PROLOGUE | Ghost Town Getaway

[ bad luck ] [ location ;; conference room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Waking with a groan, Hisakawa nearly fell out of the chair she’d been slumped precariously in. Upon closer inspection, she’d apparently been passed out in a large office chair, but that didn’t seem right, did it? She didn’t even remember falling asleep, nor being stuck in what appeared to be a large conference room. At first, she was ready to attribute it all to her sour luck, but as she straightened in the chair, she realised that there were several other people around her age slumped in the same kind of chairs, and she scrambled to her feet, stunned momentarily. Weak light filtered in through the windows, but the sky was overcast, so details were sort of hard to make out. Something white sat on the middle of the table, but she ignored it for now, stumbling over to the nearest chair to get a closer look, but as she put her hand on the back of it, ready to shake it, it seemed as if the others were stirring – as she could hear the sounds of shifting and the squeaky sound of a chair turning. Feeling that they would wake up on their own, she took a step back towards her chair, squinting at the wall in the hopes that she would be able to spot a light switch.

After a few moments, however, as she watched these other strange teenagers get to their feet, there was a light click and bright, fluorescent lights lit up the rest of the room, and she caught a glimpse of a small girl sliding away from the switch she could now see on that wall. That was one problem fixed, but the other remained. She didn’t know any of these other kids, and she had absolutely no clue why she had woken up in this strange conference room with them. A glance towards one of the windows still wasn’t too helpful, the most detail she could see was what appeared to be a water tower, and beyond that, what looked to be housing, but something was off, and she couldn’t quite place it. Rather than lingering on that, Hisakawa looked back towards the rest of the people gather around the table, and cleared her throat in a weak attempt to get attention.

[ cheerleader ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ botanist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ seamstress ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ prankster ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ collector ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; here ]
Not seeing much of a reason to put herself to sleep with the others, Tachibana had remained slumped in her own chair, in the darkest corner of the room, waiting for some hint of movement from one of the other chairs. A creak and some sudden movement told her someone was indeed waking up, and she didn’t move at first, but as she watched Hisakawa cross to the chair closest to her, she could hear the others around her stirring and figured that was her cue. Act confused until everything set in and things should go swimmingly. She slid out of her chair, standing up. Now that everyone was starting to come to their senses, she could hear confusion being expressed about their situation – grumbles from someone who had nearly slipped out of their chair. In the darkness of the room, she could really only see silhouettes, so it was difficult to tell who was who. Already aware, however, of her surroundings, Tachibana slid around her chair and behind one of the others, reaching her arm over and slapping at the wall until she finally hit the switch, and for a moment, the room went silent, before the commotion picked up again. It was clear that no one was fond of waking up in a random conference room with no memory of how they got there.

[ doctor ] [ location ;; here ] [ with ;; here ]
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[ astronomer ] [ location ;; here ] [ with ;; here ]
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[ austringer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Kuroda didn't remember falling asleep, and especially not in a strange, unfamiliar conference room, surrounded by teenagers she did not know. That was exactly where she woke up, however, and upon lifting her head from where it rested on the table, she looked around. Though the light in the room was fairly dim, she was fairly certain that she didn't recognise any of these kids. She didn't exactly associate with many people her age, so she would definitely recognise someone she knew. Realising that she didn't know these people, however, was an unsettling feeling, and she looked down at the table, spotting a familiar tawny ball of feathers curled up on the table in front of her. Good, at least Hibiki was here and she wasn't completely alone. She watched the owl stir, a faint smile pulled at her lips as she held out her hand to the small, waking creature. He inspected it for a moment, before hopping into her palm, and she straightened in her swivel chair, which creaked under the movement, moving to place him in his usual perch on her shoulder.

Even with her companion here, however, she didn't feel much better, and as the lights overhead flicked on, she squinted against the brightness to allow her eyes to adjust, taking another look around. Yep, definitely unfamiliar people. Great.

[ animal trainer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Sayuri awoke with a jolt, bolting upright and nearly yelping in surprise as the chair she was sitting in rolled back in response. That was unexpected, and she swiftly looked around the room, realising that this was not the circus. She was in a conference room, yes, and it wouldn't be the first time she'd fallen asleep during a meeting (it was something her father continuously chided her for, but, alas, in vain), but the thing was, this wasn't a setting she was any shade of familiar with, and the same went for the teenagers in her presence. That was weird. She didn't even see any of the other circus staff nearby. No hide nor hair of them lingered, which was very concerning. However, the other kids seemed just about as confused as she was, judging by the looks on their faces, which was a little comforting, she supposed, and this was made even clearer when the lights switched on. As she looked around the room, her gaze settled on a white mound in the middle of the large table. It looked furry, a dog perhaps? It wasn't moving, that was certain, and her curiosity was certainly piqued.

[ sukeban ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ paranormal investigator ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
His first thought upon waking up was: this wasn't his bedroom. It was dimly lit, with just enough light coming in through a window to keep him at ease, but it wasn't a place he was any shade of familiar with. Though the kids around him looked to be his age, highschoolers, he was fairly positive he didn't know them. When the lights flicked on in the room, he felt a little more at ease, but that was very short-lived when his current situation actually settled. He didn't know any of these people, he found himself in a strange, unknown room that he'd never been in before, and he was getting a very bad vibe, not unlike the feeling he'd get when walking into a room or building haunted by a particularly angry spirit. He couldn't sense anything supernatural here, however, but something was definitely off, and he didn't like it. He would wager that the other kids were feeling similar emotions, but no one had ventured to actually speak yet, and so he took it upon himself. "H-hey," he started, his voice trembling a little more than he'd like. "What the hell is this?"

[ hellenic theologist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ criminologist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ chess player ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ ornamental weaponmaker ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ bad luck ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Okay, so she hadn’t commanded much attention, but the words from one of the male students around the table seemed to catch attention, and there was a brief silence. It appeared that none of them had any idea what they were doing here, and frankly, no one else know what the hell this was either. Hisakawa took a moment to study the other’s faces, but none of them looked familiar or rang a bell, so she could easily confirm she knew nobody here, so that was unsettling in its own right. Beyond that, the room they were in look wholly unfamiliar, and as did the limited scenery outside the window. “Does anyone recognise this place?” she ventured, now that it seemed things were open to discussion.

[ cheerleader ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
At the question of if anyone recognised the area, Inoue briefly raised her hand for attention before speaking. “I don’t recognise this room, but shouldn’t we be in Hope’s Peak? We’re all students, right?” Or at least, that’s what she could gather – everyone looked the same age, and she could guess simply by the aura everyone put off that at least some of them were here with an ultimate talent. Besides, that had been where she’d been heading – maybe there was some freak accident and they’d been dumped into a random room, which was a little far-fetched, but it seemed like the most likely scenario along a whole bunch of other unrealistic ones. That said, it didn’t look much like a school’s conference room.

[ botanist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ seamstress ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ prankster ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ collector ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Unconcerned too much with the conversation itself, having a feeling she would know how it would go, Tachibana let herself melt into the background, falling silent, though her eyes glanced towards the stuffed creature sitting on the table. Surely he would activate soon, and things would go swimmingly. Or at least, she hoped so. The nature of the area could throw them all off, and she desperately hoped that lulling them all into a false sense of security would go the way it was supposed to. She was sure it would work out. She picked anxiously at one of the pins on her vest, frowning deeply, waiting for something more to happen, or at least for the conversation to go somewhere.

[ doctor ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ astronomer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ austringer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
On the one hand, it was a little comforting to know that she wasn't the only one who was absolutely clueless, but on the other hand, it was extremely concerning that no one else had the foggiest idea as to what was going on, it seemed. On her shoulder, she could feel Hibiki's feathers fluffing up in an expression of discomfort, likely as a result of sensing her own unease, and she brought her hand up to gently stroke his chest, peering around the table at the others as the conversation sparked. The blonde girl was right, and she could dimly remember arriving at Hope's Peak, having been invited to attend the prestigious school, but she was fairly certain this wasn't the entry hall she'd arrived in. Actually, she couldn't even remember what had happened after she'd stepped foot inside the building.

[ ornamental weaponmaker ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Takeda leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, listening as the students around him launched into a confused discussion. He tapped the fingers of one hand against his upper arm, looking around at the others and taking note of their appearances and what he could glean of their demeanours so far. There were still several who had yet to speak up, whether it was a result of timidness or they simply had nothing to contribute. He lingered for a few extra seconds on those who were silent, before looking back over at the blonde who had spoken. Clearing his throat, he nodded slowly, his voice sounding confident to his own ears when he brought words to his lips, and that was a good thing, he supposed. Best to keep his cool in an unknown situation like this. "I do think it's safe to say that we're all students here, and Super High School Levels, too, right?" he asked, uncrossing his arms to fidget with the scarf around his neck. "I know this is probably a strange situation, but... I don't think we should start freaking out just yet." He gave a nervous sounding laugh. "Maybe this is all part of some plan or something. I'm sure they wouldn't let anything bad happen to us."

[ sukeban ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ hellenic theologist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ criminologist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ chess player ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ animal trainer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Sayuri drummed her fingers idly against the tabletop as she listened to the discussion going back and forth, the whole situation quite honestly starting to hurt her head. Her gaze flickered to a red-headed male as he spoke, noting his confidence, and wondering how he could manage to stay so cool during this. However, she did find that his confidence was a little comforting, and she tried to focus on that, though as he finished speaking, her focus wandered to the center of the table again. The white, furry thing laying idly there kept distracting her, probably because she couldn't figure out what it was, if it was an animal or a doll or a combination of the two. Rather than respond to the male, she cleared her throat, making a half-hearted gesture towards the thing. "Yeah, stay calm and everything, that sounds great, but... what is that thing? You guys see it, too, right?" Really, at the moment, it probably shouldn't be a major concern. After all, they did all just wake up in a strange, unfamiliar location, and a currently harmless pile of fur sitting in the middle of the table should be the least of their problems, but Sayuri couldn't force away the uneasy feeling rising in the back of her throat. Then again, maybe that was just a result of this whole mess they'd been thrown into, anyway.

[ collector ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
As if the acknowledgement was a cue, the plush pile on the table quivered, and every eye in the room was drawn to the movement. Tachibana sunk back a little, her eyes wandering away to watch the expressions of the others as the white thing drew itself up, moving in a natural way that ended up looking surreal and almost creepy with its simplistic anatomy. Everything fell silent briefly, as it surveyed the students, before quite suddenly – it spoke. “Whaaat a good turnout!” it exclaimed, voice faintly masculine. It had no visible mouth, but Tachibana knew of the voicebox hiding in its chest, thought luckily, the sound came through crisp and clear, as if the voice itself came straight from the dog shaped toy. At first, it didn’t seem like anyone could respond – which Tachibana expected. It wasn’t every day there was a walking and talking thing like this. It seemed to catch on, too, and beady button eyes swept the room. “What’s wrong – cat got your tongue?”

[ bad luck ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
The sudden movement of the pile of fluff on the table, which Hisakawa had previously ignored until it had been pointed out, made her grasp the table, finding herself set on edge by the thing. The voice that came out of it was unsettling – something about it seemed off. Really, everything about it seemed off, seemed uncanny, even though it just looked like a harmless dog plushie. However, it seemed everyone else got the same feeling, because no one replied and it spoke once more. It was bothering Hisakawa that it didn’t have a mouth, and she caught one of the other girls around the table – slightly dark-skinned with a fake flower perched on her hat – lean over to her neighbour and ask quietly, “What is it?” in a carrying whisper. Clearly, the thing heard, and whirled suddenly. The movement might have looked natural in a real dog, but with the plush body, it looked wrong.

[ botanist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Not expecting it to respond to her whisper, Audrey flinched as the plush whirled, fixing black, beady eyes on her instead, and she was expecting it to do something horrifying, but instead, it bobbed its head in what could be construed as a confused manner. “I’m not an it, I’m a he,” he said, testiness briefly coming across in the voice, before he continued. “I’m Shiroshiba, and I’m going to be you guys’ chaperone here.” Shiroshiba wagged his tail briefly, as if expecting understanding or excitement from his audience, but no one seemed too thrilled, and if anything, everyone looked more confused. Chaperone? To what? It seemed to be somewhat dark outside, and the light’s reflection on the window made it impossible to get a good look at what was there, and before she could speak again, someone was already echoing her thoughts, a tall male student with an open lab coat crossed his arms over his chest and asked, “What do we need a chaperone for?”

[ seamstress ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ prankster ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ cheerleader ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ doctor ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ astronomer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ austringer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
It was probably safe to assume that, despite the absurdity of the situation, seeing that pile of fluffy move was the last thing that anyone sitting around this table had expected. Why would they? Sure, the situation was already pretty strange, but the idea of a stuffed toy coming to life and speaking to them, even in something as ridiculous as this, was ludicrous. It was like some sort of crazy dream, and subconsciously she found herself subtly pinching the underside of her arm as hard as she could, expecting to wake up back home (or in a dormitory at Hope's Peak, either sounded good). Unfortunately, neither were the case. Nothing changed, not even the living(?) plush toy strutting across the table in front of them. On her shoulder, Hibiki definitely seemed on edge, as well. Given the fact that a) he was a very small species of owl and b) he wasn't trained in the same way that most of her other birds were (that is, to hunt), he tended to be rather skittish around animals bigger than him, especially anything remotely resembling a dog. She brought her hand up again to gently stroke his feathers, hoping to calm the small creature while simultaneously trying to process this mess.

[ animal trainer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
The plush toy coming to life on its own was enough to startle her, though as it seemed to speak (she didn't see its mouth move but she figured the voice from still coming from the creature), she gave a quiet yelp, pushing her chair a few inches away from the table. She regarded the dog with a skeptical and mildly frightened expression, allowing this to settle in for a moment, though it was difficult even for her to process. She gripped the edge of the table, pushing her chair back to where it had been and clearing her throat. "Um, last time I checked, I'm pretty sure dogs can't talk." She'd trained her own dog to do a lot of things, and that included "speak." He could "say" simple phrases, things like "I love you" or "hello," random, short strings of barks that sounded like words that always amused crowds, but nothing like this. This creature was putting together intelligible sentences, and seemed to have a human-like mind of its own, which was absolutely terrifying. It didn't acknowledge her own words, however, instead turning its attention to a male in a white coat. Honestly, were Sayuri not downright terrified right now, she'd be incredibly fascinated.

[ sukeban ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ paranormal investigator ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Shiroshiba turned his attention to the male in the lab coat, tilting his head slightly to the side. "Why, for your wonderful vacation of course," he replied, seeming amused by his own words. He paced across the table for a moment, before sitting down in the center of it. Kobayashi folded his hands in his lap, looking thoughtful for a moment, but also very disturbed. This didn't help his unease at all. "Vacation? he echoed after a moment. "I don't remember signing up for any vacation." He remembered being invited to Hope's Peak, entering the school, and, well... that was it, actually. How long ago had that been? Surely, no more than a day, right? Shiroshiba laughed, turning his head to look to look at him, and Kobayashi looked away as soon as their gazes met. The dog laughed, shaking his head. "It's sort of a... mandatory way of welcoming you all to Hope's Peak Academy," he explained, but Kobayashi frowned, still mildly unnerved.

[ hellenic theologist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ criminologist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
"So, what, did you kidnap us?" Nishiki asked in response to the dog. Mandatory way of welcoming them to the school? It seemed strange, because she still felt like they would have gotten some forewarning. Shiroshiba looked over at her, and she crossed her arms over her chest, not intimidated, unlike some of the others seemed to be. "Kidnap you?" he asked, and then laughed again. "That's absurd. I told you, it's a vacation." He looked around at the other students again, wagging his tail. "Come on, you guys. Lighten up! We're going to have lots of fun here! Plus, education isn't mandatory on this getaway. No classes, no schoolwork, no homework! You can't tell me that doesn't sound absolutely wonderful."

[ chess player ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ ornamental weaponmaker ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ bad luck ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

Hisakawa saw nothing good about this. This plush dog was downright creepy, and something was very wrong about this situation. There was no way that this wasn’t at least a little bit shady, and a vacation didn’t exactly seem right. At all. She hadn’t heard a single thing about a vacation when she came to Hope’s Peak, and clearly, no one else had heard about it. Plus, this was a pretty suspicious place for a vacation. Nothing about this felt right, and while she was generally a little bit willing to suspend disbelief, this was a bit much. A talking plush toy was about where she would draw the line. That seemed about the point to draw a line. “Look,” she said. “I don’t know about everyone else here, but a vacation seems like an awfully poor way to welcome students.” Hope’s Peak wasn’t exactly the most normal school, but this seemed so wrong. Shiroshiba fixed his eyes on her, and though it didn’t seem he could express emotion visually, she could swear she caught a glare from him. “Like I said,” he started, his tone still cheery, but she could swear it sounded testy. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to cross him. “This will be the site for you guys to relax. I swear you’ll be back at Hope’s Peak when it’s all over.”

[ cheerleader ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ botanist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

Audrey cleared her throat, and Shiroshiba’s attention turned to her. She froze for a moment, unable to explain why – but something about him was unsettling. “So, when do we get to go back to Hope’s Peak?” she asked. A vacation was interesting and all, but that wasn’t what she had come here for. She was more interested in what the school had to offer. The plush dog paused for a moment, almost as if he had to think (and she didn’t like the idea of it thinking – that made it creepier than it already was), and then said, “It depends. You guys will be receiving an assessment in a week’s time, right here in this room. You’ll see when you get to leave from there.”

[ seamstress ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

There was a moment of silence following those last words, as once again, something about the way the dog had said them felt off. Shimizu thought that him saying the words ‘get to leave’ sounded awfully foreboding, and glancing nearby, there was the same unsettled look on everyone else’s face. She swallowed, and then decided to ask another question that seemed to be hanging in the air. “Um, excuse me, but – where are we, anyway?” It’d be nice to know, at least, where their ‘vacation’ was at, though even if it ended up being some exotic place, she still didn’t think she would be thrilled. Too many things just didn’t sit quite right.

“Oh, silly me! Forgot to say,” Shiroshiba said, with the air of one who was simply waiting for someone to ask. “You guys get this nice town all to yourselves! Everything’s free – take a walk down to one of the stores and help yourselves! You each get your own apartment as well, they won’t be far from here.” He wagged his tail, clearly excited to get going and change the subject. “How ‘bout you all take a tour, and get your bearings? I’m sure you’ll warm up in no time.”

[ prankster ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ collector ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

Without another word, Shiroshiba paced across the table and leaped down, pushing the conference room doors open and disappearing into the hallway. It seemed like he had dismissed them, but there was a silence left in his wake, like everyone was still trying to absorb what just happened. It must seem like a bad dream to them all, Tachibana thought, letting her eyes flicker around and capture the look on everyone’s faces. They all must think this was insanity, or at least some very good prank, though they would get their wake up call soon. She thought that Shiroshiba had done a decent job in explaining the situation, though she hoped they would brush off the more foreboding parts of the stuffed animal’s words. A false sense of security would be paramount here, and she was genuinely hoping it’d be achieved.

[ doctor ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ astronomer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ austringer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Normally, Kuroda wasn't the type of person to complain about a vacation. Getting away somewhere new and remote didn't really sound all that awful. However, it was really more or less the fact that a) she didn't recall signing up for anything like this, b) she had absolutely no idea where she was, and c) she didn't know any of the other kids around her. The talking stuffed animal had made it sound kind of like this was some kind of "get to know each other" field trip, and if these kids really were her fellow students at Hope's Peak Academy, she supposed that kind of made sense. She wasn't necessarily thrilled about the prospect, however. Even if she had many questions at the moment, that she was sure only the dog could answer, she found herself a little relieved when he finally made his exit, and she could tell that Hibiki had calmed down significantly, as well. He was still on edge of course, but then again, so was she. She crossed her arms over her chest, slouching down in her chair a little bit and letting her gaze rove over the rest of the students gathered around the table.

[ animal trainer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
"Assessment?" Sayuri echoed, sounding incredulous and definitely a little ruffled. "I thought you said there wouldn't be any work." Whether or not Shiroshiba had heard her, he didn't let on, and he made no haste to march across the tabletop and quickly leave the room. She huffed, puffing out her cheeks a little, finding that she was even more confused now than she'd been before the plush had come to life. She looked around at the other students before her, allegedly her fellow classmates. A light, awkward cough escaped her, and when she spoke again, her voice was far less confident than before. "Does anyone else have any idea what that was?" she asked, realising that her tone was trembling a little bit.

[ sukeban ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Rina didn't like anything about this. For the most part, she was pretty good at thinking on her feet, making split second decisions and adjusting to strange situations. However, something about this felt incredibly wrong, made her skin crawl. Not to mention, she wasn't too fond of being around people she didn't know, and she felt almost cornered now. Granted, it was probably a little better than being caught by the police and sent off to prison, like she would have been had she declined Hope's Peak's invitation, but, well, this wasn't what she'd signed up for. It almost felt like some kind of weird dream, or someone's idea of a sick joke. Her hand came up, grasping at the cross pendant hanging around her neck, and she let the cool metal press into the skin of her palm, allowing it to calm her down. She could deal with this, she assured herself. She didn't like it, but she'd deal with it. Her gaze flickered to a black and green haired girl as she spoke, and though it was obvious she was trying to hide it, there was a tremour in her voice. She was nervous, incredibly so, but Rina didn't think she could blame her. They all had to a right to be.

[ paranormal investigator ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ hellenic theologist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ criminologist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ chess player ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ ornamental weaponmaker ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
Even though the weird talking dog had left, the heavy atmosphere in the room had not lifted. In fact, it felt heavier and even more uncomfortable than before. Takeda straightened his posture and cleared his throat. "Hey, well, we're not going to accomplish anything by sitting here, right? If nothing else, Shiroshiba had a point. We should probably take a look around and get acquainted with the area." He didn't know how well his idea would be received, but no one else seemed to be taking the initiative to step up, and there was no point in wasting time wondering about questions that wouldn't be answered. "Better yet, maybe we should introduce ourselves. After all, I'm assuming we're going to be classmates." He flashed a smile, trying his best to look as cheery as possible. "I'll go first. I'm Takeda Shirogane, and I was invited to Hope's Peak as the Ultimate Ornamental Weapon Maker."

[ bad luck ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

It seemed like no genuine answers were going to come out of the odd plush toy, and it was clear everyone else in the room was scrambling to make sense of the whole thing. Hisakawa didn't know what to think, and she was caught a little bit speechless, frankly. She was a little glad that other people were around to voice their thoughts, and she could take the moment to recover and gather her own thoughts. She supposed it was about time they worked to figure out who everyone else was. At the very least, if they had some sense of camaraderie, it might be easier to figure out exactly what was going on. Frankly, she didn't trust this whole thing in the slightest, and she would rather have a little more of an idea of what was going on. Maybe once they knew each other, it would be easier to relax and get a better idea of what might be happening.

[ cheerleader ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

Inoue guessed that they were not going to be getting much from that encounter, but she was awfully disappointed that they were just left like this. What sort of school threw their new students into a situation like this? It seemed pretty out of left field, but she wanted to remain at least somewhat optimistic. At least she wasn't alone -- and everyone else was in the same boat that she was in. No one knew anything and they were stuck here until that little stuffed toy told them more. After the ginger-haired boy spoke, she clapped her hands together to get attention on herself. "I'm Inoue Akemi, Ultimate Cheerleader," she said, projecting her voice so that she wouldn't be misheard. These would be her classmates, after all -- she wanted to get to know and trust them, and starting off strong was likely the best way to be doing that.

[ botanist ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

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[ seamstress ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

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[ prankster ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

Moto figured it would be easiest to let the more outspoken people get their points across first -- then more shy students would feel at ease to speak up. It would be easier to get introductions over with in this big old conference room, and then they could put time into actually exploring their surroundings. When he could get a good glance out the window, he thought the place looked awful creepy, but he was hoping it actually ended up pretty pleasant. He loved new people; there was always a chance to make them laugh and have fun, and he figured most of them could go for a good time after this. He puffed his chest out comically. "Moto Akira at your service. Ultimate Prankster."

[ collector ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]

Tachibana had been ready to leave the conference room the second Shiroshiba did, ready to get out into the town and stay out of the eyes of everyone else, but Takeda sort of ruined that, so she stayed near the door, glancing briefly out into the hallway and waiting for these introductions to be done. She, of course, already know everyone here, and didn't really want to wait for them to go through this whole rigamarole, but she figured she would go ahead and let everyone get used to it. She couldn't imagine the reactions when they learned the true purpose of everything here, and the idea made her more antsy than before.

[ doctor ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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[ astronomer ] [ location ;; con. room ] [ with ;; everyone ]
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