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Almost instinctively, Tsubasa moved to guide Yua and Tomomi behind him, as if guarding them somehow. His eyes flickered to Nagisa, who was distracted humming a song and examining the paint on the walls.
Direct, Tsubasa thought to himself, turning back to the new girl. Seems cautious. Graceful. She probably wouldn't try to hurt them--if she did, while Tsubasa was no fighter, he felt fairly certain he could subdue her enough for everyone else to get away. What were the odds Nagisa's hidden talent had something to do with judo?
"Susugihara Tsubasa," he said at last. "I'm a student on my way to Hope's Peak Academy. I woke up here. The others are the same as me."
"I'm Nagisa!" Nagisa piped. "Nice to meet you! Wow, those are really neat clothes."
Tomomi waved.
"You don't happen to know what's going on here, do you?" Tsubasa continued. "I can't remember how I got here and neither can they. We're on our way around the building exploring for clues to the situation. Have you found any?"
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Exploring seemed like as good an idea as any. Aimi began to follow after Yamada and Saito, looking around at all the buildings scattered around the premises. Most of them were labeled in some way, with most of those labels applying to something called a "Monokuma", though nothing stuck out to her as particularly interesting.
Across the way was a building labeled as "Monokuma Dormitories". Aimi squinted at it, adjusting her glasses.
A humanoid shape emerged from the door to the dormitories. Glancing around, the shape seemed to notice the group and ran over to join it at a surprising speed. As it approached, Aimi realized it was distinctly female.
The girl skidded to a stop near the group. "Yo! Civilization! Have you guys seen anyone else 'round here? It's pretty spacious, eh?"
Aimi hesitated to answer. Sensing her uneasiness, the newcomer laughed awkwardly and scratched her neck.
"Oops. My bad. Here I am runnin' up to you all excited and you don't even know me, eh? I just assumed y'all must be Hope's Peak students just like myself!"
Her dialect was a bit off--Aimi realized she most likely came from a rural area. Aimi bowed, stepping away from the rest of the group slightly. "So you are also a Hope's Peak student?"
"Yep! M'name's Futami Chou. I'm the Ultimate Marathon Runner! I've already run this whole complex once or twice, got bored and popped in that building to check it out. Looks like we got dorms, eh? Whoever brought us here wants us to be comfy, at least. Pretty neat place!"
She seemed spirited, at least--if not too spirited. Aimi dipped her head, a bit put-off by Futami's energy and unusual dialect.
"Wakabayashi Aimi," she announced. "The Ultimate Short Film Director. I will let my new companions here introduce themselves--I don't want to get any of their talents wrong."
Futami waved to everyone, then began jogging in place, turning to look over her shoulder at the other buildings. "This place is huge, eh? You could get lost in a compound like this!"
Is she listening? It was hard to be sure if Futami was even still paying attention to the current conversation with the way she swapped subjects on a dime, but somehow Aimi got the sense she was always listening.
She was unusual, that was for sure...but most of them were in some capacity.