I wake up to the faint sound of talking, but as I slowly regain consciousness and open my eyes I see nothing but darkness? I tried to move around but my space was limited, so instead I listened in on the talking.

"...and when I woke up, I was inside that locker.." a female voice said

"Same with me...were we kidnapped by the same people?" There seemed to be 2 people in the room now, this ones voice seemed to be more masculine. The talking went on for a bit, I wanted to stay hidden but I was getting claustrophobic so I ended up pushing my way out.

My face was met with the dirty cold floor as the talking stopped.

"Whoa ?! Another one ?" The male said. I lift up my head to see these people. The guy was dressed in all black, with a hat. His hair seemed to be a blueish-grey, I also noticed he has some pretty long eyelashes. The girl was blonde and seemed to be in a pink vest & skirt, with a backpack on, she also had some hair accessories that looked piano themed. They both seemed nice !

The blonde helped me up as I dusted off my clothes, I was wearing this very short black and red crop top.. it was almost like a bra. And with that I wore a low waisted black skirt. I also have a small red and black chocker with another regular necklace.

"Hello! I'm Kaede Akamatsu and that's Shuichi Saihara, you are...?" She kindly asked me

"Oh um me? I'm Y/n L/n..." I said awkwardly. I started to get nervous with both of them looking at me

"But uh...we need to stay calm. Oh! "Gymnopédie No. 1" by Erik Satie. Try to imagine that sorrowful melody filling your head and soothing your heart—" she was interrupted by a bunch of small bears..?

"Rise and shine, Ursine!" A red bear spoke

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Kaede and I yelled

"A teddy bear?" Shuichi said

"No, it's a monster! You can freak out about this!" Kaede panicked

"That's so mean...you humans are the real monsters for calling us monsters!" The red bear pouted

"Although, if we are monsters, at least we're pretty monsters." A pink bear said

"I agree. I'm glad I was born with these looks. I definitely win the genetic lottery."

"What are they? Why are they talking? Aren't they just....stuffed animals?" I ask

"We're not Monokubs! We're the stuffed animals!" A blue bear spoke up

"Psst, Monokid...you're saying your lines backwards." A yellow bear said

"No stuffed animals, us! The Monokubs, them!" Monokid yelled.

"Oh geez, it's even worse now..." the yellow bear replied.

"...huh? Monokubs?" Kaede spoke.

"Oh! You've heard of us!?" The pink bear said surprised.

"No, of course not! I've never seen walking, talking stuffed animals!" Kaede answered. But right when she said that the Monokubs looked to each other and started cheering

"Yayyyy! It worked!" The red one yelled

"Phew! Had me worried there for a second!" Monokid added

"Hey, worried about what? I don't understand what's going on." I say.

"Alright now, let's tackle each issue one at a time!"

"You're so damn reliable, Monotaro!" Monokid said, I assume referring to the red kub.

"Well, what's your question?" Monotaro asked me

"Uh well...I have loads of questions, but for starters... where are we? This,..looks like a school." I ask

"Okay, so this place is called the ."

"Ultimate academy? I've never heard of a school like that.." Shuichi added.

"Of course you haven't. This school was made for you 17 cretins." The pink bear said

"17?"

"Yeah! There are 17 Ultimates at this school."

"Huh..? Ultimates?" Kaede seemed very confused.

"You know what ultimates are, right?" The yellow bear asked. "The government scouts 'em through this program called the ultimate initiative."

"Ultimate' basically means you're particularly prodigious in a particular talent."

"Basically, the ultimate initiative exists to cultivate talent throughout the country. Promising students are eligible to receive all kinds of special handouts!"

"Like free school tuition, voting privileges, eligibility to run for elected office...they even get grant money too, right?"

"Students chosen by the ultimate initiative are known as ultimates."

"Hell yeah! Students would do anything for the honour of bein' a chosen ultimate!"

"I don't need the explanation, I already know. Because...I'm an ultimate, too." I say

"That means you gotta remember this time. So don't forget anymore."

"Yeah! Forgetting about your ultimate talent is such a waste." Monotaro agreed with the yellow kub

"Huh? What do you mean forgetting?" Kaede asked

"Shut up! Quit your yappin' and get started already!" Monokid yelled

"Get started...with what?" Asked Shuichi

"Why, exploring this academy, of course." Monotaro replied

"Also...you should introduce yourselves to other ultimates...Cuz you guys are all gonna do an activity together later."

Uhhhh...what.... What activity?? Better not be boring

Right after that, the Monokubs all left

"...ah, they left! But I still have so many questions!" Kaede whined

"This...isn't a dream, right?" Shuichi said quietly

"No, but I wish it was..." I sighed, and the room fell quiet. After a small pause, I spoke up again. "Well, they did say there are 17 ultimate students here, right? So...are you guys ultimates too?" I ask them both.

"Yeah...I'm the ultimate Detective" Shuichi answered

"Woah what? That's so cool !" I say cheerfully. I could see a faint color of red on his face as I said that, but then he looked down to the floor. "What about you, Kaede?"

"Oh, yeah... I'm the Ultimate Pianist!"

"Ah, that's nice! I've always wanted to play the Piano. Oh and I'm the Ultimate Fire Dancer! Aha...ever since I was a child, I've always found fire cool, and I liked to dance too, so one day I just decided to..dance with fire ! And well..here I am now" I stopped myself before I rambled on, I didn't wanna bore Kaede and Shuichi.

"Ultimate..Fire dancer? That's pretty dangerous, you must be really skilled!" Kaede said. She gave me a soft smile as she finished her sentence and I smiled back.

"Well, yeah... I do have some burn marks from it, but nothing too serious. It's something I enjoy doing so I don't mind!" I said nervously. Usually people don't compliment me so I was caught a bit off guard.

"Have you ever preformed at shows or something..." Shuichi asked, finally coming into the conversation.

"Yep! Plenty of times" I answer, there was a pause before Kaede yelped.

"...Kh!" She jumped a bit, scratching her head

"Are you okay? What happened?" Shuichi and I said, almost in sync.

"Oh....I'm fine. I just got a headache...that's all." Kaede continued to hold her head with her hand. She...yelped because she got a headache..? That's kind of weird.

"Okay well, let's look for a way out now. If there are other ultimate students here, we should talk to them. Maybe at least one of them knows how we got here?" I suggest, Kaede and Shuichi nod in agreement

——

As we walk out of the classroom into the hallway, I noticed there was a lot of grass everywhere and the air seemed..heavy. I got a bit of anxiety from it. Being trapped in a school with 16 other students you've never met before. It made me nervous.

"Huh"

"What's the matter?" Kaede asked, bringing my attention back to both of them.

"Ah, I just...felt something in the pocket of my uniform. When I looked..." he pulled something out of his pocket "I found this inside. It's some kind of...mini tablet computer?"

"Oh, maybe I have one too! I knew my backpack felt heavier!" Kaede pulled the same mini tablet out of her bag.

"Uhh...I don't have one..." I say confused, until kaede pulls another one out of her bag.

"I have two...I'm guessing this one is for you, Y/n?" She handed me one of the mini tablets and I thank her.

"The word "Monopad" is written on it...When did this get in my backpack ?" Kaede asked

"My name is displayed when I open it. Maybe it's a student handbook type of thing?" I say

"Yeah, maybe. Let's just...hold on to them for now." Said Shuichi. Kaede and I nodded and we all continued to wonder the school.

Not long after we came across a door that had piano designs on it.

"Oh! Wait a minute! Is this the music room? Kaede asked. She went to open the door but it seemed to be locked. "Huh...it won't open. But this room does look like it was made for me—" she was interrupted by the Monokubs again.

"Rise and shine, ursine!" They said in sync

"Ah! They're here again..!" Shuichi said

"What do ya think this place is?" Monotaro asked

"Check out all this fancy-shmancy writing! Seems like a place for eggheads!" Monokid said

"Huh? Isn't this an ?" Said Monophanie

"What the hell? Why would you tell them? We were tryin' to make it all dramatic." Monosuke yelled.

"Oh, I see...I'm sorry." The pink kub apologized.

"Um, what an Ultimate Research Lab?" I ask bluntly

"We want you guys to keep honing your ultimate talents, so we set up these rooms for you. This is the Ultimate Pianist's lab, but we set up labs for the other ultimates too, of course." Monotaro answered

"Most of 'em are still hidden, though!"

"By the way...the reason this research lab is still locked is..." Monotaro paused

"Is...?" Kaede repeats

"Cuz we're still setting up everything...Sorry, we'll hustle to get it all ready." Monophanie said in panic. After that, the Monokubs disappeared.

"It seems like the music room...but I guess it's an Ultimate lab." Says Kaede

"Do you think...there really are other rooms like this? For everyone?" Shuichi asked

"I wonder about that too...but I don't think the Monokubs would lie, so probably yeah." I answer

I wonder what my room will look like! Ooo, hopefully there's some space in there so that I can practice dancing.

The three of us continued to walk around the hallways. Checking doors but most of them were locked so it was pointless. As we kept walking for what felt like about 20 minutes, we stumbled across someone else. He has green hair and green eyes. He was also wearing a blue stripped shirt.

"Oh, hey there. You guys get kidnapped too?" He said, awfully calmly... "Well, you three look alright. That's good. Situation could be better, through." The green haired said.

"Yeah...totally." Kaede replied.

"Hey, let me ask you something,,, do you guys remember how you got here?" He stared intently at each of us and I could feel my face heat up a bit. Breaking the eye contact I decide to answer him.

"If you're asking us, then you don't remember either, do you?"

"Ha, you're the same way too, huh? You don't remember anything, do you? I guess that means everyone here's the same." He looked to the side

"Huh? Everyone?" Kaede questioned

"I asked the others too. They all said they don't remember."

"So the others don't remember either...it's like...we all have amnesia or something." I say

"Ah, but that's...not normal. If everyone here has amnesia—" Shuichi was cut off by the green haired boy

"Well, I guess we're all in a pretty abnormal situation then." He suddenly had this dark look on his face along with a stare. It gave me the chills.

"Wait, amnesia's a stretch. We're probably just confused...I'm sure we'll remember eventually." Kaede tried to lighten up the mood, always staying positive.

"Or it could be group hypnosis, maybe brainwashing...in any case...I hope we remember soon. Otherwise...I'll end up the outcast." The dark look on his face suddenly went away.

"The outcast? What do you mean..?" I ask

"To tell you the truth, how I got here isn't the only thing I don't remember.. I also forgot my own talent." He seemed frustrated with himself. "Phew, I'm in trouble. I know I must have been some kind of ultimate... I just don't remember."

"Is that really true?" Kaede questions

"Of course it is. But then again, I don't blame you for not believing me. Oh...I never told you my name, did I?

"Nope."

"Well, my name is Rantaro Amami. I can't remember my ultimate talent at the moment, but I promise, I'm not a bad guy. Nice to meet ya."

He's strangely calm for someone who's just been kidnapped and can't even remember his own talent..

"...is it weird? That I'm not really bothered by the fact that I don't remember my talent?"

"Huh.." I say, kind of in shock. Is my face expression that readable!?

"You know, I'm actually kinda looking forward to finding out. I wonder what ultimate I am. Anyway, it'd be nice if we could get along. We aren't going anywhere for a while."

"Stop that. We'll escape soon," kaede says optimistically.

"...you really think it's gonna be that easy?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Shuichi speaks up

"Nothin'. Just a feeling. Haha, hey, don't worry about it, alright?" Rantaro tries to brush it off. Man he sure is acting weird? He's giving me a weird vibe.

——

A/N:

Sorry for ending this chapter so abruptly! It was getting a bit long and I didn't want to make this chapter last forever haha, so I'm splitting it in two! Thanks for reading