Prologue #5

Midnight Disaster

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DAYTIME

OST - Hope Searching, Despair - Syndrome

AFTER that, the hall was so silent, you could hear a pin drop as we all attempted to process just what exactly had occurred just a few minutes ago.

Tahara shot up in shock, her face completely overwritten with panic. "You all saw that right?" she shrieked, asking for confirmation, "I wasn't the only one?"

Shion's normally calm disposition shattered. "What the fuck was that?" he stressed, joining the teen on his feet, his headache long forgotten.

"That bear... it talked..." Sarada shuddered, hugging herself tightly as she attempted to get a hold of herself, "It yelled at us... What the heck? I didn't sign up for this crap..."

Even Ritsuki was visibly rattled, trapped in an endless loop of staring silently at the static screen, biting her nails in intense thought.

Seeing that we were all panicked, I decided to be the voice of reason to get all of us, including myself, to calm down.

"There must be a reasonable explanation for this," I began, hiding the utter unease that I currently felt, "For example, that thing probably was just an AI. They're just tricking us; trying to get under our skin. And it worked! Kudos to them."

"Of course!" the Ultimate Judge eagerly slammed her fist into her palm, agreeing with the sentiment, "That must be it! No way something like that could exist in real life! That would be just plain creepy."

I was starting to think it was a good thing that Pandora had left while she had the chance. She'd probably be terrified if she had seen what we just had.

"No," Tahara shook her head slowly, her expression now stern, "If that thing was an AI, why didn't it show up on my screen itself instead of on the camera feed? That thing was real; no doubt about it. There's no point in denying it."

Just like that, the Ultimate Hacker sent my point flying out the window, especially considering the fact that she was the true technology expert.

I had nothing else to say. That thing had freaked me out enough before, but now knowing that it actually existed? It was pretty terrifying.

Just who the hell had created that abomination?

Drained once more, Shion held a hand to his head. "This must be a prank," the magenta-haired teen laughed in disbelief, "A practical joke-- it has to be."

"Or, it's the guise of our kidnapper."

Hearing the sudden comment, we all turned to Ritsuki in bewilderment.

"The guise of our kidnapper...?" Sarada repeated in confusion, staring at the amnesiac suspiciously, "What do you mean?"

Somberly, the unknown Ultimate gave all of us a brief stare as she gauged our expressions, finally meeting my own startled purple gaze. She seemed to think over her response for a minute, glancing off to the ground as she held her hand to her chin.

"We had to be brought here by someone, right?" she sighed, looking at me once again as if she expected me to agree, seeing as I had spent the most amount of time with her, "Surely all of you have realized that by now. Right, Murano?"

Surprised by the sudden spotlight put on me, I stumbled out an answer. "Y-- yeah... Right."

Satisfied with my response, she nodded. "Whoever it is, they weren't there watching us when we viewed their security camera feed," she explained, raising a hand, "Seeing as we have the Ultimate Hacker with us, they probably expected as much. Instead, they left us that weird teddy bear."

"But then why would they leave Tahara with her computer?" Shion raised an eyebrow, gesturing towards me afterwards, "They took my contraband and Murano's suitcase. Surely her hacking would have also posed a problem to them."

"They probably thought that it wouldn't be much of an issue," Tahara explained, "To be honest, I don't have any internet signal. Otherwise, I would have been able to contact the outside world for help by now. All I saw was this."

Rebooting her laptop, the brunette opened the network sharing centre, showing us something strange.

The only wifi signal on the page was the connection:

MONOKUMA.EXE

There was nothing else.

"Mono... kuma...?" I read it aloud in confusion.

"You can't get in, I presume?" Ritsuki glanced towards the brunette next to her.

"The firewall on this thing is ridiculous!" Tahara exclaimed, waving her hands and clicking the connection on her screen, "Every time I think I've managed to crack it-- a new layer is updated."

"So that makes three possible distractions that he/she has eliminated," Shion mulled over it, looking at me, "Murano, what exactly did you have in your suitcase?"

Holding up my fingers, I used them to tick off the items that I would mention. "Guns, knives, skeleton keys, a master key-card, a motion sensor, clothes, shoes, my phone, a charger, money, a letter from the school, my ID and a few snacks. That's about it," I informed them, "I haven't seen it anywhere around here."

Shion held his chin in thought. "I have a feeling that your suitcase may turn up sooner or later," he speculated, "only it'll probably be purified like my bag. You'll probably lose all of your weapons along with your other bounty hunter equipment."

"That seems likely," I agreed.

Shion seemed to be on to something. It was probably the reason why both Ritsuki and Tahara's memories were missing large details. That just left Sarada.

"Sarada," I began, "By any chance did you bring anything with you? Or have any vital information taken from your daily life?"

The redhead considered this briefly before shaking her head. "No, apart from the lack of recognition we all have, everything is there," she announced.

The Ultimate Judge had been ignored. I suppose there wasn't anything that our kidnapper would need to take from her.

"At any rate, we should all head to the auditorium quickly," Ritsuki declared, gesturing towards the hall, "We've done enough idling. It's clear now that we desperately need more information."

***

The walk to the school's auditorium was a pretty silent one as each of us felt weighed down by the new information we had all just learned. The only sound that could be heard was that of our out-of-sync footsteps as we entered the hall that led straight to the auditorium, trudging along until we stood right in front of the large dark blue door.

Reluctantly, I shoved it open, almost sure that whatever we would soon find here was about to change our whole world within this strange institution.

Before us, were around three rows of blue chairs neatly organised in the centre of the auditorium, matching the tall blue curtains that hung some distance away. A bright light shone through the room as it was absorbed by the black background between the stage curtains. In front of them, a light brown stage with a wide blue podium could be seen. Tall blue banners bearing the Nocturne Institute of Despair's logo were hung everywhere.

The logo was comprised of a white and navy blue crest with a group of bars lining the inside, mimicking that of a prison. Painted behind it were the ocean's waves as the moon rose behind them, some distance away, stars sparkling around it in the night sky. Finally, a crown sat on top of the crest as it branched into two comets coming together at the bottom.

The strangest thing about it was that familiar jagged eye that could now be seen behind the bars, partially blocking the night ocean scenario from view.

I shuddered at the sight, thinking once more of that strange creature.

Focusing my attention, I noticed that there were thirteen other students already inside.

"You're late," announced a dark purple-haired teen as she stared at us with sharp eyes through her tinted goggles.

"I shall offer a prayer of thanks for your safe arrival," a pink-haired girl informed us brightly as she clasped her brown hands.

Her voice was light and airy, reminding me of a cloud.

"Ha!" snorted the Ultimate Revolutionary as her teal and red irises acknowledged our clear apprehension, "You guys all look so tense! Loosen up!"

I honestly wished that I could follow her advice.

"Everyone is here," a girl with blue-tinted black hair muttered as she counted the number of chairs, "There are eighteen seats for eighteen people. Why don't they start already?"

"Perhaps they are waiting for something like a cue?" a blonde guy considered as he folded his arms, slouching in his chair.

"Why wait for a signal?" a short light-blue haired kid asked him, "Why not just get it over and done with?"

The man stiffened, leaning away uncomfortably. "You sit too close for my liking," he warned him, "move somewhere else."

"I don't have to listen to you!" the boy huffed, pointing at him in annoyance, "You're a prick!"

"He's right, you know," an even shorter light magenta-haired boy smiled, his finger to his lips as he joined their conversation, "You've probably never had a girlfriend in your whole life!"

"Ooh, nice one!"

"For your information, I have dated numerous females before," the man retorted, visibly offended as his eyes widened, "Don't make false assumptions."

"Sure, sure," the magenta-haired boy waved him off unapologetically, "My bad."

Clearly, he didn't believe him.

"Guys, relax!" a brownish-green haired man attempted to get the chaotic group back under control, "Tell ya what... why don't we all introduce ourselves in order to make the time go by faster?"

The pink-haired girl clapped her hands enthusiastically, "That's actually a great idea!"

"It would help a lot if we knew more about each other," I agreed, straining my voice to be heard, "I'm pretty lost as it is."

Ritsuki nodded at my side.

"That may be the case for you," a gruff voice spoke up, "But some of our talents may just cause the group to lose more morale."

"Yes," Shion agreed stiffly, observing who had said those words, "That's right."

The person in question was a rather tall, buff man with pale brown hair and calm green eyes. He was dressed in a green button-up shirt and khaki-coloured pants. Large brown boots covered his feet as he had tied a similarly-coloured jacket around his waist.

If I had to guess his height, I would probably say that this guy was easily the tallest of us at about six feet, five inches. 

As a person who wasn't even 5'5", I had to strain my neck just to see his eyes.

I had a feeling this was the same guy that Pandora was so afraid of. The same one that Shion had been so worried about.

The Ultimate Gladiator.

Aside from him, two other people had agreed with his sentiment; the purple-haired girl and the one with the blue-tinted hair.

"Is that truly so?" a light brown-haired female spoke up, lifting a finger, "Wouldn't it be better to get used to them sooner rather than later? Hearing them later would surely decrease group morale-- if they're really so bad, that is."

She rose a good point.

Nearby, I could see Pandora frown in response.

"If I had to be honest," I began, scratching my head as the room's attention fell to me, "You both make good points. I'm just not sure which one will have a better payoff."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "That's just because you're overreacting. We are all from Nocturne; we need to know who could possibly be a danger to our lives," she stressed, marching over to me and meeting my gaze with furious pink eyes behind black-rimmed glasses.

Sarada raised her hand to interrupt us. "Is it really overreacting if his opinion partially agrees with yours?" she pointed out.

"And who exactly are you?" she turned her sharp gaze towards the judge.

"Sarada Karinagi. Ultimate Judge," the redhead calmly stated, clasping her hands below her lap as she narrowed her burnt orange-coloured eyes.

"Well, Miss Judge," she smirked patronizingly, "I'm afraid we aren't inside a courtroom for you to hand out your verdict. This is a school. Learn your place."

Sarada frowned, visibly insulted. "And you are?" she scoffed.

"Niou Maebara. Ultimate Puppetmaster," her eyes flickered over to the slightly shorter girl.

"Well, Miss Puppetmaster," she tilted her head innocently as if she was saying nothing wrong, "This isn't your show to run. I will do what I want. Learn your place."

The light blue-haired kid immediately whistled at the retaliation, his hands casually folded behind his head.

It seemed that there was some truth to the stereotype about redheads with fiery personalities. 

Of course, I was aware that the saying couldn't be applied to everyone.

Pandora flashed to mind, in particular.

Giving Sarada a hard stare, Niou clicked her teeth in annoyance, surprised that the judge had actually defended herself. Folding her arms, she backed off, moving to stand further away.

"If that's the case," Nahoko turned the subject back towards my initial comment, moving just a bit too close for comfort, "Why don't you tell us about yourself, eh newcomer? Maybe your talent is one of the bad ones?"

Seeing that she was at least three to four inches taller than me, I took a few steps backwards, feeling uncomfortable.

"I doubt it's that bad," I waved my hands furiously, "It's just a bit different from all of yours... Nothing particularly hated or dangerous."

"Then why are you here?" Hayato questioned, his auburn hair casting a shadow over his bright green eyes as they narrowed sharply, latching on to my blunder, "Why have you come here to this school?"

They weren't supposed to know that I had been hired to watch them. Even though the situation had changed, they probably would begin to suspect that I was the one who brought them here-- which, of course, I wasn't.

I was beginning to understand why Ritsuki had asked me to say nothing about her own dilemma.

As I stared into the normally passive eyes of the Ultimate Hypnotherapist, I came to realize something important. Nobody had any clue as to what was going on here. 

These people were clearly on edge.

***

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