Ayanokoji pov:
A blast of light washed over me, even with my white room training, I couldn't resist my body's natural processes. I patiently waited for my eyes to adjust before looking around.
Smooth, tall Burgundy walls surrounded us, no electric plugs to identify the nation or typical furniture and designs. Just pure, smooth colours all around.
The elephant in the room being how we entered in the first place; there are no doors or windows, not even vents. Should I conserve my breath?
I turned slowly to my left, I have no idea what the capabilities of these people are. Better be cautious.
A tall man, with thick brown hair slicked back revealing his handsome sharp face, sat as if he owned the place. He also wore very unique robes as if an eastern Nobleman.
Something more interesting than the entire outfit of this handsome man was his hip, a long blade resting there.
If this was gonna turn out to be a battle, he would be difficult to deal with.
Another with black lines, cracks? Running down in a zigzag on his eyes, he wore the clothes of what you'd expect a caveman to wear. Strangely enough he had E=MC^2 on his clothes, written in blood.
The next person in this circle of wooden chairs resembled me. Brown hair, regular Japanese look, wearing a highschool uniform. I'm assuming he's an average overachieving student based on how sturdy his grip is on the notebook in his arms.
If I had to ally with someone, it would preferably be someone I can control, the noble swordsman is off limits as any human with a weapon will act more erratic. The scientific caveman may lack emotional reasoning to fall for my words and plays.
The other high schooler is the best option.
Next was, I'm assuming siblings, but seeing how they sat on top of each other it's hard to figure out. But due to his eyes not holding the same sparkle that Sudo's do when looking at horikita, I'll bet they aren't lovers.
One had red hair, a lanky frame, and eyes that yearned for rest after endless hours of gaming. He seems lazy but from how it looks, he probably woke up first out of us all. His console in his hands vibrated a little, "level 30 cleared," but I can't be completely sure that his levels from before entering this room were reset or if it just continued.
His supposed sister, had long white hair, she looked several years younger than him,
I had first expected this to be a special exam, but the sword made me think otherwise, after the cave man I had expected they were all cosplayers. I keep trying to find a pattern but seeing how the person I'm looking at doesn't match the age the rest look and is a different gender, it really cuts a lot of possibilities that can be identified without conversion.
Next was a king, well at least from the way he sat and the clothes he had you'd expect him to be a king from the future, his purple eyes pierced through whatever they looked at. he had a gentle looks. However, my body is telling me he's a threat.
Next was a student, black hair and a pale face. if I was an average person I would've glossed over him, however, his eyes hold something weird, it's like looking in the mirror. His past must have caused his personality to adapt, if I were to strike a conversation with him I doubt either of us would be showing our real unfiltered selves.
Next is a child, a very young child with glasses that gleam at every turn, he's wearing a suit but with shorts, making his child nature more apparent.
Lastly it's a man dressed in what appears to be a kevlar vest and a black jumpsuit. His constantly zigzagging hairline makes me think he had a personal issue with nordwood.
Out of risk assessment, it would go:
Noble swordsmen-> weapon.: physical threat.
Future king-> intuition.: character threat.
Black haired mirror-> his similarity to me.:character threat and potential physical threat.
Zigzag nordwood-> in a fighting outfit.:physical threat.
Scientific Caveman-> potential primal strength paired with logical processing.:physical threat.
Average overachiever-> might pose a slight challenge if it's academic competition.:character threat.
Red brother-> seems like the most normal out of them.:not a threat.
Suit shorts-> a child but seems to have a well off upbringing.: not a threat.
White sister->.: not a threat
It Seems I wasn't the only person assessing others. All 3 top threats were also scanning others. Hopefully I escaped their radar but one of them might have picked up on what I was doing and tracked my eyes, potentially spoiling my cover as an average guy.
zigzag nordwood was still asleep to this moment. Lazy exterior but it begs the question, is he hiding under the mask of someone lazy.
The average overachiever was mumbling to himself about apples. Potentially his favorite food or a code word to his friends here.
Future king, noble swordsman, zigzag nordwood, suit shorts and scientific caveman. All seem to be without allies. Their appearance is too unique.
The red and white are confirmed to know each other, but they have a minimal threat value.
The mirror and overachiever could be friends but from different high schools. The rest probably assume the same, however they probably lumped me in with them. The mirror will play according to this if he's like me. appearing without allies especially when someone has a weapon and others seem trained in martial arts would be a terrible misplay.
Maybe the red apples are a code for the mirror and they do know each other… would red be referring to the red brother? No, that would be too obvious.
Red apples have a symbolism of forbidden knowledge and the garden of eden, so maybe they mean the only woman here, the white sister. Or it could be the, appearance wise, oldest of us, the caveman.
I'll save it to memory and examine the rest.
My eyes glossed over the rest, one was counting, reaching the number 526.
Others were just sitting in silence staring at the ground.
This mind forged chain of tension and suspense building up was broken by a single bored man.
"Sighhhhhh, god dammit my console ran out of charge," the red haired boy tossed aside his console, stood up and stretched.
"Could this be Tet's doing?" He mumbled to himself, his sister perking up to that name.
Tet, it must be someone powerful enough to kidnap 10 people from seemingly different corners of the globe. Who he is wasn't the mystery here, but why he is doing this is.
"How about we all introduce ourselves? Name, age and occupation should suffice," the overachiever spoke calmly, swaying his hands with each syllable. He's a natural at public speaking. He's more trouble than I've rated. "I'll start, I'm Light Yagami, an 18 year old, highschool student. Please just call me light," He smoothly turns to his right with a clean pure smile on his face before gesturing , "you?"
The caveman stood up to speak, "I-" before he could finish his sentence, another person spoke.
"I see no need to introduce ourselves, just speak up if you're the reason we're gathered here." The noble swordsman spoke, his voice matching his blade, slicing through all future conversations.
"…" a veil of silence was thrown over the room. Everyone exchanged glances before he spoke up again.
"So not a single one of you 10 can explain what happened? I'm not opposed to the idea that it's a zanpakuto ability, but I see none amongst you." His eyes swept the room one more time.
I updated his threat level immediately, he is both a physical and mental threat, possibly the most threatening in both.
But what was this zanpakuto he's talking about, a soul cutter sword? Is his sword this ancient artifact? Or is he cosplaying, if Kei hadn't taught me what cosplaying was I would've thought the guy was some 10,000 year old god with a sword that cuts souls.
Wait, 10 of us? If you exclude the person speaking as he isn't asking us a question he knows the answer to, there would be 9.
I scan the room one more time. Yeah, it's 9.
Either he is counting himself, which is a weird way of speech, or he knows the answer to the question and is testing us therefore counting himself as one of 10 that need to explain, or he sees someone I don't.
The most likely being a weird way of speech, him knowing what is going on is a close second.
"Hey bud, I don't know if you passed maths class but there's 9 not including you," The red brother mockingly explained while tapping his temple multiple times.
"You take me for a fool?" The noble spoke, I'm not sure what or how, but the pressure in the room increased.
He began counting, his hand pointed at each of us, in the end it was gonna count to 9, light yagami being the last to be counted.
"9 and 10"
"…"
His hand counted light yagami, then shifted to point at something about a meter up from light yagami.
"you must've forgotten your pills! Your age is catching up!" Joked the red haired boy, waving his hand in-front of his eyes. He seems awfully confident provoking a man with a sword. Maybe he's highly trained and I underestimated him.
Despite his mocking, the noble paid him no heed, neither did the rest of us to be fair.
Most were looking at light or the area the swordsman pointed.
It may have been for a fraction of a second but Light showed true unfiltered fear before masking it.
This confirmed, there are 10, one can't be seen, is this highly advanced technology? Magic? The Zanpakuto thing he spoke of.
"Oh?" He mused. "It seems I can see you because we are the same," his smirk grew. "And since you all can't, you all must be…" his expression showed a certain victory.
"Okay, why don't we continue with the introductions? Light's tone now seems out of breath.
Something was weird, why was light so adamant on these introductions, why is he scared the other person found out. What did the swordsman mean with his words of him and the hidden one being the same?
"I am sosuke aizen, I am older than all 10 of you combined," he said with presence.
"Just say you're embarrassed of being middle aged, uncle," muttered the red haired boy.
"And I am a shinigami,"
…
Silence.
Many reactions spread out the room.
The cave man and the mirror seemed skeptical.
Light and the zigzag seemed fearful.
The siblings I'm pretty sure pissed themselves.
The rest masked their expressions.
Before someone else spoke up, light perked up again, "so… the introductions," a stiff smile on his face.
He slipped up, most would have seen this as an act of moving on the conversation but he could have mentioned anything else to do that, but he asked for introductions 3 times. Does he gain something from having someone's name, age and occupation? Maybe he has the zanpakuto ability that Aizen spoke off. I scanned the room again. It seems others were also examining light now. Maybe everyone was underestimated here.
"Senku ishigami, I am around 3,700 years old due to the petrification and I am the leader of the kingdom of science," maybe my thoughts of others being cautious was correct. Him giving a fake age is smart but why give someone blatantly fake.
"3700?! Why is everyone here so old!" Roared the red haired, clutching the sides of his head before squatting down. "Are you also some weird creature? A demon? An angel? A GOD!?" His disarray was visibly agitating most of the others.
"Nope, I am 10 billion percent human," Senku proudly said, pushing his thumb onto his chest as he made that declaration.
An exhale of relief was pronounced by the red haired boy.
"So what's the petrification thing?" Asked the white haired sister softly, she was clearly not used to public speaking.
"A couple thousand years ago, light erupted and froze all creatures into stone, how don't you know about it?" Senku was confused, as if this was common knowledge.
"Well," I finally said, "this petrification never happened on my planet," if it had I would've seen it online somehow, or ANHS would've called an emergency and warned us.
"Neither mine,"
"Or mine,"
"Same,"
"Or in ours" spoke the siblings.
Senku paused for a moment before announcing "we aren't from the same worlds," his eyes wide in shock. Hearing his previous statement about the kingdom of science he must've been the type to not believe anything without proof or testing.
"Is the multiverse real or are we so far away from each other in the same universe?" He muttered to himself. "But then how could your world hold the same language, culture and structure?" Behind his extreme curiosity, laid a base built of fear and anxiety.
"Don't you worry little, or big seeing how old you are, senku, as even across this multiverse there is only one of us, Sora and shiro!" Sora explained, flailing his arms in a dramatic way, he and his sister seem to hit a pose from a famous bizarre anime, my knowledge of pop culture increased since my relationship with Kei or otherwise I would've looked way out of place. "And we are the greatest gamers ever!" They said in unison.
"…"
"Doesn't that seem a little prideful," asked senku. "Greateat ever would mean 100% success rate, I'm 10 billion percent sure that games involving luck can't have those odds." He concluded. As a man of science his deductions seem to be very clear cut.
"Well, Senku, wouldn't it depend if they even played luck based games, maybe they don't even play against hard opponents," Light shrugged. Seeing his personality and drive, I wouldn't doubt being good at games, but unbeatable? Does this involve all games or just video games? Chess is also a game does that count? What about rolling a fair die? Maybe they're exaggerating after seeing the unique people that introduced themselves so far, or maybe everyone introduced here is unique therefore they weren't lying?
"We always play luck based games, we play any type of game, digital, real, luck, strategy, maths, when we are united we never lose. And if you doubt the credibility of our games and opponents," he moved his hand to the head of shiro, "shiro here beat a god at chess!" He proudly proclaimed while ruffling her hair.
"But sora, I did it with your help," she muttered, seeming expressionless.
"Don't feed my ego, it was mostly you sis!" He snickered to himself.
Maybe interacting with a god is easier than I thought, apparently there is one in this room, one that's hidden, 2 people who fought and won against a god, and the last incurred his wrath so much he petrified his whole world.
Maybe my world's god is just lazy.
Many seem to doubt Sora and Shiro's words, even though many wild statements were thrown today, this seemed to hang in the air the longest.
Perhaps these people are not accustomed to losing, like me, so when hearing of someone similar to them it removes their special nature.
If everyone's a winner no one is.
"If you still doubt it," Sora stood up, he seemed to really love moving around to add impact to his words, "I CHALLANGED YOU ALL!" He roared.
This would be interesting, but this makes you wonder…
"What game," demanded the future king, maybe he also is a game fanatic.
"We can decide after finishing introductions, if you truly want to know, no more interruptions, anything said from now will just be taken as truth and we will proceed quickly," Sora explained, he didn't seem to be bluffing about the challenge. An 8 vs 2? Even I'd struggle in that environment.
"lelouch lamperouge, 18 years old, rightful king of britannia," he proclaimed with sharp eyes.
I guess I was right, he is a king, why did he say 'rightful' though? Has someone perhaps beaten him for the throne, or an uprising?
Nods chimed across the room. Seems like the no interruption policy held up. Most didn't seem like the type to take orders, we seem to have all leaders/ general personalities here.
"Shikamaru Nara, 17 years old, shinobi," he yawned while introducing himself.
Shinobi as in ninja? Or counter espionage agent, either way from his outfit he seemed to be from a world where bullets aren't the biggest threat, my initial assessment was an underestimate it seems. But the lazy aspect seems real.
"I'm yuichi kataguri, 17 years old, highschool student," he had a light smile, even more kind and caring than light. He reminded me of kushida, a snake slithering around in tall grass. Unfortunately for him this grass won't work on most the people in this room, especially me.
Everyone seemed to gloss over him, a regular highschool student seemed to stick out due to light's earlier antics however everyone's attention stayed on shiro and Sora, seems like pride took over caution.
"Conan edogawa, 7 years old, elementary schooler," for an elementary schooler his words seem to be rather sharp. His eyes don't drift or space out, nor does he even have a playful act, just raw tenacity, as if everyone here was being through an exam and he was the examiner.
Silence fell over the room.
Why were they this silent? Did something happen that I didn't notice? It was apparent enough that they all did but I didn't?
My eyes gloss over the room quickly.
All eyes are on me.
Are they planning to team up on me? I clench my fists in anticipation, how would I defeat gods and ninjas, this will be close.
"It's okay to take your time if you aren't used to public speaking!" Light reassured me, his smile to it's previous shine.
"Get on with your introduction so I can beat you losers," yawned Sora, not caring for the negative attention he's attracting.
"I'm sudo ken, 18 years old, 3rd year highschool student," unluckily, I couldn't lie about being a university student due to me wearing a high school uniform right now. If Light asked for all 3 things continuously, maybe his zanpakato ability needs all 3, even then I don't like taking risks.
There are 7 total arrangements of the name, age and occupation, if you ignore repetition and positioning.
If he only needed occupation it's 1/7 but still too high for comfort.
This is excluding the factor that he might need other stuff that he knew would be weird to ask about, such as blood type or things to do with family.
"Are you ready to lose to Blank? I probably won't remember your names as you'd be one of many," Yawned sora. He then pointed at Aizen, "this will be my second time beating a god," he mocked.
In return Aizen stood up from his seat, "I gave you three chances in hopes of you being true to your word of being the best," we all felt a massive increase in pressure, it was hard to breathe.
Aizen reached for his blade before launching it towards Sora's neck, his Malice on full power.