Super High School Level Bee Keeper

No motive was announced immediately after the trial. Good, many of you must think, as you can rest peacefully for the first night in over a week. By the time most awaken, most of the frightening fog had dissipated. There’s traces of it in a few places, but not enough to torment anyone. It’ll fade in a matter of hours at this rate. More time of the next day has passed, and you may find yourself thinking, maybe there will be nothing to push anyone this week? That would be nice, but this world doesn’t give nice things. The intercom flickered to life halfway into the next day, and that same, grating voice spoke through.

“Good morning- No, afternoon. Good afternoon, friends! It took a while, setting this up, but worth it. Very worth it. What it is, it’s best if you don’t know just yet. It’s not something you want. But!! If you wait, you may be able to witness what it brings. If you check your tablets, you’ll find a digital countdown to a certain day. It’s scheduled for a week from now, about a week. Eight days!”

“In eight days, everyone can meet it. In eight days, it’ll happen. It’ll happen- When it happens, I think you will really regret not killing at least one person before it ended. The countdown to the end won’t stop until someone dies, good luck!  Letting the countdown complete… risking that is your choice.”

The speaker silenced. Sure enough, by checking your tablets, you find a countdown to a specific time eight days into the future. What terrifying “end” was set at the end of these eight days?

[[ You will also have until Tuesday night to volunteer as a culprit/victim since this was only posted today! ]]

OPERATION ROOMS unlocked!

“. . Jail?” Blaise said with a somewhat amused voice. “I guess this could be considered a prison of some kind. . Didn’t you listen to that announcement from earlier, kid?” Blaise watched with a frown as Apidae started trembling. He didn’t like it when people cried, and he certainly wasn’t going to comfort him if he broke out into a sobbing fit- he might just walk away if that happens.

“Don’t fucking cry, kid. We ain’t in jail- what kind of jail threatens that our only way of escape is to murder someone without getting caught? Fucking ridiculous.” His words sounded harsh, but his tone and entire demeanor was still completely relaxed and calm. “It’ll be fine. Don’t stress out about this.”

Blaise blew a few smoke rings, feeling himself become even more chill. “Do you recognize anyone here, kiddo? Sticking around friends and people you know is the best way to stay alive. There’s safety in numbers.”

Apidae sniffled as he shook his head to Blaise. He hadn’t payed too much attention to the voice since it irritated his headache to much. The pain was easing now, but previously the intensity was too severe to pay attention to anything else. Before Apidae explained, Blaise went on to assure him they weren’t actually in jail. Albeit a blunt remark, the statements eased Apiae’s tension.

Keeping his overall cool-guy nonchalant character, Blaise continued smoking and asked Apidae if he recognized anyone. Apidae was about to answer the question, but he instead threw a fit. Apidae’s face made an overtly pouty expression as he looked away from Blaise, crossing his arms.

Slowly stirring back into consciousnesses, the feeling of the freezing and a pounding headache attacking her senses. Hands drifting to her temple as the small girl remained still, trying to regain her bearings. Her limbs were stiff and she felt sore all over. 

What on Earth was going on? Mira slowly sat up, hand still cradling her head, as she looked around the room to gather her surroundings. There were other people around her slowly waking up as well. The brunette recognized a few people from school as her gaze darted around the room. What were they all doing here this wasn’t where she was suppose to be this was-

Mira’s eyes widened as her memories came flooding back to her. Oh god she was kidnapped, this couldn’t be happening. Before Mira could even say something in protest static cut through the room. Mira tensed up and slowly glanced over at the speaking.  A murder game? She could be murdered? Mira started to shake as she nervously looked around the room.  None of the readings she gave herself in the past even suggested such a horrible event would happen to her.

As soon as the room went silent again Mira shakily got up to her feet, wobbling a bit as she did so. The small girl was still a shaking mess as she walked. She needed to clear her head and calm down. Take a breather.

As she started walking, Mira was so wrapped up her in her thoughts she didn’t see the student in front of her. Mira roughly bumped into them and stumbled back in shock. She looked up at the student with wide eyes before blurting out apologies.

“Oh m-my gosh I’m s-s-sorry…I-I didn’t see where I was g-going. A-Are you alright?“ 

Apidae’s eyes slowly opened at the sound of movement nearby. As his senses returned to him, the sight of other students drew forth along with the aching of his body against the cold, concrete floor. Where had he been dropped off at? No memory answering his question revealed itself; only one of darkness and the presence of other bodies surrounding him. Bodies possibly belonging to the people around him.

Apidae became alert of the speaker system’s static followed by some voice as he looked upon the cameras watching him and the other people. According to the intercom, these were all fellow Hope’s Peak students, and to escape, these same students had to commit murder and hide the tracks they leave behind. Apidae’s arms and legs tensed up from this uncanny speech and his headache grew in intensity, but there was no time to sit around and be afraid. Apidae stood to his feet and hurried toward one of the doors leading outside of this building.

As he started moving in that direction, a figure bumped into him. To Apidae’s surprise, a student shorter than him. Not by much, but nonetheless shorter. The force of her bumping into him knocked him down to the ground, thankfully missing any pupils nearby. He turned around to see the girl reacting highly apologetic. He laughed and waved off her sorrowful inquiries. 

「Buzzing i nthe back of her head as she awoke. Her hand trailed up to her head, rubbing at it in a feeble attempt to rid herself of the pounding headache being knocked out had given her - 

Oh, right. She was knocked out, and from the voice now echoing through the room, she guessed she was also kidnapped. Wonderful - she thought - as if she needed this right now. She was supposed to contact Ame no Uzume, and tell her how she was doing at school, but she couldn’t now! Great, absolutely fantastic!

Of course, she less feared for her own safety, and more feared for the others, as the mention of a ‘murder game’ was liable to send some into a panic. She wasn’t affected by it, she’d already dealt with terrible, terrible things, so dealing with a voice telling her to murder another in order to leave a place she wasn’t even sure she’d want to leave, was nothing.

A quick glance around confirmed her fear that others had already begun freaking out.」

「Frowning, she got up, head still killing her, and began to wander around, specifically looking for those who might be scared.」

Apidae’s entire body ached as he lay now conscious on the floor. His whole torso felt as though he’d eaten something raw or rotten, like meat or an aged apple. His arms and legs ached from some pressing pain, likely from his memory of several bodies surrounding him. Even his head suffered from a slight headache, although that pain was easily subdued with the sound of the intercom coming on.

As the voice went on about, well, whatever it was talking of, Apidae found himself paying close attention to the people around him. People of all shapes and sizes stirred about in front of him and beside him and behind him. Short people, tall people, colorful people, dull people. And from what he picked up from the voice, all of them were students from Hope’s Peak. A warm comfort swelled in his heart.

The heating sensation chilled at the voice’s mention of murder. The hairs on Apidae’s body stood up like that of a cat and goosebumps dotted his arms and back. We have to kill to escape? Apidae didn’t know how to react. Would anyone here actually kill to survive?

Unsure what the answer would be, Apidae’s first course of action was to inquire such a question upon a passerby. He noticed a woman wearing very eye catching clothing, so he approached her, giving an exaggerated frown while poking his chin.

Blaise took the lighter from the boy’s hand and simply made a quiet grunting sound in appreciation- that was rude, Blaise. He didn’t say much as he pulled out a cigarette and pushed down the bandanna and held the cigarette in between his teeth and light it up. He tossed the lighter back to boy and took a deep breath, letting the smoke escape his through his lips. Now, this was a nice feeling. 

“Thanks, kiddo… “ Blaise said with a long drawl, an accent clearly noticeable and not Japanese. “Why do you even carry a lighter around with you if you don’t smoke?” He gave the boy a questioning look, but shrugged his shoulders. He silently offered the boy a cigarette, shaking the carton at him. “You can have one if you want one… they’re a cheap brand, not the flavored kind. . “ Good ol’ influence, Blaise.

As Blaise continued to blow out puffs of smoke every now and then, he bumped the boy’s leg by lightly kicking him. “So what’s your name, kid? What are you in here for?” The line sounded like they were in prison, but was just referring to his talent.

Apidae caught the lighter and pocketed it before looking back toward the man. He watched as the guy took in a deep hit and release the smoke from his mouth with ease. When inquired upon his possession of a light, Apidae simply shrugged. His dad smoked from time to time, so he supposed the lighter was given to him just in case his pops left one at home.

When offered a cigarette, Apidae abstained, waving his hands back and forth playfully to express his rejection. His thinking was very simple and childish, so Apidae never found the use of external motivators and stress relievers necessary. Bees and academics suited him. As the man asked for Apidae’s name, his face grew pale.

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. 

“I mean. It looks like we’re not in school anymore, at least to me…” She looked down as she said those last words, before abruptly turning around and quickly stepping away once again. She hoped he didn’t follow her. Nothing against him, she just… felt that she should be alone. Like that would somehow fix things and bring the entire situation back to normal.

As soon as the speakers shut off, Akiyo just remained seated on the floor and stared up at the cluster of video cameras right above the speaker. Where in the world is he? Akiyo slowly glanced around the room and noticed all the other people standing around in confusion. How many is there? About twenty or so? This is so… messed up.

Akiyo carefully stretched his legs out and climbed onto his feet. His body is aching. The petite model brushed himself off and ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to get it out of his face. All he can remember is being grabbed from behind, something shoved over his head to blind him. Then, he blacked out. Now, he’s… here. Wherever here is. Akiyo felt a little uncomfortable not being able to recall anything about what happened between getting kidnapped and waking up a few minutes ago. Akiyo felt a shiver go down his spine as he thought back on the speech. So.. is this all.. real? He doesn’t want to believe that this is real.. but.. it seems way too elaborate to be a prank, especially with all these other people involved in the same situation as him.

The petite model wrapped his arms around himself in a hug and shivered faintly. He was kind of scared. His heart was beating faster and his hands felt a little clammy, and he was beginning to notice the start of a headache. He glanced around at the other students again and felt his eyes beginning to water. Is this possible? Is it really possible that they’ve all been kidnapped in order to play some kind of.. screwed up murder game?! He never in his wildest dreams thought that he’d ever be the victim of a kidnapping! This sounds like torture!

He just wants to go home! There has got to be a way to escape!

Akiyo stumbled over to the closest student and gripped the fabric of the back of their shirt and looked up at them, teary eyed and trembling subtly.

“ Please, help me look for an escape…”

Apidae ignored a majority of the voice’s speech, too irritated from the aching and hurting felt all around his torso. His arms and legs hurt a bit, too, but it wasn’t so much as aching as actual pain. What in the hell happened? Apidae messed with his already ruffled up hair, trying to think of the situation. As he thought, he noticed the other students standing up and conversing. Following their lead, Apidae did just that.

Looking around the room was a vast ocean of people taller than him. There were a few people around his height, but for the most part very tall people. He had the nerve to confront them, but a feeling of irritation held him back. His head was aching far too much to approach these towers of flesh.

While staring off at these students, Apidae felt someone grab and pull at the back of his neat little shirt. It was one of his favorite in casual wear. A yellow t-shirt with cute flowery designs. How quaint it made him feel. Apidae turned around to see a short boy at the verge of crying. At first, Apidae considered the boy was admiring the cute design of his shirt, but then he inquired on dispatching an escape. Apidae tilted his head in confusion.

No don’t worry Apidae, she’s actually above average height for women in Japan. Way above average. Doesn’t help that she’s wearing platform heels. But she looks down at him, sorta thinking about how short he is but still listening to what he has to say- wait he mentioned Hope’s Peak. She could’ve sworn he was a middle schooler due to his height. Japanese men aren’t normally this short. She nods, shifting her weight to one leg and placing a hand on her hip. “I am.”

Apidae looks this towering woman over as she is kneeling down before him. Were there really people like this at Hope’s Peak? Of course! What with the school being comprised of people all over the world and all. He was sure there were at least one or two people back in Belgium around that height, but he can’t recall any women of the sort. Most were still taller by him, but only by a few inches.

Apidae quickly dusted himself off in her presence, becoming slightly self-conscious. He glanced beside himself to notice his leather briefcase, which he grabbed by the handle to pull close to his body. After collecting himself completely, Apidae turned his attention back onto the fellow student. With his free hand, Apidae reached out his arm.

Fumika felt the cold ground underneath her as she awoke, still groggy from having been passed out for so long. What was going on? Her vision was still a blur, and it sure was taking its time in coming back. Slowly, but surely, she found herself able to see once again.

She pushed herself up off the ground weakly, looking around. It was quickly apparent that she wasn’t alone in there… that there were several other people there too. Her eye darted around the room, taking in everyone she saw. They were all quite different. Some boys, some girls, she didn’t have time to analyze them all before the voice turned on, and began reading them the terms of their predicament. Would they be able to leave this place? It seemed not. 

Hope’s Peak students? So they must’ve all been Super High School Levels… unless some of the reserve course students were brought along, that is. That wasn’t the important part of the announcement though. After the general introduction was over, the voice’s message got a bit more menacing, as it outlined the purpose of their imprisonment. So they win by killing, and not being caught? And winning means… escape? Fumika looked around again, eyeing the other students with a hint of fear in her eye. 

Murder? What if someone tried to kill her? She was small… she wouldn’t be able to fight back against anyone! Would any of them try to kill? No one’s going to kill just because some stupid voice said they could! They didn’t even know if they were trapped yet.  There’s no way a bunch of kids would kill, for a reward they didn’t know about, from a voice they didn’t know.  There’s no way a bunch of kids would kill anyways.

Well, you never know. 

Fumika bit her lip. Any one of these people could kill. But… she was being hasty, wasn’t she? She cursed herself. What an idiot… thinking about all this stuff before she even left the place they woke up! She sighed, and pulled her cloak around her and set out through the warehouse doors, hoping to sneak away. She had no particular need to talk to anyone, nor a desire to. She just prayed that no one bothered her.

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.

Upon waking up, Crystal tried to move a hand to her forehead. She’s got such a terrible headache but aside from that she couldn’t exactly move. She pushes herself to sit up and finally rests her head in her hands. After a moment she looks around, then listens as the voice speaks. What the fuck…She recognizes some of these people, but can’t say that she exactly knows their names. After the voice cuts off, she pushes herself to stand up.

Clearing her throat, she approached one of the students, in most cases she would be worried about bothering them but no one here seems to be in the middle of anything besides being confused. What do you really say in this sort of situation, though? “Excuse me, you wouldn’t happen to know what’s going on, would you?”

The floor was cold and hard against Apidae’s limp body. Steadily, his brain came to its senses, contracting muscles and pulling those of his back to get Apidae into a straight up position. He glanced around at the bodies surround him. All of them one by one started to move and rise up to their senses. Apidae thought back to what occured before he found himself here in... Where was he?

The only memory he could conjure was that of darkness. In the memory, the feeling of other people’s bodies surround his entire body. His breathing had been labored by the weight of these people. Why was I hurdled together with a bunch of people? Before considering what may have been occuring, a tall woman approached him. Was it simply his placement on the floor, or was she actually tall? This made Apidae laugh. Duh, she’s tall. Everyone’s taller than him. He smiled kindly as she asked him about his knowledge on this situation. He made a dramatic frown and poked his chin to over express his thinking.

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.

Ah, so it seems it’s time to wake up… 

When Blaise finally opened his eyes and felt the chilling coldness of the floor, he layed there for a moment, listening to the rustling and bustling of the people around him. He could clearly see the security cameras even as he still had his back on the floor and then blinked once at the cameras, giving them a nonchalant wave. Blaise then rolled himself off the floor, attempting to wipe off any dirt that may have gotten on his pants.

This is such a pain in the ass.

While readjusting the handkerchief around his mouth and looking around the room, Blaise closely glanced at all the students surrounding him. His gaze was fairly neutral looking, if a bit unsettling. It was hard to make out his expression with his mouth covered and his expression unchanging. 

He walked up the nearest student next to him and tapped their shoulder. His gaze was expectant, is if the other student should already know what he’s thinking. Blaise held out his hand, moving his fingers up and down. 

“… Lighter. Do you have a lighter? I’d like to be able to have a smoke.” His words were slightly muffled through the cloth, but his words were hopefully understandable enough.

Apidae’s eyes opened slowly as he rose to consciousness. His ribs and back ached as he lay on his side, cold and irritated. Where the fuck am I? To start, Apidae thought someone at Hope’s Peak picked him up from his room and plopped him on the floor of the gym, but he recalls having something or someone, err, someones over and around him. Only the presence of other persons was unequivocal. The identities and why they were around him remained up for speculation.

Right now, Apidae didn’t care about all of that. He just wanted to get back to his classes and keep his bees. There was no point to being in this place any longer. He slowly sat up to gaze around the room. Oh! Other people lay around him, each and every one stirring about the floor. What is this? Who are these people? He noticed the insignia of Hope’s Peak, comforting him slightly. So I wasn’t the only one pulled from my room, or wherever I was at?

As Apidae gathers his bearings, making sure he isn’t missing anything of importance, a figure draws near him. A tall man with a unique hair style and some sort of cloth over his mouth. His arms are decorated with tattoos. Apidae tilted his head in curiosity, assuming this man was indeed a student. What talent got him into Hope’s Peak? He tapped Apidae’s shoulder and hovered his hands before him, inquiring a lighter. Apidae shook his head.