CHAPTER 2 · 6 · Winner

Ciel carefully closes the door behind them before they notice Benjamin and I.
“Yay! My two favourite people!”
Putting on a cutesy voice, they trot towards us.
“Heh…”
“Do I have to share with Neo? He’s always so mean to me.”
Satisfied with himself – he did manage to surprise me by telling Ciel would come in before my trained ears could hear them – he reopens his eyes to look at them, smiling all smug-like.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“He’s been somewhat decent recently but I don’t trust him.”
“Ah, see?”
Having reached the couch, Ciel looks for a seat. Ben removes the book he’d put down next to him and pushes me to make room.
I pout exaggeratedly, trying to make sure the two of them will notice. I attempt to think “but I wanted Ciel to sit next to me” loud enough that they’ll be able to hear it almost as if I’d said it, but I still move a little to the side, and smiling too, Ciel sits down.
“I think he’s just mean to you because he likes you.”
“Do you think so?”
“Y—”
“Okay, that’s enough…”
I laugh nervously. Ciel is really set on giving me a reputation, aren’t they? Though now that I think about it, we were alone when they joked about me wanting to declare my love to them.
“Well, I knew it all along anyway.”
Benjamin looks at me. He seems in a pretty good mood…
Questioning why, I suddenly wonder if Ciel knows.
“In that case, it’s settled.”
They describe Ben as their favourite person… along with myself, thankfully, but do they know about his past… Or lack thereof? When they told me they didn’t know anything about my life… Were they making a commentary on me, or everyone around them?
“Jokes aside, uh... Did you guys see Isabella..?”
Ben told me… But I guess it doesn’t matter. As in… It doesn’t change anything.
“Sure did. Didn’t you know? When she’s not doing her make-up, she just sits in front of the other room… Guarding it, I guess.”
“Ah, so that’s who it was.”
“Who was… what?”
“I noticed someone was sitting there, but I couldn’t tell who it was.”
“How could you miss that it was Isabella..?”
“I was uh, running.”
Oh no, that’s bad. I shouldn’t have said anything… I truly don’t want to mention my weird encounter with Monokuma.
“Why?”
Ever the annoyance in my life, Ben is the one who bites. I’ll just say whatever…
“I was just in such a hurry to see your pretty face.”
His eyes open wide, then fall back to normal. He inhales deeply, and when he exhales, has gotten rid of his satisfied smile to instead stare at me with his usual neutral-to-exasperated expression. And he doesn’t say anything—he just stares.
Hm.
“…Oof.”
“…I tried.”
“Heh. That explains why you fell.”
“You fell, Neo? Did you injure yourself?”
… He did this on purpose, right? He picked this exact expression on purpose. Now I have no idea what he’s thinking.
But it’s okay… I focus on my nice friend instead, and show them my palms.
“Nah, see, I just scratched my hands.”
“Do… …”
They giggle.
“Oh, I was going to ask you if you wanted an owie kiss, but then I remembered you’re over the age of ten.”
…
…
…
“... I think we both want an owie kiss anyway.”
I nod.
“Whaaaaat?”
Their cheeks turn a little red, and shaking their head, they look away.
“Whatever! What were we talking about..?”
The room is filled with disappointment, as it looks like neither of us will be getting our owie kisses.
“Tell him I deserved one,” Ben asks me.
But I shake my head too. We have to accept defeat…
“Ahem. Isabella.”
“Oh, right.”
Now that he’s sporting his unenthusiastic expression again, it seems that it refuses to leave him.
“Why does she guard this room..? I never got a chance to get in, but I doubt it’s anywhere near as dangerous as that one other room no one’s guarding anymore.”
Gulp.
“Hell if I know...”
“Ah.”
“… I just observed that she did. Anyway…”
He marks a pause – and I immediately wonder if he’s nervous about what he’s going to say, but I’m quickly proven wrong when he exaggeratedly smiles, placing his hands, joined by his fingers, under his chin.
“Hear me out… What if…”
…What choices led him to pick this stupidly shrill voice?
“You guys went out and asked her… And then told me… The next time you saw me…”
He lets his hand fall back over the book now placed on his lap and taps it with his right hand. He continues with his normal voice.
“…Because I have a lot of reading to do, right now.”
“Ruuuude.”
Unsurprisingly so.
“It’s for your own good, I swear.”
He shrugs.
“Leave the analysis up to the guy who can read minds.”
“What?”
“What?”
“You can read minds?”
I’m not sure that’s the part Ciel was confused about.
“Observing patterns, the meaning of tastes, etc... I could use help from Keith, but he’s deceivingly self-focused.”
“You’re… not making any sense.”
“I think he’s trying to justify his belief that he’ll find out the mastermind by reading his entire library…”
He smiles smugly. Again. I hate that I can tell it’s sincere.
“Is that what I’m doing..?”
Ciel sighs, but they don’t actually look exasperated.
“Well, if that’s what makes you feel better right now…”
“You could put it this way.”
Heh, sure. That’s not a bad way to see it.
“We’ll always regret it if we don’t let you try, right?”
Ben doesn’t reply immediately. He lets his expression fall back to normal, then looks at me, then Ciel…
And grabbing the book with his two hands, closes his eyes.
“Thanks.”
“Alright…”
They stand up, smiling calmly.
“Let’s let you do your thing before she kidnaps you again.”
“She..?”
“…The third point of your love triangle.”
“Not true!”
…Disregarding this comment, I follow suit and get up.
“She’s beautiful for sure…”
“Sh-shut up!”
… … He opens his book and ignores me again.
Ciel grabs my hand and leads me outside.
“I’m just kiddiiiiiing…”

Once we’re outside the library, Ciel and I share a glance at each other and, without a word, walk towards Isabella. She’s still there, sitting on her own, on the floor… Now that I think about it, even in a blur, it should have been obvious that this entirely purple shape could only belong to one person.
She doesn’t raise her head to look at us, but when we step in front of her, she mumbles:
“Don’t get nearer.”
“…We were wondering why you were watching over this place, actually.”
“It’s hers.”
“What..?”
“This room. It’s hers.”
This room…
“Emily would have loved it…” I think that’s what Alice said, back then.
“But it doesn’t… belong to her.”
And this, Andi would have said… If she didn’t agree to shut up about it for the sake of our grief.
In this case… Alice and Isabella probably have similar positions on the matter.
That… she probably ignores.
“You don’t deserve… What was made for her.”
I inhale deeply. In this instant, and I can’t immediately tell why—my heart skips a beat, in the wrong way.
“Hah?!”
“Huh?”
Without moving her head from between her arms, Isabella looks up at me. Her expression, half of it at least, is fit to that of an angry child sulking.
“Emily would have never agreed to this!”
As if to justify my argument to myself, I remember Emily—
The Emily who screamed in despair when she misgendered Ciel!
The Emily who hid between Isabella’s back… Holding the gift she drew for Akiro…
The Emily who’d been secretly making customized picks for Andi… Even though it wasn’t her birthday.
This Emily would have gifted every single piece of cloth in this room to everyone she cared about, if she could. If it was even hers to begin with—but this Emily would have crafted outfits just for us.
“How would you know that?!”
I know it for certain.
Isabella finally moves, instinctively slamming her hands on the floor and bringing her shoulders forward, towards me.
“Uhm…”
“How can you claim to know what she would have wanted after her death?!”
“How can you?!”
“Okay, okay, okay!”
Ciel solidly grabs me by the arm.
“Let’s not do this again.”
“What..?”
When I look at them, I realize Ciel is repressing tears, trying to stay calm. In that moment, I cool down, and realize I’d been breathing heavily, and that my cheeks are burning.
“Tch..!”
Isabella re-assumes her initial position, and continues to speak inside her arms.
“For days we took turns guarding the room built for her killer… Hers will not go forgotten…”
Ciel gasps.
“This room was..?”
But they interrupt themselves and, shaking their head, tighten their grip on my arm.
“No, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”
And once again, they lead me away.
This time, I give some resistance at first—our discussion feels incomplete… But in a matter of seconds, I change my mind and follow them. I can’t force them to endure a situation that makes them cry.
I thought they’d bring me back to the library, but we’re heading downstairs instead. I let them lead the way, and we end up inside the computer room on the second floor.
They sit at one of the defunct computers and let out a long sigh. Not knowing what to do, say, or even think, I simply stay standing in the doorway…
Without a word, they try to turn the computer on, but nothing happens.
“I don’t understand why they’d give us a bunch of useless computers.”
“Wh-what are we doing here..?”
I ignored what they just said, but I can’t imagine they suddenly decided they wanted to play Solitaire.
“I’m sorry, I sorta panicked and brought us to a random room…”
They glance around before they look at me. It doesn’t look like they’re about to cry anymore, and I can’t quite read their expression.
“I changed my mind. I don’t think we’re ready to handle Isabella yet. I don’t think she’s ready either.”
“Ah…”
I’ve calmed down now. I don’t know what got to me.
“I’m sorry for getting so mad all of a sudden… I’m really embarrassed.”
They shake their head.
“Don’t worry, I agree with you… And I think I know how you felt.”
“I, uh… Felt so angry all of a sudden, when I realized… Isabella is trying to keep us away from what “belonged” to Emily when Emily… Went out of her way to give to others… You know?”
“Yeah. I also thought… Wait until she learns that Jan took something out of her room to give it to Andi.”
“Oh, oops.”
They giggle.
“Oops.”
I thought I should say something else, but they tap the chair next to theirs.
“Let’s forget about it for now. I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Ah? What is it?”
I’m glad they gave me an idea what to do with myself. I take a seat and turn the chair to face them, because the computer would be useless anyway.
“You’re gonna be nice with me, right?”
“Uuuh, yes?”
They laugh nervously.
“Well, of course. First of all, I wanted to thank you again for agreeing to let me take a break when I needed one. I’m glad you’re so understanding.”
“Oh… Of course.”
It’d be bad if I acted any differently, right?
“Second of all… The reason I brought up my t-shirt was… I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”
“Your t-shirt..?”
“You like it, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“As you should. My granny sewed it for me.”
“Huh.”
Déjà-vu…
“She makes all my work clothes too.”
Your clown outfits, then.
…
I inhaled a little bit too quickly. This isn’t funny. Ciel is a professional clown. Nope, not funny at all. I don’t want to laugh. Not at all.
“…You’re the clown.”
“Hahah—”
Frick.
“Ahem. Sorry.”
“Bold of you to assume that I, a clown, would mind being funny to someone…”
They shrug a little exaggeratedly… And sigh, smiling.
“But I’m trying to talk about something else here, though.”
“I-I know… Please, continue.”
“Hm-hm… Anyway, I love my granny dearly. It means a lot to me that she continues to make clothes that are perfect for me…”
With their right index finger, they point to their left shoulder.
“See, she created this t-shirt so it could be the perfect clothing for my tastes and my shape. For a while, I was a fan of over the shoulders clothes and rolled up sleeves, so she tried to create something that combined what I liked. She made it so… The collar fits perfectly on my shoulders and always stays in the intended position, without ever bothering me.”
Without really thinking about it, I bring my head closer to check out the left of their collar. It’s true… It rests perfectly on their shoulder, right underneath the top, without giving any impression of moving or being too tight.
“She did an awesome job, right? I’m in love with the fact that she worked so hard and precisely just to make me happy.”
“Yeah..! That’s… Really wholesome.”
They nod.
“The only reason I continue to wear this shirt is that she’s the one who made it, so instead of using the copies inside my room, I’ve been washing and drying it by hand every night.”
That… Sounds like a lot of work. I definitely wouldn’t bother to do such a thing, but given how they feel about this specific cloth… Wait. No, it doesn’t make sense!
“But… Since she designed it to your liking, shouldn’t you want to wear it anyway?”
They scratch their head, behind their ear.
“That’s the issue… With this one, my granny missed the mark.”
“Ah..?”
“I used to think it was okay for people to wonder which it was… But I’m growing, and not anymore.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean…”
“It’s…”
They frown and shake their head yet again. I wonder if this is, too… Something they’re not ready for.
“My trousers and this shirt together… What do you think of them?”
I take a glance at Ciel’s trousers, but I know what they’re like. Rather thick biker jeans…
“Together, they’re kinda… Odd.”
“Yeah…”
They look away.
“Something that covers my upper body more… That’d be a better look, with these jeans.”
I see. I mean, I’m unclear about their logic… But it sounds like Ciel’s tastes changed, and their grandma didn’t notice when she made them what she thought would be the perfect shirt. They still wore it… But maybe because she isn’t here with them, they’re wondering why they have to continue. That’s probably it.
But all the clothes available in our rooms are copies of the exact same outfit… And accessing the “fashion room” we now have is out of the question.
“You and Benjamin should just trade clothes.”
“Wut?”
“Well, he also doesn’t want to wear his… t-shirt anymore.”
“But Ben is a GIANT!”
True. If we exclude the real giant among us, the Fortune Teller’s the tallest one here, while Ciel is a lot smaller than I am.
“And his outfit looks dumb. And…”
…
“Thank God you agree.”
“…And it’s not like I want to not wear it either…”
Ah.
I scratch the back of my head.
“That’s… a little more complicated, then.”
“Yeah… I probably have to give it some time.”
Wait, we still mean their t-shirt, not Ben’s, right?
Since they pensively tug on the lower end of its fabric, I’m guessing they’re talking about theirs.
“I just wanted to talk about it.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t very helpful.”
“It’s alright… It’s probably better this way.”
They nod to themselves before they look at me.
“I’ll offer Ben to have my granny sew a new outfit for him once we’re free from here.”
“If he’s saying the truth, he made himself a better one already, though.”
Ciel rolls their eyes.
“Well, I’m pretty sure her version will turn out better than whatever he came up with.”
…
I don’t really doubt it either.
We stayed silent for a while, and then started to chat about anything, and everything. I mentioned Oscar’s scarf had also been gifted to him by his grandmother, and they said “oh?” but didn’t seem to care all that much. Unsurprisingly, they care more about their own granny’s sewing than Oscar's.
We mostly talked about computers. Neither of us can justify the presence of so many computers, if none of them work or even look different. This room is basically useless… But Ciel says they like it, because it makes them feel like they could go on the internet, they’re just choosing not to. That’s a little silly, but I think I understand it.

We didn’t get as tired as rapidly as we did yesterday, but when it started to get a little late, we quickly decided to get going. They reminded me they had their precious t-shirt to wash, “so it could smell great the next day”. I’ve been putting my clothes in a pile in a corner of my room… I have a lot of them left, but I’d probably feel better if I washed the previous ones soon.
We went to the dining room to grab a bite and, exceptionally, Jan wasn’t there this time. He hasn’t been preparing meals for the evenings, probably because he knows we’ll never bother to eat together at the same time at night. Ciel and I decided to make ourselves omelettes.
They tasted bland.
“What do you think makes his food so good?”
If he were to make omelettes, he’d probably use the same recipe everyone does.
“I heard you can taste the feelings the cook put into their food. If someone prepares a meal lovingly, it’ll taste better than the same meal prepared by someone who doesn’t care… So maybe that’s it.”
Jan prepares our meals with love… That idea makes me smile. After all… Why does he bother to cook for everyone? No one expected him to.
We finished our boring meal, washed the dishes and went our merry ways back to the dormitory… Where we ran into Chloe, who was also heading back to her room. She was crying.
“Do you need anything?”
“Ah..!”
Did she somehow not notice us..?
“No…”
She wiped her tears with the back of her hands.
“I spent the day worrying, but I’ll take better care of myself tomorrow.”
“Oh… Okay. Rest well, in that case.”
“Good night..!”
“Good night…”
She locked herself in, and it’s the two of us alone in this dormitory again.
“Well then… See you tomorrow, Neeeeoo.”
I chuckle.
“Why did you say my name like that..?”
“Heh, I felt like it.”
“Pff, okay. Yeah… Good night.”
They place their handbook on their door to unlock it, but I don’t feel like leaving it at that… All solemnly, once again.
“Wait, before you go…”
They turn back towards me.
“Hm?”
“Promise you’ll introduce me your girlfriend soon. With a beautiful person like you involved, the two of you HAVE to become my favourite ship now.”
“Pfffft—”
They burst out laughing.
“Hell yeah! She’ll… She’ll think you’re so… So dumb, though.”
“I’m used to that.”
“Naaaah—That’s wron—wron—”
They're laughing too hard, and eventually give up.
“Okay, enou—enough—good night!”
They rush inside, and I find myself alone, chuckling to myself. I really want Ciel to stay my friend forever, now.

“Hi agaaaain! Didya miss me? I’m sure ya did. A-ny-ways… Just wanted to let you guys know I’m changing rule 9! You know you can check your handbook thingies, right? But don’t worry, I’ll tell you! Now it says: “all acts of violence toward Hope’s Peak Academy personnel are strictly prohibited.” Hehe!”
He didn’t need to bother me…

I’ve been running away from ninjas for God knows how long. I’ve been running, running, and running… And I haven’t been able to look behind me, but I know for sure that they’re here.
I’m tired. I don’t want to run anymore… I give up, and coming to a full stop, finally turn around.
Oh, but it’s just Jan, minding his own business.
If it’s nothing to worry about, I guess I’ll just go home. Luckily, I stopped right in front of the door. I open the door… To find my grandma, lying in a hospital bed.

“..!”
I’m suddenly woken up by… what exactly?
What a silly dream… I don’t even have a grandmother.
Well, technically, I guess I do…
It doesn’t really matter, though. I don’t remember hearing an announcement this morning, and my handbook tells me the reason why: it’s 6:30.
Thirty more minutes before daytime… Why did I wake up so early, again? It has to be because I went to bed early too. I’m always eager for the day to end… But then the next one starts prematurely. Still… I’d rather get up than fall asleep again to be woken up by Monokuma’s horrid announcement.
I washed some of my clothes last night, but it looks like they’re not dry yet. I don’t care… Thankfully. After my shower, I grab some fresh clothes from the closet in my room and get dressed. I check the time again… 6:56.
…
I should stop checking the time… I don’t want to remember why it was so useful just a few mornings ago…
Swallowing my spit, I head outside. I hope to find two early birds in the dining room – I think Alice and Chloe usually wake up early.
It doesn’t surprise me that I don’t run into anyone in the dormitory, or outside… Interestingly, the lights are out. Even though we’re under a closed dome, Monokuma… or whoever is trying to give us an impression of night and day. There are a few “street” lamps here and there… They allow me to see, not only the pathway, but the “sky” as well.
They don’t glow, they’re just painted… But I can see the moon and a lot of stars. If I didn’t know they were supposed to reflect and emit light, I’d believe they’re the real thing. Somehow… They just look so realistic.
But suddenly…
I don’t think I blinked, yet, I don’t understand how it happened. I’m now staring into a bright blue sky, and everything around me is bright and colourful.
“Mornin’ everyone! Unless it says “mourning”..? Hmm, you wouldn’t hear the difference anyway. What was Kumakuma saying? Oh, right… Good morning! It’s 7 aaaay eem!”
Emily’s… Kumakuma’s voice resonates inside the dome.
So that’s what happens at daytime.
Was I the only one to witness this.. ? If we’re talking about just now, the answer is yes for sure. I’m still on my own… But not for long, because I’m going inside the main building, and I just know I’ll run into some friendly faces in there.
When I pass through the door, though, something makes me stop. It sounds like a very light snore…
No one… Nothing’s around. I take a few steps back… It sounds like it’s coming from above. Is Alice standing on the roof of the small arch that covers the entrance again..?
…
Turns out I’m mistaken. It’s not Alice… It’s Chris.
She’s lying there, unmoving. My heart sinks inside my chest… But I don’t know why. After all… She’s breathing deeply – simply sleeping.
“Why?”
Why would she sleep in such a place? What is she doing there to begin with? I asked myself the same question when Alice jumpscared us… The first day we were here, but I justified it with her talent as Ultimate Trekker. Chris… Is definitely strong enough to climb up here, but is she unreasonable enough to sleep here?
I won’t wake her up for now… But next time I see her, I’ll have to ask her what she was thinking. She made it safe to this morning… But I really, really wish she could sleep inside her own room next time.
Shaking my head, I quietly walk through the door and hurry towards the dining room.

And when I open the door…
…
I didn’t know my heart could sink deeper inside my chest.
Head lying on the table…
Akiro…
…

Spoiler:

I look instinctively – in the doorway to the kitchen stands Jan. He gestures for me to come in.
But in that case…
I turn my head back to Akiro. Is he sleeping here too..? What’s wrong with everyone?!
I don’t get it, but I’m guessing we’re trying not to bother him. I gun it to the kitchen, inside of which Jan already headed back.
“Isn’t he so cute when he’s asleep?” Alice whispers.
She and Jan are preparing breakfast. Alice is placing diverse supplies on the counter, while he makes what looks like a lot of scrambled eggs.
…
It looks like we’re leaving the door open. I glance at the three of them in turn—I have some questions.
“He didn’t sleep there, he just fell asleep pretty much as soon as we got here,”, he whispers as well.
“... Somehow, we all ran into each other in the dormitory at a stupidly early time,” he adds.
“Didn’t I have a dream with you in it?” At least he clarifies some things right away.
“Thanks for clarifying that the three of us didn’t sleep together.”
“What?”
Ah, how innocent. He doesn’t know about my ot3.
I just remembered this term…
I don’t care much about that right now, though. Akiro legitimately scared me. So did Chris, but I double-didn’t expect it this time.
“If he’s going to sleep anyway, why didn’t he stay in his room?”
Of course, I whispered too.
Jan shrugs, and turns around to take care of his eggs.
“He said it wasn’t fair for us to get breakfast ready for everyone everyday on our own, so he wants to get up as early as us in the morning. Except he’s not really awake.”
“I don’t really care, as long as he falls asleep here when he’s with us, and not on his own in the middle of a hallway.”
…Unlike Chris.
“I got worried for a second…”
I sigh. It’s no use complaining now… It’s like Jan says. It doesn’t really matter if he’s sleeping, so long as the two of them are keeping an eye on him.
“Well, now that I’m here… Can I help you out?”
“Can you take all the juices out of the fridge? Tea’s already infusing… I’ll get the coffee ready, and then we’ll be done.”
I did as I was asked, and the two of them finished laying out all the breakfast items.
“He’ll take cereal, right?”
We each picked what we liked, Alice also got a bowl of cereal for Akiro, and we headed back to the dining room to sit around him.
“Hmpf…”
“Rise and shine, sunshine! Here’s your breakfast.”
“Hmm…”
… Not immediately, but he suddenly straightens his back, looking around with wide eyes.
“W-what? When? Where?”
He stops his gaze on me, and his cheeks become red.
“W-what are y-y-you doing here..?”
He laughs nervously, visibly embarrassed, and buries his head inside one of his arms again, using the other to scratch the back of his head.
“Eating breakfast?”
“He’s thinking you’re a mess.”
“I… Not even true..!”
“Sorry, you’re thinking too loud.”
He is a complete mess but I didn’t even have the time to register it.
“You should have woken me up…”
“I just did!”
“I, I said I wanted t-to help…”
“You wouldn’t have been much help.”
“That’s… too honest.”
Jan shrugs once again, sporting his typical Smile. The Smile that makes me want to give him all my money, even though I don’t have any with me. Most importantly, though, I hadn’t noticed he wasn’t smiling before—now that I think about it, he looked a little worried.
Maybe Chris also gave the three of them a near heart attack on their way here. I wouldn’t really know how to bring her up, though…
“Oh, for Christ’s sake.” His scrambled eggs taste MUCH better than my stupid omelette.
“Grmbl…”
Out of arguments, Akiro sloppily slides the bowl Alice prepared for him towards him.

DAILY LIFE

We ate our breakfast in relative silence. Looking at Akiro… I have to disagree with Alice. He’s cuter when he’s awake. He didn’t look so adorably embarrassed when he was sleeping.
Munch, munch… Scrambled eggs with toast is the best. It goes very well with apple juice too—
Ah, but someone walks in. I turn around to see Chris, staggering a little bit.
“Can someone tell me… Why I woke up above the door..?”
“You’re asking that?!” I can’t help but cry out.
“I thought you always slept there.”
...It sounds like they’d noticed her.
“What..?”
She rubs her eyes, taking a few steps inside.
“… Just kidding, of course.”
“I musta fallen asleep… Fuckin’ dumbass…”
“What w-were you d-doing there in the fi-first place..?”
“…Feeling soppy.”
Looking in a terrible mood, she walks to the kitchen and closes the door behind her.
“W-why am I always the one who gets shut down…”
“Because we can’t handle the truth.”
“Ri… Right.”
“Or because we’re all in love with you and get flustered when we talk to you.”
“Okay, s-stop.”
He pouts.
So cute… What if she’s right..?
“Jokes aside… She wasn’t directing it at you.”
“I... I know, don’t worry.”
“Oh.”
Chris pops back out of the kitchen with an orange and some toast, and quickly comes sit down next to me.
“…Thanks for getting it ready.”
“Sure thing! Just so you know, Akiro didn’t help.”
Aw, so cruel.
“S-stoooopp!”
“Hm?”
“…Just kidding. His presence is enough to give me strength to do anything.”
“Cute.”
“Pffffff…”
“Ah, you’re lucky.”
She dejectedly takes a bite out of her toast.
She mentioned feeling soppy… Does it still apply now?
“Are you feeling alright, Chris?”
“Hm?”
She glances at me, then looks away.
“Yes.”
“Liar,” Jan immediately calls out.
“… Oops.”
“N-no, you’re right and you sh-should say it.”
“Oh yeah, you didn’t even try.”
“…Pff.”
I didn’t expect this reaction.
“It’s… It’s okay if you just don’t want to talk about it, though, you know.”
She glances at me again… Swallows her bite, and sighs heavily.
“I’m mad at myself for falling asleep up there, okay? So unsafe. Fuck.”
“... It would have been easily avoidable if you didn’t climb up there on your own in the first place.”
Says she.
“I just… Raaahh..!”
She lets go of everything to hide her face behind her palms.
“Noah brought me up there one time… …Okay?”
“Oh.”
“Oh.”
…
Jan and I had the decency not to turn it into a joke.
“So like you said, you were feeling soppy.”
“Yes!”
“That’s okay.”
Chris hesitates before she lowers her hands.
“…I guess so.”
“Do you want to talk about it..?”
I interjected without thinking. She probably doesn’t, but it sounds like it’s bothering her, so…
“He was very nice to me…”
She flinches, clenching her fists.
“That’s all.”
I take a glance at everyone’s reactions—Jan looks away to his left, Akiro stares at the table, and Alice scratches her cheek, looking puzzled.
I… I don’t know why, but in a weird way…
In a way that makes me feel bad, I’m glad to hear about Noah positively.
“He really cared about you…”
“I hate that!”
Chris shakes her head and unclenches her fists to grab and start peeling her orange.
“If he didn’t care about me, he wouldn’t have done anything.”
“Oh no..!”
Ha..!
Ha.
This remark right here—why is it so powerful? All of a sudden, I feel a little bit dizzy. But Chris…
“P-please don’t say tha-that.”
“Sorry.”
“No, but really.. Chris!”
Alice extends her arm to firmly grab Chris’ wrist.
“You can’t think like that. His weaknesses… Have nothing to do with you.”
She interrupts her peeling.
“Weakness? What does it take you to kill someone?!”
“I…”
Grimacing, she solidifies her grip on her wrist.
“Only the weak would take killing as an option.”
“Well, what if he was weak?! Do you have any idea what he went thr…”
Getting mad, Chris violently shook her arm, but stops the second she interrupts herself.
“…Sorry. This was uncalled for.”
But her comment…
“Do you?”
“What?”
Alice lets go of her arm, and the two girls turn to me.
“Do you… know what he went through?”
I’m unclear why she mentioned it… If anything, it contradicted her point. But I can’t help but ask myself questions about Noah… And all I know are vague hints.
She turns to stare at the table, flinching her eyes a little.
“I don’t… know much. And he wouldn’t want me to talk about it.”
“Oh…”
Of course…
“Okay.”
It makes sense, after all. The reason I don’t know anything… Isn’t just due to my own choices.
“Let’s change the subject.”
…Suddenly.
“Where’s Chloe?”
Chloe… … …
Oh, that’s right! I expected to see Alice and Chloe, but ran into the entire trio, without her instead.
“Why would we know that?”
“The two of you usually get here first, don’t you?”
“Yes, but… You got here with me, so you know we didn’t see her.”
“…Indeed.”
He’d dropped his smile again as Chris shared her worries, but now has the littlest of smiles, the one he always has when he doesn’t actually mean to smile— the opposite of a resting bitch face.
“Maybe Kumakuma’s morning announcement’s just not as efficient…”
“Oh, but we usually wake up before it.”
I don’t usually… And with the mascot change, I think I would actually have gained from sleeping through it. Monokuma’s was loud, Kumakuma’s is simply sickening.
Which reminds me… Well, she wasn’t exactly “sick”, but last night, Chloe mentioned she’d have to take care of herself today.
“I think it’s okay…”
I’m not necessarily certain, but I’m always worried, so I might as well mention the slight chance I believe in.
“She wasn’t feeling great last night, and she told us, uh… Well, she might just be taking it easy today, you know?”
“Really? I hope she’s okay. I don’t know why she wakes up so early in the first place.”
“Why do y-you?”
Akiro sounds a little salty—he’s really forcing himself to follow up with his two friends, isn’t he?
“You know… Early bird gets the worm.”
“Ea-early bird makes t-too much noise when I’m trying to… to sleep.”
“That’s not very poetic of you.”
Chris has started to eat again, having visibly calmed down, and a little more awake now.
“Th-they hit different… When you’re already awake…”
“Would you rather be woken up by birds… Or by Alice slamming down a bowl of cereal in front of you?”
He considers it for real.
“Weeeell… The birds d-don’t provide me with food…”
“The little bastard hesitated!”
“…Hehe.”
I chuckle too. It’s nice to hear Akiro get back at Alice for her snide comments. But while we’re on the topic of food… Except for Chris who just got started, we’re all done with our breakfast.
I stand up, piling up the dishes I used.
“Let me take care of your dishes, since you already got the food ready for everyone.”
“Hm? Are you sure?”
“Yeah!”
I extend my arm for him to hand me his plate.
“Okay then… Thank you.”
“It’s cool of you,” Alice adds with a large smile.
Pretty smile.
The two of them handed me their dishes, but Akiro gets up too.
“L-let me help too… This time.”
“Oh… Okay!”
No reason for me to say no—he takes his own dishes, and we both head to the kitchen.
Jan crosses his arms and leans back in his chair.
“We’ll just wait here, then.”
“Booooring.”
“I’m still here, you know..?”

Inside the kitchen, Akiro and I start to wash the dishes next to each other… But he avoids looking in my direction, for some reason.
“I’m sorry we woke you up, by the way.”
Staring at the plate he’s scrubbing, he doesn’t reply.
“... I was a bit confused to see you asleep on your own in the dining area, but Alice and Jan reassured me.”
… He still doesn’t say anything.
…
“Hmm…”
I don’t really know what else to say. Does he just not want to talk? He seemed okay with it just a minute ago. I don’t take it too personally, though…
I don’t know what helps me tell, if it’s the way he moves, or breathes… But his anxiety is so strong I can almost feel it myself—not in the sense that he gives me anxiety, but I can feel his. Something tells me bringing it up would only make it worse, so I find myself regularly glancing at him as we both scrub the dishes in silence.
“Jan…”
“Hm?”
I turn my head to the door, expecting him to have come in, but no one’s there.
“Wh-what… What do you think about him?”
Looking at Akiro again, I tilt my head a bit to the side.
“About Jan..?”
That’s a sudden question. I’m pleasantly surprised he turned out to ask me something.
“Y-yes.”
“Well…”
He’s a face you can’t forget. I won’t mention I had a dream about him… Even though it’s his fault for coming up with a silly nickname, he’d probably think it’s weird. Jan isn’t very talkative, but rather demonstrative. All I know about him is that he always tries to help.
“He’s very caring, isn’t he?”
“Hm…”
“His attitude is a bit surprising for his age, but he strikes me as “perfect” in every way… It’s a bit impressive, I’d say.”
“Th-that’s right.”
He looks at me and smiles shyly—I guess he thinks the same, even though he knows him a little better than I do.
“Okay...”
He looks away again to finish drying the bowl he was holding.
“What abou-about… Alice, th-then?”
“I like her a lot!”
…I didn’t have to think that one through, did I? Her friendliness just screams “obvious” to me, so it makes sense.
“…She’s fun and wholesome, right?”
“Y-yes.”
He started nodding, stopped, then nodded again. I expected him to say something else, but he doesn’t… He looks satisfied with this conversation.
“Well, you know… Everyone likes the three of you.”
“A-Ah...”
He hesitates.
“It’s p-probably… mostly about the t-two of them, though.”
“Noooo…”
I shake my head. Everyone likes Akiro too, that’s for sure… And I’d ask him if he has any idea how cute he is, but that doesn’t feel appropriate. There’s more to him than just his appearance, or shyness…
Yeah. When he does speak up, he’s full of energy. That’s something Jan lacks… And in a way… I think he has a tendency to take Alice’s place when she fails at staying upbeat.
“You’re smart and hopeful, right?”
“Uuuuh…”
“I like your energy, I guess.”
“Ah…”
Scratching his neck, he panickedly looks in every direction at first, but manages to stop and sort of look in mine.
“O-okay… You, you didn’t have to compliment me, you know…”
“I know.”
I smile. His blushing isn’t even worth noting anymore.
I’d feel bad forcing him to continue talking… So while he stands still, visibly hesitant, I dry my hands and walk towards the door.
“’you coming?”
“Y-yes!”
Looking a little bit relieved, he hastily dries his hands and rushes next to me.

In the dining room, Chris is still sitting, but she’s done eating. Alice and Jan both got up, and she’s now sitting on the table, while he leans against it.
Akiro walks faster than me and goes around the table to place himself next to Jan… He’d probably have gone behind him if he could. I see how it is.
The latter calmly glances at him and doesn’t comment.
“My turn, then.”
Weird that she was waiting for us to come back… Picking up her orange peels, she walks past me and heads straight to the kitchen. Wait… She doesn’t even have any dishes.
“What do we do now?”
“What do you want to do?”
“Hmmmm… I have some ideas, but you’d probably say no.”
“…Wha—”
“Let’s… Climb something!”
She grabs Jan by the hand and, not giving him a choice, starts to run to the entrance.
“Hey..!”
Surprised, Akiro obviously follows.
She stops abruptly in the doorway, Jan almost knocking into her, and turns to me.
“’you coming?”
“No, no, thanks, don’t worry about me…”
I answered without thinking, waving my hands in front of my torso. I just didn’t consider hanging out with them today…
“’kay!”
With that said, she leads the boys out. They don’t object…
“Haaa…”
I don’t expect to be welcome inside the kitchen… After a few seconds pass, I head out as well.

In the hallway, I immediately run into Oscar and Mina.
“Neo!”
The small girl runs to me and grabs my hand.
I—She—
So small…
“You’re coming with me.”
“What? Why?”
Am I under arrest?
“Say no. I need to convince her to eat.”
“If you couldn’t convince me, he’s not going to.”
“Uuuuh…”
Oscar walks to us and as always, I have no idea what he’s thinking, or feeling. Way worse than Benjamin.
“I am saying she needs to eat breakfast to be in good health, but she’s finding excuses to get away.”
“I won’t eat anything anyway, and I have a mission.”
“Why won’t you eat anything..?”
“Let’s pretend you asked about the mission.”
She didn’t even hesitate for a second.
“I asked the running lunatic who was awake that she knew of, aside from the two boys and her, of course, and she only told me about you and Chris.”
“…Yes?”
“I don’t know everyone’s sleeping rhythms, but I know for sure that Chloe’s usually the first one to get up.”
“Oh. Well, I think she’ll be resting today…”
“But do you know for sure?”
…
“Exactly! So we need to check on her.”
“What if she is resting, though? I don’t want to bother her…”
“We’ll leave her alone immediately and she’ll be able to rest easy, knowing that she’s not worrying anyone anymore.”
“I… don’t know…”
I would check on everyone every hour if I could, but it’s probably impossible… And it might just make Chloe even more anxious. Actually… I don’t even want to think that something could have happened to her. Why would it be?!
“Well, I need someone to come with me, because else Oscar won’t let me go, since he’s so set on eating his stupid breakfast.”
“Breakfast is the reason I could lift you with my finger.”
“As if!”
“I disagree with you not eating anything.”
He crosses his arms.
“But if Neo is staying with you, I can’t force you.”
She waves my hand around.
“See?”
…I’ve never seen a child with such a bad attitude before. I know she’s not actually a little girl, but..!
“O-okay, I’ll go… Just so you’re not alone.”
I guess… It’s not like I have anything better to do.
“Please take good care of each other, then.”
“Of course..!”
Of each other… Like she’s even going to try to take care of me.
That being said, he walks to the door to the dining room.
“By the way…”
He interrupts himself and solemnly turns his head to me.
“Just you know, I could also lift you with my finger.”
…And he goes in.
Gulp.
“He always wants to clarify that he’s very strong. I don’t think he realizes how big he is.”
“Do you realize how small you are, though?”
She lets go of my hand.
“Okay then Neo, let’s go!”
“Sure…”
She takes very big steps towards the entrance, and I simply follow her.

“Hmm…”
“Hmm…”
“Hmm…”
… We ran into Chloe just as she came out of her room.
“Can I help you..?”
Mina and I glance at each other. Despite our very different natures, it dawns on the two of us simultaneously that we were worried for no reason.
She inhales deeply however, and shrugs.
“You look great today.”
“…What kind of response is that?”
“W-what?”
Unsurprisingly, this weird interaction immediately makes her nervous.

On our way back to the dorms, Mina and I saw Alice climbing up the glasshouse. She was visibly trying to convince her two friends to follow her, unsuccessfully. Mina commented: “see, this is needlessly dangerous, but it would be unreasonable for me to keep her from doing it.” I had nothing to add… So long as the Ultimate Trekker’s the only one climbing.
We saw Chloe as soon as we got in, and both jumped in surprise… and in my case, a little bit of embarrassment.
“Naaah… I mean, you do, but…”
I try to look as apologetic as I possibly can.
“We thought you were taking a little more time than usual today, so…”
Mina doesn’t look particularly embarrassed, but she chooses her words carefully. If I understood her priorities well… She’s trying to avoid making her anxious.
Though she’s obviously failing.
“I don’t mean to doubt you, but…”
“...But you don’t trust me, with good reason.”
Chloe hesitantly nods.
“Do you trust him, though?” the little detective asks, pointing to me.
She glances at me… Then looks away.
Ouch.
“I didn’t want to know…”
“I’m sorry…”
Saying that, Chloe takes a step back, continuing to avoid our gazes.
“Heh. Trust no one. That’s good.”
“N-no..!”
…That’s no good at all! Chloe walking back—this means she thinks she’s in danger, but she doesn’t know how to react. It makes sense because… She’s on her own, facing the two of us.
“Seriously, we were just worried about you. Everyone knows you usually wake up first… With Alice too, you know?”
I don’t know if what I’m saying is very helpful. I pass my hand through the bleached side of my hair, looking in another direction as well.
“She’s fine, by the way. Uuuhm… But what I wanted to say is… You should trust someone.”
I force myself to look at her again. She looks worried, as she often does, but she’s paying attention to me.
“Someone..?”
“Anyone. You… Wouldn’t feel so anxious right now if you weren’t alone.”
“Oh…”
When she looks away this time, it’s to stare at the floor.
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. I have someone who’s pretty much always by my side. Well, not right now, but… I replaced him temporarily.”
Neo Devin, ever the second choice.
“Isn’t there someone you trust more than others?”
“Hmm…”
She forces herself to look at Mina. She’s the one to look apologetic now… When we were the ones to creep her out in the first place.
“Akiro…”
“Oh?”
“…And Alice.”
“Good! Why don’t you spend more time with them, then?”
“They probably wouldn’t… want me to…”
“Bah! I don’t believe it.”
I instinctively shake my head. I don’t believe it either. Alice cares about Chloe, I’m sure of it. As for Akiro… I remember they searched the school together at first.
When I was okay…
And while I’m remembering interactions from then… I remember this:



“Is it that... you don’t trust Jan?”
Chloe’s eyes open wide.
“No..!”
She bites her lower lip and, grimacing, joins her hands in front of her chest.
“That’s not true anymore!”
“Oh?”
The little girl turns to me, smiling.
“Sounds like you’d picked up on something I hadn’t.”
“I don’t doubt him anymore, I swear! I’m just afraid…”
“I’m just afraid he won’t like me,” she blurts out, before she loudly swallows her spit.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you meant.”
Turning back to Chloe, she shakes her head.
Huh… I really thought I had something there.
“Even if he didn’t like you, he probably wouldn’t say it, though.”
“That’s… not okay…”
“No… Most importantly, why do you think he wouldn’t like you?”
“I… don’t know.”
“I don’t see a reason why either. Everyone knows these three are super friendly, right?”
I look to Mina for confirmation. She solemnly nods.
“Hmm…”
Chloe relaxes her stance, and passes her hand through the back of her hair. It looks like I got through to her..!
“No…”
“Ah.”
“Crap.”
“Thanks, but… I think I’ll find something… Someone else.”
“Really?”
“Uhm, yes.”
She inhales deeply.
“I’ll be getting breakfast… If that’s okay.”
“O-okay…”
I’m a bit taken aback… This may be the second time it feels like she read my thoughts and decided to contradict me.
“Sure… since I know you won’t be on your own in this area.”
“Hm-hm…”
She looks at the both of us worryingly, then leaves. We watch her as she walks past us… And I don’t know what to say.
“I always seem to run into the three of them anyway, so I think Alice will get through to her soon enough.”
“Ah, you too?”
I’m still worried about Chloe after all… But it’s worth noting that the Ultimate Trio lives rent free in everyone’s minds.
“Eh, it’s probably because they spend so much time in the dining area.”
“…Makes sense.”
“In any case…”
She turns to me once again, looking up into my eyes with a proud smile.
Proud… of herself, just so it’s clear.
“Thanks for tagging along on this mission.”
“Hm, sure…”
“I’d say you’re dismissed and I’ll join Oscar, but I can only make a girl that much uncomfortable.”
She shrugs.
Okay… That’s decent of her.
“Let’s stay together until he’s done with his breakfast then.”
“Sweet!”
She turns around abruptly to face the door, crossing her arms.
“We’ll stay outside, near the main building. I’ll take a better look at the building’s architecture while I’m at it.”
“Okay…”
I know she’s bossing me around, but what can I do..?

She walks fast for such a little girl. We soon reached the entrance, and she kneeled next to it, examining the bottom of the wall.
“…Nothing worth noting, but that’s not completely uninteresting.”
I don’t really understand what she’s trying to see. She’s a detective, alright… But no architect.
Chances are she’s trying to convince herself she’s not wasting her time while she waits for her bodyguard to come back.
“By the way…”
“I’m listening.”
Thanks for clarifying.
“Do you actually enjoy spending time with Oscar?”
I know their relationship is a serious one, and I wouldn’t doubt they see a lot of value in each other, but when I think about it… And when I’m alone with her, I can’t help but to… Can this be qualified as friendship?
After all… We assumed he was her “duo” like I assumed Ciel was mine, like Noah assumed…
…
Well, my memories of this motive hurt a lot, but it doesn’t change that a lot of us actually feel close to each other, and I wonder if that’s true of Oscar and Mina.
She visibly paused—she stopped moving entirely—and abruptly turns her head to look at me.
“Why would I not?”
“I, uh, I don’t know.”
She asks it like my question’s the most absurd thing she’s ever heard.
“He’s always very serious, so I wonder if you feel… A connection of sorts, maybe?”
It’d be a bad idea to say it upfront, but the reason I’m asking is that Oscar looks and sounds like no fun at all.
“Just because he’s intimidating to you doesn’t mean he’s any less of a person, you know.”
She sighs and turns the rest of her body around, sitting on the ground.
“Sit down. I can only be that much smaller than my interlocutors.”
…She’s the one who decided to sit down, though. But it’s whatever—it looks like she wants to talk about it some more.
“Oscar gets tired of talking too much, because he doesn’t usually have to speak English all the time.”
“Oh.”
“It makes sense that you wouldn’t consider that, though, since it’s pretty rare nowadays for someone to only speak their second language.”
“That’s true… I mean, he does speak English, though. He’s actually good at it.”
She nods.
“It would seem he comes from a pretty conservative family, but he still has to speak English to a lot of people outside from it.”
“Yeah… I see.”
Is that all this is about, though? The language barrier… Would be what keeps Oscar from being too talkative.
“With that in mind, and the way he views his job, it makes sense that he acts so professional all the time.”
“Oh, okay.”
So there is at least a little more to it.
“Of course, he told me these things... Even though he doesn’t want to talk too much, because he’s interested in me and he wants us to get closer.”
…
I don’t really know what to think about that.
“…You can learn a lot about someone just by hearing them talk about everything and anything, but also judging by the topics they choose.”
She nods to herself.
“Given the occasion, you could have a conversation with Oscar and understand that he has traits someone can appreciate, just like everyone else.”
Aaaaahh…
“I’m sorry... I didn’t want to give off the impression that I don’t value him as a person.”
“I don’t think he minds all that much, so long as you see him as a bodyguard.”
“That… I’ve been doing.”
She nods again, but it’s directed at me this time. She smiles.
“Then you’re all good. I’m the one who really wants to focus on the person behind their job… No matter how important it is to them.”
“Ah…”
If I learned my lesson well… I should be able to learn something about her from the fact that this matters to her.
But suddenly, she stiffens, looking past me.
“Shh!”
She leans forward to grab my arm. I frown—I’d turn around to see what she’s looking at, but I’m afraid she’ll be upset if I do. Thankfully, there’s always one way for me to pay attention…
A door closes… Not too close to us, to my left. Steps on the path… Two people, one weaker than the other.
Mina interrupts my listening by tugging on my sleeve.
“Come here!”
She stands up and pulls me underneath the small arch covering the main door. She doesn’t have a lot of strength… But I follow her anyway. She has me hide behind a pillar…
Why, exactly?
“Look…”
She hides behind me, and the two of us peek at the passersby like two complete idiots.
“…You won’t have a choice but to listen!”
“She’s not even holding his hand!” Mina whispers.
“Shh..!”
…I’d hate for them to notice me now that I started eavesdropping. She’s right, though. Andi and Keith came out of the dormitory together, but she’s not holding him by the hand like she usually does. He simply walks very slowly behind her, holding himself with his arm around his torso, weakly keeping his back straight.
“Whatever… if it means you’ll shut the fuck up.”
He’s frowning, as always…
“Well, not necessarily. The guitar’s my main thing, but I’m also a singer, you know.”
“Oh, please no. I don’t… want to cringe.”
“Pff…”
I can’t help but grimace. Now that I know his words can hurt her, I don’t feel comfortable hearing him be rude to Andi.
“I just know you’re wrong.”
He doesn’t reply, and she turns around to face him, continuing to walk backwards.
“Besides, you can’t stay a loser forever. I’ll introduce you to my buddies.”
“You’re the damned loser…”
“You wish.”
She turns back around.
“My life’s just perfect!”
“Yeah… right.”
“Oh, but really.”
With a satisfied smile, she slows down a little, most likely noticing that her interlocutor couldn’t keep up.
“Hmm…”
She marks a pause, looking at the sky as she walks, and then chuckles.
“You’re part of it now, so you’ll see.”
“Fuck that.”
She chuckles again...
And there… Right there, as the two of them get close to the entrance…
Keith smiles.
“Ha-HA!”
“Aaah..!”
Blowing our cover, Mina exclaims her fake laugh, taking a large step to the left.
“Huh..?”
The two of them stare at us, wide-eyed. Keith tightens his grip on his own torso…
They saw me now… I panickedly wave my arms in front of me.
“I didn’t agree to this! I swear!”
“Wow, what a liar.”
She’s the worst..!
“What... the fuck?”
“Well, all that matters is that we caught you!”
“Caught us.. ? Oh, shit, right!”
She takes a few steps backwards to get next to Keith and forcefully grab his hand.
“Oooh lala, don’t you like how I’ve been holding your hand aaaall along because that’s not obnoxious to the both of us or whatever?”
…He jerks her hand away, though.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Although she did notice it. I wonder if the little brat will tell Oscar.
“What is it, then?”
“Just now… As Andi talked… Fufufu…”
“Was that supposed to be a laugh..?”
Ignoring her, Mina proudly, and accusingly points at Keith.
“…You smiled!”
“Arh… Ah, fuck!”
…That isn’t his reaction. He tensed up, visibly hurting himself in the process.
He still does react, though.
“N-no I didn’t!”
“…You’re blushing.”
“You suck!”
“Argh!”
Getting overly excited, he hurts himself again.
Not seeming to care, Andi laughs out loud.
“Serves you right! They caught you!”
Keith turns his head to us.
“What’s wrong with you?!”
“N-not guilty.”
I’m very sorry.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you so mean to her if you like her?”
“I don’t like her!”
…He yells.
Seeing the three protagonists, one of them still sitting on top of the glass dome, turn in our direction makes me feel even guiltier.
“There’s no reason to be so mad about it. After all, she’s the only one to care about you.”
“Mina, stop..!”
“Yeah, well..!”
Uncomfortably trying to find a better position, he violently shuts his eyes.
“Can’t any of you see I don’t want that?!”
“I’m the hero Gotham needs, not the one it wants… Wait, no, uhm…”
“It’s not the one it deserves…”
“Yeah, well, samesies.”
“Everyone can tell you don’t actually hate her, though.”
“Rah…”
He’s clenching his teeth so hard—I feel like either they’re gonna break, or he’s gonna bite someone.
“…I don’t.”
“Oh?”
“Oh?”
“Oooh?”
Keith seems to have suddenly calmed down, although he’s still very red.
“I don’t have enough energy for that.”
He glances at her.
“Still fucking pisses me off, though.”
“Ooooooh, I see!”
…Huh.
Is that really better?
“Do you like that, Andi?”
“What? No, obviously.”
…She picked on what Mina meant a little faster than I did.
Despite her negative answer, she smiles.
“I “like” playing the guitar. I “like” drinking with my friends. I “like” pizza. I don’t “like” that this guy thinks I’m obnoxious.”
“Well… That makes sense…”
“But don’t worry, I have fun when I’m with him. I wouldn’t hang out with him so much otherwise.”
“You’re having fun… with me… alright.”
She nods enthusiastically.
“This is a bad situation, so I’d rather think about funny things, like “how can I annoy Keith”?”
“I’ve seen worse coping mechanisms.”
Seriously..?!
“Plus, I have this goal in mind, right?”
She turns to Keith, but he frowns and looks away.
When she turns back to us, she’s still smiling peacefully… Until she’s not. In a matter of seconds, her face turns gloom, her eyes filled with worry.
“I never understand my feelings, but when I play the guitar, they come out.”
“Huh..?”
Even her voice changed—deeper and softer, it would sound so cool if it weren’t so obviously filled with hurt.
“What are the feelings that come out when a liar plays their music?”
One more time, she turns her head to him.
“Is it lies, or is it the truth? How powerful is music?”
Keith winces.
“... You’re creeping me out.”
“She’s creeping me out too,” Mina “whispers”.
“Everybody heard that…” I “whisper” in turn.
Andi stares at him a little longer, then turns back to us.
“Is it empathy, or do I just want someone to be like me?”
With that said, she abruptly walks past us, and goes inside…
Only to come a few seconds afterwards, frowning, vaguely gesturing towards Keith.
“He’s gonna get mad at me…”
He? Does she mean Keith?
He looks at the two of us, and I can’t quite read his expression. It’s serious for sure, but what else is there? What does he think of Andi’s will to understand his true feelings by making him play the guitar? There’s a lot to unpack, isn’t there?
“I don’t like people like her, but this isn’t who she is.”
A little less abruptly, he follows her inside, extending his hand to grab hers.
…
“What do you think?”
They’re gone…
“What do I think..?”
“Do you know what the symbol on the pocket of his uniform means, Neo?”
“The symbol..?”
Keith wears a very classic uniform with a breast pocket… There is some sort of logo on it, but I never paid much attention to it.
“The Ultimate Sexologist… Is actually a psychology student.”
…What does it matter?
“I think that no matter how much he dislikes her, he will always want to help her.”
“Why..?”
The little detective stares at me for a good while.
“If you can’t tell, then it’s probably better that I don’t tell you.”
What..? Am I... Missing something?
The two of them are already confusing enough..!
I also want to help Andi. Why would it make Keith so special? This is how I have to feel about her… Because for some reason, I’ve witnessed her at her happiest, and her saddest.
Yes, that’s it. Keith is the same. I don’t care what he thought about her at first… But he’s seen her brimming with joy, and he has woken her up from horrible nightmares.
I think… The two of us… Want to see her happy. What I don’t know is if he wants to be happy with her.
I don’t have the time to say any of this, though…
The door opens one more time.
“Here you are.”
“Here I am.”
Smiling once again, Mina runs to Oscar.
“And I feel great.”
“Not for long.”
“Naaaah.”
…The hell?
“Well, let’s get this inspection over with.”
She grabs him by the hand to lead him back inside, but turns to me first.
“Do you want to come with us?”
…
“No, thanks.”
“What will you do?”
“I think… I regret getting up so early after all, so I think I’ll take a quick nap.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t forget to come eat with everyone to strengthen our bonds… Fufufu.”
…Okay, but is that seriously supposed to be a laugh?
Without much further ado, Oscar and Mina head back inside the main hall… Where I ran into them in the first place.
I don’t really plan on taking a nap, but I do plan on going back to my room. I don’t really know where else to go anyway… Seriously, what’s up with teenagers and sleeping in the entire morning?

Lying down, I sigh.
I don’t like being with Mina…
She brings the worst out of people.

I ended up spending most of the morning brooding inside my room.
At some point, I think I started to fall asleep, but not quite either. I kept looking at the time… Telling myself that I would get up as soon as noon hit.
11:54… 11:56… 11:59… One more minute… Crap.
I sighed heavily and forced myself to come out of bed.

It took me uh, five good minutes, though.
Not that I understand how in hell I end up being one of the last to show up in the dining room. Actually, I don’t get it at all. Almost everyone’s here! Is being ridiculously punctual a trait shared amongst Ultimates? Ciel’s having a chat with Andi, Alice comes in and out of the kitchen, I can only imagine her two boys are inside there, Chloe and Keith are sitting together, staring into emptiness, and Chris, Oscar and Mina are somehow chatting it up too.
There’s no way they all paid that much attention to what time it was. I must have misread the time. I’m totally late, is that it? Standing in the entrance, before anyone notices me, I reach for my handbook to check…
…But suddenly, someone places their hands on my shoulders.
“Boo.”
“Ajdjdskdkgvbgkjg!!!”
A near heart attack, he gives me!
I spin around to face him. Piece of crap didn’t even put in any effort but still managed to scare me shitless.
“…Can you repeat that?”
“What?!”
“What did you just say?”
“What’s wrong with you?!”
“You’re in the way…”
“Well..!”
If I wasn’t fully awake before…
Ah, but someone trots towards us.
“Benbenben! Are you going to eat with us today?”
“…Hello.”
I’m not jealous.
“May I?”
“Yuss.”
Ciel grabs my hand and wraps their arms around mine.
“Is that when you wake up..?”
…I’m not jealous anymore.
“What? I’ve been awake for a long time already. I ate breakfast early, then went back to my room.”
“Oh..? I didn’t know.”
“Instead of hanging out with Ciel? I’ll take him if you don’t want him.”
Ben smirks.
“No.”
“You can always try to trade me for Lois,” Ciel tells him.
…
“No.”
She doesn’t belong to Ben in the first place.
“She’d much rather kill the two of us, I think.”
Exactly what I was thinking!
“Maaan… I don’t get why you spend so much time with her.”
Benjamin shrugs.
“She has a lot to say.”
“Huh...”
I wish I could hear it.
It’s weird that I don’t…
“Well, whatever. Come sit with me.”
They forcefully lead me to the table, and Ben follows without comment. I didn’t really pay attention, but it’s true that he doesn’t usually eat with us, I’m guessing because he’s usually with her.
“I hear Jan’s testing his patience by using round-tipped knives when he’d actually need regular knives.”
“How is it going?”
“I have yet to hear an emotional breakdown going on in the other room.”
“He’ll do just fine.”
Leave it to the fortune teller to tell… Right?
When we take our seats, though, someone taps me on the shoulder. I’d heard them coming, so they don’t take another ten years off my lifespan in the process.
“Neo… Can I talk to you for a sec?”
I didn’t really expect Chris, though.
“Uuuh…”
Instinctively, I glance at Ciel and Ben. The latter is completely unresponsive, and the first nods, smiling.
I guess they think I should..?
“O-okay, then.”
She takes a step back and, with her chin, points towards the corner of the room. Everyone’s gathered around the table, so we should get an impression of privacy over there. I get back up and follow her without a word.
“Okaaay… I’m sorry if this is a little awkward. I just have to at least try and do something, you know?”
“Hm, alright?”
She looks a lot better than she did this morning. Even when she’d calmed down, she looked a little a depressed.
“I would like to know how you’ve been feeling since the motive was announced.”
“Ah?”
This sounds like something I could have asked—but when I think about it… Did I get the idea from her in the first place..?
“Yeah. Don’t worry, you don’t have to get too personal or anything. Just be honest, you know? I want to listen, if you’ve been asking yourself any questions, or anything.”
“Hm, not really…”
Placing my left arm against my torso, I start to mindlessly scratch it with my right hand, through the fabric of my sleeve.
I’ve been asking a similar question to others… Because I wanted to know how they felt. The motive doesn’t matter much to me. I think I may have been a little depressed this morning… But it was Mina’s fault, not the motive’s.
Well, was it Mina’s? It may actually have been Andi’s, unfortunately. Now that I think about it, how is she doing now? I turn my head…
“Neo?”
“Oh, uh, sorry.”
Back to Chris. What were we saying?
“…Poor attention span. I’ll take that note.”
“Okay...”
I laugh nervously.
“Well, the thing is, I don’t really know. I’m a little more worried about our general context than the motive itself.”
“Oh…”
She hesitantly looks up at the ceiling.
“Do you uh, need to talk about it?”
“Uhm...”
She’s not really making me feel like it, to be honest. I chuckle nervously once again.
“This doesn’t feel really natural to you, does it?”
“Arg, yeah…”
She lowers her gaze to look back at me, and places her ponytail on her right shoulder to fidget with her hair.
“I’m not very good at this. But I swear I’m here for you.”
“I…”
“Poor Chris…” I think.
“I know.”
I manage to smile sincerely, despite the both of us being nervous.
“I’m like you, I’ve been worrying about other people. That includes you, so…”
“Oh, uh, in that case, know that I’m doing fine.”
“Really..?”
She’s been very clearly acting weird, while desperately trying to act normal, so I’m not so sure.
“Yes… Well… My mourning’s going alright, that’s what it is. I’m really fucking upset, but I’m dealing with it.”
For a second I thought she said “morning”, but then I remembered Kumakuma’s stupid play-on-words.
“But you’re still mourning.”
“Duh. It’s not like I have a choice. But I’ll get through it.”
I hesitate for a second…
But actually, it’s alright. Feeling a little reassured, I nod.
“Okay. I’m glad to hear you’re confident in the future.”
“I’m used to it...”
She lets go of her ponytail and whips it back behind her.
“Well. Was that all you needed?”
She focuses on me again, and I can feel her eyes scour my soul.
Oof… She’s intimidating, but I shouldn’t let it get to me.
“Yes… I’ll talk to you… If I need anything.”
“Oh!”
She looks pleasantly surprised, taking a step back with a shadow of a smile.
“Cool. That’s neat. I’ll leave you alone now, in that case.”
“O-okay? Thank you, by the way…”
She immediately starts to head back towards the table.
“Thank you for your time, bud.”
…
Ah, and I follow her, but I join Ciel and Ben, who’d let my seat open between the two of them.

No one ended up having an emotional breakdown in the kitchen, and Jan eventually came in with a dish of ratatouille, followed by Akiro with a pot of rice. Alice and Chris had set the table together.
Everyone came in to eat today, save for Isabella and Lois.
I wish Isabella had eaten with us, even if she didn’t want to talk to anyone…
In any case, the food was delicious as always. It was apparently Oscar’s turn to offer to help wash the dishes, so he and Mina helped the usual trio.
Afterwards, the detective and her bodyguard left, taking Keith with them because he was “emotionally drained” by Andi who “stayed angry for a long time but suddenly jumpscared the shit out of him by breaking into song”. While I’m glad Andi got over whatever was making her feel bad, I’m starting to seriously worry about the weird parallels between them and Ben and I.
Chloe left at some point, but I don’t know when. I only noticed she did when Chris said “hey, where’s the gardener? I wanted to talk to her!” and left to go search her.
This leaves Ciel, Ben and I with the Ultimate Trio—which I’m starting to notice is always the case—and Andi.
This a pretty good combination. It finally lets me bring up something I thought about.
“I have a question… For Andi and Jan.”
“Andi?”
“…And Jan?”
“Oh wow.”
Ciel pretends to clap.
“Ahem… Yes.”
I’m still sitting between Benjamin and Ciel. They asked him how long he could stay, to which he responded something along the lines of “however long I want, she’ll just wait” which… I can’t tell if it’s mean or somewhat well deserved.
In any case, the three of us are facing Akiro, Jan and Alice, with Andi sitting to her side.
“I love the attention. Shoot it!”
“I was wondering something about your talents.”
“We haven’t collabed yet, but it’s in the works.”
“Is it now?”
“It is… In my head.”
Jan’s smiling, unbothered as always.
“Ah, if it’s in your head…”
“That wasn’t what I was wondering about…”
“Do it, though. The world needs this collab.”
…I am here for it.
“And thus Jan’s career starts with a bang.”
“Yeah! Everyone’s gonna love that!”
“We’ll see…”
“I-I’m pretty sure that means “no”.”
“Wow. So that’s how it is?”
Akiro chuckles nervously. He totally called him out! Still, Jan looks amused.
“You just have to say yes, it’s easy,” Andi says with a large smile.
“I didn’t say no…”
He shrugs.
“Let’s play together first, we’ll see then.”
“Yes!”
She strikes a victory stance, visibly very satisfied.
“Now that that’s settled… Your question, Neo?”
“Ah, yes.”
Thank you. At least someone’s been paying attention.
“It’s not very useful, though… I’ve just been wondering about your hearing.”
“Earing?”
“Hearing! Well, he’s not asking you, and with good reason, apparently.”
Here’s to another person being called out…
“Yeah, well, Jan’s appearance is obviously a lot more important, so…”
“What’s that supposed to mean..?”
“M-most importantly, wh-what kind of excuse is that..?”
Alice simply shrugs. If I want this conversation to go anywhere, anytime soon… I better continue.
“Because of my talent, I have pretty extraordinary hearing, right? I can hear people talk behind thick walls, I can differentiate the sounds of their steps, and all that. I was thinking that with talents like yours, you should have a similar capacity.”
“Oh, I have something similar to that.”
She sits back normally. She’d been overly excited about the prospect of a collaboration with the Ultimate Pianist, and she still very much looks joyful.
“I’m a little more sensible to sounds… Like, you know, compared to voices. I can hear the noise better than I can hear voices.”
She pensively pokes her cheek with her index finger.
“It gets a little annoying in public places, actually… That’s why no matter where I play, I usually go to a café, or wait until the place empties up to hang out with my friends. I can barely hear them talk otherwise.”
“It’s not the first time I hear of something like that.”
Wh—Oh, right, he’s still here. Right next to me. Talk about lacking presence…
“I know, I know! My friend Laura told me she had that too! That’s actually how I found out my version of it was a little different…”
She marks a pause, her smile turning prouder.
“No matter how much noise there is, I can always hear the music over everything else. I can always tell when music’s playing somewhere, no matter how faint it is.”
“Ooooh…”
That’s a cool answer… A pretty satisfying one, too. I knew an Ultimate musician’s hearing would also have its quirk.
“So it’s a little different from Neo’s, but he was right to think your hearing would be a bit special.”
“Totes.”
“What about you, then?”
Resting her head on her hand, Alice stares at the Ultimate Pianist. That’s right, I’m asking him too. His version of it might be the same than Andi’s, though, I don’t see a reason why not… Is that why he didn’t say anything yet?
Actually… For once, he looks a little bothered.
“Hmm…”
He looks away to the side… Places his gaze on Akiro… Then turns back to me.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have a capacity like that.”
“WhAAAaaaAat?!”
“Andi! Shh!”
“Okay, but she’s not a dog..!”
“Ha? Really?”
I try to ignore the others’ antics, but I’m still surprised. Why the Ultimate Guitarist… But not the Ultimate Pianist…
“I don’t have problems with my hearing… But there’s nothing impressive about it.”
He smiles apologetically.
“I’m sorry.”
“W-wait, why are you apologizing?”
“Yeah, that’s nothing to be sorry about.”
“You’re probably disappointed, even though it’s not the end of the world…”
“No, I’m just… Surprised?”
Akiro leans towards him. He’s also smiling, timidly.
“To be able to play amazingly without some bonus capacity to help… I think… That’s even cooler, you know…”
“Yeah!”
I don’t get to observe Andi’s intensive nodding, because Benjamin whispers in my ear:
“Is he always this adorable?”
…The guy whose cheeks are growing redder by the minute even though he’s done talking?
“Yes.”
I didn’t even bother to whisper, but he continues to.
“I want to kiss his little forehead goodnight even though it’s not night.”
“Don’t.”
I hate to admit it, but I chuckle. Thankfully, Andi’s quick to draw our attention back to her by continuing her train of thought.
“It doesn’t matter how you get into music… No, no no no. Wait, no, I mean yes, but what I mean is… It doesn’t matter how you appreciate music, as long as you appreciate it!”
Jan’s smile is still a little faint, but she’s got his attention.
“There are deaf musicians and dancers, there are blind pianists… Right? If they chose you to be the Ultimate, it means your music has something special.”
She leans on the table, trying to get closer to him, though she ends up invading Alice’s personal space if nothing else.
“You love it, right? I can’t wait to hear you play.”
The Ultimate Pianist opens his mouth slightly, and stares at her for a second… Before he vaguely tilts his head, and finally smiles for real again.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Hehe…”
For some reason, Akiro looks reassured, adjusting his seat.
Alice grabs Andi by the shoulders and delicately places her back in her seat too, clearing her throat.
“It’s not like he has some sort of handicap anyway. If he was meant to be the same, then they’d have just made Andi the Ultimate Pianist too, and why not the Ultimate Banjo Player too…”
“Oh, I played the piano before, but not the banjo.”
“Can you play the guitar, Jan?”
He nods.
“Decently so.”
“Wait, I said I played the piano before, not that I knew how to do it.”
“Oh, my.”
…Sounds like fun.
“Okay, well, my argument still stands. Jan’s not the Ultimate Guitarist, even though he plays it “decently”, which in Jan language means, “oh, I’m actually really amazing at it, but I’m too humble to say it, hahaha”.”
“S-spot on!”
No. This was a terrible imitation.
“I said… “Decently”.”
“Standing his ground…”
“He can’t be the Ultimate Guitarist! That’s me.”
“Wait what, really? I thought you got here by chance.”
“The Ultimate Lucky Student doesn’t exist, though.”
“What the hell kind of talent did you just come up with?”
Jan shrugs, smiling like he knows something we don’t.
“Blah, blah, blah. I was born knowing how to play the guitar.”
“Right.”
“Oh, but I swear.”
Now that… Would be an amazing kind of talent, way more interesting than having a good sense of hearing.
“How did you find out?”
Wait.
Did he believe her?!
“When I finally got my hands on a guitar, I immediately knew how to play it!” she answers enthusiastically.
“Stoooooop…”
“What a liar..!”
“That’s pretty cool. I wonder how it happened… It sounds like an interesting story.”
“I wish I understood!”
“Okay, that’s enough..!”
“Jan, what did we say about feeding the troll?”
“I don’t remember discussing how to treat the troll.”
“Rah…”
“Pff… You guys just don’t know what you’re talking about.”
It did sound like the two of them understood each other… Does Jan..? Nah, he has the decency not to feed us such a silly lie.
“Honk, honk… … I don’t have my nose.”
They pressed the air around their nose… I pick up surprisingly quick that they mean their clown nose.
“Actually, I have something to ask you… Musician to musician!”
Andi gets up and quickly places herself behind Jan.
“Hm?”
“It’s a secret for our future collab. Let’s talk about it over there…”
She points to a corner of the room.
“…And whisper, because this weirdo has supernatural hearing abilities.”
“Hey… You’re a weirdo too!”
Jan hesitates, and turns his head to Alice.
“That sounds fishy, right?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over how much fish I’m smelling.”
…
“Wow, so much fish. Who put a fish inside my nose?”
She vaguely pretends to remove something from inside her nostrils.
“Hey, we’re just going to the corner of this room. You’re not ready for what I have in mind… Yet!”
“Haaa… Okay.”
“I can’t believe you’re following her.”
Jan chuckles as he gets up from his chair.
“You’re just jealous because you didn’t learn how to do your thing before a few months.”
“Hah? I’ll have you know I learned how to walk very early on!”
She pouts, crossing her arms, but she’s very obviously trying not to smile.
“Oh my God. Alice’s thing is “walking”.”
“Your thing is being a clown.”
“…Yeah, okay, fair enough.”
Laughing, Jan leaves the scene, following Andi to the corner of the room, where they start whispering.
It does smell fishy…
We all look at them, before we turn back to face each other. I sigh… What were we talking about? Ah, my question was what sparked the conversation, but I got my answer, now. Jan shouldn’t worry about me being disappointed. Akiro and Andi responded pretty well… Besides, I would never doubt that he’s amazing.
“I predict...”
Playing with his hair, Benjamin stares at one of the strands he’s holding.
“…That no matter how hard she tries, she won’t manage to turn him into a troll.”
“That’s not a real prediction.”
“You’re right. I’m just kidding.”
I think he forgot to laugh. Or smile.
“You’re in presence of the Ultimate Clown and you won’t even make an effort to make a good joke?”
“Hey, don’t involve me in this.”
“I could act it up, but I know you’d hate that.”
“You don’t have to over…”
Like I said, I have extraordinary hearing abilities. Did Alice and Akiro think I couldn't hear them whisper right next to me?
“If you don’t ask him, I’ll do it for you.”
I shut up just in time for everyone to hear her. Benjamin turns his head to them, and we both kind of stare.
“Aliiiiiiiiice..!”
Noticing, Akiro hides his face behind his hands.
“Oh well. Just ask him!”
“Noooooo!”
“I promise it’ll be alright! He’ll be glad!”
…
We stare.
“What are you going on about?”
“Akiro, I’m gonna say it.”
“N-no!”
He frees his face by slamming his hands on Alice’s arm, as if to keep her from moving. He looks extremely embarrassed.
“L-let me ask it..!”
“I’ve been telling you to do it!”
…
Stare.
The redhead moans frustratingly… And forces himself to look in Benjamin’s direction.
“I-I-I don’t want to bo-bother you, an-and it’s n-n-not very import-tant, so…”
“Ah, you’re asking something to Ben? You can definitely calm down, then.”
Am I supposed to understand that if he’d asked me, or Ciel, something, there’d be more ground to stay anxious?
“Uh… Uhm…”
“I can’t imagine that you’d bother me.”
You bet. You were just telling me about how you’d kiss Akiro on the forehead if you could.
“I d-d-don’t know if that’s a weird thing for me to ask, th-though…”
Ah, time for Ciel to whisper in my ear.
“Ten dollars that’s he’s gonna ask him if he’s single.”
…
“He’s noooooot.”
“I, uhm… C-could you read my fortune? Please?”
“Aw, shit!”
“Wh-wh—”
“Hey, what’s that about?”
“Oops, uh, sorry.”
Ciel starts to laugh nervously… Knowing them, they’re going to be laughing like that for a little while now. I can’t help but giggle too… They sounded genuinely disappointed.
“Hey, now…”
We turn our attention back to Ben. Seeing how intimidated the Ultimate Writer is, I wish he could smi—
Aaaand he does. His façade—assuming that it’s a façade—breaks, revealing a very satisfied smile.
“I would love to read your fortune.”
“Oh r-really?”
Akiro looks happy.
“Oh, uhm…” he continues, passing his hand through his hair, “I have no ide-idea what… it is really, I’m just c-curious about it…”
“Hm-hm.”
Oh no. He looks exceedingly happy too.
“Well, I don’t have to read through you to tell that you’re anxious about it. If I say something that makes you uncomfortable, you can ask me to stop.”
He points to Alice.
“This is perfect. If you feel anxious, remember that your friend is right in front of you.”
“O-okay…”
He looks a bit confused as Ben gets up, and turns around the table to place himself between the two. Alice nods approvingly.
“Without any of my stuff… And since it’s your first time, I think you may be interested in a palm-reading. But since I’m not just any fortune teller, I’ll be able to look through you too if you want.”
“L-look through m-me?”
He nods.
“Yeah. But I can start with reading your palm, if you want.”
“O…kay…”
Hesitatingly, Akiro places his left hand on the table.


“Both. Are you left-handed?”
“Y-yes.”
He places his second hand next to the first. Benjamin takes a quick look, then straightens his back to inhale deeply, and get rid of his smile, before he leans over again.
Ciel and I exchange a glance, but it looks like we should let it happen before we say anything.
“Water…”
“Wut?”
He stares for a little longer, tilting his head left and right.
“I see…”
Akiro keeps glancing up and down between his hand and Ben. Sorry, buddy… I have no idea what he’s seeing either.
“This isn’t very surprising. As a writer, you’re very creative.”
“Hm… Hm-hm.”
This is pretty interesting… Benjamin’s tone is serious, and his voice a little warmer than usual. Usually, he uses his “fortune telling” abilities to surprise people, but he’s putting on a different, more professional character just now.
“You don’t need me to tell you you’re sensitive and experience a lot of stress either, so your hands are very aligned to the way you present.”
“Ah..?”
Delicately, Benjamin grabs Akiro’s two wrists, and starts to touch his palms, sort of like he’s trying to massage him.
“That is it.”
His victi—Akiro’s shoulders stiffen a little, but paying no mind, the fortune teller places his index in the middle of his right hand, following its lines.
“Your palms say… Curious by nature, you’re likely to be willing to change your mind.”
He changes lines as he goes.
“Your relationships matter greatly to you… And you are likely to commit to long term relationships. I’d tend to say… Finding the one has been giving you trouble…”
He raises his head to look into his eyes.
“Unless you’ve already met them, in which case, you feel as though your love is unrequited.”
What the hell…
The Ultimate Writer loudly swallows his spit. I notice Alice tilts her head to the side, leaning forward slightly… But he doesn’t react, and the fortune teller continues, lowering his head again.
“In your daily life… You feel recluse, as though your actions are limited. Professionally…”
Ben passes his index over the same line multiple times.
“Professionally… You are hopeless.”
“Ha?!”
He quickly glances at Alice, then straightens his back and, letting go of Akiro’s hands, crosses his arms.
“This is what your palms tell you.”
He very obviously examines Akiro’s reaction. Alice was obviously upset by his last claim, but he doesn’t react much. He stares at his palms, a little emptily.
“Hmm… I see…”
“Your palms know you from your past, and evolve in the present. Tomorrow… Even more so the day after… Some of their creases will have changed.”
“O-oh. Interesting…”
“They’re just creases in his hands! What do they know?!”
“Hey, it’s, it’s okay…”
“They know Akiro, but that’s it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know, I don’t think Akiro’s upset.”
Ciel giggled for a while… But now calmer, they’re simply smiling, slightly apologetically so.
“I’m, I’m really not.”
He laughs nervously. Alice sighs.
“Okay, then…”
“In, in that c-case, B-Benj-jamin…”
“You can call me Ben.”
“Yeah… Th-that would probably be b-better, right..?”
He grimaces, but is still smiling somewhat.
“If you, if you looked thr… “through me”… Would you see the same things?”
“Seriously..?”
I spoke without thinking. I can’t believe… He’s braver than I am…
…No… Nevermind. I do believe it, actually.
“Not necessarily.”
Tall guy McGee looks satisfied with this question.
“Fortune telling is subjective. Knowing yourself, and your surroundings, you should interpret it over my own interpretation… And make your own future with it.”
He leans over towards him a little... Dare I say… Creepily?
“But as the Ultimate Fortune Teller… I can try to reinterpret what your mind sees.”
“S-sees..?”
“Do you want to try?”
“Where’s Jan?”
She looks in the direction of where she knows Jan is, still participating in coming up with an evil, secret plan. Or am I just saying negative things because I’m stressed?
“Can we have Jan back? The guy with a smile you can’t stop staring at? I just want Akiro to stop looking at Ben.”
“Come on Alice, it’s not your mind he’s reading.”
Ciel is defending Ben’s practice… But I agree with her! I hate this!
“I’ll t-tell him you said that.”
Alice sighs dejectedly.
“Nooo... I wouldn’t want him to stop smiling now.”
“A-anyways... I do want to try.”
“Okay. I’m going to need you to let me stare into your eyes, and blink as little as possible.”
“Aaah… That’s g-going to be a little… difficult…”
“If you want me to read you, just try your best. If you don’t… Well, you can always close your eyes, or look away... Or bite me, I don’t know, what feels natural.”
“Has someone ever bitten you before?”
“H-he d-d-does sounds like he’s u… u… … usedtoit.”
Crap..! I sound worse than Akiro right now. I don’t want to lose my title over this…
“Wow, so I’m not the only one who hates this.”
“L-let’s get it over with…”
“Please try not to bite me, though.”
“Ahem… I’ll, uh, try.”
Ben places his index underneath Akiro’s chin to lift it towards him slightly. He immediately tries to stare into his eyes, but the writer blinks heavily, and his gaze tries to run away in any other direction.
The fortune teller waits in silence, however, and soon enough, Akiro manages to convince himself to stare back, blinking less and less… Growing redder and redder, but it doesn’t seem to bother either of them.
They stare at each other for a little while… And let me tell you, it’s not cute. I hold my breath… I can just see myself in his place, and I want to run away.
Finally, Ben lets go of his chin.
“I understand your reaction better, now.”
“A-Ah?”
Akiro lets his chin fall, and stares into emptiness, scratching himself nervously.
“Well, given the circumstances, it makes sense… But you’ve been experiencing great changes… And I mean very big changes, in your life very recently.”
“Y-yes…”
“But here’s your future, according to this reading…”
Ben takes a step back with a pretty peaceful smile… Unusual of him. Akiro shakes his head, sorta like a wet dog trying to dry himself up, before he looks at him again.
“You’re going to be able to do something you’ve been unable to for a very long time… You will be reunited with something you’d lost, and it’ll encourage you to move forward.”
“Ah..!”
“Do you know what I mean?”
“I-I think so…”
Akiro looks a lot more satisfied with this reading. He’s obviously a little hesitant, but can’t keep himself from smiling. This looks to satisfy Ben as well.
“I can only encourage you to think it through in your own time, though.”
“O-okay… Hmm…”
He scratches his neck.
“Th-thank you… Hehe.”
Alice slams her fist down on the table.
“Too cute.”
“…It was my pleasure.”
I don’t need to be a mind reader to know he’s thinking what she’s saying.
“Heh, this was pretty cool after all.”
“What a bunch of nervous bastards, though…”
…I can’t say anything. I’m trembling a little bit.
I’m so on the edge, I can’t help but jump in surprise when Andi comes back, pushing Jan in front of her.
“Here’s everybody’s boyfriend back!”
“Everybody’s..? Oh no, that’s a little too much…”
“Oh, wow.”
Everybody’s boyfriend looks a little overwhelmed. Free from her grasp, he sits down between Akiro and Alice, where he’d initially been. Ben takes this as an opportunity to come back next to me… Unfortunately…
“Jaaaannn..!”
Akiro lightly shakes him by the shoulder.
“Don’t you, don’t you want Ben to read your fortune?”
“What?”
He frowns… Sincerely looking like Andi drained him out. I don’t remember hearing her break into song, though…
But he shakes his head, and relaxes his expression.
“Ahem, no, thank you.”
“Yes, good, welcome to the club of people who aren’t total weirdos, current members: you, me, Neo.”
“Neo?”
He looks at “Neo”, who’s currently shaking, and oddly doesn’t seem so sure.
Akiro glances at Andi, who's going back to her seat, but she answers before he gets to ask.
“That shit bores me the hell out, so don’t even think about it!”
“Aww…”
He doesn’t look too sad, though.
Anyway, why is the fortune teller poking my arm? I’m trying to pretend he doesn’t exist.
“Neeeooo, don’t waste my tiiiime, Lois is already going to kill meeee…”
“Why does that ma-ma-matter t-t-to m-m-m-me?!”
“Akiro, I think it would have been nice of you to tell us you were contagious.”
“Sh-sh-shut up-p!”
“Oh, I see a little bit of Keith as well… Or maybe I just have a problem?”
“I always said Neo was too much of a sponge for everyone’s feelings.”
That’s it, I’m going to cry.
“Akiro’s doing just fine, right?”
“Akiro? Wait, did you..?”
Akiro nods enthusiastically, which goes to reply to the two questions asked.
“Huh.”
“Huh.”
He places his index over his mouth.
“Huh.”
“Do you want to try it too, then?”
“Nope.”
“Huh.”
“… Maybe another time.”
Immediately after saying no clearly for maybe, who knows, the first time in his entire life, Jan chuckles nervously and smiles apologetically.
“Okay. In any case…”
He starts to poke my arm again. I’m going to… do something. I don’t know what, but I’ll do it.
“I swear I’m not even lying. To someone who’s this nervous about having their fortune read, the easiest solution is usually to have their fortune read.”
“As if!”
I turn to him… He looks bummed out. Then again, he always does.
“If I’d known it’d make you this nervous, I’d have done Akiro’s in another room. I’m just trying to make things right, you know…”
“Why didn’t you use your fortune telling abilities to learn that beforehand?!”
And can he stop poking my arm?!
“Oh boy, Neo…”
Ciel very lightly taps my other arm to grab my attention.
“Well, first of all, stop poking his arm.”
“Ah, okay.”
He stops.
…
I’m too nervous to think anything nice, right now.
“Then… Hey, Neo, why don’t you believe him?”
“Wh-what?”
My stutter simply goes in rhythm with my trembling.
“Hem… Is-is this m-my fault..?”
“No.”
“No.”
“No.”
“No.”
“No.”
“You two weren’t even there!”
“But we know.”
Jan nods.
“O-okay… I think I got it…”
…
“Yeah, no.”
I managed to say it normally… But it took me a lot. I’m way too nervous, and the truth is, I don’t know why. I just know it’s not Akiro’s fault…
I glance at Benjamin.
“Neo?”
It’s not his fault either. It’s all on me.
“Oka-okay…”
I clear my throat, trying to regulate my breathing, and tremble less.
“Just do it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Wow.”
They asked in perfect harmony…
That was… rather impressive. It makes me giggle… And that immediately, somehow, makes me feel a little better.
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Remember, Ciel is right behind you. Also, biting is always an option.”
Oh, I would love to.
“I won’t read your hands because you’ll probably cringe if I try to sound serious, so... Just look at me in the eyes…”
He still makes his voice gradually softer, warmer, probably by reflex.
“And try not to blink too much.”
I feel like this is happening way too fast, but he’s probably doing it on purpose. I feel some tingling down my back, and something screams to me to run away, but I force myself to do it… Because I don’t want to make the others uncomfortable. I just have to act casual… So as to not make Akiro, or Ciel, feel bad.
I loudly swallow my spit, and force myself to look directly into Ben’s eyes. I’m really tempted to look away, but I manage not to.
I can see feel his little eyes scour through my soul… And my chest tightens, and tightens…
“Huh.”
…And explodes.
At least it feels like it.
I’m staring right into his eyes—I can see it. The worry, the confusion. But he continues to scour, and for some reason, I don’t move.
I think I might be catatonic.
“…Huh.”
“Hum, Ben?”
“Okay, I’m done.”
He leans back… I hadn’t even noticed he’d leaned so close to me… But I can’t move.
I don’t feel better at all.
He lied to me.
“I’m done reading, so it’s alright.”
I knew I shouldn’t have let it happen.
“Neo…”
He snaps his fingers in front of my eyes…
…And somehow, for some reason, I feel my shoulders relax?
Not completely, of course, but it’s like… It feels like there’s been a ringing for the last few minutes, and I only notice it now that it stopped.
“What I saw was… First of all, you and I have something in common.”
“Something..?”
Ah, I can’t see her, but I can tell Alice is a little nervous. She’s trying to sound warm too, and reassuring, but I can tell. I failed. I made everyone feel bad…
But I manage to laugh nervously. Weirdly… I don’t feel as oddly guilty as I did before he started reading me. Like the proportions aren’t the same… Was he right after all? Though I still feel very anxious…
“Something… It’s all I can tell. But there’s something else, and…”
He looks in another direction.
“And…”
This time, he looks at the ceiling.
He looks for a while.
Then he smirks… Lets it evolve into a large, exaggerated smile, and lets his chin fall back to look at me. He looks at me for a second too long, before he starts to laugh… Badly.
“You’ll never believe me, Neo. It’s quite something. I should tell you in private, though.”
He takes a fake proud stance.
“Ha! You won’t doubt my power then!”
He laughs again, and grabs me by the hand, forcefully leading me outside.
He’s a terrible actor. He’s lying. This time, I know it for sure.

“I’m sorry, I lied. There’s nothing funny.”
“I could tell.”
He twirls his hair around his finger, looking in another direction.
Benjamin rushed me out of the dining room, and after checking that no one was there, let us stop in the hallway. I tried to look at the others’ reactions as he pulled me away, but because this all happened so fast, they hadn’t even had the time to register anything.
“Ah, crap.”
“What is it?”
Overwhelmed… It’s all I am. It’s like there’s a blurred filter all around and inside me, and I’m just trying to see through it and get rid of it as soon as I possibly can.
“What did you see? What do we have in common?”
“That’s not the problem… Like I said, I just know we do, but I can’t tell what it is.”
Then please just say what you want to say, instead of avoiding my eyes. You’re the one who brought me here.
“I’m serious, though, Neo. I have to deal with this as a fortune teller sometimes… But you’re my friend, so it’s different.”
…
I, uh… Don’t know why this distracted me, when there’s obviously something a lot more worrying going on. But if Ben thinks of me as his friend… It settles that I think the same, then.
“Please allow me to ask you a very serious question.”
I nod. He’s my friend… So I should always listen to him, no matter what. The strain in his voice… After all, he’s audibly forcing himself through this.
This means we both hate it. Thinking this, I close my eyes, with no particular reason.
“Are you contemplating… Your own death?”
…
…
Are you contemplating… Your own death? He asks.
I ask.
No, not really. But I have been worried. As just a “fortune teller”, this may be what he saw. I don’t know why… But with this gruesome question out, I don’t feel as stressed as I did right before.
“I’ve been thinking about the Killing Game, but not a lot about myself,” I reply, opening my eyes.
He looks worried. Did I miss that before? He’s not all that expressive, so maybe I did.
“There’s no way for me to tell whether you’re telling the truth, though.”
“Ah..!”
It’s true, even if I had, I would have lied to reassure him. But what does it mean? That no matter what I say, he’ll stay worried? I don’t know what he saw.
“In you, I read contemplation of your own death. When I looked through Ciel and Akiro…”
Ciel? Oh, that’s why they were so comfortable with it.
“Uh, I took the situation into account, so what I saw in Ciel was for certain worry, but nothing more. Akiro… Didn’t even seem to consider it.”
I frown. Ciel has been worrying… About their own death? That’s not okay. That’s not okay at all! Ben seems surprised by it, but from Akiro doing fine, what I’m seeing is that my friend could not be worrying too.
Benjamin snaps his fingers in front of my face once again, but it doesn’t do anything this time.
“Don’t make that face when I mention Ciel, jackass, I’m talking about you here.”
“Wow.”
Rude…
“Well, that’s probably inappropriate. What I should say…”
He stops playing with his hair and lets his right hand fall to his thigh. It’s all tangled now…
“Given our situation, I could read what I saw as a lot of fear for your own death… by murder. If I’d seen this on someone in any other context, though, that’s not what I would have thought about.”
“What, then?”
He doesn’t reply immediately. Rather, he stares at me for a little while…
And frankly, he’s being too serious, right now. I don’t like that. It annoys me, but I would still like for him to burst into maniacal laughter, or spin around and strike a weird pose, better than this.
It’s that weird.
“I can’t change your thoughts, or memories… But I can tell you that much… Suicide isn’t an option.”
My jaw drops.
…
Ben looks away again, loudly swallowing his spit.
“Your life is unique… You can’t get rid of it just like that. People who love you, your family, your friends… They’ll never love someone else the same way…”
“Wait, wait! I haven’t been having any thoughts of suicide!”
When I realized he was going to try and continue to discourage me from… something like that, it’s like I suddenly woke up from a daze.
“Really?”
“Wait…”
I repeated myself... This time, because he slightly turned to me with puppy eyes… completely out of character.
“C-come on, you’re being weird, right now… I never even thought about that.”
I’d remember, right?
His expression returns to normal, but he insists.
“In that case, are you afraid someone will try to kill you? What I saw was that you knew you were going to die, and that’s way too much.”
“Not— not even!”
I’d almost ask who’s the idiot who planted this idea in his head, but it looks like it was himself… Unless it was somehow me?
“Even when I’m upset, I’m usually just thinking about the others or, at worst, what they think of me.”
He marks yet another pause, staring at me.
“I know what I saw, though.”
“But… It’s wrong. I know I never thought about anything like that.”
Let alone… That I knew anything about my future. Actually, accepting your own death is quite cynical… I don’t have the brains to go that far.
Now if he could stop silently staring…
“I’ll take your word for it.”
He crosses his arms.
“But if you ever think about it, forget your stupid ego and talk to me about it. Or to Ciel. Whatever. Just let your friends help you.”
“Uuugh…”
Like I said, I’m not thinking about death…
Yet his words manage to draw the smallest of smiles out of me.
“If it comes from my friends… It’s encouraging.”
“I knew that’d matter to you...”
Ah..?
Closing his eyes, he starts to stretch his neck, straightening his back, with the most unreadable of expressions.
Oh-oh.
I can see it coming.
He inhales…
Here it comes.
“With that said..!”
His voice gets gradually louder with each syllable, and he spins on one foot to face me again, pointing a finger in my face.
“Don’t make me waste my time any further… As my mission is as such: no one else shall die.”
“What..?”
I chuckle nervously. He’s annoying, but if that makes him happy…
“No one shall lose the life they built over fifteen to twenty-five years… Not under my watch!”
Oh no… It’s even worse when he’s obviously very sincere.
He jerks his finger away from me and with a smirk, crosses his arms.
“When my answer is confirmed… Just you see. I will have freed everyone here and you too, shall remember me.”
“If you say so…”
I wasn’t planning on forgetting him either way… But he has his reasons to focus on that kind of thing, more than I do.
“So, what’s the plan?”
He freezes… Then lets his entire body fall back to his usual stance.
“First, survive her wrath.”
“Her..?”
“Lois. She expected me back a lot earlier than that.”
I sigh… Lois is so mysterious to me, but Ben actually gets to talk to her. She’s not this “ghost” to him… She’s someone who waits for him, someone who’ll yell at him.
“Did you really leave her on her own for that long..?”
“Yeah. I haven’t been very nice to her lately, but that’s what we get…”
Hasn’t been very nice..? How? What are his standards for “not very nice”? Doesn’t he think I’m not very nice to him?
“Wasting my time here was my only exaggeration, though.”
Pff… Wasting his time, he says. Time spent with someone who’s as excited to see you as Ciel is isn’t time wasted. At least, it shouldn’t be… If there weren’t someone more important in the way.
“What would you do if anything were to happen to her?”
He stares blankly again.
“…In that case, I would have lost my sole reason for fighting.”

“Did you leave something out for Lois?”
“Ah, yes. Come with me…”
Jan stands up from his seat and leads Benjamin to the kitchen.
Following his reply, Benjamin continued to stare at me, and this time I could tell he was evaluating my reaction. I didn’t do anything, however… I didn’t move at all. His voice resonated in my head, but I had nothing to add.
After a few seconds passed, he decided to go back inside and get the lady some food.
“What did you two talk about..?”
I went back to my seat, next to Ciel.
“Oh, uh… Nothing. It was just a misunderstanding.”
They frown.
“You sure? We were all super worried, you know.”
“I-I feel b-bad for making you feel like y-you had t-to… to… you-you know…”
With Jan gone, Akiro’s on his own, at the extremity of the table. Alice’s attention is turned to Andi, as the two of them exchange turns scribbling on a piece of paper.
“F?”
“You already asked F!”
“But what if you changed your word halfway-through?”
“I did not!”
Hm… It doesn’t look like Andi’s ever played hangman before.
“Still? But you didn’t do anything. We’d already had a conversation about it before anyway.”
“A-ah, so that’s why you… you’d been building up an-anxiety.”
“Yeah, exactly…”
“And then Ben goes on to act all weird when he reads you. Not even funny.”
“You tell me!”
Ben told me one last thing before he opened the door.
“At least now that I read you, you’re not afraid that I might anymore.”
So maybe that’s why I feel a little calmer now… But I also feel more comfortable surrounded with some of the group.
“But you’re telling me it was a misunderstanding?”
I nod.
“You know… He’s anxious too, after all.”
Ciel tilts their head.
“Hmm…”
Their attention is quickly averted when Jan and Benjamin come out of the kitchen, the latter holding a Tupperware filled with what I assume must be Lois’ only meal in the day.
“Oh… Are you going to leave now?”
“Yes…”
While Jan walks back to his seat once more, Ben directs himself towards the door. He stops for a second, though, to look at Ciel.
“Take good care of Neo while I’m away, okay? After all, the two of us have something in common…” he says, smirking.
No comment.
“Pff. Right.”
“Feel free to remind Lois that she’s welcome to our table…”
Is this a battle of smirks?
“You wish.”
He shrugs, and finally leaves the premises.
“Wait, but I don’t get it. Now there’s only one letter missing, so the word is obvious.”
“Huuuh? Well, yes? Just say the word and you’ll win!”
“What? But I could’ve done that from the start.”
“No..? You needed to find enough letters to see what the word would be.”
“But I already knew it was “CATASTROPHE” after the first letter you gave me! You’d already written “C”, and I asked you for “A”.”
“Then why didn’t you say it?!”
“…I don’t get it.”
“Oh my God!”
She turns to her boys.
“Help me! Do something!”
“You could try another word.”
“D-do you st-still wanna play a-anyway… Andi?”
“Nah, this game sucks.”
“I have never, in my entire life, met anyone who didn’t know how to play hangman.”
“There’s a first for everything…”
“I don’t think she’s missing out much anyway…”
Huh… I don’t know why they started playing in the first place, but seeing the mood Alice has been in today, she’s probably not ready to handle Andi’s weirdness. Especially since… There’s a good chance that she’s just messing with her.
“What games can you play, Andi?”
“Tic-tac-toe, when I’m crazy bored!”
She raises her finger, like she’s taking her turn talking in class.
“But usually, we just play a buncha card games.”
“Do we have any card games?” Alice asks, turning to Jan again.
“Not in the storage room, at least.”
“Playing cards? I call dibs… if you find any!”
“Wut? Whatcha need them for? I thought you were a clown, not a magician.”
“The kids like magic tricks.”
…And? Do you plan to treat us like kids?
“I don’t see where they’d be if not in the storage room, though.”
“Maybe you didn’t look well enough…”
“There’s always that possibility.”
“How ab-how about y-you… search for them, if you want them…”
“Hey, I wasn’t planning on sending Jan to look again…”
“Ah… G-good.”
“Hm? I wouldn’t want to do it, but it’s not like I have anything better to do…”
“Bullshit! You’ve got music to write, remember?”
“Ah, yes, that’s true.”
“Ahem… Sounds like homework.”
“It does...”
“The hell’s with that? Work is wherever you need it to be.”
“Wow, soooo deep.”
...

The conversation didn’t really get anywhere.
The girls kept on bickering, and I was worried at first, but eventually realized they were both laughing. At some point, Jan sighed heavily and buried his face in his arms, and no one really thought to bother him.
Akiro, Ciel and I continued to do and say nothing for a while… So no matter how much I loved this group’s company, I started to feel like I was wasting my time here as well. Talk about being a hypocrite.
Like I said earlier, I spend most of my time worrying about others. Knowing for certain that these people are doing fine, I want to be able to think the same of other of my friends. And this includes… A certain girl who doesn’t really want to talk to me.
…All things considered, this goes to multiple of the girls here. Crap.
In any case, I stood up, and offered Ciel to come with me to check on Chloe one more time. I don’t like how our conversation went this morning, but I’d be a loser if I didn’t try to fix things up. They immediately accepted, and glancing at a lonely-looking Akiro, I asked him if he wanted to come with us.
“O-oh, no, th-thank you, but I’d rather s-s-stay… with…”
He glanced at the sleepyhead next to him. I wasn’t very surprised, so I smiled and said “gotcha”, and we left.
“There’s something I wonder…”
We agreed to look all over the main building, but if we can’t find her, the dome outside will be our next destination.
“Yeah?”
“Akiro, Jan and Alice… How did they become friends?”
I look at them. They seem deep in thought.
“I missed a few of the first days so… I’d tend to think you know better than I do?”
They shake their head.
“No… When I saw them, it was already the three of them together. But what makes the three of them hang out together?”
Emphasis on three—but why?
“Well…They get along very well.”
When we’re done looking inside each of the classrooms, we get moving to the next floor.
“But Akiro and Alice…”
I thought they were going to say something more, but they don’t. What about Akiro and Alice? Nothing will make me doubt how well they support each other.
“What are you saying..? In the worst of situations, seeing these two hold onto each other gave me a sense of stability…”
It’s true. When I’d just found Emily’s body, I couldn’t help but focus on their reaction for a bit. I don’t get what Ciel is questioni…
Ah, but as we reach the last steps, I see her.
I see them, rather. Chloe and Isabella are sitting next to each other in front of the new fashion room, and Chris stands in front of them, her arms crossed.
Our conversation interrupted, we walk a little faster to reach them.
“Ha, looks like I won’t be on my own anymore.”
“What’s going on?”
“Aww… Come on…”
Cross-legged, Chloe is very clearly annoyed, and tugs on her cheeks lightly.
“I’m being heartless, apparently.”
“What..?”
Chris turns to us, shaking her head. She doesn’t look like she’s having fun either.
“Chloe wants to spend her time with Isabella, now.”
“Why?”
What a sincere reaction. I almost asked “what?” again, but Ciel’s question is already more interesting. Is this the “someone else” Chloe found? Over Jan?
“Why not? It’s my choice…”
“Because she’s not our friend!”
Oof… I don’t think she can say that…
“That’s uh… Well, that doesn’t really matter, it’s just that… Isabella isn’t very emotionally available right now, you know?”
“It’s just that Isabella isn’t very emotionally available right now…” Isabella mumbles inside her arms.
“I don’t need her to be emotionally available… I just want to keep her company.”
“Well… Fuck, I’m not leaving you alone with her.”
“But why?”
She looks up at Chris, and her eyes start to tear up.
“I don’t trust her.”
“Well…”
A tear streams down her cheek. I can feel my chest tighten… Just seeing her get so worked up makes me feel a little nauseated.
“Why does that matter to me?”
“Come on Chloe, don’t play dumb!”
Of course, Chris gets worked up as well—she uncrosses her arms and closes her fists, placing them around her hips.
“It’s not that I want Isabella to be alone..! It’s that she refuses to talk to me, so there’s no way for me to know her intentions!”
“Because you matter soooo much…” she mumbles.
“…Tch!”
It looks obvious to me that Chris wants to help, but she doesn’t know how. Me neither… And I must be worse, because I’ll continue to refuse to admit that Isabella may be untrustworthy.
“Isabella… What do you want to say?”
Ciel grabs my arm once more. I glance at them, but they’re vaguely staring in the Ultimate Make-up Artist’s direction, looking nervous. I grab their hand.
This is about “not being alone”.
“Don’t talk to me.”
“What if they do?!”
“You’re just so aggressive!”
Chloe continues to cry, giving Chris an accusatory look.
“And why don’t you stop crying..?!”
The Ultimate Gymnast grabs her ponytail and starts to violently tug on it.
“I…”
Ciel holds my hand tighter.
“If you continue, I’m gonna cry too..!”
…And she starts to tear up in turn…
“Aaaah, stop! Why?!”
If the two of them cry, I will start to cry too!
“Then let’s just… let’s just cry!”
“Rah..!”
“Wait, that’s… L-ladies, let’s calm down…”
Chris sniffles, but she doesn’t actually cry. She clears her throat, and manages to avoid bursting into tears… Despite Chloe’s tearful offer.
“I’m too sad… I try my best, why do you have to do this shit to me?”
“Hey… It sounds like the two of you are trying to… do your best, so why don’t you just try to listen to each other?”
Ciel’s hand is damp, and their arm stiff… I can tell they’re nervous, but their voice comes out with confidence and an encouraging tone.
Meanwhile, Chloe continues to weep.
“I’ve been trying to argue normally for the past… I don’t know how long… You’re just showing up to see that it has led nowhere.”
“Why..?”
I’m a bit nervous too.
“Did you guys just not manage to come to an agreement?”
“She’s not listening…”
Chris sighs, still obviously sounding a little choked up.
“She bends everything I say the wrong way to make it sound like I’m being mean…”
“That’s not true… I just don’t understand why you’re being so mean…”

“Uuuuughhh...”

Isabella finally expresses herself a lot louder, as she throws her upper body backwards to lie down on the floor.
“The headache…”
“Heh, finally something relatable…”
Isabella has been listening to this… The whole time.
“Ciel was right to ask you what you wanted to say…”
“Yeah, for sure. Bitch has been listening to us the whole time and doesn’t even try to help.”
“Just go do this somewhere else…”
“A-ask for Chris to leave me alone..! Then I won’t bother you...”
“This is literally none of my business.”
“That doesn’t sound wrong…”
Ciel relaxes their grip on my hand.
“Why do you want to be with Isabella, Chloe? It doesn’t sound very reciprocal…”
“It is not.”
It sounds like Isabella is a lot easier to handle when she’s well past exasperated…
Chloe sniffles.
“It’s just safer for us to be always with one person… And no one else wants to be with her…”
“That’s… because she hates us.”
“Like I’ve been telling you... The reason is that you’re not safe with her.”
The Ultimate Gardener shakes her head.
“That’s just not true..!”
“Are you blind???” Chris whispers, for whatever reason.
“See..? You’re being mean again..!”
“I.”
She.
… Slowly turns her face to us, wide-eyed.
“I’m not going insane, am I?”
“I uh… Hope not.”
“Chloe, Chris isn’t trying to be mean…”
“You’re rejecting Isabella because of her flaws,” she sobs, “like you guys aren’t flawed too…”
“I’m not going to lie… I’m the one who started the whole rejection thing.”
“Ah, she’s cracking up…”
Indeed… Isabella doesn’t move, and continues to stare at the ceiling. She speaks in a monotone voice… But whether she meant to or not, she’s helping us, and that’s the surprising part.
“But still..! It’s not safe for you to be on your own, that’s…”
Chloe is starting to be so upset she forgets to cry.
“That’s why even though you don’t want to talk to me, I’m going to stay next to you…”
“I don’t want you to, though.”
Chloe exhales, but is interrupted with a sob of her own.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but for your safety… I have to keep an eye on you…”
…
The Ultimate Make-up Artist lazily raises her arm and vaguely points in Chris’ direction.
“Take it from there.”
Ciel snorts.
… I don’t know what they found funny. Was it the contradiction Isabella brought up, or the way she delivered the line? I could see it being both…
In any case, they grab my hand tighter again, but this time it’s because they’re trying not to laugh. When they’d just been genuinely anxious… What a clown.
“I’m not even sure if I should say it…”
“What..?”
Though old tears are still streaming down her cheeks, Chloe has stopped crying. She stares into emptiness, and it’s obvious that she doesn’t know what yet, but she’s noticed there’s something wrong.
“If you’re going to continue watching Isabella because that’s what you feel is safer even without her consent, you can’t keep me from doing that for you.”
“…”
This is a case of audible silence.
After a few seconds, she swallows her spit.
“But you’re doing it because you think negatively of Isabella specifically. It’s not the same.”
Still staring at nothing – her tone is much calmer than it has been all day, and she delivers this sentence with a lot more strength. It’s like something clicked inside her head… I think this conversation is going to get easier.
Oh, and Ciel continues to laugh silently… Their face now buried into my right arm.
“That’s her fault, though.”
Chloe frowns.
“No, I don’t get it… Why are there some things that you forgive, and others that you don’t?”
Chris flinches. I blink. What does she mean..? It crosses my mind that this is a very deep question, but it doesn’t really register, and I don’t know what to think.
“Oh well, let’s partly answer the question. Isabella?”
No answer.
“Can you apologize to Alice for trying to hit her? You could apologize to Jan too, while you’re at it.”
“That’s not happening.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“That’s… Is that..?”
Chris spins on one foot to turn to me, continuning her demonstration.
“Neo, remember that time I lashed out on you unfairly? I was upset, you were upset.”
“What..? Oh. Oh, right.”
A few days ago, Chris rejected me when I tried to help… When she broke down over Monokuma hurting Noah. Hm.
“Why do you bring that up? I wasn’t even mad at you and you still apologized.”
She nods, and turns her head to Chloe again.
“Well, I’m still mad at myself… About pretty much everything I do, but Neo knows I didn’t want to hurt him.”
“Although…”
Ciel lets out one last nervous chuckle, before they let go of my arm. Ahh… I was starting to feel a little tense.
“Neo had his reasons to forgive you…”
They’re still smiling, though.
“But that depends on who he is as a person, and how he felt about what you did.”
She nods a second time.
“Yeah, even if Isabella apologized, I could choose not to forgive her for what she did specifically, if I feel like an apology isn’t enough to fix it.”
“Arg…”
Chloe lowers her head and sighs, her eyebrows arched exaggeratedly as always. She closes her eyes, and we wait…
It feels like it’s her turn to speak, so we wait.
…
“…My apologies.”

“I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m always this stubborn, so… Please pay no mind to it.”
Chloe speaks up without looking at her interlocutor, and when she’s done, for an instant, everything freezes.
This isn’t my apology to accept. Ciel and I were only late spectators to their argument.
Chris stares at her, unmoving, as she refuses to look up—ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds… Then she smiles, and lets out a long, relieved sigh.
“So am I.”
She crouches, a movement that triggers Chloe to instinctively look towards her, and holds out her hand.
“Let’s agree that we’re gonna keep on fighting.”
“H-huh?”
Looking confused as ever, Chloe stays unmoving, emptily staring at the Ultimate Gymnast.
She insists.
“I like a challenge. We’re both stubborn, so… So long as we both live, we’re going to keep fighting every now and then. How’s that sound?”
“Ahem…”
She sighs too, but finally grabs the girl’s hand and shakes it.
“Like nothing to shake hands over but… At least we understand what’s up.”
“Aight.”
Letting go of Chloe’s hand, Chris uses her palms to back herself up a little and sit on the floor, facing her and Isabella.

She stayed much calmer from that point on. Chris’ fighting spirit… It makes me feel somewhat emotional. I love the way she goes.
There isn’t much to be said about the following conversation, though. Ciel and I undoubtedly were only on the side of it, and I kept telling myself that so was Isabella. Chris insisted that it felt important to her to stay with them, and Chloe explained that she felt bad seeing her feel forced to spend her time watching her, but she insisted that she’d rather do that and be bored than stay worried and irresponsible.
Isabella didn’t make a single other comment. I guess a new trio was formed today… But I wonder if she’s ready to let that happen.
What time was it then, again..? The thing is, every day is starting to look alike. I wake up too early… The same people are always there, and whenever there’s an exception, I’ll search for them and it’ll turn out to have been useless… Hmm, or did that only happen once?
All of this goes to say… After we finally split, I spent the rest of the day with Ciel, as usual.
“What do you think about death?”
“Uhm..? Uh, it’s bad, very bad. Well, I mean… It happens, but it’s sad. What kind of question is that?”
“That’s uuuuh… Not exactly what I meant. I was more so wondering… Do you even think about it? In general?”
“Yyyy…yes? Sure? I’m not sure where you want to go with this.”
“I’m just worried about what you feel… If you were to die in this Killing Game, what would you do..?”
“…Nothing, I’d be dead.”
At this point, I facepalmed.
“Jokes aside…”
They giggled nervously…
“If you’re worried about being killed by someone… There isn’t much I can do for you, but I can tell you that I’m sure that as long as you lock yourself in your room at night, and don’t isolate yourself inside the school during the day, nothing can happen to you.”
“No, I’m… Me? Not really… I don’t think anyone has any reason to do something like that. With this motive? I mean, even if it were efficient, it takes a lot to kill…”
“Yeah… After all, we’re rid of him now, for better or for worse.”
…
This is one of the conversations we had.
I think we were inside the computer room. Like they already said, Ciel likes this room, and I don’t really care where we are, as long as we’re together.
Now the day’s over… We ran into a few more people, but didn’t have any meaningful interaction. Nothing out of the ordinary… The new meaning of “ordinary” I’m learning for as long as I’m imprisoned here. Not too long before the official nighttime, Ciel and I said goodnight to each other, but not before I shared my feelings with them.
“I feel bad doing sort of the same thing everyday.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah… I feel like I’m just being bogged down. We’re just doing our thing, waiting…  But waiting for what?”
They tilted their head.
“Hmm… Someone will have to come save us eventually, right? It might take a while, though…”
“But, is it right to... Can we wait? We’re just all chatting with each other all day, being mostly sad… Are we just… Accepting this?”
“No, it’s not okay..!”
Their cheeks reddened, and I caught a spark in their eyes.
“Are you saying… You want to try again?”
“T-try?”
“Let’s look around the school! Ask people what they know!”
Suddenly, they were getting excited.
“We might find an exit, a secret, or how to trap the mastermind..!”
I felt my shoulders stiffen, and it was like I was suddenly woken up… Hey, yeah! Of course we can do that! ...I thought.
“Yes! Yes, that’s right! We’ll feel better if we try, right? And we can definitely get something out of questioning someone… Like Ben, right?”
I clapped my hands once.
“We can examine the school once again, since this is the least likely research to give us anything. Then we’ll move on to something new, does that sound okay?”
They nodded enthusiastically.
…
So yeah. I may sound a little depressed right now, but I’m mostly just a little overwhelmed. We promised to both get up with the morning announcement tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll fall asleep soon. We’ll have to ask Mina whatever she thought about the architecture too, I think.
I got carried away, but I’m ready to let myself continue down this path. What surprises me is Ciel’s enthusiasm… And when I’m starting to form a proper thought about what they said they thought of me that one time, I’m also starting to drowse away to sleep…
Ciel said…
…
…

“I wasn’t born to kill, you know? When Papa


When Papa

When Papa
Papa
…
Me
When Papa
…
Me
I felt powerless, because killing was wrong.”

“Mornin’ everyone! Unless it says “mourning”..? Hmm, you wouldn’t hear the difference anyway. What was Kumakuma saying? Oh, right… Good morning! It’s 7 aaaay eem!”
“Aaaah..! Haaa..!”
Emily’s voice just now… The worst! Why..? I don’t know… It feels like someone was just talking to me, telling me something I didn’t want to hear…
But uh, I forgot who or what already. It’s annoying when that happens…
At least I’m already well awake… I quickly remember my promise and head to the bathroom to get ready.
Just as I get done putting my clothes on, I hear someone knock on my door. It must be Ciel! Sounds like they were ready faster than I was. I stretch my arms and neck before I head back inside the room to open it, and…
…
Yeah, it’s Ciel.
“Good morning! I was checking if you’d kept your promise.”
I can’t help but smile when I see them. This promises to be a good… hmm… an okay day already.
“Duh. You’re the one who takes ages to get up in the morning, usually.”
Fittingly, they yawn.
“I refuse to not sleep in when there’s no work ahead.”
“But we’ll be working today, right?”
“Yeah..! Not before a solid breakfast, though.”
Who are you, Oscar? However, I nod. Breakfast sounds great right now.
“Let’s not waste any more time, then.”
It’s still pretty early so I’m not surprised that, again, we don’t run into anyone on our way to the dining room. Inside we still do find Chloe, Alice, Akiro and Jan, already eating their breakfast.
“Goooooood morning! Ooooh, Ciel, what a rare sight.”
“Good morning, Alice.”
“Good morning to everyone, while we’re at it…”
“Good morning.”
Ah, what a splendid smile. I especially appreciate it today, being that I’m already in a pretty good mood.
“Good morning Ciel, Neo.”
She smiles shyly. Akiro, in-between Alice and Jan, sort of groans to the table, where his head rests.
“Ohayooooooo…”
“Adorable, but try again.”
“G’morniiiiiiing…”
“You did this on purpose, right? There was no reason for you to speak Japanese just now.”
…But he ignores her. Ciel gives me a confused look, but I shrug—Akiro finishing his night on this table is the newest trend. That’s not what’s weird about this combination of people.
“Skämtar du..?”
“Hey…You guys aren’t being nice to us monolinguists.”
Alice sighs, and Ciel yawns… But as I was saying, it’s someone else I’m turning my attention to.
“Where are your two friends, Chloe?”
She laughs nervously, and I can’t tell whether she’s simply being shy, or she didn’t like my question.
“Surprisingly, Isabella was pretty eager to sleep inside her own room, rather than stay inside this building... Uhm, so Chris and I did the same, but I’ll go upstairs as soon as I’m done eating.”
“Oh, are you guys gonna hang out with each other?”
Is it okay to tell that to Alice..? I don’t have time to question it further, because Ciel tugs on my sleeve, simultaneously grabbing my attention.
“Let’s get something to eat.”
This seems to grab Jan’s attention too.
“You should get what I made.”
He taps his own plate, and only now do I notice that everyone’s eating the same thing—green pancakes?
“Matcha pancakes!”
“Oh wow, matcha? That’s neat!”
“What’s that?”
“Matcha tea? It’s green tea. I never tried it in pancakes though, so let’s give it a go!”
Ciel seems in a pretty good mood too, and Jan looks proud of his pancakes, so I nod, smiling, and we both head inside the kitchen.
Sure enough, there are two large piles of green pancakes waiting for us. Next to it are a bowl of fruit, icing sugar, and what looks like a very liquid-y glaze the same colour as the pancakes.
How early did he get up, exactly..?
“What’s that taste like?”
While I’m being overwhelmed by the amount of work Jan put in for this, Ciel takes a little spoon to taste the glaze.
“Oh, it’s sweet… With a little taste of coconut.”
“Hey, that sounds ni—”
“I guess the green’s just food colouring.”
“Oh my God, the EFFORT!”

Ciel took some tea and, just because I didn’t want to copy them, I poured myself a cup of coffee.
Both with a pile of pancakes on our plate, we headed back to the dining room, where nothing much had changed, save for Akiro now making an effort to sit normally and eat.
Time to taste these pancakes…
…Hmm!
“Woah! They’re so soft!”
“Do you like them, then?”
“Of course!”
Ciel’s also enjoying their breakfast.
“I don’t know what we’d do without you…”
Good question. I’d probably just… eat bread everyday. Bread’s nice.
Jan chuckles gleefully, though discretely. It seems that everyone’s liking his cooking a lot this morning, and he’s happy with himself.
“Where do you get these ideas… S-seriously…”
Akiro likes them too.
Chloe finishes before everyone else and, after washing her dishes, tells us she’s going to see how Isabella’s doing and leaves.
We’ll get going soon too, but I think it’s alright if we relax and enjoy our breakfast first.
Around when the Ultimate Trio finishes their food, another person makes their entrance.
“Ta-daaaaa!”
...Good morning, Andi.
“Hi, sunshine.”
“You’ll never guess what I’m bringing you today!”
“Beans?”
Pff- What? Wait, crap, I laughed. They got me.
“Knock it off…”
Keith enters after her, and she dramatically turns around to point at him with both her arms.
“Keith-in-a-better-mood-than-usual-but-not-in-a-great-mood-either-because-it’s-still-Keith!”
As if to contradict her, Keith immediately sighs… Ah, but it’s true.
He sounds a little less sincerely exasperated than usual. Like he’s tired of her, but he can survive it.
He even somewhat chuckles as we all stare at the two of them.
“Why, though?”
“They finally fucked.”
“In-inappropriate!”
Very much so. Ciel is baby. Ciel is right here. How dare you.
“No.”
…I felt a very Keith-like deep hatred in this short response, though, so no matter how Andi shows it, there isn’t much of a development here.
“Hell no!”
Andi turns back around and without hesitation, heads to the kitchen.
“I found him like this. Crazy, right?” she says… As she goes inside.
Now in the doorway on his own, Keith sighs.
“Like I said… Knock it off, idiot.”
Though she’s already gone.
“Well, it’s good to see you in a better mood, in any case.”
“Is that so?”
Again—none of his replies are very friendly, but he sounds noticeably less aggressive than usual.
“Is there a particular reason?”
Something appropriate, please.
“Hmm…”
Looking away slightly, I think he hesitates to answer to me at first.
“Might as well. It’s nothing special. My body hurts a lot less today, so I just feel generally… lighter.”
“Ooooh, that’s really good to hear!”
“Yeah, that’s cool! Did you find a better way to position yourself or something?”
“No. It just feels better for no reason.”
“Maybe hich bonech are fixching themchelvef up!”
…Soon enough, Andi’s coming back from the kitchen, her mouth already full of pancake.
“Let’s not jinx it.”
He crosses his arms delicately, visibly still being careful with his upper body. That’s weird… At first I thought he wouldn’t be able to move at all, then he needed someone to support him, now he’s walking on his own and even saying he feels better… I really thought his bones were in much worse condition than that, but maybe we were mistaken. There’s no X-ray machine around here…
Hey, that’d be a neat idea.
“Go get yourself some pancakes, they’re really good!”
She sits next to Jan and looks at him with stars in her eyes.
“I love you.”
“…Thank you.”
“Oh my God, no, you can’t reply “thank you” to “I love you”!”
“Ah? What else am I supposed to say?”
“You can say “I love you” back!”
“N-no you can’t.”
“Why not?”
…At some point, Keith disappeared into the kitchen. Andi patiently watches the conversation unfold, and I can almost hear her say “nom nom”.
“B-b-because… N-not until she makes him good food.”
“Oh, like a housewife.”
“…”
“…”
Ah, another case of audible silence. That’s three in a row!
“I think you’d be a better housewife than Andi, Jan.”
…Smiling, Jan points to Ciel with a quick move of the wrist.
“Ouch. Touché.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Housewives aren’t a thing anymore right? I’ll marry you, though, if it means I get delicious breakfast everyday. How old are you again?”
“…Seventeen.”
“Aw, fuck.”
Oh, seventeen, just like Mi… na…
No way.
“How old are you again?”
“Uuuh, I don’t know, like, twenty? Twenty-one? Oh yeah, twenty-one. Right.”
“Oh, no way.”
Really? No way? Is Andi being twenty-one more surprising than Mina and Jan being the same age?!
I knew he was my age or slightly younger, but I thought… Maybe eighteen… Or did I know it was seventeen? Man, it’s Mina’s age that’s not right.
“No way that what?” she asks as she stuffs more pancake inside her mouth—and before she turns to Keith, who’s sitting across from her.
“What took you so long?”
“I was really enjoying being left the fuck alone.”
“Crazy.”
“…There’s no way you’re older than me.”
“Huh? You’re younger than that?”
“Give me a break… I’m nineteen.”
“I’d say you look younger than that.”
“Aw, you, she says, making an exaggeratedly flaunted gesture of her right hand, I see what you’re doing, finding your way to all the ladies’ hearts.”
Ooh.
“Oooh.”
Ooooh.
“Oooooh! So that’s what he’s doing!”
He shakes his head with a worried look.
“That’s definitely not true…”

Again, I wouldn’t be supporting my own argument if I didn’t say that this conversation didn’t hold anything else that was very interesting. The Ultimate Trio continued to hang out in the dining room even though they were long done with their breakfast, and both Andi and Keith ate rather fast, as they didn’t finish eating very long after Ciel and I did.
We found ourselves back in the kitchen at the same time.
“What are you guys gonna do now?”
“Us? We’re gonna take another look around the academy, in case there’s anything we missed.”
“Aw, that sounds boring.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, Keith doesn’t want to see me today, so I need to find something to do to pass the time.”
“Like that’s ever stopped you before.”
“Hah? Do you want me to change my mind?”
“Oh, no, please fuck off.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Ciel and I exchange A Glance. They’re both lovely as always…
“...Is there a particular reason you’re giving him his freedom today?”
“Well, he makes a compelling argument.”
“Quit talking about me as if I weren’t right here.”
“Then just say it yourself… Jeez!”
“Hmpf.”
Done washing his dishes, Keith turns to us with a somewhat disinterested look.
“I don’t know how long it’ll last, so since I’m hurting less today, I really want to take the opportunity to chill on my own.”
“Oh, hey, that’s not bad.”
“Yeah, this boy deserves his relaxation!” she exclaims, patting his head… With her hand still wet and covered in dishwasher soap.
“I said fuck off!”
He grabs her by the shoulders to push her away, but he doesn’t stop holding her immediately.
For a long second, they look at each other in the eyes silently, before he abruptly lets go of her, shakes his head with a groan—like a wet dog who can't move its back would—and leaves the kitchen a little faster than he would usually walk.
I’m not sure what happened right now, but I think they just had a moment.
Andi turns to see him go.
“…I think he was seizing how much longer he’ll be able to put up with me,” she says calmly.
“How long do you think that’ll be?”
She turns to Ciel with the littlest of smiles—her eyes read like they’re filled with curiosity, but I don’t know why.
“I felt so bad when he was really mad at me, so I probably shouldn’t take the risk, right? I’ll see tomorrow how he’s feeling, and if he continues to feel better, I’ll take that as an opportunity to give him more space.”
“Huh…”
She smiles a little more.
“I’ll be real proud if this guy who started up hating the shit out of me becomes a longtime friend in the end, so I gotta balance this right if I want to make it work.”
Proud… Is that what this is about?

Ciel thought that was a good idea. And again, yadda, yadda, yadda… I just wanted to get to work! So after Andi decided she’d be trying to “steal” something from the vending machines inside the dormitory, Ciel and I quickly left, leaving the Ultimate Trio in the dining room once again.
Here we are now—walking towards the glass dome, because that’s where we decided we would go first.
We’re immediately a little underwhelmed when we get inside, though.
“Of course… It’s not very different inside from outside.”
“Yeah… But maybe that’s where we’re wrong.”
“Hm?”
“It looks like everything’s in plain sight just because we can see it from outside…”
They take a few step forward towards one of the trees, and points to its soil.
“But there’s a lot to dig through, right?”
Oooh.
…
We spent a lot of time searching through the entire dome. Ciel was determined enough to search through the soil – carefully of course, since this place probably belongs to Chloe – and I searched through every toolbox and so on.
There was nothing interesting, though. We even agreed that there was nothing remarkable about the plants, since they were all very different.
So after spending too much time in there…
We’re leaving.
“My fingers smell nice.”
“…Like soil?”
“Yeah, it makes me feel like I went outside.”
“Oh.”
We’re now heading back inside the main building, planning to work our way through every floor. We’ll just be avoiding the dining room since more people might be eating their breakfast, and since we all spend so much time in there we probably know it by heart already anyway.
“Anyways... Bottoms up! Since we’re being so thorough this time, we still have a lot of work ahead!”
“True!”
They’re still hopeful, and that contributes to maintaining my good mood through this.
Next up is the ground floor. Elevator – closed. Gymnasium – just like the glass dome, there’s nothing interesting, aside from the fact that the ceiling’s in perfect condition, which we didn’t expect since a ridiculously large claw recently descended from it…
Infirmary? I haven’t been there in a while. Still, there’s nothing new or interesting about it.
Now in the auditorium…
“Hi.”
“Oh hello Chris, what are you doing here?”
On your own…
“Hi, hi, hi.”
“I’m on a mission.”
“What kind of mission?”
Chris is kneeling on one of the many seats, holding up her Monopad.
“A mission for cushions.”
“A mission for cushions.”
“Yeah. My ass hurts sitting on the floor all the time, so I want to find something more comfortable. I thought maybe there’d be something here, but not at first glance.”
“You could probably take your own cushions from your room…”
“That’s probably what I’ll do, I just wanted to check. Especially since with these rules, ripping up one of the chairs isn’t an option.”
…I definitely didn’t consider it was one.
“So, why are you on your own?”
“I told Chloe to scream very loud if anything happened, and Isabella’s half asleep anyway. I won’t be wasting too much time, though.”
Saying that, she puts her handbook back and takes a few steps towards the other side of the auditorium, I’m guessing to complete her inspection.
“Did you guys need anything?”
“No, we’re just inspecting the place again… But it looks like you’re inspecting this room already.”
“Oh, right, right.”
She looks left and right and, even though she doesn’t speak any louder as she walks away from us, we can still hear her clear as day.
“Are you sure that’s very useful, though?”
Hey, don’t doubt us.
“We’re being extra thorough this time.”
“How thorough?”
“So thorough that…”
Ciel whips out their Monopad.
“We started a little after 8, and now it’s 11:30.”
“Whaaat? No way!”
They dramatically nod.
“I don’t know how much of it I spent with my hands in soil, but we’ve been at this for three hours and a half…”
“Huh…”
I cross my arms. How time passes… When you have fun? I wouldn’t say that was fun, but… I wasn’t bored. We worked hard and shared our non-discoveries with each other, so maybe three hours and a half isn’t all that crazy.
“I might see you upstairs by tonight, if you’re as slow as you’re saying.”
“Awww, mean!”
Is she all that wrong, though?
“If that’s how you’re gonna be, we’ll just head out.”
“I was gonna say we should head out just to get back to work…”
“Well yeah, that’s the real reason.”
Smiling, Ciels turns to the door, so I instinctively follow them.
“Don’t get lost on your way!”
“The fuck?”
On that, they open the door and we step back into the hallway. I’m the one to close it back behind us… I don’t know why now I’m feeling a little stressed about Chris leaving Chloe and Isabella on their own even just for a few minutes… I think Isabella won’t do anything dangerous.
“Will we be searching the weaponry room too?” Ciel suddenly asks.
“Ah..! Oh, uh… I guess we should, right?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Do you think that’ll be a problem?”
“Hmm… Nah!”
They start to head upstairs.
“It’s just a little impressive.”
“Yeah…”
I start to climb up the stairs too as we make our way to the first floor when suddenly…

…

The worst that could happen, right?

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
“No..!”
“NOOOOO! SOMEONE! SOMEONE HEEEELP!”
Chloe’s screaming at the top of her lungs. Without thinking, I start to gun it, and quickly reach the… first floor.
That’s where she is, running in our direction.
“Ciel! Neo!”
She’s in an obvious state of shock and panic.
“What?! What happened?!”
She’s panting—or is it me? Or is it Ciel?
“Mina..! You need to help us! Please!”
She grabs me by the shirt and starts running, pulling me, to the storage room.
The storage room…
I can’t believe what I see.

Spoiler:

I… can’t move.
I don’t understand.
Chloe let go of me, and she runs to the two bodies.
“We tried, but he’s too heavy..! We can’t move him!”
“Why… Do you want to… Move him…”
I can’t move my head to look at Ciel, but I can sense the horror in their voice. I can figure them… Pale, trembling, paralyzed, just like me.
“He’s gonna kill her! Please!”
She tries to lift Oscar’s huge body, but to no result at all. She isn’t making any sense…
“We can’t let that happen.”
Isabella’s standing beside Oscar, eyes wide open.
“The girl’s alive.”
“Wh-what?”
“She told us! She told us!”
“She told you what?!”
Ciel takes a step forward.
“She can’t breathe! Please!”
“H-huh?”
What the hell?!
Oh my God!
At almost the exact same time, Ciel and I run towards Oscar’s body. Without thinking, I grab him by the shoulder and try to lift him. Ciel, Chloe and Isabella join me to do the same thing…
But…
He’s too heavy..!
We only manage to hold him up slightly—is it enough for Mina to breathe? Why won’t she move?!
“Mina! Mina, can you hear me?”
“I think she fainted..!”
“We need more help..!”
“W-wait, don’t let him go..!”
I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, but I just want her to breathe.
“Chloe, grab something, anything! Something to place under him while we have him..!”
“H-huh?!”
I’m not sure she understood what I meant, but she lets go—and we have to hold the weight with all our strength… And comes back with what I think is a pile of binders.
“Okay, under him..!”
She forcefully pushes the binders in the smallest of openings we created between Mina and him and lets it fall behind Mina.
We let go—
CRACK…
The binders are crushed under his weight… But the pile remains just high enough to be about Mina’s width.
“M-maybe that’s giving her enough space to breathe..!”
I don’t even know… Ciel kneels next to the girl and tries to grab her to move her, but it’s like she’s stuck. My idea probably wasn’t enough..!
“This is ridiculous..!”
“I’ll search for help! Downstairs!”
“O-okay!”
Why hasn’t anyone come yet? Didn’t they hear Chloe screaming? What’s happening?!
Ciel grabs me by the arm.
“Let’s call for help upstairs! We need everyone!”
I don’t have a choice but to follow them, and we all run out of the storage room, except for Isabella, who continues to try and push Oscar.
Running upstairs, I almost fall maybe twice, or three times, but it doesn’t matter.
“Someone help! HELP!”
I don’t have the strength to yell out… Let’s find, someone, quick!
There’s no one upstairs, but one of the rooms is open. There must be someone in there..! I run even faster, rushing to the, to the church, right?
But…


…
Everything freezes.
Blood.
But he, too…
Is alive..?
“H-ha..! No..!”
Ciel pushes me out of the way to run to Ben. They launch themselves to the floor to grab him.
What… Is… Happening..?
“Ben! Hang in there! Please!”
“N… … No…”
“Shut up, shut the fuck up!”
Ciel’s already crying. They let go of Ben and stand up, immediately turning back.
“I’m gonna get help! Bandages! Blood! Stay with him!”
Vaguely looking at me, they run past me and back outside…
They’re covered in his blood.
“SOMEONE! HELP! UPSTAIRS, PLEASE! HE’S BLEEDING!”
I can hear them run downstairs…
I’m paralyzed.
What’s… Happening?
“So… You’re… The ones…”
“Shut up..!”
Without thinking, I repeat what Ciel told him.
His eyelids twitch as he stares at me. He’s visibly in pain.
Ben…
Ben.
Ben!
I don’t know what gets to me, but I also run to the floor to get closer to him.
“We need to stop the bleeding..!”
It looks like he was stabbed very deeply. The more I look, the more blood there is. Soon, his t-shirt is entirely covered with it.
I need to stop the bleeding..!
I look around, but there’s nothing to help me… I need something..!
Without thinking, I take off my overshirt, and try to wrap it around his torso, but… I can’t tighten it much..!
“Hang in there, we’ll save you!”
“No… You… won’t.”
“Wh-what?”
I panickedly look up to his face and he’s even paler…
And paler…
And paler…
And the light in his eyes is disappearing.
And yet, he chuckles.
“Don’t… worry…”
“Don’t worry?!”
I can’t stay idle… I need to do something… I press my hand on the wound through my shirt like it does something, because I just want it to bleed less..!
“In or… To win… You… have to… lose…”
“I don’t know what you’re sayi..! Shut up, lie down!”
I push his shoulder to the floor, because he, because he needs to take it easy, right? He should stay still..!
“To win… You have to lose…” he repeats.
“Please stay still!”
When did I start crying? I don’t know. I just thought everything was blurry.
I look behind me—why is no one coming yet?!
“Lose now… Okay…”
“What the hell are you saying?”
I’m straight up bawling now, still holding his shoulders. My tears fall on his face, but he doesn’t move, or react at all.
“No… Stay with me! Please..!”
I don’t know what to do anymore…
“Who did this to you…”
I continue to stare at him… And notice that his eyes widen a little. Is this…
A smile… I see?
“He…”
“He..?”
“The killer… he… he’s…”
His smile disappears.
No… He’s not doing this… And I don’t care! There’s no killer!
“HANG IN THERE!” I yell.
…
No…
I close my eyes.
His shoulders relaxed…
I hear steps behind me, running.
And when they reach the doorway to the church, they reach an abrupt stop.
A school bell rings.
“This is so exciting, everyone! You’ll never believe it, I tell ya… A body has been discovered!”