Danganronpa: 141 Style/Issue 01

Author's Reminder : This story contains spoilers for the actual Danganronpa fiction and you should be caught up before reading this.

In the first issue of Danganronpa: 141 Style, the sixteen Ultimates find their first day at school going for the worst as they are suddenly kidnapped and put in a nightmare.

Issue 01 - "School's Out"
Kurou Abe - Unknown

This was it. My big day.

I almost couldn’t believe it. Almost couldn’t believe that I had been accepted into Hope’s Peak academy. It was a big honor, even with it’s dark history.

...

You’ve probably heard this before, huh? Well sorry if you have but for the people that haven’t, I’m going to go through with this little introduction anyway. If you don’t like it, just skip it.

To start with, my name is Kurou Abe, the Ultimate Veterinarian, and one of the Ultimates that have been accepted into Hope’s Peak academy. Despite the tragedy of the school, as well as the entire world, it has been reopened and students from all around are being accepted in order to bring a brighter future back to the world.

Many believe it to be a failed effort before it even began but with few other ideas on how to help the world, the Future Foundation went ahead with their plan anyway.

I know I’m one of many and that itself doesn’t feel special but we’re the hope of the next generation of the entire world. Even if most of the population believes we will fail, they will still be watching in order to see the result.

It was a big duty and a big honor. A special moment.

As I took a deep breath, I looked up to the school in front of me, taking it all in. Well, tried to take it all in anyway. Making my way from home and to this school, all I felt was excitement. The overwhelming excitement of a successful life but now that I stood in front of the gates, all I could feel was the crushing sense of responsibility.

Suddenly my watch went off and I couldn’t help but nearly jump out of my skin before looking down to my wrist to look at said watch, my eyes widening when I saw the time had just hit eight in the morning.

I was going to be late at this rate.

Gathering my thoughts together, I reached down to grab my backpack and put it over my shoulder before I ran through the open gates and towards the entrance. I didn’t want my first day to already go terrible by being late!

If only I knew it then. If only I knew that being late would be the least of my concerns. I’d rather take the moment that I walked into the gym for the first student gathering, all their eyes on me as I had to find a seat after interrupting the headmaster’s speech over the rest of my life that begun that day, despite the heavy embarrassment of it.

Yeah. I walked into the academy thinking that the rest of my life would mean hope for others.

I was wrong.

The moment that I walked through those doors, my life became one of despair.

A future of little hope and mostly despair.

I don’t know why my life was taken from me, I don’t know who is the cause behind what has happened and is happening but I do know one thing.

There is no hope for the situation I find myself in. --- Nanami Suzuki - Morning

Ugh, my head hurt. Badly.

Of course that would be the first thing that comes to my mind when I regain consciousness from whatever knocked me out. Heh, most likely I had been at a party or something similar. This situation wasn’t all that too unusual from the times that I had.

Not being able to remember what happened? Check. Feeling Hungover? Check. Not wanting to get up and instead stay sleeping for the rest of my life? Check!

Yep, this was definitely a hangover. Of course that also mean I would have to open my eyes at some point. Who knows where I was anyway? For all I know, I could be in some strange place and I would want to get out as soon as possible.

Ugh, why does the aftermath of a party have to be so bad. That party better have been good...

With complete laziness, I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. Barely able to even keep my eyes open at all as I even had to put energy into lifting up my hands to move the hair away from my face, letting out a groan.

Yep, definitely a place that I don’t recognize but at least it doesn’t look weird. In fact, it looked like a normal bedroom. Well, not really normal. More like expensive, even the bed that I was laying on felt so expensive and that was even just part of the room.

Did I sneak into a celebrity’s party and get drunk? It wouldn’t be too unbelievable considering she was her journalist. She was probably working on getting one last report before her first day at Hope’s Peak academy.

...

Wait...

Oh, fuck.

I was supposed to be going to Hope Peak’s academy the night before, wasn’t I? Well, that’s unless if I’m remembering more than one day… I hope not. The aftermath of whatever that party was is already going to be as bad for me.

That was when I noticed something even worse as I looked out the window of the room. Well, more like somethings. Somethings that kept passing by in the blink of an eye that could mean one thing.

Whatever I was in, it was moving.

With that realization in mind, my eyes widened and I suddenly found myself the energy to rise from the bed and ran over to the window, looking outside of it from the closer perspective, unable to get over my confusion as wherever I was was moving so fast I couldn’t quite have even a single clue as to where I was but as I looked down, I quickly came to realize what I was in.

A train.

A train?

Huh.

Ding dong, bing bong

Huh?

My attention was turned away from the window was changed from the window once again when I heard that noise. It sounded like some kind of bell that you’d hear in a school… when an announcement was made...

Just as I was thinking that, I saw the large TV that had been set up in front of the bed flicker to life as I curiously made myself over to it, a weird feeling inside of me warning me to be cautious even though I wasn’t even sure why. It was just a TV, she probably accidentally leaned on the controller and turned it on while I was looking outside the window... maybe...

After a moment of flickering, the TV finally came to life and in front of me, the most weirdest image I had ever seen come to appear. Sitting on the type of chair you’d see being sat on by a Villain in some special agent movie, was a neko but it wasn’t sitting like a usual neko, no, it was sitting as if it was the super Villain itself.

“What the fuck?” I couldn’t help but mutter under my breath as I looked over that neko that just sat there, a rather evil looking smile on its face. The more I looked at it, the more I realized it looked like a kind of teddy that you’d get but it still looked weird. One half of it was black, the other was white. One eye was black, the other was red. It looked too scary to be any kind of teddy that I would want as a kid...

“HELLO PASSENGERS” the neko suddenly announced with a purr in its voice which made me jump back from shock, surprised I didn’t actually trip over my own feet as I tried to recover for a moment. Did that thing just speak?!

I-I was still dreaming right? This was all just a really bad dream and I would wake up soon, r-right?!

Of course. I’m still in the party, they’re putting on a drug-induced show where the party goers are traveling on a train and some kind of teddy neko is talking to them! With that in mind, I repeatedly started trying to pinch myself awake while I could hear the neko start to continue talking again.

“I’m sure you all have so many questions, number one now probably being, is that a talking neko? Well if you all would so kindly come to the dining car, you’ll have all your questions answered... And MORE!”” the neko announced with the kind of laughter you’d hear in a disney film but more horrifying and with that laughter ringing in my mind, the TV suddenly flickered off again and I couldn’t help but stand there like a deer in headlights.

Was I really going to exit this room? I had a dreaded feeling rising in my stomach that told me not too but at the same time, my questions would be answered? It sounded like it would solve all of my problems and it wasn’t like I could just sit in this room forever, right? I was already feeling the need of hunger and thirst.

I let out a sigh as I realized I really had no other option and moved towards the door, my hands getting shaky as I grasped its handle. Why am I so scared? I’ve woken from hangovers in tons of strange places and been to many strange parties, just trying to get my next report.

That’s right. I’m a journalist. Whatever is happening here, it’s going to be fantastic! It’s going to be something worth writing about!

That filled me with so much more energy as I grasped the handle tighter. I’m the Ultimate journalist and I’m going to make a story!

That was my stupid thought process as I opened that door and faced the new world in front of me. --- Kurou Abe - Morning

When I stepped through the door, this situation only got even more confusing.

As if staged, me and sixteen others exited from the rooms at the same time. Together, we really looked out of place. We weren’t the typical group you’d see together at all and that much was clear as we all glanced from one after the other.

Some of us looked scared, me including. Others looked just plain confused while a few even looked determined, not letting any bad emotions getting to them as they prepared to face whatever they had been put in. At least, that’s what it appeared on the front.

You can never truly know what a person is thinking, even when in their own head.

Sometimes, even you yourself don’t know what you are thinking.

For a few moments, the group of us seemed to just awkwardly look at each other as if taking in who we were with. Who we were trapped with.

It felt weird to say that. Trapped? Why did that word come to my mind?

However, at the same time, what else were we? We were on a train in the middle of nowhere, no idea why or how we were here... Were we trapped?

Suddenly, I heard a awkward cough and looked around to see that it was coming from a messily dressed man at the opposite end of the group from me, the man moving his hand away from his mouth in order to show us all a grin as he continued to break the silence with “well, hey there everyone, uhh, I’m Aoi Kita.”

“We’re supposed to care?” muttered the man opposite from me in response to that introduction, rolling his eyes as he pushed his glasses up his nose a bit “you peasants are always so happy to introduce yourselves as if I care.”

I noticed another man, nearby, chuckling at that statement and when I done a double take between the two of them I couldn’t help but see some resemblance. They looked entirely different but then at the same time they were the same. I couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that they were related somehow.

“Well? You got any better ideas than just standing around like a bunch of dumbasses?” Aoi retorted, although there wasn’t even a hint of anger in his voice, it actually sounded pretty calm despite what he said, and when I turned back to look at him, I saw that he was looking at us all, hoping someone would continue with his idea.

Letting out a sigh, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and stepped forward slightly as I spoke up and said “I’m Kurou Abe.”

I could see Aoi’s grin grow even wider at someone participating and after a moment of the rest of us glancing at each other, the female next to me hid her face under her cap a little as she introduced herself with “Momoka Watanabe.”

From near Aoi, a female who looked like she was cosplaying as a pirate shrugged and took off her hat in order to do a bow “captain Chika Kurosawa.”

At the middle of the group, a beautiful dressed female rolled her eyes a bit but still she grabbed the ends of her dress and done a polite curtsey “Kaoru Maeda.”

Letting out a chuckle, the next cosplay looking member of this weird group, this one dressed as a cowboy, winked at us all as he said “Takehiko Yamauchi, nice to make acquaintances.”

Our attention was then drawn to a simply dressed female near the cowboy but that simpleness quickly appeared to be a lie as we gave her closer look. Clearly she looked like to be no one to be messed with, even with her unusually white eyes. She simply muttered “Hanako Minami.”

A nervously shifting woman female was next as she seemed to be playing with the bowtie on herself a bit first before flashing us all a smile “Nanami Suzuki.”

“Aina Hisakawa” another female quickly muttered once she noticed the attention of us had turned to her, clearly wanting the attention to pass onto the next person as soon as possible.

“Yuki Matsumoto!” the next female declared happily, giving us all the peace sign as she seemed to do an overreacted pose, grinning like a mad woman.

“Hideaki Oshiro” the next male said, waving his hand non-caringly as he clearly looked like he hadn’t even bothered to remember our names so far. Instead he was more happily focused on toying with his headset that he was wearing.

“Ryouta Akiyama!” another male cheered, giving us a grin before he raised a mask that he was holding to cover his face, as if he was trying to spook us on Halloween.

I couldn’t help but notice neither of the two related-looking fellows had introduced themselves yet, even as our attention went to them for a bit while a male tapped on his microphone and then raised it to his mouth as he said “Haru Satou introduces himself to the group when it is his turn.”

Okay... that was weird but none of us called him out on it as we turned our attention to the final female of the group who looked up from the floor and grinned at us but I couldn’t help but feel there was something sinister about her grin, like I had seen on that neko...

“Name’s Shun Moto, I look forward to having so much fun with you all!” she said with a slight laugh, something that confused us all but before any of us decided to question her, the same pompous prick that spoke up before spoke up again.

“Are you done introducing yourselves as if we’re toddlers?” the man muttered as he fiddled with his scarf a bit, his eyes glaring at all of us “did you forget that we are to go and meet that thing in the dining car?”

With that, he and the other similar looking man pushed their way through the group and started walking towards the exit of the train car they were currently in which ended up drawing my attention to looking around us as I came to a realization. This train car looked A LOT bigger than any train I had seen. Even the most expensive ones and if I was too presume every room had been like mine, what the hell kind of train were we on?

“You two ain’t gonna introduce yourselves?” Aoi spoke up again, yelling after them which made the two men pause in their walking before they slowly turned back to look at us, both in usion and both glaring as if they were twins who had practiced for this kind of movement their entire lives until finally the one who hadn’t said a word so far responded to Aoi.

“I’m Minoru Nishimura and this is my brother Daisuke Nishimura. You may have heard of us, if you have. You would know, don’t talk to us like we are on the same level as you.”

With that, the two of them continued, leaving the rest of us to share looks with each other before Shun spoke up again, her voice sending a few chills through my spine as I couldn’t help but feel something was off about her as her grin never faded “well? Lets go get this party started!” --- Shun Moto - Morning

Oh, I was just bursting with excitement!

The looks on all their faces as I followed behind them were so good. Honestly, I had been hoping for more fear, sadness, despair but they’re confusion, desperation to remain calm and stoic and the feeling of being lost that was coming from them at least made a decent replacement.

Not only that but they really put a LOT of work into this train, like woah! The development of this train and a lot of other stuff had been completely out of my department so, like the rest of these Ultimate idiots, this was my first time seeing the train and I couldn’t help but be impressed.

I mean it was working like a normal train but big enough to hold such lovely rooms for us to sleep in! I was getting so excited and we hadn’t even gotten to the good part yet!

“So, what do you think is going on? All I know is when I came too just before in that room, I felt like I had one good party on the town last night” that cowboy, Takehiko Yamauichi, said light-heartedly in order to break our silence and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Party on the town? Hah, these fools really have no idea.

“Eh, I figured I got a little too drunk after I snuck into a celebrity’s party, as a journalist, I’m always looking for reports.”

“That would make sense for me too. Me and my crew were probably spending all the coins on drinks and woman after our latest treasure find!”

I couldn’t help but force myself to resist laughing as I watched the group discuss this. I was very doubtful that everyone here could convince themselves that they were here because they got too drunk but it was still a funny thought that I had been grouped with a bunch of drunks. It would make this much more fun.

“Yeah, that would make sense for you but what about me? Last thing I remember is recording a let’s play during the night. I didn’t go anywhere near parties or even outside of my room!”

“Same man! Before I went asleep, I was in my room, making up a bunch of prank ideas… damn, I really wish I had that prank book on me now. Whoever is pulling this prank could give me so many great ideas.”

I was grinning a little bit now as they finally started debating it a bit more. This was what I wanted to see, debating of the current situation. Although, it was also at that moment that I noticed we were reaching the end of the car we started in and our group was starting to pass through, one by one, into the other car, one that was clearly the dining car.

“Well, we’ll be finding out soon enough, this must be the dining car” Aoi Kita pointed out as we all spread out around the room, most of them having a curious look around as if they were already looking for clues while I just stood there and patiently waited. I knew what was coming, I knew where this was going to lead. Now, the real fun was about to begin.

As if on cue, a noise suddenly drew our attention to the other cart and it was then when we noticed that the door to it was open and when I snuck a glance to look at the rest of them, I could tell they were getting more nervous now as the sound got closer and closer to us. It was like the feeling of the unknown that was being presented to them was finally getting to them.

Then, he arrived.

In some form of grand show, the trolley that would be usually bringing the passengers some food to choose from came sliding into the room and crashing against one of the tables while the thing that had been riding on top of it jumped off of it and done a flip mid-air before he finally landed down onto the table that he had crashed into “TA-DA! I’M HERE, MONONEKO HAS ARRIVED!”

I... I couldn’t believe it.

I...

“OH MY GOD, IT’S SO CUTE” I screamed out so suddenly, making everyone, even Mononeko, jump out of fright but that wasn’t of my concern as I instead just immediately pushed my way past everyone and ran towards the neko, not even noticing the judging looks I was getting from some of the others or the squeak that Monokeo let out before I picked him up and hugged him to my chest as I spun around, laughing with joy “oh my god you’re just adorable! I’m going to hold you and never let you go, ever!”

“Nu, halp, don’t touch me! Let go of me!” Mononeko protested, putting in all of his might into pushing my face away from him but I only hugged him tighter, lost in my own excitedness and completely ignoring his protests until he finally caught my attention by saying “LET ME GO OR I WILL BLOW YOU UP!”

“Aww... you’re no fun” I said sadly, a pout forming on my lip, as I finally put Mononeko down, watching as he patted and brushed himself down and glared at me.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? You can’t just pick me up!” Mononeko yelled, pointed his finger at me and doing his best to look the angriest he could but oh it only made him look even more cuter, although I forced myself to resist my urges as he jumped back onto the table and faced us all at once and began his speech “now, AS I WAS SAYING, I, the Mononeko and you’re ever so lovely conductor, is here!”

“Ugh, just get on with it already” Daisuke said which made me glare at him from the corner of my eyes as he crossed his arms and kept a calm gaze on Mononeko “you said that if we all came here, you’d explain this situation so explain it.”

“Yeah, tell us when this stupid churade ends so we can go home! I have fans waiting for me to upload more videos!”

For a moment, silence claimed the room that we were in, Mononeko just standing there and looking at Hideaki as if he was the most idiotic person in existence before a grin that nearly had me grinning spread across his face, that grin soon turning into laughter, the same laughter we heard on the TV, while the rest of our group just stared at him, completely confused.

“What the fuck are you laughing about?!” the girl wearing that cap demanded to know as she stepped forward and pointed towards Mononeko who didn’t stop in his laughing to even notice her as she continued “whatever prank this is, I demand to be released at once!”

“Oh, a prank?” Mononeko finally replied after he stopped his laughter, pressing his paws to his mouth as if having to stop himself from laughing again “and what’s with the rushhhhh? Oh, that’s right! You all have to attend at Hope’s Peak, right? Whoops but it looks like you’re going to miss it!”

A silence fell across the room again and this time I watched as the rest of the Ultimates looked to each other with surprised looks on their faces. Ah, that’s right. Heh, I had forgotten that these idiots hadn’t figured that out yet.

“Hehehehehehehehe. Ohhhhhh, did you not work out that you were all Ultimates that were going to be attending Hope’s Peak Academy?” Mononeko teased, looking so happy with himself at their surprise “YEP! You are all Ultimates!”

“We’re all Ultimates?” Kurou Abe repeated, looking at all of us one after another as if he was trying to judge what our talents were before looking back at Mononeko, clearly trying to keep his voice as calm as possible but he was getting a little shaken “why are we here?”

“Straight to the point, huh? I like you!” Mononeko said with a grin before he jumped up and down on the table, clapping his paws together “alright, alright, alright, I’ll finally tell you why you are all here but you better listen very carefully. This is serious... you have been kidnapped.”

“WHAT?!”

“HUH?!!”

“KIDNAPPED?”

Oh those reactions to being told the news were so perfect. That great moment when their feels became so conflicted. I was enjoying this so much. Maybe a little too much, hehe! “Okay, this has gone on for enough!” Hideaki declared, walking towards Mononeko with what most would probably figure as threatening but me? He just looked like an adorable little child who was whining like one as he continued with “this prank isn’t even well done. It’s pathetic and you should stop this train now!”

“Isn’t even well done?...” Mononeko replied, surprise on his face now before he let out a sigh and looked down to his feet “aww but we put in a lot of effort into this.”

“Speaking of “we”, why aren’t you coming out already?” Kaoru said, her arms crossed now as she even dared roll her eyes “I mean, this toy of yours is cool and all but seriously? Show your faces already, we’re clearly bored of this.”

I... I couldn’t believe this. They aren’t supposed to be like this! They’re supposed to be afraid!

I watched as Mononeko shuffled on his feet a little, looking like he was sad. Of course, that was before he started suddenly laughing madly again, earning more confusion from our crowd before he started again “I’m no toy! I’m Mononeko, the nightmare of your nightmares and I can assure you, this is no joke. No prank. This is real, you have all been kidnapped and that is only just the start!”

“T-the start?” Ryouta replied, clutching his mask tightly while I could observe as some of the crowd started to get nervous again. Unfortunately, I also noticed that some were still remaining calm. I just hoped that when the true surprise was revealed, this would be changed.

“Yep! The start!” Mononeko repeated, giggling with excitement before he clapped his hands together “are you ready to learn the main course? You have been kidnapped in order to play a very, very special game together!”

“Game?” Daisuke asked, his voice clearly traced with so much annoyance as he rolled his eyes and turned to look out the window “fine, let’s get this over with already. If you know I am an Ultimate, you know who I am and you should be honored I’m even considering listening to this game.”

“I love how you say it as if you have a choice!” Mononeko replied with another giggle before shaking his head “nu, nu, nu. You’re going to play this game because otherwise you aren’t going to be leaving this train… at least alive.”

I nearly grinned as I watched even the calmest of the group become nervous now as all eyes were on Mononeko and Aoi Kita stepped forward, his hand running through his hair “ah, that kinda sounded like a threat there...”

“That was because it was!” Monomech told them, such a casual happy smile on his face as he bounced around with excitement “since you are all so rude, let me explain something. There is no way of this train. You are trapped here and if you attempt to break out, you will be killed. You will remain here for as long as I see fit… that is… unless if you succeed at my game...”

“What is this game?” Aina asked, not a single bit of fear or nervousness in her voice, in fact I couldn’t help but get a sense of curiosity in it. The curiosity of someone who was prepared to win the game and that made me feel overjoyed inside. I was looking forward to some competition!

“What is the game, you ask?” Mononeko teased with yet another bundle of laughter, even making a paw movement as if he was wiping a tear away “alright, I’ll tell you since you’ve all been so patient. In order to win this game… you must kill one of the other Ultimates.”

“Hmm...”

“What the fuck?!!”

“Hah! Good joke!”

“AGAIN, it is not a joke. Why would I joke about something so serious?!” Mononeko protested, stomping his feet a little before he grinned again “I understand your doubts but it is very, very simple. You are trapped on this train and the only way for you to leave this train is if you kill another one of the people standing in this room.”

“Yeah? Then why don’t we kill you!” Chika retorted, angerness rising in her voice as she practically bolted across the room and went to grab Mononeko, only for us all to witness as she came to an abrupt stop once Mononeko had reached into the bag on his trolley and grabbed a revolver, holding it to her head.

“Just try it, bitch.”

Even I was a bit taken aback!

“Do.Not.Fuck.With.Me” Mononeko warned, his red eye glowing as he glared at the pirate captain who immediately started backing away which caused Mononeko to grin again “good. We’ll get to the rules against that soon enough but for now, are we at an understanding? Look around at the people in this room, judge who might be a killer or who you might kill as, afterall, killing is the only way you are getting out of this!”

With that, Mononeko started laughing again, his laughter non-stop as I turned my gaze away from him and looked to the other Ultimates, a tiny and unnoticeable smile raising on my lips as I watched each and every Ultimate looking to each other. A mixture of emotions in their eyes.

Distrust...

Fear...

Readiness...

Despair. --- Momoka Watanabe - Morning

Murder?

...

The only way to leave... is murdering one of the other Ultimates?

I couldn’t even wrap my mind around the others standing in the room with me being Ultimates like me. We were all going to be attending Hope’s Peak academy together but now, here we are, kidnapped and trapped on a train.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at the other people in the room, I just looked down to my feet, my cap tilted downwards as if to hide my face. I couldn’t believe this, it must be some kind of joke.

As if on cue to my thoughts, I heard that thing giggling again which made me force myself to look up at it again, doing my best to keep my composure.

“What? No more talking back? No more insults? No more arguing?” Mononeko taunted as he strolled back and forth along the table, looking to each and every one of us “do you finally get that you are trapped in my game? Good because I’m already getting bored of standing here when I can be lounging in my nice chair. I mean, did you see it? It’s really nice!”

“Why are we here?” Kurou abruptly asked from beside me, seeming to find some form of courage that looked surprising to even him “why are you, whatever you are, doing this to us?”

Mononeko just started giggling again before he shook his head “nuh-uh, that would be spoilers and spoilers are no fun! For now, you are here and all that matters is you will be spending the rest of your lives here unless if you commit murder!” The rest of our lives?

I just couldn’t come to bear my head around this but that was when I realized that didn’t matter, not right now. All I had to do for the moment was listen and remember, I was in this situation whether I understood it or not.

“Now, on with the further explanations!” Mononeko declared before another of us could interrupt him, putting down his revolver before reaching into his bag again, this time pulling out some kind of tablet that he showed off to us “since this is going to be such a big change for your lives, I’ve prepared these for you since I’m such a kind person!”

“Right” I couldn’t help but mutter, even rolling my eyes, as Mononeko sent a little glare my way before shaking it off and continuing his explanation.

“This is a nifty little thing called a E-Handbook! One has been prepared for each of you and it is to basically help you in your new lives as it features all sorts of features” Mononeko explained as he turned it on and then began to show us each feature “it’s two main features is it serving as a database on all of you cosplay looking boys and girls as well as a complete list, with explanations, of the rules you will have to follow as you live on this train!”

“Rules? Seriously?” Yuki asked as if she had heard something ridiculous “why do we have to follow some stupid rules?”

“Well, you don’t HAVE to follow the rules but if you don’t, you’ll get punished by the ever so wonderful Conductor!” Mononeko replied before seeing our confused faces and letting out a depressed sigh “which is me, obviously.”

“Right...” Aoi said rather awkwardly, running his hands through his hair “punished how?”

Turning his frown upside down, Mononeko grabbed his revolver again and waved it much our surprise but he didn’t allow us time to question it before he continued showing off the E-Handbook “there is no need for despair though! The E-Handbook is even equipped with a cool little game where you must raise your own little pet kitten! Isn’t that sweet?!”

“Why would we bother playing such a stupid game?” Aina asked, her face so full of judgement which made me wince as I watched Mononeko grow a bit angry.

“Because they are my children and if you do not take care of them, I will kill you!” Mononeko replied rather defensively as he stomped his feet before catching his breath “anyway, don’t you want a reward for successfully raising it to adult?”

None of us bothered to give him a response to that, all of us instead just standing there rather awkwardly until finally that weird girl who tried to hug him spoke up, giving him a grin as she told him “I’d be happy to take care of your child.”

“Thank you, at least one person here is as nice as me” Mononeko said as he pointed a glare to the rest of us before grabbing his bag and jumping off the table, waddling around us as he started handing out the other E-Handbooks from the bag “when you boot it up, it will provide a name, talent and picture for the Ultimate it belongs to so just pass these around until you are given yours.”

It took us a few awkward minutes but we eventually had our respective E-Handbooks and as soon as mine found it’s way into my hands, I turned it on and began to explore it. As he said, it featured a database, rule list, my own pet kitten and other services such as notes for my own personal usage.

Even, despite the situation we were in, I had to admit it was pretty handy.

“Well, I’ve explained the situation to you now” Mononeko said as he jumped onto the same table again “I’ve given you those E-Handbooks and you should’ve figured out where you’ll be each be sleeping. From here, it is up to you what you do. Follow my rules or break them, try to escape or accept your new life. Kill or be killed. That is all up to you guys and girls!”

“T-that's it?” Nanami asked, causing me to look up and see she was looking around the room rather nervously before looking to Mononeko “you pin this all on us and now you’ll be l-leaving?”

“Oh, have no fear, I’ll be around!” Mononeko said with a little giggle that gave me no comfort at all in what he just said before adding “I’ll be giving announcements when needed and I can always be called if any help is needed, unless if you’re being murdered! Hehe! See yah later, wouldn’t want to be yah! Oh, and as a little hint, all rooms on this train are sound proof. Have fun!”

With those parting words, Mononeko suddenly departed from the scene, leaving all of us to remain standing in the dining car, a tense moment passing between us all before we all turned our attention down to the E-Handbooks in our hands and looked over what it told us.

Aoi Kita - Ultimate Street Racer, Kurou Abe - Ultimate Veterinarian, Momoka Watanabe - Ultimate Soccer Player, Daisuke Nishimura - Ultimate Dictator, Chika Kurosawa - Ultimate Pirate, Kaoru Maeda - Ultimate Street Dancer, Takehiko Yamauchi - Ultimate Cowboy, Hanako Minami - Ultimate Ninja, Nanami Suzuki - Ultimate Journalist, Aina Hisakawa - Ultimate Bounty Hunter, Yuki Matsumoto - Ultimate Pilot, Hideaki Oshiro - Ultimate Youtuber, Ryouta Akiyama - Ultimate Prankster, Minoru Nishimura - Ultimate Chess Player, Haru Satou - Ultimate Narrator and Shun Moto - Ultimate ??? So it is true? We are all Ultimates?

I couldn’t help but glance curiously over to Shun at her talent being unknown and I noticed a few others doing the same but they, like me, had other concerns for the present and instead I turned my attention to looking over the rules.

Rule #00: Students who break the following rules will be punished accordingly by the Conductor.

Rule #01: Violence against the Conductor and intended property destruction is strictly prohibited.

Rule #02: “Daytime” is between 7am to 10pm and “nighttime” is between 10pm to 7am.

Rule #03: In order to depart from the train and graduate, students must kill a fellow student and then, as the blackened, not be discovered.

Rule #04: The blackened may only kill a maximum of two fellow students.

Rule #05: Students are free to explore the compartments of the train as they wish, excluding the front of the train which is completely off-limits.

Rule #06: The Conductor cannot directly interfere with any activity of the students unless if it violates a rule.

Rule #07: No littering is allowed. I mean come on, don’t be assholes and ruin this perfectly good looking train due to you being lazy and not taking the rubbish to the bin, that’s just rude.

Last Rule: Additional rules may be added at the conductor’s discretion if necessary.

When I finished reading them over, I didn’t know how to feel but one thing was clear, this situation was real. I had really been kidnapped. I was really being forced to play some psycho game...

I was really being forced to kill if I wanted to go home.

Taking a deep breath, I finally looked up from the E-Handbook and watched as one by one, the other Ultimates all finished reading their own E-Handbook and look up like I had. The feeling in the room was tense and it was clear that distrust was passing between all of us.

“So” Kurou spoke up, awkwardly shifting on his feet and keeping his gaze lowered to the floor as he finally broke their silence “what do we do now?”

“Hmm, we should probably get to investigating this train” Minoru said thoughtfully, stroking his beard as he continued to look down at his E-Handbook “if we’re going to be living on this train, we might as well familiarize ourselves with it. Of course, you all can do whatever you want. I’m not holding your hands.”

“Well, whatever we each decide to do, may I recommend that we keep to groups of four?” Hanako suggested which made Daisuke roll his eyes before he gave her a response.

“And why would either I or my brother want to bother ourselves with company such as you peasants?”

“Well, if you look over the rules, it clearly states that we cannot murder more than two people so if we split up into fours, that will guarantee none of us are murdered before we can fully settle ourselves in.”

“You expect a murderer to follow a stupid rule like that?”

“Well, if they don’t, they’re going to get punished by the Conductor. I don’t see the point in trying to escape this train through murder only to get punished, do you?”

Through the entire discussion, me and the other Ultimates had been looking from Daisuke to Hanako and I got a sense of silent agreement across the room, even to the point where Daisuke couldn’t really argue against it until his brother finally placed his hand on his shoulder and said “it is a good point being made here, Dai. For now, let’s just go along with it.”

Letting out a annoyed sigh, Daisuke fiddled with his scarf for a moment before nodding “fine. We better get started then.” --- Daisuke Nishimura - Daytime

I can’t believe I got dragged into this, what was my brother thinking?

The two of us would’ve been perfectly fine on our own. Hah, someone trying to kill us? Sounds like a terrible joke that jesters would tell us when we were younger.

I tried to give my brother the benefit of the doubt though. Perhaps he was using this as an opportunity to learn who would be the weakest, who would make the good target. My brother always had a plan and I’m sure he was already putting it into motion.

Still though, it was rather struggling to put up with this plan as we were forced to listen to that pilot girl ranting on about all these different things that I couldn’t have a single care for. Why did this have to happen to me?

Letting out a sigh, I tried to distract myself by looking down at the map that we had discovered to be on these E-Handbooks as well. After deciding on the groups we would be splitting up into, we also decided who would be going to what area of the train to investigate since the train could be split into four parts with two floors.

The first floor they had already mostly seen. It featured their rooms and the dining car but it also featured a storage room and a room to do our cleaning, one of our four groups were investigating these new rooms while another group were looking over the former two in case anything was missed.

The second floor was completely unknown to them and so the other two groups, including ours, were splitting up to look it over but according to the map we could figure what we would find as the floor apparently included a recreation area, medical room, music room and a small swimming pool.

I seriously doubted the last one that was listed but I suppose I would find out whether it was true or not sooner or later. For now, me and my brother were heading to investigate the recreation area and medical room with the pilot and that journalist.

“This should be it” said journalist spoke up as the four of us reached a door, thankfully bringing the pilot’s ranting to a full stop, as me and Minoru shared a glance and the journalist pushed the door open, revealing to us he recreation area.

“Oooh, this looks nice” the pilot said excitedly as she pushed her way past the journalist and walked into the room, looking around in excitement while the other three of us just casually walked into the room to look around.

As much as I hated to agree with this peasant, it did look rather pleasant.

The first thing that caught my eye was a small library which featured more than a few books that looked like they would be entertaining for a while. Not that they needed to be, neither me nor my brother were going to be spending long on this train, but at least it was something.

To go along with the library, the other side of the room was something that didn’t interest me at all. It was all just games, arcade machines and other such things. Although, one machine did catch my eye as it did the pilot as well as she immediately rushed over to it and start fiddling around with it “oooh, this looks flashy.”

“That would be the ever so amazing MONOMACHINE” Mononeko suddenly announced, as if he was giving a show, while he suddenly seemed to appear from thin air, making us all jump which caused me great annoyance as both me and my brother immediately tried to hide it.

“Monomachine?” Minoru asked, his voice clearly laced with not a single bit of care which made me chuckle as all looked over this machine “what is its purpose? Since you find it important enough to announce.”

Mononeko let out that stupid giggle of his as he waddled over to the machine while he took a strange looking coin out of his pocket, a coin that looked to have his own face on it, which he then put into the machine and pressed a button as he replied with “it will give you a prize. This machine holds so many different and unique prizes which you can either keep for yourself or perhaps give to one of your fellow Ultimates as a gift!”

As he said that, the machine came to life and soon enough it produced a lifesize Mononeko teddy which the real Mononeko picked up and looked over with a grin before handing it up to Yuki who took it rather awkwardly “see? Doesn’t it look so cute! You each have been left ten of these wonderful coins in your rooms but if you want to get more coins, you have to do special things!”

“Special things?” I asked, unable to think of anything but how this sounded like the most stupidest thing as I watched Yuki have to balance the teddy in her arms before turning my attention back to the real thing “what kind of things?”

Mononeko just once again giggled at that before he shook his finger at us “not telling! You have to find out for yourselves!”

With that, he once again disappeared as both me and my brother let out our collected sighs. It was all just getting too stupid for us but we had to continue with the game anyway.

“The medical room next, correct?” I muttered but didn’t really wait for an answer, nor expect one, as I departed from the room and continued down the corridor, feeling the presence of my brother and then the other two following behind me.

Fortunately it didn’t take too long to get to the second room. I didn’t want to be doing this exploration for any longer than I needed to and this time I barged past the journalist before she could even open the door and stepped through it myself, I was already getting bored of this situation.

“Great to see that you have manners” the journalist muttered but I didn’t care to pay attention to her as I immediately started looking around the room with my brother, seeing what it had to offer and fortunately enough, it seemed very well equipped.

It may have been small but it at least offered plenty of medical supplies of all sorts and other hospital stuff that would likely be needed if any one of us attempted to commit a murder.

If? Hah. I already knew it would happen. I give it a day before one of these pathetic peasants get desperate and try to commit a murder. Of course, me and my brother were both going to likely plan to commit one ourselves but first I would want to see how it plays out. What is going to happen when one is committed.

It would also give us a chance to judge which of these peasants would be the most threatening.

“When we’ve got a bit more time, we should do a complete inventory of what is here and where it is in here” the journalist spoke up again as she started looking through the medical supplies “it would come in handy to know stuff like that if we ever get into an emergency.”

“We’ll leave that kind of work to one of you lesser people” Minoru replied, earning a glare from the journalist and a grin from me.

Even if I was trapped here with these peasants, at least I was trapped here with my brother. --- Hanako Minami - Daytime

Ever since learning of why we were kidnapped, I had been trying to keep myself calm and collected. Losing my shit in a situation like this was only going to get me killed or worse.

I still didn’t really know how to feel about the situation though. I couldn’t help but wonder how much my clan was worrying about me, whether they were sending out parties to find me or if conflict with the other clans had escalated due to my absence.

I didn’t even think it was a good idea in the first place for me to go into Hope’s Peak academy but my father was determined for me to go in order to fully experience all that was offered to me.

I let out a sigh and forced these thoughts out of my mind and instead put my mind to the task at hand, looking around to the other Ultimates that I had been grouped with. The pirate, cowboy and bounty hunter. I couldn’t help having to resist a smirk at the thought of what a weird collection we were.

“So what do you guys think of all this?” Takehiko asked as I saw him take off his hat and use it to cool himself down slightly while the rest of us just continued searching around the dining room, taking note of all it’s cutlery and such “I mean, it’s a pretty crazy situation, huh?”

“Quite the understatement” Aina muttered in response but didn’t offer any other than that as she just let out a sigh and sat herself down on one of the seats, leaning her head back and closing her eyes but before I could point out to her that we still had looking to do, Mokoneko seemed to appear out of nowhere and speak up. “Whatcha all doing?”

“What’s it look like?” Chika retorted rather angrily, stopping in her progress to send a rather deadly glare in his direction as she continued “we’re obviously checking this area out.”

“Sounds rather boring” Mononeko casually commented as he made his way across the dining car before taking a seat opposite Aina “you know, the four of you look like you all came from some kind of fight club gone wrong.”

“What is it that you want?” I asked, doing my best to keep myself polite and calm despite it’s role in kidnapping us and keeping us captured here.

“Well, it’s not really what I want but I am here to provide two things!” Mononeko declared which caught each of our attentions which caused him to giggle before he continued “the first thing is to tell you, in order to unlock and lock your doors, there is a scanning device on the E-Handbooks which you simply swipe across the handle in order to do both! The second thing is that I have left all of you, the others included, a surprise in your rooms!”

Takehiko let out a sigh as he put his fedora back on his head “I’ve had enough surprises today.”

“Well, sucks to suck because I have given you to them anyway!” Mononeko said with his annoying giggle before he suddenly departed from the room rather mysteriously, leaving the four of us to share glances with each other before Aina spoke up with a sigh. “I suppose we might as well go ahead and check out what this “surprise” is.”

Silently, we all came to an agreement and filed out of the dining car in order to head back to our personal rooms, the four of us splitting up in order to head to our respective rooms while I also used this as an opportunity to test out what the thing had told us, using my E-Handbook in order to successfully look the door before unlocking it again so I could then enter.

At the very least I had somewhere I could lock myself away from the others. I assumed this and the place itself was the same for all of the other Ultimates.

As a plus, that some place was also very spacious and nice. It featured everything that was needed in a bedroom, from a bed to a wardrobe that I had found contained many clothes for my usage. It then also featured a view of the outside and the TV that Mononeko had contacted us on before although, judging from the remote I had been provided it was clear it could be used for other purposes.

Aside from that, it was styled using rugs and other such luxurious items to give a welcoming and comforting feeling to whoever was using it but with the situation that I was currently in, I felt neither of these feelings.

Finally, my eyes landed on what I presumed was the surprise that Mononeko had mentioned.

On top of the desk in the room, in the safety of a mantel, was my sword. The sword that I had been gifted after finishing my training as a ninja. My most prized possession. I couldn’t resist running a finger along the safe part of the blade before I gripped it’s handle and lifted it off the mantel to test it out, making sure it was in the condition it should be.

Part of me wanted to be relieved for the fact that it was once again by my side in a dangerous situation like this but the fact that it was also here had me worried as it should’ve been in the care of my father until I returned.

These thoughts of mine were interrupted when I realized I probably shouldn’t take too long in threat of looking suspicious which caused me to gently place the sword back on the mantel before I left the room again, making sure to take the E-Handbook with me and locking the door after my exit, where I found Takehiko already waiting.

“My surprise turned out to be some toy revolver and cans for me to shoot at. Guess it was someone’s idea of a joke about me being a cowboy, huh?” he said in order to break the silence, a grin on his face “what about you? Got something related to who you are as well?”

I replied with a simple “mhm” as I leaned back against my door, deciding to keep the fact that I had my sword in my room a secret. It’d be probably put quite the target on my back if that was learned by the others.

We stood in awkward silence after that until the other two had come out of their rooms and reported the same thing, our “surprise” were item(s) related to who we were.

Considering what I had received and the type of people that I was kidnapped with, I didn’t find comfort in that. --- Kaoru Maeda - Daytime

Why did I have to get grouped with the annoying ones?

This was the question I found myself asking over and over as I walked through the storage room in order to see what it held, forced to listen to the prankster and youtuber talking and talking about boring subjects that I couldn’t have a single care for while the narrator kept narrating things to himself.

I sighed and reminded myself that this wouldn’t take long and soon enough I could just try and keep myself away from them as far as possible and instead focused on continuing the task of looking at what was available to us in this room.

Much to my surprise, this storage room was very well stocked. It included all sorts of necessities as well as more luxury items. As much as I hated to admit it, this train was seriously impressive as far as I could tell and this room only proved this. Even if we were trapped here, at least we wouldn’t need to worry about anything for a while.

“Man, we got trapped here at the wrong time. I mean, fuck, you know that game that was coming out? I was really looking forward to playing that!” Hideaki continued complaining and I let out another sigh as I resisted throwing a shelf over, being done listening to this ranting.

“I’m going to check out the cleaning room, you guys continue checking out what we have in here” I finally declared to the other three as I quickly made my way out of the room, barely hearing Haru behind me as he responded.

“Haru thought to himself that the Ultimate Street Dancer going off alone is a bad idea.”

I didn’t even care to think about what he said, I just wanted to be alone from constant complaining and ranting for a bit and as I crossed the corridor to instead explore the cleaning room, this proved to be a good opportunity for that.

Letting out a relaxed breath at finally being alone, I took a moment to lean against the cleaning room’s wall and gather my thoughts.

I wasn’t sure what even I was thinking about this, never mind the other Ultimates whom none of them I trusted at all. It was very clear what this situation would eventually be boiling down to.

Live or die.

It was very simple but that didn’t make the thought process any better.

Closing my eyes, I took another moment to tell myself to worry about it later but as I was opening my eyes again, I felt a hand clasp around my mouth, muffling my sudden scream as I immediately started to resist, feeling my assaulter equally struggle to hold me in this position.

Time seemed to both speed up and slow down as we struggled around until we ended up in front of a mirror where I found my eyes widening as I saw my assaulter was wearing the same mask I had seen Ryouta holding.

Gathering as much strength as I could muster, I arched my foot up behind me and thrust it straight into their crotch which caused them to double over in pain and let me go, giving me enough time to put a safe amount of distance between me and them before grabbing a clothes iron that had been nearby.

“Woah, woah, woah, time out!” the assaulter declared as they tried to gain their breath back, raising one hand for defense while his other hand reached to take off his mask, revealing himself to be Ryouta “I was just pranking you!”

“Of course you would say that after failing to kill me!”

“I’m telling the truth! I just wanted to lighten the mood!”

“By making me think I’m about to be murdered?!”

“I get it, okay? It was a bad idea!” Ryouta said, a depressed and pleading look on his face that was enough to make me sigh and put the clothing iron back down, although keeping a close eye on him.

“Just don’t do it again. To anyone.”

Ryouta gave me a nod in response, clutching his mask protectively now as he shifted on his feet, clearly upset with himself now as he tried to change the subject by saying “so what does this room have for us?”

I shrugged, allowing the subject change, as I started walking around the room but kept my distance from him “what you’d expect from what I can see. Looks like there are machines and such here to clean everything, from clothes to kitchenware.”

“Well, that’s handy at least, right?” Ryouta asked as he offered a light smile but I chose to ignore that comment as I looked around. I was trusting everyone else trapped with me even less now. --- Aoi Kita - Daytime

I was at a loss for words.

Even if I didn’t really consider this as a hobby or any time-taking activity in my list of activities, the fact that this existed on this train was really rather amazing. In front of me, the veterinarian, soccer player and unknown Ultimates was quite the spacious swimming pool with more than enough room for sixteen Ultimates and some additional things to mess around with, including a rideable rubber duck.

“WOAH, this looks fun as fuck!” Shun suddenly yelled out when the four of us started to recover from her shock, the other three of us being left to watch as she suddenly sprinted across the room and done a dive into the pool, not even caring about all the clothes she was currently wearing while surfacing from the water and giggling “this is so cool!”

“Well, at least one person is having fun” Momoka muttered from beside me and both me and Kurou gave nods of agreement to that statement, all three of our gazes fixing on Shun as she casually started swimming around and having fun. That was until she suddenly came up to the edge of the pool and splashed all three of us much to our shock.

“Hey!” Kurou protested but he couldn’t hold back the chuckle as we all shook ourselves off a bit, our own clothes now dripping water while Shun just giggled and Kurou continued speaking “what was that for?”

“Weren’t you ever taught not to stare?” Shun lightly retorted, a smirk on her lips, before she placed her hands on the edge of the pool and finally lifted herself out which caused me to immediately avert my eyes while I heard Shun laugh along with her next statement of “well, at least one of you is polite.”

With a raised eyebrow, I turned to look at my two other companions and saw a blush had raised to their cheeks which made me chuckle a little “are you two serious?”

“Shut up” Momoka replied as she thrust her elbow against me with surprising strength but before I could protest, she continued speaking but this time to Shun “we should, ah, probably see if there are some kind of other clothes for you to wear somewhere before we go further exploring.”

“I’ll handle it, you three can go and have a look at the music room, I’ll catch up!”

“A-are you sure?” Kurou asked, sharing a glance with me and Momoka before he sent his questioning gaze back at Shun “the idea was to stick together to be safe.”

“I’ll be fine, I can handle myself” Shun told us before she looked over her shoulder and smirked at the three of us “now go. No peeking through the door either!”

Rolling my eyes a bit, I brought my arms up to lay over my companion’s shoulders and then guided them out of the room, making sure the doors were closed before I chuckled “well, we heard the lady. Let’s check out that music room.”

“She’s really quite something…” Momoka said out loud, earning curious glances from me and Kurou which caused her to get a bit flustered as she tried to hide her face behind her cap “I don’t mean like that. I’m just... shut up, let’s go to the music room.”

With that she started rushing down the corridor to where the music room was supposed to be while me and Kurou shared a look before he spoke up with a small laugh and an awkward rub of the back of his hair “I don’t even know what to think anymore.”

I laughed at that and patted him on the shoulder before following Momoka to our destination, leaving Kurou to follow behind the two of us. Fortunately, while the train itself and the rooms were rather large, the corridors didn’t go on for long at all so we were standing outside of the music room within a few short moments.

“Considering how close this is to what is apparently the recreation room, I guess it’s lucky that all these rooms are apparently soundproof, huh?” Momoka asked the pair of us once we were stood next to her, clearly doing her best to keep the subject changed, before she slid the door open, showing off the room to us.

Like the others I had seen so far, it was rather spacious. Although, it kind’ve didn’t really look like it was since the majority of the room was packed full of all kinds of instruments, giving it the look of someone having just gone on a collection spree and grabbed all the instruments they could and shoved it in one room for whoever was interested.

From what I could see, there was equipment to do singing, write songs, a violin, DJ equipment and even a piano as well as much more. At least it was well stocked, I guess.

“Heh, if any of us actually want to play as a group here, we’re going to have to clean up a little, huh?” Kurou wondered to himself as the three of us began to walk around the room and look over each instrument but with that comment being made, I couldn’t help but go into deeper thought.

Sure, having all these instruments was nice and I’m sure all the other rooms, especially with that swimming pool, were equally as nice but we were still kidnapped. We were still in this game where we were going to be forced to kill...

What was the reason for all these amazing rooms in such a tragic place? --- Shun Moto - Nighttime

So I may have taken a little longer than I intended in order to get myself dry and find a new set of clothes but I wasn’t regretting a thing. That dive into the swimming pool was rather refreshing indeed, even if it meant that I was now late to attending our meeting at the dining car.

I knew that, even if they ended up mad at me for being late, they wouldn’t be mad at me for long as I had discovered something rather interesting while diving into the pool which I was sure they would want to know.

With that thought in mind, I finally reached the dining car and stepped through into it, finding myself faced with a mixture of different looks, From anger and annoyance to wonderment, while I just grinned at each of them and waved “hey y'all. Sorry I’m late.”

“Late?” Daisuke muttered as he stood in the middle of our little group, his arms crossed as he glared towards me “you’ve made us wait here for who the fuck knows how long just because you stupidly went for a dip in the pool.”

“Chill yourself, dude” I told him, not even really bothering to directly acknowledge him as I perched myself on one of the unoccupied tables in the room before continuing “I got something neat to tell y'all anyway.”

That gained some more interest from my fellow Ultimates throughout the room as Minoru came to stand beside his brother as he asked the question of “what would that be?”

“Well, as you know, I went for a little swim” I teased with a smile, earning some rolls of the eyes while I reached into my pocket and pulled out my E-Handbook, waving it around in front of me “I didn’t take off my clothes before I did which means this little thing was in my pocket as I got-wait where did you get that?”

I found myself interrupting my own sentence as my eyes landed on Yuki who was struggling to hold this lifesize Mononeko teddy on her lap while Yuki paused for a moment, taking in the fact that it was herself being spoke to before looking down to the teddy “uh, it came out of this machine in the recreation room, Monomachine I think the cat called it… did you want it? I’d be more than happy for you to take it off my hands.”

“Oh my god, can I?!” I asked, my excitement building so quickly and I recieved my answer in the form of Yuki throwing the teddy across the room for me to grab and giggle madly as I held it to my chest. This thing was so adorable and I found myself sending thank yous over to the pilot multiple times until finally Aina broke the other Ultimates’s silence.

“Can we get back onto the subject, please?”

I let out a sigh as my attention finally broke from the teddy now on my lap and I muttered “fine, since you said please” before grabbing my E-Handbook again and turning it on in order to show them all “as you can see, it works perfectly fine despite being underwater.”

“So, it’s waterproof?” Chika asked curiously, clearly not really sure where I was going with this which made me grin as I held up a finger and replied.

“That’s not just it. After I got some new clothes, Mononeko came and told me that these things are extremely hard to breakdown. Soak it in water, freeze it in a freezer, burn it in a sauna or whatever you want, it’s not going to break.”

“Interesting, still not worth us waiting so long though” Daisuke declared which made me roll my eyes a bit as he just added “now we are all here, can we get on with our reports on our findings, hmm?”

“Well, our group obviously learned that there is in fact a swimming pool on this train, a really big one too. Got plenty of stuff in it” Aoi spoke up, busy fiddling with the necklace around his neck as he didn’t seem to be putting much care into it “the music room was equally stocked, there are a tons of instruments in there. Although, it’s a bit of a mess. Seems like whoever made that room just shoved everything inside of it.”

“Fortunately, our rooms weren’t as messy as that” Kaoru started once Aoi was done with his report, running her gaze along her well-done nails as she spoke “there’s a large amount of supplies that would last us a while in any situation and the cleaning room is equipped to clean clothes, kitchenware, anything that we’d need to clean really so things like that aren’t going to be a problem… if we end up staying on this train a while.”

“That would be a similar report for us as well” Hanako said as, unlike the previous two, she seemed to address us all professionally as she stood where she could see everyone and we could all see her “our personal rooms have everything we could need for a bedroom and are also equipped with some of the best bathrooms I’ve ever seen. Someone clearly went into the effort of making this train comfortable, if you couldn’t tell by this dining car.”

She didn’t really sound grateful and nobody looked grateful which made me a little annoyed. Do these Ultimates not understand how much work was put into keeping them happy here? So ungrateful.

“As an addition to that” Takehiko said before Nanami could begin her retort which caused the cowboy to send her a bit of an apologetic look before he continued “our rooms have apparently all received a surprise for each of us and all four of our group are able to confirm that.”

“What kind of surprise?” I couldn’t help but wonder out loud, even me having not been told about any surprise to be given.

He offered a shrug as he played with a bit of his hair “best we can judge is that the surprises are based on who we are. For example, they thought it was a good joke at me being a cowboy to give me a toy gun and some cans to shoot. At least I can practice my shooting, I guess.”

That really started up my curiosity but I didn’t let it show. I didn’t want any of them to start trying to figure out what my talent was after all so instead I just remained quiet as Nanami started her report after making sure no one would interrupt her this time.

“The medical room is extremely well equipped, there is so much there you’d think someone had stole an entire room from a hospital and put it onto the train. We’ll have to go through it at some point and see it’s full potential” Nanami explained, waiting for a moment as if to see if anyone wanted to reply to that but when no one did she awkwardly continued her report with “the recreation room is nice too, I guess. It has a lot of books and a lounge for any of us to take a break in and it also has a bunch of gaming stuff, including that Monomachine that Yuki mentioned before. Apparently if you do certain things, you can collect these special coins to get prizes from the machine.”

The group of us then fell into a silence after the final report had finished. It was clear that none of the others had any idea on how to really continue from those reports and I didn’t care enough to break it myself. Instead, I just happily played with my new teddy as Kurou finally broke the silence and then received a rather vague reply from Minoru that made our silence even worse for the others.

“So, what do we do?”

“There is only one thing we can do... wait and see what happens.”