"That seems sensible." Izo said vaguely to the girl who had somehow attracted a hummingbird to her side,he looked around the small group here once again, nobody here had any idea what was going on so sticking around was a waste of time. He needed to find someone who knew what was going on, was this a kidnapping? Some sort of test from the academy itself? Whatever the cause he needed to find answers.

Izo began to move towards the large area of carved before saying "I for one am going to try and actually find out where we are." however before leaving he lazily turned his head to "Finding the where and why would be a start." he said then began walking to the area at a somewhat brisker pace.

Lilly couldn't help but giggle at the boy with orange hair, mimicking her actions like a child. Was this the kind of company should be joining for the camping activities - people equally as fun as herself?! If that was the case, then she couldn't wait! Well, she couldn't wait even more than she couldn't already wait! That bubbling pot of excitement threatened to boil over as they spoke, giving their respective memories, and so on so forth.

But something caught her ears.
"Wait you were going to Hopes Peak too?!" immediately as she finished her question, or perhaps exclamation, she ran up in front of the boy once again - Hamazura Ginshi, as he had introduced himself by, "So was I, so was I!" in a step she backpedalled, and struck a pose that, while it was supposed to express her being an figure of importance, like some famous person up on a pedestal, seemed to come of decidedly less than flattering.

"I'm the 'Ultimate Hacker'! What about you, Carrot Top?" already, her usage of nicknames was coming into play, "And, and, you too, Blueberry! Were you going to Hopes Peak? Are you an Ultimate too?!" every word she spoke seemed to drip in that excitement that permeated her body language, no doubt endlessly happy at the kinship she had found with her new friends. Her eyes glistened with joy, as they stared up towards Hibiki, oblivious to the glaring sunlight, piercing him with her enthusiasm.

This was going to be so much fun.

Well, it really looked like this kid had a death-wish. Not only did he keep his obnoxious attitude, he grabbed her again. This time even going as far as to hug her in an obvious attempt at intercourse, only to back out of it, like the coward he was, with words of repercussion.

And to top this all off, he didn’t even back off immediately, reveling for as long as he could in the touch of a woman instead; it was pathetic, and when he raised his finger under her chin, she was ready to bite it off in one swoop.

Lucky for him, he knew he was going too far just in time, allowing Snow to finally get some distance between the two. With a few pats, she wiped her clothes clean of any bacteria that would have rubbed off on her, all the while keeping her annoyed gaze at Ryuma.

To be fair though, this moron actually had a brain in his skull after all, as he got to the same conclusion as her, albeit an eternity later. They were from Hope’s Peak, and they were kidnapped, but the fact that they didn’t target her alone muddied her theory a bit...maybe they weren’t after her after all.

In any case, Ryuma as the boy called himself, now asked Snow of something that even her closest friends would have trouble finding out; her name.

“Princess will be good enough for you.” Was all she said with that same annoyed face as she turned around once more, and stomped off towards the exit. This man was just too much for her to deal with; within seconds of waking up, he called her a child, a princess, he grabbed her by the arm, trapped her in a hug, kept his obnoxious tone throughout the interaction, and even refused to get hit by her attacks! He was completely hopeless, so with that in mind, she opened the doors once more and stomped off towards the docks, completely missing the 3 people in the opposite direction.

Adjusting to the situation has been a bit of a challenge—waking up in the middle of nowhere isn’t exactly a comfortable situation, and it isn’t one to handle easily. Not to mention all of these new people, some of whom had not proven easy to get along with. Having oriented yourself to your surroundings, more or less, there’s likely one, pivotal question on your mind—what is going on, exactly?

Wherever you are, you hear a ring of some sort. You see a nearby monitor light up, and a figure you can’t quite make out comes on screen.



As suddenly as the announcement had started, it ended. As the voice cuts out, the monitors come to life with a brightly colored arrow, pointing to the direction of the amphitheater from wherever you are.

Yukimori shakes her head when the guy asked her if she remembered something before she woke up in this strange and unknown place. Her head turned to the girl that distant herself from them, making her look like she was afraid of new people. Not like Yukimori needed to talk about that, her heart raced from nervousness as the guy talked to her. Her hands clammed together as she looked back at the guy with a surprised expression on her face (What?! He doesn't know where we are? How? There must be someone who knows about this place? W-Wait the girl! maybe she knows more about this. She must!). "A-Are you sure about that...?" Her voice trilled a little as she spoke, a small cough made her voice turn back to normal. Her mind was full of crazy and scary thoughts, only thinking about the bad solutions that this place might have. Like what if they want to do experiments on them?

She turned back to reality as the guy started to talk about the girl. Nodding her head in a quick pace as she agreed to the guy's words. "O-Of course, she must be. I-It's not like this place is scary, but I'm confused about the fact that they put strangers in such a place... W-What do they want with us...?" Shaking her head once more than she held her hands tight and looked back at the girl "L-Let's just talk to her and make her comfortable with us... S-So that she isn't scared anymore..." (Good job Yukimori, you aren't even comfortable yourself. How are you going to make a stranger comfortable!) A small sigh escaped Yukimori's mouth.

Yukimori walked right behind Shirou's back, still keeping her distance. Not sure if she should be the comfortable or easy with these people. But, still wanting to do this she started to introduce herself to the girl as well. "H-hey there, I am Yukimori Maiya. But you can call me Y-Yukimori, nice to meet you..." Her shy voice spoke up right after Shirou introduced himself, agreeing with his words as her eyes looked lightly to the side. Not sure if she should make eye contact with the girl or not. Yukimori didn't want to scare or make her uncomfortable after all!

Surprised by the boy that sat down, her arms immediately crossed around her stomach, shy about her own appearance as she looked at the girl. Nodding lightly, as Yukimori sat down next to the bench on another bench where Shirou sat. "W-We won't hurt you... We don't know where we are either... W-Waking up in a strange place and not knowing the surrounding people must be scary. I understand, so please don't think we want to hurt you." Bowing her head lightly as it looked like she apologised for how things turned out like this. Even though, she couldn't do anything about this situation. 

"N-Nao... Well that's a nice name if I may say so... I-If you feel comfortable, you can sit down... S-So we can talk about this, maybe we know more when we think about it together.." Saying this in a quiet voice as she didn't know how to talk to her or how to make her feel comfortable. Did she say something strange? Wouldn't it be better if she just shut her mouth and let the guy talk? Not knowing what to do she just stayed quiet after the few words she said to her. Taking a deep breath as she absorved the girl and the boy once more. (I-I hope they don't think i'm strange... They seem nice... B-But can I really trust a couple of strangers in a situation like this..?)

That thought lingered in her mind when suddenly it got disturbed by a screen popping up. Yukimori looked directly in the way where the screen popped up, getting a small goosebump when it started to speak to them. (W-Who is this person...? Campers?! T-There are more people than just the three of us...? A-Amphitheatre... W-We are here already...?) The moment that the screens pointed to the place where they were now, she went quiet for a few minutes. Not knowing what to say at first, she turned her head lightly to Nao and Shirou. 

"S-So ... There must be more people on this Island than just us three.... I-If I'm correct, otherwise that... P-Person, would just have started the meeting he was talking about ... R-Right?" A small shiver ran through her spine as she looked down at her hands, laying on her skirt. Thinking about what the bear exactly told them (H-How to get out...? So we are kidnapped and imprisoned!). That moment when those words came to her mind she grabbed her hands tightly together, speaking up once again. "D-Did that person just mentioned to get out of this place...? S-So it clears one of our questions...? W-We are imprisoned and kidnapped... O-Or am I hearing things wrong...?"

@Vocab @AimeChambers

Hisakawa Hiroki

Huh, so she was also from Hope’s Peak? Hmm… Well, it’s hard to say whether or not that’s a coincidence. There weren’t just a whole lot of Hope’s Peak students out there, but then again, having only himself and this girl as a sample size wasn’t enough to confirm if they were here because of that. Though, as far as he knew, it was just the two of them and that one other guy, which, uh… wouldn’t be comfortable. Hisakawa actually found himself hoping there would be more than the three of them.

And the fact that this was some kind of camp was weird. You know, at this point, he should probably just assume that none of anything that’s happening here is gonna make any sense to him. After all, nothing has so far, and he doubted it was gonna get much better anytime soon. Things tend to play out exactly as they start out, after all.

The girl then suggested he talk to others about what was going on, after she took a look outside. So there were more people here? Well, that’s one less thing to worry about… Wait, why did he have to talk to them!? Couldn’t she do it!? Wouldn’t she probably be better at it, anyway?

Though, as he was about to bring it up, the girl left, ending the conversation altogether. Hisakawa just watched for a moment, a little dumbfounded, “Wh- Okay!” He called after her. Did… Did she want him to report back to her? Was she just trying to get him out of her hair?

Hisakawa ignored his own questions, trying to chill out and just figure it out for himself. He’s his own independent man now, he doesn’t need confirmation on every little thing.

…

But what if he gets it wrong, though?

He opened up the door and looked over to the girl, who was on her way down the road, “Wait, so, you want me to, like, get back to you on that?” He asked, but then suddenly felt dumb. He should know that it was best to overestimate and not bother people with stupid questions, but of course he just had to get all paranoid about it. He could easily have just assumed that he should her what he found out, and if he was wrong she would just tell him to get out of her face.

“You know what, forget I asked, I can figure it out, I’ll just go.” He turned around, intending to go the opposite way, taking a few steps before realizing it was a pointless (Hey, check it out, dumbass, it’s a circle!). He turned back around, facing the girl again (maybe he should get her name at some point), completely at a loss for what to say or do.

Mercifully, an announcement rang out through the camp. He probably wasn’t going to catch a lucky break like that again, but he was grateful that he wasn’t going to make as much of an embarrassment of himself as… okay, the pervert thing wasn’t great. God, why the hell did he even try anymore?

Rubbing his temples and letting out a sigh, he addressed the girl, “Well, that sounds pretty important, so I’m gonna go ahead, if that’s alright with you.”

---

Himura Chikako

Ugh, this group isn’t a whole lot of fun. Everybody seems so wrapped in figuring out what’s going on and where the hell they were, and while Himura wanted to know where she was or whatever, but it’s like these guys don’t know how to have any fun with it! Even the new guy who just came up only really seemed concerned with the whole “oh where are we what’s going on” deal. Like, what, did they think they were all gonna die or something?

She was sure they were gonna figure it out soon enough, so nobody has to get so serious about it. And hell, even if they didn’t, Himura was sure she could still find a way out once she wanted to. She hasn’t done it before, but she’s pretty sure she could climb some dumb fence or whatever.

“Alright, alright, let’s just chill, you guys are totally freaking over nothing. Y’all don’t need to get so uppity about figuring out all the details—we can just go find something to do and we can just figure out what happened from whatever we learn while we go about things!”

Not long after she said that, an announcement came on air, telling the group to make their way to the amphitheater. Himura listened with her hands behind her head and a rhythmic tap in her foot, and she huffed a little air out of her nose when the announcement finished, muttering a cross, “Or we could do that, I guess.”

But hey, she’d probably find something a lot more fun to do once this dumb meeting or whatever was over with. And, well, if none of these guys were interested in doing something more interesting, she was sure she could find somebody who was, though she was sure everyone would be in a better mood once this meeting gave them some answers.

The thought perked her up, and she broke into a run to get to the amphitheater, “Alright, let’s gooooooo!” She exclaimed, a bright smile on her face, carelessly making her way in the direction pointed out to her. Himura was never one to keep still for long, and she only stopped her momentum to briefly turn around and address the others, "Whatever this weirdness is, once it's over and we get back to Hope's Peak, just know that I'll be the first one partying it up, if any of y'all care to join!"

Arm against the bench, waiting for the situation to defuse past its volatile state, Shirou glanced to his right, noting Maiya taking her own seat. Good. Perhaps it was a but of an assumption, but he was thankful that even in her shy manner she could understand that it was best to appear as friendly as possible, especially given the circumstances. This wasn't the time for messing about; they had things to talk about, questions to posit and answers to acquire.

"It's nice to meet you, Nao." he said simply, looking back over towards the girl and smiling, "As for what we know, well... I know that this is an Amphitheatre, for starters." he looked around, before looking in the direction of the lake, "And over there is some kind of dock. So, if I had to make a guess on where we are... I'd say it was some kind of camp grounds."

As he finished his sentence, the monitors nearby lit up with their message. It was a voice he had never heard before, referring to things he wasn't sure upon. How they would escape, and what was going on. They were all things they needed to know, needed to hear, but the tone with which the man on the other end of that monitor spoke with unsettled something within him. This wasn't going to be a pleasant meeting, that much he could tell.

"I suppose that answers that. "Campers" - this is definitely a camp ground." he said as he looked at Naomi, then back towards Maiya, his smile lessened by a small degree, though barely noticeably, "And yeah, I'd say you're right, Yukimori. his eyes trained on the now dim monitor, eyeing it somewhat cautiously, "More people will be coming our way. But.. kidnapped or imprisoned is probably a little bit far." of course it wasn't, but they couldn't be allowed to know that.

Once again, he gestured to Naomi, requesting her to sit down.
"You might as well take a seat, Nao. The people coming will be much the same as ourselves, so we can ask them about all this." he wasn't confident on that, but his voice didn't betray it; keeping himself seemingly confident was the best measure to ensure Nao didn't flee at the idea of more people coming, "But, if I can start, I know what I was doing before waking up here. I was on my way to Hopes Peak. Do either of you..." he turned his gaze from Naomi back to Maiya, "Remember anything similar? What you were doing, where you were, how you might have ended up here? Anything would be useful."

Ayu Usui

Ayu glanced back over her shoulder once she heard the boy's voice again.

"Oh. You're still here?" she asked, as if she were expecting Hiroki to have left already. Ayu turned on her heel, stared at him for a few seconds and tilted her head as the boy told her to forget it.

"Mmm... okay then," Ayu replied back, intent on turning around again and heading off to the road, but she was interrupted by a monitor to her right flickering on. A shadowy figure moved sporadically around inside of the screen, telling everyobody to meet somewhere... and there was also something about campers? Ayu didn't recall signing up for a camping trip. She stared at the screen as it lit up an arrow and brought her left hand to her head, resting it inside of the palm. She supported the elbow with her other arm, wrapped neatly around her stomach to ease the burden. A low hum escaped the girl as she thought about the current situation a little more, getting a little lost in thought. This process was swiftly interrupted by the boy in the area though, who addressed her again.

"...Oh. You're still here...?" Ayu echoed, head still resting in the palm of her hand as she tilted it to look over at him. He said he was going ahead and asked if it was alright with her... which was strange. She thought he'd left a long time ago, she wasn't sure why he needed her confirmation. Ayu didn't really pay any attention to the boy as he started to walk away from her. She was more interested in the screen with the bright green arrow pointing them in the direction they were going.

"Mmm... I don't really care, but I guess I'll have to go as well. Everyone else's going to be there, though..." Ayu muttered to herself, finished off with a dejected sigh.

"Well... I'll just take the long way around, I guess."

She let her arms drop to her side and pulled up one shoulder of her sweater, slouching back towards the road as she followed the oval-shape towards the amphitheatre.

---

Taka Tsuin & Momoe Mizuno

"...! Hey, wait, hang on a sec!" Taka shouted from the back of the group towards Izo.

"I don't think it's a good idea to wander off alone, maybe you should take someone along- Ow!" Taka wanted to suggest, but was cut off by Momoe having flung the butt of her cigarette straight at his forehead. It wasn't lit anymore so Taka didn't get a burn mark, but the sheer velocity still stung, even as the used-up stick harmlessly bounced onto the ground.

"Give it a break. If you got here safe enough on your own, he'll be just fine," she snarked. Taka turned to face her with a scowl, a 'Why you...!' being muttered under his breath, but both their attention was drawn by the spunky girl telling everyone to chill. Momoe raised her eyebrow while Taka's scowl was now directed at Chikako.

"What do you mean, chill out?! I just woke up here with no memory, we're seemingly trapped and I'd like some damn answers as to what's going on around here!" Taka snapped at her, but not long after he did, the monitors scattered all around the campground lit up with an identical message being played on each of them. Taka and Momoe's attention was grabbed by the one near the party- albeit Taka's a little more than Momoe's- as it instructed them all to make their way eastward.

"Looks like you're getting your answers, hothead. Seems like mr. beauty sleep had the right idea after all," Momoe informed Taka with a smug grin. The boy just silently fumed as Chikako energetically told everyone to kick into gear. The one-eyed girl in the group didn't bother to wait for Chikako's signal as she'd already nonchalantly started to make her way towards the theatre. Taka bit his lip as he looked off to the side.

"Tch... whatever."

He waited a little before following behind everyone else. Taka's mood was even fouler now, and the boy was also more than a little embarrassed because he made an ass of himself there.

As soon as Izo decided to leave, Flare’s mind sprang into action with ways to stop the boy, or at least help him with his plans. But Taka and Momo soon resolved that mindset, allowing Flare to focus on the here and now.

Chikako was not happy about everyone’s dead-serious attitude, which Flare could understand, and the party afterwards sounded like a great plan! one that Flare would definitely want to help set up.

And yet Taka opposed the idea instantly, he wanted answers, and he wanted them now; and Momoe wasn’t doing anything to ease the situation. So one wanted to leave, one wanted answers, one wanted fun, and the other was a mystery...God how is a person supposed to help people when they all wanted such different things that conflict with each other so heavily! It was mind-boggling, and it was all that Flare could think about, which in turn caused her headache to worsen, and that in turn twisted her face into a conniving and almost furious thing.

Luckily it didn’t last long, as the announcement snapped everyone out of their thoughts. It seemed like they all agreed to listen to the announcer, thank god for whoever was on the other end of that screen, they just saved Flare a mental breakdown.

Without much further thought, she quickened her pace so she could walk next to Chikako, who seemed the nicest out of the bunch, giving her a small glance before focusing on the road ahead without saying anything for the rest of the walk.

@Vocab @AimeChambers

The other girl seemed... weak. Nice, but weak. Nice was okay, but she wouldn't be able to do much here, more useful as a sacrificial pawn than anything else. Those thoughts shifted through Naomi's mind before she could stop them and the Linguist immediately felt guilty about it How could she think something like that?! Something so close to what her parents would say. She had been the sacrificial pawn after all...

There wasn't much of a chance that the girl would be able to do something to Naomi. The only reason such a thing had occurred before was that she had been naive. No, Naomi would keep her distance and her guard up, who wouldn't at a time like this? Why make alliances when they would just stab you in the back? "I prefer to stand." Honestly, the girl really wanted to sit and think under a tree, but that would block some of her observations.

Honestly, the guy was coming off as some kind of smartass. He could have just said he didn't know anything instead of point out the obvious. Now he not only seemed suspicious, he also sounded like he doubted her intelligence and Naomi wouldn't let anyone get away with that. "The amphitheater isn't designed for animals, meaning this isn't an area normally inhabited by exotic animal pets. Based on the number of seats this area could hold a large number of people, but by the height of the benches they are built for children." She glared at the boy, "I'm not an idiot."

This boy was trying to act friendly and unaware too well, sounding more like he was collaborating with the kidnappers than being a helping hand. He was too calm, too gentle for this situation. As the announcement came on, Naomi felt the urge to run and find a hiding spot. People would be arriving soon and bringing a higher chance of assailants with them. But how could she first get away from these two so that they wouldn't rat her out? She didn't hear much of what Shirou was actually saying, just his tone. That's when she heard Yukimori's question.

"You didn't hear the other voices?" The girl cocked her head to the side at Yukimori, wondering how she could have missed that. No, it wasn't good to judge a person's cognitive abilities so quickly. "We are being caged in like some kind of children's boot camp against our will, we have been kidnapped Yukimori Maiya. And by unknown kidnappers."

Shirou had however, made one smart call. With the words 'Hope's Peak' sprouting form his mouth, Naomi's mind stopped calculating an escape plan. She needed to hear what he knew and needed to know it quickly, "Where were you exactly on the way to the academy? The gates are an easy snatch spot, but not beyond it."

@xxlanatjexx@Vocab

---

Ginshi seemed nice enough with leadership qualities. Maybe he could coerce the boy to take his place if he ever needed to talk with groups, Hibiki was never that good at talking for long periods unless he was teaching and he preferred one on one sessions.

Lilly reminded him of some of the little kids Hibiki had tutored in middle school. They wouldn't sit still long enough for him to teach them anything and absolutely hated math. One day after only getting through a few problems, three of them had banded together to tackle the poor boy and climb all over him to stop the multiplication. The repeating of Lilly's words over and over again was rather like the little girl Mizuki he had taught.

But both girls seemed to be little rays of sunshine... and that was the problem. The sunlight shined into his eyes reflecting off Lilly's hair and Hibiki went on to cover his eyes with his hands instead of only closing them. Why did they have to be outside? Nobody could turn off the sun... Maybe he could get some Ultimate to create a highspeed transport that would move along the earth so he'd always be in the sun's blindspot. Hibiki would pay some big bucks for that. It'd have to have a decent energy generator to keep the vehicle warm and comfy as well.

"SHSL Tutor..." He mumbled, trying to brush his hair over his eyes as much as possible. There had to be some technique to do this better. His words were soon drowned out by Ginshi's interest in Lilly's talent, but they would have found out eventually anyway.

Judo... The practice was great at honing in on a sound body and mind. While Hibiki wasn't a fan of exercise, self-actualization was always welcomed in the Tutor's book. Maybe he really could get Ginshi to help him out with his... poorer qualities, such as public speaking.

Hibiki's ears perked at the sound of the intercom and screen. There was someone who would tell them specifics? That would be great, no way did Hibiki want to take on a leadership role. Once they got there, he could ask Lilly to tell him what they said and find a place in the corner to block out the lights-

"Hibiki, you wild animal, why don't you take the lead?"

The boy righted himself to stand up straight after being pushed, but then stood motionless. Wai- The Tutor's first impressions had been betrayed! Not only was he not going to be able to hand over the hard parts to Ginshi, the Judomaster was going to make him go first? That was just, just- not nice. The boy stared at the orange-haired boy through slits in his fingers and squinted at him. His face still seemed emotionless, but his aura told an entirely different story of reluctance. The Tutor stood there a long moment, trying to will Ginshi to take back what he said to no avail.

Finally, he turned around and took a step forward. He reached for a stick on the ground as he shuffled slowly and started stripping the leaves off of it. Karma was not a happy camper.

@KenjuGuy

As Izo made his way to the amphitheater, a nearby tree that had a screen attached to it for some reason produced a voice telling them to go to the amphitheater. Fortunately that was already where he was headed so he disregarded the message and continued walking. Atleast I'll get answers soon enough.

As the SHSL Fanatic arrived at the amphitheater he heard the end of a conversation.
"We are being caged in like some kind of children's boot camp against our will, we have been kidnapped Yukimori Maiya. And by unknown kidnappers." he cared little for the assumptions made by the women about who or why they were kidnapped but he added "Well soon enough our kidnappers shall hopefully reveal themselves." as he joined the group.

---

Aurel Fuchs (@Savo), Ryuma Hitsugaya (@AimeChambers), Snow Iclyn (@addamas)

---

She definitely was a feisty one. Not only had she completely taken Ryuma's threat for granted, she had completely missed the message behind it. Ryuma's half-smile started to go sour as one of his eyebrows twitched. Well, it wasn't that easy to change a person's personality, so he'd have to scare her even more until she actually took responsibilities for her action. The girl really was very good at pushing his buttons the wrong way, backwards and upside down.

The art of stomping was lost on this Princess, then again, maybe it fit her character perfectly. Some stuffy little child who always throws a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. Oh! And hates being treated like a child even though she acts like one. From what Ryuma's mother had read to him, Princesses were supposed to be well-mannered, gentle and intelligent, which this shemale seemed to be anything but. While she did seemed riled up by Ryuma's perfect reaction time, he didn't want to have to deal with anymore of her bullshit.

Or so the Parkour Runner would have liked to have ended it that way. But this nagging instinct was thumping angrily in his chest screaming at him to follow her. With weak strength like that, she'd be gobbled up in no time and Ryuma liked to thing he was a chivalrous guy. Ryuma waited a few moments after she left to get up from his chair, only to kick it out of the way in frustration. His head was telling him to get the hell away from her, but his heart told him he was now some super high school level babysitter. Picking up something off the floor, he started to walk after her, he ignored the people to his right, they barely came up on his radar. It wouldn't take long for him to catch up anyway considering his legs were a lot longer and stronger than hers were.

---

---

Aurel cautiously strolled on forward, inching more and more closer to the wooden dock, looking over the slick coating of paint. Before he even stepped a foot onto the rather spacious pier, he swiftly glimpsed over his shoulder and made an assessment about the congregation of figures some ways away, as well as the young man with a scowl on his face heading over to merge with them.

A small shudder shot down the thief's spine as his head pivoted the other way, identifying that, no, there were no others walking down that dirt path. A small sigh of exasperation escaped his lips as he stepped onto the docks, mind still in a bit of a flurry after that small incident.

Immediately, Aurel stood still, torso and legs no different than a hardened statue, with the only exception being his head. It swiveled back and forth, squinting with one brow up and a frown; there was... really nothing here other than the hut with a green rooftop. That was honestly the only thing he was drawn to other than the picturesque scene of the lake.

Biting at his index finger, he was drawn in by both things, but in the end, the lake won his attention as he took one step forward, in tandem of letting his hand and arm flop back down to his side. As he eyed the encompassing lake, he also took a small look at the rather towering fences, pondering for a second if it was even possible...

... he didn't even need a second before silently shaking his head, muttering that it was impossible from the analysis.

Regardless, Aurel invariably reached the edge of the docks before a cool breeze disrupted the two. The waters mirror-like appearance became nothing more than ripples, with the thief shivering briefly before raising a hand up to clasp the side of his shoulder. However, a simple gust of air wasn't enough to make him keel over, as chilly as it was outside anyways, as he examined the lake.

Now that he got a closer look, his eyes widened, blinking as he continued to focus on one thing - docks. The boy would of deemed it a good idea to try and grab a canoe he saw earlier in that shack to investigate, save for one issue... a rather big issue.

Guns.

Large, lethal mini-guns. He stood still, a deer to some headlights as he stared them down. Two were positioned at the dock on the left, both seemingly staring the thief down, as if they were daring him to come closer... yeah, no, he wasn't that foolish, but...

...

... the ones on the right had the same amount as the left, looking as equally menacing. Blinking, Aurel took one step back, before noticing something out of the corner of his eye. Coming back through a whiplash, Aurel peered over the edge of the dock once more, only to see the guns revolve to face him.

"... so thats how they work," he murmured, tapping an index finger against his lips, before lightly nibbling it. Aurel had an idea of how they were programmed, but it was incomplete; there were other variables he wished to test well. Pausing for a second, he pulled himself back up before gazing over his shoulder at the hut.

Instantly, he pivoted around, briskly gliding over the docks to the hut, and swung open the door. Peeking inside, he found a bit of dust floating away as he entered, letting out a soft sneeze as he pulled the door shut. Other than the windows, there seemed to be a wide, unpainted overhead door, locked down by shutters.

It wasn't long before the overhead door was unlocked and flew open with Aurel standing invisibly at the epicenter of it all. With that all said and done, he went and grabbed a rather unwieldy canoe. the thief did stumble a bit, but he did manage to keep his balance before marching out the door...

... what followed next was him gently placing the canoe down on the pier, and rushing over to gaze over two new figures sauntering down the path. Multiple things crossed his mind as the made their way over, one being whether or not they were both hostile or benign...

As Snow was still walking aimlessly with a bad taste in her mouth, she turned to look around a bit. Now that she could get a proper feel for the place, it dawned on her how different this place was. It wasn't like any place she had seen before, and it actually cheered her up a bit to take in the beautiful lake's reflecting sunshine, albeit it through the ugly fences; and then she heard footsteps behind her.

"Why are you following me? Leave me alone."

Ryuma slipped his hands behind his head and had started whistling, "I don't exactly want ya to try and kill someone else. I'm just trying to protect others, ya know. I don't want that guilt on my conscience." So what if he was lying? She probably wouldn't give a damn if he said what he was really thinking anyway. He took the extra step so that he stood side by side with her and watched her expression change, "It ain't too bad to buddy up, is it?"

"Tch, fine, you can be my meatshield when we find the culprits." She said, turning her pouting head to face away from Ryuma as he walked beside her. "You should worry about them, not me..."

Oh shit. Did she read his mind? How could he ever show his face again after receiving a blow like this?! Pfft. Whatever. It wasn't like he cared what Princess thought of him. All thoughts of appeasing her had been thrown out the window when Ryuma saw the chairs headed for his face. As long as she wasn't going to continue whining, the Parkour Runner was willing to take it as a win. As the boy started observing the area around them, he pondered, "So docks... Considering what we've seen so far, looks to me like some sleepaway camp. Think we might be able to catch a ride across the water-" That's when he was the second one to notice something black and gleaming at the end of the docks. "Fucking hell..."This wasn't the first time he'd seen one of those.

"They were smart enough to catch us off-guard-" She said, finally looking back at Ryuma as he so suddenly dished out swearwords. She then followed the line of sight from Ryuma's point of view until it landed on what probably elicited his response. "They wouldn't just let us ride out of here by boat." Her words sounded very calm and rational as she looked at what appeared to be turrets; on the inside, she was really scared though, as one should be when faced with a giant weapon of destruction.

As the duo continued to make "proverbial" jabs and conversed, Aurels head slowly pivoted, watching them with an uncertain gaze. They didn't seem too bad, at least, aside from the girl who was a bit abrasive at most. He slinked forward, gliding over the docks like an apparition as he steadily, and cautiously approached the silver-white duo.

Eventually, the thief found himself standing beside the girl in rather stylishly cute clothing. Unflinchingly, the boy leaned over the edge of the dock once more, and the guns that once were so devoid of life, snapped to attention. Each minigun was pointed at the duo and the invisible boy suddenly as he did a double-take on each of the docks before pulling away, the guns returning back to their original positions.

"... they seem to target any human being that is over the lake; dunno how close you can get yet," he uttered, stiffly and cooly, crossing both of his arms as he glanced at the duo for a mere second before returning a cold, calculating gaze back to the lake.

The only other consideration he gave to the two was a rather, casual bit of inquiry with a neutral appearance as he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth before reclining a tinge. "... so, you two are trapped here as well, right?"

It really was weird how those turrets just stood there aiming at anyone getting close to the three as the white haired boy pointed out; usually you would program them to watch the shore on the outside of the fence, not within; it showed that the turrets were there to keep them in, trapped like the white...haired...boy...said.

"Wha!?" With a sudden display of agility, Snow relocated herself to stand behind Ryuma. Why was there a boy here? How did he get here so silently, was he sneaking up to them? But then why would he announce his presence like that? Snow's mind was going crazy as this tranquil kid just stood there non-chalantly, but Snow would have none of it. This greying kid just thought he could jump out of nowhere and scare her like that? No way would she just let that happen; besides, she needed answers from him, mostly the ones she kept fuzzing over.

"Wha-why-H-how did you get there!?"

With the sound of the white haired boy's voice, Ryuma's feet immediately pivoted, ready to jump away from the supposed intruder. While he had appeared quite suddenly, Princess stood in between the two of them, allowing Ryuma the necessary time to escape by using her as a meat shield. The athlete tried to keep his surprise off his face, but Princess was a different story altogether.

It actually felt kinda nice to have Princess use him as a shield, in some twisted chivalrous way. He knew she was only doing the same thing as he was thinking earlier, but at least he was trusted more than some kid who just appeared out of thin air.

"...That seems to be the case, comrade. Though it seems Princess doesn't care for ya subtlety." They were from Hope's Peak, so he would have to have some kind of body talent, especially with sneaky skills like that. Ryuma would have to be on guard, but he also found the small boy's talent fascinating. "Let's just get introductions out of the way, I'm Ryuma, SHSL Parkour, you?"

That was... somewhat expected? Regardless, Aurel mildly perked up at the reaction, slightly inching his head towards them, yet kept a distant appearance as he glanced between the lethal weaponry, clear blue lake, and the duo, who were a bit on edge. Closing his eyes and inhaling deeply through his nose, he pivoted around to face them, no longer crossing his arms.

"... just walked up to you two... that's all," he uttered, sounding almost bored and indifferent as he placed an arm on his side and pointed towards the open hut and canoe. "... plus, I've been here ever since you stepped onto the docks..." Tilting his head to the side, he still kept peering away from them as the boy with the shaggy appearance interjected, still defensive, yet open to introductions.

This is good; they were open to talking with him, even more so with one of them admitting that they were a student attending Hopes Peak, or rather that they were an ultimate. "Ultimate Parkourist," he uttered silently, eyes becoming sharp enough to part the lake as he stared at it. The hand that was placed on his side moved up to his lips as he began slightly nibbling at it, semi-ignoring the duo for a second.

He didn't immediately respond to Ryuma, instead opting to mutter things under his breath for at least a minute, alternating between sixteen, ultimates, Hopes Peak, etc. Of course, he instantly ended this trance upon dropping his finger from his mouth, wiping it on his side.

"... er, sorry about that," he coolly uttered before raising a clenched fist to his mouth, and cleared his throat before introducing himself.

"Ryuma Hitsugami, right? I'm Aurel Fuchs, the..." He hesitated for a moment, visually shifting as he anchored his head much farther away. His fingers toiled and rubbed rather uncomfortably against one another before he finally finished. _{"... Ultimate Thief."}

"So, uh, who are you, Miss," Aurel hastily spoke up, leaning over as if to eye Snow, still adhering by that same composure he had before as he now turned the question over to the girl.

Instead of answering though, Snow simply stood there observing Aurel with stinging eyes; he was lying. There's simply no way that he was just walking up to them and standing there before the two even got here, they would have spotted or heard him for sure. Who is stupid enough to make up such a seriously idiotic excuse and expect anyone to fall for it. He even hesitated when uttering his ultimate, proving that he didn't think that far ahead; what an idiot.

"Parkour boy, restrain this man." Snow coldly stated while pointing a finger at Aurel. "he's lying, so we have our first culprit."

This kid seemed to have some crazy past based on the clothes he was wearing. His mumbling put Ryuma on edge, he felt the urge to get close enough to hear what the kid was saying, but the athlete wasn't that reckless. He shifted his hands into his pockets as he waited for the white-haired kid to do his thing and only started to pay attention to his words again when he spoke clearly enough.

The boy froze. How the living hell did the kid know his name? Ryuma's hands balled into fists in his pockets and his mostly carefree expression hardened. He might have been a co-conspirator with the kidnappers or a mole. Whatever he was, the kid was skinny as a popsicle stick and even with his almost supernatural-like talent, Ryuma should be able to beat him up to pulp if need be.... Not that he would want to go that far with a kid.

Ultimate Thief seemed to fit the kid perfectly. Slim, can get into small nooks and crannies easily. His outlandish appearance seemed like it would be easy to pick him out from the crowd, but if he moved too fast, Ryuma supposed that wouldn't be an issue. But still, this kid Aurel was dangerous and needed to be taken seriously. "What kind of scum wou-" The athlete started to curse under his breath before getting interrupted by the lionness.

That was the reason she was accusing him? "I doubt he's lying but... With speed like that, working as a mole would be a piece of cake." Ryuma took a step closer to Aurel, one of his hands slipping back out of his pocket. In his center pocket was a chair leg half the size of his forearm, sharp enough on one end. "Now where the hell are we?" His voice got deeper as he moved, stretching the wood out in front of him.

But meh, weapons were never really Ryuma's style. After a second for effect, he let the chair leg drop and put his hands back in his pockets, "Look, it really is too dull to fight over this. We need info Firecracker, so tell us before anything else gets nasty. Princess, if you want to have at it, go for it, I don't want a knife to the back."

"... huh?"

Aurel couldn't help but be a bit... bewildered by the turn of events. They didn't seem like bad people at first, but now they were both... threatening him? It was difficult to understand the turn of events, other than him possibly saying Ryuma's full name, but regardless, that put the thief on the defensive.

The first part of being called scum and even a liar caused a subtle contortion of his face, via a mild but nearly unnoticeable frown, one of his eyebrows barely rising up, and so on. Alongside that, one of the thief's arms was slightly rising up, followed by one of his legs faintly moving back. It was even worse when he was called a mole; he could understand the implications behind that due to his... "work," but a claim of being one somewhat left a bad taste in his mouth with these two.

"... I'm right here y'know," he muttered rather coldly at the misguided assessments, shaking his head before his eyes went moderately wide. Whether both eyes appeared amused or said that he was mildly surprised at the turn of events, Aurel knew differently.

The thief's arm was completely raised, crossing the side of his chest as he slid his leg an inch or two back. Instead of staring at the Ultimate Parkourist, he was now glaring at the wood, seemingly intent on burning it away by just staring at it.

Aurel really wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt; he honestly didn't want to come to blows... it felt... hrm.

Regardless, with the threat in hand, he continued listening, ears as keen as his focused eyes, continuously staring at the wooden leg... and then, Ryuma dropped it.

In the midst of the fall and the start of the dialogue, Aurel nimbly lunged at the piece, swiping it up, and vanishing. Repositioning, the thief now found himself staring at the small gap between where the girl was holding onto Ryuma, he did his best to still his breath, panting in and out. This was... he didn't... hm...

"What the hell!? Stop doing that!" Snow suddenly flinched as Aurel dissapeared only to reappear somewhere else. Her eyes visibly widening as she spotted the table leg that the culprit was now wielding. God why did Ryuma drop it, you don't just drop your weapon in front of the enemy; idiot.

The kid suddenly vanished, making Ryuma involuntarily flinch. How could he do that? There had to be some kind of trick to it and Ryuma definitely wanted to learn it. It seemed as though Aurel didn't really take the athlete's humor well... He'd have to placate that before he got shanked.

...

Despite the reactions, he chose to have faith in them, believing that it was mainly the tension of the situation. As the scene stilled, Aurel left his defensive posture behind in favor of a more relaxed and casual one. Opting for a different approach, he strode behind both the girl and Ryuma; reaching over, he gave a light tap on the boy's head with the blunt end.

The tap wouldn't hurt him, rather it was a gentle one that lacked any sort of malice behind it. Of course, as he performed it, he appeared before the duo, albeit, taking a bit of a large step away as he tenderly grasped the leg.

"... sixteen cabins, all of them with names on them; yours, mine, and presumably hers," he calmly asserted as he paused for a second, looking away from the two, his face pointing at the cabins instead. To demonstrate, he deftly discarded the table leg, tossing like a rag doll it in the general direction he looked in.

As he lobbed it away, the thief winced a bit as he felt that he cut his index finger. Quickly masking the pain with a stoic grimace and a small sigh, he turned his face a tinge to... somewhat face the two.

"... so, instead of resorting to threats, lets instead be sensible about this, Ryuma and," he paused for a second, raising his injured finger up to his lips, tapping on them for what felt like a second before he raised his finger and stabbed at the air towards the girl.

"... Snow Iclyn?... or is it Chika-"

"STOP...monologuing," said Snow with that trademark disgusted face which only contorted heavier as Aurel spoke her name. "Such a lame excuse for knowing our names; if you saw them on the cabins, you wouldn't guess my name that fast." Her words stung like killer bees as she folded her arms, clearly unimpressed by the attempt at persuasion, she gave Ryuma a short glance before starting to walk towards Aurel. "God I have to do everything myself...let us go, before you hurt yourself."

Ryuma flinched as the end of the wood cracked on his head and quickly pivoted to face the Thief, only to move full circle. His tense mouth was slowly curling up at the sides at Aurel's dexterity. The athlete wouldn't challenge him right away, he'd have to understand how he was able to move so fast. But a match had to be fate. Ryuma hadn't failed to notice Aurel wince, but he wasn't buddy buddy enough with the kid to ask why. So he's probably not the mole...

This chick, seriously. While she really was doing something stupid, Ryuma doubted Snow would do any real damage and Aurel had patience for miles judging from their earlier interaction. "Look Princess, I'm all for a little cat fight every now and again, but we don't have time for this. He ain't a mole and he could've already killed us if he really wanted to." He gave a glance at the Thief, "Sorry about earlier."

Too lazy to get in between them, he called out from behind her with a shit-eating grin, "I didn't realize you'd have such a cute name, Snow Icyln. It really melts my heart."

"... -ko Himura," he murmured the last portion to himself as the girl instantly interjected. Part of his mouth was left agape, seemingly stumped on the response as he pondered to himself over if he really was monologuing as the girl threw sharp accusations at him that only rebounded due to how blunt and untrue they were.

"Was I really going on a monologue? I thought that was... short," he uttered somewhat unexpressively and mildly, tapping his bottom lip with his cut, sensitive finger. But still, he began rapping a bit faster with her words, affirming that he was right from the get go before slowing the rapping down to a regular pace... with her demanding to let them out.

... he could try if there was a gate and a lock-pick somewhere... but that was still a hard try.

Other than that, the honest words that were much more calm, casual, and relaxed that emanated from Ryuma still shocked and stung him more than anything the girl had thrown at him so far. "... kill," he mused with a certain amount of horror hidden within the articulation, treating it as if it was a taboo as the woman began to stomp over to him.

Even with the words, there was a sort of comfort in the gray boy's smile as Aurel took a small step back from the ever encroaching lady, listening to the comment that she did have a cute name. The thief just... paused.

Was he trying to defuse her?...

... either way, he was right... "Snow Iclyn... hm... it is a pretty name..."

And so was the girl and her dress as well... hm...

"Shut up Romeo." Snow snarkily said over her shoulder towards Ryuma as she kept walking, clearly not listening to the parkour man; maybe it was because of their situation, but the fact that they both called her name pretty didn't bother her as much as she would've thought. Nonetheless, now that she entered Aurel's personal space, she reached out her arms towards his chest, intent on pushing him to the ground to subdue him.

... ok, so that wasn't exactly enough, but it was an attempt as the boys legs started to work once more, taking a few, minuscule baby steps as the girl encroached closer and closer to the boy. Eventually, it ended with him not outpacing the girl as he stared out into the lake, seemingly "ignoring" her advances.

Of course, he did notice something out of the corner of his eye - two arms reaching towards the boy, palms open. Either she was going to try and grapple Aurel or shove him, he didn't know... but he couldn't help but deeply frown as he deftly pivoted away from the lady and the lake, sighing as he now stood in front of her with one foot pressed farther back than the other.

While Aurels visage was now put directly from her, his eyes drifted away to the fences, not even bothering to acknowledge what happened with his body. This resulted in the thief faintly shrugging his shoulders, with an almost bored sigh that was followed by a question.

"... what are you trying to do?"

...

Before he could even receive a response, some hellish intervention caused a sudden ring. This resulted in the poor boys face contorting a bit, causing the thief to appear more expressive than he was earlier. That cool, aloof nature was beginning to fall apart as his arms suddenly recoiled, rising high up to clasp over his ears as his head twisted around to view one of the monitors stationed on the hut.

His frown was much more visible than before, save he was brandishing a set of pearly white teeth that were grinding against each other due to that irritating bit of noise. "Noisy," he growled almost gutturally through his cinched teeth. When he almost thought it was over, suddenly a voice emanated from the monitors.

That voice.

That god damn voice was just... grating... While his ears attempted to avoid committing suicide from the dreadfully, vexing ear rape, one of his hands shot down into one of his pockets, fumbling and shifting around desperately for something. Following that, he cupped his ears with said hand and went about the other pocket, shifting uncomfortably as he did so.

Unluckily enough, he found that his earplugs weren't there either. While the irony wasn't lost on him, this didn't prevent Aurel from mentally cursing as he found himself doomed to listen to this... thing speak, but with a terrible, terrible voice.

... eventually, this unpleasant announcement came to a close, causing the boy to skulk over a bit as a breath of relief escaped his lips. Both of his arms instantly dropped to his side as Aurel groaned one word out.

"... annoying..."

"Tsk..."

As Snow now stood in front of Aurel, her angry gaze were focused on him...and yet that boy didn't even look her in the eyes; he hides in the shadows, dodges all efforts against him, and doesn't even dare look people in the eyes, what a coward. This boy just got on Snow's nerves in a way that most humans would be terrified off. In any case, she had no intent on staying near this cowardly thief, so she abruptly pivoted on her feet and furiously stomped of again, in no particular direction.

"You better hope the shrieking guy on the other side of that monitor has the answers I want, or I'm coming back for you Aurel."

Ryuma stood back and watched, cocking his head at the sound of the announcement. They'd finally have some answers and a chance to see the big boss, but he didn't sound tough, more annoying and unpredictable. It was interesting to see how Aurel and Snow reacted to the announcement, but mostly, he just wanted everything to be over and done with.

"So... Wanna walk together or do you need a potty break?"

"... bye?" Aurel just continued to stare in the opposite direction as the girl trudged away, holding up a hand and waving... awkwardly to the cute girl... maybe she just... didn't know how to act in this situation or was like a tootsie-pop he snatched from a store once?

Sighing, he shrugged the encounter off, swaying his head at the absurdity of this whole situation, glaring unblinkingly at the glowing green arrows... and noticed a couple of more glowing green monitors littered around the area... the abundance was... jarring as is with the constant clash of technology and nature, followed by the mysterious circumstance that they were all here...

Aurel shivered slightly; whether it was at the gust of wind or a possibility of some awakened nameless fear haunting his heart, he just stood there, still as a statue. He silently processed the situation that was occurring, closing his eyes and seemingly meditating on it all. The only real thing that broke him out of his trance was probably the closest person he could see as...

... friendly, yet not familiar; normal in personality, yet special in talent. Taking in a deep breath, his eyes fluttered open, and for a brief moment, he made some form of eye contact with the boy as he pivoted and took a small step in the girls direction.

Despite how he seemed to be outright ignoring the boy, Aurel displayed that he was acknowledging him, in the peculiar way it was, via keeping his neck turned so a part of his visage could be outright seen by the other Ultimate. He was silent for a second, pausing outright with his foot extended in front of him...

"... after that craptastic pun, I might need one," he said with a neutral, somewhat wavering tone of voice as the thief's head instantly turned back in front of him taking a couple of steps forward before stopping in front of the path, looking over at the now barren fields...

"... you don't seem so bad," he murmured, taking one more glance behind him in the general direction of the Parkourist before continuing.

"... so, shall we get going, Ryuma?"

The Princess really was a handful, but the athlete was feeling a weird connection with Aurel. A part of him was wanting to get his autograph while another part wanted to spar, while yet another part wanted to treat him like a younger brother... And all with a guy he had just met. This really did feel like some shit dream now that Ryuma thought about it. He hadn't felt something like this since he had last been with his older brother...

The Parkourist shuddered for a second before catching the tailend of Aurel's mumbling. Slipping back on his shit-eating grin, he followed after the other boy until they were in step with each other. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," he chortled, rubbing at the back of his neck, it really was stinging pretty badly.

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. An 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?



There was a lot of alarming things about this situation, of course, but some things were more alarming than others. For example, the fact that the speaker appeared to be some sort of… stuffed bear?

Hisakawa Hiroki

Hisakawa… really didn’t know what to think of this girl. She seemed, uh, kind of continually confused and bothered by his presence, which… didn’t surprise him. And, well, he couldn’t exactly blame her. She seemed to give no real though to what he was saying, either, which was also not very surprising to him. She didn’t really respond to his decision to leave, so he just… kind of scooted off.

Alright, well, he didn’t end up be a total disappointment of a human being, so, uh, mission successful? Well, that girl was probably never talking to him again, and he felt extending himself to her would only bother her, so… Alright, he’s gotten nowhere. All he’s done so far is make two seperate people think he’s a pervert, which was probably fair, but it didn’t make social interaction any easier.

You know what? Mission totally unsuccessful, he had basically already burned every bridge he had before they were even built. Hell, he had probably burnt some he didn’t even know existed yet. He really doesn’t know why she sent him here, they both knew he wasn’t going to last all that long...

Hisakawa shook his head, clearing his head of those thoughts. No, he couldn’t give up now. It may be pointless, but he can’t give up quite yet. They may both know he wasn’t going to last long, but they were also both willing to let him give it a shot. He can’t just give up when the going gets tough.

So, he entered the amphitheater in relatively high spirits. He took a seat in the front, though as he waited for others to filter in he kind of regretted it. He didn’t really know who he was dealing with besides himself. If he had sat somewhere else he could have gotten a better look at who was coming in, but then again, it was kinda creepy to just stare at people, yeah? So he just told himself to be patient, and just be content with the lake view. It’s not like it was something he got to see every day, after all.

Not long after, some strange… bear creature popped out of the ground and started talking. This was definitely weird, but Hisakawa forced himself to pay attention.

Which, uh, just really wasn’t doing well for his anxiety. The thing was loud and weirdly off-putting, and very casual about a lot things Hisakawa found deeply concerning. Namely, the fact that their memories had been taken away. He really didn’t like that one bit. His memory was shit enough already, and that got him into a lot of trouble, so he didn’t need any forced amnesia to deal with. What if he had forgotten something seriously important!?

But the worry that brought him was nothing compared to what he felt when Monokuma said the only way out was through murder. Hisakawa knew he had to get home at this point, but killing somebody to do so? There has to be a different way. A fault in the fence or something. He still can’t give up quite yet, but murder wasn’t an option. He doesn’t know if he’d be that useful, but he’ll do whatever he can to get everyone out of here.

But despite the self pep talk, he couldn’t help but notice that his hands were shaking as he held onto this device he was given. Breathing was starting to get harder, too... No, no, he can’t start freaking out! Not in front of everybody, not when this was the one thing he had to pay attention to way right in front of him. If he wanted to help, he had to push through and focus. Far from totally relaxed, he turned on the handbook and went to look at the information available.

Map—pretty useful, hard to go wrong with that. Rule—definitely set up for a murder game, cool cool cool. Other students—well, it’d be a good way to figure out who’s who. There was the girl from before, Usui Ayu, whose talent was… unknown. Somehow, that seemed right. He also thinks he recognized the guy that, uh, walked in on them. Aurel Fuchs—some sort of thief, it seems, though Hisakawa was probably never going to talk to him, if he could avoid it, so he supposed it didn’t matter all that much. Maybe that was a dick move, but he just couldn't imagine himself facing that guy again. He didn’t have much of an impression on anybody else, so he supposed he’d be figuring out what they’re like with time.

In any case, he was ready to go to his cabin and have a mild panic attack or something. It was kind of pathetic that he couldn’t keep himself together, but once he could go calm himself down, he could figure out what to do next.

Himura Chikako

“Hell yeah, that's the spirit, uuuuuuuuuuuuuh... Girl!” She shouted as she ran, addressing the nameless girl rocking the side ponytail who, so far, seemed the only one interested in her way of thinking. Everyone else was so much more interested in being worried over nothing, she guessed. Some even had the audacity yell at her about it! The nerve of some people… Well, she was sure the others would come around. Or maybe not, they all seemed pretty concerned with their own worries. Hmmmmmmm, maybe it'll just take time! Either way, Himura wasn’t going to concern herself too much with worry warts.

She stopped at the amphitheater, not all that tired from the run. She turned to see the other girl not far behind her. She smiled and said, “Not bad, not bad. Not as good as me, but not bad!” She grabbed the girl’s arm and dragged her over to the nearest place to sit, chatting as they waited for whatever lecture they were gonna get, with Himura mostly rambling about party plans.

Eventually, some weird stuffed bear thing popped out of the ground and started talking to them about what exactly was going on. Reluctantly, Himura listened, trying to keep her mind from wandering to other places. She tended to find lectures like these pretty boring.

Though, this seemed to actually be kind of important. Which was… annoying, in a way. She didn’t like that she was brought here against her will, nor that the had memories forced out of her, but, well, she could roll with that much, though it meant that the others were probably gonna spend a lot of time freaking out. And, well, it kind of made them right in a way, which put a sour expression on her face.

Though the announcement that the only way out was to kill somebody was… Himura didn’t even have a word for it. She couldn’t even think. She was pissed! She didn’t sign up for this! She was gonna go to a normal ass school and live a normal ass life, not get stuck in some dumb murder game!

As she was handed the handbook, she squeezed it between her hands. This was stupid. She hated this! She had no desire to waste her time killing people, and she wasn’t going to sit and just let this pass by. So when the bear cheerily asked if there were any questions, Himura found herself taking the invitation.

She stood up, spiked the handbook to the ground, definitely shattering it and possibly breaking it, and pointed at Monokuma, “Yeah, I got a question for ya; Fuck you! I ain’t doing this shit!” She proclaimed, taking a wide stance in defiance.

Taka Tsuin

Taka stood off to the side of the seats, refusing to take a seat right now. His clutched fist and slow scanning of the area around him betrayed the fact he was too on edge to relax like that for the moment. He didn't like the atmosphere of this place. Despite some people's energy, a sinister shadow of doubt crept up in his chest. Nothing about this was natural, and people acting like it was were even worse.

"Hey, so is anyone going to explain what the fuck is-?" the boy angrily growled towards the crowd, but was distracted by the monochromatic bear popping up on stage.

“Ah, excellent, everyone’s here! You know, I really want to thank you all for being so nice and showing up! It feels good to be respected!” it spoke.

"Screw respect! We want to know what the hell's going on!" Taka yelled at the construct, but was promptly ignored as it went on its little spiel. As soon as he realised he was being ignored, a mutter of 'You son of a...!' was ushered under his breath. Taka listened despite his agitation, as his best shot for getting answers was the one who called them together. At least, he listened until-

“All you have to do is kill somebody!”

-his blood went cold. Taka flinched and froze up, eyes wide from the ludicrous statement ushered out by the robot-stuffed animal or whatever it was. He turned his head off to the side, looking over each person's face and features individually.

(Kill...? I'll... need to kill one of these people?)

...or they could kill him. The breezy air around Taka turned to a winter's blizzard as the thought crossed his mind. He couldn't read the expression on most of their faces but... the idea had to have come to everyone's mind here. The paranoia-fueled, dreadful thought that one of these people would murder anyone else for a chance to escape. Taka didn't know any of these people, what they were like. Certainly the cyclops from earlier seemed like a dangerous individual, and even if she turned out not to be, he had no idea what any of the others were like.

He was snapped back to reality when the excitable one from earlier spoke up. He noticed a device in his hands that wasn't there before, and mindlessly activated it. Greeting him was a detailed profile of himself... and herself. In a trance he tapped on the next tab, seeing everyone else having just as extensive of a biography- every single one of them Super High-School-Level students like himself.

"What the hell..." Taka mumbled in disbelief, dropping the thing as it harmlessly bounced onto the floor. He took a step back and looked up towards the bear again, fearful and defiant.

"N-No fucking way in hell I'm listening to you! No way any of us should listen! Who the hell do you think you are, trying to lord over us like that?!"

Izo paused in confusion as the strange bear appeared before them, after the brief moment of confusion he listened carefully to the bears words as he tried to understand what his situation was. This was still a kidnapping but the kidnappers were not expecting a ransom, they wanted blood. But why not kill them when they were unconscious? This was madness, Izo stood in a shocked silence for several seconds as he processed and pondered the many questions entering his mind. This was clearly not a ruse at this point, this was real. Why were they still alive at all?

Saitou's questions only increased as he was supplied a device with everything he knew about himself. After examining the device briefly he placed it in the pocket of his habit and strode to the front of the group, disregarding the other 'questions' and standing face to face with the strange bear creature,he glared at the thing. He asked their captor "Why are we here? Why did you not merely slit our throats if you wished us dead, dropping us in this camp-site merely gives us more opportunity to slip from your grasp." Several other questions came to the Fanatics mind but he was fairly certain others would ask them for him once they cleared their heads.Perhaps he should of been more fearful of the bear in this situation but given the bear's attitude it seemed fairly clear it had no intention of killing them itself....for some ungodly reason.

Yukimori wanted to answer Nao's questions, but when she was about to speak she saw people entering the amphitheatre and her mouth got shut down. Now that she was getting lightly used to Nao and Shirou, she had to introduce herself to even more people. Her heart raced and her mind didn't know how to act in this situation. (Should I introduce myself to them or... No Yuki... Just sit down and hold yourself, they might think your weird again. Breath calmly and see what happens next...). Yukimori gulped, she looked down at her hands that were holding her skirt down. In a moment she tried to look up slowly to observe the people that entered, there were quit a few people that seemed very... interesting. (If I can't speak to them at least I can observe them a little.... Yukimori ... that's weird as well...). A sigh escaped her mouth, one of her hands loosened away from her skirt as she put a string of hair behind her air and sat up a little. (At least you can try to look like a decent person.) 

Everyone arrived. It was a very awkward and quiet moment for everyone, nobody said something. That's normal of course but somebody has to say something right? Everyone must have questions about what is happening and where we are. As these thoughts and questions crossed her mind she got interrupted by a tv that popped out once again. (What?! A stuffed animal?!) That was the first thing that caught her attention. Yukimori listened closely to what the stuffed animal had to say, even when it felt a bit strange to listen to a stuffed animal. But soon it wasn't strange at all and it became more scary, her eyes slowly widened as she listened further. (We lost some of our memories...? That explains why we can't remember where we were before all this happened. So... Could it be that we knew each other before this all happened?) Shaking her head lightly as she concentrated on the other things monokuma had to say.

Then something snapped. Not knowing what she just heard, her grip on her skirt became tighter as she stared at the monitor. (W-Wait... Haha... Kill? No... Haha this must be joke right?...) Yukimori gulped once again (A joke are you crazy?! This isn't a joke at all otherwise we won't be sitting here and people would jump out saying it was a joke! Dammit... This can't be real...). Her head slowly lifted up as she looked at the other people around her, taking in mind that she had to kill them to get out. How? She can't do that, she can't even kill a bug because she would feel bad afterwards. One of her hands went through her hair to cool of her forehead, letting it all fall down with a deep sigh. Some of them seem... Very strong.. And smart... She will probably be one of the first victims for sure... A weak girl like her... To scared to come up for herself or te even speak to people because they might hate her once again... Yukimori was lost at words as she took the handbook that the stuffed animal mentioned before in her hands. At first she didn't open it she observerd it and whispered to herself "Whoa... This is a rather fine tegnique they used... I wonder wich metal parts they used and wich software they put into it...". Suddenly she got shy as she just looked at it like a NORMAL person, starting it up. (Why did you observe it like a little kid seeing his first toy.... You idiot). 

Scrolling through profiles as she found Shirou's and Noa's profile, she decided to check it out first because these were the persons she met first and talked to when she woke up here. (I see... Noa's Talent is... Linguist? That's cool! Damn she must be very smart. Let's check Shirou's profile....Hero fo justice... That explains why he tried to keep us calm...). Looking up for a moment to see how people took the news, in secret Yukimori was freaking out and wanted to just hide in a corner to all this was over. But for some reason, she knew that this wasn't going to work out, and that they should work together to get out of here. Some fo them were freaking out, others seem rather calm and checked their handbook as well, a few even left already. Yukimori nodded and a small sigh escaped her mouth once again. (What are we going to do about this mess... I hope they... Won't kill people... But that's to much to ask in this situation... Right?) And so she decided to wait, and check the other profiles later when everything calmed down.

Keeping his seat at the front of the Amphitheatre, Shirou watched as the rest of their fellows slowly trickled into the area. Thouh he wasn't sure exactly how many people he was actually expecting to turn up, this certainly felt like a few more than the idea he had originally entertained. Every one of them appeared reminiscent of similar ages, likely no older nor younger than himself, Nao, or Yukimori, for that matter. If they were all of the same age range, were they all students at Hopes Peak? Was that even possible, given the circumstances? There must have been a whole class of students present - was it really possible to kidnap them all?

Unsure exactly of how the situation would plan out, he kept his position, hoping to keep as close to the stage as possible. Whatever kind of "performance" they would see in such a place was no doubt to be far from a normal one, and though he hated to admit it, there would obviously be unrest within the group. After all, all of them had woken up in the middle of nowhere, without an indication or hint as to why. If it was indeed some kind of kidnapping situation, as had been suggested, then panic was sure to spread. If they could avoid that, then it was reasonable that they could overcome the issue.

He didn't, however, anticipate the stuffed, monochromatic bear. In fact, he would be hard pressed to say any of them expected it. But thus it came, out from the ground, or beneath the stage, a two-toned, toy bear. His usual reaction might have been to laugh, or joke at something so absurd. But this wasn't exactly a usual situation for him. Watching the thing closely, Shirou couldn't help but wonder as to what could manipulate a bear in such a manner - what kinds of things went into the toy to make it tick. The same went for their situation - what about them, and it, was so special?

Listening intently, despite the obvious comedic undertones of the scenario, Shirou attempted to piece things together in his head. Their host of sorts was the bear, aka Monokuma; they were in a summer camp of one kind or another; their memories had, by some method, been erased to a certain degree; and there was only one method by which they could escape. The fact that it described said method as "simple" was perhaps the singular thing to worry the boy, sending a modicum of a shiver down his spine. Whatever it was, he could be certain that it wouldn't be good, per se.



Shirou grit his teeth at the words, and glanced around at the others, attempting to keep the expression on his face as neutral as possible. As expected, the vast majority of the group was similarly shocked, save a few exceptions - a certain girl in particular catching his eye, with a whole different form of distress on her face. He turned back, allowing himself to take in the rest of the lecture, as it were, and addressing each part in his head.

So that's how it would be. They didn't just have to kill someone - that would be too easy; they would have to get away with the crime in order to leave. He could only help but wonder what would occur if they were caught - the kind of infighting it would cause to have a murderer in their camp. The thought was worrying, certainly, but he had hope it wouldn't come to those kinds of extremes, or people would drop like flies.

Taking his own handbook and scrolling through its varying sections, he made mental notes of every Ultimate's names and Talents, as well as the map. People were already beginning to panic by the sounds of things - this would be the best chance he had to ensure that the group wouldn't fracture immediately. The news was shocking, but it wasn't something for them to get riled up about - not just yet.

Standing up, he made his way to the stage, and climbed up to face Monokuma, intending to place himself between his fellows and the bear, keen to keep the attention on himself, rather than their captor.
"And what happens if nobody dies?" he said aloud, hoping to overtake the conversation entirely, "As members of Hopes Peak Academy, you can't expect to kill each other, now can you? Even under threat of imprisonment, we have no reason to commit murder for the slim chance of escaping."

He turned to the group, keeping Monokuma out of view as best he can.
"We are all Ultimates. The best of the best. A bear's thinly veiled threat of us killing each other is far from enough to make us. As Ultimates, we're people who push past limits - if the bear says we only have one way to escape, then we'll make another way - isn't that how humanity has always progressed?"

Turning to one of the people calling out, he gave a small grimace, before addressing them.
"Unfortunately, I don't think it's that simple... Saitou, I believe. I'm afraid to say so, but I don't think it's our deaths explicitly that this bear wants." with his hand slightly elevated, as though he was giving some kind of motivational speech, he turned to address someone else, "So I believe you're right, Tsuin - we shouldn't listen. The only thing this bear could want from this is to watch us kill each other, but we're not going to let that happen."

With his little speech coming to a close, he took a step down off the stage, and started approaching the rest of the group.
"Therefore, it's nice to meet you all. I'm Shirou Emiya, The Ultimate Hero of Justice." slowly, he came to a stop, keeping his back to Monokuma entirely, "And I wont let any of you die."

Quite the feisty group, this one! Quite a big deal of outcry so far, which was great! That was the sound of despair taking beginning to take hold.



Himura Chikako was not having this. She was a musical beast and an athletic queen, and this is how they want to treat her? Like she’s some sort of murder tool!? No, she meant it when she said she wasn’t going to do this, and she was going to make sure this stupid bear knew it.

Ignoring anything in her path, she bolted up to the stage, effortlessly vaulting onto the raised platform, kicking her leg out to kick the son of a bitch into the calm lake water, where it will hopefully short out and die.

She screamed out as she attacked, but it died on her tongue as she felt herself falling forward. She tried to push the bear as she went down, but only just managed a slight shove. She tried to roll herself onto her feet again with whatever time she had left, but somehow couldn’t move her foot, and fell flat on her front, the wind knocked out of her.



Himura looked down, seeing a series of metal bands wrapped around her foot, having appeared out of nowhere. She desperately tried to pull it loose, but there was no use—it was stuck.



There wasn’t much time—almost none at all. Though the threats of the monochrome bear could easily be empty, nothing more than a toy gun, Shirou still launched himself over to the girl, sliding in front of her and shielding her just before the bullet hit, lodging itself in his upper leg. Any strength he still had in his body left, and he was left on the floor, clutching his leg.