#sc ic

Ama found himself out and about once more. He’s been outside of the tower so many times for someone terrified to be far from it. What’s helped most of the time, now that he thought of it, was probably the fact that he was always with friends...

Except this time. This time he was alone and it was nerve-wracking. Being around all those sleepless people was too scary.

Despite this, he still found himself in a craft store, surrounded by too much purple yarn.

@mizuchiwakizashi

Yajiro wasn’t sure why he had left campus in the first place. Had he just wanted to stretch his legs away from the (potentially) prying eyes at Hope’s Tower? Could be. Had he wanted to go somewhere, get something? Also maybe. 

Yajiro glanced at his surroundings. A street that looked relatively populated, outside a few miscellaneous shops and attractions. None of them really stood out to him. Hm... Had been trying to go to the store, maybe? To buy some supplies for his hobbies? Did he need to do that in the first place? Hm... honestly, he didn’t really care. He really doubted that whatever it was was actually important. 

He frowned only slightly as he checked his phone, but kept his face otherwise blank. Ok it wasn’t... too late in the day yet, he could probably get away with just wandering around and getting used to the immediate areas around the tower he’d be living at for the next... What, three years? Ugh. He couldn’t tell if accepting was a mistake or not yet. I mean, if it was he could always just drop out, but...

What was going on?

There had been many places that Yumemi had woken up before but waking up in a pod was certainly a first. To think she had fallen asleep so quickly after attending Hope’s Peak was an embarrassing and it seemed she was now suffering the consequences of hallucinating.

The silence around her made her very confused though, usually she would experience noises in addition to visual hallucinations and why didn’t anyone want to talk to her? Well Yumem’s questions were soon answered by the girl who suddenly appeared on the screens around her classmates although it didn’t really help all too much. Everyone was brainwashed? A New World? One sentance although caught her way off guard and struck fear straight through her heart

“Kill your fellow classmates”

No no no this was definitely her hallucinations coming into play now, there was no way that could be real or maybe she was just dreaming? The sun warming her skin suggested it was not but she didn’t think her mind could come up with something as strange as this and they were usually something like a monster or demon or something, up till now she hadn’t been scared psychologically before. She was confused and scared but Yumemi was tired and too convinced it was anything otherwise.

So tugging at someone’s clothing to grab their attention Yumemi asked

It was almost like a dream staring up at the Hope Tower far above him, but as he pinched himself yet again, Ama knew this to be the reality.

For some reason this amazing new school had decided that he was talented enough to be one of their very first students. On one hand it helped to boost his confidence, but on the other it made him very nervous that he wouldn’t be able to live up to their expectations. 

Well here he was, just staring blankly at what stood in front oh him. ‘I guess it’s really time for me to head in then. Hopefully everything will be okay...’

He gulped, and took his first steps into the school. To be honest it was a lot more than he could take in all at once. He was trying to act calm and collected, but everything now seemed even more intimidating.

The tower was big on the outside, but to be inside of it surrounded by other people made it feel more real and more massive.

‘I really need to get out of here. I should head up to the dorms...’

He made his way into his lobby, and was soon to head to his room, but he quickly became too overwhelmed by what he noticed before him. There were only enough rooms for the new students if they bunked together. They would be sharing their rooms. The world was spinning faster than it had any right to be, his ears were pounding, was there even a world around him anymore? He could no longer see.

‘Oh no...We’re going to have roommates. This is too scary, it’s way too scary. What if I’m not meant to be here? They probably need someone more confident. Maybe I should just leave, but then what if I get in trouble for leaving. I just don’t know what to do. Please help me somebody...’

Once again Ama found himself in the lobby.

It had been an eventful few days and honestly, he just wanted a moment to relax. It took him awhile to figure out what to do, but eventually he was able to work it out. He hadn’t knit in so long. Everything had been so crazy that he hadn’t had a chance to do it since he arrived at the school.

Sure he was feeling unmotivated, but he figured that trying would change his mind and make him feel better. So that’s how he found himself in the lobby having just finished a stuffed rabbit. It wasn’t anything too crazy, he just had sewn together a knit square into the right shape, but he still felt proud of himself. The bunny was cute, and he had motivated himself to do something on his own.

Ama stretched a bit, eyes closed and body relaxed. Maybe things could keep being okay for at least a little bit... he just needed to find the silver lining wherever he could.

As he finished stretching, Ama opened his eyes... Oh.

There was someone familiar coming into the room.

“Oh, how kind of you, dearest Yajiro, for considering the state of your verdant ally. For one, I’ll confirm that she is not guilty of the deaths that occurred during the closure period. If any of you were concerned to vote on a culprit that was absent, I shall put that to rest. Not too hard, right?”

Repositioning herself at the exit door, she continues her line of thought. “As for her health, she is unfortunately comatose as her body is receiving special treatment. I hoped to save such a revelation for after the trial, but Fukai is a bit special. No other human being could have survived impalement like that, but the girl is resilient as shit, and for good reason. You can all ask about that once this is all over. But for now, here’s a little teaser!”

The screens above the mainframe light up, revealing the immediate image of, unsurprisingly, Fukai Miki. Still wearing the same clothes as at the time of her attack, she floats upright in a large, futuristic glass tube full of an unknown, presumably viscous blue-tinted liquid. 

As the camera pans out, much more surprisingly, are similar looking teenagers that deeply share Miki’s resemblance, with green hair, toned skin complexion, and same facial expressions of deep rest.

The screen cuts out seconds later, after sufficient evidence of the girl’s living existence became clear. 

“Hope that did it for you, because I could wheel her out if y'all wanted! Though she’d probably die if I did that, so I recommend continuing with the trial before my patience runs out.”

“And here we are again, only this time, for the first time!” Boufana breathes in, relaxing upon every student’s entrance into the room. “Home, sweet home! Well, my home. If any of you are curious, the hulk of metal you’re looking at is none other than yours truly!”

“Yep, that big girl right there is your beautiful teacher, Miss Boufana (Deeznuts)! Appearances can be deceiving, lol!” She struts towards the machine, knocking lightly on its stainless steel hull. “Normally, AI systems aren’t this large. But I’ve always been the brains of the family, so it’s only natural my system is the largest! After all, I control what goes on in Japan! Not only that, but I gotta manage all the people to murder on the outside, too! Imagine how much work it is...I mean…sheesh, give a girl a break, right?”

“Anyways, I’m sure you’re all just itching to start the trial back up after our long, long recess. Feels like a month passed, if I’m being honest! Of course, even with all that extra time I so generously handed out, I’m sure you’re still nervous. So just remember...sucks to be you! Although, you may not have it as bad as the intruder among you!....Oops! Well, you know what they say, trust your fellow man! Unless they’re trying to kill you all. So I guess, well, don’t trust em’, lol!....

…trial restart? Trial restart!”

After being escorted by a set of autonomous cars to the nearest bullet train, you and your other classmates arrive in a timely fashion only about two hours after departing from Fuji Five Lakes. The trip is tense, an atmosphere of frustration firmly gripping the nearly silent ride. It’s eerie how used to near silence one can get, with the soft noises of the train itself blurring into a monotonous white noise.

The elevator ride is mostly the same, merely switching the backing track. Frustration blooms into anxiety, the threat of what could be if this trial goes wrong suddenly a lot more tangible.

Arriving at the fifth floor to find the new trial room leaves a strange feeling in the pit of your stomach, a reminder of the past tragedies you’ve already gone through. The circular room radiates heat from the middle where a large mainframe sits, the walls littered with monitors, giving way to small alcoves where consoles are. The room is far more futuristic than the past settings you’ve had for trials, with an even more oppressive atmosphere, computing systems humming softly, and blinking lights scattered throughout. Above the mainframe is a jumbotron, and once every member of the class has stepped inside it, along with every other screen in the room, flicks on. They display video footage from all across the globe, except from Japan itself. The jumbotron shows off some well dressed folks in a casino, gambling and chatting. Everyone in all the footage across all the screens look peaceful, calm, happy, going about their days normally. As if they were blissfully unaware of your plight, forgotten in the sea of sleepless.