While those who arrived at the call of the invitation would find themselves eventually in that ballroom, a select few may not get the chance to do so. There are still some that have yet to even reach the hotel let alone the ballroom inside, whether by not receiving their invitation in the first place for one reason or another, or declining their chance to partake in it.

It seems fate gets what it wants one way or another, by intended design or by a twisted sense of humor. Most may accept its guidance… while some are [i]drafted[/i] to it.

Those select few inside the hotel, just after they enter their room and notice the note saying to go to the ballroom, would notice something strange to happen before they have the chance to heed the note. Those who were not at the hotel themselves, instead residing in the comfort of their own rooms, would notice much the same all of a sudden.

A monitor in their room - be it the TV of the Hotel room, or the screen of their computer or TV in their own room - would suddenly turn on without any action of their own, but there would be nothing upon it but a black screen. For those on the computer at the time, it would seem as if their computer just…restarted itself. However, rather than start up the way one would expect it in modern times, jumping straight to starting the OS, instead it’s the black screen with system information you see when first booting up the computer back in the 90s. In addition, it’s not quite the same information they’re used to seeing. …In fact, it wasn’t really information at all. It seemed to be a collection of bizarre symbols masquerading as letters all but parodying the 90s Start up screen. Whatever information was being shown here, it didn’t seem like much more than random gibberish. Was the computer broken? Was there a Virus on it perhaps?

But those in the hotel or without a computer of their own would find something even more bizarre: Their TVs were showing the exact same screen, as if they themselves were computers, and their room’s lights were blacked out as if there was an electrical malfunction.

Before any of them have a chance to ask what’s going on, the screen changed again, this time to a new black screen, some kind of grey translucent logo appeared of what looked like 12 white wings with a single blinking white rectangle to the center-left of the screen, typing down a message in an actual language this time, in a “Courier” font reminiscent of old 90s Computers.

[center][i]DO YOU SEEK FREEDOM? DO YOU SEEK ESCAPE? (Y/N)[/i][/center]

A single space afterwards and the blinking white rectangle would remain in its new position, as if waiting for user response.

Those on a computer could just type one of the corresponding Keys on their computer. For those on the TV, however, the white Rectangle highlights the “Y” and could be moved to either position with their remote.

For one reason or another, they chose “Y”. As a result, their screen became bombarded with those symbols again, filling the whole screen and moving downward at a rapid pace, making the screen hard on the eyes, as it started to distort in the center, the rapid symbols seeming to shape themselves into some kind of tunnel as it felt like the screen they were staring at got bigger and bigger, that they were getting closer and closer to it. They may panic, some may try to turn away or shut off their screen, only to find that, for some reason, they couldn’t move, completely paralyzed as the screen and its symbols got bigger and bigger until the screen became a black hole with the moving symbols along down the tunnel’s sides blotting out their vision. It continued like this for a few seconds, until they saw a quite literal light at the end of the tunnel. It started off small like a star in the night sky, but eventually it became blinding to the point that they may instinctively close or cover their eyes.

The light faded to black, and for a few seconds, there was nothing. One might assume they somehow died.

But slowly, they would hear something in the distance, faint at first, but gradually becoming clearer; the sound of a voice, then two voices as if talking to each other. It would be hard to make out what they were saying at first; like an imaginary echo with no source, it was a disorienting audial blur. However, eventually, all of their senses would slowly return to them. Their sense of touch felt that they were somehow laying down, and the texture of where they were laying was far softer and more dirt-like than it should be. Their sense of smell and taste gave them the impression of nature as the fresh scents of plants entered their noses. Their eyes as they open them would likely still be blurry, but it was far brighter and likely far more colorful than wherever they were before. Finally, what they were hearing was slowly clearing up, and it was becoming clear that some people were talking to each other over their dubiously conscious bodies.

It seems they were somehow knocked out after they stared at the screen. When they finally came to, however, the first thing they saw and heard was…

[center][hider=Morning, Sleepy heads!][img]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/danganronpa/images/c/cf/Danganronpa_V3_CG_-_Kokichi_Oma_waking_up_Shuichi_Saihara.png[/img][/hider][/center]

A high-pitched boyish voice, seemingly belonging to the purple-haired child staring at them all as they wake.

The moment they fully awaken and find that their senses are in order will be the moment they realize something is very, [i]very,[/i] wrong.

For one thing, they’re no longer where they were before. Be it the Hotel room, or their room, or wherever else they were at the time, this was far from any of that. They were now outside, a bright sunny day, in the middle of a forest. The area itself was open enough that they were all in one spot, but they were surrounded by trees on all sides but one sole path.

The boy who seemed to jumpscare them upon waking was already nowhere to be seen. It appears to be just them with naught but the sound of wind bristling through the trees and each other to keep them company.

Little do they seem to know that from beyond those very trees… They were being watched.

[@Petulant] [@Spydorking] [@Mike Dracopyra] [@TopGrail] [@TheRealGhost]