Chapter 0: What's Mine Is Yours

Residual darkness. That's what despair is now. It is fading away but it's still here, haunting all of our lives. None of us can escape it. Every nook and cranny is infected with the sins of our very own existence. Despair is something everybody has but I will do my best to quell its thirst for new blood.

"Kazuma, earth to Kazuma." Satoshi snaps his fingers. He is leaning on the bar while he cleans the last of the dirty cups. "Aren't you gonna order something? You can't just go into a bar and leave me hanging dude."

"I'm not of drinking age, Satoshi." Alcohol has never appealed to me in the slightest. Though that may seem weird that one of my friends is a bartender, I know he isn't an alcoholic. Plus something about this bar puts me at ease.

"Then why the Hell are you in a bar?" he asks. "You're lucky this is still the afternoon. If there were any customers, I would've left you for dead." Satoshi then laughs, indulging in his own dark humor.

"Because I like it here."

"You're a simple man." Simple? I guess that's a good word to describe me. Satoshi is good at that, perhaps because of all of the different faces he sees working his job as a bartender. All those faces must be refreshing to see. Being stuck as Kotori's plaything is never the future I planned for myself, but things never go the way you expect them. Part of the appeal of hope is that it's predictable. Then again, so is despair, with the middle being so as well.

"I believe you're one too, Satoshi."

"If you say so-"

"Hey, bartender! I need a fucking drink!" A girl suddenly crashes through the door and barely makes it to the bar. Both of us stare at her.

"Miss, are you al-"

"Drink. Now. Hottie," she demands. Everything about her personality screams drunkard but she has no other of the usual signs, other than the lack of the ability to walk in a straight line. There's no lingering, horrible alcohol smell. If this is how she is while sober, I do not want to meet her drunk.

"Alright, miss, what do you-"

"The hardest thing you have! Dammit!"

"Kazuma, can you escort her-"

"I can hear you!" The girl then begins to walk away. "I'll find another bar you assholes!" After flipping the both of us off, the weird girl exits the bar. This time she walks perfectly fine.

"That certainly was strange," I note. It is not every day I knock into characters like her. Perhaps I should visit this section of the city more often. From what Satoshi has told me, things get pretty hectic around here. The cities are infamous for many strange characters.

"Seen weirder." Satoshi then finishes cleaning and sighs. "One time there was this little girl coming in with her parents that kept telling everybody she was a magical girl. Don't know why they thought it was a good idea to do that, but they did."

While Satoshi goes over some stories from his bartending job, my phone begins to ring. I take it out of my pocket and see that Kotori's number is lighting up the scene. I sigh but answer anyway.

"Where are you, Kazuma? I need you here right now. Kindra's asking for you," she says. Although her tone is forceful, Kotori is clearly bored as well. She must have gotten bored of Kazuhiko for the day and moved onto me. Not for one second, I believe she actually cares about Kindra.

"Be there soon." I hang up the phone on her before she can continue anymore of her thoughts. Making up a lie about wondering into a dead zone is easier than listening to her for longer than necessary.

"I'm assuming Kotori wants you again. That's a bummer." Satoshi then picks something out of his own pockets. "Here. Have this. So you'll owe me one and return." He then winks at me.

"Sure." He then puts the item in my hands. When I look to see what it is, I notice that it's some kind of pin. A pin with a kitten on it and the words 'never give up.' It looks childish but I cannot deny that a part of me still finds it cute.

"Now go out there and take over the world!" I roll my eyes as I leave my seat. Satoshi can sometimes be annoying but he still has a good heart. I know that he is not the type of person to ever give into despair.

"If you truly want me to, I will." Then I wink back at him. I will not deny that sometimes I do certain things to get a reaction out of people, yet I'm not as bad as Junko. Junko is surely what I would call an interesting person.

"Get out of here, lover boy, and go break some new hearts." With that said, Satoshi returns to doing his actual job. The next thing to do on his list is to take stock of all of the alcohol.

I walk outside to feel the immense heat invade my being. Currently, it's about a hundred degrees out so nobody dares to walk the streets as usual. The sooner I can get back inside, the better. My jeans are not made for this kind of weather.

Walking to the nearest bus stop takes all the determination I have. The next bus should come in about ten minutes. Kotori might yell at me for being late, but it's her own damn fault for calling me out of the blue on my supposed day off.

"Oh, you're that piece of shit from earlier, right? It totally is you!" The girl from earlier then appears again. With that heavy jacket, I wonder how she is able to take the heat like this. "You're Kazuma Kaneshiro, right? Ultimate Hypnotist? Oh wait, Hope's Peak isn't a thing anymore! Honorary Ultimate Hypnotist!"

Honorary Ultimate Hypnotist

Kazuma Kaneshiro

I am tempted to ask her how she knows that but know I won't get anywhere. It is best to ignore her and continue on with my life. She most likely overheard it somehow when Satoshi and I were talking...Wait, we didn't talk about that. There must be a reasonable, logical explanation for all of this.

"Hmm, you're a weird one. Should you be like...how do you know that? Aw, you're no fun at all!"

"I'll be taking my leave now." I begin to walk faster but the girl matches my pace. She is very clearly stalking me at the moment. If she tries to do anything, perhaps I should call the cops. The cops might be useless nowadays yet they can still scare her off.

"C'mon, you ass! Get back here! I don't wanna actually try!" I then walk even faster than before, causing the girl to begin to sprint. That is when I take my phone out and start dialing the numbers for the police.

"Just one more sec-"

"You piece of shit!" Right as my finger finishes the number and presses call, the girl pushes me onto the pavement. Nobody is here to see it since everybody is still avoiding the heat. The pavement feels like its burning my skin.

"Hello, this is 110. What's your problem today?" The woman on the other side of the line is trying to hide her boredom. Mostly the police are called for little matters since nobody trusts them for the bigger emergencies. They would rather call one of the freelance organizations.

"I'm gonna tell you a lesson about fucking with me!" The girl then tries to punch me but I roll out of the way in time. But that she picks up my phone and smashes it to pieces easily.

"Crap..."

"Bye-bye, Kazuma Kaneshiro." Then the girl kicks me in my stomach multiple times before I pass out...

Yes, I'm officially insane. Here's another SYOC. With two out already. Kill me.

Well, if you haven't noticed, or don't know the lore of the Committee Saga, this is a prequel. Yea. Nothing suspicious about this prologue. There are actually three prequels to the Committee Saga planned (lord help me, why is there so much lore?) but none of the others are SYOCs. The other two are also fairly short but this one is long. For reference, this story starts five years before the rest of the Committee Saga.

This SYOC will actually start in August, so you have all that time to create your characters. I want the best of the best for this SYOC. Plus, by then, FoD will be almost done and DiOS would be farther along.

This is before the second Hope's Peak Academy so these people are all honorary Ultimates. Honorary Ultimate is a name either given by Matoko Kirigiri or Ayano Kirigiri. Most of these peeps will be given the name by Ayano, and being given the name by Matoko means they must be a rebel and part of the Future Foundation. Again, this story is lore heavy for the Committee Saga, so its best to read the other stories at least partly. Enough to know what the American Restoration Committee is at least. I mean, you don't have to but expect to be lost if you don't.

Yes, this story is set on a train. What does this mean? Well, I guess you've to read the story to find out. ;)

Now for the rules~

1. No Gary or Mary Sues.

2. No repeat talents except if there is a really good reason (looking at you Emilynn...I love you Emilynn). This includes the other parts of the Committee Saga which include...Forest of Despair, Despair in Our Stars, and Killing Game's Serenade by Lost One's Weeping. Please, no more jewelers.

If you want a list, I shall give you one. If too many people give me repeat talents, I will put the list on here but I'm lazy.

3. You can only send a maximum of three characters.

4. PMs Only. No review OCs allowed.

5. No repeat OCs from currently running SYOC projects. I do not care if they are dead in the other story, but I will not stand for any.

6. Label the PM as Murder on the Despair Express - OC Name or something similar. This is to make sure your OC doesn't get lost in the deep, dark abyss that is my PMs.

7. Only one or two foreign OCs are allowed. As there are already many characters of English or American descent, you'll have to have a pretty good reason to make yet another one.

8. This is not based around high school. The age range for characters is 13-65. Have fun. XD You can make somebody older than the age range if you have a good reason, but not younger. I'm not comfortable with possibly killing somebody not in their teenage years.

9. No bullying allowed.

10. Have fun :D

Name:

Nickname:

Gender/Pronouns: (up to two nonbinary characters will be accepted)

Sexuality:

Ultimate Talent:

Height:

Weight:

Birthday:

Age:

Nationality/Race: (up to two foreign characters, would be preferred if they're not from America or England, as we already have a lot of those in this saga)

Blood Type:

Appearance:

Outfit:

Backstory:

Personality:

Free Time Events:

Mental/Health Problems:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Hobbies:

Pet Peeves:

What They Like in People:

What They Dislike in People:

Who They Love the Most:

Who They Hate the Most:

Romance:

Biggest Fear:

Biggest Secret:

Possible Motive to Kill:

Murderer, Victim, Survivor, or Mastermind?: (there is a chance that if you state survivor, your character won't survive)

If Mastermind, reason? If Survivor, why?:

Possible Method of Killing:

Reaction to Killing Game:

Reaction to Seeing Body/Hearing Announcement:

Role in Investigation:

Role in Trial:

Reaction to Being Accused:

Reaction to Execution/Being Executed:

Males:

1. Kazuma Kaneshiro: Honorary Ultimate Hypnotist (nothing suspicious here) (made by SanityRequiem)

2. Touki Yukimori: Honorary Ultimate Psychotherapist (made by RioA)

3. Ivan Pavlov: Honorary Ultimate Tracker (made by AnonChan1)

4. Heiwai Musubino: Honorary Ultimate Combat Medic (made by mayurie)

5. Gennai Doromizu: Honorary Ultimate Train Conductor (made by PainX65)

6. Asahi Ito: Honorary Ultimate Theatre Actor (made by tobi-is-an-artist-too)

7. Amaku Dokusei: Honorary Ultimate Baker (made by Wolffang1795)

8. Jin Saeki: Ultimate Card Player (made by Swordsman795)

Females:

1. Hanami Fukushima: Honorary Ultimate Singer (made by liammarklh88)

2. Riko Igarashi: Honorary Ultimate Bodyguard (made by Lupus Overkill)

3. Chitose Nobira: Honorary Ultimate Business Administrator (made by Scissor-Snipper)

4. Yaroslava Valeryevna Suzuki: Honorary Ultimate Film Director (made by ShadedLyht)

5. Beni Nashio: Honorary Ultimate Narrator (made by QueenofChocolateWinx)

6. Norika Kihara: Honorary Ultimate Judge (made by CommanderofInsanity)

7. Yuzuki Kuromiya: Honorary Ultimate Speechwriter (made by Lupus Overkill)

8. Machi Sakamoto: Honorary Ultimate Bureaucrat (made by Ziggymia123)

Nonbinary:

1. Yugi Bessho: Honorary Ultimate Copycat (made by ThePLOTHand)