Instead, Ryota was greeted with a dark void where the gym should have been. Without time to react, Ryota fell into the void and experienced a sense of utter panic. This, however, was brief. Once he felt the fear consume him, he closed his eyes. Almost immediately after, his head suddenly jerked up from a desk. He was back in the AV room. What did all of this mean? Was it a dream?

  Ryota felt more confused than ever but was gd to be safe again. Falling asleep randomly wasn't all that uncommon for him. He went to go have another look around the AV room, to see if anything was different. Sure enough, the DVD was gone. In addition to that, the AV equipment appeared to be disconnected from a power source. Even stranger was the fact that there was what appeared to be a security camera and monitor mounted on the ceiling of the room. Ryota didn't consider himself to be overly observant, but he was almost certain he would have noticed those item's presence when he first entered. Or at all while he was in the room, for that matter. One thing that was definitely not in this room, however, was a clock. Ryota thought that if he knew what time it was, he would be able to have some idea of the situation he was in. As he was searching, desperately, for any kind of timing device the monitor cracked to life...

  "Attention Students..."

  There it was again, that image of a bck and white teddy bear shown on the screen, accompanying that high-pitched voice from before.

  "This is your Headmaster speaking, please take some time to become acquainted with each other. Who knows? This may be the st time you get to see them! Kehehehe! We will be having our orientation shortly, so hop to it!" the monitor cut off...

  "Other students? One of them probably knows what this is. And even if they don't, at least I'll finally see some other students." Ryota convinced himself, despite being slightly concerned at the mention of this potentially being the st time he sees them.

  He then left the AV room again, this time with a persisting sense of abnormality, stronger now than in the room. It doesn't take him long before he reaches the atrium, where some other students seem to be waiting.

  He sees three students there already. A well-dressed, almost militaristic looking boy with short, spiky hair, a normally dressed, but serious looking girl with shoulder-length bck hair, and a very eccentric looking girl with pink and blue accessories and wild hair. The well-dressed student notices him first and speaks clearly.

  "Another student? Who are you? Do you know the situation we're in? Identify yourself!" he shouted.

  "Oh, I-I'm Ryota Mitarai. I'm the Ultimate Animator... are you a military student of some kind?" he replied.

  The student seemed content with this statement "Nice to meet you Ryota! My name is Kiyotaka Ishimaru, and I am the Ultimate Moral Compass! I am not a military student, but I do have a great deal of respect for our country's soldiers!"

  "Hey, Taka, could you, like, tone it down some? There's only three of us here, no need to shout everything, it really brings down the vibe too." commented the girl with the eccentric dressing style.

  "But that won't stop me! Hey Ryota! Ibuki Mioda is the name; Music is the game! And Ibuki really likes anime too! Maybe Ibuki and you can work together to make an anime with awesome music!" she said excitedly.

  He replied, "I usually work better alone, but I guess I could try a colboration... Um, what about her?" He said gesturing to the serious looking girl in the corner. "Who is she?"

  Ibuki replied "Oh, that's Mukuro. Mukuro Ikusaba! She may look really serious and angry, but deep down she's a total sweetheart! Isn't that right Mukuro?"

  She said this as she was trying to pull Mukuro to come meet him.

  "Ibuki, when you told Taka to stop shouting, why didn't that apply to you too? Regardless, I suppose I should still introduce myself. My name is Mukuro Ikusaba, and I am the Ultimate Soldier. Though I am currently more concerned about finding an expnation for our situation. Have you found anything that may expin what is going on?"

  Ryota answered "N-No, I'm sorry. I just had this really strange dream and I woke up in the AV room. I don't remember anything major happening..."

  Mukuro seemed disappointed at that prospect, but briefly perked up upon seeing some more students approaching.

  One by one new faces joined the room. A shorter boy who looked like a chef, a girl dressed in Victorian gothic attire, a girl with silver hair carrying a sword, a rather rotund looking boy dressed in cssic geek attire, a very rge and strong looking boy with a team uniform on, a tall boy sporting a leather motorcycle jacket, a very nervous looking girl dressed like a nurse, a meek looking girl with short hair and a green uniform, a girl with rge pigtails wearing a kimono, a girl with blue hair and a charming smile, a girl with red hair wearing a camera around her neck, and a somewhat delinquent looking boy with orange hair.

  "Well, let's get this over with." Ryota said to himself "You heard the bear. The faster you do this the sooner you get to go to orientation..."