Hearing the sound of a scream, a young man with red hair suddenly jolted awake.
"Huh?" He groaned as he forced himself to his feet, blinking at the unfamiliar bright lights. "Where… am I?" He muttered as his vision became a little clearer.
When he could finally see his surroundings, his eyes subconsciously narrowed. "This… I could've sworn I was at the camp?" He muttered beneath his breath and looked around.
From what he could see, he was in some kind of reception that he had never seen before. The floors were made of dark wood and covered by a neat red carpet. In the middle of the reception there was a line of black chairs seated next to a few cabinets made of the same wood as the floor.
Looking up, the boy noticed the walls were made of a clean white marble and were lined with spherical white lights that were too bright for his eyes.
At the far end of the reception, near the desk, there was a large painting of a cat. Though, it didn't look like a normal cat.
It almost looked… like some sort of stuffed animal? Its right side was purple and had a sinister glint in its eye while its left side was orange and had a cute glint in its eye. The sight made the boy even more confused.
Focusing back on his surroundings, he realised that there were two other people standing near to him talking to each other.
There was a rather ugly woman with a ridiculous amount of makeup on. She had short white hair tied into pigtails and was wearing a cheap white dress.
Next to her was a boy who looked a little younger than him and the ugly woman. He was a little taller than him, but he had buzzed yellow hair which was an interesting choice but whatever. He was wearing a blue shirt and green pants.
The young man sighed, looking at the two people that looked around his age and noticed something on their clothes. There was a digital name tag positioned near the left shoulder that displayed two lines of text.
One was…
Name -
While the other was…
Ultimate -
He squinted, trying to read the names of the young yellow haired man and the makeup ridden woman.
The boy was called "Noobie" while the woman was named "Rage" which made the young man scowl a little.
"These are some strange names." He said quietly before checking himself in the mirror. "Nothing seems to have changed…" he muttered, glancing at the name tag which read…
—
Name - Hermes
Ultimate -
—
He studied himself, he was wearing the same things that he was last night…
Last night, Hermes was spending a night out with his friends at their local campground.
He looked at himself in the mirror.
He was an average looking pale man of relatively short stature with messy medium length red hair and had sharp green eyes. He was wearing a dark grayish green short sleeved shirt with matching pants and black boots. He studied his arms which were still covered in bandages he had been forced to wear to cover himself due to the amount of mosquitoes that come out around this time of year. Around his neck was a scarf, he had thought to bring it just in case it got cold but he guessed he wouldn't be needing it now.
With a sigh, he turned to Rage and Noobie.
"Hey… do either of you know what the hell is going on? I randomly woke up here without any memory of coming here of my own free will. By the looks of it, the entrance ain't even near here so how did I end up here?" Hermes asked a little awkwardly.
The pair looked at each other before Rage shuffled uncomfortably. "Uhm… N-no. I don't know what is going on either, one moment I was outside and the next I found myself here. Do you know what caused that scream?" She replied with a quiet voice, sounding like a scared dog.
Hermes sighed. "No idea what caused the scream. I only woke up like… 20 seconds ago. What about you, Noobie. Do you know what's going on here?" He asked, glancing at the young man.
Noobie turned to face Hermes with a slightly startled expression, clearly surprised at hearing his name before he quickly understood that Hermes had just seen his name tag.
"No… I have no idea what is going on either, I only just woke up too. I'm pretty sure all three of us woke up at the same time." He replied, not helping Hermes out very much.
'Great… real helpful.' Hermes sighed and nodded politely before leaving to go and search for an exit.
As he did, he turned and noticed that Noobie and Rage had also walked off, down a corridor.
Not dwelling on it further, Hermes walked to the end of the reception and glanced both ways, to his left and to his right was a corridor.
The pair went down the left corridor, so Hermes decided to go down the right corridor.
When he did, he noticed the different environment.
The floor was no longer carpet or even wood. It was cold grey tiles while the walls remained the same. The lights were still lining the walls, however there were more lights on the ceilings.
Squinting to protect his eyes, he looked down the hallway and took note of multiple rooms.
He saw…
"CLASS 1-B"
"CAFETERIA"
"BATH HOUSE"
And finally…
"GYMNASIUM."
And for some reason, he felt like he needed to enter the gymnasium.
But before he could continue into the gymnasium, he noticed something very strange in the classroom next to him.
"The hell?" He blurted out as he opened the door and glanced inside.
The room was a mess, tables and chairs flipped.
But that's not what caught his attention.
The windows… The windows were covered by heavy metal plates nailed down with large rusty nails.
This made him feel uneasy, after checking out the gymnasium he would immediately be going to find the exit and he would be leaving this place as soon as possible.
Closing the door, he quickly moved to the gymnasium and opened the large door.
Inside, the room was very spacious.
The floors were made of a padded material that would ensure the safety of those who were using it.
The walls were made of grey and white tiles and in the front of the hall was a large stage with a microphone stand in the center.
Hermes' gaze sharpened as he scanned the room.
It seemed like everyone else had also been drawn to this room because… including himself, Hermes could see ten people inside of the gymnasium standing there waiting patiently.
He could also see Rage and Noobie off in the corner, chatting with each other.
Hermes figured it wouldn't hurt to ask around for any details.
But then…
"Welcome!"
A loud, almost childlike voice came out from the speakers on each corner of the hall.
Hermes flinched, but quickly looked to find the source of the noise.
And that's when he saw it, he saw a cat.
Well, what looked to be a cat.
It was a stuffed animal looking creature that resembled a cat anyway.
It was the same creature that he had seen in the painting back in the reception.
Hermes squinted but he was yet again left disoriented by the creature's voice.
"I am so happy to see that you have all joined me in the Gymnasium! Well done! Now, let me introduce myself. I will be the host of this game. My name is Meaka!"
Hermes' breath caught in his chest, almost making him cough.
That's when someone spoke up.
"Excuse me… Meaka, or whatever you are. I don't think I ever signed up for a game? I have places to be… can you lead me to an exit?" A voice came from near the back wall of the Gymnasium.
Hermes looked over to see a tanned man of average height with messy black hair wearing pink shades that covered his eyes walking over to the center of the hall.
The room suddenly turned cold.
"Oh? An exit? There is no such thing… not yet anyway! If you'd be so kind as to let me explain the rules of this game then perhaps you'd understand."
Meaka's voice was less childish now, a hint of darkness lay beneath the surface of the cute stuffed animal.
However, the man wearing pink shades didn't stand down. "I gotta go to the gym, I don't have time for this childish nonsense. Get me out of here, now." He said, walking close to the stage.
"Childish nonsense?"
After two more steps, the man reached the stage and—
*BOOM!*
At that moment, a large beam of light descended from the ceiling and obliterated his left arm.
Everyone's gazes widened, a few even scrambled to leave the gymnasium… but it was no use, the doors were locked shut.
The man with pink shades screamed and ran backward, trying to grab at the space where his arm had just been.
However, Hermes noticed something right away. There was no blood.
"Do not threaten Meaka! That is rude! You are lucky I didn't just kill you straight away…"
The man stumbled back, it seemed he had also noticed that there wasn't any blood.
Instead of there being a nasty wound, the space where his arm would've been was now fully healed and there was a stub where his arm would've been.
"M-my… my arm!" He yelled, clutching at the stump. "Y-you… wh-what the hell did you do?!" He screamed at Meaka.
"Everyone… Everyone calm down… Can I not punish a naughty student? You are all acting as if I have killed the guy! All I did was safely remove one of his arms. Now then…"
Everyone looked over and realised that there was no blood, they noticed that it was already fully healed, which left them all severely confused.
"How did he… how is there no blood? This has to be a dream or something, right?" Hermes asked himself, pinching himself to make sure that he wasn't in a dream.
Sure enough, this was real.
"Now then. Now that everyone is calm and no one else will rudely interrupt me, let's talk about this little game shall we?"
No one dared to respond, they all just stared in horror at the scene and then back at Meaka in fear.
"What kind of game requires such a terrifying host…?" Hermes whispered to himself, making sure that Meaka wouldn't be able to hear him.
However, someone did hear him.
Hermes heard a chuckle from someone behind him.
Turning, Hermes saw a man around the same age as him and everyone else, around 18 years old.
He was taller than Hermes, very skinny and somewhat pale. He had long black hair that was tucked behind a black cap which was covered by a thick black fluffy hood.
From what he could see, the guy had a septum piercing and three silver chains. Very fashionable if he had to say so himself.
He was wearing what looked to be a black denim jacket and matching baggy black jeans being held up by a belt. Around one of his arms was a black bandage and also…
Hermes noticed that one of his legs was missing.
Instead, the man had a long black and blue peg leg that seemed to work just as well as a normal leg.
"Got a problem, fatty?" The man asked, noticing Hermes' lingering gaze.
"Huh? No… sorry… wait, fatty?" Hermes quickly replied, realising that he had been staring before quickly noticing what the guy had said. "I don't think I'm fat?" He responded, looking down at himself and confirming that he wasn't even slightly overweight.
The guy rolled his eyes and leaned on the wall, Hermes glanced at the name tag and took note of his name.
—
Name - Slim
Ultimate -
—
'His name is Slim? And he's that skinny? And he thinks my weight is fat? That's hilarious, how did his parents know he'd end up like this?' Hermes asked himself in his mind before glancing once more at the grovelling tanned guy and then at Meaka. 'And I wonder what all of this ultimate stuff is about.'
"The game… you will have to compete with each other to see who is the best killer. Seems fun? Right?"
Everyone went silent, even Hermes' gaze froze on the creature.
"Once someone gets killed, you gotta report the body! Then… you must go down to the underground trial room and participate in a trial in effort to discover who the killer is!"
No one spoke.
"If the killer is caught, they die! But… if the killer isn't caught, then they are allowed to pick someone else who must die."
"B-but why?!" Someone suddenly exclaimed.
Hermes glanced over to see that it was Rage. The ugly girl from the start.
"Why, you ask? It's simple. Out of the Ten people here, only three of you will be given permission to leave. Getting the remaining participants to be three is your responsibility."
Rage paled, somehow even becoming a shade of even lighter white.
No one else spoke up.
"You may be wondering where to find weapons? Simple. There are numerous cabinets lined throughout the school building… try to get lucky!"
"Oh… one more thing! Whoever kills and survives the trial will be granted immunity for the next round… which means, they won't be able to get killed!"
Hermes sensed that the introduction was coming to a close.
If everything this cat said was true, then there was no point in him even searching for a way out.
All he could do now was gather as much information as possible before the cat ran off somewhere and left everyone to kill each other.
"E-excuse me!" He suddenly spoke, making everyone look his way.
"Hm? Got a question?"
"Yes… I noticed that on everyone's name tag there is an 'Ultimate', what does this mean?" He asked.
"Oh, a perceptive one! To make the game a little more interesting, I have given each of you a specific role which can give you abilities to help you out during the games! You can choose to hide this role… or you can reveal it for everyone to see!"
Hermes' eyes widened. "Abilities? As in… super powers?" He muttered, moreso to himself than actually asking Meaka a question.
With that, Meaka suddenly bowed and leaped onto the microphone stand.
"With that being said, let the game begin!"
Everyone stared in bewilderment as the stuffed animal suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
And at that moment, a ringing sound came from the pockets of everyone in the Gymnasium.
Hermes felt a vibration in his pocket and raised an eyebrow.
He was certain that nothing was in his pocket a moment ago, since when was this thing here?
Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a digital device that resembled some sort of phone.
On the screen, a few lines of text appeared.
—
"Ultimate Nurse."
"The Ultimate Nurse ability allows you to examine the body during investigation time, after doing so you will have a precise understanding that will allow you to perceive the events that led to the death. Including the weapon used, time of death and location of death."
—