I half shrieked, pointing up. “There!” The other four all followed my finger up—and up. Floating about ten feet in the air was a man with wildly spiked neon green hair tipped blue. He dropped down so he was reclining in the air at our eye level, revealing blindingly purple eyes.

“Welcome welcome one and all to my most fantastic—”

The blue eyed girl cut him off. “Slower!” She said, making her accent extra heavy.

He half frowned and chuckled. “Ah right, my apologies.” He snapped his fingers with a flourish and a silent ripple of green light the same shade as his hair circled out from his hand. I jumped as it slid through me. A buzz like static went through my mind, but when it passed, I somehow felt more clear headed than ever. “There we are, language barrier taken care of. Communications issues between you five would have been a problem in the long run anyway. Congratulations, you are all now bilingual.” He spoke in a rapid, too-upbeat tone, a wide grin stretching his cheeks. On closer inspection, his appearance was delicate almost to the point of being feminine, with long, electric blue eyelashes that matched the tips of his hair. He wore a lime green pinstriped mobster-style suit jacket with a purple button down and slacks. He was, without a doubt, the most colorful person I’d ever seen. To the point that I wasn’t even sure how to look at him without my eyes hurting. The fact that he didn’t come across as clownish was miraculous.

The Merrick-lover was the first to respond. “What do you—” she stopped halfway through her own sentence blinking. Her English had come out flawless, without so much as a touch of accent.

Suddenly all of us were trying it and ohmigosh I was speaking fluent Japanese this was so cool! It was like magic! I blinked. The green light. “That was magic!” I blurted out.

The floating man smiled playfully. “Correct! First prize goes to Miss Cavanough!”

The mirth from the discovery of our sudden fluency drained away. “How do you know my name?” Even online I never used my real last name. Not because I was afraid someone would steal my info, but because being related to Jeffery Cavanough is not something I was happy about.

His smile didn’t waver as he clapped. “Ah yes, introductions!” He swept his hand toward me. “Since you brought up the topic, you can start!”

I almost argued for him to go first, but I had a feeling that would get nowhere. He seemed like the kind of guy who would tangent while avoiding a response until he could bring the question back to me. Fine. “My name’s Gemma Cavanough. I’m seventeen, and I’m from Phoenix Arizona, United States of America.” I bit out the entire sentence while glaring at Neon-Boy.

Merrick-lover went next. “Suzuki Ichigo, seventeen. I’m from a small town in northern Hokkaido, Japan.” The girl had the kind of presence that you would expect to feel from the five-foot-ten-with-heels, red lipstick and a three piece suit wearing CEO of a fortune five hundred company, rather than an unusually short teenager.

Third up was yellow-blouse. “My name’s Tanaka Aiko, I’m seventeen years old, born and raised in Tokyo.” She had a weirdly excited smile on her face, as if this entire thing were some fantastic game.

Blue-eyes went next. “Yamada Francesca, also seventeen. I’m from Tokyo too, but my mother was from France.” Like me, she was giving the floating man a death glare.

Bob-cut looked around. “Guess I’m the only one left. Fujimoto Chiyo, seventeen, from Kyoto.” Her response was short and business-like, but her voice was quiet, and her arms were crossed tight across her chest.

The floating man clapped his hands again. “Wonderful, wonderful. For our purposes, you can call me God.”

“I refuse!” No way in hell was this guy the master creator of the universe.

He shrugged and sighed. “Had to give it a shot. Though I am something similar to a deity as far as the matters this world are concerned.” He cocked his head. “You can call me Nameless,” he decided. “Yes, that should do fairly well for now.” He grinned and suddenly he was floating upside down, his legs crossed and hands in his lap but his jacket falling behind his head like a neon backdrop. His hair seemed to blend into the bright fabric. “Now let’s try this one more time. “Welcome, welcome one and all, to my world—and to the most fantastic otome death game of all time.”