Erin watched, patiently, as Jezebel spewed her little Closing Argument, and the balls in Monokuma's machine revealed him to be the killer. It wasn't an unexpected result. At the moment of his reveal, there was little chance of convincing them otherwise, and even if he weren't the killer he would die anyway, at the hands of the rules. But that didn't stop his smile; a grin that pervaded throughout everything, only dulled slightly at Ice's ugly display of attempted revenge.

Through the stunned silence of everyone in the court, broken momentarily only by Bliss's strained questioning, several, consecutive, dull thuds echoed around the room. Even without looking, with some Infinite's eyes drawn to other matters, it was plainly obvious from where the sound originated. Erin stood, head upturned, sneering, clapping condescendingly at his fellow Infinites, the sound reverberating, almost palpable, refracting off the hollow and pyrrhic victory.

"Well would you look at that! You go girl!" he started clapping harder, directed at Jez, "My, that's exactly right! To think my plan would be foiled by a clown, now that is precious~" he slid his hands back into his pockets, and for the first obvious time, his grin sunk, just by a small amount, "My talent? Fake? Why, little missy, that is certainly rich from an overpaid, over zealous, side show act. Are you even hearing this, guys~? A children's entertainer is accusing moi, the man who hid from the Infinity Initiative for 12 years, of having a fake talent~!"

He giggled to himself, seemingly entertained by his own joke, before tilting his head to face Bliss.
"A reason~? Why, Ice said it immediately!" his gaze lowered, until his face darkened and his sneer grew into a cruel and twisted smile, "My identity is much more important than the lives of every single one of you. I mean, really~! I posed as a Web Developer for... God, I cant even remember how long, and tricked our little Infinity Initiative into giving me one of their pretty little titles; you really think any of your talents I couldn't impersonate~? Not that I'd want to, the majority of you are dull as anything, but I suppose Cyrus would be fun to play as~!"

"Mary, your feelings don't matter; Alice, any colder of a glare and I might get frostbite; Max, how scary, I suppose you'll get your wish~!" he rattled off in quick succession, like a tired TV Host reading off the plethora of ridiculous and stupid viewer messages. When he got around to Cyrus, though, his grin grew a degree larger, resulting in a painful looking smile, complimented by his eyes to give off a truly unsettling aura.
"A sore loser~? My, my, darling, I haven't lost at all!" and with the cryptic message, he turned his gaze onto the mess that was Ice and Calvin in front of him, "Now then, what a sorry sight this is. Honestly, you two getting all rough and wet, I'm feeling left out~! But if I could have everyone's attention, I'd like to tell you all a story. It wont take long, I promise. See, Elsa here talked about all his long lost siblings, and how he never found them. The funny thing with that is - He never will~! We sold them both off into the sex trade years ago, I'd be surprised if they're even still alive. Constant sexual abuse does that to people. So, we made a bit of bank of the siblings, murdered the parents for not paying us, and slaughtered the brother for all he was worth." he glare turned deathly cold, the swirl of darkness inside rupturing forth into an aura of madness.

"You should have heard the way he screamed for his big brother~!" and with that, his hands raised from his pockets, and placed a finger over his lips, "Now then, yes, how best to end this all..." he pondered for a few seconds, before clapping his hands together in epiphany, "Oh, yes, that reminds me~! Monokuuuuuumaaaaaa~?"

He directed his smile towards the two toned bear, and placed his hands behind his back, like a child begging for candy.
"I know I insulted Davis's dead bae and all, buuuuuut I sure hope you haven't forgotten your own rules~? Violence against another patient inside the court is strictly prohibited! Did you not see the savagery that just happened~!? Ice shoved Calvin out the way with such ferocity, he struck his head upon the ground, and then Calvin with all his might threw Ice down - in a fit of passion, might I add~? Surely these count as acts of violence~?"

"And if they do, I implore that you execute them for their blatant disregard of your Kingdom's laws~! The death of friends is such a great vector for despair, no~? And even if that's not what you want, I think this will help you reach the Conquest you so seek, Davis Gallo~"

”Hmm...” Monokuma held his head in thought. “It would certainly be the first time I've ever had to execute someone during a live class trial. It is tempting, especially since I just made that rule and announced it to everyone.” He shrugged. ”Sadly though, I can't. I refuse to break one of my own rules! I'm a stickler for those things!” The bear forced himself to regurgitate his own handbook and started pointing at rule 12. ”If the blackened is exposed during the trial, they alone will be executed. Guess what happened before Calvin and Ice had a heart to heart?” The bear swallowed his E-handbook whole. ”The higher up on the list, the more important the rule is. If they were trying to attack one of my daughters or me, that would be a very different story.” The bear shrugged. ”Regardless, rule 20 is just there to prevent someone who is accused of being the blackened from being attacked. If I felt like disciplinary action was necessary, I'd never turn to death. Wouldn't it be more poetic if I cut off Calvin's arm so that he couldn't build things anymore?” The bear giggled. ”But if I'm going to be beary honest with you, there's actually a third thing that is preventing me from executing anyone other than you.” Monokuma threw his paws up into the air. ”I'M TIRED OF PEOPLE TELLING ME WHAT TO DO! I AM THE MASCOT OF DIS-BEAR DAMNIT, AND I REFUSE TO GET BULLIED BY MY DAUGHTERS OR SOME POSER IN A SCARF!” Monokuma reached behind his back and pulled out a hammer. “”It's punishment tiiiiime!”

As soon as the hammer fell, a shackle closed around Erin's neck with a chain running to the hands of each carnage sister. ”You're going to pay for making Krista sad. Heck, I'm getting sad just thinking about it.” Nariko sniffled before the four carnage sisters rode off into the darkness. The jumbotron screen changed from the motive notes to something else...

Ice stood up with Calvin, leaning heavily on the younger man's shoulder. He unwound the chain around his left hand and slipped it back into the waistband of his blood-soaked pants, before cradling his hand to his chest. The tears had stopped now, but Ice refused to look up, knowing that if he did, he might do something worse.

He could make everything burn away-

No. His bangs fell over his half-lidded eyes and he tasted the metallic flavor of his own blood. It would definitely be good to get one of those angel candies that Calvin had given him. As Mercy came closer, she started bandaging up the spots where Ice had torn at his arms and Ice let her. But he didn't want her to see how bad his left hand had gotten.

He could tell people were talking about the case around him, but Ice tuned them out. It didn't matter, Steele would die a nasty death whether the thug was there or not. His head was still pounding and he didn't have enough willpower to hold his own head up, so he leaned on Calvin's shoulder. "Remind me... To clean your shirt later. Blood can be a snag to clean off," Ice said this in a low whisper, only enough for both Mercy and Calvin to hear him. While in any other given situation, Ice might have been embarrassed to say something like that in front of a girl, he didn't have the strength to care now. Then again, he could have just been drowned out by the clunks of the murder's evidence being dropped.

The sound of the celebration made Ice cringe in frustration and pain. This wasn't the time for celebration, but of mourning and patching up after what felt like a gruesome battle. Horses came galloping out of the corner of Ice's vision and one of the donezo sisters started talking to Calvin.

That sound, it wasn't something one would expect to hear after such an event as this. The slap of flesh, that came from the direction that Ice couldn't bare to look. It echoed louder and louder, Ice's heart boomed with the sound as everyone turned to look.

Baboom... Baboom...

Baboom!

The sound of his voice slit his fingers, then his wrists, his arms, his chest, his neck. How was he not dead? How much blood did this body really have? He felt Steele's eyes burrow into his back, clawing up his neck and into his ear. Ice scrunched up his shoulders.

His brothers and sisters flashed before his eyes once more. Abby coming home after her home ec class with cookies for the lot of them, William nursing a black eye after getting into a fight after someone called his twin Mary ugly... Then images of children he had seen on the streets, in alleys. Women walking home with middle-aged men's hands on slipping into their too little skirts. The memory of doing a raid of a brothel to kidnap the owner and finding him raping an already dead little boy...

A boy that could have been Will.

Ice slipped down to the ground, one hand ripping at his collar like he couldn't breathe, while the other raised to his mouth. Blood dripped over the front of his fingers from his nose and it only took a moment for him to start heaving. Fluids leaked from behind his hand as they mixed in with the pool of crimson on the floor. His hand moved down to hold onto his chest as he emptied out everything he had eaten the past few days. After that had all come out, he continued to dry heave, tears streaming down his face from the pain, the agony of what he had subjected his siblings to...

"You should have heard the way he screamed for his big brother~!"

Ice felt like he could already hear them. It would be a repeat of the times he himself had been beaten up by the hooligans for not having the money in time. Except more primal, more of a need to live and... and... see him again...

An involuntary cry of agony slipped from his lips before it stopped abruptly, he couldn't get express the agony he felt properly. He collapsed in on himself and pulled at his hair, backing away from the other two, continuing to shake.

-and then Calvin with all his might threw Ice down - in a fit of passion, might I add~? Surely these count as acts of violence~?"

Ice stopped moving, frozen like the nickname he bore.

No.

The execution grounds unfurled elegantly, sprouting tables from the ground and cardboard cutouts of people behind them. A long stretch of carpet rolled out underneath, painting a path down the immeasurably long dining hall it found itself in, beset with decorations and banquets befitting a king. At the one end of the hall sat a giant wheel, painted red and white in the style of a target. Large clamps lay set into the wood, holding tightly their victim - Erin Steele. A cheer arose from the static and counterfeit spectators as the King stood from his throne at the other end; Monokuma.

The low hum of a mechanism whirred to life, turning a motor attached to the wheel. As it did, the wooden apparatus began to turn, slowly spinning on an axis around its pivot, taking Erin with it. Monokuma chuckled as the rotations picked up speed, and pulled from the side of his throne a barrel of daggers. He drew one, brandished it towards the audience, and threw it with deft accuracy, piercing the target beneath Erin’s left arm.

On Erin’s face the only expression shown was neutrality, almost resignation, but nonetheless he struggled against the metal bonds that restrained him, as daggers hit the board all around his spinning form. The cheering of the crowd only rose as the spectacle continued, and Monokuma pulled from the barrel the final dagger.

He paraded it to the crowd, making a show of it being the very last blade, and their cries and shouts reached a crescendo pitch, anticipating the outcome of the performance. But as he danced, taunting the blackened on the wheel, the binding on Erin’s wrist loosened. A mistake, perhaps, but noticing the opportunity he smirked, wrenching his arm free of metal. He then freed his other arm, and his legs, and leapt down from the wheel, ripping a blade from out of its wooden structure as he went. The moment his feet touched the ground, the cheers of the audience died off, disappointed at the escapee.

But as Erin cast his gaze across the hall, he saw no exits; no escapes. His face contorted into a grin as Monokuma leapt back onto his throne, bearing down on him with his crimson eye. His arm pivoted backwards, and threw the dagger. It looked as though it would be the mortal blow, the one to kill the blackened, but instead Erin had other ideas. The dagger was light in his hand, and he quickly raised it above his head, the blade angled towards him. He wasn’t going to go out on Davis’s whim, now that he had been given a chance. His grin extended out to a painful reach, and he let out a chuckle, before plunging the blade into his chest.


Erin’s head turned behind him, past the wheel he had been bound to, and at the wall of the hall. The dagger hadn’t struck him. Instead, it flew past him, and into the fake wall of the court. It fell backwards in the impact, landing with a thud. The moment it fell, a brilliant light entered the room, striking the eyes of the Infinites profoundly. It was sunlight. Honest to God sunlight.

Blood pooled underneath his legs, running down and dying his clothes a crimson. A bloodcurdling giggle echoed around the hall, and Erin fell to his knees, then to his side, gazing into the light, laughing maniacally at his own cowardice, until the life drained from his body, ceasing his insanity.

"..."

"...H...Hr..."

"...Hrk!"

Caora, who silently stood on his podium, suddenly dropped his stuffed bunny, and held his mouth. Erin's execution caused him to retch, and turned away from the others as he made a mess of his clothes. Mary turned in shock, and reached out for the Infinite Trap. But he slapped the hand away. "No! Go away!" He collapsed, leaning against the podium, his eyes shaking. How could this happen to Shaun? His own friend? Even if he lied about being himself, and murdered someone, Caora still thought of him as his friend.
"S-Shaun..."

The Infinite Trap had felt out of it ever since the first execution in Axis Mundi. Ever since then, the only person he felt comfortable with was Shaun, and even then he felt unsafe, with the booby monster prowling the corridors. That is why he eventually became withdrawn, lost in his own, happy world, where there was no pain or suffering. But Shaun's death snapped him out, and he was dragged back into cold reality. He felt trapped. Was this despair? He didn't know, but he didn't want to feel like that ever again.

But the video continued to play. Walking out of the sunlight was a man in a stylish vest and dress shirt. However, it was all opened up to reveal copious amounts of chest hair.“Ahhh, nothing like a walk outside to calm the nerves.”



But as soon as Davis walked inside the room with Erin, his face turned beat red. "YOU CUNT! How dare you imply that my real wife is anything like that piece of crap rusting away in the vault. NOT LIKE SOMEONE WITH AS MANY MOMMY ISSUES AS YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND! NO WONDER YOU LOOK LIKE A LADY BOY! I CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND CAORA WITHOUT PASSING A SECOND GLANCE! ARE YOU SURE CYRUS IS THE INFINITE YOU’D MOST WANT TO MIMIC? COULD HAVE FOOLED ME!" And as soon as it had come, the anger faded. Neoslayer chuckled to himself while looking at Erin’s corpse. “There’s just something very poetic about Killing a counterfeit man with a counterfeit execution. I deceived a trickster, conquest is mine. ” He pulled off his tie and dropped it onto the floor. “Not that conquest was ever possible for an opponent like you. If your identity had been that closely guarded, how did I know about it? How did the carnage sisters know?” Davis put on a different tie. One that was half black and half white, with a no symbol towards the bottom.“It is a shame we didn’t get to talk one last time. But that’s just how it is. You don’t get to talk face to face with your god, your maker, until after you’re dead.” Davis looked up into the camera, and he appeared to be smiling at everyone inside the room. ”Some of you may remember Rika Roux, Quill Kennedy, and Mason Bradly. Would you like to see what they’ve been up to? ”



The court that appeared on screen was very much like the one the infinites were currently in. If anything, the court footage showed a smaller court of carnage with a much smaller number of podiums. The two faces that most of the infinites instantly recognized was that of Davis, and Quill Kennedy.

“You CUNT!” Davis roared. The words flew from his mouth like a dragon might spew flames. “Of all the people you could have picked, you chose Mason Brady?!” The sound of the conqueror grinding his teeth were audible through the video. “He trusted you! He spent hours trying to cheer you up!” Davis scoffed. But Quill remained quiet. Not looking at anyone.

As the conqueror went about conveying his disgust with the blackened, the “Slayer of Mason Brandy”; a boy no older than a teen whose podium stood almost directly opposite that of Davis’s studied the scene unfurling before him. The podium reached all the way up to his shoulders, so that only the top of his torso upwards could be seen. He seemed blank and he was devoid of countenance. His mouth painted a straight line above his chin, lacking any variation that would expose what he’s thinking; his expression lacking even a hint of being mercurial. He stood with his hands crossed neatly on each other in some sort of bundle, his back unbending, and his head tilted slightly to his left side.

The only hint to what was going on in his head were his dull green eyes that scrutinized the scene in front of him. These eyes didn’t hold disgust, nor fear, nor anything you would expect eyes to hold when observing a murderer. They contained a gaze of engrossment, of looking upon this scene like a child might look upon a cartoon. This boy could not be any more of a contrast to the dissemination of the Infinite Conquest, who stood nearly opposite him.

The eyes which betrayed an expression shifted from Davis to Quill, and the boy’s mouth parted. “I was hoping it wouldn’t be you. I really did hope it wasn’t you.” Thomas said as his expressionless mouth shifted, and for a moment there was nearly a trace of a grin on his face. “Because for a specimen like you to die here... is truly a waste.”

Everything at this moment felt unbelievable, someone dying and pointing out the killer themselves, she couldn’t believe someone would do such a thing to someone so nice and caring, Ellie tried to put the thoughts of how Mason’s final moments must’ve felt in the back of her mind, she then found some words to tell the young model. “The only thing that surprises me here is, is just how someone as lazy as you could do such a terrible thing to another person.”

She looked away from Quill, feeling angry for what she had done to the boy, but also having some bizarre feeling of remorse, she then turned her attention to Thomas and what he called Quill. “ Thomas, you should not see people as specimens, there’s more to them than that.”

Thomas’s trace of a grin quickly faded, and he turned his head towards the woman chiding him. For a moment his lips parted, and he looked like he was going to say something directly towards her, but instead he turned back to the blackened.
“Of course, my bad.” Thomas replied somewhat meekly, unfolding his arms to his side as he did so. Having apologized, he once again had his focus on the case at hand. It was oddly fitting for the indolent infinite Quill Kennedy to kill someone as tenacious as Mason Brandy.

Although, in all honesty, Thomas never thought that Quill Kennedy deserved to be an infinite at all, much less an infinite model. Even if she was often the star of fashions shows, she never once demonstrated even a strand of effort in anything except herself in front of Thomas. She built herself up for the world, and he imagined there was a trail of despair in her wake. With this case, Thomas confirmed his suspicions. The Infinite Model was a fraud, an extortionist, and now she was also a murderer.

So, having confirmed his theory, Thomas finally knew what to think of Quill. And when he knew what to think of someone, they can never be as interesting as they once were to him. Even that withstanding, he continued to watch the case with the same enthralled gaze. Maybe he was searching for something, perhaps a concrete conclusion to this case, or maybe he simply enjoyed watching the exaction of justice. Maybe he just liked the look on Quill’s face, that of a deer caught in headlights. There was one thing that a viewer could be certain of though, and that was that Thomas was far more captivated than he should be at a time like this.

Quill parted her hair with her hands. Her face was beat red, and her mascara was running. "This is what I expected, really." She sniffed before standing up. " None of you have real talents. You're all so specialized that there's no competition. There probably isn't anyone within miles of your home who even knows how to do what you do, but the modeling world is different." Quill was shaking out of nerves, but it was less evident now if it was out of fear or hatred. The model snarled, her fingers curled like feral claws. "None of you know what it takes to struggle against thousands and thousand of people to get your talent noticed. My neighbor was a model, there were models all up and down the city block. Everybody wanted my position and I beat them all!" She looked around herself. He shoulders were squared up, like she was ready for a fight. "And sometimes in order to reach for your dreams, you need to steal away someone else's. This motive offered me an opportunity to stop doing that. I wouldn't be at war with all the models of the world." She sniffled again. "You may think I'm a monster, but I killed Mason to protect all of those dreams I would have destroyed." She looked around the room again. "And if you can still look me in the eye and say you wouldn’t do the same... you're chickens.”

The mummy silently judged Quill with an unchanging gaze, she didn’t care for her pile of excuses she threw on top of each other, she didn’t care that she wanted to leave this place or hold some position in her modeling career; the mummy was more angry of what Quill did with her recorder. Rika reached into her bandages retrieving her recorder, it wasn’t in the best state, with tape holding it together and visible cracks traveling across it’s body. She placed the device on the podium pressing the play button with one of her wrapped up fingers.” You were never special to begin with, everything you did, it was to make yourself appear to be special while you had others claim you were.” A crystal clear woman’s voice emerged from the recorder.

A garbled sound of mixed audio played before the tape continued.” You talk of struggle, but you don’t know what it is to really struggle. To have everything taken from you in a single week, to have what makes you truly unique kicked out from under you, then have the people who fought so hard to help you not even look you in the eye.” The tape went silent.”You don’t know what struggle is!” The machine yelled.” Don’t tell us what struggle is when you have your looks, you can still speak, people don’t struggle to keep eye contact with you.” She grabbed her recorder growling as she hit the stop button then fast forward.”You’re disgusting.”

Her hands started shaking from just how angry Quill’s excuse of struggling to stay at the top, she began squeezing her recorder to the point where she was nearly crushing it in her bandaged hands, but before she could destroy it; Ellie put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

The older woman’s hand felt warm on Rika’s shoulder before she told the mummy.”Rika, it will be okay, just take a breath and calm down.”

“The ends doesn’t justify the means Quill, you should be ashamed of yourself for everything you’ve done, all the people you’ve hurt, not just Mason, but the others who had their dreams crushed by you.” Ellie put a hand on her chest, and locked eyes with Quill, her pearl green eyes peering into her.” I wouldn’t dare think about crushing another person’s dreams, I’d encourage them to follow it to the best of their abilities. You are a cowardly young lady who only wanted to be the center of attention, so the only chicken here is you.”

She put a lock of blue hair behind one of her ears before telling Quill.”Your parents should be disappointed in you, not just in the murder of another person, but for everything you’ve done.”

Meanwhile, Thomas’s response to Quill’s vindication, if you could even call it that, was almost delayed. It was as if he were in a completely different location. His eyes were still on her, but it seemed like he was completely motionless for a moment. He quickly regained his senses however afterwards there was a sense of angst betrayed by his posture. Although the audience couldn’t be sure what it was; Something Quill said seemed to have upset him.

Having heard the other two speak though, Thomas decided that he had nothing to contribute to Quill’s admonishment. He raised his head and looked expectantly towards his captors. This was his way of letting Monokuma and the Carnage Sisters know he was done here. All that was left was Quill’s penance— the execution.

When Thomas' eyes fell on Monokuma, the bear tipped his head. “Oh? Are you all done?”

Maybe they are. A carnage sister with a ponytail adjusted her glasses. But I am quite sure Davis has more to say.

"What?" Quill looked around sheepishly. "What do you mean? Why would you wait for Davis to do anything?"

Davis roared with laughter. It echoed through the court, further startling Quill. It was a large contrast to the anger he had shown earlier. “I'm so glad I wasn't the one who had to put you in your place.” He chuckled between his words. “The fact that you tried to break Rika's recorder alone shows your complete lack of empathy, hopefully you had enough to kill Mason before you incinerated him.” Davis leaned on his podium with both hands. “But that just goes to show you, we're all capable of sin. And some of the worst things we've done we aren't even on trial for.”

Quill hugged herself. "I-Is there a point to this or-"

“I'm just going to say it.” Davis threw out his arms. “The reason why you're all here is because of me.” Davis didn't smile when he spoke. In a flash, he had become entirely monotone. “I'm Neoslayer, Ultimate Mastermind, and the mastermind of the infinite killing game.”

Ellie gasped at the new information, grasping a set of invisible pearls a she repeated the name. “N-Neoslayer?!”

The boy who stood opposite Davis was once again a spectator of the conqueror. His arms, still crossed, contracted as the implication of what Davis said settled in. It wasn’t that it was surprising that Davis was the mastermind, in fact, out of everyone here was certainly the most suspicious. Nor was it that Thomas and Davis were particularly close, they weren’t. The implication was that in a split second the man who had never lost, Infinite Conquest, became Thomas’s opponent. A mere child pit against one of the most successful individuals to live.

His face went a little paler than it already was. Thomas took a deep breath and tried to assess the situation he was in. He looked to the four carnage sisters and Monokuma, and then to Davis. Something seemed to click in his head.

Thomas unfurled his arms, raised his hand in front of him in a fist, and shifted his gaze to it to conceal any trace of nervousness. “Is that so?” he remarked, his voice a little higher than it was before and almost mocking in tone “Then prove it. “

Davis shot Thomas a grin before turning to look at the carnage sister. “Kyra.”

“Mastermind?”

“How about you take our three guests and give them a special view of the execution?”

“Affirmative, It shall be done.”

“Hey!” Monokuma scowled. “You smug es-oh-bee, are you going to let me run a game in peace without throwing your ego into it?!”

Davis shrugged. “I will keep myself out of the candidate’s Killing game, for now. I should add these three will be joining it shortly. Rika has been reformed, and I feel the other two are worthy as well.”

“Yea yea sure, but first...” Monokuma picked up a hammer. “It's punishment time!”

After hammering the button, The three other carnage sisters latched a shackle around Quill's neck and dragged her off. Kyra was left behind to make sure everyone was secured back inside the roller coaster. “We'll be taking a scenic detour. It will take approximately... Well, you'll figure it out.” With their harnesses secured, the roller coaster set off.



When the roller coaster stopped moving, Thomas and Rika found themselves sitting on either side of Emily. They appeared to be in an auditorium that was currently hosting an award ceremony. They had a front row seat, and if they bothered to look behind themselves, they would have spotted Davis eating out of a bag of popcorn. Kyra was sitting beside him, writing in a note pad. They were all strapped in place, unable to move much more than their torsos. But they were not in danger, no. The only person in danger was Quill, who was standing on stage in a nice dress. As elegant as her attire was, she was clearly distressed. Her skin was pale, and her sweat was noticeably saturating her clothes. She just stood there, cameras flashing all around her.

In front of her were several monokumas in similar dresses. One of them was handing out trophies to each monokuma that approached him. It became apparent that all of the monokumas' ankles were chained together, as well as Quills. With each trophy that was handed out, they took a few steps, and Quill was forced to step a little closer. A little closer, a little closer, her distress becoming more apparent with every step she took.

Finally it came time for her to receive her trophy. The monokuma unit did no such thing however. Instead, it put a whistle in it's mouth and blew as hard as he could. A few second later, the sound of a truck backing up could be heard. Kyra must have been expecting something, because she reached behind her seat for an umbrella and opened it. Then the other infinites could see it, a large dump truck backed up onto stage, clearly driven by monokuma. On the back was a massive trophy of himself, and he seemed to have lost control of his vehicle. Monokuma slammed on the breaks, and managed to stop the vehicle well before it hit Quill. The model let a sigh escape her lips, relieved that she would be allowed to live. However, the top heavy statue was still tipping in Quills direction, and only tipped faster until it crushed the model under its weight. Kyra managed to lower her umbrella in time to protect Davis and herself from the splatter, but everyone else got soaked by Quill's blood. Kyra folded up her umbrella while a perfectly dry Davis continued to eat popcorn. He turned toward the young man while maintaining his smug grin.

“Well Thomas, was this enough proof for you?”

Once the execution was finished, Ellie wiped out her eyes and ignored the fact they were all covered in the blood of another human, she cleaned her hands on the back of her pants then tried to help Rika clean out her eyes, but the Mummy only pushed her away refusing the help all together, seeing Rika refuse the help she moved onto Thomas.

She didn’t speak to the boy, only acted, she cleaned his face as best she could with her slightly bloodied hands, making sure to clean his eyes so he could see.” Can you see Thomas?” She asked before using the clean part of her sweater to wipe the blood off his face.

Thomas’s focus was divided between both the execution and where Davis was sitting; his head was twisted slightly to the side so he could see both of them. The audience once again could not be certain what Thomas was thinking, but they could tell that he was more interested in what Davis was doing. In fact, he had paid such great attention to Davis that when he was drenched by Quill’s… body he was taken completely by surprise. It took a moment for him to regain his bearings, but that moment was enough for Ellie to have already wiped some of the blood off his face.

Rather uncharacteristically, Thomas only sat in his seat in the roller coaster and watched the spot where Quill met her untimely demise as Ellie cleaned his face. He stole a glance towards Ellie, and then back towards Davis. Davis’s derision didn't cause many outward signs of anger, but Thomas visibly clenched his jaw and balled his hands into fists. As Ellie cleaned Thomas's face, he muttered something under his breath, silent enough for the auditorium to carry his words into oblivion. That was all a boy like him could do against the Conqueror.

The screen went black before retracting back up into the ceiling. The three infinites were seated on a roller coaster that had been positioned behind the jumbotron. How long had they been there?

“Why my mail order bride and her children arrived! I should introduce you guys.” Monokuma cleared his throat.. “Emily Rishima is the infinite caretaker, as she needs to take care not flatten anyone. While it’s easy to get caught up on the big stuff, I like her for the little things. Like the muscle mass between her ears.” The bears paw moved over to the young boy.”Thomas Herringson is all about watching bodies move, which is probably why he was shipped alongside Emily. I also heard his father was pretty good at running. If Thomas has that ability, the next blackened might want to pick a slower target. “ The bear moved his paw over again. “And that’s Rika, Hi Rika!” Monokuma let his arms fall to his sides. “Man it’s quiet in here. Isn’t somebody going to say something?”

---

The vault in the study slid open a single inch more, and a red eye made itself present.

"Oh yes." Parker whispered. "Just three more. Three more and I can end everything."

---

And the end of yesterday brought forward a brand new day. Most of the infinites were just waking up to the sound of monokuma’s morning announcement. Bliss was already preparing breakfast for everyone in the kitchen. Nothing too fancy, just some waffles. She would prepare bacon as well. Maple syrup and bacon was one of her most favorite things in the world, so pancakes was a perfect excuse to meld the two together.

The event at the court was still fresh in her mind. She still couldn't believe Shaun and Marianne were no longer with them. It was impossible for her to view Erin and Shaun as the same person. It bothered her that there could be more people like that hiding among them. But Ice was able to reveal his secret. He was like the opposite of Erin. Someone who was willing to show off their less savory side to save everyone.

Bliss lowered some bacon onto a plate. Hopefully someone would show up soon.

---

---

It was a new day. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming,

Oh, if only they weren't trapped in Hell Hospital.

After the second trial was over, Mercy had been wandering the floors in thought. If Isaiah and "Shaun" had feuding secrets, then who knows what the other infinites had? Soon enough, the others slowly woke up, making the hospital more lively than yesterday. Yet the plague doctor saw that someone was missing.

"Seriously Alice...?" Mercy sighed, making her way to the second floor patient's quarters, and to the recon's room. "Yoohoo, wake up Ally!" she said, knocking on the door.

Silence was the only reply.

"Come on Alice! You dont want to miss breakfast, do you?"

More silence. The plague doctor groaned in annoyance. "I'm getting tired of this... Mercy mumbled, before banging on Alice's door. "Get the hell out here, Edgeface, i'm not draging you to the dining room at this hour!!" She yelled. Once the recon seemed the give up, she opened the door to face her old coleague.

"What do you want, Ms. Evergreen?"

'Oh god, she went back to Ice Queen mode..' Mercy internally facepalmed, before changing back to her perky self. "Aren't you gonna.. ya know, get breakfast and go make friends or something?" the plague doctor asked, with another moment of silence.

"No."

Her eye twitching, as Alice was about to close her room door, Mercy grabed the recon by her shirt collar, and dragged her to the resort. "Hey!!
Let go of me!!" Alice demanded, only to be pulled back up and meet with Mercy's dead expression. "If you dont go make more allies then enemies, then I wont be able to have time to myself, and if you dont leave me alone once in a while, the next stitches will be for your eye. Got that?!"

"Okay, okay, geez."

"Good. Well, i'm gonna head to the zen garden! Cya later Ally!" Just like that, Mercy seemed to flip back again, and entered the smallest room in the resort. Alice instead went to the dining room, and got herself some breakfast.

Already both of them could tell it's gonna be a long day.

---

The same young boy sits alone, surrounded by a dark forest he knows not the way out of. For as far as one can look to any direction, there are no landmarks, no ways to discriminate one tree from the next, and simply no feasible way to discover which way one would head. On top of this, the landscape was almost pitch-black while the floor was covered with roots and rocks, and branches occasionally blocking his path. The minuscule light he owned gave him but a couple feet's notice before he might trip, so he was sure that simply taking off in a direction would lead to unnecessary injury.

It was a situation that inspired no hope.

And so it had been for some time now, but it wasn't always like this. At one point, the young boy knew of an ever-present brightness. A sun that knew not but to shine. Although he sometimes believed it to be too much for him to handle, he now missed its warmth, its brilliance, and its company. The Sun had not entirely abandoned him. It merely could not keep up with its old habits. Rarely, he would be blessed its swift return and the light that came with it, before being met with an even swifter goodbye. Each time it came and went, it took longer to reappear and it was there for a shorter amount of time. He knew, given this trend, that it was only a matter of time before the Sun would eventually cease to come at all. And so, each appearance left him with a very bittersweet feeling.

In the dark, the trees seemed to take on a sinister appearance. Each one was terrifying in some way, but they mostly consisted of unsettling expressions of anger or some twisted happiness. No matter what, though, they all managed to cause the young boy distress. This was particularly true for a bigger, scarier tree. It caused the young boy to startle each time he saw it. It was the most recent addition to the forest, too. It made him realize that he wanted to escape more than ever if things were going to get even worse for him.

"Can anybody hear me?"

The young boy unsurely asked into the dark of the forest. He received no answer.

"I would like to leave this place. I'm scared."

A soft whistle of the wind was his only response.

"...please, I need help...I want to leave..."

His voice grew softer and softer after each failed attempt. Eventually, he could do naught but whimper and by then he decided it would be best to just give up. His voice would not reach anybody, he knew this.

Despite being alone in a forest, the young boy was not the only person here. In fact, there were so many people here that he could spend days and days counting and never be finished. But that did not mean he was safe. It was quite the opposite, really. Because there were so many people around him, it was much more difficult to find help. The truth of the forest he found himself in was that there was not a single tree in it -- it was a forest composed of faceless people who heeded no words of his. They frightened the young lad, ignored his pleas, and gave him no way to escape. He had begun to 'understand' that he was never going to make it out of this place, as he could no longer rely on the Sun to light his way for him. The forest was not a real place, but simply one of many ways he perceived dealing with life.

He was weak.

The boy, to some, might appear otherwise in another situation, but the truth was that the young boy could not do things on his own. He lacked true confidence in himself. He intentionally hid this under a guise of overconfidence, but in truth, there was only one thing he could really say he prided himself in, and aside from that, he felt he was rather useless. An existence lacking in purpose, and one much too cowardly to put an end to itself. All he had was his father and his skill with a bow.

Unsurprisingly, the young boy was none other than Zachary Ackerson, the Infinite Archer. A young man who earned a title many could only dream of acquiring. A man who showed no signs of doubt when nocking his arrows and striking his targets, a man who nearly bested another Infinite at their own talent, and a man who claims they could do so again.

A man, many would say, was overconfident.

A man, unknown to most, who was a coward.

There was a contradiction.

The young boy in the forest was Zachary Ackerson. But he was also a completely different person from the Infinite Archer. It would perhaps be better to say, rather than him being the Infinite Archer, that he was the one behind Zachary Ackerson. Zachary Ackerson, the Infinite Archer, was merely a mask. One that was intended to protect himself, but in reality only managed to cause him indirect harm. Foolish as he was, he did not know that this was the case, and so he chose, willingly, to continue wearing it. Both hiding his true character from the world and removing his best chance at finding his way out of this cruel forest of people.

It was here he thought he would sit until eternity. He gave up on hope and was allowing despair to take root. He had figured something out: That if Zachary Ackerson, the Infinite Archer, was able to lead a more enjoyable life than the boy stuck in the dark forest, then should he not simply remove the boy altogether? Why wear a mask when you can BE the mask? The young boy was unsure of himself, bad with other people, and plagued by a guilt for committing a terrible crime fueled by rage. The Infinite Archer, however, was confident, perhaps not the most likable person, but one many could respect. Someone strong enough to stand on their own two feet and escape the forest alone.

Yes, that was all correct. And since he was now trapped in a place much more frightening than a dark forest in reality, it would be best to give up on that young boy and let him disappear.

And so the young boy gazed one last time towards the many 'trees' in the forest, but was startled to see one that looked particularly frightening. It was the newest, the biggest, and the scariest of the 'trees' in the forest. But... the young boy did not actually feel frightened upon seeing it again. Rather than that, he had begun to notice something he hadn't noticed before:

...it was glowing.

...

...

...

...

...

Zachary Ackerson awoke the next morning, just as the announcement went off. He did not feel tired as he had the many nights before, despite what had happened yesterday. It was probably because, after all, that was done, he was incapable of doing much else BUT sleep. Today would be the first day since he got here that he'd slept well. And hopefully, today would be the last day he could say he'd experienced an execution.

With the current intent of getting a cup of morning joe, he left his room.

Thomas Herringson

Thomas left almost immediately after he was introduced by Monokuma. Once he was out of the court of carnage, it wasn’t terribly difficult to slip away. Ellie was far more striking, and Rika had actually once been in this killing game, so Thomas was relatively uninteresting. He prefered to save introductions for a later date, once he could glean some information about the players in the game he was just introduced to.

Introductions were important to Thomas, at least in this killing game. He needed to establish credence and good impressions to maximize his chances. So the fact that he was displayed on the screen was a source of frustration for Thomas. For everyone to have seen him act so unbecoming of his namesake… But it wasn’t the biggest deal to Thomas tonight, no. While he was settling into his room last night, he kept thinking back to the trial last night and Davis’s reveal. It was unsettling, that was certain, but there was something off about him being the mastermind and Thomas kept trying to pinpoint a conclusive answer. He didn’t have enough evidence to prove it yet, but a theory took root in his mind.

And just like that, Thomas was asleep. It was late, he had spent a lot of time thinking, and Thomas did not sleep very well. It would be a long, tired day for him tomorrow.

---

The morning bit Thomas like a dog, and he awoke with a small groan. He tried rubbing his eyes, but no amount of rubbing would reduce the grogginess he felt. With a start, he realized that he had not taken a shower since Quill’s execution. He resigned to taking a shower first thing in the morning, and he quickly got out of the bed and into a makeshift morning routine. Thomas couldn’t help but notice that although there was soap, there was no razor in his bathroom. Not that he would need one, but he felt as if Monokuma was passively belittling him.

After his finished cleaning himself in the shower and getting changed back into his ‘uniform’, he took one final look around his room. He noticed the first aid kit in the back, and he briefly checked inside it, but it was entirely mundane so he left it as is.

He grabbed his handbook and left his room. As he started walking out of his room, he began to make a mental checklist of what he would have to do today. The first thing he had to do was eat a breakfast. He couldn’t afford to skip it in a situation like this, so he made his way to the second floor and into the kitchen. On his way, he looked through his handbook to see the various infinite’s he was now surrounded by. If he ran into any on his way, or there, he wanted to at least know their names and talents.

After the trial, the execution, and the return, Rika stayed quiet, quieter than someone like herself would be, she made her way back to her room bandages still covered with the stink of Quill's blood. The mummy avoided interacting with any of the others, keeping her mouth shut and her recorder safe between her bandages, The very moment she was in her own domicile, she sprawled out on the floor hurting the bed's feelings. The mummy laid there on the floor, her bandages soaking up the blood that two timing model; her hands roamed down her bandages, now alone, she could finally do what she wanted to do, and didn't care if Monokuma, Davis, or those Canage sisters were watching her, the mummy reached deep into her bandages, with two fingers guiding the hand almost down to her skin, then her fingers wrapped around her recorder and pulled it out of her wrapped up chest leaving some of the bandages carelessly loose.

Once her sight was greeted once more with the device's presence, she held it close to her chest, it was broken but still worked; the mummy dragged her fingers across the recorder's battle scars from their battle with Quill, she kept a firm grasp on her recorder while staring straight up at the ceiling. It felt like hours of ceiling staring; then the monokuma announcement jolted the mummy awake and she rose like an actual mummy arising from a sarcophagus. Rika got to her feet and left her room, the only thing she bothered to fix was her blood splattered cloak; once she stepped out into the hallway and she remembered a different time when she would crawl along the floor like a fool before meeting with the others as if she was trying to sneak up on someone or like a young child; her feet met the floor this time as she walked to the dining room, her stomach was getting the rumblies, the ones that only food could satisfy.

The dining room at the moment wasn't as hectic as Rika thought it would be, as she smelled the aroma of the breakfast Rika took a seat a lone table by herself as Bliss cooked in the kitchen, the mummy took a seat at a corner table, she put her recorder on the table and noticed her bandaged palms had Quill's blood soaked into them; right as she was wondering how much of that woman Rika was wearing on her, the mummy felt an irritation under her bandages and had a need to scratch her bandaged face. The feeling continued as she did her best to scratch both sides of her face with both hands, but even then it wasn't enough, the irritation continued to persist, and only one solution to her problem, she took a big breath of air before rolling both her shoulders, the mummy grabbed a fist full of her blood stained facial bandages and pulled on them.

Her bandages were pulled inches from her head before the dining room was filled the ripping sound of Rika's bandages; waves of messy midnight colored hair fell to her shoulders as she threw her cloak off and removed the wrappings from around her body and revealing herself.


@BrokenPromise

A long burn filled one side of the young woman's visage, most of the damage was done to the left side of her body. The moment a draft blew through the room, Rika covered herself up with her cloak and wrapped it around her body like a blanket feeling a bit colder. As she collected the bandages and shoved them into a nearby bin she wondered why she felt cold before she made her way into the kitchen, the moment she entered the kitchen, she looked Bliss in the eye before standing over the bacon and grabbed the whole plate and brought it up to her nose to smell the bacon then sat on the floor with the plate in her lap.

One after the other she ate each piece of bacon, chewing it to pieces with, each with loud crunches, she lifted the last piece up into the air with her scarred hand then dropping it into her mouth and chewing it loudly. After she cleaned the plate she looked up at Bliss and held out her recorder, almost as if she was about to hand it to her, the young woman depressed the play button and a heavily processed voice spoke for her."T-thank you... For food... Food woman." She stared at Bliss with her good eye while resisting the urge to eat the bacon crumbs.

---

The memory of Quill's execution laid fresh in Emily's mind, each time she closed her eyes she saw Quill's final moments. In her new room Emily tried to wash away the blood, but no amount of warm water could ever wash away the blood on her hands, for Emily it felt like hours under the warm water to complete a futile task. When she emerged from the shower, her clothes were clean as if they were never bloody at all, when her sweater met her hands, deep down inside she was jealous of how clean it could be after such a gruesome murder, she closed her eyes and told herself that it wasn't her fault, the sisters and Davis were the ones who forced Quill to murder and caused Mason's death.

After taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and her eyes met her sweater stained with dirt and muck, but it wasn't only her favorite sweater caked in the dirt, her jeans were equally as dirty; The blue haired woman dropped the grimy looking sweater to the floor wondering how those clothes came with her, she shook her head knowing they couldn't be here and tried calming herself down looking away from the muddy clothing.

Emily took some deep breaths and collected her clothes, they were clean like when she got out of the shower, Emily decided enough was for one night and laid down on her bed with the thoughts of Thomas and Rika fresh in her mind, she would have to speak to everyone tomorrow and hopefully Thomas will be okay after everything he's been through, Rika seemed like she could handle herself. When the morning arrived Emily was startled by Monokuma's alarm almost making her jump from her bed and to the floor, it didn't matter how long she's been here but the morning announcement always startled her despite it being a normal ring. After getting her clothes on and leaving her room Emily explored the hospital and noticed that most of the others weren't up yet, she decided that she could do something nice and spark a nice conversation with most of the others by cooking breakfast for the others.

Following the signs she found the Dining room and one of the first things she noticed was the bloody bandages spilling out of a nearby garbage bin, then she noticed Thomas and approached him."Thomas, I'm going to make some breakfast for everyone, you don't have to, but if you want to help at any time feel free. " She patted the boy on his head before leaving him to himself. Emily walked into the kitchen to see someone beat her to the kitchen first, well two people did.

One of them cooked up a large breakfast for everyone and Emily felt a little bad that someone else beat her to her own idea; she noticed the figure on the floor gobbling up the bacon up and noticed the blood on their... "Cloak?" and put together that they were Rika, before she thanked the other young lady and wandered off out of the kitchen.

Seeing that the young lady had the situation covered Emily decided that she'd introduce herself to Bliss, she walked up to her and held out one of her hands telling Bliss." My name is Emily. Emily Rishima, you can call me Ellie if you want. "

@Warpcircuit @BrokenPromise

---

Darkness. A black void. A drop of blood sending ripples down an undending crimson ocean, merging with the dark horizon that stretches to infinity.

A man, sweating in his bed, cold shivers ran down his spine as he dreamt of this hollow place filled only with blood. Until he opened his eyes and sprung up.

Despite the fact that Felix fell asleep very fast after returning from the court, it felt like he had lost energy, rather than gaining it; the nightmare didn’t really help too. In a smooth motion, Felix hopped out of his bed and put on some clothes. While looking in a mirror and adjusting his sleeves, he tried to put a smile on his face, to remove any sad or distraught looks that found their way into his heart; however, those feelings stuck to him like glue, which wasn’t that strange as he had just witnessed 3 people getting murdered in the span of half a day. About an hour later, he finally managed to regain some positivity and he decided it would be better to find distraction; his rumbling stomach also deserved some attention.

With a bright step, Felix walked out the door and towards the dining room. He tried his hardest to forget the previous day, but upon seeing reaching the dining room, and seeing a boy sitting there, he lost both his momentum, and his expression. It was the same boy that got a front seat of Quill’s execution. If it was anything like the footage that Felix watched, that kid would have to be seriously traumatized, yet he was already up and about. Before Felix knew it, he was stretching his hand out to Thomas, trying to support, and trying to find support.

He quickly retracted his hand when Emily appeared however; seeing them together made him vividly remember where he first saw them, on a monitor, drenched in the blood of a model. Facing them together was just too much to bear, so he turned around and left. Despite his stomach still rumbling, he had lost his appetite and only wished to find some kind of comfort. And so he started to jog around the halls with no clear direction to head towards; until he noticed a sign that he hadn’t seen before.

‘Zen garden’ it said; Felix had not been to this place so he decided to investigate the room, slowly popping his head through the door opening. Upon laying his eyes on the room, he was pleasantly surprised by the calming aesthetic of the garden. Taking a step inwards, he looked to his feet and noticed the softly colored sands that filled the floor. It was too tempting too not try it, so he removed his shoes and socks to take a few steps in the sand; feeling the sand flow between his toes and sliding away as he walked through it felt pleasant, pleasant enough to make Felix lay down in it, completely engrossing himself in his surroundings. As he stretched his arms and legs to create a ‘sand angel’, he felt the sands take away his sorrow and despair.

That was, until he tilted his head to the side and noticed Mercy.

“Good morning.” Said Felix with blushing cheeks and an obviously embarrassed expression, yet not moving a muscle in his body. “I didn’t notice you there, you should have said something.” His awkward smile ever present.

---

---

The morning announcement that plays every day should have woken up Max, but Monokuma’s irritating voice simply echoed through a silent room today. Max had already left his quarter, even left a few dirty dishes in the kitchen’s sink. While everybody was probably having a rough time, waking up and getting out of bed, Muffled banging and thudding could be heard from the dojo.

In the corner of the room, Max’s suit jacket was piled up. On his wrists were Boxing gloves. And on his face were drops of sweat as he punched a training bag into oblivion. This wasn’t just some training though, max was relieving stress and anger, while simultaneously strengthening his resolve. While the past was certainly troubled, the future surely wouldn’t be any better. He knew what was to come, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t try stop it with all his might.

And so he kept punching and kicking in silence, preparing himself for what was to come.

---

---

Monokuma theater time!

As a self made bear, I tend to look at myself as more of a trend setter than a trend follower. But every once in a while you need to take interest in what the kids are doing. Being an adorable mascot doesn't mean a whole lot if you don't like french fries and fidget spinners. So I've decided to enter the world of shipping.

I do think being married to a beautiful wife and having kids removes some of the appeal. It's kind of hard to eagerly wish the characters would come together when you know what comes next. But the kids, they like to fantasize.

My favorite ships are actually all canon. Lucas X Mondatta was pretty cute. Shaun X Marianne was good. I like it when the nice guys turn around and turn into a total bad boy. But Quill X Mason was really hot. I'm kinda glad the kids didn't get to see that one.

Don't be sad that your dream ship never happened. Victim or executed, they all wind up in the same place...

---

Rika's bloodied clothes and unhealthy diet were all signs of depression, and things the nanny was easily able to identify. The temptation was to insist on some pancakes, or at least a change in clothes, but it was too early in their relationship to do that. Bliss was confident that if she was able to make Rika change internally, that she would care more about her hygiene and diet. But even this, as small and disheartening as it would have been to most, was enough to make Bliss forget about Shaun for a while. While Rika looked a bit worse for wear, being thanked by a child always put Bliss in high spirits. Even if Rika was old enough to be considered an adult by most, that wasn't really a problem for Bliss.

“You are quite welcome.“ she said with a smile. “I hope you'll try the pancakes too. I'm told they are very good!“ But of course, Rika was already leaving the kitchen. Even if Bliss wanted to pursue, Emily had started talking to her. “Bliss Buckly.“ The nanny did her best curtsey while holding onto a plate of pancakes.“I've heard a bit about the infinite caretaker, but it's a pleasure to meet someone in a field similar to my own.“ Though the most talked about part of the infinite caretaker was her body. Hopefully Emily wouldn't notice Bliss was having difficulty looking her in the eyes. “A-anyway, it may be rude of me to ask this, but I need to cook some more bacon. I wasn't expecting it all to disappear so fast.“ Her smile widened. “I'm not sure how hungry everyone is going to be, but I think everyone would appreciate some breakfast. Even if we have to take it to them. What do you think?“

---

“Hmmm, I think somebody made too many pancakes.” Killgood's face didn't actually disappear from any of the monitors after the morning announcement. “As someone who simply can't stand to see food wasted, I'm proud to give you some help, Ms Buckly!” The bear dawned a bib before continuing. “Firstly, back by popular demand is Aleecia Marvic. She's all thawed out in the pod room if you want to say hello.”

Elevater 9 started to open.

“So our first new guy is Denis Orlove. He's a russian spy, so be happy we aren't at DEFCON level 2. Not that it's a huge problem as this guy can barely be bothered to make his own bed.”

Elevator 10 opened next.

“Lucy Fairglaive is a learner. She's really good at it I'm told. But the only thing she really has to show for it are some lame card tricks and slight of hand. Maybe our infinite spy and reporter can team up and find out if there's a reason for this.
”

Elevator 12 was the last elevator to open.

“Faith Lambert is a matchmaker. And I don't mean she makes the burning type. She matches people based on their personality. Like if two people said that Faith was an annoying virgin that had no business trying to get people together... she would match them.”

And then all was quiet again.

“Huh?” Thomas murmured, drawing his eyes away from the handbook his eyes were locked onto. Ellie however, seemed to not pay any heed and told Thomas her plans for breakfast. To some extent, Thomas was a little abhorrent of Ellie’s treatment, but to another extent he didn’t really mind. Some part of him was even glad that Ellie was fine after the execution, and he was sure that she must’ve been thinking likewise. So although it was a kind offer, Thomas much prefered to prepare his own meal.

Briefly, yesterday’s roller coaster scene flashed into his head, and he recalled how she handled the situation. In all honesty, he would’ve expected far more of a reaction from Ellie, some sort of rise or display of her shock that she was now drenched in blood of someone she was just scolding minutes before. Although now that he thought about it, being stoical must be a necessity in her line of work as the Infinite Caretaker.

Thomas lost himself in thought and he didn’t get a chance to reply to Ellie before she left. He felt something on his head and looked up, but there was nothing there. His eyes darted back towards the form of Ellie disappearing into the kitchen, specifically her right hand, and he realized what must’ve happened. Thomas… wasn’t sure how he felt about Ellie patting his head. The nature of it seemed a little like mockery, and it also passively exacerbated the issue that his age would surely cause in due time. As he pondered this, his attention was caught by a man with blonde hair.

This time, after the man extended then retracted his arm towards, Thomas paid attention. As if on cue, his eyes narrowed into the same shape of interest that was so characteristic of Thomas in the trial (although somewhat reduced by his grogginess). He quickly recognized this man as Felix Garfield, the Infinite Free Runner. In fact, he was one of the infinites Thomas thought was most interesting; the infinite free runner surely was an incredible specimen.

Thomas’s mind shifted into a whole different gear and he quickly began to mentally make notes about the appearance of Felix.

Although it was clear in the image how brown Felix’s eyes were, they were far more noticeable when seeing him in person. The eyes didn’t necessarily mean anything though, and Thomas couldn’t think of any way that he could draw a conclusion from brown eyes; it’s one of the most common eye colors. Thomas also saw in the image how tall Felix was, but seeing him in person was almost intimidating. Felix was nearly a third of a meter taller than Thomas was so he towered over the small boy. Thomas figured that Felix must of grown up in at least a middle class household, as people who were hard pressed for food in their childhood weren’t typically as tall as Felix got. On top of that, Thomas figured that between his remarkable eyes and height that Felix was at least some degree of charismatic. Finally, moving onto Felix’s actual body, Thomas had trouble figuring out anything about Felix’s body type under his clothes. He surely had to of been some level of athletic as the Infinite Free Runner, and he definitely didn’t look like he was suffering from any musculoskeletal issues, so Thomas could conclude that Felix must be in very good physical shape. If he got a chance, he’d have to watch him while he ran or see him in more revealing garments if he wanted a concrete answer. In fact, Thomas could try to sketch a diagram of what he thought Felix looked like and worked out his actual body type from there.

That’s right! Thomas remembered when he was making a mental checklist this morning, he wanted to check the storage room for a pen and notebook. He wanted to have somewhere for him to jot down thoughts and notes while he wasn’t thinking about their contents. He’d have to do that after eating breakfast though.

“Oh… wait…” Thomas said weakly, noticing that Felix had left. It was too late though, and the man was already on his way elsewhere. That was disappointing; The Infinite Free Runner was one of the few people with physical talents here. Thomas would just have to introduce himself to Felix later.
@addamas

---

Having finally reached the dining room, Thomas placed his handbook into one of his sweater pockets; he wouldn’t need his handbook while he ate. He took a moment to appraise its inhabitants, or lack thereof. There was bloody bandages in the garbage which Thomas quickly concluded could only belong to Rika Roux. He did hear noise from the room in the back however, and could faintly see the silhouette of three people in what Thomas could only assume is the kitchen. He identified Ellie from her more noticeable qualities, but couldn’t tell who the other two individuals were aside from their genders. Thomas thought that one of them may be Rika also, as her bandages were in the bin in dining room. That would only leave one person that he didn’t know: a female wearing some sort of hat.

Running through the infinites he had heard about in his head, he decided that it could be one of three individuals. Before he got a chance to check the kitchen though, Monokuma began his introduction of the new infinites. This was good, a larger group of infinites would ensure that Thomas wasn’t going to be an outlier for long.

Thomas stopped and listened to the message, and he quickly made a note of everything Monokuma said.

Aleecia Marvick… Dice master… Thomas had already seen her when he was perusing the handbook. She seemed very bland; but Thomas knew from firsthand experience that that was a poor indication of character. Besides, someone who’s known for making accurate predictions is a powerful ally, especially in this situation.
@AimeChambers

Denis Orlove… Russian Spy?... Thomas wasn’t able to check his handbook to see his actual talent, but he could assume that this man’s talent had something to do with covert ops. Another powerful ally for a killing game. Monokuma had mentioned that Denis – a little insultingly – “could barely be bothered to make his own bed” . Did this mean that Denis was lazy, or were there deeper implications to this behavior. Thomas was certain that he’d have to find out if he were to make an ally out of the Infinite Spy.
@barnowldaddy

Lucy Fairglaive… Ah! I know that name… The infinite prodigy! Now this was fascinating to Thomas. In his time working with the Infinity Initiative; he had very rarely seen others who were quite as young as him. In his experience, it was common for there to be seventeen or eighteen year olds accepted into the program, but beyond that there weren’t very many talents who were his age. One of these kids however was Lucy Fairglaive: Infinite Prodigy. Although it was a little exciting to see someone else his age, Thomas couldn’t really grasp the implications of Lucy’s talent yet. He made yet another mental note to introduce himself to her – he really needed somewhere to write this stuff down – and maybe see her talent in action.
@Kitsune

Faith Lambert… Matchmaker… Thomas didn’t think much of this talent. It was a very… well… niche talent; and wasn’t extraordinarily practical. He couldn’t help but hope that Faith herself would have some interesting aspects. He didn’t hate boring people… but he didn’t like them either.
@Vocab

Having thought about the new infinites, Thomas brought his focus to the issue at hand. That issue being what he would eat for breakfast. He thought about what seemed appealing, or atleast edible. Something he could stomach after last nights show. He tossed the thought of anything made of meat out, nor anything that was too heavy. In fact, now that he thought about it, he wasn’t hungry at all.

His stomach grumbled. He was lying to himself. He absolutely was hungry.

He forced himself to go to the kitchen, briefly looking at the occupants. He was right about Rika and Ellie being here but was wrong about who he thought the third person was. Bliss Buckly was not one of the three who Thomas thought was in the kitchen. Thomas was a little upset that he was wrong, but he didn’t sweat it for longer than a second. He was just getting to know the people here, it was impossible for him to guess who someone was based on their silhouette without having seen them first. He let out a sigh and looked away. He’d have a chance to make observations about her later, but he had already wasted too much time thinking about other infinites.

Without saying a word to the others in the kitchen, Thomas went to the fridge and opened it. He looked at its contents briefly before selecting a single orange. The shelf was a little higher than his head, so he had to reach up to grab the orange. Satisfied with this, he closed the fridge door and left the kitchen while grabbing a plate on his way out. He spared a final glance towards Ellie and Bliss as he left.

Thomas took a seat at a small table nearest the door and began to peel his orange. He took out his handbook again, and recommenced looking over the various infinites while he ate.

Slowly Lucy's eye parted as her body started to stir and she was allowed to peer up out of the confining elevator, her eyes remaining half closed for a moment to adjust to the lighting. Raising a gloved hand to block out most of it she slowly raised to her feet, listening to the strange voice that was speaking. "Huff... You underestimate me idiot. Who is talking anyway..." Straightening out her vest and adjusting her gloves the girls sharp eyes peered around where she had arrived, glancing from one person to another to find the one that dared to say that is all she knew! After all she a lot from school and remembered it all perfectly too!

"Huh.... Not what i was expecting."

Seeing the next person introduced it was more than clear that it was in fact the thing on the monitor that was speaking before, and given she had never tried drugs before this was likely real... Stepping outside she looked over the others properly, impressed by the overall looks of them but also disappointed as they looked almost worn out maybe? At least to her eyes most did not have the freshness of the living, and that raised more than a few flags.

"You may welcome me whenever you desire. But I would like one thing answered from you all... WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

Already she had raised her voice, catching herself off guard as well since she did not think she was that stressed out by this development but clearly she was wrong! Taking a deep breath she looked to the other two before nodding to what was said "Either way yes, I am The infinite prodigy. I am sure you are honored but yes, back to my questions. Explanation, if you would some of us would like to stay young." Thinking on it she let out a small mutter to himself, trying to think for herself before people answered. "Maybe someone finally out it in their heads to kidnap me. But then why the others, they are a unneeded element with me around. Something else then... " Though she seemed calm and collected being kidnapped was still a shaking experience for her, she just wanted answers before she wanted to go and curl up somewhere.

Someone had possessed Ice to bring him back to his room after the execution. Someone must have had to, for Ice didn’t remember taking the steps to do so. Someone must have brought him to the bathroom and wiped off his face. Washed what he could off the hand that couldn’t move its fingers and bind it against some popsicle sticks he had found lying around in the medicine cabinet. Someone must have used Ice’s hospital gown to make a makeshift sling after he washed off all the blood on his skin. Some of his bandages were loose again, then again, nothing much could be done with only one working hand...

Where was he? Where had he come from? Why did it have to be so lonely in a place full of other people?

This was not the time to get emotional, he was so close to breaking, so close to ripping at his wrists with his fingernails or hanging his neck just to end it all. Now was not the time to get emotional at all, now was the time to forget, to freeze... To be, as cold as Ice.

Thinking more logically, the first thing to do was to get away from this room and go seek medical attention. It might be good to have everything given a once over again by Mercy, to align his fingers, check his scratches, tidy up his bandages, and check his throat for damage from his retching.

His stomach growled, even if he could freeze his heart, it still beat. He was still alive. Calvin had almost-

Food. Food was needed for survival, and his stomach definitely needed some. Checking his sling in the mirror to make sure it wouldn’t fall apart right away, he slipped some candy into his pocket, grabbed for one of the blood angel candies and slipped open the door to his room that still looked like someone had puked up every piece of vampire merch they could find.

If he had opened his door a minute later, he would have had the pleasure to avoid what anybody would call an annoying encounter. “Cello Mr Matthews!” Krista called from the other end of the hall, one foot out of the door and her hand stretched out in a wave in his direction. She quickly moved to lock the door to her room and checked the handle before scurrying over towards the blood donor.

She gave him a quick, warm smile. It surprised even Krista that she could deal with being so chipper despite all that had happened, but it was clear she simply did not want to think about how she felt about everything that happened. In fact… “How are you feeling? You lost a lot of blood yesterday…” The violinist tugged lightly on the strap of her violin case, feeling the familiar weight pressing against her back.

Ice’s blank eyes turned up to the sound of his own last name to confront the blonde coming towards him. While he may have wanted to just scurry on by her, he remembered what Davis had done last time he attempted to do so. While it wasn’t like Ice cared for what Davis thought of her, it was the opposite for Krista. Through Aleecia the two of them had talked, at least a little bit, and Krista did seem to be a decent conversationalist. Though her humour...

With her question, Ice’s eyes downcast even more and he felt his stomach knot. “Fine,” he chewed at the inside of his cheek. Such a clipped answer would definitely fade out any chance of a conversation, and maybe Krista’s friendship along with it. “...Floating caca, look I really am-” As the younger girl reached him, an epiphany struck him, “...That was a quip, wasn’t it?”

Clipped answer or no, Krista remained rooted to her spot near Ice, hand still wrapped around the strap of her violin case. “Sorry, I don’t know when to give it a rest.” Despite her words, there was still a proud grin on the violinist’s face. She wiped it soon after, with a softer smile. “But really, I do also want to know how you’re doing. You had a really hard time yesterday.”

A sigh escaped Ice’s throat, he gave her a sideways glance before staring down the hallway ahead of them. “There’s nothing much to blabber about. Everything...” He adjusted his makeshift sling, avoiding Krista’s eyes. “Let’s just say that it ended my big revenge plan. I guess I’ll have to find something else to live for...” Ice cleared his throat, his pale cheeks taking on a reddish hue. He turned around quickly, grabbed onto the Violinist’s hand and slipped a candy in it. “My apologies for yesterday's events... I owe you.”

After saying that, Ice started heading for the dining hall, forcing his stride to be slower in case Krista wanted to walk with him. A layer of bandage becoming so loose off his head that it slipped down his shoulder and against his back.

Krista was grateful for the slower strides, the heels on her boots clicking on the marble floor being the only sound for a brief moment before her hand reached out to grab Ice’s shoulder with a soft grip. “Wait!” She quickly stopped him before the conversation could move on too quickly for the violinist’s liking… or before Ice’s bandages could fall off completely from the blood donor’s movements. Her hand held the bandages up before they could slide off Ice’s body, giving him the chance to adjust it correctly, forgetting briefly that the donor could not do such a good job with only one hand. “You do have something to live for. Your siblings. I… don’t think you should listen too much to what Erin said… He’s- He was a trickster… he would’ve done anything to get under your skin…” Krista’s heart ached at the echo of Erin’s words. She could only imagine how much it would kill Ice to hear that again… She wished to give Ice a hug again, like the day before, but he did not seem to be in a physically good enough state to receive it. “So… You should try getting out of here, for your siblings! Make sure you survive so you can see them again!” If she could not hug him, she could try helping him find his hope…!

She then immediately moved her hand away from his shoulder to rub her cheek. “I-I mean… It’s good to have hope! I… think. Herman is my hope… but I want you and Calvin and everybody to survive too, so you guys see your family again. That is my hope too…!” She gave an awkward laugh, feeling her face heat up. “Too cheesy?”

Unfortunately for Krista’s gesture, without being able to use his left hand, Ice was only able to awkwardly wrap the bandage around to the same degree he had done when the Violinist had first seen him. As Krista talked on, his body stiffened slightly, as it always seemed to whenever he heard about his siblings. The girl seemed to be doing her best to try to cheer him up, and that really touched him. People like her and Calvin were trying to patch up the gaping hole inside of him when he couldn’t even fix the bandages on his physical body, let alone do anything for what’s on the inside.

Now no one had really seen him make the expression Ice made then since before his coma. The reminiscence of his former life along with the help of someone he could call maybe call a friend. Ice’s right hand came up to Krista’s head and patted it, ”Not at all. Thanks. If you’re ever in trouble or feel like you’ll lose that hope, come a knockin’.” He slipped his hand off the smiling blonde’s hair and motioned to continue onward to the Dining Hall before stepping forward again when-

The sound of monokuma’s voice rang throughout the hallway. “Firstly, back by popular demand is Aleecia Marvic. She's all thawed out in the pod room if you want to say hello.”

Ice’s body stiffened again, but for an entirely different reason. “Blasted pigeons... Wasn’t she going to be sent back?!” His face lost any kind of sweetness as it filled with worry and panic. He gripped onto his tie and turned to Krista, “Will you come with me?”

The Monokuma announcement had rung across the hallways of Axis Mundi as Krista tried her best to help Ice wrap the bandages with her little skill at first aid. Without Mercy, the least she could do was ensure nothing was falling off. According to the announcement, there were even more new people joining them, and a few familiar faces on top of the new patients. Aleecia was awake, it should mean that she is healthy and fine, right? But that just meant she was returned to the killing game, where her ailment would leave her vulnerable to some of the opportunists in their group… Krista shivered uncomfortably. Even her hope to send the note out to the outside world was crushed, but what mattered more was Aleecia’s safety. She nodded in Ice’s direction finally, “I want to see if she’s really okay too.” Krista understood there was something special between Aleecia and Ice- not in that way but… in a purer wholesome way, and Krista wanted to protect that purity to the best of her ability.

And so she gave Ice another encouraging smile, masking her worries for Aleecia to give Ice another brief moment of hope. “Come on, let’s go greet her!”

Rika slipped out of the kitchen and dining room not really speaking to anyone before going out into the hallway, the hallways all had the same dull colors as usual, steel plates screwed into the frames of where windows would be, they were still massive in size and looked like something that came from a cartoon. The floor was cold to her feet as she wandered around the hospital in circles as her mind went back to a different time; she remembered when she would start most of her weekends with a light jog around her old neighborhood, the smell of roses and fresh cut grass hitting her nose, her neighbors waving to her and greeting her as she would go by.Then later in the day she would meet her friends and they would just do any and everything they could to have fun together, memories of Karaoke and losing a ton of pocket change and sometimes a lot of her money only to be rewarded for her efforts with a single stuffed animal.

The memories soon faded, leaving Rika staring at her scarred hand; she wrapped the bloodied cloak around her body better before Monokuma spoke up talking about new people arriving to the grinder, she wondered which of them would kill first or be killed, at this point she was expecting someone to be murdered by tomorrow and for people to be surprised by it when we're all going to die in here with no real way out, we could make it to the very top of the hospital where all the more experimental stuff happens and we would still be stuck inside this place till we'd go to the basement and find all the old junk and furnace.

These new people were just targets or killers waiting to take advantage of anyone here that could show a bit of weakness in any sort of way; she looked over her recorder again, it was just the same as when she last looked at it, cracks and fissures trailing across the plastic body, the clear thin plastic that housed the tapes was filled with cracks that distorted the old clear look it use to have, the only thing it had left keeping it all together was reflective duct tape.

This little device was her only weakness and she knew she would need to keep it safe from others who would try to do what Quill did; then Monokuma spoke on the intercom again, talking about Aleecia, the former mummy had a flashback to remembering the name and the woman who held it, she was a blind or partially blind person the last time she met her, she remembered the cold hands feeling her bandages and her hands coming in contact with her own, in a way she was one of the few who actually could look Rika in the face without being disgusted or feeling sorry for her, or at the least that is how she thought the blind woman felt about her.

She began heading off towards whichever way these pods were, and as she wandered around to go find the place she spotted Ice and Krista from afar, she ducked around a corner peeking out at the two, part of her was hoping the stench of Quill did not stick to her cloak and flow down the other end of the hall, once the two set off to what she could believe was the pods, Rika followed after them to go see her friend, she was ready with chilled hands to meet Aleecia's hands, and wanted the blind girl to feel her face.

Who can one trust when the dust is cleared?

The question circled through Daimyon's mind again and again as the madness unfolded before his eyes in the courtroom. Isaiah's murderous intention flared out and thrashed against Calvin's steel resolve violently while they brawled on the ground. Chaos and bloodthirst descended on the group, the intense atmosphere took a hold over even the most level-headed Infinites as they called for the death of the trickster.

It was all too much for Daimyon. He had just finished writing a poem in the midst of all this, yet he was already aching to return to the world of his imagination. Anything to get away from the all-consuming despair. Jezebel's rundown on the murder sent chills down his spine while the details of how the hapless Marianne died caused disgust to rise in his throat. Disgust that threatened to take over his entire body, to rally his mind and heart both against the perceived evil standing in this very room. He felt his muscles tense at every other mention of the heinousness of the crime. He channelled this horrible energy into the vote, making his with a strained sigh of relief.

When the culprit spoke again, he was no longer listening. He did not wait for inspiration to strike—he doggedly called upon it himself, and started writing a remembrance piece for the one who deserved it: Marianne Roche.



The execution began, the spectacle the vicious masses were waiting for—but Daimyon kept writing, tearing his eyes away from the screen. He would not be dragged into anymore madness.



One last maniacal cackle sounded as the murderer breathed his last.



A man started speaking, quite loudly. The screen now showed a different courtroom, not unlike the Infinites' own. The words came difficult for Daimyon so he redoubled his efforts, focusing entirely on the pen in his hand and the words in his head.



Familiar yet frightening chords sounded once more: death's music.



The poet closed his notebook with relief. He felt as if a stone had fallen off his heart, and he could finally smile again for the three new Infinites who had just arrived.

---

Everyone was considerably exhausted by the time they got back to their rooms, Daimyon being no exception. He lay down in his bed almost right away, reading over the pages of his notebook as he had done every night before heading to sleep. The thought of Marianne remained in the back of his mind—the last time he saw her alive was when she had been enquiring about his absence. If only he had known what was going to happen, he would have spent more time with her...

He hoped his poem, small consolation as it was, would reach her in the heavens.

---

Blissful rest avoided Daimyon for most of the night. An ominous feeling of emptiness, something he could not quite place, kept him awake into the late hours. When he slept, he had no dreams—although he considered that a blessing after all that happened. Rising from the bed still groggy, his attention instinctively turned towards the partly-deciphered diary on his table. It had already taken too much time away from him, and no secret was worth enough to keep him away from the people he cherished. With this newfound determination—and a refreshing shower to get the last vestiges of sleep out of his system—, he left his room to have breakfast.

People filtered in and out of the break room when he arrived and he found no one to really strike a morning conversation up with. That was not a bad thing; like most other people, he was an all-around more pleasant person to be around when he had a full belly. He headed for the kitchen where he found two people: Bliss Buckly, whom he already knew, and Emily Rishima, who was new. He had some catching-up to do, socialising-wise.

“Good morning, ladies,” he said with a smile. “Emily, I don't believe we've met! I'm Daimyon Londe, Infinite Poet, at your service.” He took a small bow. “May I help with anything? Perhaps cooking up something? While I may not be the most talented in the kitchen, I can assure you, my enthusiasm is up there with the best of them!”

Just after this gracious and perhaps somewhat unwise offer was presented, the screens came alive with the unmistakable sound of Monokuma. He introduced three more new Infinites, after the initial bunch yesterday.
“Goodness...our little group is getting expansive, is it not?” A hint of a frown could be spotted on his face which he retracted back into his pacifying smile a mere moment later. “Well! As they say: the more, the merrier, right? Shall we go welcome these new arrivals?”

Zachary let out a long yawn as he had started to make his way to his caffeinated nectar maker, a small but goofy smile having snuck onto his face as his anticipation grew and grew. How anybody could start their day without enjoying a nice mug of coffee was beyond him. He almost thought it should be some form of crime, if the coffee was a good enough blend. Not that that was the case in this place, but it wasn’t the worst coffee he’d had, either.

The man was doing his best to keep the darker thoughts out of his mind at least for the given moment. Two people out of their group had perished yesterday. That was two lives lost in such a short time. On top of this, it had turned out that one of them was merely pretending to be a shy, introverted character. In reality, they were cruel, sadistic, and unforgivable. That… could be true of anybody else here.

Well, except Jezebel. She was different. Zachary was sure of this.

While there was probably coffee in the dinner on the second floor, the break room was a lot closer. It also wasn't hard to imagine everyone was probably fighting each other to get whatever sort of breakfast Bliss was cooking today. Though when Zachary got to the break room, someone had beat him to the coffee machine. Jezebel was all dressed up with her back pressed against one of the counters.  At a glance it would appear that she wasn't wearing any makeup, but she had simply elected to put on a shade that more closely represented her skin's color. She looked a little glum, staring into the depths of her mug. This was a pretty big contrast to the clown that look so cheerful through most of the trial. Even when Erin was getting executed, Jezebel was cheering at the screen. Though as soon as Zachary entered the room, she lifted her head. As soon as the trickster saw who it was, her smile returned.

”Oh, hey there!” She set her cup of joe down before leaning against the counter. ”I was totally hoping to meet you here. So like, did you want some coffee? I made a full pot, and I can't drink it all.”

Zachary did not answer immediately, nor did he seem to perk up or otherwise respond to Jezebel's presence. Instead, he helped himself to a mug of coffee, wordless, and giving it a moment to cool, drank some. A moment passed. And then another. He had yet to speak a single word for a couple of minutes now, and one might have begun to think something was wrong with him. Until, at long last, he spoke.

"That's damn good!" he exclaimed. "Thank you very much, I probably would've died during the wait if I had to make it myself." he continued taking small sips at the coffee after speaking, looking almost as if he hadn't a care in the world right now, in contrast to what Jezebel had initially appeared like.

"So?" he leaned back against the counter next to Jez, holding his mug. "What's going on with the true Infinite Trickster today? Oh, and good morning, too, I tend to focus on a cup of joe before anything else, sorry."

Yea, I'm not that crazy about coffee, but my dad was. She held her own mug up to her lips. It's tre good to have something normal around here. After taking a sip of her Coffee, She looked at Zach out of the corner of her eye. So I think the others kind of showed their true colors last night. She sighed, but kept her smile up. They don't trust us.

"...Hmm." Zachary took a moment to think, and then let out a soft, forced laugh. "Well, I mean given the circumstances and my performance in that trial, I really can't blame them for not trusting me." the Infinite Archer kept his gaze aware from Jez as he said this, perhaps due to embarrassment, as his face had gone a bit red during this time. "I'm really not used to spazzing out like that, even when we were dealing with those Sisters..."

"...In any case, I trust you, Jez. I just wish I could give you more of a reason to trust me..." he rubbed the back of his neck, like habit, and continued. “Right now, I almost couldn’t care less about the others’ opinions. But that’s probably bad to say right now.” he confided.

”Yea like, I think that's really bad to say actually.” She set down her mug. ”Like, I can sort of get why some people would think I'm totally out of tune, or such an ass clown. But like, Krista was so sure of Shaun's innocence. Probably not as sure as I was of you but...” She scratched the side of her head. Like, that's a tre dangerous mind set to have. She looked at the archer again. ”Former Baldwin #2, the political guy. He could get away with saying all that junk about me because people believed it. They think we're all chummy and junk. I so don't want anything in my 'bulls-eye' right now.” Jezebel folded her arms. ”We so need to talk to the others more. We can't spend so much time together.”

Zachary closed his eyes and enjoyed another taste of coffee before responding.

"I'd like to, but last time I interacted with somebody that wasn't you, a Carnage Sister wearing thigh-highs decided she was going to try to kill me." he said this like it was supposed to be a joke, but he wasn't smiling. Almost as if he wasn't sure if he was ready to joke about that. Opting out of the awkward silence that might've soon followed, he continued. "But I understand what you're saying. Probably. In the very unfortunate event there's a third trial, only one of us is the enemy out there."

The Archer let out of heavy sigh. It wasn't like he hated any of the others, except maybe he had a dislike of Cyrus after the trial, but this wasn't exactly his element. "I guess I do owe Calvin an apology." he said, hinting at the intention of starting there. "But I owe you a thanks, first. I... really don't deserve the trust you seem to have in me, not after how I acted. But thanks for sticking up for me at the trial."

”Hehehehe.” The clown's grin returned when she picked up her mug again. ”You totally need to have more faith in yourself. And maybe keep the lying low, you're so bad at it.” With one last sip, her mug was empty. ”I guess I'm going to go see the new people. Like, they'll be easier to break in with and junk. ” She quickly rinsed out her mug and set it back with the others. ”What are you going to do?”

“...well, apologize to Calvin for not coming clean about the arrows immediately. Even if it was for a second, any doubt to his innocence was my fault. And then from there… I’m really not sure. But I’ll probably have to greet the new Infinites when I get the chance.”

She gave Zachary a nod. ”Alright, we'll meet up later then. It'll be Tre lit!” With a wave, the clown disappeared out the door.

---

Lucy, Denis, and Faith all wandered out of their elevators. Lucy was the first to voice her confusion, and someone responded. It wasn't any of the people present however, it was a bear. The same one that appeared on all of the monitors inside their elevators. The floor had parted so that the bear could appear before everyone.

“You know, I'm starting to realize why most killing games introduce all the contestants at the beginning. This repeating myself after every trial thing is annoying.” Monokuma cleared his throat. “Fortunately, this is a very comprehensive hospital. We show patience with every patient. But we do expect you to do some of the work yourselves!” The bear handed an E-handbook to both Denis and Lucy, but not Faith. “Now I know how you kids are, just waiting to jump into the game. But back in my day, reading the instruction manual before you play a game was very important. So I'm going to give you some of the most important tidbits about this game before you start playing. Mind you that this is just to get you to read the manual.” He threw his paws into the air. “Firstly, this is a killing game. In other words, the only way to escape is to kill someone. But it's not quite that simple, because you have to get away without getting caught too.” Despite the suprise anyone present might have shown, the bear went on, ignoring anything they asked of him. “Second of all, my four daughters and myself run this joint. The penalty is death for harming any one of us. So it stands to reason that if you want to escape, it can't be one of us.” The bear's eyes opened up a bit wider. “Oh! Unless it's the night of carnage. Then it's pretty much a free for all. But don't expect that to help you escape. There might be something else in it for you though. You'll just have to pay attention.” The bear held his chin, still ignoring everyone around him. “I guess that's the big stuff. You'll find the rest in your E-handbooks. Just remember Axis Mundi is a hospital, and we're here to cure you of the worst disease to ever take hold of your frail human minds; Hope.” And with a laugh, the bear descended into the trap door from where he came.

Not long after Killgood vanished, Jezebel made an appearance. ”Hey there! I'm Jezebel, just one of the Betties hanging out around here.” She waved to Denis and Lucy. ”You should totally ignore that mean old bear. I mean, like, yea, there are rules and junk. But it's so much more important to get along with everyone.” She nodded. "If you need any help with anything, you can totally rely on me. I haven't been here very long myself." Faith didn't get very far before Jezebel rushed up to her. With surprising agility, Jezebel was able to rush up to Faith and slam both of her hands on the elevator door behind her. It was loud, and Jezebel's hands might have stung a bit if she wasn't wearing gloves. While the clown wasn't especially tall, Her unusual outfit made her appear much bigger than she actually was. Faith was trapped between Jezebel's arms, the elevator door, and a smile that was broad enough to reach the clown's ears.”Fancy meeting you here.” she giggled like an imp. ”Like, you've gotta remember me, right?”

The pain seemed to have stopped, which was overall stranger than Aleecia expected. Lengthy headaches had become her norm, the ever constant reminder that she had messed up all those years ago. Now that the pain was gone, Aleecia wished her eyesight may be fixed too. With a sigh, Aleecia opened one eye, only for the bright light of the POD room to sting into her retinas. She quickly closed her eye again. It was the same as before, she could see light and almost even colors, but there was nothing else. Closing her eyes again, she was embraced by the coming darkness and shifted.

Aleecia... wasn’t in the most normal position. Something arm like was holding her back up with her head resting against, a neck? There was a leg shaped piece of metal underneath her knees and long locks of what could have been hair swept against the back of her neck. Aleecia reached out to touch what could have been a person if its temperature had resembled anything warm. She followed the hair so that she touched the robot’s cheek, “Nariko?”

”Y-yes, it's just me.” Aleecia could hear the fan whirring in the back of Nariko's head. That was the one thing that made her different than all the other carnage sisters. ”I guess father ended up sending you back here after all. Oh, this is so embarrassing. Everyone's going to call me a baby for this. Even the patients will point and laugh at me.” With a metallic click, her eyes shut. ”B-but I'm so torn. You might have been safer if you never came back. Oh, regardless of where you go, I'll always be filled with worry.”

As Aleecia listened to what Nariko had to say, she gave the robot a sweet smile, “It’s fine Nariko. At the very least, I get to spend more time with you and the others. Oh! And my head doesn’t hurt anymore either! That has to count for something, right?” She maneuvered her hand so that she could pull the synthetic hair away from the Carnage Sister’s face and behind her ear. “Now, don’t worry too much, I don’t want you to get in trouble for fussing over me.”



The next sound Aleecia and Nariko could hear was the doors to the POD room being pushed open with force. Of the two new people in the room, one of them cried out a pun as a greeting, making it known that it was none other than Krista and a friend that had joined them. “Ice and I wanted to see you! How are you do—” The sight of Nariko curled up into Aleecia’s side stopped Krista from speaking any further, mostly from confusion (and slightly from hurt, though Krista would never admit that out loud!) “How are you doing?” After a few awkward moments of silence, Krista finally finished the question she wanted to ask the newly returned dice master.

Ice had been quite feverish to get over to the POD room, kicking the door open like that. Ice took a moment to take in the scene while Krista’s voice filtered out. The Pod Aleecia had been in was open and turned off, with Aleecia resting on top of Nariko’s lap. After the sound of the door opening, Aleecia had turned around to face them, but her hand was still resting on Nariko’s ear. Ice swiftly moved over to where the two of them were on the ground and grabbed onto Aleecia’s hand, “Hey, you feeling better? Let’s get you off the ground.” While his words might have been pleasant sounding, his face was completely opposite. His eyes shot daggers at the robotic sister, and after asking if Aleecia was ok, his jaw worked with rage. The carnage sister only looked away from ice as a response.

With the sound of the two barging in, Aleecia had jumped in Nariko’s lap. She turned her head to look over where the sound was coming from, since she didn’t actually know the layout of the room very well. Aleecia instinctively snuggled closer to the robot, but relaxed a little hearing Krista’s pun. Krista Muller, the Infinite Violinist, she had been there when they gave her the board game and note. The girl’s voice trailed off to Aleecia’s confusion, but she didn’t have much time to answer before Ice was there.

Her fingers curled around Ice’s as she smiled up at him, “I’m completely fine, no harm done, I feel even better than before actually...” She cocked her head to the side, “It’s no trouble being down here really, it’s rather comfortable.” Aleecia lowered her hand to pat Nariko’s arm.

”This is so embarrassing. I'm so... hopelessly embarrassed by this.” her eyes remained shut. The robot did not move from her spot on the ground. ”It's okay, you should probably go someplace warm. I know you’re just trying to be polite..”

With his eyes still trained on the robot, Ice pulled Aleecia up, letting her lean on him. He patted her head and felt around for any bumps, “You sure you’re okay?” The Dice Master batted Ice’s hands away gently with a nod and a pout.



Sitting in the doorway watching everything unfold, Rika slowly creeped into the room on her hands like some kind of animal, she stalked up behind of Ice poking him in the side with her fingers before seeing Aleecia, she quickly stopped what she was doing to focus on her blind friend. She didn’t hesitate on doing what she came here for grabbing Aleecia’s hands with her own very cold hands.

Her scarred hands met her soft palms, she pressed her hands onto her face, so the blind girl could feel her face so she could get an idea of what she looked like, no talking or explaining why she did it, she just forced the cold hands onto her face and endured the frosty hands and moved them around her face for Aleecia.

Ice’s entire body went rigid as he felt someone else poke him in the side, he released Aleecia and backed away, his fists up, only to see it was a girl that looked somewhat familiar. He couldn’t quite place who she was, considering he had only ever seen her in bandages, but finally he figured out it was Rika based on her bloodied cloak. While he may have not seen how the blood had gotten there, he remembered it from, was it only a week ago? Ice had been too full of despair himself to see the death of the former Infinite Quill. “You cur!”

Aleecia shivered for a second as cold hands met with her own. She had been very cold over the last few times she had awoken, so this was quite strange for her. As her palms met the other girl’s she felt around them with her fingers. She felt the scars, but couldn’t even properly react before they were placed onto someone’s face. As she felt around, trying to make a mental image of what she was seeing, she tilted her head, “Rika?”

A small grin grew on the young woman’s face as Aleecia guessed correctly, she grabbed the infinite’s wrist and moved them to her scarred neck before silently nodded in agreement, then realizing that she was blind again, she pulled her recorder from her cloak and depressed the play button with her thumb.” Correct.” the tape spoke in a mixture tone of garbled and processed.

Ice gripped onto Rika’s hand and pulled it away from Aleecia’s “Let her alone, will ya? She probably needs some space having been locked up in a POD for so long.” His right eyebrow started to twitch, “You do know poking someone’s side is rude, you should be more polite to your elders, snert.” He bent over so that the two of them were eye to eye. “Are you okay? You don’t have your bandages on.”

The former mummy stared at the bandaged boy as he berated her, she just responded with silence before acting, she poked the tip of Ice’s nose with her scarred finger and dragged it across his bandaged covered cheek, her mouth went agape before a groaning sound escaped from her lips, the sound she made as she spoke? Sounded something similar to a frog croaking and zombie’s moan, it wasn’t anything that sounded close to human, she then moved her finger to his forehead then simply plucked him in the head and hugged onto Aleecia.

Aleecia was taken aback by the hug, but quickly moved to put her arms around her friend, “Um... I think you might have said something wrong...” She stammered, petting Rika’s hair. Ice on the other hand had backed up a lot, his right hand to his face as he felt at his face. Obviously no one had touched his face in a long time and he was thinking with the sound Rika made, she wanted to do more harm to him then good. “Geez! You didn’t have to do anything foolhardy!”

Rika patted Aleecia’s back as the blind girl petted her messy hair. Once Ice had backed off Rika let go of her friend and cornered Ice, she grabbed the front of her cloak and raised it so he could see her body and only him before putting it back down to cover her scarred body, the act wasn’t anything to her, she knew what her body looked like and how most would react to it, him being freaked out by it wouldn’t make her feel embarrassed or bashful after flashing Ice.

”Hng!” Nariko sprung off of the ground and rushed to Rika's side. Even if Rika was clad again, the carnage sister had taken off her nurse's outfit and wrapped it around Rika. Nariko wasn't wearing much underneath. Just normal undergarments. Though her breasts appeared to be literal blood bags held in place by her bra.Her body did look even less well made under her outfit. The seams in her body weren’t as well hidden, and there were obvious rivets lining the panels of her body. ”That was indecent, like my entire existence.” The robot shuttered. ”I wasn’t fast enough.”

Of course, Ice’s eyes immediately moved towards the motion of Rika’s cloak, traumatizing him forever. The man may have been close to thirty, yet he had never had any kind of romantic encounters. When he had seen nudity from afar in his mobster days, he had quickly looked away, but Rika was standing so close and was to near for him to look away in time. Ice quickly brought his hand up over his eyes, a line of crimson coming from his nose. “A rella who seems to be the living end...” He muttered under his breath and turned away. “Aleecia, I’m souped to see that you’re okay. I’ll... be in the dining hall.” Ice moved to make a swift exit, heading towards the path he spoke of.

Once Rika had left and Bliss turned her attention to Ellie, she curtsied while holding a plate of pancakes and introduced herself to Ellie, and said she knew a bit about Ellie already, a warming grin grew on her face before she spoke. "Oh, no the pleasure is all mines Miss Buckly. I just hope that everything you've heard was good." She told her. When she spoke of her situation of Rika eating all of the bacon, she put a hand on her chin, thinking about how to handle the situation, then an idea popped into her mind."I can understand, after a horrible display such as yesterday that people would be a little slower to rise than how they would any other day." She snapped her fingers and then took the plate of pancakes in her hands.

"I'll take this into the dining room then I'll set up, when I'm finished with that I'll go around and tell everyone I can find about breakfast being ready Miss Buckly, by the time they start coming in you should be ready with the bacon." She told the infinite Nanny. The moment she went out into the dining room, she began wondering how someone so young could become the infinite Nanny; as she set the tables for the people, she was curious on how someone a decade younger than her became a nanny, once everything was set up and ready, she put the thought out of her head before she went out to tell everyone she could find.

Ellie strolled around wondering where she should start first, the quarters or the other areas? After a little bit of thinking, she decided to check the other little areas first before going to the quarters. Maybe someone was up early and decided to visit some of the other little places around Mundi, she wandered around then stopped at the Dojo and checking the room. When she opened the door she was greeted to the sight of Max training with the heavy bag and shirtless, she slowly walked into the room and placed a hand onto the infinite's bare shoulder."Hey, there's breakfast in the dining room if you ever get hungry."