Chapter Text
Teruya Otori stood on a boat with a phone to his ear. “ Yeah, it's me… Yes, I finally found it again. I’m almost there. …I don’t know where Rei is, sorry… Huh? Please, you know how many times we’ve tried to catch him. If it didn't work the last time we can try again.”
He held his ear closer to the phone as he tried to catch what the other person was saying. His jaw dropped as he looked further into the sea. “What!? Even more students need to be saved? 32 to be exact… Oh no… This wasn’t part of the plan, Kisaragi. We don’t even know who they are! It’ll be hard to retrieve them with no clear knowledge of their identity.” There was a pause in Teruya’s talking, and the other side of the phone answered with a proposal. “Rei will come with me too? Well, it won’t be as hard of a mission with her.” A slightly longer pause followed. “Alright, I'll talk to you later.. if I make it out alive .”
Pre-Prologue END
Sora's POV
“Uuughh… Huhh….???”
The ocean waves crashed as Sora found herself on the ground. There was a school in sight far away. She heard some noises around her, presuming it was the sound of chatter. But she didn't even know, she couldn't even process the situation... Her ears rang as the sunlight gleamed on her face. There was a light brown-haired girl and guy, with… Yuuki there too?? Somehow, she could recognize that face with the little consciousness she had... Sora couldn’t remember much before waking up, but she knew Yuuki's name.
“Hey! You alright?” The unknown guy asked the half-awake Sora. “Yes… I’m fine.”
She grabbed the unknown hand as the mysterious boy pulled her up from the sand. She shook off the sand from her clothes. “Sorry… My name is… uh… Sora. I don’t really remember anything else, unfortunately.” Sora replied to the guy. “Oh, I don’t really remember much either. But I’ll introduce myself. Hi! I’m Joe Tazuna, and I'm a high school student!"
"That girl over there is Sara Chidouin, she’s also a high school student.”
The girl waved at Sora, then shook her hand. “Hi.. We have really similar names!” Sora smiled slightly. “Do you have amnesia?” Sara asked curiously. “I-I don’t know… maybe?…” She looked at Yuuki. Then, everything came back to her. The killings, the murders… The trauma. She pushed those intrusive thoughts away. It was all over… but… this place is so familiar… It feels like she forgot some important parts, too. She can’t remember who exactly died, but she knew there were deaths. Tears pricked at her eyes thinking about it more and more.
“Hi, Yuuki. You’re here as well?” “Oh, hi!... Nice to see you again, Sora.” Sara stared at them both. “You know each other?” They both nodded. The school girl still had a puzzled look on her face. “Huh, weird. So you must have an Ultimate too, right? He says he has something called an ‘Ultimate’. I don’t really get what that is, but we don’t seem to have it.” Sara voiced. “I… already said what it is… Sigh, fine. I guess I’ll repeat it again. An Ultimate, or Super High School Level, is a title given to talented high schoolers described as being the very best at what they do. Some are older though, so don't be surprised when that happens.”
Yuuki groaned, explaining what an Ultimate was to the pair for the 5th time. “You never get it, you both…”
Sora pondered. No… She doesn’t have an Ultimate, does she? There's something poking at the back of her head, a memory… It’s so familiar.
“Hey, woof! You four!”
Someone had interrupted Sora’s trail of thought. It was a small boy, he looked at least under 13. “Uhm.. can I join you guys, meow?” “Sure!” Joe responded quickly. “Oh, I suppose I'll introduce myself, meow. My name is Gin Ibushi, and I am an elementary student... woof.”
Sora wondered why he always said ‘woof’ and ‘meow’ after his sentences, but she decided to not ask for the time being. Maybe later.
“I know ‘Big Sis Sara’ and ‘Big Bro Joe’ from somewhere, but I don’t know why!.. but who are you two..? ” Gin asked quietly. “Well, I’m Yuuki Maeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student.” Yuuki waved at the 6th grader kindly. “ And I’m Sora. I don’t have an Ultimate, or at least one I can remember.” Gin tilted his head in confusion. “What’s an Ultimate, meow??” Gin questioned. Sara shrugged. Sora felt second-hand embarrassment for the three. “We don’t know either! Yuuki keeps saying he has something called an ‘Ultimate’!” Joe muttered to Gin. “Ahahah.. hah… is this another joke, Joe?” Yuuki said in distress.
Joe shook his head playfully. “Nope! Now can you tell us what an Ultimate is?” Yuuki looked slightly irritated, then arguing began. The two girls stepped back out of surprise.
“Sara, do you remember anything before waking up here?” Sora asked loudly. Shouting could be heard in the background. “Uhm.. not really..” “Huh, so we both have no idea what’s going on.” Sora mumbled. They stood there awkwardly as they watched the two boys fight. Quick glances were shared from time to time. “Yeah.” “Yeahh….” Sara and Sora both went quiet.
“An ULTIMATE, also known as SHSL (Super High School Level), is a TITLE given to TALENTED High Schoolers, which describes the student being the very best at what they do. Can you please stop asking me to repeat the same thing over and over again?” Yuuki exasperated the meaning again as Joe let out a laugh. “AHAHA! Okay okay, I’ll stop, but it’s funny!” “It. Is. NOT.” Yuuki facepalmed. “Woof! Can you both pleeeassee stop fighting! I’m sick of it!”
Sara began to become fed up with the squabble. “Yes, please! Fighting is doing no good! Can’t you see the situation we’re in? The most important thing we need to do right now is to probe our surroundings.” It was almost to the point where she was practically screaming. Sora agreed with Sara. The 5, including her, don’t know where or what this place is; or why they’re here.
Joe sighed. “Fine. But how do we even start? I mean, I've never really done any serious investigating before.” “I have an idea, meow.” “What is it?” Sora asked. “Well, what if we split up and look around? Then, after we’re done, we can meet back here, woof!” They nodded in agreement to Gin's idea. “Amazing idea! We can do that!” Joe patted Gin's head. Gin’s was happy by the touch.
“Okay. Who do we go with?” Sora asked. “I can go with Sara if that’s fine?” Joe pointed to Sara, who was next to him. “Nice, then I can go with Yuuki.” “I’m going with Big Sis Sara and Big Bro Joe, woof woof!” Gin excitedly said, walking towards them. “We’ll come back as soon as we find something new, okay?” Sara said. “Of course. I’ll go this way.” Sora pointed towards behind her, where a road dawned unsettlingly. “Peachy. Let’s go guys.” Joe left holding Gin's hand as Sara followed suit. Sora and Yuuki walked the opposite way.
“So, Sora, long time no see.” Yuuki said, breaking the silence as they walked down the path. The place looked familiar, like a nostalgic memory. “It’s good to see you again. I have a question, do you know why we’re here?” The pale girl asked Yuuki. “No, not at all. It looks familiar, like I've been here before, and somehow you’ve been here too.” Sora nodded in confirmation.
That was just what she needed to confirm that she wasn’t delusional . She suddenly had a flashback. Sora was in a death game. That’s why she remembers so many deaths, so many killings, why she has that gut feeling of ‘be cautious’.
That was the reason why she remembers Yuuki so well. The reason why this place is so so familiar. “I have, actually… I don’t really feel like saying how, though.” Sora beat around the bush here and there, but not about something like a death game. “So we have the same feeling, huh? This place is pretty similar to that death game...…wait.”
Then Yuuki went quiet. He also realized why this place was so similar. The awkward, sad silence was overbearing. Yuuki sighed. They continued walking, but the lingering truth left a bad residue on their emotions.
Time passes.