---

Even though the discussions in the room kept advancing, Snow didn’t seem to care for much of it anymore. She was still listening to everything, but her participation had ground to a halt. When Ginshi mentioned murder, Snow could only be seen staring at the empty cup of milk in front of her, only occasionally sighing with a frightened undertone. Whatever was in that milk really got her down for some reason, or maybe she was still feeling the effects of waking up poorly.

However, one word Ginshi uttered caused a response from Snow. ‘Grateful’ he said, and Snow responded by shouting a single word. “Grateful!?”
But when Ginshi continued his depressing sentence, Snow backed out even more. She didn’t even acknowledge Izo’s introduction, as she knew that everyone already knew everyone through the handbooks anyway.

Meanwhile, in a different corner of the mess hall, Flare was attentively listening to Maiya. To her, it was another person that sounded in need of protection; which set the number to two now.

“I’m right there with you.” She responded to Maiya, “This kidnapping is out of control, but...To be honest, I’ve seen worse, so don’t worry; we’ll be fine.”
As Maiya proposed to get some tea, Flare stood up from her chair to interrupt Maiya, “Hey, I’ll get the cups; you get the tea.” She said as she extended her hand to the tinkerer.

Before walking towards the cup counter though, she overheard Momoe talking to Hiroki. That lady kinda bothered Flare, as she seemed so pessimistic about everything. Even when the pirate girl insulted Snow, she kept up the pessimist persona. Turning her attention to the insulted, Flare instantly noticed how worn down Snow looked; it was a bubble about to burst, and she was about to prevent it from bursting when Chikako suddenly grabbed her attention again...with a terrible idea. “Gods, she really is hopeless.” she whispered to herself.

“Lich Queen…” was another whisper by a different girl. The bubble kept expanding, but the walls wouldn’t be able to contain it for much longer.

“Lich queen...lich....lich queen...lich queen…” she continued to whisper, almost chanting; until a sudden loud noise filled the room as Snow’s chair violently hit the floor.

“LICH QUEE-!? How dare you insult me! ” Snow was physically cringing in anger and disgust towards Momoe. “You’ve only been stuck here for ONE day, but already, all you do is antagonize everyone at every opportunity you get! It’s barbaric, though you totally look the part of the caveman.” Snow’s face was still furiously contorted; she was madly waving her arms around, stomping her feet on the ground, and there seemed to be no sign of stopping.

“GOD, you are all so stupidly incompetent!” she now addressed everyone, “the first thing you did when we all met yesterday was getting SHOT! And while those idiots were badly hurt, the rest of you all decided to aimlessly squabble and throw insults at each other with no end in sight! And even when you finally decided to help those suicidal morons, the rest just buggered off to do god knows what! leaving me and a few stragglers to find a way out of here!”

She then turned to Momo once more, stepping into her personal space and looking her in the one eye with with fury...and a hint of desperation. “And then you off all people, have the nerve to call my idea dumb...A scummy smuggler who breaks the rules shouldn’t have any problem breaking those of the scum that kidnapped us, and we have a hacker!” She then poked her finger onto momo’s shoulder before uttering. “You’re the one screwing around if you’re gonna listen to that stupid bear’s rules…”

Momoe Mizuno

Momoe smirked at Hiroki. She didn't figure the guy had a backbone, but seeing him recognize the situation as stupid made him score points in her book.

"Yeah, no shit right? Knew you had your head screwed on right."

While Momoe was turned to Hiroki, she could pick up agitated shouting from the other side of the room. The girl ignored it, mostly, up until it started to get closer. The hairdresser poking Momoe's shoulder caused her wrist to be swiftly grasped, then slowly crushed into a fine paste underneath Momoe's grip. The smuggler had a decent amount of muscle, befitting of her rough looks. She turned her head away from Hiroki, slowly and methodically, while pushing herself up to a standing position. Momoe didn't exactly tower over Snow, but she was still taller than her, so she used that height advantage to make herself imposing. Her one eye pierced through Snow's own gaze as Momoe's face turned to that of a stone cold killer's, without a hint of compassion or fear.

"Oh, I'm sorry... did I scratch the petals of our delicate little flower?" Momoe asked as she tightened her grip.

"Listen here, you overgrown toddler. I get that you're shitting your pants in fear right now because you miss the warm, five-star meal cooked by your mother every morning. But you want to know something? I'm the one who's familiar with what it's like to break rules. With what it's like to go against authority. I know exactly what kind of results that gets you.

Yeah, people got shot yesterday. You know what that was? A warning shot. A sign you should keep in line. I said you could be my guest if you wanted to throw your life away so easily, because I can guarantee nobody will miss your whiny face. Do you think they would kidnap a hacker, then give her all the tools in the world to escape? Do you really think we have any freedom in this place? Sure, If you want to die without accomplishing anything, you try to break down that door. You tempt our captors. Because I sure as shit know what it's like to be in a prison, and what tempting the guard does to you. And for the record,"

The smuggler pushed Snow's arm backwards to make her stumble away from Momoe, but the criminal immediately stepped forward and grabbed Snow by the collar so she couldn't run. She brought her face in closer, not once breaking eye-contact.

"I don't like being touched by some spoiled, uppity bitch."

And with that, Momoe pushed Snow away again, using the newly freed hand to brush her own sloppy hair aside. She pocketed it soon after, keeping her eyes dead-center on Snow's features.

---

Taya Tsuin

"Yeah, a total fool! I bet he's secretly a bully, too..." Taya continued to pout, burying her cheeks inside of her elbows while leaning forward on the canteen table. She perked up again once Saitou mentioned all of them getting out together, a sense of pride and accomplishment welling up inside of her.

"I knew you didn't give up yet! I just knew you weren't the type of person to back down from a challenge so quickly... call it a gut feeling!"

Taya's beaming smile could melt ice with the warmth and kindness it radiated. It radiated so hard, in fact, that the room could very well be quarantined for threat of radiation poisoning. Her soft expression didn't fade even as Chikako proposed a really insane plan, instead giggling at the enthusiasm.

"I don't think that's the solution, either... but everyone seems to want to work together. I... I have a good feeling that we'll all- Eep!"

Before she could finish her sentence, Taya jumped from Iclyn's sudden outburst. She turned to watch what was happening, helplessly witnessing the girl stampede towards Mizuno. Her eyes widened and she wanted to stop her, but before Taya had a chance to react, Mizuno had already forcibly grasped Iclyn's wrist.

"N-No, Mizuno! Stop!" Taya tried to shout in vain, her plea falling on deaf ears as the rough girl pushed away the hairdresser, who promptly collapsed and started to tear up. Taya covered her mouth in horror and shock, awe-struck in the worst possible way as she couldn't avert her eyes from the scene that had unfolded in front of her.

"That's... that's too cruel, Mizuno..." Taya muttered to herself with a shaky voice.

---

It went fast, so fast she didn’t even realise until it was already done. Snow was shaking in her boots as Mizuno turned to face her with that menacing eye; and by Snow’s squeaky groan, it was clear how much pain she was in as Momoe tightened her grip on Snow. Her rage and thunder had completely dissolved, leaving a scared little princess with eyes wide and shock filling her body.

At first she didn’t even hear what Momoe was saying because her mind was completely blacked out from the stress and shock, but after a second or so, she starting listening to Momoe’s words, and those words hurt.

Momoe had no faith in their situation at all and thought it was all doomed to fail, it was so pessimistic and sinister almost...It didn’t take long for tears to form as Snow’s confidence and spirit were being drained by Momo’s insults and iron grip, leaving nothing but a defeated girl softly sobbing. Whatever positive outlook Snow had left, was now completely shattered, as momoe convinced her of the dread that was to come; and it scared Snow, which was why she got mad in the first place; to reject that fear, only to have it crush her down at the first opportunity.

She didn’t say a word, but the sobbing continued as Momoe finally released her, and after standing there shocked for a second, she crumbled to her knees, hiding her face with her hands and quietly continuing to cry.

Between Snow and Ginshi, the group had a platform to begin. He'd listened to them both in turn, grateful for bothe information each gave, and for Ginshi's steady, pseudo pep talk. Even considering the Ultimate statuses that each of them held, the undaunted reassuredness, and calmness, in the Judo Master's words made it almost too easy to forget that it was a student speaking them, and not some world wearied, veteran of life, sharing his wisdom to the masses. By no means did Shirou feel disquieted by the situation, even with the bullet hole, but at that moment, Ginshi's level rested far beyond his own.

With other speaking up, he had time to assess the room. The various people sat having their own conversations, those that he hadn't met yet, those that he had, and those that took to addressing the room, each with their own talents and personalities; it was an uncertain mess, to say the least. There were too many ways for everything to go than he was comfortable with. With the concept of a killing game monopolising the conversations, the mess hall, filled with over a dozen Ultimate Students, would eventually become a crucible.

Momoe's abrasive nature hardly helped that idea. There was something about her that Shirou couldn't help but consider. That, of all the trapped students, she, no doubt, was one of the most dangerous. Not that because she was a criminal, or volatile, or violent, but because he could tell that, behind insults and a dismissive attitude, she was an intelligent girl.
"The rooms are probably well furnished to keep us more in line. Throwing us in cells with barely a mattress to sleep on, or utilities to keep ourselves hygienic, would turn this ensemble from 'Killing Game' to 'Killing Bloodbath'. Everybody would fight to get out; there would be no room for Trials if everyone kills each other off in hysteria."

He spoke aloud, attempting to ignore Momoe's direct insults at the others. Instead, he directed his attention towards Chikako.
"And, sorry for being late. I have an exercise routine, five in the morning, every morning. A bullet wound won't stop that, though, I did need to rest for a while afterwards. Hence the walking bat." he punctuated the apology with a smile, taking note of Snow's muttering in response to Momoe's comment, "In any case, I don't think digging under the fence will do us any good. Electric fences usually extend several metres under the ground, to prevent things tunnelling throu-"

As he went to explain, he was cut off by Snow's outburst. He had expected it, from her initial reaction, but he had hoped it would blow over; he was wrong. In a minuscule amount of time, she had gotten up, insulted practically everyone in the room, and pissed off the most dangerous girl in the room. Getting up and putting himself in between the two of them would do nothing - with his leg, he wouldn't be able to stop Momoe doing whatever she intended to do. Instead, he went to shout out at them, before the situation seemingly diffused.

With Snow on the floor crying profusely, Momoe glaring daggers at her, and Taya attempting to be herself in between, Shirou needed to do something. Nothing drastic, but something. He was foolish not to have intervened sooner. Scarcely moments after the altercation had ended, he lifted the baseball bat, and swung it down on the table in front of him, sending a loud, resonating thud echoing around the room.

"Momoe!" he shouted, letting the bat rest on the table, beside an obvious dent where the two materials had collided, "I don't know what you think you're doing, but it stops now. I'm not going to pretend like Snow is right here either, but there's a right and wrong way of going about things. Do you understand that we're all being played here? Getting us to fight over how we escape, and what we're going to do next, is the first step in making up kill each other." from across the room, he glared at her - not in the same, threatening way she stared at Snow, but with a resolute disapproval, "I don't care about how correct your points might be. I don't care if she started it. You're both wrong here, especially when you use violence to get your point across."

From behind him, back towards the entrance of the mess hall, he heard a small, feminine squeak, before Lilly's voice began quietly, and profusely, apologising to someone, although he chose to ignore it. Instead of looking, her kept his gaze level.
"Now, apologise to each other."



As Lilly went about the room, she kept her ears open. Nobody was talking to her, and likely nobody would, but it was useful to be in tuned with the conversation topics at hand in case she needed to contribute anything. Simultaneously, she stood facing the group of people from one of the far left walls, scribbling gently onto the clipboard she carried around. Attached to it were multiple sheets of paper, with the one on the top showing an incomplete sketch of a room.

It was a birds eye view look of the mess hall, complete with the monitor, and the locations of each other five cameras looking into the room. Occasionally, she would look up and behind her, where one of the cameras was sat above her head on the wall, before she would look back into the group, and begin drawing again. Partway through, the graphite of the pencil snapped, and she casually dropped it on the floor, before pulling another one from one of her pockets, and continuing drawing.

As she drew, the various topics hardly caught her interest, but she listened anyway: to Snow's idea of breaking into the locked building by the Labs; to Ginshi's spiel about keeping calm and relaxed; to Momoe's response and blatant irresponsible attitude; to Shirou's idea on the rooms, and apology to Chikako. And on and on. Most normal people might have had an issue with drawing up a map of the camp grounds and listening to several conversations at once, but as someone versed with paying attention to dozens of things at a time, Lilly was hardly out of her depth. If anything, the lack of work she had to do here was relaxing, especially after the all nighter she pulled.

Eventually, as Snow and Momoe began their confrontation, she finished drawing the viewing angle of the camera onto the map. From its location now extended a long cone, growing out into the room up until the far wall, illustrating its viewing angle. With it done, she skipped off along the wall towards her next camera location, half listening to the argument happening across the room to her. Though, as she passed one of the tables, she stopped abruptly, picked up a glass of water, took a sip, and then continued on.

But as she turned the corner behind the table Shirou was sat at, beginning to make her way towards the mess hall entrance, there was a loud bang, stopping her in her tracks. She looked across towards where the sound came from to see Shirou placing his baseball bat gone walking stick down onto the table, and breathed a small sigh of relief and anxiety. It wasn't often she got surprised, but she hated loud noises like that. But that was no matter - since there was no threat, she started skipping along again.

The next second, though, she hit a solid object. She was going to go past the entrance to the the far right wall to check the camera, but, suddenly, she was stopped dead by some invisible force. And then she realised, it wasn't some air barrier, but rather a white haired boy, one of the ones who had tried to make a speech the previous day. She went to back up and apologise, and then continue moving on, but as she did she noticed her glass of water was now empty. A squeak rose out of Lilly's throat as she realised she had just dumped a cup of water over Aurel, and a modicum of panic emerged within her.
"O-oh no, I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't see you, God, I'm so sorry. Uh, um... towels... I'm sorry!" she stuttered, clearly flustered, before looking around for something to dry him off with. With nothing in sight, though, she proceeded to pull off her jacket, revealing her short sleeved shirt underneath, and attempt to pat him down with it, continually apologising throughout.

Yukimori was a little dumbfounded when suddenly Himura just left after she had spoken her mind and reacted to Yukimori’s thoughts. She wanted to say something, but the words never came out of her mouth when Himura left. Her tea question got ignored by her and in that moment she wanted to sit back down and pretend she ever asked. Because, she felt a little embarrassed to suddenly propose to drink tea with a stranger. Yukimori heard Flare’s voice and the words she said made Yukimori light up, a smile crossing her cheeks as she nodded. “O-Of course, I will come with you. I stored the tea on the counter close by the cabints that require the cups.”

As they walked towards the kitchen she looked up at Flare. She was a quit interesting person, for some reason Yukimori felt save walking next to her. The first time that another person showed interest in the things she made was weird for her, it made her feel useful even when it was just sharing tea. Another smile crossed her face, but not for to long. Both encounter the fighting scene between Snow and Momo, her stomach tighten’d up. (W-Why are they arguing like this? We’ve been here for like two days… This is bad…)

Without her knowing, she moved a little closer to Flare. Like she was scared of getting into the fight herself. But her body told her to not move away and see for herself what the outcome may be. Noticing that Snow poked the shoulder of Momo, made her bite her lower lip. “She shouldn’t to that… It’s a trigger to get into a real fight…” Whispering this to herself as she payed attention.

Just like she predicted. Snow got pushed, a shiver ran down Yukimori’s spine when Momo grabbed Snow’s collar. Pinching her eyes closed when another push was giving (Why do they have to do this… I don’t want this to turn out in a real fight! This is what this stupid bear wants! Driving us to hate and hurt each other) The outcome wasn’t what she expected it to be. Snow fell down her knees and cried with no sound. Yukimori felt sad and guilty for some reason, she made her way through the people that gathered around and kneeled down beside Snow.

“I-I may not be a good help for this…” Whispering this as she looked up to Momo and Shirou that got in between them as well. (Okay Yuki? What now?!). Biting her lip once more as she started speaking in a rather loud voice to get the attention “C-Can I say something…! P-Please…” Her voice went down once she got everyone’s attention, hoping that they wouldn’t think that she wanted to be the center of attention. That’s the last thing she wanted.

“I euhm… I just wanted to say that this isn’t the time to fight or argue… W-We are in a tight spot her… All of us.” As she spoke her hand lightly rubbed Snow’s back to comfort her a little from the adreline she must have felt durning the fight with Momo. “This might be what the bear wants from us. Driving each other crazy and pushing us all into fights.. T-That might turn… In… Y-You know…” Gulping down as she just shaked her head and looked up at Momo “I’m not chosing side’s… Both of you are wrong and right.” Yukimori’s heart started to beat faster and faster. Hoping that she won’t get on any of their bad sides. So all of a sudden she started to apologize “S-Sorry for … Saying all this … I-I just don’t want anyone to get hurt or feel bad…”

Slowly standing back up as she clenched her hands into fists, holding her skirt lightly. “W-We shouldn’t force them to say sorry either… It’s their responseability.. B-But I think that the best corse of action is to just leave each other be… And avoid each other for a little while, so the two of you can cool off…”
After this she bowed rapidly and made her way back to Flare. Trembling lighty. “L-Let’s get the cups and tea.. B-Before it gets cold…” Yukimori’s hand pulled Flare’s sleeve lighty. This was something she would have never done when it would have happened in her other school. So this was very thrilling for her. “S-Sorry…”

@Vocab@addamas @Ammokkx

Momoe Mizuno

Momoe expected the girl to continue lashing out, throwing insults or storming off. What she didn't expect, however, was for them to sink to their knees and start sobbing. It took her by surprise, blinking twice before regaining her own composure and continuing to act tough. She was about to open her mouth again, but a loud slam caught her attention instead. Momoe narrowed her one eye as she glared daggers at Shirou, carefully anticipating what he was going to say. The look on her face hadn't softened when he was finished, either.

"What the hell? Oh, sure, everything's alright with a kiss and a hug. Do I need to give her a massage too, sweeten the deal?" she mocked. Momoe took a step towards him, and as she did, a mousy voice caught her attention. Its source, Maiya, put herself in between Momoe and Shirou, causing the smuggler to glare at her instead.

"What do you want? Spit it out already."

Turns out what she wanted was the same tripe speech Shirou had tried to give, but at least this one had the guts to put herself in between the two of them. That, and she didn't put herself above the both of them like some almighty god-spawn of mankind. Momoe straightened herself and rubbed the back of her head, closing her eye.

"Tch, this was a waste of time... don't bother me for something like this again," Momoe warned, opening her one eye again to stare directly at Shirou. With that said, the girl turned to leave the mess hall. Her coat wafted in the breeze as she stepped out into the rest of camp, leaving the door open and allowing everyone to witness her retreating figure as she stalked off.

This entire time, Naomi had just been sitting there. She didn't eat from the food that was provided, she hadn't engaged with anyone and nobody paid any attention to her. The girl was left alone after she'd slipped in and taken a seat, being as quiet as a mouse in order to not get noticed by anyone. She witnessed every part of the drama, from its start to its finish. Nobody had any good ideas, things were a mess and people were already at each other's throats. And... throughout all of this, the same nagging feeling kept chewing away at her.

"What if we can't escape?"

For the first time in the entire happenings, Naomi raised her voice. She raised herself from her seat, hands pushing against the rickety table to lift herself upwards. The girl's face was stern, yet uncomfortable.

"What if the bear's telling the truth? That the only way to get out is to murder someone? What are you all going to do then?"

Her legs were shaking slightly as she spoke, but the girl tried not to show it. She raised her chin up and tried staring everyone down, despite not being all that tall herself.

"F-from all I've been hearing, nobody has any clue about what to do. It's got us cornered like rats. Then it's only a matter of time before the rats bite back..."

Naomi moved towards the exit of the mess hall, the same one Momoe went through. She paused in front of the open door to twirl back around to everyone.

"She's right... this is just wasting everyone's time. I'm going back to my room..." she announced, turning and shutting the door behind her as she left.

---

“Bam”

With the sudden noise of a bat hitting a table, Snow cringed and trembled before slowly looking towards Shirou. He had already begun berating Snow and Momoe, but for some reason, she felt somewhat comforted by his words...until he commanded her. She instantly looked away from him when he demanded an apology; a request that single handedly destroyed his reputation.

She went to Hope’s Peak to get away from this kind of treatment, but it seemed that no matter where she went, everyone always ended up treating her the same; and at the worst possible moment, Maiya entered the fray.

She comforted Snow, even touching her; told them to stop this bickering and focus on the real threat...But she didn’t want to be comforted, she wanted to be strong; didn’t want to be defended, she wanted to be fierce; she didn’t want to be taken care of, she wanted to be independent; she didn’t want to say sorry, and she didn’t want to be told sorry.

But despite these feelings, she felt too drained to try and fight, so she let it happen. Only when Momoe passed by and left the area completely, did Snow move from her spot, slowly getting on her feet with her eyes still locked to the ground. with a last teardrop releasing from her red and watery eyes, she looked up towards Shirou. Her make-up had been ruined for the second time today, but this time she didn’t seem to care about it as it seemed her furious gaze was set on the ‘hero’.

“A real hero would’ve freed us already…Fake...”

And those were the last words she said as she stumbled her way out of the mess hall.

…

…

“Let’s try that again.”



A voice reached out from the distance; it was Flare who calmly stepped forward, stopping in front of Maiya to pat her on the head. “You need to give yourself more credit; you handled that situation very well, so stop saying sorry already.” Flare’s heartwarming smile aimed at Maiya slowly softened as she continued to move towards Chikako.

“As far as I’m concerned, what just happened...never happened.” She calmly spoke, accentuating her words with arm movements. “It’s just the stress getting to all of us; all of us.” She said glaring at Shirou before looking back towards Chikako. “And honey, you should probably listen to Emiya, because getting out of here will not be that easy.” There was a semblance of pity in her tone, but it quickly washed away as she addressed the remaining group.

“I'm sure that somebody has something to say, so go ahead.”



“Yes.” Following Naomi’s tradition, Hibiki Matsuo finally decided it was time to say a few words of his own; if a bit reluctantly.

“There is a building to relax, read, and...relief yourself of stress.” He calmly stated. “I will be there today if anybody wants to...vent.” Although he really just hoped to take a siesta in what appeared to be his own lab.

Hisakawa Hiroki

Hisakawa felt almost proud for a moment, seemingly having done something right in the interaction. However, that was immediately swept away by Snow coming to fight Mizuno. Any confidence he had had been immediately shut down by yelling, slamming, and crying from around him. Hiroki tensed up completely, letting everyone’s various lectures wash over him.

Despite not having eaten yet, he felt nauseous. He’s failed to really do anything of significance so far—certainly nothing to help. Maybe he could make some grand sweeping statement to everyone, but… well, who the hell would care? What would he even say?

He stood up, silently shuffling about the room to collect used and abandoned dishes. It was nothing really to go clean them off, but it was the only gesture he could think of other than just holing up and staying out of the way.

They were right. Everyone was just wasting time. Hisakawa didn’t want to see anyone die, certainly, but… He was just stuck on the mental image of the fight before. This can’t be what these people are like normally, can it? Surely, in a better setting, they wouldn’t be so harsh to one another. Though, it might be possible that they're just like that.

But it wasn’t like Hisakawa was doing anything to keep the peace. He was just finding an excuse to hide away into the kitchen, tempted to clunk the dishes into the sink, as if making his doubt and frustration with himself audible would somehow fix something. Instead, he placed the dishes in the sink gentle, pulling his sleeves up to scrub the hell out of any remaining crumbs from the faces of plates.

---

Himura Chikako

Himura was about five seconds away from giving everyone a piece of her damn mind. She was the only one actually trying to do something here. Everyone else just felt like kerfuffling about, fighting about shit that doesn’t matter when they should be focusing on—oh, y’know, escaping.

She squared her shoulders, stance wide, opening her mouth just before Flare told her to just pretend none of this happened. Himura pierced her lips for a moment, before releasing the tension with a pop, “Alright. Yeah. Let’s forget about this. Who gives a shit about getting out of here, anyway!?”

She huffed out some air, trying to cool off some—Flare, at least, wasn’t trying to get in her way, “Whatever. I just want to get out of here, and unless anyone else has any ideas," She said, half addressing the crowd, half addressing Flare, "I'll use my own apparently terrible ideas to do it."

---



…

…

…

Oh, hell, did he actually fall asleep in the middle of the meeting?

In Ryuma’s defense, yesterday was absolutely insane, and this morning wasn’t a whole lot better. He had woken up this morning hoping he’d be back at home, or at Hope’s Peak, with yesterday being some weird dream.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes—now wasn’t the time for that. Ryuma was only vaguely aware of what happened just now, but gathering from his half-asleep memory, it seemed some sort of fighting had gone on. He tried to find Snow in the crowd, but it seemed she wasn’t there. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise him if she was a part of the conflict. That gal certainly had a mouth on her, and she wasn’t afraid to use it. He’ll probably check on her later.

Aurel was a bit difficult to find, but he ended up finding him getting wiped clean of water by some twelve-year-old looking kid. He approached the other man, leaning besides the table as he spoke, “So, we got any idea of what to do here? Can't say I'm too certain, but it doesn't look like everyone is interested in playing nice,” He said. He eyed the short girl. He had to be careful in who he trusted going forward, but it’d just be unreasonable to suspect her of anything. He simply acknowledged her with a nod, before turning his attention back to Aurel.

---

Location:: Cafeteria
Interacting With:: Ginshi(@KenjuGuy), Lilly(@Vocab), Ryuma(@TheSeriousJoke)

---

Oh no, oh no, no, no, this was becoming even more of a disorganized friggin' mess, made even worse by the insults and squabbles coalescing into one volatile concoction! As the chaos ensued, Aurel wasn't even certain if Ginshi heard him the first time, opting for a more direct approach by shakily tugging at the side of his... uniform? Gi?

It didn't matter as he let go as quickly as he latched on, arm dropping onto his side. His other hand slipped towards his lips as he began chewing away at his index finger. What to do, what to do? He couldn't just... say something out loud; the thief knew he wouldn't even be heard above this cacophony of voices, made even worse by the sudden shouting from Snow about being noted as a Lich Queen.

The explosive anger snowballed into him biting down a little too hard on his finger, yelping silently as his hand shot out of his mouth. This was... great. Even with the insults being traded back, no one had a clue about the circumstances they were under! They didn't know that the electric fence could probably kill them in less than six or seven seconds if they made contact, nor did they know that when getting within around nine meters of the machine guns guarding parts of the lake would trigger the targeting system, or whatever, and that was just the minimal amount of information about this place.

Of course, what seemed to follow was something that shocked him out of his stupor regarding everyone's thoughts about this whole place. The thief winced back, almost shuddering in pain with a contorted, dreading visage as this whole car crash in slow motion took place.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, slowly bringing one hand up... but nothing left it, nothing but the dry air escaped his lungs, his lips. Aurel couldn't do anything as he withdrew himself a little further, hand and all... why? Just... why couldn't he contribute, even just a lick?

Aurel was almost ready to mentally retreat if not for feeling something small gently bump into his torso... and saw the same, cute white-haired girl he procured the bunny from the other day. She was no different than the small breeze, even chilly as well... oh.

Blinking, he found the front of his jacket partially soaked... which wasn't too much of a big deal, save that the Ultimate Hacker was now fumbling over her own words, frantically trying to dry him off. Aurel, however, found himself staring at her short-sleeve shirt, even as he stared off to the side.

One thought really crossed his mind, clacking and slamming in rhythm with the closing of the doors as he delicately grabbed her jacket whilst she was patting him down. As delicately as he could, he held her clothing still, forcing out a rather awkward smile.

"U-uh, n-no, it's fine, really, it's no problem! I've a tendency to... vanish without a trace... S-so it's my fault... my fault..." Aurel murmured the last part almost absentmindedly as he juggled between watching the numbers of the other Ultimates began to dwindle and the fact that Lilly was trying to get him dry.

"... yeah... my fault... erm, a-anyways, lets put yer jacket back on." Of course, between him trying to get Lilly to stop drying him and get her jacket off was he approached by Ryuma, questioning what the plan was going forward.

... that. "Er, uh, gimme a sec' Ryuma, I might have another pla- n-no, really, you can stop; don't wantcha to get chilly or anything if you decide to go do your own thing..." It was somewhat difficult to juggle the two conversations, between trying to stop and reassure Lilly and stating that he had another plan right off the bat to Ryuma after another one spectacularly failed.

Izo remained in his seat and watched the unfolding argument as his hand slowly followed the top of the empty glass. As the voices raised and the group began to disperse, he felt the dread creep into his stomach again. Given what he had just seen, death was certain to come soon. Izo stood to his feet and approach Taya to simply say "Given what just unfolded Taya, I don't think I can take your words of optimism and encouragement to at all realistic." he then turned and said "I will be at the field I awoke in if any wish to find me in the next few hours." before promptly walking from the building and seeking a place to spend some time in peace.

"..."

*knock knock*

"..."

*knock-*

"Aaah, what do you want?! Go away!"

---

---

Naomi jumped up while on her bed, lashing out after tolerating the incessant knocking at her door for far too long. She tossed her pillow at it, a soft thud resounding on contact. It was silent for a few moments until a voice responded from the other side.

"Can I come in now?" it asked, disregarding Naomi's state almost entirely. The voice was very soft and feminine- one of the other female students if she had to guess.

"No! Go away!" the linguist shouted in response.

"Why?" a confused reply came. Naomi blinked twice. 'Why,' they asked. Wasn't it obvious?! Naomi didn't want to deal with any of them! All those guys do is just fight, fight and fight some more... it was the same yesterday, too! If she opened the door now, whoever was on the other end would probably just look to drag her into all of it as well.

"Are you scared? You shouldn't be scared, I think. Nobody's going to harm you. I don't want to do it either."

The linguist blinked in disbelief once more, baffled by the reply. Carefully she slid her legs back over the side of the bed. Slowly but surely Naomi approached the door, but didn't open or unlock it yet. She just held her hand against the frame.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I don't really like the others, either."

Gosh, why was this other girl so vague all the time?! Naomi wanted to turn around and jump back on her bed, but she had a feeling that the knocking would just resume the moment this other person didn't get another reply. Naomi unlocked the door and opened it ever so slightly, peering through the crack. The girl on the other side was really short. Her hair looked to be slightly messy and the pair of glasses on her nose was slightly off-center. Naomi didn't really recognize her, but she hadn't really paid much attention to the other students to begin with. The short girl didn't bother looking through the crack, instead keeping her gaze fixated right in front of her.

"You opened the door... does that mean you trust me now?" she asked nonchalantly.

"No it doesn't!" Naomi replied.

"Yeah, that makes sense. I'm not going to force you to trust me."

This girl was so weird! Her answers were both honest and vague, leaving the linguist to wonder what it meant. The small girl really did seem harmless, though... so Naomi stepped back and opened the door further.

"It was annoying to talk to you like that... but you're not coming inside! I just wanted to see your face properly," the linguist clarified. The eyes of the other girl lazily turned in their sockets once the door opened, giving Naomi the feeling like they were looking past her rather than at her.

"Your room... is the same as the others," the small girl said before finally looking up and meeting Naomi's own gaze. "I don't think staying here is any safer than anywhere else. I think the thief could pick the lock pretty easily."

"Wha-!"

Naomi was taken back by the sudden declaration and took a step back, furrowing her brow and nearly slamming the door shut then and there. "What do you know?! I'm not scared of them! I don't have any reason to!" she lashed out.

"Ah, really? Okay then... I was worried you were," the short girl replied again. Naomi crossed her arms.

"Worried? Why be worried about me? I don't even know you," the linguist growled to the small girl.

"Oh... you don't? I'm Ayu Usui. Isn't there a profile of me in your student PDA?" she replied. Naomi looked to her right, to a small drawer located next to the door. She'd thrown the device there after locking the door behind her, so she picked it back up again and scrolled through. Just as Ayu said, there was a profile right there detailing everything about the girl. She didn't have a talent, though...

"You still didn't answer my question," Naomi reminded Ayu.

"Oh, why I was worried? Well... I just wanted to reassure you, I suppose. No real reason needed."

And with those words, Ayu turned around and hopped off the steps to Naomi's cabin. The latter was briefly stunned by the display, but then called out towards the retreating figure once the light shock wore off.

"H-Hey! Where are you going?!"

"Somewhere else," Ayu replied without breaking her stride. Naomi puffed up her chest.

"Fine! Just leave then," she shouted back and slammed the door shut, before turning around and leaning back against it. Her heart was throbbing out of her chest from the encounter.

(Why is everyone here so crazy!? Why was she so calm?! I don't get any of this!!
...
Was she... really worried about me?)

Hisakawa’s default response to most situations was to organize and clean. It wasn’t always exactly fun, but it got him focused on something productive, and the focus often helped him when he was stressed. That, combined with nothing better to do, lead to Hisakawa spending most of his time cleaning. However, the sleepless night and lack of breakfast was really starting to catch up with him. He almost decided to push through it, before realizing he wasn’t sure what building he was in and how he got here in the first place.

Well, okay, he wasn’t going to be caught dead sleeping in the middle of the day, but he could at least go get some food. He doubted anyone would be in the mess hall right now, anyway…

Of course, he was wrong. While the dining area itself was empty, Flare seemed to be hard at work in the kitchen, “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” he said.

Yet she didn’t seem to respond to Hiroki at all, as she bent over to shuffle through a refrigerator while mumbling something unrecognizable. This went on for a while until she suddenly popped up with two packs of milk and a faint smile on her face.

“Hold this for a second.” She said as she dumped the milk in Hiroki’s hands, before diving back into the refrigerator. “Cheese, cheese, cheeee-ah!” Holding a block of cheese, she closed the door with a kick and walked towards the kitchen counter, signaling towards Hiroki to set the milk down next to her.

Some macaroni and flour along with multiple cooking tools were already littered around the space, and it didn’t take long for Flare to start shaving the cheese into flakes.

“I’m cooking mac and cheese for dinner, and with so many people, it’s a big undertaking,” She explained before peering at Hiroki with a smirk. “And you did interrupt me, so you’re helping too!” Besides the witty tone, her asking for help seemed sincere.

Damn, I was really hoping not to get roped into anything, Hisakawa thought to himself, then frowned, a twinge of guilt running through him, “Right. I’d be happy to help you out,” He set the milk down as Flare signaled, watching intently as she shredded the block of cheese. His stomach had no issue with reminding him he still hadn’t eaten today, but now that he was helping Flare he had pretty much given up hope of doing that anytime soon.

But damn, it has really been a while since he last had some quality home-made food…

“I think it’s pretty great that you’ve decided to cook for the group,” Hisakawa said, trying to get his mind off of it, “It’s very generous of you.”

“Huuuh?” Flare reluctantly asked as she looked up to Hiroki with cynical eyes. It must’ve felt very off-putting to have Flare act so rough all of a sudden, but something about the word generous just made her feel very uncomfortable.

“Do you know the law of the jungle?” She stopped working on the cheese and rested her arms on the counter. “Survival of the fittest; the strong prey on the weak, right? But the only reason they do that is because they need food to survive.” Her calm demeanor almost made it look like she could be a teacher.

“I’m not doing this out of charity...This group needs an anchor, and the best anchor to keep yourself rooted in reality is feeling safe. As long as I keep preparing meals for them, they won’t starve and turn into predators hunting for prey.”

Hisakawa flinched at the harsh gaze, turning his attention to the ground, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say something wrong,” In all honesty, Hisakawa didn’t understand Flare’s logic at all. Wasn’t she still, ultimately, doing this to help everyone? But he was kind of scared of how she’d react if he questioned her. It was his fault for not getting it, anyway.

He decided it was best to drop it, and swiftly went to change the topic, “So, anything else I can do to help?”

“Uhh…”Flare blinked at Hiroki in surprise, before suddenly changing her mood to something mildly more warm and pleasant.

“Iiii’ve got some water that’s heating up; if it’s cooking you can add the macaroni to it.” She said as she returned to working on the cheese; except after a while she started giving short glances to Hiroki, until it finally turned into a sigh when she dropped the cheese once more.

“How are you holding up?” The melancholy was oozing from her voice, but it was a kind question nonetheless. “You’re very quiet, but you’re not heartless.”

Hisakawa stared at her, his attention drawn from the macaroni, “How am… I holding up?”

This seemed like a trick question, or some sort of trap. Like no matter what he said it would be the wrong answer. He could say he wasn’t okay and appear weak and unfit, or he could say he was fine and seem apathetic and careless. Well… the truth is that he was doing horribly, and it was better to be weak than to not care, right? Or, no—God damn it, why was it always so hard to just decide on something. Just save everyone some time and tell her the truth already.

“I’ve… I’ve been better. The situation has been taxing. I really wish I was home, or at least not in this death game,” He said, then frowned. Calling it a death game seemed weird. It was truthful, obviously, but acknowledging that the people around him could die was… hard to process.

”You miss home?” Flare glared at Hiroki in confusion before realizing something.

”Yes, I miss it too, but at least it's...it’s not a death game, not yet anyway. As long as we keep cooking while the others search for an exit, there won't be any reason to get violent.” She said as she put all of the ingredients in a bowl; she seemed to be waiting for Hiroki to finish the macaroni.

Hisakawa took the noodles from off the stovetop, dumping the contents into a colender. He liked that idea—that if they kept everything in order, no one would have any reason to hurt someone before they can find a way out. Maybe that was a bit of an optimistic idea, but... Well, it might work, at least somewhat.

After making sure the macaroni was drained, he handed the colender over to Flare, “Well, if this will do anything to help keep the peace, then I’m glad to do it. I’m not particularly good with cooking, but I’m always willing to lend a helping hand,” He said, adding a smile at the end, which was promptly received and returned as Flare finished the preparations.

”Alright! Now we just put this in the oven and we’ll have some mac & cheese for our hungry workers.” With the oven churning in the background, she turned to wash her hands.

”Thanks for the help, I’m sure they appreciate it.”

“Anytime,” Hisakawa said, preparing to make his way out of the kitchen. He stopped, for a brief second, considering going to finally get the food he had come here for in the first place, but decided to give it up—he could get it once Flare wasn’t around. But at least him coming here wasn’t a total waste or anything. Now, he seemed to have some sense of direction… and Flare was pretty nice to him.

Himura bounced along to the beat of the song blasting through her speakers. Though her motions were as bouncy and vibrant as ever, her face was hard and unmoving. The events of the mess hall were a complete mess, and she was kind of pissed things turned out like that. She doesn’t know what these assholes were trying to do, but she was trying to escape this damn place. But no, everyone else is too busy getting catty with one another to focus on that.

She pushed herself as the song came to its end, fuelling herself on anger. Taking her last step, she glanced at the score as she caught her breath. Not my best, eh?

She turned around, flipping the lid to the nearby cooler to get some water, before noticing someone at her open door, “Oh, hey,” She said, putting on a smile, “You’re Lilly, right?”

For the time she had been at the lab, Lilly had spent it looking in on the room and watching Chikako with some childlike awe at her movement. As a person with very little penchant for strenuous physical motion, or really any kind of exercise, seeing a person actually in shape exhausting themselves for fun was both a foreign concept, but also a curious one. Not to mention that, despite the simplistic actions of the game, it actually looked like she was dancing, Lilly couldn't help but be momentarily enthralled.

But when that moment passed, and Chikako noticed her at the entrance, she quickly shot up into a rigid stance, shifting awkwardly in her spot at the door.
"U-um, yes, that's me! H-hi." she quickly, and nervously, stated, clutching her clipboard close to her chest as she looked around the room, "Can I... uh... d-do you mind if I look around?"

Himura shrugged, “Yeah, come right on in! I didn’t leave the door open for no reason,” She said before taking a gulp of water. She looked at the girl—Lilly, if she remembered right. Honestly, Himura was kind of surprised she was supposed to be a highschooler. Well, guess it didn’t really matter—at the end of the day, she was here.

“So, come in here for a quick game?” Himura said, leaning against the wall in a way that she hoped looked really cool, “Nothing inspires friendships quite like some friendly competition,” She smirked, ready to make Lilly the first target of her master plan—make friends with all of the girls in the camp to start a girl gang. She doesn’t really know what she’s going to do with a girl gang, really, other than a general plan of escape, but, you know, what downsides are there?

With a little smile, Lilly quickly skittered into the lab, and immediately cast a cursory glance around the room, identifying the obvious cameras and the monitor, and committing the best part of the rooms’ outline to memory. Under most any other situation, she might have started sketching where she stood, but before she could, she found herself addressed by Chikako.
”A game..?” she mirrored, looking towards the machine, ”I don’t really... that’s not my area, a-and, uh, I’m... not _{really very fit…}”

Himura’s smile widened. She liked a good game, but she liked a game she knew she would win even more, “It’s not about winning, Lilly, it’s about the bond! Besides, if you really wanted to, we could play something a bit less athletically inclined—I’ve got stuff like Guitar Hero,” She said, but nonetheless started flipping through songs on DDR. She would switch over if Lilly really wanted to, as she didn’t want to scare the girl off, but the appeal of sweet victory was hard for Himura to resist.

Lilly took a second to mull over the idea. The embarrassment at saying she was out of shape notwithstanding, normally she would never take on such a suggestion. But this wasn’t just a suggestion… it was a chance to bond! She’d had friends before, but not many in total, and even fewer in the real world, and even though this idea of dancing to get closer was foreign, she wasn’t going to pass it up! She had to make friends, so that they wouldn’t kill her later!

”W-wait, no!” she abruptly started, following Chikako’s suggestion to play something else, ”I want lots of friends, a-and I want to be your friend too, so... so... I accept your challenge!”

Himura’s smile somehow widened further, going from mirth to something more sinister, “Excellent! I’ll pick something easy, since you're new to this,” Not even checking what song she selected, she blasted through the settings, putting the song on easy and hopping over to the game pad.

“Just move your feet where the arrows are pointing once they're in that outline thingy,” she said, putting all her attention of the game. Prepare for total destruction, Lilly!

Her earlier vigour was in no way an indication of confidence. Lilly watched her opponent bounce up to the pad, completely versed in the practice, and setup the game in seconds. This wouldn’t be any ordinary competition - the best Lilly could hope to do would be rely on pattern recognition to predict the timings, but even her time spent watching Chikako play prior left her with little indication. This girl was an Ultimate at this game. It would be a massacre.

S-sorry, right!” she sputtered out while scrambling her way to the site of their duel, lining herself up on the pad as best as possible. All she had to do was press the corresponding arrows. That was all. Her times hacking were much more difficult than this. She could win it. She could beat Chikako... Just... press the arrows!

Himura followed along with barely a thought-it was set on easy after all. She knew Lilly was new to this, but Himura was still kind of surprised at her lack of grace. Then again, it had been a really long while since she had played against a newbie.

Nonetheless, Himura pretty much destroyed it, doubtlessly leaving Lilly in the dust, “Phew! Good game, kid!” She said, extending her hand to the girl.

Not even half the game had passed before Lilly was out of breath, and by the end, she was on the floor, sweating, panting, and dizzy. There was no way a human being could go on for that long, at that level of activity, without being put to the floor - it just wasn’t possible. Whoever this Chikako girl was, she wasn’t human. Barely registering her destroyers comment, she looked up through blurry, exhaustion soaked vision to be greeted by a hand, which she, somewhat shakily, took.

”What... What happened... to... easy..?” she wheezed out, clambering to her feet before near enough collapsing into the drinks cooler for something to stop the pains of dehydration, ”Is... is that really... a game... or some kind of... torture device...”

Himura frowned, “Hoo boy, that really took a lot out of ya, huh?” She felt a little bad. Himura won, fair and square of course, but the girl looked half dead after that, “Uh here, lemme get you a water or something.”

She went back to the cooler, pulling out whatever bottle her hand was first able to grab. She put the bottle in the other girl’s hand, standing in silence a moment before realization came across her fact. Now is the perfect time! No one thinks clearer than after a workout, and if Lilly’s thinking clearly, she's obviously going to pick up on how smart her idea is.

“Hey, while I have you here, I wanted to talk to you about my girl gang!” She said, cracking another signature smile, “It’s nothing formal or even really official yet, but I think having an alliance with us girls is exactly what we need to make sure we can get everyone out of this dumb camp. What do ya say?”

About as quickly and greedily as one little girl can do, Lilly took the bottle and drank deeply from it, letting the cool, wet sensation overtake her previously sore and dry mouth. Her gluttony overtook her though, and as Chikako brought up the concept of the girl gang, she found herself caught off guard, and had to pull the bottle from her mouth as she choked up sports drink.
”A... girl gang? Like... where we all hang out and have sleepovers and stuff?” she asked, looking up from her minor coughing fit with a slightly confused expression.

“Yeah, totally!” Himura confirmed, despite having no concrete idea herself, “I think it'd be fun, and it’d make getting out of here all the easier. So, what do you say?” She asked, not even attempting to hide her enthusiasm.

”U-uh, I, I mean... y-yes, absolutely!” Lilly declared, quickly standing up straight, smiling, and looking up the full seven inches that divided their heights, ”I’d love to! I-it sounds like a lot of fun, and, and, I-I can make more friends! I’ll help however I can! A-and, um, th-thanks for inviting me...”

“Yeah, totally! I'm looking forward to working with ya!” She said cheerfully. She had a feeling she was gonna like this Lilly girl!

As his fellow captives began to file themselves out of the Mess Hall, Shirou waited for a short while, letting those that did leave to make distance from the building. When a couple minutes had passed, he too pushed himself up off from the table, pulling the bat along with him, before he limped away to the door, swung it open a short distance, just enough to allow him passage, and stepped out into the cool morning air. With a couple of steps, he was out of the way of the entrance, off to the side, facing on towards the forest.

He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then exhaled gently, and leant his shoulder against the wall, placing the bat beside him. Things were going poorly. Though it wasn't his main concern, the wound from yesterday was a lingering issue, and though it wasn't the same searing pain he attempted to block out prior, it had been gradually growing into a dull ache that, now multiple hours since awakening, he was struggling to ignore. But more importantly, the groups cohesion was breaking down, if the incident just moments ago wasn't enough of an indication. It didn't matter what people thought of him; his own, personal feelings didn't come into the matter. Inevitably, he would retroactively scour that scene to find a better outcome, and no doubt he would come out disappointed: there were so few ways to deal with it, an immediate breakup of the argument was the most efficient solution to ensure it didn't escalate further.

And yet there was an underlying sense of disappointment in the outcome. Those situations where all options are bad options - where someone always gets hurt, no matter the selected route - Shirou hated them. It was a heroes job to ensure the best possibly outcome for any given task, and when presented with choices, regardless of how good they were, that ended in a person getting hurt, or demeaned, or anything in between, the lingering sense of failure was always there. That he'd be remiss to call himself a "Hero" after such a mistake, even if those circumstances were outside of his own control.

But regardless of what did happen, there were things he needed to do now - things that couldn't wait. There were more issues that needed to be taken care of, and there was more information to be gleaned. Multiple issues could be solved at once, but the first, and perhaps one of the more pressing, of said issues, was the reconciliation of Snow. Momoe was of similar importance, but unlike Snow, he could tell that, like him, she had thick enough skin as to where something like that would only be a temporary irritant. Snow, on the other hand, he wasn't confident in. She had stormed off, and he hadn't where she went, but by her demeanor, there were very few places she could go. One of those was her room, which sat by the major traffic area of the camp. And the other was the firepit.

Against his legs protest, he pushed himself off the wall, placing the bat between him and the ground, before he started his walk past the mess hall, across the grass, and through the forest. All told, it took him near enough fifteen minutes with his pace, and the terrain of the forest, but as he passed the trees, the forest opened up into a clearing, furnished with seating areas, and a long dead firepit. And, to his intuitions favour, sat atop one of the many logs, was the object of his excursion.

"Bit early for marshmallows, don't you think?" he said simply as he stepped out of the trees, and breaking into the clearing, "Bit early to be alone and depressed, too." with a few limping steps, he gingerly dropped himself down onto a different log to Snow, before breathing a small sigh, and smiling towards her, "Maybe marshmallows would be the perfect thing then, huh? The internal monologue look isn't a good fit for you."

“Shut up…” Was the only thing snow defeatedly uttered. Besides those words, she didn’t seem to react to Shirou at all, instead opting to peer towards her feet in silence for a good few seconds.

Marshmallows…Depressed marshmallows. Why did the Hero come here to confront her? what could a person like him possibly want from her? manipulation obviously. All he had done till now was trying to control people, and there was no reason he wouldn’t try to control Snow right now...But, it was so stupid to admit, but Shirou hit the nail on the coffin with his words, and Snow didn’t like it one bit; especially after the meeting.

“What do you want?” She said as she finally raised her head, glaring at Shirou as if judging him.

With a mostly neutral expression save his smile, Shirou watched her casually, evidently unphased by her abrasive attitude.
”Well… Momoe didn’t give give us any points of investigation to go on.” he said, turning away to look into the forest, reclining back on the log a short ways, ”I’d like to check out the office, and you’ve already been there. Seems like a good way to kill two birds, huh?”

Woosh. With a sudden movement, Snow suddenly snapped up to look at Shirou with an expression that edged on sheer and utter surprise and happiness; only to quickly revert back to her prior state. For whatever reason, she really seemed in turmoil.

“This is your attempt at an apology? Pathetic…” She was looking down for a while now, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that she was hiding her frustrated expression.

”Hey now, I haven’t gotten to that part yet. Gimme some slack before you hang me.” Shirou responded, with a small laugh on his end, before he spun around on the log, angling himself directly towards her, ”You want to be helpful, right? So do I. I like to think I’m doing an okay job, this morning notwithstanding, but…” he sighed, pushed himself up on the bat, and took a limping step towards Snow, ”Well, we’re no closer to escaping, now are we?”

With a couple more steps he closed the distance between them, leaving a few feet between their positions.
”What I said earlier probably didn’t do much more than de-escalate the situation. Even though that was what I wanted, it’d be a shame to make enemies so early on, right?” with his piece said, he turned his back and limped to the fire pit, and picked up a piece of charred, mostly destroyed wood, ”Anyway, since you’ve been there, you wouldn’t mind showing me to the office, right?”

“What?”Snow looked up. “I thought nobody heard-” She caught her words, wondering if this was another attempt at Shirou playing the hero...but…

“Yes! Finally a peasant who knows how to follow orders!” With a sudden movement, Snow hopped on her feet with an honestly smug grin; she totally let the situation get to her, and it was not like her at all to be so broody. It was true, she did want to help. Even if it was just for herself, and the sake of her own sanity, she would let Shirou play the hero a little while longer.

“Follow me, and we’ll be there shortly.” She brashly stated as she began marching along the only path leading out of the woods.

From behind, Shirou gave a small laugh, and pulled himself up from the ground with the bat, pocketing the wood.
”Mind slowing down at all? These old bones aren’t what they used to be.” he called out from back along the track, as he watched Snow quickly disappear off into the distance, ”I’ve got something I’d like to check as well, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s your own fault for being shot.” She shouted at him from a distance before reluctantly waiting for Shirou to catch up. “Honestly, if you and the triggerhappy lady didn’t get everyone scared yesterday, there wouldn’t be so much drama now.”

”I didn’t really have a choice.” he said, coming out of the forest and onto the main, circular path where Snow had been waiting, ”Monokuma might have killed her otherwise. And I thought I told everyone?” Shirou continued as he walked past her, and onto the grassy area that led up to the electric fence, ”I have no intention of letting any of you die.”

“Hmph…be careful, next time it could be you who needs saving.” Snow dismissively quipped before pointing towards the road leading to the gate “The office is this way.”

At her words, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of wood - waving it in the air as an indication for her to join him.
”Maybe. There’s nothing wrong with that.” he called back, in case she didn’t come up beside him, ”But confidence and optimism are contagious.”

Abruptly, he stopped, a couple dozen feet from the fence.
”You said the fence was lethal, right? Did you test it at all?”

“uhh.” She totally didn’t test it, but Snow had the competence of a mastermind, so it wouldn’t be any problem to just answer anyway. “Y-yeah, it gives you a quite a shock! But there’s no way it’s lethal, because our captors don’t want us dying for nothing, right?” Nailed it.

Shirou gave a cautionary look towards Snow as she spoke, letting her finish her piece before doing anything. She was obviously lying, but his expression gave nothing away, remaining calm, and neutral, throughout.
”Is that so…” he said, trailing off as he took another single step forward. With the bat in his left hand, keeping him steady, and the wood in his right, he quickly positioned himself to throw, and immediately loosed the projectile towards the fence.

It flew effortlessly, and connected, before detonating in a splash of sparks and fire.
”Looks like you were right.” he said, turning on an axis and walking off at an angle towards the theatre, and the direction Snow had motioned towards, ”Definitely not something I’d want to touch.”

The resulting display of violence caused a squeaky scream followed by dazed words. “What did you do!?” But the man was already walking away as if dropping a mic, how rude… “Give a warning before you start trashing stuff, it’s barbaric.” She said as she caught up to Shirou, which was noticeably easy to do as she hardly did more than walk.

”Sorry.” Shirou said simply as she came up beside him, ”I just needed to check it myself. Anyway, the office is up here you said, right? Do you want to take a detour along the grass, or keep taking the path?”

“What? why would I walk through that muddy decrepit grass if there’s a perfectly fine path? Are you, like, an actual barbarian?" She looked down as she spoke those last words, peering down at her heels, clearly afraid to dirty them or trip over something.

Following her gaze, Shirou also looked at her heels, before promptly continuing walking.
”I can think of at least one of us that would appreciate the shortcut, but the scenic route works fine.” he said, slightly quickening his pace, much to the ire of his wound, in the hopes of reaching their destination faster, ”I can check in on Lilly’s lab on the way and see if she’s finished her sketches yet, anyway.”

”Whatever.” she retorted, walking a few paces ahead to helm the walk as the crested the crossroads of the path, ”It’s that one down there” she gestured as Shirou came up beside her, looking down the path of Research Labs to the somewhat larger building, backed by the forest.

As quickly as he approached, he made his way down the path, barely waiting to see if Snow would continue on with him. They passed a couple of the Labs as they went, for other Ultimates that, presently, neither were interested in. Then around the third one down, Shirou shifted his course and approached the door, before drumming his knuckles against the entrance. The dull thuds reverberated around the area, but the door didn’t open.

”She’s still out finishing the map, huh…” he trailed off after waiting for half a minute, and continued walking, ”Did you say that you and Aurel found this yesterday? Did you notice anything of interest?” he said behind him, as the two approached the Office building. It bore the same, design as the others around the camp, hardly differing at all, but Shirou still noted some oddities at his first glance. The door seemed to be fitted with numerous different locks - from traditional keys to pincodes - while the obvious profile windows had all been boarded up, from the inside.

“It got dark before we investigated it, so we didn’t really see much. But the windows are boarded up anyway, so…” Snow looked a bit sad, perhaps disappointed at their discoveries. Soon after she turned her attention to the door, walking over with her hands already outstretched to start mashing buttons.

While Snow occupied herself with attempting the locks, Shirou took a step around the building, evaluating the different windows - only to find all of them boarded up in a similar manner. After nary a minute, he came around the other side.
”They’re all boarded up, and there are cameras at different angles guarding every wall.” his said, as his eyes flicked to the door, ”Somebody is very keen on stopping us from seeing inside here… Could there be-” quickly he cut himself off, and tapped Snow on the shoulder, ”I’m heading back to some of the others now. Thank you for this, really.”

Snow stopped herself from flinching as Shirou touched her, and though he got her attention, she chose to look at a charming tree instead of the hero as he thanked her. Maybe there was a blush, maybe there wasn’t; Snow didn’t give shirou any chance to think about as it was her turn to speak. She raised her chin, puffed up and took a step forward.
“Don’t let it go to your head.” And with a surprisingly nimble pirouette, she left the scene.

---

---

Slowly but surely, everyone began their departure, heading on their own paths as the boy convinced the girl everything was fine before joining the others. The thief could only really squeeze his hands to the point where his knuckles became an ivory white, lips sealed tighter than any vault he managed to bust into, grinding away at his teeth as the crowd slowly dwindled, bit by bit.

God damnit. Nothing was planned out at all with him standing around like a blithering idiot, watching as the whole place crumbled around him, leaving him with just Ryuma in the general vicinity. He just... ugh...

...

Aurel just took a seat, dejectedly grabbing a seat and tearing it out from a table and flopped down from it, ruffling his hair. Idea... Idea... right... Ryuma wanted to hear him out on his plan.

"... Ultimate Tutor... the plan is for me to head to Hibiki's Lab and... discuss a few things with him... it... might help us all out in the long run to the point where we can organize a proper meeting..."

Ryuma watched whatever he could of Aurel’s thought process from his face—whatever else was true, the guy was clearly stressed out. He pulled one of the chair out and sat on it, putting himself on the same level with Aurel. “Are you okay, dude? You seem pretty out of it,” He scrunched his face a bit, “And… What exactly are you planning to go to Hibiki’s lab for?” He shifted in his chair—man, he’s glad Snow didn’t end up hitting him with one of these. They were anything but cushy.

The thief blinked, still keeping his head tilted down, staring down at his own knees. He swiftly shoved one hand into his pocket and fidgeted about, all while he began nibbling at his index as Aurel continued to avert his gaze from the Ultimate Parkourist.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, it's just... uhm..." He paused and bit down hard onto his finger, silence lingering as he kept his finger tightly clamped, only releasing his captive hand the moment he felt that it could bleed if he held it like that any longer.

"... th-the atmosphere... _{yeah, that...} it's probably just getting to me or something... a-and, I just... want some advice? He is the Ultimate Tutor after all."

Ryuma raised an eyebrow, “You think he knows what he’s doing any better than the rest of us? Cause it’s not like he’s solved the mystery of this place or anything,” He shrugged, “Though who knows, maybe I’m just being cynical,” He said, though he didn’t really believe it, and nothing in his tone suggested that he expected Aurel to either.

“What are you so worried about anyway? I mean,” He gestured casually to the whole room, as if trying to point out some embodiment of the situation, “besides the obvious.”

"... it's not that he knows better, it's just... because he's a tutor, he can... erm I'm, uh, worried about..." Aurel began stuttering a bit, shifting around in his seat as he cleared his throat, letting the silence take over...

... and just as he started he ended, slowly scooting the seat out, almost in a manner befitting of a robot - stiff and mechanical. His gaze was moderately suspicious as well, a little more evasive and jittery than the other day. It didn't help that the thief began to "brush" his hair out of the way multiple times to an ludicrous degree before stopping instantly. he went about brushing his hair in and out of the way to the point where it looked like he was rubbing his head.

"... eh, it's nothing important... r-really."

“Man, don’t ‘it’s nothing important’ me,” Ryuma said, a bit annoyed at this point, “It’s obviously at least a little important, or it wouldn’t be bugging you. Hell, even if it isn’t, you’re kind of one of the few people here who isn’t a total maniac, so you probably haven’t gone off the deep end of rationality yet.”

Aurel froze, like a deer caught in the spotlight of some poor fellows car. He didn't want to say anything else, feeling his embarrassment rising up to his neck, constricting and choking him, preventing him from digging a deeper hole with his lies. As his body worked for and against him, his hands slowly moved towards his lap, curling into fists, digging into the sides of his thighs.

"... it's n-_n-nuh... uhm... mmm..." He began murmuring and mumbling to himself before weakly walking back to the seat and slumping into it. "I... uh... well..."

"... I… couldn’t do anything right..."

Ryuma opened his mouth for a second, then closed it. After another moment, he spoke, “Listen, I know what it’s like to feel like a screw up. But like, there’s only so much you can do here, you know? I mean, I get wanting to be able to help and to fix all of this, but it’s not solely on you to get us out of this, and if you mess up it’s not going to completely keep us from getting out, y’know?”

"... yeah, I... I sort of get that, I suppose... but..." There was something rising in his voice before the sound dissipated. He pursed his lips, clearing his throat as he did his best to pick at the words, opening his mouth for a second before shutting it again.

"... I just didn't do anything..." Slowly, but surely, a paradox of a complete, yet incomplete thought escaped his coarse throat.

"I didn't communicating any important information, interjected when this whole discourse was devolving, and I possibly played into that... that..." His voice was hoarse, nearly inaudible due to the fact that it was more restrained rather than his usual silence.

Ryuma shrugged, “Well, then speak up more next time, I guess,” He leaned forward, “But hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. This situation is complicated, y’know? Just be glad you didn’ start whatever cat fight happened back there.”

Aurel's chest tightened for a second, voice almost ready to burst like a balloon... granted, it would of him talking at a normal volume, followed with tranquil words laced with fury. Regardless, instead he just pondered on Ryuma's words, speaking naught a word for the next few minutes. Silence lingered in the air as his hands loosened up, only to interlock as the thief continued staring at the at the ground, until finally...

"... yeah... I... I suppose you're right," he spoke up, barely above a murmur followed by an audible sigh. Yeah, this whole situation, while a crappy deal was complicated, especially since not everyone wanted to work together or play nice...

"... though, I don't get why she’s just... aggressive... er, Momoe, I mean..."

“Pfft, man, I don't know what the bitch’s problem is. Just ignore her, if all she's gonna do is cause problems then there's no point in bothering with her,” Ryuma stretched out, “Well, hey, I’m gonna go chill out after all this mess. You can come with, or don't, but either way do yourself a favor and don't worry about the bitchfest.”

The thief just blankly stared, absorbing the words of Ryuma as did a sponge would to with syrup. Even as Ryuma moved on, he still pondered on those words... why? He could only visibly frown as those seconds passed; there had to be more to it... Momoe didn't seem like a stupid person, yet...

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that... also, I think I'll take you up on your offer."

... despite all that, his answer was instantaneous.

The day started to come to a close, the sun setting on their mysterious new home. Though it was hardly harmonious, there was something maybe resembling peace in the camp, or at least something resembling contentment.

But before it began to grow dark, the monitors around the campground flickered to life, once more carrying the shrill voice on Monokuma through its speaker.



The monitors then quickly shut down, the expectation clear. As the students approached the amphitheater, taking their seats in the low daylight, the monochrome bear popped out from the stage.

Momoe Mizuno

"Is that all?"

Momoe stepped out of the crowd after Monokuma's oh-so important message with a flick of her long, tangled locks. The smuggler stopped a short distance away from the stage, one hand on her hip as she lazily stared up at Monokuma. "Let me get this straight: you want us to murder each-other to get out of here, and the motive you give to make us want to do that, is to make it easy for us to get out, right?" she confirmed. Momoe looked back over her shoulder to the rest of the pack, paused, then turned her head back normally.

"Pff... aha... Ahaha!"

The girl burst into laughter, holding both her hands over her stomach to keep herself standing. "Oh, that's great, that's too great!" she mustered out between her fits. It took her a moment to regain her composure, but she did eventually stop to look back at Monokuma again, after wiping a tear from her eye. "C-come on, I've never heard something so pathetic... do you even know what you're doing? I can't believe I took you seriously for a moment!"

Momoe turned away from Monokuma, a bemused smile still on her face. She intended to walk away from the stage, but stopped herself when she saw Ayu staring at her from the crowd. Something must've been bothering the pipsqueak, she figured, considering the small one had already shown not to be afraid of the smuggler. Whatever though; Momoe was still far enough from the crowd that nobody else would've bother her. It didn't hurt to stick around a little longer.

---

Location::Showers & Bathroom Area => Amphitheater
Interacting With:: Monokuma (@TheSeriousJoke)

---

A chill ran down his spine as he trudged to the amphitheater, hair still drenched from the lukewarm shower. While he still appeared with a cool, aloof mood, there was a seemingly dour glint hanging in his eyes. He could almost bet that if he stood out here any longer, he would catch a cold.

... and why might you ask had soured his mood?

He was semi-wet of course... also because someone stole his clothes... really, the only thing on him were his shoes and a towel, draped around his waist. It was impossible to comprehend why someone would just up and take his clothes. Even more troublesome was that he left his keys and tablet in the pockets... the thought of just not showing up crossed his mind but... ugh...

Aurel swore remembering something about imagining a crowd naked, but with that being the reverse, he found this situation to be ridiculous as he he willingly hid himself from any sorts of prying eyes. After a few minutes of miserably dragging his feet through the dirt, he arrived at the theater, noting that, outside of one or two people amongst the rabble, almost everyone was here.

He peered to the ground as he skittered to a seat, shivering as he forced his mouth shut to mute the incessant chattering of his teeth as he listened to the bear pop out, do his jig, and told them something he considered to be a huge waste of time...

... and looks like he wasn't the only one to find the bears showboating to be one vain attempt on its part.

"... sh-she does have a point... plus it... feels like you're d-desperate I might add," just as his voice rose up, he did too... and it didn't help that he was on the brink of sneezing as he trembled while stuttering just a tad.

And in one step he vanished, saying no words as he exasperatedly trudged down the step, pondering on myriads of topics ranging from hindsight with this motive to attempting to figure out loopholes with each of these rules.

However, one thing was set in his mind as the wind swept past his back, causing a chill to surge down the thief's spine. "... I need to find my clothes," he murmured to no one in particular as he reached the bottom of the stairs, departing in the direction he came from.