore terrible situations like this." I laughed. "Anyway, I suppose I should start looking around the ship as well. Would be good to go and meet the other people that are trapped here and investigate areas to find out why we're here, right?"

"Yeah. Speaking of which, would you mind if I joined you while you explore? I haven't been to most of the ship, so it would help us both if we investigated together."

"That sounds like a great idea! I would love to have some company while I walk around."

"Alight. Cool. Before we leave though, you already investigated this area right? Did you find anything of note?"

"No, not really. This is just an average game room. There are many games and other stuff like that, but nothing out of place or a clue for how we got here."

"I see." Rin sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Though he only kept this expression of disappointment for a second as he quickly went back to his relaxed state. "Well then, I suppose we should head out." He then walked up to the glass entrance door of the club and opened it as he motioned for me. "Ladies first."

I giggled at his gesture and walked out of the club, Rin following close behind me. When I walked out of the club, something immediately came into view that concerned me. In the middle of the floor was a giant hole. Around the hole was a glass railing to prevent people from falling. I walked up to the rail and looked down. It appeared we were pretty high up, about 2 floors above what looked like the ground floor. Well, I say ground floor as if we are in a building, but that's not really the case.

To my left was another room and what appeared to be the stairwells out in the open. To my right were what were supposed to be entrance ways to other parts of this floor, but they seemed to be blocked off by metal gates.

"Over here. I'll show you the map so you can get a better grasp of where we are."

I heard Rin and turned to see him outside the stairwell area, motioning me to follow him. I did as he wanted and entered the large, open area stairwell. There were two pairs of stairs on either side of the area, each leading up a floor or down a floor. On the wall near the left stairs, was a map of the ship area.

"Wow! If this map is true, then there are 10 floors on this ship!" I exclaimed as I marveled at the size of the ship.

"It does appear to be that way, though those are just the floors that are shown on the map. I'm sure that a map of the ship for passengers wouldn't include areas that only staff members are allowed to go to, and from what I've seen, many of the areas and other floors are locked for some reason. They even have the deck names and how the ship floors are numbered, but for now, we should refer to each as floors 1-10 instead, to make things less confusing."

"Locked? Like how we can't go any further on this floor because of the metal gates."

"Exactly. Those metal gates appear to be blocking the lower floors and many other locations on the remaining floors." Rin stated as he tried to hide his annoyance at this fact. "So far, it seems that we only have limited access to floors 4, 5, 6, and 7."

"That is a bummer. We can't get to more than half of the floors and even then, we only have small areas of each floor from what you're saying."

"Yes. It's truly peculiar. Why are so many areas locked?"

"Hmm." I thought for a second before giving a weak sigh. "Well, there isn't anything we can do about that. So all we have to do is investigate the areas we can, and maybe we'll find something to unlock the other areas."

Rin seemed to snap out of his own train of thought as I spoke. He then forced a laugh as he nodded.

"Yeah. We gotta do what we can. So since I'm the one who's following you on your investigation, where do you want to check out first?" He smiled as he asked me the question. I thought about it for a bit before answering.

"I think it would be best if we start on the lower floors and move upward. So we should head to… the 4th floor. Or I guess as the map calls it, the 7th deck."

"Alrighty then. Let's go." Rin then started to walk down the stairs.

I quickly caught up to him and we walked down together. It was silent until Rin broke the tension.

"So, how come you're so upbeat about everything? I know you said you tend to be an optimist, but how can you bring yourself to trust a random stranger like me so quickly? Your positivity is honestly kind of worrying."

"Really? Well, that's just how I am. If I start thinking about the bad stuff in my life, then I would probably be freaking out over every small problem and wouldn't be able to do anything. I guess I just don't see the point in constantly worrying about stuff. If I was constantly worrying, I wouldn't be able to see anything that's good. I wouldn't be able to move forward."

"Heh. That's actually a nice view on life. And what about trusting me so easily? Is it for the same reasons?"

I turned to look at Rin as he spoke. He was looking back at me with a slight bit of confusion in his gaze.

"I guess that, if it were me in that situation, I would be pretty on edge. I don't think I would be able to trust someone that quickly." He explained, causing me to tilt my head in confusion at his words.

"What are you talking about? Weren't you the one who wanted to join a person you just met on their investigation." I asked. Rin laughed back at me after my response.

"Ha ha ha. Okay, you got me there. Perhaps I'm more trusting than I give myself credit for."

"Well, back to your question, I was suspicious, but the way you spoke was reassuring for some reason. The way you acted and talked felt like you were a trustworthy person." I explained.

Rin seemed like he understood and nodded as he looked back ahead to where we were heading. We were already down on the 4th deck before we knew it. We left the stairwell and examined the area. From just a glance, the 4th deck seemed to be just a lobby with a bar area.

There were many chairs and colorful couches around the area, and in the center was the bar. It was pretty big, taking up most of the center space of the lobby, and a stage behind the bar that was on a slightly raised platform. The bar itself was impressive, having various glasses and bottles filled with unknown colorful liquids.

I assumed at first that they must be alcoholic drinks, but just before I could check out the rest of the floor:

"Hmm…" Rin picked up a bottle of the stuff, unscrewed the lid, and began to take a sip from it.

"EEEEHHHH!?" I screamed and ran to stop him. I grabbed the bottle and moved it away from him, still panicking all the while. "Why would you do that?! These bottles could have alcohol in them, or even worse, poison! You can't just drink random liquids like that! You could be killed!"

"Oh you don't have to worry about that. This is just soda."

"...Huh?" I stared at him for a bit while his statement sunk in.

"Yeah. Just from the taste I can tell there is no alcohol or dangerous chemicals from what I can tell. The smell also matches this description. Honestly, I'm pretty happy. This one I grabbed is creme soda, and it's quite nice." Rin continued to explain the details before taking another sip, but at that point my mind had finally comprehended what had happened.

"How can you be so casual about this?!" I yelled at Rin, startling him enough to make him almost spit out the soda he just drank. "Look, I know I said I don't like to worry about small stuff, but this is kind of important! Just because you didn't taste alcohol or chemicals doesn't mean they aren't there! Also, how would you know what alcohol and dangerous chemicals taste like?!"

Rin put his hand on his chin and thought for a bit before replying.

"Well," He begins. "I suppose you have a point, but I do believe that I would have known if the liquids were questionable. I remember hearing that alcohol and things like poison have distinctive tastes, so I would have just spat it out if I tasted something funny. Though you probably are right about how there might be some stuff like that which has no taste. Fortunately, I tend to have good intuition, so I believe I'll be fine. Besides, they're just soft drinks like soda after all."

"Speaking of which, I wonder why they would have soda here at the bar instead of alcohol. I mean, this is a cruise ship, so there should be an assortment of alcoholic drinks and such for adults, but it's just soda here. It's like this bar was made for people who couldn't or didn't want to drink alcohol."

Rin began to think out loud as he promptly changed the subject from his questionable action. I was completely dumbfounded, so much so I couldn't speak.

It was then I was brought back to reality by the sound of someone laughing. I turned to the source of the sound and saw someone new, a boy, starting to approach us. The boy was in a red and black tracksuit.

He had tanned skin and light brown eyes, and he was wearing a black tank top and red running pants that were a part of the tracksuit. Tied around his waist was the red jacket that was also a part of his tracksuit. He also wore black running shoes that had red laces and red sweat bands on his wrists. Strangely though, he was wearing a black beanie, despite it being a little humid; then again, Rin was wearing a winter jacket, so I guess it's normal.

When I saw the boy, he raised his hand enthusiastically and waved at us.

"Hey! Rin! Did you find someone?" The boy asked as he walked up to us. It seemed like Rin had already met the boy.

"Yeah. I just found her. We're exploring the ship together." Rin responded.

"Makes sense. Make sure the both of you meet up with the others here. It's important that we all get to know each other so we can properly work together in this situation!" The newcomer said when he finally reached us, giving us a thumbs up in the process. He then turned to me with a smile. "Since we're finally meeting, let me introduce myself. My name is Kenta Katsura, Ultimate Athlete at your service."

"It's nice to meet you Kenta! I'm Asuka Wada, the Ultimate Singer. It's a pleasure." I said cheerfully. "By the way, you said you were the Ultimate Athlete, right? Doesn't that mean you're the highschooler that I've heard is being considered to be an Olympic Athlete?"

"Yep! That's me! It's honestly a dream come true that I'm being considered for the Olympics, though that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement!" Kenta passionately said. "I've got to keep improving so that I can really call myself something as great as 'Ultimate'. I'm sure it's the same with anyone else with things they are passionate about."

"I agree! I'm the same way with singing, afterall!" I nodded fervently.

I've heard of Kenta before this meeting. As I said, he's talented enough to be considered an Olympic Athlete despite being a highschooler, but that's not all that he's done. From what I remember, Kenta actually has already won multiple adult level athletic competitions and is a pro in every sport, including baseball, basketball, tenis, golf, bowling, swimming, and anything else that can be considered an athletic sport.

Above anything else though, Kenta is most famous for his part in track and field events, setting new world levels that seem impossible to reach, even for professional athletes. That's how he was noticed by the Ultimate Initiative and became the Ultimate Athlete. Kenta smiled at my response to his enthusiasm and raised a closed fist to the air triumphantly.

"Hell yeah! That's the spirit!" Kenta then lowered his arm and put it on his hip. "It's nice to know that the people here are reliable. If we work together, I'm sure we can figure out what's going on!"

"You seem confident." Rin mentioned. "Did you find something or come up with a plan of action?"

"Nah. Don't think I'm smart enough to come up with something as fancy as a plan," Kenta said, pushing his beanie upwards a bit, revealing his black hair. "I did find something, but it's not something that will help."

"And what might that be?" I asked.

Kenta then pointed behind him to a corridor that appeared to be filled with endless doors. Kenta then motioned us to follow him as he walked towards the corridor. When we entered, I was able to see that the corridor was cut off part way by another metal gate. The only part of the corridor that was accessible was a section that had 16 rooms, each room adorned with what appeared to be nameplates and 8-bit game sprites of what looked like people. 3 of those sprites looked like me, Rin, and Kenta, as well as those nameplates having our names.

"What is this? Are these supposed to be rooms or something?" I asked.

"Yeah. I already looked in my room. These are apparently our own personal ship cabins." Kenta said while rubbing his head. "Whoever brought us here really wants us to feel as if we are on a cruise, I guess."

"But is there a reason they went to so much effort for something like this, especially if we ourselves are supposed to be captives?" Rin asked. "To me, it seems as if they are trying to give us comforts for some reason. It's a little off-putting to be honest."

"Definitely." I nodded.

I couldn't help but wonder what was the real reason we were here, and what was planned for us. For some reason, I began to shutter a bit at the thought. I have a bad feeling about this…

"Well, either way, it's nice to know we actually have some accommodations here. I'm just glad we have private rooms, not to mention we were even given rooms." Kenta said with a smile.

"I suppose, but we still need to check out the ship to see if we can possibly escape. After All, I would prefer to get out of here and get back to normality than stay here longer than is necessary." Rin stated before stopping for a moment to think. "Actually, I don't really know what 'normality' would be like for me. I can barely remember anything."

I couldn't help but feel sad at his words. He probably has it the worst than anyone else here, since he can't remember his talent and, from what he just said, maybe other parts of his life. If it were me, I would be losing control in a non-stop panic. I wonder how he can stay so calm despite everything.

"Oh come on. Don't think like that!" Kenta said as he slapped Rin's back. "I'm sure everything will be fine! And don't worry about your memory problems. As long as we're friends, I'll be there for you no matter what. That's what friends are for!"

"You're totally getting ahead of yourself. Calling us friends. Aren't you forgetting we only met a few minutes ago?" Rin asked while hiding a smile.

"Of course! Strangers are just friends you haven't met after all. So now that we've met, we're totally friends! So don't hesitate to ask me anything if you need something."

Both me and Rin nodded at Kenta's words. I'm glad I met Kenta. He's definitely charismatic and is easy to approach, and he has a way to get rid of any tension or insecurities by just being himself. Just by talking to him, I was able to forget any worries I had. Rin and I said our goodbyes to Kenta and we headed back to the stairs.

"Alright, so that's all of the 4th deck. It seems like the only parts of this deck we can go to are the main lobby with the bar and our rooms." I said, summarizing what we've seen.

"Correct. We should head to the 5th deck and check out what we can do there." Rin said. I nodded and we headed up the stairs.

Once there, we exited the stairwell and looked around. There was the same hole in the middle of this area like it was on the 6th deck, where I woke up, so we could see the 4th deck lobby where we just were. Around the hole was the same glass railing as the 6th deck as well. It'll probably be the same on the 7th deck as well.

Looking around, I noticed that this floor had multiple doors, each with different unique designs. Before I could go look at them closely, Rin spoke up about a door past the stairwells. I turned around and saw what he was talking about. Past the stairwell area was what appeared to be a door, one that was specially designed, like the others.

The door had what appeared to be multiple musical notes painted on it, as well as a microphone and speakers, all in front of a teal background. Above the door was a sign that had neon letters on it that spelled out "Ultimate". Strangely enough, with the design and look of the door itself, I found myself drawn to it, like it was calling for me. I reached for the door's handle and tried to open it, but…

CLANK CLANK

"Huh?" I looked at the door in mild confusion.

It was locked. But why? The club room I was in wasn't locked, so why would this room be? I turned to Rin, seeing that he was also surprised by the room being unavailable. I then saw his gaze lower. I followed his gaze and saw a sheet of paper that was tapped to the door. Rin took the paper and read it out loud.

"To whom it may concern, this is an Ultimate Research Lab, a room made specifically for a Specific Ultimate to help them improve their talent, all tailored to their specific tastes. There are many other rooms like this one for each Ultimate that is here on the Constellation. Unfortunately, the rooms are still under renovations. So sorry. I must ask that you don't get your feathers ruffled due this unforeseen delay. Please look forward to the finished product! ;)"

…

"What did I just read?" Rin asked as he stuck the note back onto the door.

The way the note was written was very formal in the words that were used, as well as being in perfect cursive handwriting. It was so perfect that it seemed fake.

"Whatever. At least we know that apparently this 'Ultimate Lab' is locked for the time being."

"Ultimate Lab, huh." I said as I looked at the door. "If there is a room for each Ultimate here, then do you think this is my lab?"

"Probably, unless there just so happens to be another musically talented person here." Rin jokingly said. "Which I suppose is possible, but I highly doubt anyone like that is here when you are already here."

"I suppose. Anyway, let's try and see if those other doors were like that."

We headed back out and examined the other rooms. The first gave off an academic feel when I looked at it, due to the pencils, papers, and other academic tools that were painted on the green door. There were also puzzles, books, and what looked like a rubix cube painted on the door as well.

The second door had a more abstract design, having many different shapes intermingling together on the violet door. It certainly had a beautiful charm to it, though I can't imagine what kind of Ultimate would own the room.

The third and final lab that was on this floor didn't really have a door. It, instead, had a gate that was locked. Just from looking through the gate, I could already tell the room was some kind of library, as there was an infinite number of books on shelves in the room. Next to the gate were two statues. The one on the right was of a lion, while the one on the left was a statue of a globe. The gate was also in between two stone pillars that seemed to be made of what might be marble. It almost looked like something you would see in some famous ruins or some ancient architecture.

Unfortunately, none of the rooms were available, as the doors were locked and the same note that was on mine was also on these as well.

"Well that's disappointing." I sighed. "So there's nothing on the 4th floor at the moment."

"It would appear so." Rin agreed. "I wonder why they would even give us rooms like this. The more we explore, the more things we find that are for our own convenience."

"Perhaps that is their goal. To accommodate our needs so that we fall into a false sense of safety and trust." a new voice stated. We turned around to see someone walking towards us from the stairwell.

The voice belonged to a boy with light skin and dark black eyes. He was wearing what appeared to be a military-like uniform, a black one with orange outlines and a cap with matching colors that was covering what appeared to be brown fuzzy or curly hair. The uniform also had accessories like a pocket watch in his shirt pocket and chains, and he was wearing black leather boots and black gloves. His right and left arm sleeves had many flags of different nations. He had a very creepy and commanding vibe coming off him because of that getup.

"Ah, forgive me. I seem to have startled you. I was just returning to this floor to re-examine those labs, and I saw you two here, so I figured I would inquire you about what you have found. They appear to still be locked, yes?"

"Y-yeah that's right." I say, trying to push down my nervousness around the boy. "We checked all the labs here, but none of them would open."

"I see. That is truly disappointing. I hope that they open soon, since I, for one, am highly curious as to what my lab here holds."

"Wait, one of these labs is yours?" Rin asked.

"I assume so. Despite these labs not having the owner's names on them, just by looking at the door I could tell the lab made for me was here."

"Which is it then?" I asked. The boy then pointed to the lab that didn't have a door, but the gate, as well as the statues and stone pillars. "That lab's yours?"

"I believe so." The boy then placed his hand on his chest and faced us. "Perhaps I should properly introduce myself, then maybe you will understand why. My name is Osamu Date, and I am known as The Ultimate Historian."

"Ultimate Historian?" I asked. "What exactly does that mean? Is that like being a history teacher or something?" Osamu chuckled at my question.

"I suppose one could call it that. In a way, I am most likely the most qualified history teacher in the world, but still, that is an understatement to call my talent that. To briefly summarize, I gained this title through my love and devotion to history and learning all I can about it, whether it is from one country or another."

As Osamu explained his talent, I could clearly see a wide passionate smile that was growing larger and larger as he spoke.

"It also matters not to me what kind of history I learn about. It could be the history of some great nation, or perhaps the history of an extinct animal, or even the history of some small obscure culture. History, culture, literature, techniques, customs, objects, religions, myths, legends- all these things are what I strive to learn about. To that end I travel the world to learn all I can."

"Wow! That's incredible. I never knew historians could be so cool!" I said, genuinely impressed at what he said.

"Thank you. I tend to ramble when it comes to this topic, but I am glad you seemed to appreciate what I have said." Osamu said as he looked at me with kind eyes. "I am truly glad to have been blessed with the title of 'Ultimate', for now I can pursue my passions without delay. I truly love history and learning about it. Thus is the passion anyone known as 'Ultimate' should have. I can actually sense the same kind of passion in you." He said while gesturing at me.

"You're not wrong there. I tend to be the same way with singing. When you do something you love, then it makes sense to be so passionate about it."

"Singing, is it?" Osamu said as he thought for a moment. "So that would make you the Ultimate Singer, correct?"

"Ah! Yes. I never introduced myself. I'm Asuka Wade, the Ultimate Singer. It's nice to meet you." I said cheerfully.

"I see. I believe I have heard of you." Osamu said. "If I recall, you are the young idol sensation that has been sweeping the nation as of late. I believe you have already won multiple musical competitions, as well as made many deals with multiple music studios."

"Oh wow. You really are informed." I say with a chuckle as I scratch my cheek that's gotten slightly red. "I don't really think that it's such a big deal. After all, I'm just doing what I love."

"Hmm… well said. Now then, about you," Osamu said as he turned to Rin. "Who exactly are you? I do not sense the same passion in you as I have with other Ultimates."

Wait, he doesn't sense passion from Rin? I wonder why that is. Could it be because of the memory lost?

"You don't sense passion in me, huh? Well, I suppose that makes sense, since I can't remember what I'm supposed to be passionate about."

"You do not remember?" Osamu asked.

"Nope. I seem to have even greater memory lost than the others here. I don't know what kind of Ultimate talent I have. I can at least tell you my name. It's Rin Wakuri. Maybe you've heard of me?"

"Hmm… The name does ring familiar; however, I cannot place why." Osamu sighed as he said that. "Apologies. It appears that I cannot help you find your talent."

"Nah, don't be. Just with that, I now know I was someone that people knew, so I have a little more info now." Rin said with a shrug.

"Well, if you are satisfied with that, then I suppose I am glad to have helped." Osamu replied. "By the way, have you noticed the abnormality of this ship?"

"Abnormality? I mean, I think there are a lot, considering that we're on a cruise ship that has no staff or other people besides us from the look of things." I replied. Osamu shakes his head.

"That is not exactly what I mean. What I am referring to are those things." He then points upwards behind me and Rin. We turn to see what he's talking about, and see a wide monitor hanging high on the wall of this deck. There are multiple speakers attached to it, as well as what looks like a security camera. "Those monitors and cameras are very out of place here. They do not mesh well with the decor. They also seem hastily built, or at least, modified." Osamu further explained.

"I see. Now that you mention it," Rin began to speak, "It is strange that a cruise ship would have something like this, or at the very least, have cameras designed this… blatant. Security cameras are supposed to be hidden for the most part."

"Not only that, but there appears to be one on every deck and in every room. There is no corner of this ship that is not being watched." Osamu added.

"What?! There are that many?" I asked. "Do you think that our captors are trying to keep a close eye on us in case we try to escape?"

"A high possibility, but I have a feeling it is for something more… dreadful. Though I am not sure why." Osamu said with a dark expression. "But I do not want to trouble you with thoughts like those. For now, I believe I should take my leave. I wish to examine my cabin in case we are forced to stay here longer than expected." Osamu then starts to walk about, glancing back at her with a smile before going down the stairs.

"Hmm…" Rin hums to himself for a bit before walking towards the stairwell. "Let's head up to floor 5."

I nodded, leading the way to the stairs. After walking a bit, we finally made it back to the 5th floor. Nothing had changed within the few minutes we were gone. Now that I was actually looking at what was on the floor, I noticed how it looked a lot like the 5th deck. This was the floor I woke up on, so we already explored the Luna Club Room.

Other than that room, there were two others. One of the rooms was right next to the club room, while the other was on the other side of the hole that was in the middle of the deck. That room was an open area with no doors, actually. Me and Rin walked to the area and looked around. It looked like a gift shop, with gifts and goods lining a back wall that's behind a counter. There is also what looks like a gachapon machine of some sort on the counter, though it looks like it's been turned off for now.

"I wonder what kind of stuff is in this." I say while peering into the gacha machine. "If it turns on, I definitely have to check it out."

"I wonder if it even takes conventional currency." Rin states. "Not that it matters though. We don't have any kind of money on us anyway."

"Oh yeah. Most of our stuff was stolen." I say dejectedly. "Then what's the point of this thing if we can't even use it?"

"...Excuse me, but I believe I have the answer for that." A quiet voice spoke. After looking at where the voice came from, I found another person, a girl this time.

The girl had light skin, long black hair that slowly turned to a bluish tint the further it went, and stern gray eyes, although her eyes seemed a bit lazy or uncaring as well. She wore a black silk dress that went down to her ankles, black stockings, and had black high heels on, too.

She also had silver earrings with a blue gem in each, as well as a big black winter coat with a Blue scarf that had black markings that might have been letters on it, though I didn't know which languages they each were. On her hands were a platinum bracelet and multiple rings, each with its own design.

The girl was walking towards us and sighed before speaking in a very tired and melancholy voice.

"Oh… I'm sorry. I interrupted you, didn't I? But I do have something that could help you understand this machine."

The girl then reached into her pocket and took out some bronze coins that had a sigil on them that I didn't recognize. On the back of the coins was what looked like some kind of animal (a bird? Maybe a penguin? Nah, I'm bad at this. For all I know it could be a badger or something) in a tuxedo or something. The words "Pav" were written on the bottom side of the coin.

"Those are coins, but I've never seen anything like those before. Where did you get them?" Rin asked as he examined the coins.

"...I found them as I was looking around the ship." The girl slowly and quietly spoke. "...I'm pretty sure this is what's supposed to be used here when the gachapon machine turns on. I think it's probably a currency made for this ship, like some sort of membership points some clubs and other high end places have."

"That seems likely." I agreed. "If you just found them lying around, then they're probably all around this ship for us to find and use them. It's like a scavenger hunt."

"..." The girl didn't respond and just looked away, staring at the shelfs of goods while playing with the tip of her scarf.

"Oh! We haven't introduced ourselves! I'm Asuka Wada, and this is Rin Wakuri."

"...Yasu Hirakawa." The girl responded, still not looking at me. "...Ultimate Translator."

"Translator?" Rin asked. "So you're multilingue? That's impressive! How many languages do you know?"

Yasu finally turned to us to respond, though she pulled her scarf a bit upward on her face and averted her gaze a bit.

"...It's not as impressive as you make it out, I suppose." Yasu started off. "If you must know, I guess you could say I know around 300 languages, including Japanese, English, French, German, Russian, Latin, and a few others."

"3-300?!" Rin exclaimed. "T-that can't be right! No one could learn and memorize 300 different languages and speak them all fluently!"

"Y-Yeah…that's hardly what I would consider a 'few'." I chuckled.

"...Well, guess that's why I'm the 'Ultimate' Translator." Yasu said while twirling her hair a bit.

"That's amazing!" I shouted, after wrapping my mind around what Yasu just claimed. "Can you give a quick demonstration please?"

"..." Yasu stayed quiet for a bit before answering. Or at least, I think she was saying her answer.

"...Numele meu este Yasu Hirakawa." She then spoke in what sounded like another language. "...Ultimate Translator unvanını aldım çünkü birçok dil biliyorum." She then spoke in another. "Chociaż mogę mieć trudności z wyrażeniem siebie, uważam, że możemy być przyjaciółmi." She then bowed and spoke one more time. "Ez egy jó bemutatás a Végső tehetségről?"

"Uhh…" I stutter for a bit before recovering from my shock. "Those were different languages, right? Which languages were they?"

"...The first language was Romanian, the second was Turkish, the third was Polish, and the fourth was Hungarian." Yasu said.

"W-Woah! What were you saying?"

"...I don't feel like telling you." Yasu said.

"That is impressive." Rin stated. "Can you write all those languages?"

"...That's right." Yasu said. "...I wouldn't be a good translator if I couldn't write fluently in those different languages. Although, I still have a lot to learn. After all, there are around 6,500 different languages in the world."

"6,500?!" Rin shouted

"You're really going to try and learn all those languages? That's going to take more than a lifetime! That's incredible!" I exclaimed. Yasu didn't respond at first. She just pulled her scarf up to cover part of her face before finally replying.

"...Ce n'est pas grave. J'améliore juste mon talent."

"Was… that French?"

"..." Yasu then turned around and started to examine the objects in the shop.

Rin and I examined a few things as well before leaving for the next area. We then headed to the other area on this floor, the one next to the club. Opening the door, I'm completely taken aback by rows upon rows of arcade machines. It was probably the largest gathering of game cabinets and other classic arcade games that I've ever seen in one place.

I then hear Rin gasp in delight, much to my surprise. He rushed up to the machines and examined them.

"I don't believe it! How did-? Why is-?" Rin tried to speak, but only ended up gushing at the machines. "How did they even get all of these? Many of these are exclusive to high end places! And all these machines, who would go through all this trouble?"

"Wow Rin. I didn't think you were the type to enjoy arcades." I said jokingly.

"Well that couldn't be further from the truth. Stuff like this always fascinated me, especially these retro machines. I mean, some of these are definitely rare enough that it would cost hundreds maybe thousands to get just one cabinet for this place! Man, I want to try them all."

I laughed at Rin's excitement and began to examine the machines myself. All the machines seemed to be very complicated, at least as far as I know when it comes to arcade cabinets, which, admittedly, isn't much. However, one detail I managed to notice was how each cabinet took those "Pav" coins Yasu found earlier. Other than that, it seemed as though all the machines worked as they should, which Rin was very pleased with.

"Ok, you seem really excited. I thought I was the easily excitable person in this group." I said, amused by Rin quickly gazing at all the machines. "Have you been in arcades a lot before?"

"Hmm… I don't actually remember. Most of my memories are a blur, but maybe I have. Though, at the same time, I can't help but feel conflicted." He replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm feeling weird looking at all this. I want to have fun and try out all these machines, but I also feel as if I don't belong here, like I can't be bothered with this." Rin rubbed the back of his head as he shrugged. "It's weird. It's like I both love and hate it here. Like there's a sorrow inside me pushing me away."

Before I could ask more about the topic, the entrance door burst open with a loud slam. We turned to the source of the noise to find two people entering. Well, one person rushing in with the other begrudgingly following behind.

The one who rushed in was a boy who had a slightly small stature. He had light skin, faded light blue eyes, and blonde hair that was hidden under a red cap that was worn to the side of it. He was wearing blue ripped jeans, a yellow shirt, and a crimson padded vest that had the words "boss!" Painted on the back with black paint with white outlines, and blue sneakers.

He had rubber bands on his right wrist that were all different colors, and each had a different logo on it, and he also wore a chain around his neck. There was also what appeared to be paint or tattoo on his face, giving him a large black star under his left eye. He also had multiple bandaids and visible scratches and scars across his body that were visible.

The other person who was following the boy was a woman that was much taller than the boy. She had dark skin; short, black hair, and silver eyes that had a razor-sharp gaze with the slim glasses she had on. She had a black and white checkered patterned dress that looked extremely formal and had a Gothic Lolita style to it. The slightly frilly skirt with the longed sleeved, sleeked top gave her this librarian vibe. She also wore black pantyhose, black heels and earrings that looked like tiny chess pieces.

"Oh wow! I can't believe this place has an arcade. This place has everything doesn't it? Too bad we're all forced to be here due to a mass kidnapping." The young boy remarked casually. He then looked at me and Rin and smirked. "Oh look! More oblivious hostages! These two look even more suspicious, don't they?"

The woman snapped to the boy after his snide remark and glared at him.

"Don't be rude. I imagine they're just as confused as we are." She said in a calm and mature voice. The boy chuckled a bit before looking at the woman, placing his arms on his hips in a sassy pose.

"Don't group me in with this clueless bunch. I know exactly what's happening. After all, it's obvious that we were kidnapped and are now being held hostage for ransom, right? This happens to Ultimates all the time, riiiight?"

"Does it really?" I asked nervously.

"Oh so you've never had the pleasure of running for your life from strangers trying to grab you?" The boy asked innocently, though he was clearly faking it. He then laughs. "Well, neither have I. As far as I know, only certain Ultimates have to deal with that crap. Though I guess I do have experience in running for my life. Just not from kidnappers."

The woman then smacked the back of the boy's head and sighed.

"I apologize for his behavior. I'm sure you can tell he isn't the most social person. He's been like this since we've woken up. I'm sure he's just stressed." She then respectfully bows at us before continuing. "I am The Ultimate Chess Player, Naomi Chisaka. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"It's nice to meet you too. I'm Asuka Wade, the Ultimate Singer."

"I'm Rin Wakuri. What Asuka said."

Naomi smiled at us, and then she turned to the boy, who seemed to be pretending we weren't here.

"You should introduce yourself as well. We might be stuck with these people for a long period of time, so it would benefit you to at least try to get along."

The boy gave a long, drawn out sigh of exasperation before turning to us with a groan.

"Tsk. Fine, whatever. But don't think I'm going to be all friendly and shit with you all. As far as I'm concerned, any of you all could be the reason we're stuck here in the middle of nowhere."

Naomi then smacked him again as she did before.

"Ow! Alright, I'm getting to it geez!" After rubbing his head and fixing his hat, he looked up at us, though he didn't look us in the eyes. "The name's Ryuunosuke Hiroshima. You can call me Ryu if that's to complicated for you dumb fu-."

"Ryuunosuke!" Naomi interrupted, glaring at Ryu.

"Alright alright, geez. As for my talent, I'm The Ultimate Parkourist."

"Parkour?" I said in confusion.

"You seriously don't know what parkour is?" Ryu asked. He then groaned and put his hand on his head. "How annoying, but I guess I can explain what it is. Simply put, parkour can be described as the flexible movement to get around or over obstacles. It mainly involves free running, jumping, and climbing, though with practice, parkour can involve running on walls and jumping off high platforms like rooftops. I myself do these multiple times, and now I'm able to do bigger events, like this huge obstacle course I made and stunts for videos and shows."

"Wow, that sounds really cool!" I exclaimed.

"Obviously." Ryu flashed a nearly feral grin as he crossed his arms proudly. "It's far more than just running around, like how some people think. It takes a lot of training to even perform many of the things parkourists do, and they still end up with multiple injuries. Some even risk their lives doing stunts."

He then growled as he gritted his teeth and averted his eyes.

"Yet despite all the risks people go through to show the world what they're capable of, people still end up giving them shit for it. I've had to deal with my fair share of bs and up tight pricks. People don't even try to understand my situation…"

"And what exactly is your situation?" Rin asked.

"Shut up!" Ryu yelled. "Why should I tell a buncha randos that I just met? I don't trust any of you! As far as I'm concerned, you're all just as bad."

"Don't be like that. I'm sure we can all get along." I said. "We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves. We should trust each other."

"Tsk… you're a fool if you believe that." Ryu said while crossing his arms. Naomi sighed.

"I apologize again for his rash behavior." She said.

"It's not like it's your fault he's a jerk." Rin said while putting a hand on his hip. "So what about you? What's your story? Are you just the best chess player in the world?"

"I suppose. I am skilled in games that are chess-like as well, like Shogi. Despite that, I mostly play normal chess, though I wouldn't say I'm the best at it even with my title." Naomi said.

"How so?" I asked.

"Even if a person is really good at chess, they could still be beaten because of a single mistake or if they get outsmarted." She said. "Chess and games like it are all games of tactics, observation, and foresight; you win if your strategy is better than the other person's and if you can think ahead. The reason I'm the Ultimate Chess Player is because I've overcome countless strategies from professional players easily; but that doesn't mean I haven't lost at all."

"So, does that mean you've lost before?" Rin asked.

"Yes. I have a friend who taught me how to play chess, and even to this day I haven't been able to beat him a single time. He would be the Ultimate Chess Player if he didn't just play casually." She said with a smile on her face. "I've played him a total of 437 times, and I couldn't win once."

"You lost 437 times?!" Rin exclaimed. "If it were me, I would have thrown in the towel by now."

"Yeah, it was discouraging, but with every game, I got better, and eventually I started to enter tournaments to improve more."

"And that's when you got your talent, right?"

"Yes, but until I am capable of beating my friend, I won't stop improving."

"Your dedication is very impressive." Rin commented. "Chess, huh? Sounds like fun. I would like to play a game some time."

"You play chess?" Naomi asked.

"I'm probably not as good as you, but it would still be an honor to play against the Ultimate Chess Player." Naomi thought about it for a moment, and then she turned to Rin.

"Sure, just ask whenever and we'll play."

"Thanks."

"That sounds like a lot of fun!" I joined in with a smile. Ryu just scoffed before he looked at Rin with a questioning glare.

"I just noticed something." Ryu said. "You. What's your Ultimate? You never said it."

Rin gave him a disdainful look before he sighed.

"To be honest, I don't remember what it is." He said sadly.

"You don't remember?" Naomi repeated.

"That's a load of crap. There's no way you could forget something like that. You're lying. Must be because you're the one who kidnapped us." Ryu said with a suspicious look.

"He's not lying!" I argued. "He really doesn't remember!"

Ryu gave a confused look and shook his head.

"How naive. Keep that up and you'll end up betrayed. I'm sick of this. I'm leaving." Ryu said. With that, he left.

"Sorry about him." Naomi said. "I don't understand what has him so aggravated."

"Don't worry about it. He's probably on edge with what has happened. We were all brought to a cruise ship by someone and are trapped here in the middle of the ocean, not to mention that we're all Ultimates, it's a very weird situation. He probably doesn't trust us and has his guard up." Rin said. "Honestly, he's right not trusting everyone fully yet. It makes sense he wouldn't trust someone who says he 'forgot' his talent."

"I guess you're right." I said. "But he doesn't have to be a jerk about it."

"I should follow after him." Naomi said. "Who knows what kind of trouble he'll get into on his own." Naomi bowed respectfully and left to follow Ryu. Naomi seems really nice. Too bad the same can't be said about Ryu…

"I sorta feel bad for Naomi, having to deal with Ryu. Hopefully she doesn't see him as her responsibility." I said with a chuckle.

"Haha, don't know if that's possible at this point. I get the feeling Naomi already sees Ryu as that." Rin shrugged in a lazy fashion. "Next is the 7th floor. Ready to head up there?"

"Before we do that, we should check the Luna club room to see if anyone has entered it while we were gone." I said.

"Makes sense. Let's take a look." I nodded to Rin as we stepped out of the arcade and entered the Luna club room.

My assumption was correct, as there was a short girl inside, reading one of the books in the room. The girl had light skin, hazelnut colored hair, and light pink eyes. She had earrings as well, though they weren't very big and they didn't have gems in them. She also had a necklace that had a sparkling diamond in it, along with a ring, which had a diamond in it.

She wore a sky-blue dress with a white apron at the front. She also wore a big white bow at the back of her head, which made it look like white cat ears. It was almost a normal school uniform if it weren't for the glass heels that she was wearing. The book she was reading appeared to be a fictional story judging by the cover. She looked up as we entered and set her book down.

"Hmm? New people?" The girl quickly stood up from her seat and brushed herself off. "It's a pleasure to meet you two! My name is Makoto Haruta, and I'm known as the Ultimate Fairytale Writer."

"I'm Asuka Wade, the Ultimate Singer! This is Rin Wakuri. It's nice to meet you Makoto!" I said happily as I greeted the girl.

"Fairytale writer?" Rin questioned. "You're an author?"

"Haha...it's a little embarrassing, but yes. I write fictional stories, but I specialize in children's fairytale stories. It's sort of a familiar tradition that I become an author. Most of my family is full of talented writers and creators like that. We all love to weave words together to create stories, characters, and worlds of our own. I suppose it was only natural that I pick up some of those traits and create fairytales." Makoto laughed embarrassedly.

"That's amazing! What have you written so far?" I asked.

"Well… I suppose one of my top sellers has been 'The 12 Little Kittens', But I'm hoping my new story, 'The Gilded Hero' will do even better. I also have many other ideas I want to get down on paper soon."

"Sounds like a lot of work." Rin comments. "You said the kitten story was one of your best sellers. How many copies have been sold so far?"

"I believe it was...2.5 million copies a couple of months after it was published." Makoto answered.

"2.5 million!?" Rin gasped. "No wonder you're an Ultimate. To be an author this young and to have sold that many copies of your story in such a short time, it's truly incredible."

"It's not such a big deal." Makoto said while playing with her bow. "That story only sold really well because I was already well-known at that time. When I first started out, it was really hard to get anyone to read my story, but with a little hard work and perseverance, I was able to sell copies of my story. After my first story was such a success, I was given the title of Ultimate Fairytale Writer." She explained.

"That's still really amazing. You said your family are mostly authors as well, right? They must be really proud of you." I said.

"R-Really? I-I hope so…" Makoto said while trying to hide her blush.

"Makoto, do you have any idea why we're here?" Rin asked.

"No clue. It's something straight out of a story, getting brought to a strange but interesting place." Makoto said as she put a finger on her lips in thought. "I have to find it strange how there are no adults around on the ship. It's only us." Makoto then smiled widely "On the bright side though, we have an entire cruise ship to ourselves! We should enjoy it while it lasts!"

"You're optimistic…" Rin gave a forced chuckle.

"Like I said before, it's good to be positive in these sorts of situations." I said while poking his side. "It was nice to meet you Makoto. We're going to go investigate the rest of the ship."

"Okay. If you need me, I'll be reading here." Makoto said with a smile before opening her book back up.

We left the Luna club and started heading towards the stairs. I couldn't help but get more excited. Makoto was right, after all. We had an entire cruise ship to ourselves. Not to mention everyone here is an Ultimate.

It's rare enough to see an Ultimate in person, let alone be one or see a group of 16. I couldn't help but wonder who else was here and what their talents were. I always wanted to meet more Ultimates, and I always enjoyed meeting people and making friends. Other than Ryu, everyone so far seemed very nice, and even though Ryu was a bit rude and aggressive, I'm sure he just needs time to warm up to us!

The thought of meeting the others and who they could be and what kind of person they are made me giddy as I quickened my pace to a brisk run.

"C'mon Rin! Hurry up!" I could hear Rin sigh as I dashed to the stairs.

"Slow down, Asuka. There's no need to rush. If you're not careful, you'll-"

Before he could finish, I bumped into something when I got to the stairs. The impact sent me face first to the floor.

"Ow!" I said.

"-bump into someone." Rin then finished.

I looked over to the thing I bumped into and saw a girl, who had been knocked to the ground as well. She must have fallen on her head too, since she keeps rubbing it.

She had light skin, light brown hair with a dark green highlight, stern, dark green eyes, and freckles on her face. She wore a dark green shirt and a blue denim jacket, along with a light green tie that was hanging around her neck. She also wore blue jeans and blue sneakers.

She had a silver hairpin keeping the right side of her hair out of her eyes, a bracelet on her right wrist, and a gold ring with an emerald in it on her left hand. Overall, she looked pretty normal compared to everyone else I've seen, but she had a fierceness about her that was like an aura around her, something I realized the moment she opened her mouth.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, you klutz!" The girl shouted angrily. I was taken aback by the sudden angry tone as the girl growled at me angrily.

"I-I'm sorry." I stuttered out. "I-I didn't mean to hurt you. It's my fault. I wasn't watching where I was going. Can you forgive me?" The girl glared at me before huffing a bit. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" She yelled. "Christ! Why am I trapped on a boat with a bunch of idiots!"

"Hey, I think that's going a little too far." Rin said as he walked towards us. "I agree that Asuka should have been more careful, but that doesn't mean you get to be mean to her."

The girl narrowed her eyes as she stood up and brushed herself off.

"Hmph! Whatever. I ain't got time for useless shit like this anyway. Who the hell are you guys anyway?" She asked rudely. I quickly stood up and put on the nicest smile I could.

"I'm Asuke Wade. I'm the Ultimate Singer. And this is Rin Wakuri." After I introduced myself and Rin, I saw the girls' eyes flare a bit with anger and hatred.

"Oh good! More Ultimates. Fan-fucking-tastic." She hissed out.

"What's that supposed to mean? Do you hate Ultimates? But aren't you one?" Rin questioned with a raised eyebrow. Although you couldn't tell by his voice or appearance, I could somehow tell that Rin was slowly getting more and more annoyed with the girl's attitude.

"None of your business, that's what it means!" The girl responded harshly. I saw Rin's eyebrow twitch a bit as he put on a slightly dark expression.

"Oh really? As someone who has to deal with your shitty attitude, I beg to differ." He said in a dark but calm tone.

"My shitty attitude? Why don't you take a look in the mirror, mister emo bastard!"

"Is this how you treat any random stranger you meet!?"

"Why the fuck do YOU care!?"

"Stop fighting!" I yelled, cutting them both off. They turned to me with stunned looks as I put my hands between them. "Enough! Look, we are ALL in the same situation as you, and I don't know what you have against us after I accidentally bumped into you, but please just stop getting angry for 5 minutes! And Rin! Don't get so upset! Just because she's rude doesn't mean you can easily lose your cool like that. Now, can we PLEASE move on from this!?"

The silence lasted for a few more seconds until the two of them agreed. Rin had a slightly surprised, but mildly impressed look as he relaxed, while the other girl appeared a bit flustered and embarrassed by having to be talked to like that.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I never did like getting angry at people. I suppose you could say I'm a people pleaser, I suppose. That doesn't mean I can't get upset or won't raise my voice to stop a situation from escalating. Still, I didn't like to come off as aggressive or mean. I can't even remember the last time I was really angry or upset.

"So," I say, trying to change the topic. "Who are you?" The girl looked at me for a couple of seconds, with her expression becoming less tense.

"Masuyo Otaka." The girl, named Masuyo, said begrudgingly.

"Nice to meet you Masuyo!" I say cheerfully. "So, I guess you don't like me because I said I was an Ultimate, uh?"

"No, that's-. . ." She started to say something, but then paused to take a breath while pinching the bridge of her nose. "I was just stressed out, so sorry. The reason I got upset was because I was thinking about this situation. I started to freak out a bit, and that got me thinking about my own talent."

"So you are an Ultimate." Rin said. "What's your talent, if I may ask."

"It's… the Ultimate Entrepreneur, though it's never really felt like that." Masuyo said with a bit of resentment in her voice.

"Never felt like it? How come? Being the Ultimate Entrepreneur must mean you're an incredible business woman!" I stated, getting a small blush from Masuyo.

"Because it still feels like I haven't really done anything to earn my talent. I'm not the one who's truly in control."

"But you're the Ultimate Entrepreneur. Surely that means you at least run your own business." Rin said.

"It's not that I'm unable to, I do have a business, but the employees don't want to listen to me, and that's causing the business to struggle. I'm barely able to keep it afloat as it is. Not only that, but I get ridiculed every day because of it." Masuyo groaned as she rubbed her temple. "I don't even know why I got this talent. At this point, I'm actually starting to hate it. I might as well just have another useless talent like the Ultimate Lucky Student, especially since I feel like I only have my 'talent' because of dumb luck."

"That's not true!" I objected. "If you were chosen to be an Ultimate, then you must have done something really impressive."

"Besides, I doubt any normal highschooler would be able to keep an entire business alive despite the employees being unmanageable." Rin added with a small smile. "You should have more confidence in yourself."

"Rin's right. The fact remains that you did obtain an Ultimate Talent. If others can't appreciate your talent, then you just have to ignore them and move on, and eventually, you'll show them what you can really do!" I said as I raised my fist into the air with determination and defiance. Masuyo just stared before letting out a sigh.

"You really don't know how life works, do you?" She said. "You can't just go through life with such an optimistic attitude, otherwise you'll be disappointed every day." Masuyo said as she turned and walked down the stairs.

"What a tiring person." Rin then said as we continued up the stairs.

"Yeah, but I don't think she's a bad person." I said as we started to continue upward. "I feel like she has a lot on her plate, so let's try to be nice to her. Everyone may have different problems, but we all still have them."

"...You're right." Rin said with a smile.

Soon, we made it to the 7th floor. There was surprisingly nothing really of note here. There were no rooms off to the side. There was only one door that seemed to lead to the outside of the ship.

"It would seem that the 7th floor of this ship only has the outside area. If that's the case, maybe the entirety of this floor is available to us." Rin noted.

"Let's hope so." I said. "But before we head out…" I pointed to the boy near the sliding doors that led to the outside.

The boy had slightly messy blonde hair and lazy blue eyes in a white button up shirt that was only buttoned to the top two buttons while a very loose tie flopped down from his neck. He also wore glasses, black dress pants, black dress shoes.

He was standing in front of a window, staring out at the horizon.

"He looks interesting! Let's go chat with him." With a bright smile, I moved towards the man who was lost in thought. "Hi! What are you doing?" The man turned to me and gave me a warm smile before looking at the window again.

"I'm just pondering about the situation we've found ourselves in. Like who could have brought us here, and why?" The young man then fiddled with his tie a bit as he continued. "Then there's this cruise ship. If we were kidnapped, which is highly plausible, then why would we be trapped within a cruise ship of all things? It's incredibly illogical to leave all of us alone like this too. It's too...peculiar..."

"It is very strange. I haven't been able to grasp the 'why' or 'how' either. We've been searching around the ship, but so far we haven't seen any possible clue as to who could have set all of this up." Rin said as he put his hand on his chin as he looked out the window as well.

"Of course there isn't. If there were clues, I would have to believe that our captor is a fool. Leaving even a single clue as to their identity could possibly be catastrophic to them." The man said calmly and confidently. "Besides, I prefer it this way. It makes the puzzle challenging and interesting. It would be too easy otherwise."

"Too easy?" I asked while tilting my head.

"Oh, pardon me, but I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Kenji Amachi, and I have been given the title of Ultimate Logical Thinker."

"Logical Thinker?" I repeated in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It means what it says. I'm a Logical Thinker. Everything I do has logic behind it. It's my job to be has logical as possible." Kenjo said with a lazy smile.

"That's a broad talent." Rin said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, but it's a very interesting one." Kenji said while pressing his finger to his head. "After all, I got to meet some of the biggest geniuses of our time. I got to learn even more after I acquired this title, which has been fulfilling to say the least."

"Really?" I asked. "Then you must be really smart."

"Yes, I suppose one might consider me to be intelligent, but it's my logical reasoning and observation skills that are the reason I received this title. Using all the info around me to come to a conclusion that is perfect, logical, and rational, that is what it means." Kenji explained.

"So...are you some sort of modern day Sherlock Holmes?" Rin asked. Kenji stifled a laugh at the comparison.

"Well, I guess that is a nice comparison that has been made about me, but I'm hardly what you would call detective material." Kenji said. "Though I suppose the Holmes character has always been known for being incredibly observant and using those observations to come to his deductions. But as I've said before, I'm not a detective, though people have said I could be. I prefer making observations and watching how things play out though. A good puzzle is also quite enjoyable."

"So you're treating this like it's a puzzle?" I asked.

"That is what this is: a giant puzzle that needs to be solved. A million questions with one answer. A mystery that needs solving. That's what this is, and I intend to solve it." Kenji said matter-of-factly. He seems pretty confident that he'll figure it all out.

"So have you any ideas so far, mister logic?" Rin asked.

"Actually, yes." Kenji said calmly. "As you have probably already found out, we are all trapped alone on what appears to be a cruise ship."

"Yeah…?" I affirmed, wondering where he was going with this.

"Since that's the case, isn't it a wonder how someone could afford to make or acquire such a ship just for this occasion?" Kenji asked. "If this was a normal kidnapping, I would think that we would be trapped in a building. So I have to wonder why we are on a cruise ship and how this is even possible."

Kenji began to trace his fingers on his glasses as he continued to speak.

"The only thing that makes sense is that the person and/or the organization that brought us here must have a massive amount of resources and money to pull this off. Not to mention they managed to bring not one but 16 Ultimates here, which is already quite the feat."

"Because of those things, you're saying it's safe to assume our captors have the wealth and power to do so?" Rin asked, intrigued by the thought.

"That has to be the case." Kenji nodded. "Several groups of people come to mind as suspects. The Otaka Corporation being one of them."

"Otaka? You mean Masuyo's family?" I asked.

"You've met the girl, correct?" Kenji asked with a raised eyebrow. "If so, you know she is the Ultimate Entrepreneur. Her family and cooperation meet the requirements to be our captors."

"Th-That can't be true, right?" I asked nervously. "Masuyo is a bit brash, but she wouldn't do something like this."

"I never said she would." Kenji said. "All I said was that her family and cooperation are possible suspects. They could have gone behind her back and done this, or they could be completely irrelevant to the situation. As I said, I have plenty of possible suspects in mind already."

"I-I see." I said as I calmed down.

"Who, in your opinion, do you think is the most likely suspect." Rin asked.

"In my opinion…?" Kenji asked. He thought for a moment before saying his answer. "If I had to make an educated guess right now, then I would assume this to be the work of some government."

"Government?"

"Yes. The government has the power, resources, and money to create this situation and bring us here. Not only that, but they could also use their power to hide or cover up the disappearance of 16 Ultimates. Of course, this is just an educated guess based on logic and the very few facts that I know. As far as I know, there could be some secret society or group that fit all those requirements." Kenji explained before sighing. "Still, it bothers me…"

"What does?" I asked.

"No matter how much I think about it, I cannot fathom a possible motive for doing this for any of the suspects I have thought of." Kenji said with a slightly concerned expression. "The motive cannot be money, as whoever set this up must already have money and resources. This is also bizarre for a typical kidnapping as we are able to walk around and explore this ship. And still, why a cruise ship of all places to keep us hostage?"

He sighed again as he rubbed his hand through his unkempt hair.

"All of these factors go beyond typical logic so far. There must be something we're missing." Kenji then walked past us and made his way to the stairs. "I will be investigating more. If you find anything, please make sure to let me know." With that, he went down the stairs.

"He seems to have a fairly good idea about all of this." I said in awe of Kenji's reasoning.

"I suppose that's to be expected from the Ultimate Logical Thinker." Rin chuckled. "Let's head outside. We have to make sure we scan the entirety of this place too."

"Yeah!" I said as I raised my fist to the air confidently.

Leading the charge, I opened the doors that led to the rest of the 7th floor and was stunned. This area in the middle of the floor was outside. It was a wide open area that was stocked with chairs and tables. There were bars on both the left and right side of us, and straight ahead was a stage.

Behind the stage, I could make out a restaurant area and two hallways to the sides of it. We could also see parts of the 8th deck, but we couldn't reach because there were no stairs or ladders. There was a fence to keep people from falling off into the ocean on the sides of the area, and when I looked across the horizon, I could only see water.

"Woah… it's so… endlessly wide…" I said as I continued taking in the view.

That's when it really hit me. How far away were we from our homes? Our families? Will we ever make it back? Will we be found? Just from looking at the ocean, I didn't have a single idea as to where we could be. I then feel Rin place his hand on my shoulder. I look over to him to see him staring at the ocean as well with a serious but kind expression.

"Don't worry. We'll be able to get back home. I'm sure of it." Rin said with a very kind and reassuring voice. I couldn't help but smile at that and nod.

"Of course! There's no way we'll be stuck here forever! Besides, I'm sure that people are already looking for us." Rin nodded at my words.

"It seems there are a couple of people out here. If my counting skills are up to par, then there should be 6 other people here that we haven't met yet." He said jokingly. I giggled as I walked over to the first person I could see.

"Hello there!" I said as I waved to this new person.

He was a huge man with broad shoulders in a white lab coat that had a scalpel sticking out of one of the pockets. He wore a surgical mask and blue latex gloves, and his blue shirt, coat, black pants, and boots, all of which seemed to have what looked like extremely faded bloodstains scattered around on them.

He had black hair, golden eyes that almost seemed to glow, and a stethoscope around his neck. He was clearly an Ultimate in the medical field, but he was also the creepiest person I've ever seen. Creepy looking though he may be, that's not going to stop me from being nice and introducing myself.

The man turned to look at us with a slightly surprised look, but it quickly became calm and soft.

"Good day. I do not believe we have met. Allow me to make your acquaintance. My name is Daisuke Omura. I am proud to say that I am the Ultimate Surgeon." Daisuke as he politely bowed. Wow! He's a lot less scary once he opens his mouth.

The Ultimate Surgeon, huh." Rin said. "You seem pretty young to be a doctor."

"Well, yes. Obviously, I am not a real doctor. I do not have a medical license yet; however, I am an assistant to one in order to acquire it. I'm already partaking in medical school as well."

"Wait, if you don't have a license yet, how did you get that title?" I asked.

"It's a long story, but to put simply, I had always wanted to enter the medical field, even at a young age. One day, while walking home from school with a friend of mine, an accident occurred, causing a tree to fall. I was unharmed, but my friend was badly injured, and he needed immediate attention, else he would have died. With no choice and his prompting, I performed a makeshift surgery on him. When the medical professionals finally arrived, they were amazed. With my amatuer skills, I had somehow saved my friend's life. From then on, I was allowed to enter medical school and earned the title of Ultimate Surgeon."

"That's...more than amazing! You saved someone's life!" I exclaimed.

"I suppose so… I only did what anyone would do, and that was to help in any way I could. If anything, I am thankful for him, as he was the one who wanted me to perform surgery on him." Daisuke said with a reminiscent look. Daisuke then began motioning to us. "Now that I've done my introduction, it's only fair if you do yours as well."

"Oh, Right! I'm Asuka Wada, the Ultimate Singer."

"Rin Wakuri, Ultimate Something-or-other."

"Excuse me? Is that a joke?" Daisuke asked.

"Rin can't actually remember anything about himself." I explained.

"Amnesia? How peculiar…"

"It's strange alright." Rin said with a sigh. "I know I have some kind of talent, but I just can't remember."

"Hmm… we all have some gaps in our memory, but I don't believe anyone else has lost as many memories as you have." Daisuke said.

"You're a doctor, right? Think you can help?"Rin asked.

"As I said I am still in training. Besides, I am a surgeon. This qualifies more as a mental condition than anything. I am not specialized in that area. I am sorry." Daisuke responded.

"Oh, I see. That's fine." Rin said, a little disappointment hidden in his words.

"Hey, Daisuke, I have to ask. What's with the bloodstains on your clothes?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The bloodstains?" Daisuke looked down at himself. He apparently didn't notice the bloodstains until now. "I most likely got these during a previous surgery. Some surgeries I have done have been...messy. Not to mention that these kinds of stains are more than troublesome to get rid of." He explained.

"Ah…" I suppose that is troublesome. I guess I'll have to ignore those.

"I apologize if my outfit is unnerving. I would prefer to wear something else, but this is all I have at the moment." Daisuke said.

"Oh no! I'm not bothered by it that much." I said, trying to dismiss his worries.

"By the way… I wonder what we are going to do about clothes." Rin stated. "I know we have rooms here, but will they have our clothes in those rooms as well? If so, then how did they acquire them?"

"I do not know about the rooms, however, we do not need to worry about other basic necessities." Daisuke said while gesturing to the restaurant area. "Past those halls is a buffet area that is packed with many different types of food. There was also a sign that said the buffet and other places where food can be obtained is restocked daily."

"Daily? How much food is prepared for us then? How long are they planning for us to be here?" Rin pondered out loud.

"Who knows? Either way, we should assume we will be here for a long time if no rescue happens. We should consider ourselves lucky that we have plenty of food and water, along with a comfortable living arrangement at the moment, though that may change very soon as far as we are aware." Daisuke said as he began to leave.

"He seemed nice." I said while scratching my cheek.

"I suppose. Let's go meet the others." Rin said.

We walked around the floor exploring for a bit, noticing how there were many food related areas on this floor. There were two bars near the doors to the inside. One of the bars appeared to serve mainly drinks, though none were alcohol again, while the other served snacks and sweets. At the second bar, there was a person sitting on one of the stools. The boy seemed to be fiddling with what looked like a tablet of some kind.

The boy had purple eyes, navy blue hair that curled a bit at the ends, and, along with the big black trench coat, wore a black turtleneck sweater, a long blue scarf, a pair navy blue sweatpants, and black sneakers. The tablet looked like a normal device, though the back was designed to look like it was wearing a black button up shirt and purple suit jacket. As we approached him, he stood up to greet us.

"Afternoon." He said in a relaxed, soft voice. "It is nice to meet you. Who might you be?"

"I'm Asuka Wada, the Ultimate Singer."

"I'm Rin Wakuri. So, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see if I can connect to the outside world with this thing." He said as he typed furiously on the device. "But I can't seem to get it to work. It's frustrating. No matter what I do, I can't get a connection or anything that might help."

"What even is that anyway?" I asked.

"I don't know. It was in one of my coat pockets when I woke up. I think everyone found one of them on their person when they woke up."

"Really?" I asked.

I then started to look if I had one too that I didn't see when I woke up. I eventually found one in a pocket in my skirt. Rin also found one inside his back pants pockets. I tried turning it on and it started to power up, showing the words "IPAV" as it did. When mine finally booted up, my name popped up before it showed a menu with various options.

It had a map of the areas available right now, as well as a section that had basic information about myself and others I've already met. The information wasn't a big deal. Just my name, talent, height, weight, blood type, date of birth, what I like and dislike, and a picture of me. It was the same for the other "report cards" as they were called.

"Why do we even have these?" I asked, a little unnerved by the information held on the device.

"Seems like a lot of trouble just to make one for everyone here." Rin said. "And, disappointingly, my report card doesn't seem to show me what my talent is either." He said as he showed me his report card. Under "talent", all it said was "Ultimate ?".

"That sucks." I said bluntly as I deadpanned at the screen. "These things really are weird."

"Yeah, it's bizarre." The boy agreed. "However, it is convenient having a map always on hand. It also seems to track where people are, though people can hide their location."

"Yes, it is…Uh… Who are you again?" Rin asked.

"Oh! Pardon my rudeness. I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Takumi Mitsugi and I am the Ultimate Psychologist. It's a pleasure to meet you two."

"Ultimate Psychologist? That's a surprise." I said. Takumi started to laugh a little after I said that.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. I don't really look like a psychologist, do I?"

"Not really." I said. "But I'm impressed. How did you become a psychologist?"

"It's not a special story. I was just good at understanding the complexities of the mind."

"So, it's just-?"

"Natural to do? Yes. It's very easy." Takumi interrupted Rin.

"Wait! How-" I started to say.

"Did I finish his sentence before he could? It's a bad habit of mine. I tend to finish other people's sentences. Sorry if that bothers you, but I figured this was a good way to show off my talent." He then said after doing it to me.

"I-it's fine. I guess that means that you're just really talented." I said. Another thing I'll have to get used to, I suppose.

"I guess, but I've never really understood why. I just find it easy to understand the mind of another. The more I study the mind, the more complex it gets, but I still find it naturally easy to understand. Because of this trait of mine, I tend to find that predicting how a person will act or understanding why they did something is easy because of it. I have actually been hired to better understand certain mental states and explain them, such as those of criminals, sociopaths, and people with mental disorders. I also help research mental diseases and research of the mind."

"Incredible." Rin said. "If you're so good at this, then maybe you can figure out how we all got amnesia and help get our memories back right?"

"Unfortunately, that's not how it works. Psychology is the study of the mind, and despite what I've learned about amnesia and the mind, I don't think I can help here."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I don't think this is a normal case of amnesia. Think about it. All of us forgot the same memories as each other, the ones of how we got here or why. Not to mention those memories are really the only ones we've lost. I know ways of helping with normal amnesia, but this can't possibly be normal. If this is some sort of forced memory loss, like from hypnosis or something, then I don't think I can help."

"Well, then can you help Rin remember what his talent is?" I asked.

"He can't remember his talent?" Takumi exclaimed. "Hmm. Strange."

"Can you help get my memories back?" Rin asked.

"I can only tell the ways memories come back from amnesia." Takumi said. "There is no real way to get memories back other than to just wait, but maybe certain phrases or objects might help with regaining those memories. That's what I've learned from my experience. Then again, this might not be normal too, as it seems that your memory loss seems more deliberate, so I don't know if that will help either. Sorry. Amnesia and memory loss are really complicated. It is not an easy thing to fix."

Rin sighed after hearing that.

"By the way," I started to ask, "have you seen anything suspicious out here?"

"No, it's been quiet since I got out here."

"Do you know where any other people are?"

"Yeah, I think someone is near the restaurant over there and others are past those halls inside the dining area. I think there were three that went down there."

"Four more people. If there's 16 of us, then those are the last 4 we have to meet." Rin said. "We should go check out that dining room too. I am starving."

"Is food really the only thing you're worried about right now?" I asked.

"Of course not. I'm also really thirty." Rin replied with a smug look. Takumi started to laugh a bit at that, but I just sighed.

"Well, we need to get going then." I said. "Wouldn't want to keep you waiting. Later Takumi."

"I hope you two find something." Takumi said as he waved goodbye to us.

We made our way to the other side of the floor where the restaurant and buffet areas were, passing the stage on the way. The stage didn't seem to have anything important, though there was a table set up in the middle of the stage, though there was nothing on or under it. At the restaurant that was in between the hallways that led to the buffet area, there were again multiple tables and chairs here, as well as a counter that had many different items and food in the back.

There were also kitchen supplies and even an area to store food, like a fridge and freezer. Behind the counter, we heard clanging from pots and pans and a feminine voice spoke up.

"Come on, where is it? Where did I drop it?" Before we could say anything though, she suddenly screamed "Found it!" And jumped up, revealing herself to us.

She was a girl with light skin, fiery red hair, and she was wearing Shutter Shades of all things, though thankfully they sat on the top of her head. She wore a half-tucked-in shirt that had been tie dyed, tan shorts, and sneakers that looked like they were dumped in a pool of many different paints. Her shirt had the words "love and hope" on it, and she also had a bracelet that said "peace" on it. When she jumped up, she had a locket in her hand, which she quickly put around her neck before turning to see us.

"Hey! I don't think I've seen you two yet. Did you two just get here?"

"Yeah." I said. "This is the first time we've been up here. My name is Asuka Wada, the Ultimate Singer, and this is Rin Wakuri. Who are you?"

"Oh! Yes! Introductions!" The girl then said excitedly. "I'm Nobu Hosaka, the Ultimate Trust Builder. Don't wear it out! I hope we can be friends!"

"The Ultimate Trust Builder, huh. So, I 'trust' that you're a very nice person?" Rin asked with a stupid grin on his face.

"A pun...seriously?" I found myself asking him with a deadpan stare. Nobu giggled at his bad pun however and gave us a glowing smile.

"I would like to think that I'm nice. I don't think I've done anything to hurt someone on purpose." Nobu answered genuinely.

"So what does your talent mean exactly?" I asked the small girl.

"Well, I'm really good at getting along with people and just naturally have them trust me and others implicitly. I don't really know how I do it, but I've been told by others that I can stop any conflict by just being there."

"What? Just by being there?" Rin asked. He then examined the girl and nodded. "Now that you mention it, I kinda feel this presence around you. Like no matter what, I could trust you without any worry."

"I...can feel it too." I said. "Nobu just looks so sweet and pure! She wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"I'm sure you're just exaggerating. You're too nice!" Nobu said while blushing a bit.

"So does anyone you meet feel like that? Does everyone, even complete strangers, just find you completely trustworthy just by meeting with you?" Rin asked.

"Not everyone. A few people I've met said it was an act or said they hated people like me." Nobu said with a sad look. It almost looked like she might cry just from remembering. She then quickly changed to a serious expression. "But this isn't an act! This is just who I am! I wouldn't know how to change even if I wanted to!"

"Don't worry! I trust you!" I said. "In fact, I think we're going to be great friends!"

---

...Oh, is that it? Uh...yeah, that's all I finished back in 2022. Sorry if you wanted to see more. Since it's not finished, Nobu's introduction isn't finished, and we're missing the introductions of the last three students and the start of the killing game. Going back and looking at this myself, I'm actually pretty satisfied with how I portrayed my cast of characters here. This is actually the second real draft for this story. The original prologue wasn't even half this, and back then, I was in high school and had no idea who my characters were. Ah...fun times. Back then, the only things I made for this story that were any good were the executions I came up with.

Anyway, this is Rin's first outing as a character, and I hope you guys enjoyed it, even if Rin wasn't the main character here.

Next chapter will be the character bios and report cards I made for the Shattered Reality cast. Some things for the characters might be outdated, but I updated a few that were really off like Ayaka's.