Chapter Text
//EVERYONE STFU WE HIT 69 HITS
Ow.
My head hurts.
Where the fuck am I?
These are (probably) the thoughts of our protagonist as they wake up, picking their head up from the desk they were lying at.
They scan the surroundings.
A classroom? I never did physical school, only online school.
That's also probably what they're thinking.
They stand up, as a piece of paper falls from god knows where. Their hair? Who hides letters in hair?
They pick it up and examine it.
Hikaru Tsuchiyama, SHSL Social Media Personality,
Welcome to the game.
The letter was written in horrifically bad handwriting, but the signature was the worst. It was practically unreadable, no matter how hard Hikaru tried to decipher it. In the end they gave up trying, stuffing it into their pockets.
"Alright. This is a school. Schools have exits. I should leave through one." They spoke to themself.
While we're here, a little character description wouldn't hurt, right?
They were average height, with very long light bluegray hair, tied into a low ponytail that reached just below the knees, and crimson eyes. They wore a light gray hoodie, jeans and sneakers that matched the hoodie.
Anyhow, Hikaru leaves the classroom, in search of the exit.
Hikaru comes out into a hallway, with blue green tones.
"Interesting colours for a school, I'll admit. Very nice though." Hikaru thought aloud. "Anyway, if I were an exit, where would I be..."
They explored the hallway, and came across a set of double doors.
Though someone had gotten to them first.
A boy roughly 6"0', with black hair, fringe covering his eyes completely. What was visible of his face was covered in burn marks. He wore a black shirt, with sleeves rolled up just above the elbows to reveal stitches going down his arms, a red tie, gray pants held up by a brown belt, and black shoes.
Wait.
Was he...glitching? Hikaru blinked repeatedly, rubbing at their eyes.
So I'm not seeing things.
Those were probably their thoughts right now.
They shrugged, walking up to the male. "Hey hey." They held up their hand as a greeting.
The boy didn't expect that, as he jumped back as soon as Hikaru spoke. They could've sworn the glitching got more intense. "uAH-"
He then calmed down. "Ah...sorry, I...didn't notice you..."
Hikaru rubbed the back of their neck awkwardly. "No, no, my bad, haha."
"Anyway, as I was about to say, do you have any idea what's past that door?" Hikaru continued.
The boy glanced to the door, then back at Hikaru. "...No, not a clue. All I know is that it's locked...sorry."
Hikaru hid their slight disappointment with a dismissive wave of the hand. "No worries."
They then held their hand out to the boy. "Hikaru Tsuchiyama, SHSL Social Media Personality.'
"Eh..." The boy seemed confused. "...SHSL? What's that...?"
"Oh, check your pockets."
The boy checked his breast pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "...Ah."
After reading it, he passed it to Hikaru. "...Any clue...? O-On what this means..."
Hikaru read the note.
Eon, SHSL Object Manifester,
Welcome to the game.
"Eon...is that you?" Hikaru asked.
He nodded.
"Hmmmm...interesting." They passed him the note, keeping their hand out. "Handshake?"
Eon put the note back in his pocket and accepted the handshake. It felt...odd. Like how you'd expect a hologram to feel.
Hikaru took no mind of this, however. "Well, wanna go exploring with me?"
"Um...sure."
And thus, Eon and Hikaru left together.
On the other side of the hallway was a locker.
Though something -- or someone -- was hitting at the door from the inside.
Eon chose to stay behind while Hikaru went to investigate.
"Umm...hello? You okay in there?" They called out.
"Yeah- Should be- Fine!" Then the locker door fell right off its hinges, barely missing Hikaru. "...Got it."
The voice was revealed to be another boy a tiny bit taller than Eon, with brown hair and emerald green eyes. He wore a dark red long sleeved shirt, with a lighter red T-shirt on top and jeans. The right sleeve of the long sleeved shirt tore off mid forearm, revealing that his right arm was fully robotic. Actually, because of his left hand, and the rips in the jeans, it shows that pretty much all of him was robotic, apart from his head. Explains why he could kick the door down.
"Sorry if I caused a scene, I just had no other way out." The boy said.
"Its fine." Hikaru replied, then motioned for Eon to come over, which he did.
"So...you guys know where we are?" The boy asked.
"A school of some sorts. We're looking for an exit right now." Explained Hikaru.
The boy nodded understandingly.
"Actually, before we go, can we have your name and SHSL talent? The latter is on a- Hm?" Hikaru continued, only for Eon to interrupt by tapping their shoulder.
"...I...found this on the floor." He passed Hikaru...another paper? Which they passed to the unintroduced boy, which read it out loud.
"Darren Winters, SHSL Cyborg...welcome to the game? What game?" The now-introduced boy asked.
Hikaru shrugged. "We don't know yet, though it's nice to meet you, Darren."
"You too." He replied.
Eon just waved.
"Well, best get going." Hikaru spoke.
And then Hikaru and Eon left once more.
The duo had found a second classroom. It seemed like no-one was in it until they looked in the corner.
There was a person, 5"10', their fringe and ahoge was purple, but their back hair was black and short. They had slightly darker purple eyes, and stitches going from the left cheek to in between their eyes and upwards. They wore a medium gray hoodie, navy pants and gray shoes, along with a cross earring on their left ear. They were sitting down, eyes closed, seemingly in a spaced-out state.
Hikaru crouched down in front of the other and clicked their fingers in an attempt to snap them out of their trance.
It worked, and the person opened their right eye, though not the left, noticed Hikaru and Eon, and huffed, staring at Hikaru.
"...Hello?" Hikaru greeted them.
"...What do you want." The purple-eyed individual snapped coldly, speaking with a heavy Russian accent.
Hikaru glanced over to Eon, who was inching to the door, and for a moment they wanted to join him.
"Hurry up." The other person said, seeming to grow more annoyed the longer they had to put up with Hikaru and Eon.
"...Are you okay?" Hikaru asked.
"I'm perfectly fine."
Doubt it, Hikaru thought.
"Well...can we get an introduction out of you?" They went on to ask the Russian.
"...Cyanide."
"Is that...your name?"
"The Russian nodded.
But that's a poison- whatever... Hikaru thought.
"Oh, also, your SHSL talent, it's..." Hikaru reached To Cyanide's hoodie pocket, but the latter whipped a knife out of their hoodie pocket and pointed it at the social media personality, nicking their pinkie in the process, all while Cyanide kept their left eye closed.
"Off. Off of me." Cyanide's tone turned a lot more threatening than before.
"...Ow. Okay, jeez." Hikaru used their sleeve to try and stop the blood from coming out of the finger where Cyanide had hit them.
"My...S...S...H...S..." Cyanide struggled to word 'SHSL Talent'. "...ah, whatever. My...whatever-the-fuck is not important. Leave me alone."
Hikaru then started backing out the room. "...okay...bye." They then left. Hikaru could hear some Russian being mumbled, though after that the room went silent.
Eon had left the room some point before Hikaru, and had noticed their bleeding finger. "...Oh no." He grabbed their finger, being careful not to hurt them. "...That's not good...what...happened...?"
"...Cyanide has a knife on them."
Eon sighed, letting go of Hikaru and leaning against the wall, seemingly in thought. "...If I could..."
"...Hm?"
"Actually- ...okay." Eon made eye contact with Hikaru. "Trust me...on this."
Hikaru nodded at Eon, who then started glitching more and more. This lasted for a minute before he opened his hand to reveal...a plaster? (Or bandaid. I'm British. hel😭) That wasn't there before. "...Here..." He passed them the plaster/bandaid, who put it on the finger.
"So that's your Ultimate?" Hikaru asked.
Eon nodded.
"Cool. That's really cool."
"..It's...I- th-thanks..." Eon stammered out quietly.
"No problem!" Hikaru smiled. "Now, let's get going?"
Eon nodded, and so the duo continues on.
Our duo makes it to a lounge area of sorts, cool.
"Nice place, hm?" Hikaru turned to Eon, who nodded.
"I'd say the same." An unknown voice spoke out.
Hikaru whipped their head around to the source of the voice - which was the sofa - to see someone there. She definitely seemed taller than Hikaru, but shorter than Cyanide, with long hair, beginning with cyan, but fading to dark blue, then purple, then pink. One eye was brown, the other was green. They wore a black shirt, with a necklace with the left side of a broken heart attached, and a purple jacket with navy sleeves, adorned by a yellow smiling face pin on the right side, above a pin representing the right side of a broken heart. The left side of the jacket had a frowning face pin above a genderfluid pin. She wore navy pants also. She was sitting at a sofa, arms resting on the back of it.
"Oh! Hi, didn't see you there, haha." Hikaru greeted the person.
"What's up." The other greeted, pointing a finger gun in Hikaru and Eon's direction.
"...Hi." Eon quietly said.
"What's your name?" Hikaru asked.
"Ah. Mars Adilieda, if the note's right then I'm the SHSL Copycat. Sounds right enough to me." The person replied. "You're?"
"Hikaru Tsuchiyama, SHSL Social Media Personality." Hikaru replied. "Though, with your talent...you haven't copied us at all so far.'
"Oh, you must be mistaken. You might think my talent is just copying others' words, no..." Mars leaned in closer. "...I copy identities."
"W-Wait, identity fraud?!" Eon chimed in. "Isn't that illegal...? And how do we know you're not stealing someone's identity right now?!" Eon's personality shifted, as a menacing aura surrounded him. "...You're not stealing someone's identity right now, are you? What are you planning to do? What is your motive?"
"Woah, woah, cool your jets." Mars raised their hands in a defensive way. "1: Yes. 2: No...I don't...think..." He looked to the ground, their face showing absolute fear. "...who...am I..."
Mars snapped out of this pretty quickly, shaking her head. "No, no, I'm not. 3 and 4: I have no motive as of now, but you don't need to worry!" She smiled at Eon. "I won't do anything, trust."
"Y-Yeah, Eon...its fine." Hikaru said with uncertainty, seemingly weirded out by Eon's change in personality.
Eon sighed, seeming to revert back to his original personality. "...Alright."
"By the way, the door." Mars pointed to a door on the opposite side of the room. "Locked."
"Right, thanks. We'll be on our way." Hikaru said, before mouthing a quick 'sorry' to Mars.
"Eh, don't worry about it. Most people have similar reactions." Mars replied.
And then Eon and Hikaru exited the room.
"I don't like them. They're...suspicious." Eon said to Hikaru.
"I don't see a problem with her. He just seems...misunderstood." Hikaru reassured Eon, who looked away, sighing again. He seemed...annoyed.
They arrive at a dining room/cafeteria, and like all the other times, someone is already here.
A boy, with amber hair, fading to red at the tips, amethyst eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He wore a black turtleneck, with a fire design going up the left side, black shorts and black sneakers, with laces untied. He had burn marks all over his body, though his left leg got it the worst. It was mangled and burnt to a near crisp, and it seemed painful to stand and walk on, if he even could. But he wasn't, he was slumped over on a chair, seemingly asleep.
Hikaru walked up to the sleeping boy, while Eon stayed back, like always. He really doesn't like socialising, hm?
They tapped the boy's shoulder as he jolted awake.
"Morning, sleeping beauty." Hikaru joked.
Though the boy didn't seem to like it. "...The fuck am I."
"Jeez, morning to you too." Hikaru sighed. "You're in a school, no exit so far."
"Well, lemme save ya some time: there won't be one, at least, if it's what I think this is."
"Oh? What do you think this is?" Hikaru asked, noticing Eon glaring at the boy out the corner of their eye.
"Don't think I can say. The higher-ups have tantrums when they can't explain this shit themselves. Actually surprised I haven't been yelled at for tellin' ya what I have." The boy explained.
"That and I dunno whether ya worthy of my information or nah." He added, shrugging.
Hikaru and Eon both sighed.
"...Name." Eon spoke up.
"...Nah."
"Why not."
"I'd rather know who I'm talkin' to, yanno?"
"We could say the same, honestly." Hikaru interrupted Eon before he could say any more, fearing he'd have another personality change, seeing as he already wasn't on good terms with the boy.
"Ahaha, no, no, I demand your names. God's orders."
"...I'm sorry?" Hikaru was stunned.
"Hm? Did I stutter?" The boy asked innocently. "I said God's orders. Wouldn't wanna piss off a god, now wouldya?"
"Eon." Eon introduced, before pointing to Hikaru. "Hikaru Tsuchiyama, SHSL Social Media Personality. Your name, now."
The boy hummed, before resting his hands behind his head. "...Ight. Solace Langley, SHSL God here."
Eon narrowed his eyes. "...Really, now...? I find that quite hard to believe."
"Aye! I'm a real god!" Solace yelled out defensively.
"Mmmmmhm, if you say so..."
"What, d'ya want me to rip ya outta the space time continuum?"
Hikaru then stood in front of the two, raising their hands. "Alright, enough. Nice to meet you Solace, though it's best we leave." They grabbed Eon's wrist and began leading him to the door, but...
"WAIT!" Solace cried out, and Hikaru couldn't help but turn back to him.
"I-If you find Arin...tell her to come here, 'kay?" There were tears threatening the corners of his eyes. "About...the same height as Eon...purple and pink hair in a ponytail, blue hoodie..."
"...ah, who am i kiddin'...she's probably still asleep..." Solace continued, staring at the ground.
Hikaru stared at the god, feeling bad for him. What triggered this change in personality?
Before they could answer, however, Solace spoke up again. "Actually, don't bother. I'm lookin' myself." He stood up, nearly falling over.
"Careful." Hikaru stared at his left leg. "You'll..."
"Careful? Pshht. Gods don't need to be careful." He limped past them to the door, opened it and left.
"Well..." Hikaru shrugged. They'll keep an eye out for this 'Arin' person anyway.
Still holding on to Eon's wrist, they took him to a chair and they both sat down.
"Eon?"
He glanced toward Hikaru, then back at the table, fidgeting with his hands.
"You've been acting different to these two people. Are you okay?"
"...I'm... fine. Though I suppose I just...don't trust them, I guess. Solace knows more than he lets on." Eon replied.
"Mmmmhm. I understand. I'm sure all will be explained soon, okay? Just try not to worry." Hikaru smiled at Eon, as he made eye contact with them for a brief moment, only to look away again.
"...sorry..." He mumbled.
"It's fine, this is a confusing situation, but I'm here, we'll be fine, I'm sure of it." Hikaru stood up, offering their hand to Eon. "Shall we get going now?"
"Mhm." He took their hand and stood up. They made their way to the cafeteria exit, until Eon noticed something from the corner of his eye.
Another door.
He tugged on Hikaru's sleeve to get their attention.
"Hm?" Hikaru turned to Eon.
"...Look." He pointed to the second door. "Another door."
"Ah! Ahahah, silly me, I didn't notice that. You're smart, thanks." Hikaru laughed.
"B-But- No, I-" Eon stammered a bit more, trying to find the right words before giving up entirely. "L-Let's just go in...okay? It might lead to the lounge area."
Hikaru nodded, and they went through the door.
Okay, wellll, it doesn't lead into the lounge.
It does, however, lead into a kitchen, and- no there's no-one there- OF COURSE THERE'S NEW PEOPLE THERE.
Anyway.
One was 5"4, and had curly half-shaved red hair that went across her right eye, speaking of their eyes, they're brown, and she wore a black t-shirt, with a red and off-white jersey jacket (is that what they're called? idunno its 1am rn), jeans and a red bandana scarf on her neck. She was looking in the fridge.
"Ooooooooh, c'mere, c'mere! This fridge is full of stuff!" She spoke out to the other one, which ran over. This one was the same height as Solace, and had short two-toned hair: right side purple, left side blue, the blue side of the fringe going over their left eye (her eyes are pink), and she wore a navy shirt with a heart with an arrow shot through it on the front, with the text 'SHOT THROUGH THE HEART' below it in white. He had a black leather jacket over this, and gray flare jeans.
"You're right! Good to see there's so much food here." Said the other one.
The girl clasped her hands together, bouncing on the tips of her toes. "Mm-hmm!"
"Umm, hi guys!" Hikaru spoke out.
"Oh hiiiiii!" The girl turned to them and waved.
The other one closed the fridge and stayed put, preferring to watch (wonder who else does that...).
"So what's your name?" The girl asked. "Oh oh oh! Silly me, I forgot to introduce myself! Hahah." She turned to her friend, who nodded, then turned back to Eon and Hikaru.
The girl continued. "Weeeeell, I'm Fynn Lockett! SHSL Vocalist!"
The other one raised his hand. "Xen Arrow-Harlow here, SHSL Guitarist."
"Oh! So I take it you're in a band together?" Hikaru asked.
"Mmmhm!" Fynn nodded. "It's a really long name, like..."
"It's called 'DON'T WAKE ME UP I'D RATHER SLEEP FOREVER'. On Spotify 'n' that." Xen continued.
"Ah, cool! I'm Hikaru Tsuchiyama, SHSL Social Media Personality, this is Eon." They gestured to Eon, who waved.
"Oh. My. GOD!" Fynn ran up to Eon, practically buzzing with excitement. "Are you a hologram?!" She poked his arm. "No. Whatever! You're so COOL!"
"A-Ah, um- n-not really? But thanks." Eon replied.
"How do you do that glitching thing though? You're- like- straight outta a video game!"
"I...don't know, actually, I-"
Xen walked up to Fynn and put their hands on her shoulders. "Sorry, Eon, she's really excitable. Like an 8 year old on coffee, except she doesn't even need coffee."
"I understand, its fine." Eon nodded.
"Anyway, Fynn, we were gonna look for somewhere to do a concert, yeah?" Xen continued.
"Ah, yeahyeah! Nice seeing you two!" Fynn said, before running out the room.
"Wait!" Xen called out, running after her. "Slow down!"
"And off they go." Hikaru chuckled. "I like them. Anyway, back to what they said earlier, the fridge is full. That's good."
Eon nodded.
"Well, wanna explore some more?"
"Sure."
When they got back the hallway, there were 2 new people (both 5"4' btw). One had blonde hair tied into a high ponytail by a red hairtie, and sky blue eyes. She wore a dark gray shirt and jeans, with a red checked jacket hanging loosely around her shoulders. She seemed to be trying to shake someone awake.
This other person had short crimson hair, mostly obscured by a yellow beanieThey wore a pale blue collared shirt, black pants held up by a black and gold belt, and black shoes. She was - of course - asleep.
"C'mon, w-wake up...I'm not losing you again..." The blonde muttered as she continued shaking the other girl. Just when the blonde was about to give up,the other stirred slightly. "Ah! Come on now! You gotta wake up!" The blonde continued.
The other person opened their blue-gray eyes, though got immediately hugged by the blonde. "You're awake! Oh my god!"
"Aha...what?" The crimson-haired person asked, trying to pry the other one off of her.
Hikaru walked over. "Um, hi."
The blonde let out a small scream, whipping her head to face Hikaru, but instantly calmed down. "Hey, don't sneak up on us like that!"
The other person had little to no reaction, instead laughing awkwardly.
"Heya." Hikaru waved.
"What do you want." The blonde asked, unamused.
"Hey hey, no need to be aggressive with them. They're not dangerous." The other person turned to Hikaru. "Sorry, she's like this."
"Oh no no, it's alright. I was wondering if she knew anything about the situation? You most likely don't, considering you just woke up."
"You're right. No clue." The crimson-haired person then turned back to the blonde. "Well?"
"No way in hell I'm gonna say stuff when those two are in earshot!" Four exclaimed.
"Aha...ugh. Sorry again, you two."
"Um...alright." Hikaru said. "Guess you won't be up for names either?"
"Oh, I don't mind." The crimson-haired person spoke. "Echo. That's it."
Echo then elbowed the blonde. "C'mon. The stage is yours."
"Ooooohhhhhh HELL NO." The blonde yelled. "If you think I'm just gonna give my name to some sketchy freaks then you have have one thing coming."
"I guess I have to take one for you as well." Echo sighed, before turning back to Hikaru. "She's Four Arden."
"Ack- of course you would..." Four huffed, crossing her arms. "...You've gone and screwed us over."
"We're not bad guys, don't worry. I'm Hikaru Tsuchiyama, SHSL Social Media Persona-"
"Entr0py?" Echo asked.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Hikaru asked.
"My job gets real boring." Echo explained. "I do lots of social media scrolling."
"That explains things." Hikaru turned to Eon. "Wanna continue exploring?"
Eon nodded.
Hikaru turned to the other duo. "Alright. Bye, you two."
"Seeya." Echo waved, while Four still didn't trust Hikaru and Eon.
Ooh, look, a warehouse.
"Wow...there's so much stuff here." Hikaru said, amazed.
Little did they know, this included a person jumping down from a higher shelf onto the floor.
"UAAH-" Eon hid behind Hikaru (despite being the taller one, smhing my smh).
The person that jumped down didn't even notice the duo.
Obligatory character description time.
His appearance is a mystery. His face is obscured by the hood of a black cape. He wore no shirt, instead having bandages wrapped around his chest, and wore black pants with black boots.
Obligatory character description time over.
He didn't notice the duo, instead writing in a notebook.
"...Hey?" Hikaru called.
The hooded man sighed angrily, continuing to write things down.
"Are you ignoring us?" Hikaru asked. "That's not nice."
"Tch..." He closed the book, looking over to the duo. "...Well?"
"Do you...know anything about what's going on?"
"Nothing important."
"Damn...Can we have your name?" Hikaru asked.
"...Am I obligated to give such information to you?" The hooded man asked.
Hikaru started. "I mean...it'd be nice to have--"
"Yes." Eon interrupted. "...ahem...could we...please have your name and ultimate then?"
"If I must...Aeser. Aeser Kaleide."
"Ah, gotcha, gotcha. I'm Hikaru Tsuchiyama, SHSL Social Media Personality."
"...hm." Aeser continued writing. "What about your...friend?"
"Erm...Eon. SHSL Object Manifester."
Aeser raised an eyebrow, before continuing to write things down. "That is all."
"Well, we'll leave you be now." Hikaru spoke. "Nice meeting you."
"...Mm." Aeser mumbled.
And Hikaru and Eon left.
There was a school store, but why? We have the warehou- BARKBARK.
Anyway.
There was someone already there. A girl, 5"6, fringe was dark blue, back hair was black and tied into 2 low fluffy pigtails using blue hairties. She had light blue eyes, shielded by round glasses, and wore a black hoodie with dark blue accents over a white collared shirt, and black pants. She was stating at a...gacha machine?
"Oh god, my worst enemy...pay to win games." She spoke, narrowing her eyes at the machine.
She then noticed the duo, pointed at Hikaru and spoke:
"...entr0py."
Hikaru couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "...Do I know you?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry, your appearance isn't ringing any bells."
"Well, this might: Micah Aiden-Lewis, Micahphone, SHSL Hacker." (holy shit that's a link!)
Hikaru narrowed their eyes. "Micahphone."
"We meet again." Micah grinned.
"I banned you from my Discord server."
"You did."
"You hacked my account to post the entire FNAF lore on all my accounts."
Micah laughed. "Good times."
Hikaru grabbed Eon's wrist. "We're leaving."
"Aw? Leaving so soon? Dontcha wanna see this super cool gacha machine?"
Hikaru pushed Eon in front of them. "Go look."
"I- ...okay...?" He inspected the gacha machine.
"You gotta use coins, Nokia." Micah said to Eon. "They're scattered around the school."
"Nokia? I-" Eon was about to make a comment on his nickname before Hikaru grabbed him by the shoulders. "We'll go look for those." And then they dragged Eon out the room.
"...Loser." Micah said after they left.
The duo arrived at the hallway again (#original), but they investigated the set of double doors where Hikaru met Eon again. Some time had passed since they were first there, so why not see if anything had changed?
There was 2 people at the door. One, 5"7', with long dark teal hair, pale teal eyes, and wearing a black and blue t-shirt and black flare pants was shaking another awake. This other one was 5"4', with medium-length red hair, and wore a yellow dress with a black belt, black knee-high socks with a yellow stripe at the top of each, and yellow mary-janes.
"...Hm? What's going on here?" Hikaru ran to them.
"She fainted." The dark-teal haired girl replied. "Don't worry, she does this when panicked."
As if on cue, the redhead woke up, her right due being yellow, and her left being blue. "...ueh...so it wasn't a dream..."
"Damn you, giving me heart attacks like that." The dark teal haired girl joked. "You okay?"
"Could be worse." The redhead then noticed Hikaru. "Oh, hey."
"Hi." Hikaru waved. "What are your names?"
"Lumia Seiya, SHSL Manga Artist. Though Lumi's just fine." The dark teal haired girl spoke.
"Oh, I'm Louise-May Delicia Opal Austin, call me May. But SHSL...?" The redhead asked.
"Oh, right. When you fell, a piece of paper fell from...I dunno, in between your belt or something." Lumi got it out, reading it over. "...Says here you're the SHSL Police Officer."
"Makes sense."
Then all of a sudden...
Click!
"Did something just switch o-" Hikaru then got interrupted.
"Ahem...check one two? Check one two?" An unknown voice rang out.
"whAT." Eon flinched.
"JEEZ- WHERE'S IT COMING FRO-" Hikaru yelled out, only to be interrupted again.
"Up here." The unknown voice spoke again.
"Guys, look! A set of speakers!" Lumi pointed to some speakers on the wall.
"Now that I have everyone's attention...ahem...it'd be appreciated if everyone gathered in the gym." The speakers spoke again, before they turned off.
Another click could be heard, this time from the door.
"You think that's the gym?" Asked May.
"Only one way to find out." Replied Lumi, who opened the door to reveal...
"...Aha. So it is a gym."
The 4 then entered.
The gym wasn't empty, per se...though no-one was in it.
"Odd." Hikaru thought aloud.
"They're probably waiting for the others." Lumi explained.
Then, as if on cue, the others showed up: Fynn, Xen, Micah, Aeser, Echo, Four, Darren, Mars, and Solace.
"Where's Cyani-" Hikaru got interrupted AGAIN.
"Ooooooooooh, what's that?" Fynn pointed to a puddle of dark purple too on the ground.
"...Let me see..." Eon spoke up - to Hikaru's surprise - and made his way to the puddle, crouching down in front of it.
"...Hmmm..." He then dipped his finger in the substance, and then put his finger in his mouth.
"Weeeeell...?" Asked Fynn.
"...Tastes exactly like-"
"...Boo."
"AAAHH-" Eon quickly turned around to see...
Cyanide?
Cyanide had somehow reformed here from the puddle.
"H-H-HOW, I-" Eon stuttered, in absolute shock.
"Heheheh..." Cyanide giggled, though it was full of malice. "...Magic."
There was some more banter after that, such as Fynn bugging Cyanide, May and Lumi talking, Four and Echo were also talking, Xen was looking around, Darren, Mars, Micah and Aeser kept to themselves, but...
"Alright, funnyman, the FUCK are ya." Solace called out.
And then, as if on cue, the lights came off.
There were screams, and more talking, until a spotlight flicked on on the stage.
There was a person in said spotlight, one Hikaru didn't see until now.
He was 6'0", though he was wearing black and cyan platform boots. He had black fluffy hair, some of the fringe dyed cyan. His skin was pitch black, and he had white eyes. He wore a black t-shirt, gray jeans, and had...2 extra pairs of arms? Wacky.
The roon was silent, until...
"...Holy shit is that Mr. Beast." Micah said.
"...What." The shadow individual asked, before shaking his head. "No. I am Karl, not...'Mr. Beast'."
"...Where...IS SHE." Yelled Solace, glaring at Karl.
"Ah?" Karl tilted his head slightly, silently counting the amount of people. He then stopped, his eyes narrowing. "...We appear to be missing a few--"
"Oh. I remember now." Karl continued, as 2 more spotlights shone next to Karl's.
Then, the ground opened up beneath the two spotlights, and platforms rose up from the holes, with one person on each. "I apologise for the wait. It wasn't... fully intentional."
Hikaru recognised one of them immediately.
One was 6"0', with colourful hair in pink and purple gradients, tied into a ponytail by a blue hairtie. Her eyes were red, and she wore a blue hoodie, navy pants with a white line going down the side of each leg, and pink slippers.
"...Well ain't this peculiar." She spoke, only to nearly get knocked over by Solace hugging her.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Solace sobbed into the girl's shoulder.
"Y'know, on the 12-year-long-coma grind."
"Oh yeah, I best introduce myself to the rest." She pried Solace off of her, though held his hand, and walked off the stage. "Nice to meet you all. Arin Langley, SHSL Breakcore Arti-"
"HOLY SHIT IS THAT THE AL?!" Xen yelled out.
"Wow, a fan, haha."
"No shit?! You're our idol! Without you, we wouldnt've started our band." Xen ran to Arin, practically dragging Fynn along.
"Hi! You have very pretty hair." Fynn said.
While the three musicians spoke, Karl turned their attention to the other person who didn't leave the stage yet.
This one had pale orange hair that faded into a pale blue, their right eye was orange, her left was blue, and she wore a pale orange hoodie underneath a light blue cardigan, and black shorts.
"Will you be joining the others?" Karl asked the other, who shook her head.
"Mm, suit yourself." He then turned back to the others.
"You gonna tell us what's going on?" Hikaru asked.
"If you let me finish, then I might." He said, annoyed. "Anyway...you're here...for..."
"Last person to leave the school keeps it?" Asked Micah.
"...No. Now if you all were to shut the fuck up, that would be most wonderful." Karl replied, passive-aggressively.
"Ahem...you're here...for...a killing game."
Chaos ensued.
Most were screaming, Four was panicking, Solace was yelling about how he knew all this, May had fainted again, in fact, the only calm ones were Lumi, Mars, Hikaru, Echo, Arin, Aeser the unintroduced one and Micah, until...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH."
Everyone turned to the corner, where the scream was, to see...
Cyanide. Shaking violently, right hand tightly holding a knife which they had stabbed into the wall, left hand clamped over their left ear. Their facial expression was a mix between unstability, fear and anger, moreso unstability.
"Ahhhh....shutupshutupshutUP! SHUT UP SHUT UP!" They continued to scream out, despite them being the only one talking now.
Then it was the unintroduced person's time to shine. They hopped down from the stage, went up to the shaking Cyanide and put a hand on their left shoulder. "...please...silence yourself. you will only make this worse." She spoke incredibly quietly.
Whoops. Guess it isn't their time to shine.
"Ghhhh...get OFF." Cyanide pulled the knife out the wall, and stabbed her arm. The unintroduced person quickly pulled their arm away, though their facial expression remained deadpan.
"...whoops. i'm sorry." She spoke again, backing into a corner.
"I-I...get...out my head..." Cyanide dropped the knife and clutched their head.
"...Why didn't I pick a saner cast..." Karl facepalmed for a moment. "Ahem."
The attention was shifted back to the headmaster.
"...Long story short, you can either live here for the rest of your lives, or kill. If you do kill, you have to make it through the class trial, where you prove your "innocence". If the killer is guessed correctly, only the killer gets punished, though if the killer is guessed wrong, then everyone except the killer is punished, and said killer gets to leave...what else is there...ah. Violence against me is off limits." Karl explained.
"...So this is just like Among Us?" Micah asked.
"You're fucking insufferable." Karl sighed, clearly irritated. "...I'm taking my leave now.
And so, Karl left.
Slowly, the others calmed down and left, bar the unintroduced person and Cyanide, who was still panicking, albeit quieter.
"Uhm...Eon?" Hikaru turned to Eon.
"...ahahahahh..."
"...Rats. The announcement fucked you over too." Hikaru thought aloud.
"...ahaha...ahaHA-" Then he...quite literally bluescreened. Frozen there.
Hikaru stared at Eon, then glanced at the unintroduced person. "...Will you be okay?"
"...to be blunt, probably not."
"...Want me to take you to an infirmary? If there is one."
"a little company wouldn't hurt."
And then Hikaru and the unintroduced person left to the infirmary.