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Almost instinctively, Aimi moved to sling her arm over Hayashi and bring her closer in a sort of half-hug. It was meant to comfort Hayashi, sure, but if Aimi were honest she meant it just as much for herself.
Stay calm, Aimi. You are the master of paying attention to detail and you’ve seen enough detective noir movies to make two of your own. You are prepared to deal with this.
But even so...executions…?!
Whoever they were dealing with was gruesome, clever, and most of all, very rich. How else would he afford to rent out an entire resort compound just to turn it into a Battle Royale?
“Any more questions?” Monokuma called. “This is your last chance to ask!”
“Um, yes I have questions!” the blond boy shrieked. “What are you going to do when the police come looking for me?! When my parents come looking for me?! I am TV’s darling and I will not sit back and allow you to keep me kidnapped here!”
“Can it, Kardashian!” Monokuma snapped, his paws now gleaming with very obvious claws. Aimi clung tighter to Hayashi, her nerves skyrocketing. “You will notice there are no phones, no computers, no internet, no nothing anywhere on the island! Just you, me, and a whole lot of blood!”
“This is an outrage!” The blond boy promptly began stomping. “I insist--no, I demand you let me go right this very instant or I...I’ll scream! I’ll scream so loud everyone will hear it and they’ll come running!”
“Scream all you want!” Monokuma’s gleaming red eye was more menacing than ever. “But only whoever you see in this room will hear you. No one else is on the island, you know?”
That knocked the blond boy silent for now. He stared around at the others, mouth agape.
We’re really the only people here? In this huge place, it’s just us who are here?
“Well, that seems like a good place to end!” Monokuma waved. “Best of luck with the school year, kiddos! See ya later!”
This time, Monokuma dropped back into the floor before anyone could call out to him. Several students were crying by now, Aimi herself on the verge of being one of them. There was a lengthy pause.
“Wow…” a boy in a green hoodie whispered. “...That was super, super convincing! Great acting, Yua!”
“What the h*ll, Nagisa?!” the redhead snapped. “She’s bleeding!”
“I know!” Somehow, the pure cheer in the hoodie-wearing boy’s voice was simultaneously chilling and relieving. “The special effects here are so good!”
“This is seemin’ very real, y’know!” Chou cut in.
The hoodie-wearing boy merely shrugged. “Maybe, but I bet it’s just a psychological experiment like Sususgihara said. So then it’s easy, right? To get out, we just have to prove we can work together no matter what happens and then they’ll give us a way out and we can all go home!”
Aimi couldn’t explain it, but she found herself wanting to believe him.
If that’s true, then we can get out of here easily, right?
It’s simple.
After a moment, the redhead sighed. “...Nagisa has a point. Nothing will go wrong if we all just keep it together, right? Whatever ‘motive’ he throws, we can handle it. But in order to do that, we have to know each other.” Looking out at the other gathered students, he offered a brief smile. “Let’s get names and talents out of the way. I’m Susugihara Tsubasa, the Ultimate Aeronautics Engineer.”
An idea occurred to Aimi at the same time as it must have to Susugihara. She had just begun saying something when he cut her off.
“There we go, right? We just need to find materials and I can design us a plane to get us out of here. Does anyone know how to fly?”
“You’re an engineer but you can’t even fly a measly plane?” the blond boy scoffed. “My pilot could definitely--”
“I just never got my pilot’s license, okay?” Susugihara cut in, sounding vaguely flustered. “Okay, bigshot. Why don’t you go next?”
“I shouldn’t even need to, but fine.” The blond boy bowed, making a grandiose gesture. “Yes, it is I! Kisaragi Katsuro, the Ultimate Reality TV Star!”
Susugihara scoffed, muttering something under his breath.
“Line up for autographs one at a time, please. If you prefer, you can call me Mister Kisaragi, or Master Katsuro, or my personal favorite, Prince Katsuro.”
“Okay, Prince Katsuro!” the hoodie-wearing boy exclaimed cheerfully.
“Don’t humor him, Nagisa!” Susugihara insisted.
“Why not? He seems nice.” Hoodie Boy shrugged, then waved to the others. “Oh, right. I’m Himura Nagisa--call me Nagisa--and I...can’t remember what my Ultimate talent is. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. I’m not too worried about it!”
Somehow, his optimism was contagious. Aimi took a deep breath, forcing herself to smile.
“I’m Wakabayashi Aimi, the Ultimate Short Film Director,” she announced. “It is possible we’re all in some sort of movie--it seems our host has the financial means, at least, and there are cameras--though this possibility seems unlikely. Until we figure everything out, I am pleased to work with all of you.”
“Name’s Futami Chou, Ultimate Marathon Runner!” Futami yelled. Susugihara flinched. “We’re gonna be here a while, so let’s really try to get along, eh?”
A new voice spoke up. When Aimi turned to see who it was, she noticed for the first time a tall, athletic-seeming boy in one of the far corners...who was currently wearing only a pair of boxer-briefs.
“Hi. My name’s--”
“Dude!” Susugihara cut in. “Put some clothes on!”
The boy only blinked. “Why? I’m going back to the beach after this, so…”
“There are girls in here. Aren’t you just a little embarrassed?”
“Mmmm…” The boy shrugged. “I don’t really care. At least I put these on before I came in.”
“Wait a minute, you were completely naked earlier? Who...who does that?”
“Anyway…” The strange boy stretched, seeming completely at-ease. “Before I was interrupted, I was gonna say my name’s Kagakagari Hideyoshi. You can call me Kaga. Or Yoshi. Or Hide. Or whatever, I don’t really care either way. I'm the Ultimate Mountain Climber.”
Aimi swore she saw someone else in the corner trying desperately to say something, but somehow she convinced herself it was a ghost.