▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩
Minato and Saito wandered for a bit, both eerily silent as they walked along the coastline. The more Minato thought about it, the more bizarre and vaguely terrifying the situation became. Waking up on a beach with no memory of what happened before? The presence of another person had been reassuring at first, but Minato found himself wondering if Saito was being truthful about his memory loss at all. Whether he was or not, Minato wasn't sure he wanted to know--exactly what manner of situation had the boy found himself in?
"Ah, civilization." Saito tugged Minato further along and the boy stumbled after him, blinking. Sure enough, in the distance, Minato could see several buildings. He felt himself sigh in relief. At the very least, they hadn't been dropped onto some random deserted island.
"We should check inside of the buildings," Minato proposed, "look for others."
Saito nodded. "Agreed. You do all the talking, I don't really feel like moving my mouth."
"Ah--? Um, alright, I guess." He was used to talking to people for charity events, so it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, at least. He chuckled to himself, vaguely amused. Saito glanced at him out of the corner of his eye--Minato half expected him to say something, but the student stayed silent, continuing toward the buildings instead.
Minato moved to open the nearest door, but before he could, someone opened it from the other side. It smacked into his face and he yelped, stumbling backward. Saito laughed.
"Wh-wha--ah! Sorry!" A girl his age popped her head out from behind the door, green hair bouncing as she did. She gestured to someone within the building, then stepped away from the door, laughing nervously. "See? N-nothing to worry about! Sir, I'm sorry about that, but d-do you happen to know where we are? This is Hope's Peak, isn't it?"
Hope's Peak? He rubbed where the door had hit his face, frowning slightly. The last time he checked, Hope's Peak was certainly not right next to a beach. Unless he'd just never known somehow?
"I'm sorry, but I don't actually know," Minato admitted. He bit his lip. "Are you a student as well? My friend and I were hoping we could find someone with a better grasp of what's going on. We only just woke up on the beach."
"Oh...um." She glanced back at her friend, seeming nervous. "We're students, but we only just woke up here, too. We don't have any idea what's going on..."
"Then we can find out together," Minato said with a smile. "I'm Yamada Minato, by the way."
The girl nodded. "Yamada. Hello, Yamada. I'm Hayashi Sachiko, and this is..." She turned to her friend, then paused, seeming hesitant. She let out another nervous chuckle. "Ah, I-I don't really remember. I don't want to get your name wrong, so I can...you can...uhm."
Opening the door more fully, Minato stepped forward to glance inside. Another girl--a particularly attractive one, at that--stood inside. He waved.