#inwriting

"I may consider becoming an alcoholic."

Either this was going to be the most tasteless joke of the century or they were in real, deep trouble - and sadly, Orpheus was more leaning towards the latter option. Hope’s Peak wouldn’t win anything but scaring their new students in such a fashion - not to mention that they have a reputation to uphold.

With furrowed eyebrows, Orpheus witnessed the reaction’s of his fellow classmates - which were rather varied, truth be told. Some displayed fear, some others didn’t buy this whole situation one bit, some seemed to even enjoy the premise...

(Like a colorful cast of quirky characters in a book.)

(Let’s see where this adventure is going to take them, hm?)

...

A few minutes after the reveal, Orpheus made his way to the newly unlocked dorms. There was talk about everyone having roommates, so naturally, Orpheus was curious whom he would share a room with for an indefinite amount of time. Hopefully, it was someone he could get along with easily...

As the fantasy novelist opened the door to his room, he was surprised to see that it was none other than Nisemono who was already inside in said place. Well, that was a pleasant turn of surprise! They’d already talked before the reveal - so it was at least someone whom he was somewhat familiar with.

“It appears as if we’re going to be roommates now, Yoshida-san.”

♫

Slowly, but steadily, the numbing darkness that had gotten ahold of Orpheus’ consciousness faded away, allowing for the blonde, young man to awaken from his slumber; one that he could not recall ever taking. However, these thoughts had to be put on hold until his mind was capapble of processing his current surroundings properly. In order to achieve that, not only did he have to push through the pain that his pounding head gave him first, but also regain his sense of sight into a clearer state.

Fortunately for him, the blurriness soon vanished in favour of a more acute vision, the messy color schemes finally stopping to blend in together, thus eliminating one cause for his headache. While staring at the surface of a school desk with a still reeling mind, his other senses were already put into work. The first thing that he realized was that he was sitting on top of a chair. This wasn’t anything new to him; sometimes, he stayed up late to continue working and occasionally, exhaustion would put him to sleep faster than he had any opportunity to go to bed. However, in this particular context, he couldn’t see that happening; after all, he wouldn’t work on a school desk where people could easily disrupt him.

Groaning quietly as he pushed his glasses up in a swift movement, Orpheus took a moment to simply breathe, before finally taking in his surroundings - grey eyes meticulously scanning each and every detail that they could perceive. Although some things did strike him as familiar, it was certainly outweighed by the instances that were unknown to him.

Whilst Orpheus was gently massaging the bridge of his nose to soothen the pain that still plagued him, his mind was already caught in a storm full of questions; who were these other two people that were in a similar state as him? Why were the windows barred with metal plates? Where was he even? How did he wind up in such a place instead of--

Right. He was supposed to go to Hope’s Peak. Actually, as far as he recalled, hadn’t he already set foot inside said facility? However, he couldn’t remember anything afterwards - his memories were completely blank.

(That, among other things, was... disconcerting, to say the least.)

With a faint sigh escaping his lips, Orpheus knew that any further musings on these matters would be in vain, as there was too few information to go off for any kind of feasible speculation. Even if he would’ve chosen differently, he was bound to be cut short by a strangely familiar-sounding voice. This caught him off-guard - usually, it shouldn’t be difficult to place a face to a voice, but right now, he was drawing a blank yet again.

For now, the blonde man decided to listen, absorbing each and every information that was offered to him. Granted, there wasn’t much to go by, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. At least he was fairly certain that there must be someone else around aside from the one who’d just spoken, the two people here and, of course, himself. Furthermore, they’d been instructed to go to the gym... Which led him to believe that he was in Hope’s Peak - or at least some kind of facility that possessed a gym.

Whatever it may be, Orpheus knew that he could only gather more intel if he’d do what the unknown entity wished of him. However, before he would oblige to their request, the bespectacled man decided that checking up on the other two was a more pressing matter.

At least one of them seemed to be already awake, but the other? Not so much, from what Orpheus could tell. Thus, he shifted his attention to the seemingly unconscious man first. Looking over him as he finally arrived at his side, Orpheus noticed that this stranger was around his age - if he could hazard a guess, he was a student, too. Judging by his outfit, he seemed to associate himself with something of discipline... The military, maybe?

Internally, Orpheus shook his head - that wasn’t important right now. He needed to ensure his well-being first; everything else could wait. Therefore, a gloved hand was placed on the other’s shoulder, before he started to gently shake him.

“Hello? Can you hear me?”

Albeit his tone remained fairly calm and pleasant, there was a hint of worry to it. If his new acquaintance would open his eyes and look up, he would also see that Orpheus’ eyebrows were slightly furrowed down in concern as well.