As we were walking back to the base, I kept my head down. I didn't know what to say, and at this point, what could I say? I had tried to kill one of my new friends, there was no excuse for that. No one else spoke either, and we walked in tense silence.

All of a sudden, Kazuki collapsed in front of me. Before I had a chance to react, Willow fell over too. I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck, and quickly felt my consciousness fading. As my vision went black, I felt my body falling to the ground.

~*~

I opened my eyes to a plain grey ceiling above me. It didn't look like the mansion, or even the Future Foundation. I quickly sat up, feeling a sting at the back of my neck in same place it hurt before. I moved my hand to that spot and pulled out what looked like a small dart. Was this poisoned or something?

I shook my head, tossing the dart aside. I was sitting on a really stiff bed, which looked like one you would find in a prison cell. Nothing else was in the completely grey room, but I knew one thing for sure, and that's that I had never been to this place before.

I stood up from the bed, making my way to the metal door at the other end of the room. Opening it, I stepped out into a hallway, and everything looked the same; plain and grey. I walked down the hall until it opened up to a large room where many people were gathered. All of the survivors were there, along with Tomi, Aimi, a woman with a baby and a boy that looked my age. This room looked more comfortable than the one I had been in, with couches along the walls, and a large television screen on the wall opposite me.

Tomi was the first to notice my presence. "Hey, looks like Kira's here too." He said, and immediately the survivors all looked towards me.

I approached them, feeling mostly confused at the situation. "Hey... where are we?"

"That's what we're trying to find out." Toki responded to me, her arms crossed. "There still may be more people, but we decided to wait for everyone to find their way here. It's the biggest room in this dump after all."

"W-waking up in a s-strange new place w-with strangers..." Satchiko muttered, shuffling closer to Katashi. "It... it feels too familiar... I-I hope it's not..." She trailed off.

"Hey, we don't know what's going on yet, everything could be fine!" Katashi replied, obviously trying to sound reassuring, but he wasn't doing very well with that.

"Nope, we're screwed!" Tomi said with a smile on his face. "In the hour or so I've been awake, I haven't found one escape route!"

Aimi sent him a glare. "What're you so happy about?"

Tomi laughed a bit. "It's been a long time since I've had a good challenge!"

I let out a small sigh, wondering how I could stand this guy. We were all trapped in some weird place with no escape routes or explanation, and he was happy about it.

I slowly walked away from the group, choosing to sit on one of the couches with the boy I didn't know. He had messy dark brown hair and bright amber eyes, and was wearing a grey long sleeved shirt and dark jeans.

"Hey..." I awkwardly started. "I'm Akira Ikeda... looks like we're trapped here, huh?"

The boy nodded, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, hopefully not for long. I'm Itsuki Takahashi, it's nice to meet you."

"You too..." I replied, returning his smile. He already seemed like a good guy.

I looked up as Nise entered the room, looking terrified. She ran over to me, quickly pushing up her glasses before they had a chance to fall. "I-Ikeda-chan, what's happening?! W-where are we?"

"I don't know... no one does." I replied. "But I'm sure we'll find out soon...."

It wasn't long before two young men entered the room as well. The one that looked older had pale blue hair and bright blue eyes with glasses, and was wearing a white turtleneck. The other had neat light brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a pale green jacket and sweatpants.

"Koichi!" I heard Kazuki exclaim as he ran to the brown haired boy. He immediately hugged him, which the boy who I assumed was Koichi didn't seem very fond of.

"Kazuki, don't hug me, especially not in front of so many people..." Koichi complained, his cheeks a little pink with embarrassment.

"Sorry..." Kazuki said, releasing him and taking a step back. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I'm just... so glad you're okay...."

"Don't start crying on me Kazuki, I wouldn't just go and die while you're missing." Koichi responded, but a small smile formed on his face. "I'm glad you're okay too."

Before anyone could say more, the TV screen turned on, flooding the room with a bright light.