Taka Tsuin

Taka was befuddled that Alice didn't bother giving a reply to him, in favor of staring at something behind the boy. He turned to look what it was.

"...What in the world are you lookin' at-?"

The cross-dresser cut himself off as a monitor lit up, or at least partially. There was some blurry silhouette making movements on it and instructing the entire student body on the camping grounds to make their way to the amphitheater... the place where this duo had just come from. Taka groaned and slapped his hand against his forehead.

(Why the hell is it calling us campers...? And what's with the bear puns?!)

Taka turned back around to face Alice, just as she locked her eyes with him again. Before the boy had any chance to speak, Alice had already taken initiative. She states her intent in the same dramatic flair as before, trying to sound knightly and pranced off ahead of him. The boy ran a hand through his hair and scratched his head a little, slowly pacing behind Alice.

"Great, now she's bossin' me around as well... can't get a break in here."

It didn't take long for the duo to reach the theater, as they had only gotten about halfway to the gate earlier. Just before they got there, however, Taka noticed a tuft of hair poking out from behind one of the trees. Said tuft of hair seemed to be very similar to a certain bossy lady he met earlier.

(The heck is she trying to do? ...Whatever, I'm not going to bother her.)

Whatever that girl's deal was, Taka was having none of it. He looked in another direction, spying another tree... with even more hair sticking out behind it. Granted, it was jet black this time. He rubbed his eyes in a double take, but the hair hadn't disappeared from sight.

(Why is everyone hiding behind trees all of a sudden?!)

After a brief moment of questioning his sanity the boy gave up trying to rationalize it. The more interesting thing was the fact a group of five people were walking down the road, at the front being a scruffy... man? He certainly didn't look like a high school student. Trailing just behind him was a smaller girl in comparison, stark white hair, looking up to the man like a lost child. Next up in the roster was a spiky haired boy, pretty well built, who looked rather cool and collected despite the whole situation. Rounding off the party was a short girl pressing her head against a slightly taller girl, who looked to be... Sayaka Maizono?!

That couldn't be right. Sayaka already graduated Hope's peak, didn't she? ...Damn it! Taka's memories seemed foggy in that aspect. Whoever the girl was, she couldn't be Sayaka. It wouldn't make much sense. Despite his confusion and general weird composition of the group, Taka turned to face Alice.

"Oi, there's people coming this way. Seems everyone got just as curious as us..."

---

Ayu Usui

Ayu didn't even register that someone had waved a hand in front of her eyes, or plucked a leaf out of her hair. The girl's eyes were unfocused and staring blankly past her vision. Her thoughts were raging too wildly, were much too chaotic and raw, to register any sense of smell, touch or sight. What did register in the girl's mind was a sudden but dull ringing noise, at least to her. It was enough to snap her out of her daze for a brief moment, scouting around by slowly turning her head and eyes. She noticed a monitor placed above her, and while Ayu didn't see what was being displayed on it, she did hear what it was saying. It asked to go to the theater, but by peering over the edge of her tree resting spot, she could still see it plain view.

"...Nah. Not moving."

The girl returned to her nesting place and was about to resuming staring off into space, but now a shadow was looming over her. After a short delay she looked off to the left, seeing a boy blocking out the sun and plucking a few leaves out of her hair. Ayu's eyes darted up, seeing the little snippets of nature falling around her.

"...Thanks."

Ayu didn't even bother looking at Hibiki as she said that, head lowering and looking off to the right. She saw a group of five walking down the nearby road, chatting with each other. They were probably curious about the theater.

"...Look, people. Are you with them? I hadn't noticed you..." the girl asked, tilting her head back to Hibiki.

Slowly, the group of students found their way to the stone structure. Whether it be sitting with crossed arms and a sour face, with a gaze of curiosity, or nervously fidgeting hands, you could see there weren’t really that many people around—or at least, the size of this amphitheater sure made it seem like there weren’t many. A energy was running through the air, as though something bad was about to happen.

Just as you thought that, a small figure seemed to… pop out from the ground? Wait, what?

If you were to observe the spectacle with the volume off, one might believe that they were watching some sort of educational video. The world's most talented high-schoolers all gathered together in front of a bear was something straight off of the TV. But this wasn't TV, and what Monokuma was asking was unreasonable. Even the celebrity impersonator knew the seriousness of the situation. She held her PDA in a trembling hand, scanning the rules.

”B-but!” She flicked her eyes towards the bear. ”W-what if we're locked in? We can't break in, but can we break out? That would be okay, right?” It wasn't her only question, it wasn't even her most pressing question. But her mind was racing, and there was little else she could say on such short notice.

”Heh...” Davis snorted. He was giving the rules on the PDA a look over before adressing the bear. ”Don't make me laugh.” He folded his arms. ”Is this really the extent of your creativity? You had the power to catch each and every one of us, wipe our memories, and the most interesting thing you could find to do with us was...this?” Davis spun on his heels. He was pointing at everything around himself. ”You have no control over the environment. Not the weather, not anything that might come and try to disturb this place, it's not even really that interesting. I hope you're not videotaping this for a live audience, because this would be the worst reality TV show I ever appeared on!”Davis pointed at the PDA. ”These rules aren't even particularly interesting, and there are so few of them! I'm not even sure 'leaving' the island is all that attractive with how cryptic some of these rules are. You're going to have to try a lot harder than this if you expect anything to happen.”

”Um.” Neola took a step towards Davis.”Are you trying to give him ideas?”

”Just stating how I would do things.” He folded his arms and smiled. "Anyway, I doubt anyone's going to kill just to leave the camp. And even if they were, someone as important as me can't vanish without causing an extensive search and rescue effort. Our predicament won't last forever.”

Hibiki only momentarily looked up from his pile at the other girl’s question, “...?” He gave her a slightly confused look before peering at the group. They all seemed to be around the same highschool age, but also seemed rather agitated. The boy shook his head before turning so that he could properly see the amphitheater. “...They must be related somehow.”

“Mh…” the girl near him murmured, staring off in the direction of the other people. It’s only a few short moments after that point where a monochrome bear popped up at the theater, though its small size made it a little harder to make out from this distance. The two of them were still in earshot, so they could hear the explanation of what was going down.

The first thing that seemed to pop into the Tutor’s head was the fact that the stuffed bear didn’t seem to be picking up too much dust. Was the amphitheater usually swept or was it just outright magical? Secondly, Ritsu would love to chomp on its ears... but the overall appeal was ruined by its half smile. The bear had an attitude that left the boy feeling even more sleepy, or maybe this was just a half daydream hallucination. But by the way the rest of the ‘campers’ were reacting, that didn’t seem to be so.

It took a second for his brain to wrap around the situation. He’d need to get out of here to find his precious fluffy companion after all. Also, considering the only way to get out of here was to kill someone, they’d have to outsmart the bear, it would be better to find someone who had the ‘umph’ to do such a thing. Hibiki got up, wiped off the leaves on his pants and surveyed the situation. A few campers seemed to be out in the open, but that didn’t mean any of them were ‘hiding’ like the two of them. Whether or not to go out into the open, that was the real question.

As Hibiki was engulfed in thought, the girl next to him had been sitting there, motionlessly. She didn’t say a word or even twitched with her fingers, an almost trance-like state washing over her form. Ayu got up unannounced, running her hands through her hair to get off some leaves, inadvertently covering her eyes from others’ sight. She started to walk past Hibiki, not so much sparing a glance his way.

While the boy hadn’t done much in terms of speed, almost having appeared sluggish this entire incident, his hand suddenly shot out to catch Ayu’s wrist. Hibiki hadn’t been thinking too hard about Ayu herself when he had done so, but his eyes searched the girl’s face as he muttered, “Not safe... Probably.” The guy who had just spoken out didn’t seem like the nice type while the girl didn’t seem the most sane either. It might be easier to stay hidden and get to the back of the line to get the pads once more people had come out.

Ayu froze for a second, only muttering “Please let go,” as she yanked her arm away from him. Her cold demeanor was calm, with no sign of hysteria or fear to be found in her voice. The girl had almost zealous conviction to get there, but she did turn her head briefly towards Hibiki before completely walking off.

“...Thanks though. You’re nice.”

And with that, Ayu slouched over to the theater, leaving the boy to his own devices.

Hibiki let his hand slip down to his side before scratching at the back of his head. Best to survey the situation alone, though the achy feeling in his throat hadn’t really dissipated. What to do...? He thought he caught sight of someone else in the bushes beyond, but thought he’d just lean against the tree for a bit.

It took Lilly a bit to ponder that question. She couldn't quite tell how many people might have known her, and her talent. It wasn't something she went around bragging about, at the very least, and typing out "Lilly Hart Ultimate Hacker" was way too time consuming a process for everyday speech. Sure, she could add it to a list of otherwise necessary terms pre-programmed for ease of use, but it still didn't seem like a particularly useful expenditure of time.

So instead of answering the question, she merely skipped along beside Davis to the Amphitheatre, taking in the cool air and breeze that, despite her aversion, left her feeling more refreshed than she had been in a long time. She would need some time to devise an answer to the question, after all, and what better way to do so than bask in the sunlight of wherever-they-were? That was another question she needed to get around to answering! - where were they all?

Lilly made sure to find herself within somewhat familiar company when choosing a place to sit, seating herself a short distance away from Davis, and the creepy lady... thing. Whoever she was, she couldn't recognise, but something about her was weird, even weirder than the Other One! Whoever the Other One was too. She'd have to find a better way of remembering everyone's names...

It didn't take long for the Amphitheatre to will with a variety of other people, seemingly of similar ages if not the same age as herself and the band of people she had been with since the beginning. Whoever had gathered them there must have gone to a considerable amount of effort to do so. Though Lilly didn't remember signing a consent form for a field trip. Maybe it was a surprise training exercise or something? If they were all Ultimates, it may have been something devised by Hopes Peak!

Or that was something of the vain hope she held, until Monokuma arrived, and Lilly couldn't help but smile to herself. The black and white colour scheme was a tad odd, and the glaring red eye wasn't her first choice for design, but even still! The cuddly toy was cute, and it could move on its own! An autonomous toy like that must have cost a lot, to be even able to replicate human speech and observe such fluid movements...

She continued to stare at it, even as it handed out the PDA's and announced the rules for the supposed "Killing Game", not that that was of any particular note to Lilly. She had other things to think about. Like petting the teddy bear! Her hand raised to propose the idea, until Davis rudely interrupted and she quickly brought her hand back down. Now wasn't the time for discussing rules! Nobody cared! Fluffy!

Beardie's exposition tapered off, and Lilly once again reached down to pull up her auto-translator. This time for sure she would get the fluff she deserved! Her free hand reached upwards to the sky, and her right hand dutifully tapped away at the screen that would bring about her true salvation! She smiled, primarily to herself, lost in energetic and rapturous thoughts, but also to Rosetta, who knew just how skilled Lilly's petting truly was.

Except she wasn't smiling at Rosetta. Instead she was simply staring at her skirt, smiling like weirdo - one even weirder than the blue haired girl. Something was wrong, and off, and terribly different. It was so wrong, the air permeated foul energy. A despicable crime had been committed, and none would escape righteous fury if it meant bringing about justice.

The hand that once tickled the blue of the sky shot down to grip her PDA, bringing up the list of participants in Monokuma's so called "Killing Game". Lilly had no such care for those trifles, nor the people within it. Except one. One boy. A child of evil, born of darkness, rotten to his very core. As quickly as she laid eyes upon his stark features, she desperately looked around the Amphitheatre for him.

And her eyes welled with tears, for her search bore no fruit. Nowhere to be found was her quarry. The boy who had stolen Rosetta! How had she not seen it coming?! How could she have been so stupid as to let him lay a finger on her treasure?! The creature would know the fury of God by the time she was done, that much she could promise. A tear rolled forth from her violet eyes in sadness, and her cheeks and nose grew into something of a pink.

Thus she marked the boy for death.

And the hunt began.

May God have mercy on his soul.

---

His breathing was low and airy as his unblinking eyes continued to drift between the oncoming students... well, "inferred" students in any case. The only time he was ever close to closing them was when he began squinting at the boy known as Taka, tracing his rather prominent and pronounced visage. However, he had an understanding of what those eyes were like, even if they had a... "familiar" feel to them - the feeling of seeing something.

Aurel could only furrow his brows as his lips curved into a rather shallow frown as he watched Taka and his companion saunter down the path to the amphitheater. During this time, his eyes drifted back to the spot Snow had taken up - behind a tree. The thief wasn't exactly sure if she lost track of him or not, but he would hope that she didn't.

"Taka knows where you're at," Aurel inaudibly mouthed with a somewhat on edge grit of his teeth as he returned to the previous position he was in, save for the fact that he was now chewing on his index finger. Thoughts loomed over whether or not his companion, feminine and sleek looking, might of taken note of Snow... augh, he should of tried coercing her to get into the bush!

Tightly gripping the stone slab, the air around his hands became a bit humid as he stood as still as the architecture he was pressed up against. Along the way, he decided to peek out, just a little bit more; if he was anything less than a so called ultimate, a head poking out from the side of the building would warrant some attention... guess there were some merits to being a friggin' Ultimate Thief...

Regardless, more people were approaching the amphitheater, that much was obvious from what he spotted even with Taka's proclamation. The first person he saw... someone who almost caused him to rethink his theory, if not for a couple of the others following behind him. He had an appearance that reminded him of one of the dealers he saw during a small-time heist, being a scruffy looking man with a shirt, suit, and tie and all...

While the Gamblers presence seemed to demand some attention, Aurel pried his gaze away to identify and analyze the rest of the arriving students. The only one he could immediately recognize right off the bat was the boy with the guitar from earlier - Ultimate Guitarist or Musician as he dubbed. Not much else to be said other than a cute looking girl having what appeared to be a child in a garish dress clinging to her side.

However, something did catch his eye though - a stuffed and battered animal that looked like it had gone through a lot that was being held tightly onto by a rather petite girl with hair that was nearly as white as his. Aurel's eyes were widely opened as a child as the one drifted onto the stage. Certain elements disappeared from sight, the trees, the amphitheater, even the people surrounding it slowly began to vanish in favor of this one doll. While the sounds of others chattering was not enough to break his focus, it would take a lot more to break him from his pleasant reverie as the cogs began turning through his head.

... which didn't take a whole lot considering the fact that he heard the grating, nasally, squeaky voice again, speaking in all its annoying "glory." Everything came blurring back in as he blinked a few times to identify where the sound was coming one, only to discover that it was at the center stage of the amphitheater. Whether his silence was natural or a result of the circumstance, his jaw was slightly agape as one of his eyebrows slowly rose.

That was... a talking stuffed animal... a peculiar one with a sinister looking side to it, but nevertheless, the voice was coming from that. Ugh, looks like he was going to have to bear this pain of listening to... him for a few minutes. That was just spectacular.

The name Monokuma danced across his head, as well commenting that most people knew him already. The latter part didn't seem to important, but something was off as he tilted his head, staring at the toy with quite possibly the rest of the others there. What did catch him off guard was the fact that Monokuma wasn't exactly well aware of what time it is, despite claiming it to be summer.

A nice chill breeze brushed over, causing some hair to obscure one of his eyes. Pushing his hair back to the side a bit, he couldn't help but shiver just slightly. His thoughts were here and there, but found a focal point in determining their location through the weather, time, and animals (save for their "counselor" or whatever)... maybe there was an Ultimate Anthropologist amongst them all?

Regardless, what nearly caused him to stop dead in his tracks were the next words that escaped its maw - that they would have to kill someone. While it did get into more specifics, he was taken aback by the absurdity of it all; it felt way to surreal that a stuffed animal, who seemingly managed to set all of this up, who has no recollection of the weather or what time it really is for the matter, wanted them all to engage in murder with each other. What was it getting out of this?

Squeezing the bunny tightly against his chest, he couldn't help but bite his lip as he looked down at the two PDA's he managed to snatch, mimicking what Monokuma did to activate it... and began toying around and studying its different functions... lets see... there was a built in map, the rules, a blackened out portion, and...

Aurel nearly froze in his tracks at the sight of what he was reading, thumb trembling as it neared the screen once more before slowly moving away. His unblinking eyes were much wider than the ocean itself and his breathing became stunted and stilled as he slowly absorbed what he was looking at right now.

A dossier of himself and his own talent; Aurel Fuchs, The Ultimate Thief... with different forms that you could switch through when calling him by his talent, but that didn't matter! There was information on here regarding him, to his talent, to his blood type! What... jut what was this?

The thief only began walking, albeit at a much slower pace than before, when he tapped on another profile. "Snow Iclyn," he mouthed the words silently to himself as much as he was thinking it; the format showing information about Snow was the same as Aurels, with the same format and anything.

Moving his head away from the screen, Aurel caught a bit of Snows white hair sticking out from behind the tree. She was... not exactly going to like this.

Swiftly picking up the pace, he hopped over with each step towards her, no different than a certain bunny would act if it was a living creature. Once he was shoulders length away from her, he tightly squeezed the bunny whilst grabbing the other tablet in hand. Raising it up, he peered at the side of her head for a mere second before glancing away.

"Here you go... Snow," he murmured softly to the girl, tapping her on the shoulder with one of the two devices he managed to snatch.

Ayu Usui

Ayu's eyes slowly drifted from side to side as she slowly advanced towards the two-toned bear at the center of the theater, scanning the surrounding people briefly. Some were decidedly uninteresting; they do nothing of note but stare blankly or have their face twist in the most predictable way possible. Ayu didn't bother to rest her eyes on those people for long. The first person of note was rough, gruff and tough looking. Even though she could only see his backside, the suit and slightly messy hair clue Ayu in to a more mature stature- even if the behaviour didn't match up. Grandstanding and boasting- it'll take time to see how long it will last. The idol-mimicking girl next to him didn't fare much better in Ayu's eyes, with her immediately getting nervous and finicky, especially to the boy, being the source of the black-haired girl's irritation. The reactions were almost cliché- the only saving grace was their odd looks amidst the crowd.

The last person that Ayu took somewhat serious note of was a crouched down, white haired girl. An unnatural breeze whiffed past Ayu coming from that girl's direction, but she didn't pay it much mind in favor of scanning her face. She'd moved past the group now, far enough to get a clear look in. Refined, fragile, a milky skin tone... she almost looked like a noble, and her demeanor matched. The frustration was palpable as the other girl's cheeks flushed, hastily swiping that tablet in her hands to look for something, which in turn frustrated Ayu.

(...Weak, easy target. Should watch herself... looks like she's been deceived. ...Deceived. Bear. Right...)

Ayu's mind recalled a certain line she picked up from the bear.

“Anyways, welcome to Summer Camp! I know it doesn’t precisely feel like Summer, but I promise it is. Maybe. Can I be honest? I have no idea what time it is. Or where we are. I’m just as confused as the rest of you!”

...They were lying. No doubt about it. It wasn't just some hunch. Despite the lack of human vocal chords, despite being completely mechanical, she could still tell from that tone. They hardly tried to hide it; the irony was palpable to any person who was even slightly paying attention. It clued Ayu in to one thing for sure; that thing wasn't a reliable source of information. Not until proven otherwise. Unfortunately, the only lead they got...

...was actually in her hands, come to think of it. Ayu's thoughts had made her zone out of the happenings around her, but there she was, Student PDA in hand. She wasted no time in opening it up once the girl had snapped back to reality, and the first thing she saw was also the first thing that got her to emote this day. A surprised face, turned to an inquisitive glare, turned back into a blank stare. She swiped to another tab, and her suspicions were reaffirmed.

The boy she talked to earlier- he was a tutor. It explains his patience. The stuffy one was Conquest, befitting of his boasting. Idol mimicat then turned out to be an impostor, but despite the stunning accuracy, Ayu had seen through that already. That idol was her senior, and according to everything she's been able to gather, the people around her were supposed to be her classmates. But she checked something again after looking over student profiles, namely the thing that had caught her off-guard. The only one who had nothing written about themselves...

They're called Ayu Usui, the Super High School Level ???

---

As Snow hid behind a tree, an ugly, somewhat disturbing mechanical teddy bear showed its face out of nowhere. It not only surprised Snow; but it made her uneasy, which was worsened by the weird manner in which the bear spoke. As she listened to it, she started observing the crowd that had gathered, some of which familiar. They looked to be around her age, but that gave rise to even more questions.

Why were they all kids?

Where they hostages liker her?

If they were, why would they need that many kids?

As she thought of possible scenarios, her mind started to get foggy and her heart filled with dread. It was Aurel who snapped her out of it. Or more like the sight of Aurel not hiding anymore as he was not where he was supposed to be. Was he crazy? Walking in between everyone with no care in the world. And yet…nobody seemed to notice him…at all. It surprised Snow so much that she almost missed the most important part that the bear had to say. But alas, even if she would want to, she could never miss those words.

“All you have to do is kill somebody!”

In a fraction of a second, the mood in the air turned from uneasy to absolutely frightful. This felt like a really bad joke, but she knew it wasn’t. Multiple people were kidnapped, lost their memories, and were imprisoned here. This was reality, and it was not a happy one.

But by taking it serious, it immediately caused her to distrust everyone who was stuck here, not even aurel was safe from her judgment. If anyone wanted to get out, they’d have to kill, and with her low expectations of humanity, it would only be fitting that they’d stoop so low in her mind. This situation required a very delicate strategy, but luckily, Snow had already thought of a first move.

But first, she would need address Aurel, who had kindly brought a pda to her. Upon skimming through it, she was a bit surprised at finding out that they were all shsl students, and how much they knew about all of them. But figuring out what it all meant had to wait, because Aurel was right in front of her.

“You’ve heard the teddy right? Before long, bodies will drop…Unless we stop them.” Snow slowly walked away from the tree and towards the crowd. “I don’t care for these people, they will definitely murder if given the chance.” She turned to face Aurel with an almost frightening seriousness. “So let’s remove that chance.” With that, she walked among the crowd, not looking anyone in the eye, until she did.

“Listen up, because I’m not wasting my time saying this twice!” She shouted, looking everyone in the eye with that same seriousness, albeit with a bit of prejudice mixed in.

“I know what you’re all thinking right now, and I warn you. Let it be known that I don’t trust any of you; if anybody tries to hurt me, I will make you regret it. That said, I won’t allow anyone else to be murdered as well, so from now on, everyone will be in groups of three or more people. Those who don’t abide by this rule are allowing murder to occur…But don’t mistake my words for compassion; my only goal is getting out of here.”

At the end of her ‘speech’ her demeanor slowly turned from hostile and serious to a somewhat more approachable stance.

“Got all that? Good, then I am going to ask you all something. Somebody found an exit with me, but said exit is electrically charged; safe to say we won’t be going through there. So I want to know; has anybody here found an exit or ways of escape?”

Ando Yamagata

"Oh, sure, I'll come along."

'Davis' still had that smile on his face, but for him it already took on a different meaning. The two in front of the fell for it hook, line and sinker! Lucky for him they don't watch much TV, but then again, the boy wouldn't have really cared. Giving out his identity right now was not the right thing to do. The announcement couldn't have come at a better time too; the less 'Davis' had to explain his talent the better the bluff would turn out.

The boy trailed behind the other two, hands behind his head as he casually observed his surroundings with a shit-eating grin. The trio made their way over to the theater at a comfortable pace, right in time to witness Monokuma. The 'Ultimate Conquest' quickly got bored of how the little stuffed animal was dilly-dallying around the explanation, even if it was a little curious how that damn thing could talk. This boredom led his eyes to trail off to the left, and at that moment, a sense of dread filled him.

"Oh, crap."

The words came out louder than expected, but Monokuma's explanation seemed to have drowned out any immediate reaction. The reason for that statement came in the form of a tall, well-built figure standing among a surprisingly large group of girls. The figure known none other than the actual Davis Gallo. Although... the situation wasn't really that bad, when Ando stopped to think about it. Sure, his bluff would be called out soon, but who cares? He only knew these two jokers for like, a minute. As far as the guitarist was concerned, it was still a good move to not give away his name. Besides, it's not like Ando's looking to make friends in this place.

With Monokuma telling them why they were here, it seems like he didn't have to either.

(Pffft. Kill someone my ass. Even if they did stab a guy, these idiots would probably just break down crying.)

Ando lazily swiped through the student PDA he'd been handed, quickly scanning the names and talents of everyone listed in it. Almost none of these guys had a talent that seemed like they could actually pose a threat- seriously, what kind of a half-assed talent is 'Recollector' anyway?

The teenager's attention was drawn away from the tablet as a familiar voice started making a ruckus in the distance. Looks like the little special snowflake hairstylist he ran into earlier was making a complete ass of herself. Again.

"Oh, puh-lease, spare me and shut it already. Nobody's got any reason to take you seriously. Besides, I think there's a more pressing concern. Ladies and gents, if I would like to divert your attention to one miss Parker in the crowd?"

Ando tried drawing the attention to him, holding out his student PDA on her profile as he flashed it for the entire peanut gallery to see. His movements were theatrical as his hand circled around a certain section on it.

"For those of you unaware, we are currently being told to kill each other and little miss Alice's talent is quite concerning. Namely, that of the Super High School Level Assassin. Don't you think it's a little more pressing to restrain her before she can do any damage? After all, having a killer among us would be quite problematic if that's our only means of escape. Maybe we shouldn't just let her run loose?"

Hisakawa

Hisakawa was confused, mostly, though that didn’t really stop him from just sort of rolling with the circumstances. Being lectured by a mechanical bear wasn’t exactly his idea of a normal day, but he was mostly happy to be able to learn what was going on. Once he could get home, or at least to school, he could reevaluate everything and get back on task.

Though that didn’t mean he didn’t have concerns. What the hell was this guy talking about, not knowing where they were? And what the hell did he mean by wiping memories!? How much had been erased? What did he forget? Oh god, what if he forgot something really important? He was already forgetful enough without god damn memory loss thrown in!

But even then, this could be managed. This meeting is about getting out of here, right? He didn’t like not being able to fully remember anything, but he could figure out what was lost once he got out of here. He’ll probably just head right home. Leaving was clearly already way too much for him, and it hadn’t even been… well, who the hell knows how long. It didn’t matter. He just had to stay calm and do what the bear told him.

That changed completely once he heard the word “kill”.

This had to be some sort of joke, right? He couldn’t leave unless he killed somebody? That’s ridiculous! He can’t kill somebody! That’s insane! He needed to get out of here as soon as possible, but there was no way he could kill somebody to do that.

Hisakawa began to feel some sort of panic begin to settle in, his brain going into overdrive. Obviously, he had to get out. He couldn’t handle himself on his own, certainly not in circumstances like this. He had to get back home. He had to call—no, he lost his phone. God damn it, leave it to him to mess up something as simple as keeping a damn phone on him. There was no way everything would be okay if he just sat here and accepted the circumstances, but what the hell could he do about it? He supposed he could try to escape, at least, but he wasn’t too sure about his chances of success. Should he even try to escape? What the hell was the right thing to do here!?

Hisakawa desperately grasped onto the edge of the seat he sat in, his breathing becoming more laborious. Could he really do that? Kill somebody? He had to get home, or at least get in contact with the outside world again. But would he really be willing to kill someone for it? Hisakawa forced his head into his hands, as if blocking everything would stop the situation—it all seemed hopeless.

How the hell does this even happen? In what realm of reality is this a thing that happens!?

He shouldn’t have left. He should have stayed home. Home was safe. Home was gentle. Home was forgiving. He had been here for less than an hour and already everything was going insane.

No. He can’t do this now. He absolutely had to focus. This was a genuine dangerous situation. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to be calm and think clearly through everything—he was well aware of how skittish he could be—but if he can’t focus, he immediately condones himself to failure.

Upon having the PDA placed in his hands, he fiddled with the device, his shaking hands and unfocused eyes having a hard time navigating. Reading through the rules did nothing to relax him, nor did reading through any of the profiles. He looked over the people in the group, and it suddenly seemed to him that nobody here was trustworthy. Perhaps that was judgemental of him, but knowing that anyone around him right now would be justified in killing him certainly did nothing to calm his breathing. The purple haired man from before—Yamagata Ando, apparently—had lied about who he was before this whole killing game thing had even been brought up. The shit-eating grin made a lot more sense now. He probably should have picked up on that…

As he was mulling on this, a platinum-haired women approached the front, speaking to the group as a whole.

She was hostile, definitely standoffish, and, admittedly, her tone caused Hisakawa’s stomach to twist from anxiety. But she offered up a plan—sticking together in groups. It was at least a sense of direction, and it made sense enough to him, at any rate, though as Yamagata spoke out against her, he felt like an idiot for agreeing. You would think he’d really know better by this point. As Yamagata continued to talk, Hisakawa double checked to verify what he was saying. Sure enough, Alice was an assassin.

This was getting too much to process. He needed some sort of guidance, and he tried to find somebody he could rely on. Not far from him was Suzuki, and seeing as the guy so far had not lied to him and hasn’t made any sort of aggressive action, he turned over to him

“So, um-” He paused, suddenly reconsidering. Wasn’t it kind of manipulative for him to do this? But he already had Suzuki’s attention, and he didn’t want to waste his time. So, he went for it anyway, “What do you think about all of this?”

Damian

Damian, for most of the meeting, had his eyebrows furrowed and a frown on his face. This whole thing was just kind of garbage, really. There weren’t many people around him, and from the one person he had talked to thus far, they didn’t seem to be a great crowd.

He didn’t really get what the bear was going on about in terms of not knowing where they were, which was a total lie, and a waste of time if we wasn’t even going to give any real answers. The memory loss was a bit more concerning, though, especially considering it was, apparently, a lot of memories. Well, at the very least, he wasn’t alone in that. For now, he was much more concerned about getting out. He didn’t come to Hope’s Peak to get kidnapped, after all.

“All you have to do is kill somebody!”

Now that… That was concerning. Damian certainly didn’t want to be here anymore, but was murder really the only way out of here? Damian wasn’t entirely sure he believed it—perhaps it was a cruel joke or a strange test the school had set for them. That’d be totally awful, but it’d be a hundred times better than this.

Damian started looking through the rules—all very well set out for a murder based game, certainly. He noticed a section on the students, and started flipping through the profiles—he was going to have to work with these people if he wanted to get out in a way that didn’t involve murder, after all. Well, that or learn how to get very comfortable with them.

He wasn’t exactly enthused with the crowd he found himself with, though. Not everyone seemed unpleasant—there were a few who didn’t immediately strike him as being a pain. Some people with more or less harmless demeanors and talents, at least from what he can gather at a glance and whatever he found on their profile. Some of the others even seemed a little childlike, which concerned him a bit, though when he looked up and saw one of these said individuals glaring around the amphitheater with pure malice in her eyes, he figured he probably wouldn’t need to worry that much. Another individual of note was this “Alice Parker” woman. Then again, it’s kind of hard not to take note of a woman who is literally the best there is at killing people in a killing game. He would absolutely have to keep his eye on her.

Another individual he noticed was Davis Gallo—which wasn’t hard, considering the man seemed to be begging to be payed attention to. God, who the hell does he think he is? Where the hell does he think he is? Is he really so insecure he’s gotta make a mockery of an actual killing game? And seriously? The worst reality TV show he’s ever been on? Damian rolled his eyes—he was sure Davis’ spotlight on Chopped was absolutely glamourous. He ended up not saying anything in response, however. Usually guys like him were way more trouble than they were worth.

Speaking of more trouble than they were worth, the woman from before, who he now knew was named Snow Iclyn, decided to show up and give a bunch of orders, but he had no intention of following her plan. If she wanted people to help her, she should probably not be such a stone-cold asshole all the time. Or, at least, he sure wasn’t going to take orders from someone like that.

He overheard some purple-haired man started slagging on Snow, and then brought up the matter of Alice and her talent as an assassin. Damian took note of him—he seemed on top of his shit, even if a bit gruff about it.

He looked back at the weird stuffed bear running all of this—Monokuma, if he remembered correctly. Whoever he was, he was definitely not to be trusted. Damian nodded to himself. The best course of action would be to get rid of him. He was clearly dangerous. And to do that, he needed information.

“So, Monokuma, what exactly are you? And what is all this for, anyway?”

Sticking to Neola's side like a leech, Kara followed the others to the stone structure. Davis and the girl seemed to be talking, but their words were drowned out by the white noise echoing in her ears. When they arrived there weren't many kids around, though they all looked around the same age. It was hard to notice much with the world looking like it was shaking around her, but Kara did what she could to keep her knees from buckling.

A bear was giving out an explanation, even though it was a confusing one at that. Summer, but maybe not summer? Was this a camp set up by Hope's Peak? Was it just some strange Japanese orientation and this was kind of normal for such an eccentric place of study?

"All you have to do is kill somebody!"

There's no way that could be right... right? The whole idea of them being dragged here was far-fetched, but murder. Kara could barely stifle a fit of hysterical giggling. Kara took her PDA without looking at it, now that her head was clearer, she wanted to make sure to see everything. It was just some kind of big game before the semester started! What had been that game online that a few of her friends had gossiped about? Mafia? It must be like that!

The game rules would probably be important now, but Kara wanted to check on her classmates first to see their reactions, did they really think this was real? It must have had a twist if they had to figure out a way off the campsite, some kind of escape room scenario. Did the Ultimate Detective design this?

But that big guy Davis must be getting quite into character to want to add more elements to the game. It had already giving Kara quite the fright and they really needed to stop with the whole 'we're trapped thing', it's not like they would be there that long if the semester was starting soon. First years get to have all the fun at orientation while their upperclassman would already be hitting the books.

That girl with the white hair definitely had a stylish look going on. Finally opening her PDA, the Ultimate Dessert Chef looked at her profile. With the title "Ultimate Hair Stylist" it was no wonder! She was taking the game a little too serious as well and had a bit of a harsh attitude. Hopefully she would start being kinder like miss Neola... Oh! She was still holding onto the taller girl. She quickly detached herself from the other teenager's dress and dipped her head in an apology, muttering a "sorry..."

After focusing back on the group, she heard some purple-haired guy talk about Alice Parker. Looking at the PDA, she read through her profile. Was in on the game too? Maybe she was secretly one of their upperclassman. With a few swipes, she looked through the profiles and came upon an odd one. Ultimate ???.

This was going to be fun... r-right? It didn't seem like her kind of game, she was never good at mystery puzzles.

Kara didn't like this game. Not one bit.

"Oh man, would you~?" Alice began to walk towards Ando and smirked. Her voice trailed off into a high pitched hum as she finished speaking.

Once she was a few feet away from Ando, she placed her hands on her hips and stared him straight in the eyes. "Wow. I'm impressed, I really am. Not only have you identified the largest threat in this room, but you have successfully garnered her attention and made her your enemy in the same sentence. Do they still give out Darwin awards? I think one would suit you, big guy."

Alice took a step closer to Ando, to the point that she was only a few feet away from her target guitarist. "If only you knew. Y'know what. There's exactly one reason why I'm the Ultimate Assassin, and let me tell you, it is not because I'm good at killing people. Statistically speaking, your average politician is a little better at killing people than I am. That's not to say I haven't been trying, though. It's just so hard when they keep repealing those anti-pollution legislation. I mean, have you looked at one of those charts about how many people those kill each year. Talk about an unfair comparison."

"Y'know what I am better than a politician at doing, though?" Alice smirked again, and stepped once again towards the guitarist. She leaned towards him, so that she was directly next to Ando's ear. "Making people disappear. I'm not picky about counting kills, but I pride myself on making sure they leave no trace. Y'know, though. I haven't killed anyone on my own volition... yet."

Alice jumped back until she was once again a comfortable distance away from Ando. She then turned towards the rest of the Ultimate Students. "But, if you wanna tie me up and lock me in some shed so I don't start instinctively stabbing people, I won't stop you guys. Or... Maybe I will. Now I've confused myself. How about one of you give it a shot and we can figure this out together?"

Lilly had zoned out completely. Whatever was going on around her, she wanted nothing to do with. Everything span and turned and every sound melted into a single continuous hum of white noise. Her head roared with a cacophony of sound, deafening and at the same time just a quiet buzz over an expanse of colour and static. It hurt but it was better than dealing with the mess that was the outside world, and the "Killing Game", and all the other people with their stupid idea and inconsequential drama.

She just wanted Rosetta back. The bunny was her last treasure, her last memory, her last beauty and last ideal and someone had taken that from her. As the world span it blended into the boys face - that boys face - the one who stole from her. How would she get it back? It would take some effort, but she would get it back. She would get it back no matter what. There was no extreme too that she would not go to in order to retrieve it.

Reality came back into focus somewhat. Daydreaming wasn't going to help her, and Lilly knew that. In the world around more people were fighting and arguing and doing God knows what that she wanted to escape from but couldn't. And they wouldn't shut up but maybe they would be useful. Their voices were worse than the static, but she would just have to bear it, just for a little bit longer. Just until-

And then a few words popped into her head. Reality snapped into motion, completely clear now, and she scanned around the Amphitheatre, taking in the other people. Her hand raised to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye as she did so, and finally she locked onto the person she wanted. Maybe they could help her. She glanced back down to her handbook, and swiped across a few pages to find their profile. And it was perfect.

Lilly stood up. In the middle of the commotion and arguing, Lilly walked across the Amphitheatre. She gave light, methodical steps, completely against the immature skipping she had performed mere minutes prior. And then she stood, looking up towards the person she was interested in. Her head titlted a little to take in her features, and before long she pulled up her translator and began typing.

Quickly she checked the volume. She didn't want a repeat of previous, where no one could hear it. That would just be embarrassing. Then she pressed the button to begin talking, with all the preliminary checks finished. The smile she had was gone, and instead she just looked upset as it began to speak.
"Could you kill someone for me, Alice?" and then she lowered the translator, and lifted up her handbook, on the page of Aurel Fuchs.

Taka Tsuin

"...Oh, great, yeah, just ignore me. Fantastic," Taka mumbled to himself as he watched Alice's blank stare, the girl having refused to answer his question. Before any more disappointments came to, a tacky but small plush bear popped up on the stage. It seemed to move independently enough, with a mechanized voice coming out of it somehow. While their initial words and appearance was rather comedic, the note they chose to end it on wasn't. Taka felt a shiver of dread run down his spine as the bear cheerfully exclaimed:

“All you have to do is kill somebody!”

"Ha... haha... you're fuckin' kidding me, right," the boy muttered and took a step back. They weren't just trapped- they were going to have to kill each other?

"D-Don't... give me that crap...! Nobody's going to kill anybody here!"

His shouts to Monokuma were defiant and naïve, but he didn't have much reason to believe otherwise. Why should he trust the bear, anyway? His eyes glanced to the side, back to a gruff looking boy that arrived not too long ago. He shared much of Taka's sentiments, even if he went about expressing those in a rather arrogant way.

Taka nervously scanned the profiles of everyone here after receiving his PDA. The girl he met earlier- she was named Snow. The other person from that time was Ando. This was relevant, as Taka's day only got worse by the both of them opening their mouths one after another. Snow was being as bitchy as ever about making her point, but the guitarist's reaction was the most dreadful. Not only was Ando being a dick again, but he said something that made Taka freeze for a second. He grabbed his PDA again and scrolled through to Alice Parker's profile, glancing up at the woman who'd just about stepped over to the other boy.

"T-The hell...!"

That woman wasn't the 'Ultimate Knight,' not by a long shot. Her talent was about as far removed from that as you could get. However... Taka can't say he blames her for hiding it. A talent that paints you as a heartless murderer... nobody would want it. But the scariest part is that you can't have that kind of talent on accident.

(...?! Wait, isn't this dangerous?)

Realisation shot through him as he looked back up at where the woman was going, seeing her lean in to whisper something. He could see the other boy's face recoil in shock from here...

---

Ando Yamagata

"Nh...!"

Ando instinctively reeled as Alice's menacing whisper reached his eardrums, but before he could shove her away from him the girl had already hopped back.

"C-Crazy bitch...! Fine, whatever... just try and 'dispose' of me here. You're just as trapped as the rest of us! Even if you got out, everyone would know it's you anyway!"

Ando was a bit shaken from the sudden threat, but he swiftly regained his cocky composure completely. That arrogant grin was plastered all across his face as he threw out that retort, but a hint of confusion slipped through as he noticed a white-haired girl carefully tip-toeing her way towards the duo. Not only that, but instead of saying something like a normal person, she started to fiddle with a device that she'd been carrying around.

(What the hell is her deal?)

Ando's thoughts were quickly answered when the girl finished her typing, a synthetic voice being the one to bring that answer to light.

"Could you kill someone for me, Alice?"

Ando blinked twice in confusion. Then his face changed from distorted back to disgusted.

"What the fuck?! You're just as crazy as her! It hasn't even been five minutes and we've already got two people out to kill someone!"

Ando slapped his hand against his forehead and ran it through his hair, taking a step back as he waved around with the other hand.

"I want nothing to do with either of you. Go off each other for all I care. Give the bear what he wants, I'll figure a way out of here without bashing someone's skull in."

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"Hmmm? Did I scare you? Are you scared? I was just joking about the disappear thing. Dead people are really messy! There's no way I'd clean one up. I mean, really, think about it. I just have to poke someone with something sharp a few times. Pfft. Leaving no trace? C'mon, use your head. Would I let the the initiative Hopes Peak label me the Ultimate Assassin if I wanted to keep things hidden? But, I totally lied about that whole pollution law thing. I'm at least ten times more likely to kill you than a politician." She then swiveled away from Ando towards Lilly.

"Can't you see we we're in the middle of something? Y'know, telling people you want someone killed is definitely gonna get you on the wrong side of my proverbial shed. But..." Alice momentarily appraised the handbook and Lilly, seemingly mulling over her proposition. Alice took a step towards the speechless specialist, and leaned towards her, similar to how she did when whispering to Ando. While it seemed like she was about to whisper — like she did with Ando — she actually just hovered near Lilly's shoulder for a moment, before retracting her head. "Hmm, nope. Not a chance in hell. You don't even smell like him. We're done here."

Alice stepped away from both of them, and faced the crow of Ultimate Students once again. Her eyes lingered on one student in particular, but before anyone could tell who it was they fluttered towards a more neutral glare. "Anyways, I can tell where I'm not wanted. Although..." Alice smiled at the group of Ultimate Students. "One more thing. I definitely have an unfair advantage in this game, and I hate unfair advantages — So, I will give you guys three days to get your bearings straight. In other words: If you guys don't find a way out in that much time — and none of you decide to kill another student — then I can't promise that I'll wait around for a wholesome ending. I'm a busy girl, I can hardly give you the time I've already offered you."

Alice winked and began to walk away. "Clock starts now. See ya then!"

Assuming she was uninterrupted, she would disappear to an unknown location.

Neola was okay with Kara leaving. But then she said she was sorry. When people say they are sorry, it doesn't always mean that they are apologizing. More often than not, it's a response to let someone down gently. I'm sorry, but sugar makes you hyper. I'm sorry, the party has enough people. I'm sorry, you need to stay in your room again. It was just a nice way to exclude someone without making them feel bad. But when you knew this, it made you feel horrible. Not only do they need time away from you, but they think you're stupid enough to not realize they loathe your existence. ”O-Okay...” was her only response to the small girl.

Neola had to stay in character though. It was hard, because she didn't understand the situation. All she had to go on was the emotions of those around her, and she had never seen Sayaka in a situation like this. Neola couldn't just stand here and act like everyone else. Though if everyone thought the situation was bad, maybe she should act scared as well. There was clearly no impressing Kara, and head pats were nothing more than a dream at this point. What to do, what to do...

Wait, there was a cold girl there, talking really loudly. She was as cold as ice. Well, maybe not that cold. At least Neola felt like she had a caring side to her some where. A soft side. Could Ice be soft? Yes! Because snow is soft and cold! That's exactly what this woman was. Neola would have to look up her name later.

”Snow?” Neola hoped she would respond to her nickname. ”Um, if you found an exit that's electrically charged, why not just turn off the power? Or better yet, maybe we could put on rubber suits and walk through?” Neola did her best to sound nervous, but she honestly felt she had just solved everyone's problem.



Davis huffed. Not a single person had agnowlaged him. Not verbally anyway. And if they did, their voice was lost in all the ones that weren't. ”I suppose this is their natural state. They're all motivated by fear. It reminds me of America when the tragedy started.” Davis was aware of every word spoken after his dramatic speech. At least when it was loud enough for him to hear. Then, Davis's feet started moving. Anyone who looked at him could tell he was mildly irritated. But he didn't pay any mind to those around him. He walked past Neola, he walked past Snow, he walked past almost everyone. But not Ando. When Ando had turned to walk away from Alice, he was facing Davis. The scruffy boy simply smiled once the guitarist noticed him. ”So...” He glanced down at his PDA momentarily before looking back up. ”Ando Yamagata?” He chuckled. ”I just wanted to have a civil conversati-you cunt!” In a flash, Davis Gallo turned into a frenzied demon. His hair seemed to shoot out at every angle, and his gaze was hot enough to melt steel. ”Clad in piss-laden panties no less! What the fuck do you think you're doing? Out of all of us, she had the lowest chance of committing murder!” He rocked his head forward. Everyone thought Davis was going to head-butt Ando, but he stopped himself a mere inch before his forehead collided with the guitarist. Davis had opened his PDA to rule #7 without looking at it and held it up for Ando to see. Though it was far more likely that Ando was looking at the disheveled lunatic that was screaming at him. ”Everyone will think the first murderer is her at the drop of a hat, so even if she's the best killer, she'll have the hardest time proving she's innocent in the trial to follow! Did you get that through your thick scull, cock jocky? What the fuck is with your hair!? Did they run out of masculine colors or did you think it would be cool to make your hair look like a unicorn took a shit in it? Because it's not workiiiiiiiiing!” Davis Did not wait to see how Ando reacted to all of that. Instead he turned to look at Lilly and calmly said: ”Your hair looks nice, by the way.” He didn't smile, but he gave the hacker a polite nod. ”Don't go anywhere, I might need you to fix this.” He turned towards Alice. ”Alice Parker.” Davis was free of the aggression he had showed Ando, but his voice was cold and stern. ”If I'm not mistaken, you challenged one of us to try to tie you up. I can't ignore that.” Davis pulled his tie completely loose and let both ends of it hang out of his hand. ”While you may be confident in your abilities, I'm on quite the win streak right now. I do not expect it to end anytime soon.” He slipped his other hand into his pocket. ”You have given us an ultimatum. I would like to issue one of my own. If you do not call off your time limit, I will be forced to bind you and drag you back to my cabin.” The ultimate conqueror locked eyes with his target and didn't look away.

It seemed as though everyone had gotten their PDA, so the Ultimate Tutor soon came out to acquire his as well. He swiped through the list of profiles before landing on the profile of the girl from earlier- an Ayu Usui. As far as Hibiki could tell they were all Ultimate students the same age, but her Ultimate came up blank. If he was in the helpful mood later it would probably do well to help her find out what her talent may be.

The rules seemed like they would be quite the hassle, did he absolutely have to nap inside of the residential cabins or was anywhere an option during the day. At some point he would have to take the two-toned bear aside and ask these quintessential questions. The murdering and what not was kind of upsetting, but would high school students really have enough motive to murder even in this situation? That didn't seem the most plausible. It would be more likely that other new motives or conflicts would arise in such a competing and harrowing environment, but for the moment they seemed safe. It wouldn't do for anyone to kill in a crowd and the bear would probably give them time to take in this new information and decompress.

Movement from where Hibiki had thought he had seen a disturbance earlier revealed a tall girl that seemed to be the leader archetype, quite similar to the boisterous man earlier. She certainly had the 'north' conflict style and took matters into her own hands, she valued her own life above all the others. Hibiki quickly scanned over her profile and identified her as Snow Iclyn.

Her words were firm and to the point, calculated as one could be in this situation. Staying in groups would allow Hibiki to use his talent to his upmost ability, but also sounded a bit crowded. How was he supposed to get in his daily shut-eye with at least two other people? But with Snow in the lead, escape routes were sure to be scoured asap so hopefully it wouldn't take too much time.

And competing interests immediately appeared. A boy with purple hair and a guitar quickly objected- an Ando Yamagata and he didn't seem at all willing to negotiate. Pointing out Alice Parker was not the move Hibiki would have ever taken, but then again, he usually didn't do anything drastic and that would impede his cuddly companion time. Calling out the Ultimate Assassin wouldn't do anything to worsen your chance of dying by her hand, but would theoretically dramatically piss her off.

While Alice's reaction was quite expected, the other girl coming over to her in the middle of the other two Ultimates' argument seemed out of place in the situation around them. What came out of the small device she held was even more incomprehensive. Lilly Hart seemed like a wild card that looked opposite of what she acted. If she hadn't said something so uncharacteristic of his expectations, Hibiki might have dismissed her as one of the crowd altogether. As Ando started to get more heated, the blue haired Ultimate walked closer, thinking that soon someone would have to butt in and clear up the mess of an argument they were starting...

And it ended before it could get any worse. At the very least it didn't seem like Hibiki would have to raise his voice to be overheard, he was not one to do so normally in the first place. But with the weird scratchy feeling at the back of his throat he was worried how his voice would come out. Something about what Alice said made the boy think she was full of empty words and wouldn't end up following through with the murder for some strange reason. She definitely had plenty of motive though.

'Oh, shit' It was when Hibiki was scanning through the rest of the crowd that he noticed Davis advancing on the musician, and not too happily either. With an Ultimate like Conquest, even the Tutor had heard something about him... And his reputation preceded him, he certainly hated being ignored. It wasn't like Hibiki to move fast so he hesitantly followed behind from a distance, not wanting to get to close before a shitstorm started.

The boy cringed as Davis went to town on Ando, especially the hair remark. If he thought Ando's hair was feminine, what would he think of Hibiki's? But that wasn't the most pressing topic at hand. Hibiki walked closer and closer 'til he stood a bit behind Ando, trying to find a good time to cut in, but before he could, the Davis was already done with the Guitarist. Since it seemed as though Alice could take care of herself, he turned to the two Ultimates next to him.

To the girl, he gave her translator a quick glance before given a small smile he usually gave to his younger students, "Killing is a bit much for a punishment, I hope you two can come to a proper agreement." The girl looked rather small for her age and he didn't want anyone thinking of her as a 'blackened' or whatever they were called. She'd have a better chance of survival with her not going around looking for a hit man. "I bet Snow Iclyn might be able to help you out if you annoy her about it enough though."

With that, Hibiki pivoted with strange precision of someone with a slow demeanor and patted Ando on the shoulder. "Look, we're all under some pressure here so it might be good to get some water and cool down a while. How about we head over to those cabins over there?" He motioned in the direction away from the amphitheater.

It wasn't that he had any real ulterior motives, but a drink would definitely help him keep focused and boost his mood.

@Ammokkx@Vocab

---

Aurel sighed slightly as the woman procured her own tablet before returning his vision to his own. His hand glided over as he performed a similar action to the girl, skimming off each person, one by one, and found they were all Ultimates, no different than he. The thief couldn't help but nod just slightly to himself as he continued absorbing all the knowledge. While there were some curiosities, like Aya Usui and Neola Akiyama, there was always one he came back to that sent a shiver down his spine, one that completely stole away the color from his face.

Alice Parker, the Ultimate Assassin.

... and he thought his talent was problematic... but this one... in a scenario like this, he didn't exactly know how said Assassin would react. Would she try to kill someone to get out of dodge as quickly as possible or analyze the situation. Either or was a possibility as Aurel became anxiously engrossed with the tablet, slowly bringing an index finger up and gnawing on it.

No one was really going to kill another to get out of her? Right? It was silly, preposterous, surreal...

"What does Monokuma get out of this," were the words that echoed in his mind as he constantly stared down the tablet before being snapped from his trance by Snow, jerking back a bit as he sheepishly looked up with a moderately neutral visage. The words that came out of her mouth were a bit distressing, but maybe the assassin wouldn't try to kill someone.

Aurel couldn't help but clutch the bunny and tablet to his chest as he listened, looking off to the side somewhat uncomfortably when she said she didn't exactly care much for anyone here, shifting a bit away from her when she passed on by. But the final words she said? It made him look up and briefly made eye contact with her.

As soon as the thief saw her going towards the crowds, he immediately tried reaching out to try and stop her, but he faltered. His hand cringed back for a moment as he sighed slightly and slumped back against the tree, eyeing Snow move farther and farther away from him. Breaking his field of view from the lady, he shoved himself up, taking one step after the woman before abruptly stopping. Glancing down at the bunny in his arms, his eyes widened before moving back up to stare at the girl with the peculiar device.

... Aurel thought he felt his heart stop for a brief second, his throat parched and dry. His breathing ceased as he felt a similar feeling in his gut told him something bad was going to happen. It was reminiscent of the heist involving the few different places claiming they had the Holy Lance... namely the first run in Rome...

Outsourced guards, attack dogs, and so on... it didn't help that their leader announced cockily and anonymously to the world what the next items they were going to steal...

After recalling that horrid memory, as well as scope out the vicinity, he took note of the bush he hid in earlier and briskly strode on over to it. His regular breathing returned as he examined it before going to work on it, attempting to make it look as it did before he carved it out from earlier.

It only took a minute or two, but while he was at it, Snow spoke up, breaking his trance upon fixing the bush up, causing him to peer over at the lady, standing with confidence. He felt his heart pounding for what felt like an eternity before stopping. A frown was plastered on his face with glistening eyes that only continued to widen as he talked.

Upping the rate he was going at, he began quickly carving out a hidden compartment in the bushes - a place to safely set the bunny without anyone realizing it was there, as well a prevent any sort of damage to it! Sighing to himself, he set the bunny in, keeping an ear to Snow as she spoke out confidently... too confidently.

It honestly hurt a bit to hear her say that she didn't trust anyone, as that meant him too... He couldn't help but slouch as he rose up, keeping his ears peeled. Even if it was a short while, he... mmm... Aurel took in a deep breath, clearing out those thoughts for a while. He wouldn't let it bother him, no, he wouldn't. He would go over there, support her plan, and try to interrogate their "counselor."

Steadily walking over to Snow, he nearly stopped in his tracks the moment he heard a booming, abrasive shout coming from the the purple haired boy from earlier. Aurel couldn't help but glare at the boy, squinting as he frowned; "Ando Yamagata," the thief murmured to himself, continuing to traverse closer to Snow at a pacing that could be dubbed "nearly immovable."

Of course, the moment he heard a name shouted out and the fact of the matter of her talent, he halfheartedly scrolled on over and tapped on the name. Everything to her talent, appearance, blood type, and so on was still listed as before. Aurel couldn't help but squint and purse his lips, uttering "Schrödinger's cat," as he neared Snow.

Upon nearly bumping into the hairstylist, he cleared his throat, and put up a forced, yet genuine semi-smile on his face. Placing a hand on the girls shoulder, he stared forward, looking into the crowd. "... you came off a bit too callously... but I think it's a good plan," he nodded, doing his best to try and affirm what she said, briefly turning his head to look at the woman.

His hand. Doing this was... hm, how was it... how would he think of this? Aurel's hand unnaturally recoiled back, unnoticeably shaking. The way that part of his body was acting was stark contrast to the appearance on his face as it snapped back into position, overlooking the crowd ahead.

"... I'll, mmm... how about I t-try saying something," he muttered coolly to the woman, taking one step forward as he attempted to straighten himself out and stand at his full height. Taking in a deep breath, he opened his mouth...

... and it was all over. He was incapable of getting a word out as the ones involved with the assassin began descending into chaos with petty threats, cursing, and most likely false "statistics" being thrown out just for the hell of it. Raising a finger up and opening his mouth, nothing came out. Before Aurel knew it, he was biting on his lip as his hand, now shaped into a fist, began to descend.

How was he supposed to do this? He could do it, right? It wasn't that hard, right? Well, amongst it all, he did make out a synthetic voice in the crowd of chaos requesting a hit... and a chill went down his spine as soon as he noticed it was from. His gut feeling was shouting at him from the top of its lungs, telling Aurel not to let out a singular peep.

And so, he stood motionless, unknowing of what to say and respond to this all, making out a point amongst the flurry of insults before the whole situation settled with Alice deciding to go off and the Gambler, a.k.a Davis opting to stop her... this sort of solved itself?

So much for trying to say anything.

Dejected, he grunted and shrugged to himself, backing up and pivoting towards Snow, only to witness a pretty blue-haired girl come up to her. Aurel was able to pick up the questions she asked about the exit, and concluded that she must of believed it to be like a... checkpoint of sorts... well, I guess maybe clearing that up would be a start.

Slowly, he silently crept up towards the duo, doing his best to keep a calm visage over the whole situation before stopping at least within two feet of her. Blinking, he looked down at her before coolly responding to the girls question.

"To get more into specifics, the exit is a large gate, so walking through isn't exactly an option."

Kara watched the loud scene happening a little longer in a cautionary stance. All this yelling was making the hair on the back of her neck stand and almost bringing her to a cold sweat. As the Ultimate Assassin left, being chased by the big guy and the mute girl, Kara let out a sigh of relief. Checking her body's condition, she slapped both of her cheeks and stood at attention. She was not going to sweat in this outfit! It was a gift after all. The Ultimate Dessert Chef thought back to how she had woken up and tried to look at her butt again. Hopefully there weren't any grass stains but... She didn't have her phone or a mirror, there was no way to tell.

She glanced back at Neola. Their first meeting had been so peculiar. Kara searched around for the large man she had run into first, but he seemed to be missing. The big guy and mute girl were with the assassin girl so Neola was the only one she was even remotely close to in the vicinity. How had she changed so much in so little time? With a few swipes, Kara brought up her profile. The Ultimate Celebrity Impersonator? Where had she seen the face that Neola wore now? The girl had never been that into music besides classical and she wasn't native to Japan either. Whoever she was, she'd have to be a celebrity right? But just who was Neola really?

Well, a classmate of hers now, for starters. And hadn't minded getting leeched onto by the tiny chef. She had missed what Neola first said to the Stylish Snow, but hopefully, that wouldn't be too much of a problem. Kara followed after her and came up to the group that had at some point been joined by yet another ultimate, this one a boy. They seemed to be talking about escaping which seemed to be this 'game's' whole goal. If she was going to tag along with the rest of them, she'd have to act serious too!

Kara next to the blue-haired beauty and listened to the boy's response to Neola's unknown question. She quickly scanned her PDA for who he was. The Ultimate Thief? That didn't seem very promising, she'd have to keep close to Neola. She reached a hand back to her wings, but knew they were securely connected to her dress. He'd have to come after them with scissors or take her dress entirely. Some form of calm slipped over her as she realized he didn't really have anything to take from her and she smiled. "Um, so what other options do we have?" She wasn't exactly ready to look Stylish Snow in the eye yet, she was a fierce character after all.

@BrokenPromise@Savo@addamas

”H-Huh? Tie me up and drag me back to your cabin? Mr. Conquest. You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, right?” Alice pulled at her collar, looked down, and shuffled her feet, although, she couldn’t hide the fact that she was grinning at Davis. ”You’re making it really tough for me, Davis, especially in front of all these people. Don’t you have any decency?”

Davis did not smile back. Perhaps you should have thought about that before bringing my reputation into this. I cannot refute such a challenge. He looked back at Lilly. Rosetta, I can get it back. But you need to help me with this first. Davis was half whispering his words. When he was done, he started to walk towards Alice. But are there any other conditions? Special rules? Or am I merely tasked with tying you up however I see fit? Davis sneered. If you’re still serious about it, maybe we should go near the cabins. If I don't have to drag you so far, you won't have to wash too many grass stains out of your clothes.

Alice sighed, and stood straight. When she wasn’t leaning on one leg or another, she was still shorter than Davis — but only by a little bit. ”Am I allowed to make rules? Okay! Here’s my rules. I’ll make it really easy for you guys too! On the count of three, we’re all going to play a game of tag. Or, you know what! I’ll count to three, and you and the dummy over there can just go ahead. Your objective will be to tag me only once, and I’ll go with you willingly.” Alice looked at Davis thoughtfully. ”I’ll give you guys one hour. If you can’t do it in that time, then I’ll tie you up and bring you back to my cabin. Sounds like a fair deal, right?” Alice grinned at Davis again, and placed both of her hands on her hips.

Davis looked over his shoulder at Lilly. Doesn't sound like I can lose. His grin continued to widen. So you'll take Lilly too then?. He slid one of his feet behind himself.

”We could start whenever you’re ready, but we could also start right now~.” Alice raised her open hand up and began a countdown, lowering a finger to match the next number she would say. ”Three…”

Lilly wasn’t quite sure what was going on. For a little bit she simply stood, watched, and listened. She didn’t even know how to join in properly. She had been invited, yes, but still, she found herself a little confused. Two against one in a one hour game of Tag? It sounded unfair. As the countdown began, she tilted her head slightly, before looking towards Davis. Could he really help get Rosetta back? She would be fine playing unfairly in that case. Alice deserved it, too, for rejecting her proposition.
”We just have to get you once?” the translator spoke as her finger fell onto the play button, ”Okay.”

As soon as Alice said three, Davis shot into action. The point of sliding his foot back was to make his sprint faster. When you start to run from a normal standing position, it takes more time for you to come up to full speed. This is why sprinters position themselves the way they do. It offers the fastest start. Davis wasn't quite in the perfect sprinting position, but it should have given him an advantage against his standing opponent. Not that Davis should need an advantage. One only needs to glance at the fastest times in any athletic sport to see that men are stronger runners than the fairer sex. However, that only pertained to peak athletes. Davis attempted to pass himself off as the ultimate runner earlier, and his sprint would have certainly convinced many of his claim. He grinned as he flung open his arms.Davis was going to attempt to bum rush Alice.

Alice frowned and looked at Davis. There wasn’t much distance between them, and he would easily cover that in the time she had allotted them. It was a little unfortunate, as she wouldn’t be able to make the example she had wanted to make, that she would now have to cheat if she didn’t want to immediately get tagged by Davis.

”...Two…” Alice quickly took a step to her right and pivoted the face what was previously her left. She leaned back, in such a way that should Davis continue his charge he would on barely encompass Alice in his grasp. Quickly, in less than half a second, she dropped to her back in a modified supine position, so that her hands were propping her back off the ground and her legs were directly in front of Davis. Her plan was to have Davis trip over her. She didn’t believe that it would constitute a tag if she was touched in such an indirect way, so she didn’t worry about immediately losing her game should she herself be the one touching the individual.

It was clear from the first moment the quote unquote skirmish began that Lilly didn’t exactly “belong” within it. From the word go both Davis and Alice had displayed that their skill levels far outweighed anything she could hope to achieve; not that that would stop her from trying. They had to win, because then she would get her bunny back! To that end, she simply walked. As Davis sprinted off and Alice attempted to trip him, she followed on behind Davis’s tracks, hoping to catch Alice on the ground before she could get back up.

You cu- As davis brought his leg forward, he caught his foot on Alice's leg. Due to his momentum, he was unable to stop, and without his leg, he would surely tumble forward. But of course, there were stories of Davis beating black belt champions. Surely it would be expected that he could tumble like a jujitsu master. Rather than trying to catch himself on his hands, possibly shattering his wrists, he put a his arm in front of himself and crooked his elbow. Like this, Davis could use his arm as a spring to absorb some of the shock from the fall, and spring into a harmless roll. At least that's what should have happened. But it seemed that Davis was either out of practice, or did not expect the soft earth to “grab” his arm so suddenly.

Alice grimaced as she watched the scene unfurl from her position on the ground. Although everything appeared to be going as planned, she still appeared as if something went wrong. Resigning herself to her position on the ground until something new developed, she dejectedly murmured the last number. “...One…”

Davis’s head painfully collided with his arm, and instead of rolling, he collapsed onto his belly. ”Well then.” Davis pushed himself off the ground and pulled his knees under himself. ”Your reflexes are deserving of your title at least.” Davis turned around to face Alice. Everyone could see dirt was still stuck to his arm and knees. Despite her counting, he continued to speak. ” Lilly and I need to tag you, per your rules, but the others aren't necessarily excluded from the game.” Davis spread his arms and legs to act as a wall. “Alright everyone! Hold down Alice parker so that one of us can tag her!” Davis let out a maniacal laugh as Alice finished her countdown. She was now between Davis and Lilly, with a whole group of potential ringers standing behind the hacker.

Alice pouted, and hoisted herself back to her feet with her arms as if she were some sort of human sized lever. She took a moment to appraise the situation, during which she took a headcount of the ultimates present. It was a little more than ten against one. She’d need create some distance between her and the rest of the ultimates. By the looks of it, she could either try to circle right again, around Davis, and make her way out of the Amphitheatre area. That would put her at risk of a diagonal interception from one of the ultimates and Davis, but it would require quick action from one of the individuals Davis just enlisted.

Alternatively, she could create a more direct route through some clever footwork and trickery. If she was able to distract Davis, and act quick enough, she could get behind him at no risk to herself and be well on her way out of the Amphitheatre by the time Davis regained his composure. After weighing the two options, it was no surprise that Alice decided that this would be the best course of action.

”I’m not the Ultimate Biomechanic, but I’m no foreigner to body language either, Davey.” Alice placed on hand on her hip and used the other to point at Davis. ”You’re totally only standing up to me to impress the other girls here! Your eyes tell the whole story, so don’t even try to deny it.”. Alice lowered her hand and took a step towards Davis. She glanced over her shoulder, to denote that she was aware of Lilly’s advance and also to draw attention to the Ultimate Hacker. ”Now that I think about it, that’s definitely why you asked Lilly to help you too. Frankly, I’m surprised. I didn’t think she was your type at all.”

”Did you figure it out, was it that obvious?” Davis avoided looking at anyone but Alice.” I guess no one can accuse me of being the Ultimate Mastermind with a plot like that. What woman could respect a man who can't choose? Davis was was walking with his legs spread apart so that he could easily lunge in any direction. But for the moment he wasn't making any sudden movements. ”Or is it you who put on a show to draw me out? You're working pretty hard to keep my attention.” He grinned. ”You even want to keep me in your cabin. Hardly a good choice if you plan on killing me in three days. Everyone would know it was you.” Davis continued to talk and keep eye contact with Alice. He could have just been gloating, but there was the possibility that he was talking to distract Alice until Lilly was close enough to intercept her.

Davis’s slow approach was enough of a signal for Lilly to begin her own approach. She’d been taught to read subtle signs like this, and her nature as a Hacker first and foremost gave her the eagle-eyed perception necessary to act upon them. Before even halfway through huis rebuttal to the Assassin, she gave him a brief and curt nod, before taking off in a sprint towards her quarry. It was far from the speed her ally had displayed, nor was it anywhere near as dextrose as her foe, but it was enough. If Davis understood her correctly in turn, he would begin his own charge along with her, and together they would double team her, leaving no room for escape.

”Have… I’m… What?” Alice nonchalantly circled to her right again, in nearly the exact same motion as she did when Davis first charged at her. Instead of dropping to her back, Alice just leaped back this time. Honestly, she was a little upset by the strategy they were using yet again. She didn’t challenge him to a game of tag so she could just waltz around while Lilly and Davis threw themselves at her, she wanted to cross swords with the Ultimate Conquest.

”I’m super appalled right now.” Alice kept an eye on Davis. She had one more maneuver until both of them were behind her, and then she would be gone. ”Aren’t you the Ultimate Conquest? You’re strategy should be infinite. Be a Trickster, do something clever. You’re boring the shit out of me right now.”

But Davis hadn't really planned on just throwing himself at Alice again. In fact, he had planned on Alice dodging Lilly entirely. Or at least that's what his insufferable smirk must have been hinting at. Once Alice had committed to stepping away from Lilly, Davis attempted to intercept her movement with a hop. When he did so though, he had his arms raised over his head, and an end of his tie in each hand. The fifty-eight inch long tie made a sizable loop, and extended Davis's reach by about two feet. The look in his wild eyes told everyone that he was sure of his move. ”Conquest is mine!”

Alice looked around, and settled her gaze on the sky. She frowned for a moment, and turned back to Davis. Although his efforts were valiant and he was adamant in his efforts, it seemed that he would not have his chance to tie up Alice today. ”Oh man. Playtime’s over. Listen, you can forget about that whole tie thing. I’ve got to go.” In a flash, she darted past him and out of the Amphitheatre, exemplifying a far greater speed than she had used before. She prided herself on being fast as a vital skill to being the Ultimate Assassin. Even if someone tried to follow suit, it would take someone with an agility based talent to have any chance of catching up to her; and even then, the chances were growing slimmer and slimmer.