Prologue #1

Midnight Disaster

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DAYTIME

OST - Despair - Syndrome

FORBODING grey clouds seemed to gather together in a cluster around the ominous institution, taunting me with the possibility of a sudden downpour. Gazing up at them with a frown, I continued to make my way up to the building in silence, lugging my suitcase behind me. The only sound in the vicinity was its dull, monotonous clatters as it rolled against the cobblestone path, slowing me down a bit as I walked.

To be honest, I wasn't really certain if it was going to rain or not. The sky practically seemed to suit the atmosphere of the school itself. It probably always had to be this cloudy and depressing.

"The Nocturne Institute of Despair, huh?" I muttered, scanning the tall blue and grey walls of the building, "The place definitely seems to match its reputation..."

The school was a government-funded institution that boasted its ability to cater to any and all individuals who were extraordinarily talented. However, as all things in life had to be-- there was a catch.

To attend here, your talent had to fall under one of three options; you were gifted at something that had already been forgotten, you were gifted at something that everyone hated, or your gift was completely and utterly dangerous.

Needless to say, it was a bad thing to get a letter of acceptance from Nocturne. Once you got one, you could either give up on your dream or be forced to attend. 

It was like the dumping ground for society.

My case was different. They hadn't actually forced me to come here... Unlike all of the other students inside the building, I had a choice. 

Taking a deep breath, I made my way towards the check-in station at the gate, observing the tall black poles that blocked my passage. 

"Can I help you?" a curt, feminine voice inquired from the other side.

Before me, stood a woman of around average height as she clutched a clipboard tightly to her chest, her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a small black shawl over a light blue blouse that she had tucked into a black pencil skirt, serving to cover a pair of dark grey stockings. Over her stockings were a pair of knee-high black boots, their dark colour matching that of her circular glasses.

She gave me a cold, hard stare, seemingly waiting for a response.

"Ah yeah... my name is Murano Varamatsu," I snapped to attention, extending my card, "I'm the Ultimate Bounty Hunter. I was hired to check up on the students?"

Taking the light blue item from my hand, she narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the ID for a good minute.

"Bounty Hunter, huh..." a pair of ice-blue eyes flickered up to meet my own purple irises, "Yes, I did hear something about that."

I nodded.

"Hey," she called over to a guard inside of the white security booth, taking a few steps backwards in the process, "Open the gate."

Following the woman's order, the man reached out for something that I couldn't see as the left section of the gate swung open, shuddering as it moved inward with a creak.

Once the structure had finally moved enough for me to enter, I entered the premises, pausing next to the woman with my palm outstretched. 

She looked at me in confusion.

"My card, please."

Her eyes widened in realization as she did as I asked, handing the identification back to me. 

As I tucked the card back into my luggage, she gave me another critical stare before she walked off in a huff, jotting something down on her clipboard.

"What's her issue?" I shook my head in exasperation, entering the building.

Instantly, I let out a loud sneeze.

"Ugh..." I groaned, holding my nose to keep myself from succumbing to the urge once more.

Was there dust on the wall? I squinted in the dim light, using a finger to wipe at its surface. Sure enough, the skin on my index finger had adopted a grey appearance.

"It's practically everywhere!" I covered my nose with the purple section of my sleeve, "The least someone could have done is maintain the place... This is a school, isn't it?"

Then again, it's not like anyone cared about the students in there. By the looks of it, they really were treated like the trash of society.

"I hope the bathrooms, at least, are clean..." I muttered in disappointment.

As I walked along the corridor, I could make out a few conversations being spoken around the place. My sudden arrival seemed to have attracted a lot of attention from the students.

A red-haired girl nudged her friend. "Who's the new guy?"

"Is he a new student?" a blue-haired guy hissed.

"Why's someone transferring at this time of year?"

"Ha, his family really must have wanted to get rid of him."

"I wonder what's his talent... Must be pretty bad to end up here..."

Slightly bothered from becoming the centre of attention, I pulled my open-top cap lower on my head, shuffling next to the school's lockers. I decided to mostly ignore them, only listening out for anything important.

"Hey, do you think he might disappear like the rest?"

I stopped in my tracks. 

Disappear? People were going missing on campus?

"Hey," I called out to the brunette that had asked the question, "What you said... was that true?"

The girl stiffened at the fact that she had been noticed. "Y-- yes..." she stuttered.

"These disappearances..." I raised an eyebrow, "Do you know anything about them?"

Holding a hand to her chin, the girl shook her head. "Nuh-uh," she held up her hand, placing the other on her waist, "All I know is that people have been going missing every now and then. It started when all of Class 47-B disappeared out of the blue. Their teacher didn't even know where they went before she too disappeared."

Her blonde friend spoke up. "After that, more and more people went missing from other classes. An entire class hasn't gone missing yet... but there are rumours that Class 49 is on the verge of collapsing," she spoke gravely, shivering.

Class 49? 

My eyes widened. "Have you seen any of Class 49 then?" I interrogated them, making a mental note of the information.

"Hey, Haru," the blonde asked her auburn-haired companion, "Didn't you say that last week you saw Tahara Hatano?"

"Yeah, yeah!" she agreed enthusiastically, nodding her head rapidly, "That Friday she helped me with my computer homework."

"Did you ask her about her class?" I inquired, "If they really are disappearing... you must have asked her something, at least."

"I did..." she frowned, holding a finger to her chin, "but when I asked her, she wouldn't answer. She just up and left..."

If that Hatano girl was still around, I should probably try and ask her about the class' situation. By the sound of it, she probably knows something about the disappearances.

"Thanks for the information," I nodded to the group, moving to continue down the hall.

"Wait!"

Heeding that call, I paused midstep, turning to face the girl that had initially spoken to me at the start of our conversation. She stared at me with wide eyes as they were filled to the brim with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. 

"What is it?" I prompted her to speak.

"You're a new student here, right?" she began sheepishly, "...What class are you going to be in?"

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a white strip of paper, handing it to her wordlessly. Scribbled hurriedly in the centre of the page in blue ink were a letter and number.

C 49, the piece read.

Her face paled at the revelation. "You can't be..." a pair of brown eyes stared at me in shock and fear, "Why would they do this to you? Now you might vanish like the rest of them!"

Snatching the paper out of her hands, I shoved it back into my right pocket, frowning quietly to myself. She seemed to be awfully worried for a person that she didn't even know the name of. Maybe she and that Hatano girl were good friends?

I smiled softly, taking up such a challenge wholeheartedly. "We'll just have to see if I will."

With that, I took a nearby turn to the left, entering a new passageway before my dread could reveal itself.

There was a great likelihood that the whole reason that they had hired me in the first place was to investigate the disappearance of these potential criminals. After all, if students were disappearing, there was a possibility that they could have found some method to escape. It was a natural course of action to assign me to a class that was known to have almost vanished.

I wonder how many of them are left?

Walking down this new corridor, I began to notice something strange in the distance. On the right-hand side was a grey door. It was covered by a multitude of locks, almost as if there was something ridiculous that the school wanted to hide.

"Maybe they have a monster," I snorted derisively, dragging my suitcase along behind me, "Otherwise, I don't see why they need so many locks to keep everyone out."

Against my better judgment, I decided to go ahead and take a look inside.

Standing before the heavily protected door, I glanced at each side of the empty hall before placing my suitcase on its back. Unzipping the piece of luggage, I rummaged until I had found exactly what I had been looking for; a skeleton key and a master key-card.

Tentatively, I opened the built-in locks that had required a key to be accessed, sighing in good fortune that it seemed to work in all of them. Placing my card against the door's scanner, I waited with bated breath.

This was the moment of truth. Now I would know if I had reaped the fruits of my labour.

Finally, the light on the scanner glowed green, signifying that it had actually worked. Placing the items back inside of the suitcase, I proceeded to pull out a black semi-automatic pistol just in case, zipping the bag up once more.

Warily, I slowly opened the door, keeping an eye out in case anyone was already inside. Fortunately, the room seemed to be clear as I closed the door behind me, ensuring to place a portable motion sensor next to the door so that it would alert me if anyone was outside, holding the light that it was connected to in my hand.

Inside of the room was what appeared to be a small, white laboratory. Rows of shelves covered the walls as they each held assortments of bottled chemicals. In the centre, was a large rectangular table that had its own set of shelves filled with bottles. Other scientific items such as microscopes, beakers and test tubes were scattered across the desk's surface.

All in all, it looked to be a regular chemistry lab.

Shoving my suitcase behind the desk out of immediate sight, I walked up and down the vicinity, scanning the table and shelves for signs of any sort of suspicious activity.

Why would anyone go to such lengths to protect this? There didn't seem to be anything strange.

Or was that what they wanted me to think? In case someone did manage to breach through their security as I did, the least they could do was hide any potential evidence. Regardless of its nature, this place was a school for ultimates. There was bound to be an Ultimate Burglar running around here or something. That talent was definitely unwanted.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed something yellow sticking out from one of the top shelves.

Shoving the gun back into its holster, I stood on the tip of my toes, struggling to reach out and grab it, making sure not to break any of the test tubes in the process. Finally, I managed to pull it from its high perch, nearly falling over.

Sighing in relief, I stabilized myself before reading what was on the file. 

Written on the front, very clearly in green marker, were the digits 4 and 9, serving as some sort of folder identification. Unsure if the numbers were randomly chosen or not, I elected to go out on a limb and theorise that this folder may have had something to do with the collapsing class-- my class.

Feeling a sense of unease, I moved to open it.

However, before I could even manage to even glimpse its contents, the sensor's light flashed bright red in my hand.

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