Chapter Text
Fortuna’s School for Talented Individuals was a mysterious place. The only ones who even knew where it was were the few exceptional individuals the school handpicked each month, but they refused to talk, even the ones who swore they would. The school was rumored to be connected to shady places, such as the Yakuza, and some even claimed that it had the Japanese government in the palm of its hand. There used to be people investigating the school, but after some unfortunate accidents and a few tragic deaths, nobody investigated the school anymore. The average Japanese citizen just accepted that they would never know anything about the school, and the only times they ever thought about it was to hope that they’d get chosen, to be an Ultimate.
My name is Koemi Hisakawa. I’m an award-winning scientist, my field of expertise being botany, hence why I was chosen to be the ultimate botanist. While outside of the industry I was rather obscure, inside I was a phenomenon. A kid genius coming from nothing, who’s frequent public appearances have made her discoveries seem much bigger than they really are. Of course a lot of this is just exaggeration, but people never cared about the plain truth.
I had gotten into Fortuna’s like everyone else: using the clues hidden in my letter of acceptance to a school I never applied to in order to figure out where the school was hidden. The school in question’s location was in a hill, only accessible by a hidden trapdoor. I thought it was odd that it was never found by non-ultimates, but I suppose that could be written off as the finders being persuaded to not share.
When I regained consciousness, I found myself on the floor of what appeared to be a classroom. There were no windows, the place instead being lit by candlelight. Elegant furniture, all white and grays, were intended to unsettle me, but just looked odd. After taking a moment to fully awaken, I got up and immediately spotted a paper lying next to me. A quick skim told me that the answers I wanted were at the gym, as the headmaster wanted us to gather there for an announcement. What the announcement was of, I wasn’t sure, but it had to be important.
I had almost left the classroom when I heard a groan. I looked over to where I heard the groan and saw someone on the other side of the room trying to get up, and rushed over to help. They were also somewhat groggy, which meant that they were probably also knocked out like me, which in turn meant that they were probably one of our classmates. As soon as I got a clear view of their face (and lab coat), I recognized the tall girl immediately.
Katsumi Kaneshiro was a world-famous child prodigy. Born into a family of geniuses, she quickly took after her parents when, at the age of 9, she found a new element, which she had named after her late mother. She somehow kept surpassing herself with new discoveries and fixes, becoming a big name in chemistry. There were a few rumours about her legitimacy, actual intelligence, and personality, but none of that mattered when you were as brilliant a scientist as her. And here she was, talking about me as if I was as impressive as her. It was…a lot to take in.
“You’re Hisekawa, right? As in Hisekawa Koemi? As in one of the best newer scientists of this decade?”
“Ah…yeah, that’s me! Though I wouldn’t say I’m one of the best, more like just average…I mean compared to you, I’m a nobody!”
“A nobody? Please. Your work is nearly as good as mine, which is pretty impressive for a newcomer like yourself.”
The arrogance behind that statement did not fail to hit me when I heard it, but my own admiration for the girl stopped me from really caring. After all, she was as good as she said, and it was meant to be a compliment. I may have been a bit obsessed back then, considering the flattery completely bowled me over. She cut our back and forth adulation short by saying,
“Kaneshiro Katsumi, Ultimate Chemist. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hisekawa.”
“Oh! Uh, well you know my name and it’d be weird if I introduced myself to you but- ANYWAY!” I took a few seconds to breathe before finally getting out, “It’s nice to meet you too, Kaneshiro. I’m the Ultimate Botanist and I look forward to spending the school year with you as a classmate.”
I kept up my professionalism up till a few seconds after I finished my introduction, before we both broke out into giggles. Our laughing fit got cut short by the arrival of two others, who announced their presence with a knock on the open door of our classroom. The two in question appeared to be fellow (very tall) classmates, but only one looked like it, with his messy blue hair, loose tie and black dress pants right in place with the school. The other girl’s apron, not so much (though I was just as guilty of that as her, considering the soft pink dress that I had been wearing at the time was hardly professional). From looking, I pegged the girl as the Ultimate Baker and a grouch, judging by the scowl on her face. The boy’s talent was harder to discern (the Ultimate Student, maybe?) but his personality was easy; he was one of those lazy, easy-going dudes, the ones who never seem to give a damn about anything. Both were staring at us, him with a grin and her with the aforementioned scowl. We immediately stopped laughing and stared back awkwardly for about half a minute, before the girl broke the silence.
“You’re wanted in the gym.”
“What Yamamoto means is that-well-” The boy quickly tried to cover up for...Yamamoto, he said her name was, but he stumbled too. “You see... there should be a pamphlet somewhere here, right?”
Kaneshiro goes to object but I simply hold the pamphlet up, to her surprise and the boy’s relief.
“Good! Okay, I’m guessing that you’ve read it, so you should know about the announcement in the gym! The rest of us have arrived, but we kinda need you guys to come too and all, so Yamamoto and I were sent to get you!”
“...You done?”
“Think so!”
“Do you mind introducing yourselves, or...?” I asked them.
“Oh shit, yeah! Okay, I’m Sato Kousuke, Ultimate Pilot and she’s-”
“I can introduce myself, thank you.” Yamamoto said. “Yamamoto Hiromi, Baker. You-” she pointed at Kaneshiro, “Are Kaneshiro Katsumi, Chemist and you,” she pointed at me, “Are Hisekawa Koemi, Botanist. Can we go now?”
“How did you-”
“I watch the news.”
Sato and Kaneshiro were willing to accept that explanation, but I wasn’t. The baker's shifting eyes clued me in on the fact that she was lying, but I kept my mouth shut when we joined them to journey to the gym (since they actually knew where it was). While we were walking, I fell back to where Yamamoto was lagging behind us, retying her blonde hair into buns, and asked, “So, what kind of news are you watching?”
“Huh?”
“Well I didn’t peg you as a scientist, but the only news that featured me and Kaneshiro are the science networks. So, how’d you know our names and talents?”
“...My grandfather is a retired scientist, so I get compared to you two a lot. And I guessed your talents based on what he’d said about you.”
“...Oh. Kind of a boring explanation.”
“It's not my fault that I care more about useful things than flowers.”
“Wh-hey! Botany’s useful!”
“Sure.”
My retort was cut off by the creak of doors. We’d gotten to the gym, where hopefully we could find answers. Inside were about 12 students scattered around the gym, with expressions ranging from bored to annoyed, with a few outliers.
“Finally!” A boy with a faded out hoodie and messy white hair called out. “It was getting boring, waiting for you two.”
“Sorry!” I yelled back. “We just woke up!”
I walked up to where Kaneshiro was standing, and she gave me a smile in return. It filled me with an odd feeling that I didn’t have time to think about that before Kaneshiro tugged my hand and we went into the gym. An announcement started to play.
“Welcome students, to Fortuna’s. This year, you are our 15th class. All of you have been handpicked for your incredible skills in one specific talent. You 16 are the chosen few. Please take a few minutes to introduce yourselves. The headmaster will be with you shortly.”
The announcement elicited groans from the other students, most apparently annoyed at not getting answers immediately. “We already did introductions!” One cried out, the sentiment echoed by the rest.
“Hey, calm down!” Sato exclaimed. “Kaneshiro and Hisekawa here don’t know you, and I’m guessing you don’t know them either! So let’s let them introduce themselves!”
And all of a sudden, the attention was on me. I shrunk into myself, suddenly bashful. 12 eyes focusing on me and Kaneshiro was an anxiety-inducing sight (for me at least), and I looked down at my trembling hands instead of at my classmates. Taking a breath, I began to walk towards the group, only for one to go to me first. She had blue hair tied in a bun and round silver glasses, giving her a wise, slightly motherly look. Her soft brown jacket covering her pink dress (pink dress buddies!) only added to the effect.
“Hisekawa, right?” I nodded. Her voice was soft and kind. If someone told me she was secretly an angel, I wouldn’t question it. “Do you mind breathing in and out for me?”
I obeyed, calming down. She smiled, and continued.
“My name is Iwata Aimi. I am the Ultimate Teacher.”
“Hi-Hisekawa Koemi, botanist.”
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Hisekawa. I hope we can have a lovely school year together.”
Definitely an angel.
Iwata escorted me to a little away where most of the other students were, before asking me if I wanted her to accompany me while I introduced myself to the others. I declined, partly due to me finding the idea embarrassing and partly due to me not wanting to overstep. She simply nodded, and I made my way over to the one of the only two others near us.
The first thing I noticed about them was the two pink heart clips in their hair. The second thing I noticed was everything else. Their dark-brown hair pulled into a high ponytail, dark skin, striking violet eyes, and jet-black suit that made the heart clips stick out even more. She held out a hand, and I shook it.
“Hashimoto Emiko, Ultimate Babysitter, at your service.”
“Hisekawa Koemi, Ultimate Botanist!” I gave her a shy smile, which she returned. “Babysitter, huh?”
“Yep. Haven’t had many opportunities to do anything else, so I’m pretty much stuck with the title. Hope this school will help me get some other jobs.”
“Babysitting can’t be that bad.”
“You underestimate how annoying kids can be.”
I laughed and turned to leave, before she gently grabbed my arm and said, “Oh, one more thing. I’m not...I’m not a girl, I’m a demigirl. I use they/she pronouns. Can you make sure to remember that?”
“Of course!”
She smiled and let go of my arm, and I went to the last person in this little trio. He was dressed the…oddest, among the three. His silvery blue hair was curled, and tied into a side ponytail. The boy was also wearing a suit, but this was blue and much more detailed, with gold accents and trim (is that what they’re called?). His demeanor, however, was the opposite of his eye-catching suit. He was clearly shy, considering how he was keeping to himself and looked extremely nervous and, well, shy. I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but he still kept messing with his hair (a nervous quirk, maybe?) and looking away from me (did he not see me?).
“...What’s up?”
The boy jumped. I’d made sure to keep my voice quiet and all, but he startled so bad that he almost fell over. I grabbed his arm and helped him to steady himself, before asking, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah...sorry. Didn’t notice you.” His voice was quiet, soft, and jittery. He still seemed nervous, even more so now (understandable), but he was actually looking at me, so yay?
“It’s fine, don’t worry,” I smiled again at him, which he returned, though his smile was shaky. “I’m Hisekawa Koemi, the Ultimate Botanist.”
“Mikami Haruki, Ultimate Seamstress.”
We stood there in silence before I tried to break the ice with an admittedly stupid line.
“So, uh, how’s the weather?”
“...”
“I should leave.”
With that awkward exchange over, I returned to where Kaneshiro was. The chemist was currently yelling at some giggling midget, with a slightly taller midget trying to calm them both down. I decided to steer clear of that mess and go talk to two of the dudes. The taller of the two was a guy with light pink hair styled in a bob, wearing a off the shoulder top with a Disney print in the middle. He was rocking on his toes, clearly excited, as opposed to his more moody, sullen companion. This was the dude with the faded out hoodie I’d seen earlier, his white hair standing out even more now that I’d gotten close. I could also make out a few pride pins, specifically an aromantic one, a trans one, and a gay one. The two were engaging in an animated exchange, which from what I could make out, was about those pride pins. The hoodied dude’s slight smile was soon wiped away when he noticed me, replaced by a glower. His friend turned to look where the other was glowering and saw me, his face lighting up and him running. I gave a timid wave, and he rushed to where I was standing, a little bit away from them, and immediately began to ramble.
“Hi! Sorry for not noticing you earlier, I was chatting with Tsuki about his cool pins. Actually, he was talking about something called being aromantic and I was like ‘Oh, like me?’ I’m not aromantic I think, but like I don’t really like romance, y’know? Pretty sure it’s just a funny coincidence, though! Anyway, my name is Nagano Yuuto, and I’m the Ultimate Ventriloquist! It’s a pretty cool talent, if I do say so myself, since I can project my voice pretty much anywhere in the room! Also it’s not part of the job description but I’m really good at mimicking voices! Helps give my puppets some character, you know? And Grumpypants McGee over there is Tsuki! He’s an astronomer, which is basically like an astronaut but they don’t go in space, which I think is pretty lame, but he likes it! He says that astronomers do a lot of cool stuff with space that astronauts don’t get to do , and that he wouldn’t want to be an astronaut anyway, but between you and me, I think he’s just jealous. Oh, what’s your name?”
“...Oh, right!” I’d forgotten that I was also supposed to speak, caught up in the other’s ramble. It took a few seconds to process all of what I’d heard, but when I did, I responded with, “My name is Hisekawa Koemi. I am a botanist. It’s nice to meet you, Nagano.”
“Call me Yuuto!”
“...You mentioned puppets? Are you a puppeteer, Nagano?”
“...Yeah! It’s why I’m a ventriloquist in the first place! Honestly, I’m confused on why I’m the Ultimate Ventriloquist, instead of the Ultimate Puppeteer. What, were my puppets horrible but my voice acting perfect?”
Our conversation was cut off by a cough from the hoodied boy, Tsuki. When I looked over, he sported the same glower from earlier, just more intense. I waved at him, and his glower deepened.
“You done?”
“Actually, I was telling Koemi here about my talent!”
“That’s great, but there’s still like…” He paused, looking like he was trying to remember how many students there were here, before simply saying, “A shit ton of students left for her to introduce herself to. So can she fuck off already?”
I rolled my eyes. “Rude. I don’t even know your surname.”
“It’s Aikawa. And I’m just stating facts. Just want this stupid announcement to be done already. I need a nap…”
Yuuto interrupted his idiotic drivel by saying, “Hey, you two have to introduce yourselves to each other too!”
“Think you already introduced me to her, Yuuto. And you can tell me about her when she leaves. Is that good?”
I shrugged. “Good for me, I guess, ”
“Well, if you’re sure,” Yuuto looked conflicted, but I nodded and he beamed at me, waved goodbye, and went over to Aikawa and immediately began talking. I went the opposite way, over to another pair of dudes.
These two looked more...mellow than Nagano and Aikawa, for lack of a better word. They were also conversing, but both seemed to be equally interested in the conversation. Their appearances were both distinct and different from the other, but something still felt the same. The boy on the left’s blond hair and blue eyes were a sharp contrast to the guy on the right’s auburn hair and grey eyes. And for outfits, round glasses, a denim jacket and mauve sweater wasn’t at all like the tanktop and shorts the redhead wore. But something about them felt both familiar and similar to each other.
They got to me before I got to them. Or rather, the redhead saw me, lit up, grabbed the blondie’s hand, and ran over to me, pulling him in the process. While the blondie tried to steady himself and fix up his appearance and fix his appearance, the redhead began to talk.
“Hey! You’re Hisekawa, right? Kaneshiro told me about you! She was a prick, but I’m guessing that you’re nice!”
“Uh yeah, I am. I’m Hisekawa Koemi, Ultimate Botanist. Who are you?”
“Shit, forgot to introduce myself. I’m Akiyama Hiroyuki, the Ultimate Stunt Double! But you can call me Yuki.” He winked, and I felt myself go red.
“Stunt double? Who do you double for?”
“That would be me.” The blondie looked up and smiled at me, which got me to finally realize why he was familiar (that, and me actually hearing his voice).
“Sakurai?”
“The one and only.”
“I-you-what-ohmygodohmygodohmygod! Dude, I love your stuff! Saturday the 14th is my favorite horror franchise ever, and the second movie was the best! You played Gibson so well, he’s my favorite final girl! Well, final boy, technically- I’ve been talking too long, haven’t I.”
“No, not at all! It’s really nice meeting a fan! Though I didn’t think you’d recognize me from that film…”
“Oh, it’s my favorite of your catalogue. Just the personality of your character and his overall badassery…wow. The action was amazing, too!” I turned to Akiyama, who seemed surprised that the conversation turned back to him. “Did you double for him there?”
“Uh, yeah I did!” The surprise on his face still didn’t fade. Did no one else talk to him about his stunts?
“What was your favorite stunt to film?l
“Well, there was this one-“ Akiyama cut himself off, looking somewhat bashful and awkward, before saying, “Ah, I really shouldn’t keep you here. You still have a few people to talk to, you know! If you really want to know about this stuff, catch me after the announcement, okay?” He smiled, but it was uncertain.
“I suppose that’s true,” I was disappointed that Akiyama wouldn’t tell me about what it was like to work on Saturday the 14th, but I did have to talk to everyone else. I gave them a quick wave before walking away.
The next person I met was a girl, with golden hair and eyes and one of those jackets with fur on it (a classic bomber jacket with fur lining, apparently). The one she was wearing was dark green. She wore a bored expression and had the worst-maintained hair I had seen in my life. It was an utter mess, but she made it look good, somehow (was it the muscles?). As I approached, she noticed me and her bored expression changed to one of mild interest. Though it was hard to tell, since she wasn’t very easy to read. She waved, and as soon as I got to her, asked, “You’re Hisekawa, correct?”
“Uh, yeah!”
The corner of her mouth turned up, slightly. “It’s good to meet a respectable scientist here. Your work has helped me a lot with my maps. And you seem a lot nicer than that asshole who came before you, the one who thinks she’s better than all of us.”
“Kaneshiro? What’s wrong with her?”
“Well for one, she needs to learn to shut the fuck up.”
“Ouch…” I thought back to me rambling earlier . Did they hate me now, because I didn’t shut up?
“Ah, don’t worry.” She held out a hand to shake, which I tentatively did. “Nomura Shiori, Ultimate Cartographer. You’ve helped me a lot.”
“Ah, thanks…” I gave her a shaky smile, before saying, “I should go talk to everyone else, finish introducing myself, y’know?”
“Ah, gotcha. Try and hit me up after the announcements, okay?”
“I’ll try.”
I waved to Nomura as I left, before going over to two of the last strangers left. Their similarity was clear from the beginning, with their shared black hair, eyes, and darker skin. Their outfits contrasted each other, though. The one on the left tied his hair into a low ponytail and wore tinted black glasses, a grey-ish black turtleneck, black pants, and black boots (sensing a theme here?). The right one’s hair was concealed by their fedora (ugh) and they wore a matching trench coat, as if they were some noir-era detective. The wannabe detective saw me first, and quickly told their friend (?), who looked over, saw me, and gave a brief wave. I waved up, and increased my speed so that I’d get over to the two in under a minute (did they have to be all the way on the other side of the gym?), and after taking half a minute to breathe, I said, “Guessing that you’re twins?”
“Wow, however could you have guessed?” The wannabe detective replied, rolling their eyes. “I’m Koizumi Seiko, Ultimate Journalist. I use they/them pronouns, so don’t misgender me.”
“And I’m Koizumi Inei, Ultimate Marksman. Use he/him.”
“Marksman?”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not like an assassin or anything. I’m just really good at shooting stuff!”
“Yeah, I'm still worried.”
“What about you?” Seiko asked. “What’s your name and talent?”
“I’m Hisekawa Koemi, the Ultimate Botanist.”
“You’re a…plant scientist?”
I signed. “Technically, yeah. But it’s not as stupid as you make it sound! It’s important and interesting and-”
“Woah, slow down there!” Inei said, interrupting my rant. “I didn’t say anything about thinking it was stupid! You’re a scientist, how is that not interesting?”
I went red with embarrassment, and sputtered for a bit, before finally managing to say, “Ah-sorry! I just…people tend to laugh at my line of work, saying that it’s ‘not important’.”
“They’re morons.” Seiko said. “Why should you give a shit about what they think?”
I laughed, feeling some of my nerves fade away. “Yeah, I know they don’t matter. But it’s a lot harder to believe it.”
“I understand. God knows how many times people dismissed my articles…”
“Well, I’d love to keep talking with you two, but I have to introduce myself to…two others? Yeah, I think it’s two others. Can we talk after all this is done?”
“Oh, totally,” Inei said. “Just hit us up after, ‘kay?”
“I will!” I nodded, before running back to where I’d seen those two midgets. I got about halfway there before running into someone. I fell to the floor, and heard the person that had collided into me fall too. I quickly got up and offered a hand to my assailant, which they took. She smoothed down her grey suit and red hair, before readjusting her necklace.
“Sorry about that,” she said. “I wasn’t really paying attention to…anything.”
“It’s fine! Just…can you help me pick all this up?” I gestured to the floor around us, where a bunch of notebooks were splayed out on the tile. “It’ll be a pain to put these all back by myself.”
“Was that all from your bag?” She pointed to the tote bag that I was carrying. “How many are in there?”
“100.”
“I-how-you know what, sure. I’ll help.”
Both of us got down and started picking up all the notebooks and stuffing them in my bag. It took a good few minutes, and the other girl (Ito Naoko, she called herself) kept accidentally dropping them, but we eventually got them in. I grabbed the tote bag and immediately realized that it was slightly lighter. I quickly looked around to see that there weren't any notebooks left on the floor, so my attention turned to Ito, whose emerald eyes were filled with faux innocence.
“Give it back.”
“What?”
“Give me my notebook back.”
“I didn’t take it! You said you have 100 of them, how would you know if one disappeared anyway?”
“Give. It. Back!”
“Fine, fine,” She pulled out my missing notebook from her pocket and handed it to me with an insufferable smirk, before asking, “So, how’d you figure it out, ayway?”
“The weight of my bag changed.”
“...You could feel that?”
My reply was cut off by someone else running up to us. She tried to say something, but it was clear that she’d run out of energy. The girl took a good few seconds to breathe, before standing straight up and running a hand through her dyed pink undercut. She gave an annoyed look to Ito, who suddenly looked sheepish.
“What did you do, Naoko?”
“Nothing!”
The girl sighed, and turned to me. “Sorry for whatever Naoko did to you, she’s an idiot.”
“Am not!”
She ignored Ito and played with her sweater sleeve while saying, “The name’s Yasuda Sayuri. I’m the Ultimate Street Artist. Naoko’s the Ultimate Pickpocket.”
“I’m a master thief! Fortuna’s just downplaying my prowess with this lame title!”
“More like Ultimate Nuisance.”
Naoko huffed, before asking me, “What about you? What’s your deal?”
“Hisekawa Koemi. I’m a botanist.”
“Botanist, huh? I...don’t know what that is.” Naoko’s bluster faded away into sheepishness, and she giggled awkwardly.
“Oh, I study plants.”
“That sounds...cool? I think? I’m not really sure.”
“Look, just drop it.” I scowled, annoyed with both of them, but before I could say anything else, the speakers cut me off.
"Looks like we're all done with our introductions!" The announcer had changed, this new person's voice being much more soft and quiet, even though their voice was being projected across the entire gym. "All you brats can shut up now, cause the real star has arrived! Everyone gather around the stage and get ready for a show!"
Almost everyone was thrown off by the change in announcer (was it the headmaster?), and so Sayuri, Naoko, and I were the first there, since we had been standing close to the stage already. It took a couple of minutes for everyone to get to the gym (how big was it??) but soon everyone was standing in front of the stage, waiting for the headmaster to reveal themself. We waited another minute, to both mine and others’ annoyance, before a smoke bomb was set off. Amidst the all the gas was a…really small person, even shorter than Naoko. They looked like they were around two feet tall, and kind of…metal? Was this our headmaster? The smoke in my eyes made it hard to really see anything, honestly. It looked like they were trying to say something, but anything they said was drowned out by all the coughing. The…thing did even more stuff that I could make up (seriously why would they drop a smoke bomb) before finally doing something that got the gas to go away. After I got the gas out of my eyes, I got a good look at whatever was on stage.
The creature appeared to be an axolotl. I’d seen them before while doing research and thought they were absolutely adorable, so I’d done even more research on them specifically and they became one of my favorite animals (following doves and bees). This axolotl was clearly not natural though, since it looked metal, was half blank and half white, has red eyes, and oh yeah, WAS STANDING STRAIGHT UP ON TWO FEET. The fact that it seemed to be two feet tall made it bigger than any actual axolotl, so I quickly realized that it was a robot. All the other students soon made the same conclusion, but before any of us could say anything, it spoke.
“Welcome, welcome students, to Fortuna’s School for Talented Individuals! May I say that it is a joy to see all of your ugly faces!” The soft voice from the later announcement did indeed belong to this robot-lotl, and didn’t match what it was actually saying. “All of you have been handpicked for our special school, blah blah blah, you already heard this. What’s more important is that you all are formally introduced to this place! Welcome to where you’ll be spending the rest of your pathetic little lives!”
There was a silence. The robot-lotl repeated its last sentence again in hopes of a reaction, but still nothing. Until…
“WHAT?!”
“We’re going back home for summer, right?”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“My life isn’t pathetic!”
The robot-lotl…yelled? Was it yelling? The voice was loud, loud enough to drown all of us out, but the voice kept that quiet sound. Maybe there was some sort of speaker inside the robot-lotl, that allowed the person controlling it to speak as quietly as they want while still being audible, for lack of a better word. Anyway, the robot-lotl yelled out, “Quiet! Your headmaster is speaking!”
“You’re the headmaster?” Aikawa asked, his disbelief evident.
“Of course! Who were you expecting?”
“A human.”
“Humans are overrated, anyway. I’m Mono-Lotl, and I’ll be your headmaster till you die!”
“Die!?” I heard myself exclaiming. “Isn’t there some way to get out of here?”
Mono-Lotl started to laugh. It was quiet at first, then louder, then louder, then louder and louder and louder and louder and louder and
“Of course there is! It’s a very simple way, too!” Mono-Lotl kept laughing, oh god why won’t they st
“All you have to do is kill.”
The room went silent, and Mono-Lotl continued.
“Strangulation, Poison, you name it! Just kill and get away with it, and you’ll be able to leave no problem! There are a few rules, which I’ll explain soon, but you can be as creative as you want!”
Seiko was the first to speak.
“What the fuck?”
The sentiment was echoed by everyone else, all either thinking that the axolotl was insane or a liar. Probably both.
“You cannot be serious.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Dude, that’s a crime!”
“Oh my god…”
Mono-Lotl simply giggled(I hate their stupid laugh so much). “Of course I’m serious! And I’m perfectly sane! Legally sane! In fact, I have some handbooks for all of you, that’ll help you learn all the fine details of your life in this killing game!”
“Killing game…?” Yasuda muttered. “Is this a game to them…?”
A podium rose from the floor in front of us, with 16...handbooks, they said?. Each had a personalized look. I could see one with a bunch of flowers on it, so I surmised that they were for each of us. I grabbed the flower handbook and switched it on. On it, I quickly read the rules. There were 12 rules on the handbook. The rules were: 1. It is impossible for students to leave the campus, so don't bother trying. 2. "Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Both the gym and the cafeteria are off limits at night, to force blackends to be creative. 3. With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the school. 4. Do not attack the security cameras or Mono-Lotl. You will die. 5. Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are found out. 6. Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students. 7. If the blackened is found out during the class trial, they alone will be executed. 8. If the blackened is not found out, they alone will graduate, and everyone else will be executed. 9. The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "Killing Game." 10. Lending your e-Handbook to another student is banned. 11. Additional school rules may be added if needed. While most people stayed away from the podium, rightfully wary of anything Mono-Lotl offered, a few others came forward and grabbed their phones. One of the few was Kaneshiro, who instead of returning to her original spot, stayed with me. I looked up at her and she smiled back at me. I reached out and squeezed her hand reassuringly. It was nice to have her here.
Mono-Lotl, annoyed that people wouldn't take their handbooks, said, "Look, just take the handbooks! They're not going to explode or anything, plus you won't be able to go to the bathrooms without it. So, just get one!"
"Why wouldn't we be able to go into the bathrooms without one?"
"They only unlock if you have your handbook. We don't want any boys or girls going into the opposite gender's bathroom, cause...y'know."
"What about me?" I heard Seiko ask, their annoyance clear. "Emiko and I are nonbinary, so where would we go?"
"I actually got a special bathroom fo you two! I'll show you after."
The rest of the students soon got their handbooks and read up on the rules. No one had anything to say, so after a few minutes, Mono-Lotl said, "Well, if that's all you need, then I'll be on my way. Byeeeee!"
They threw down another fucking smoke bomb, and when it finally cleared, Mono-Lotl was gone. As everyone else began to talk about what just happened, I only had one thought.
We were all screwed.
16 STUDENTS LEFT.