🐲ドラゴン

Victim: Ryuu Nakahara

Cause of Death: Strangulation

Time of Death: 5:34pm

Location of Body: Gym, Men’s Changing Room

Exercising while recovering from a serious injury is not the greatest decision, but Trik is hardly known for making great decisions. Laying around all the time is boring, and he doesn’t want to get too out of shape - besides, it’s not like he hurt an arm or a leg, and as long as he’s careful and sticks to some stretches and light lifting, it shouldn’t be a problem. Already making a mental plan for his weight-lifting session in his head, Trik is on autopilot as he trots into the locker room to stow the change of clothes he brought along for after his post-workout shower. Anything on his left side goes unnoticed, for obvious reasons, so it’s only after he’s stuffed the outfit in one of the lockers and turned to go back into the gym proper that something over by the showers catches his attention.

Barely out of a shower stall, Trik spies a lump of towels. Except… it’s oddly human-shaped. In an extremely uncanny way. In fact, with the white of the towels, it has the appearance of a funeral shroud.

“…Oh boy.” Most people would probably have some hesitation about approaching this, but Trik is not most people, and after the initial pause of surprise at seeing it he walks right over. Reaching down, Trik gingerly grabs the edge of the top towel and tugs it up in a single sharp pull, revealing something frightening underneath.

At first Ryuu was just watching by the sidelines, letting the others piece things together for the fighter himself had nothing else to offer. He’s told his part and pieces of info, and it seemed like the others were smart enough to figure out the mystery in a responsible way, right?

…Right?

Unfortunately, he was wrong. His somewhat neutral, waiting expression changed rather quickly as things started to become louder and rowdy. Sure, they’ve made a considerate amount of progress, but that didn’t excuse for the flying knives, inappropriate reactions, drama, sassy remarks, anime references, eating evidence, the fuck word, flying knives?! Did they not take the situation seriously at all?!

“G-guys… don’t you think we should be taking this a bit more seriously…? Let’s all settle down, we don’t need to, um.. Gang up on Witch-san like that.. Let’s, uh, not… don’t you think this is, um… disrespectful? Tamatsuki-san…”

Yup, looks like the class was beyond hopeless at this point. Ryuu sighed, leaning on the podium exhausted, even though he didn’t even move. Just watching the class do… whatever made him feel tired.

“We’ve already solved the murder, there’s no need for bad blood… right?”

Ryuu, although tearful that he had to return home, was glad to have had the opportunity to visit such a beautiful and well thought-out place. While he’s had much fun and met a few of his classmates and enjoyed a handful of activities, it was time to say goodbye– after all, the city still needed some development to do and all of the students had lives to return to as well.

Or so, Ryuu had thought, before he ended up blacking out.

Had he been saying goodbye to the wrong thing the whole time?

Waking up in a heavy daze, it took a few seconds for Ryuu to become aware of his surroundings, seeing that… they’re back in the lounge? He looked around dumbfoundedly at the others; looks like they’ve experienced the same thing. But unfortunately, the confusion wasn’t what kicked off the surprise.. Despite the fact it happened to feel as quick as a flash, watching the poor girl die without even getting answers, especially from someone they thought they trusted… It certainly was enough to keep Ryuu weak, too weak to even stand, a pathetic athlete he was as he helplessly stared into the monitor. It was at least a good distraction from looking at the lifeless, fresh corpse before them.

“N…no… NO!! Thi– this isn’t real!! It CAN’T be! She– she can’t really be dead, can she?! This is just some sick prank!!”

He didn’t want to believe it, for something so horrid and violent too happen before his eyes… No matter where he looked, hope was nowhere. His entire mind, no, entire body was filled to the brim with utter panic and fear– he could even barely think straight, they were either trapped or forced to kill and they were gonna stay isolated forever and never have a future and be forgotten and they were all going to die–

Ryuu, snap out of it! He manages to put stop to the ‘why’s and 'what if’s and 'when’s… thinking instead, what were they going to get out of panicking? Out of just fearing something bad might happen instead of actively working to make sure everything is okay? With only just a speckle of confidence left Ryuu finally stands up, and although shaky he decided to give out a speech.

“N…Now, everyone! We all shouldn’t panic! I-if we do, something really bad might happen again… We should all look on the… look on the positive side of things! We just need to trust and work together and.. and… Surely we can figure something out with the right mood, motivation, and teamwork! Let’s be optimistic!”

But there was nothing optimistic about watching someone die, then seeing them lay limp as a corpse. The entire scene inevitably replayed in Ryuu’s head.

As he explained what to do, her eyes widened, and she looked rather….confused

“W-what? A coin, you say? One whole coin? W-woah, I didn’t even know that…I…I thought kicking was…the only way to get prizes out….that’s how I always did i…it, at least”

She dropped the act not a second later, her look of shock being replaced with an annoyed scowl. This guy was useless

“No shit genius, everyone’s first instinct should be to “insert a coin”. Doesn’t matter how many you try to put in this one though, cause it’s not even working. Geez, if I knew that was the type of “help” I was gonna get, then I would’ve never asked”

Woah Sora, relax. How would he know what to do?

“G-gosh, sorry… I just saw you kick it, and I sorta specialize in kicking and punching things, so I assumed that you… ah.. nevermind. My bad.”

Ryuu was a bit flustered at the other’s sarcastic reaction, feeling a tad guilty he didn’t give the type of help his classmate had wanted. Wanting to make up to Sora, he approached the gacha machine more closely, as if trying to inspect it. Maybe she was just having a bad day? Surely fixing the machine will make her happy again!

“Hmm… I dunno, maybe it doesn’t accept regular coins? It sounds a bit far-fetched, but I wouldn’t say it isn’t possible… If it if the case though, I wonder why they even put it here if you can’t even use it. Haha!”

Just now had the boy realized, he hadn’t even introduced himself yet! Turning towards the wizard, he spoke after a quick bow of apology:

“It’s bullshit. If those people could build all this, you think they would check to make sure everything’s working. Right now it’s the gacha machine, and next I’m sure it will be whatever keeps this place from getting flooded.”

She sighed, her face in her hand. This was a bit too much, even for her. As Ryuu introduced himself, she looked back up with a forced smirk on her face

“Sora Kontororu. Sometimes it’s preceded by kennings like the great or the powerful, but for the most part it’s just Sora.”

Wow, not even gonna say it’s nice to meet him? Nope, rather, she is gonna look around the room once more

“Welp, looks like this room has completely nothing going for it now. You need other people to play all these games, and I don’t really watch TV”

"Now now, maybe you shouldn't be so hard on them...? They've created such an amazing place after all, and by themselves! You shouldn't let some broken thing ruin the experience!"

He said this excitely, for Ryuu was still super excited about being in such a wonderful and impressive place! But he let the topic go, assuming the other wasn't gonna have it. Averting his attention to the room as soon as it was mentioned, Ryuu tapped the palm of his hand with his fist as an idea popped into mind.

Karl had been to arcades before of course.When it comes to hangout spots, most of them don’t really do it once you don’t really speak the language of the country much- hence, either sports or arcades. And sure, he’s stayed in Japan for long enough to learn the language, but shit, it’s still got nostalgic value. And hey, at the end of the day? It’s just plain fun! Nothing wrong with that!

He’s been in the arcade for a bit, looking at the different games, trying some of them out, and over the noise of the one he’s currently losing at, he doesn’t even notice someone else entering until he speaks up, making Karl immediately look up and give up entirely on the game he was stubborn to still win just a moment ago as he turns his back on it to greet his classmate with a smile.

‘Heeeey! We’re out here meeting more new people today, sweet!’

Behind him, the screen flashes a ‘Game Over’ as his avatar dies, once again. Karl steps towards the newcomer, meanwhile, his arms outstretched and open, like a presenter welcoming him to this, the arcade, which he himself hadn’t spent more than an hour or two at so far.

‘Welcome welcome! Karl Amir Löwe is my name, but seriously, just stick with Karl, it’s easier for everyone.’ A smile, a wink. ‘I remember you, you were on the boat!’ Naturally, how else would he have ended up here? Karl mostly remembers thinking that kid must be cold, what with the shirt situation he has going on there. But he isn’t one to judge!

‘So we’re classmates, right? Are you here to play?’

Hearing the stranger speak so outgoing and welcoming made Ryuu all the more glad to meet them! Although watching him frustratingly play the game behind him was just a little amusing, there was no way he was going to turn down a possible new friend. Perhaps they can even play a game or two together?

“Oooh, you seem really friendly! It’s nice to meet you, Karl! I’m Ryuu! Ryuu Nakahara! I think I recall seeing you too, although I think I was too excited about the boat ride and the view to remember correctly, heh..”

Looking back at the arcade cabinet his classmate was previously playing, the more intrigued and interested he was. It would be a shame if he just left the guy to play all by himself, and the fighter himself barely knew half of these games. IT wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot, would it?

As he explained what to do, her eyes widened, and she looked rather….confused

“W-what? A coin, you say? One whole coin? W-woah, I didn’t even know that…I…I thought kicking was…the only way to get prizes out….that’s how I always did i…it, at least”

She dropped the act not a second later, her look of shock being replaced with an annoyed scowl. This guy was useless

“No shit genius, everyone’s first instinct should be to "insert a coin”. Doesn’t matter how many you try to put in this one though, cause it’s not even working. Geez, if I knew that was the type of “help” I was gonna get, then I would’ve never asked"

Woah Sora, relax. How would he know what to do?

“G-gosh, sorry... I just saw you kick it, and I sorta specialize in kicking and punching things, so I assumed that you... ah.. nevermind. My bad.”

Ryuu was a bit flustered at the other’s sarcastic reaction, feeling a tad guilty he didn’t give the type of help his classmate had wanted. Wanting to make up to Sora, he approached the gacha machine more closely, as if trying to inspect it. Maybe she was just having a bad day? Surely fixing the machine will make her happy again!

“Hmm... I dunno, maybe it doesn’t accept regular coins? It sounds a bit far-fetched, but I wouldn’t say it isn’t possible... If it if the case though, I wonder why they even put it here if you can’t even use it. Haha!”

Just now had the boy realized, he hadn’t even introduced himself yet! Turning towards the wizard, he spoke after a quick bow of apology:

Sora, deciding that she’d eventually have to explore every room here, decided to go to the lounge. She had a feeling it wasn’t gonna be her favorite place on earth, but it was still a good idea to check it out.

Sure enough, as she looked around, she was pretty unimpressed by most of it. She didn’t really play games or watch TV all that often, so she felt pretty indifferent about this place.

That is, until she noticed the gacha machine. Those things were amazing, most of the time at least. Back home, Sora always found herself wasting quite a bit of her money on them, especially the Sailor Star one Boki installed in the bookstore just for her. She walked over to the machine with a grin on her face only to realize that it wasn’t working. Her smile quickly faded and was replaced with an annoyed scowl

“Really? They can build an entire city underwater, but they can’t keep one machine operational? Pathetic” she mumbled, kicking the machine. She then turned to leave, only to notice there was someone else in here

A voice and a faint clack sound had caught Ryuu’s attention though, and looking to where it may had come from, there stood an irritated-looking girl by the gacha. Wondering if she was having trouble, the fighter went to approach her, which was rather convenient since she had already asked him to come anyway.

“Aiya... If you’re expecting me to, um... Kick it or punch it or something, I don’t think it’s going to work... Gachas only work if you insert a coin, have you tried doing that yet?”

To be honest, Yasu didn’t like training in the gym. at home, they set up a place in the garden for him to train. Gyms were always too industrial for him. It made him want to head to the dojo. In the gardens or the dojo he was happy. For now though, he’d make do with the gym. These things bogged the kendoka down as he made his way through the hall. It was because of this he didn’t notice Ryuu was very much up in this face.

Despite his small size, Yasu made no effort to dodge. On instinct, he braced himself and got ready to block an incoming strike. However, impact never came, which felt kinda like being bated. He had kind of wanted a fight, in this moment. The boy opened his mouth to apologize before he realized that the other boy hadn’t been knocked back either. He blinked a little and looked down at the service dog pushing between the two boys.

“It’s okay, Clare, he didn’t hurt me.” Yasu looked up at the other boy, an apologetic look in his eyes. “Ah, I’m Yasu Tsukasa… I was a bit excited for the gym myself… Ah, might I get your name as well?”

Thank goodness! The other was okay, although the result didn’t stop the service dog from defensively protecting their client. Ryuu backed away a little just in case, he didn’t want it to mistake him for an enemy after all. Something stuck in his mind though.. before the accident. The way they blocked, could they be...?

“You! That stance! Those battle scars! The fact that I found you near the gym! You’re the other martial artist I was looking for, aren’t you?! I’m Ryuu Nakahara, a pleasure to meet you!”

Ryuu can always tell if someone is a fellow fighter! Well, maybe not... All has always been assumptions, and not all the time is he right. But that sure didn’t stop Ryuu from being excited over meeting his classmate.

Traveling was nothing to Ryuu– he’s done it plenty a time, whether it be for a tournament, invitations, or just visiting relatives. But now had the fighter realized, they were all by plane. He’s never gone somewhere by boat, so this voyage was 10 times more exciting to him! As the entire trip carried on, a lingering look of excitement shined in his eyes, the boy restlessly looking out at the view.

His heart wouldn’t stop racing, even once they finally arrived to the dock of the place. Despite his uncontrollable animation, he listened carefully to the words of the older Ultimates, he didn’t want to miss a single word or experience here. But once he’s gotten a hold of the watch, the giddiness just built its way back up again!

“Ah, now that that part is settled…” Finally, Ayame steps forward. She looks a bit nervous, to tell the truth, looking down at the tablet she’s holding in her hands as she begins to speak.

“I am Ayame Shime, former SHSL Architect, as well as the one who spearheaded this whole project. The base idea and design of Verdant Gardens is mine, but I could hardly do it alone. Tanaka-san, Ishii-san, and the rest of the team involved played incredibly vital roles, and my… dream couldn’t have become a reality without them.”

As she speaks, she warms up a bit, obviously proud of the work she and her team have completed.

“That being said, it is incredibly important that everyone here follows certain rules, so that we can continue to expand the city. At the moment, only certain parts have been completed, and it is… honestly a bit more like a hotel with some fun accommodations rather than a full city, but there is a lot of pressure from both Hope’s Peak Academy and the Japanese Government to open our doors as quickly as possible. N-not that this trip is only just to appease them! I really do want to share what we’ve worked so hard to create with the students from my old school…”

“Anyways… the rules…” She looks back down at her tablet, as if repeating what is written there. “Obviously, anything that is illegal in Japan is illegal here as well, and will be punished as such. We’ll be particularly hard on any destruction of property, as well, considering you are guests in our city. In addition, there will be a curfew since this is a school trip. You will all be required to return to your rooms at eleven at night, and spend the night in them. In order to enforce this, the elevators be out of service at night.

“In addition, in the area where your rooms will be located, there is a dining area, a kitchen, and a garden. Breakfast will be served to you by our robotic chef at seven in the morning, which is when the curfew ends. Of course, if you want to make your own meals you can, but you won’t have to. And please be careful with the plants in the garden, as Tanaka-san has worked very hard on them. You can use them if you’d like to include them in a meal, but destroying them counts as destroying property.”

“Oh and on the real don’t mess with the settings on anything except the thermostats in your room. I worked hard on getting these bots fine tuned and I don’t want none of y'all throwing off the calibrations for shits and giggles.

“Y-yes, that too! Although that would also count as destruction of property… But those are the main rules! I hope you all have a wonderful week, and can help provide feedback so we can make our project even more wonderful! Um… your room numbers are on your watches, and the elevators to the living quarters are over that way - “ She motions to a door to the western direction “ - so you can all drop off your luggage before you start exploring.”

And with that, she walks off in the direction she had just pointed in, opening the doors to the city. It isn’t a particularly spectacular ending to the speeches, but it’s an ending nonetheless. Now all that remains is one question:

Welcome Class of 20xx!

Congratulations on your acceptance to Hope’s Peak Academy! Recently, a group of alumni from our school have announced the opening of their eco-city Verdant Gardens, an underwater city which runs on solar, wind, and water power. Before the official opening, the creators of this city have extended an invitation to the incoming class. This will also serve as an orientation period before the school year begins, so attendance will be mandatory.

Attending Hope’s Peak this year, and thus attending the orientation trip, are the following:

Amami-no-Mikoto, SHSL Goddess

Guardian Angel ★ Persephone, SHSL Magical Girl

Heiwa Oyasumi, SHSL Sushi Chef

Jack Calloway, SHSL Good Luck

Jet, SHSL Graffiti Artist

Joben Maple, SHSL Exterminator

Junji Nakaura, SHSL Shark Conservationist

Karl Amir Löwe, SHSL Baker

Komugi Kururugi, SHSL Trickster

Kotone Satou, SHSL Cellist

Nata Lukin, SHSL Tinsmith

Proto Magica, SHSL Circus Performer

Ryuu Nakahara, SHSL Zui Quan Master

Sen Tamatsuki, SHSL Weapons Engineer

Sora Kontororu, SHSL Wizard

Souko Torisei, SHSL Nail Artist

TERU, SHSL Romance Author

Trik Sparks, SHSL Pyrotechnician

Undead Lullaby, SHSL Video Game Lore Expert

Yasu Tsukasa, SHSL Kendoka

You all will get to experience the technological marvels of the city as well as the picturesque beauty of the ocean all while you learn about your future school, and bond with your future classmates!

We look forward to seeing you soon.