Not-So-Funny Bunny

It’s early, too early. Many are sleeping peacefully at this time of 2am, and others getting ready to head to their beds. No one could have been prepared for the sudden outburst of static from the speakers, which may have startled some awake.

“Good morning..!! Something amazing just happened, so your families don’t have to die. That’s really great. In the showers, Nikki found a body. Nikki found a body and is busy touching it all over. Go look..! Who the body is, I’ll let you find out.

But, you can find out through your tablets now. If you look on the main screen, there’s a new tab. It’s a tab for case files. It makes it sound like you’re actual detectives with a case file, so it’s really cool. Everyone please look at it, and you’ll also think it’s really cool! Use it to help investigate and put pieces together. You’re welcome. Have fun.”

A body was found in the showers? So it finally happened. You ought to make your way to the showers, where you will indeed find Nikkita hugging a corpse in the cubicle furthest away from the door. By approaching the body, you can see the identity of the corpse as Eiji Katashi, SHSL Demonologist.

Caring to check your tablet, there is indeed a new tab located on the Main Screen that reads “Case File”. It lists the identity of the victim, the cause of death, and the time. Useful.

「Her smile wavered, a hit of sadness shooting up to her head, joining the other one - She had to be strong. To make sure everyone else would be happy and fine down here. She shook her head, smile now back in full force, although now she looked a bit less…. Optimistic.」

「Not letting the less than kind response get her down, Namae opened her arms up, waiting for the other girl to either hug her, or walk away - Of course, there was also a small pang of fear at what might happen should she not accept one of the two options. A clean punch to the face would suck, that’s for sure.」

Fumika grimaced at the girl more as she opened her arms for a hug, and took a large step away. She was too close for comfort. “What’s your damage?” She really didn’t like this girl’s friendliness. And why would she want to hug her? They just met, and Fumika had made it clear that a hug wasn’t what she was looking for. 

「A… Motive?

Namae didn’t fully understand what that was supposed to mean, even as she stared at the screen of her tablet. It was just of her home, completely empty and dark. The shrine had many people around it, she assumed, thanks to Ami, but she didn’t know any of them… Was it possible to kill a goddess? She doubted it.

The barren rooms did send a shock of sadness through her, as she remembered how long it’d been since she was last home. It looked dusty, and she could swear she saw a few flies buzzing around her bedroom.

Despair tugged at the corners of her mouth, willing her to frown, but she kept her normally neutral look up - If only to spite her bad feelings.

Shaking her head, Namae decided it wasn’t time to feel sorry for herself now! The others would likely need her, as she assumed they all had family, or people they cared for. She didn’t. So it was best she use her time effectively!

The closest person to her was a few feet away, so she shuffled over, a cheery look washing over her as she stuffed her tablet into her Hakama.」

「She waved at them, attempting to get their attention.」

Fumika was troubled by the motive. It was horrifying! She bit her lip, pulling on the skin a little. It obviously hadn’t shown her real family. She was never that close to them. That was one of the reasons she left with her sister to join the circus. Instead, it had shown her troupe. her sister, Mr. Smythe, all the members of her circus. How had the cameras even been placed? And how would they die in a week? Fumika didn’t really care to find out.

But to save them, that meant killing, something Fumika was somewhat unwilling to do. She had no intentions of participating in the game anyways. Why should she? She didn’t even care if she was killed. Escape wasn’t that important to her, and neither was her pointless life, so she could die here and not care. But she didn’t want her troupe, her family, to die.

“Ah, sorry.” Cain said quickly, shaking his head. “I didn’t intend for it to come out that way. I figured I should say that, considering our circumstances. The announcement from earlier mentioned the “killing game” of sorts, so I was worried you might have thought I approached you to bring harm.” Cain gave an apologetic smile and scratched the tip of his nose. “And it’s fine, you don’t have to apologize. If anything, I should be the one saying sorry more since I seemed to have unnerved you.”

He noticed that she was looking down at her shoes, obviously not wanting to make eye contact. That was fine with him- he wasn’t one for direct eye contact, either. Or it just may be because she’s still shaken up and doesn’t trust him. Which was understandable- who the hell trusts some weirdo who just walks up to them and offers to walk around with them? The gist of it seems fishy.

“If you really want to go exploring on your own, that’s fine. I wouldn’t doubt that you’re capable of being by yourself.” Cain took a step back, hoping that giving her some more space would help. 

“I’m Cain, by the way. . You don’t have to give me your name if you don’t want to.”

Fumika frowned. Cain seemed apologetic, but he hadn’t done anything wrong. He was just trying to calm her down, and she’d been an ass. She shuffled her feet, and turned to him completely. “N-No, it’s okay, really. Thanks for helping. I didn’t mean to rebuff you like that.” She tried her best to give him a friendly smile in order to show him that she was fine, but she found it a bit difficult. She frowned again, and paused. 

She didn’t know this guy, or what his true intentions were. She looked around. She didn’t necessarily want someone to come with her, but it couldn’t hurt, could it? In this situation, safety in numbers seemed the best so far, and no one would kill yet, right? She looked up for a moment, and nodded at him. “Yeah, you can come with me, if you want.”

Stiffness… Cold… Light… Was Eiji dead? Did he just die from some freak accident and wasn’t aware of it? Nah. Eiji began to slowly open his eyes to see a light above him. Okay, good he wasn’t dead… Eiji slowly came up from from the cold concrete and began feeling a pain shoot down his back. Not the best of places to sleep…

Eiji got up, stretched and began to walk around a bit. Where was he and who were these people exactly? some of them looked familiar, but his vision was a little too foggy to see any familiar face. Suddenly, static came over the intercoms speakers in the rooms. what exactly is going on? A voice came on the speaker greeting all the students.

Eiji stood there facing one of the speakers. He listening and keeping his focus to whoever was on the other side explain what was going on. He could feel the mass confusion among the others. What did the voice mean by covering our tra-…

Killing… A sick and twisted game of killing… Eiji’s heart began to race at a rapid pace. He could feel a panic attack beginning to set in, so he placed his hand on his chest. He began to take controlled breaths to help calm himself down. This was not the time, nor the place to begin panicing. The voice continued to explain the rest of the “killing game”.Afterwards the speaker went to static, then nothing, leaving only the sound of a low rumble and sobs among the people in the room.

Eiji began to walk around to get the stiffness out of his body. He began to recognize some of the faces in the room. While staring at some who he for sure knew, he ran into some and fell back onto the ground.

She began stepping away quickly. She couldn’t let anyone see her nervous... no no no. She had wrapped her cloak around herself closely, a futile attempt to keep herself secure. She looked around shiftily. She didn’t know whether she should believe this about a killing game just yet, but either way, they clearly weren’t in Hope’s Peak. She was walking quickly, making a beeline for the door. Unfortunately her vision wasn’t as good as most. Having one eye does that to you. She found herself blindsided, as someone crashed into her, sending them both plummeting to the ground.

A black void consumed Apidae’s body. He floated about a blank consciousness for-well, who knows how long it may have been? His body drifted a vast emptiness in his mind. How dull… Before he knew it, a bright beam of light shined around him before fading into a dark, slightly illuminated room. There isn’t much light, just enough to see what was around him. Apidae faced sideways, his entire body horizontally laying against the concrete floor. His ribs, stomach, back-all of Apidae’s body was sore. How did he end up here?

After loud, irritating static filled the room, a strange voice burst from an intercom. Was it speaking to Apidae? He lifted up his small body to sit up and observe his surroundings. A sea of bodies lay and sat around him, moving and glancing around at their own pace. He noticed the insignia of Hope’s Peak on a few of the outfits of these people. Then the voice reassured the fact these were all students of Hope’s Peak. He sighed as they went on about apparently what was going on. Apidae was aware of how serious this situation was, dealing with the possibility of these students murdering each other and all, but his head ached with the rest of his body. What Apidae needed was a bed. His bed.

Once the signed off from the speaker system, Apidae slowly rose, being sure not to injure himself on the way up, and started toward the door. He glanced at the students around him, trying to find a familiar face. No one caught his eye, leaving him to continue walking out the door. As he made it out, he was greeted to an unfamiliar place. Where the hell is this? Hope’s Peak never had a facility like this, did it?

The swift movement of someone passing by surprised Apidae. He jolted up slightly, but quickly collected himself as he walked toward the feminine figure. He motioned his hand toward her, despite her speed keeping her well out of reach.

“Excuse me! Do you know where in Hope’s Peak we are?”

Fumika kept on walking, not really conscious of anything except her desperate need to just get the hell out of there already. Despite her talent, she wasn’t good with crowds. Or people, for that matter. She just preferred to simply avoid them. This place... clearly wasn’t Hope’s Peak. It was easy to tell that much already. Fumika had found school to be particularly enjoyable. The daily business kept her busy, freeing her from other things. So... now that she was out of the pattern she’d established, her routine was broken, what’d she do?

She looked around, taking a brief moment to examine everything, before starting to walk again, when she heard someone call out to her. She stumbled slightly in her step, and stopped moving for a moment, before spinning around to look at the person, once again stumbling slightly. She was really finding it hard to keep her balance after everything she’d just heard. “Hope’s Peak? Look around you! Does this look like Hope’s Peak?” She bit her lip. Was there a better way to phrase that. She opened her mouth, and shut it again. 

Even though Cain wasn’t fazed about announcement, he knew that some of the students here wouldn’t be feeling the same way. He wanted to help as many people as he could, but he knew that he was only one person, so he should just try to at least help comfort oneperson.

As Cain glanced around the room, he noticed a smaller girl covering herself up with a cloak (he was a bit confused about the cloak but he has no room to talk about fashion choices) and attempting to sneak out the room. He certainly didn’t want to stop her choice in leaving, but Cain couldn’t help but feel she was a little distraught. He carefully approached, doing his best to come off as calming and reassuring. He’s had practice in this kind of thing before.

“Excuse me Miss…? Are you feeling all right?” He said in a quiet, but low voice. “Ah, I promise I come with good intentions, so please don’t worry.” He tilted his head slightly and tried to smile gently. “You don’t have to verbally respond, either. Just a nod of the head would suffice.”

Cain motioned at the door the girl was about to go through and gave her a questioning look. “If you’d like, may I accompany you? If it’s safety you’re worried about, it should be all right. I’m a Taekwondo Instructor.”

Fumika was still walking away when she heard the voice call out behind her, and stopped, stiffening for a moment, before she relaxed in order to assume a more comfortable and confident pose. Though she’d already shown him she was nervous, hadn’t she? She turned her head to look at him, glancing with her peripheral vision.

Well he was taller than her. He was probably taller than a few people. He was, in short, tall. And he was clearly talking to her. That was unfortunate. She looked back in front of her, and stared straight forward for a few moments, and sighed, before slowly nodding. “I-I’m fine...” Her voice was somewhat shaky, and she listened to him. He has good intentions? Is that implying he’d tell her if he didn’t? “Good to know... Real reassuring.” She tried to come across as harsh, but feared that she may have been a bit too mean. “S-sorry. Never mind.” 

Consciousness begins to trickle its way back to you. Against your cheek you feel something cold and hard- a concrete floor. You find that your body is sore and stiff when you try to move it, but you press through it to sit up. It’s dimly lit in this large, large room- Where are you? There’s a thick pillar at the center, just a support beam. Placed high on the beam, you notice a cluster of cameras- Is someone watching? Movement draws your attention down. There are people awakening all around you, all about your age. How did you get here? How did everyone get here?

An alarming memory floods to the surface of your mind. Something over your face; someone behind you, on you, panic; you couldn’t breathe; you couldn’t see. You have to get out of here. There are two doors on one side of the room, and on the adjacent wall there is one larger door. That must be the way out, right there- !

Discordant static overwhelms the area. But soon, it breaks off into a voice.

“Good mooorrning,” the greeting is drawn out, and the voice sounds inhuman. It’s evident the voice is going through a processor to disguise it. “I thought some of you were dead. I’m relieved. Everyone woke up, so it’s very good. Welcome to your new home, everyone..! It’s not bad here. You’ll all like it here, a lot… hm,” the voice trailed off, as though it were trying to find its words.

“But, I think not everyone will like it here. That’s the point of this game, after all. The game is to escape, congratula- Good luck! I’m going to tell you how to play now. I think everyone will really enjoy the game, because you can prove how great you are! Hope’s Peak students like doing that, right? You prove how good you are, and how much better you are? You can win this game by being really good at covering your tracks, really good.”

“If you kill someone and cover your tracks well, you won’t get caught!”

“That’s the point of this game, to escape by killing people. This is going to be very exciting…! When someone finds the rotting corpse of one of their friends, everyone has to pitch in to investigate the murder and figure out who slaughtered them. After investigating, you can vote for someone in a certain room. I’ll invite you to that certain room when the time comes. If you can’t find the one who ended another’s life horribly and prematurely, then that person ‘wins’ and can leave this place as a reward. It’s a really fun game because it brings out the worst in people. People are really terrible. They’re awful. Now you can freely be as awful as you want. Good luck!”

With a brief static, the speakers fall silent. Everyone is now standing, glancing at each other in stunned silence, trying to process the situation they’re in. It’s surreal. It’s all so surreal. How could this happen to you?

You have found yourself trapped in a game of death and despair.

GAME START.

We have finally decided the official roster! Many of these apps were very good, so it was difficult choosing just 20. However, I’m very happy that we received so many great applications. Everyone has some nice characters! 

Every applicant will also be contacted shortly with a brief notification stating whether you have been accepted or not.

 And now, our roster is as follows! 

Akira Mori, SHSL Competitive Gamer

Akiyo Toyoda, SHSL Petite Model

Apidae Claes, SHSL Beekeeper

Blaise Ryder, SHSL Information Broker

Cain Grayson, SHSL Taekwondo Instructor

Cedric Wagner, SHSL Wingsuit Flyer

Crystal Waters, SHSL Lawyer

Eiji Katashi, SHSL Demonologist

Erika Kimoto, SHSL Sequential Artist

Fumika Mizuno, SHSL Ringmistress

Hanako Nakahara, SHSL Esthetician

Ikiryo Mikazuki, SHSL Businessman

Kenji Tsuji, SHSL Trading Card Game Player

Mikami Tamiko, SHSL Cryptozoologist

Mira Nakano, SHSL Tarot Reader

Namae Juuyou, SHSL Shrine Maiden

Nikkita Gostavo, SHSL ???

Sebastian Graham, SHSL Bomb Manufacturer

Seiichi Himura, SHSL Entomologist

Yui Ayano, SHSL Nail Artist

Congratulations!!! 

To those accepted, I’ll begin sending Skype requests tonight. So, when some cretin with a concerning icon begins tapping at your friendship requests on Skype, don’t fret, that’s just me. I’ll be creating a group chat tomorrow morning, so don’t be alarmed when you’re suddenly thrusted into a mass of screaming children tomorrow!! (It’s likely that I’ll be the only screaming child, though…)

"Whoa, so this is Hope’s Peak, huh? Damn, this is a pretty sweet setup…"