Ryuma Hitsugaya

More than anything, Ryuma just felt a little confused about what was going on. On a purely logical level, he understood the events happening in front of him and how they connected with one another; but there was something about this that seemed pretty off.

As Momoe began to laugh about the whole thing, though, he realized what it was: This whole motive thing didn’t actually seem like a big deal.

Eh, that was fine by him. He wasn’t happy about being holed up here or anything, and he’d like to be home, but it didn’t seem like anybody would be dying anytime soon; escape hasn’t been taken off the table yet, either. So, it seemed like this would be fine, at least for now.

“Yeah, this shit’s stupid!” Ryuma suddenly flinched, turning to see the ever-hyperactive Chikako standing up and screaming. Jeez, what’s with these people, He thought to himself, before getting up to leave.

---

Himura Chikako

“For once, Momoe and Aurel are right!” Himura yelled, continuing her frenzied speech. Admittedly, Himura was terrified about the idea of being provided an actual motive for murder; for a second, she was worried someone was gonna take the bait. But with some people lashing back against Monokuma, she was beginning to think it might be possible that no one would take the bear seriously—with her expert leadership, of course.

“Y’all, this bear obviously is just saying a bunch of stupid garbage to scare us. Obviously none of us are going to go and murder one another—we have principles. And, of course, I am on the case to finding out how to get out of here, and I am making great progress. Obviously.”

She stood up on the spot she was sitting, “Come on, even Nervous Fucker Two over there looks like he’s barely paying attention!” She said, pointing to Hiroki, who jumped when he realized he was being referred to, but ended up quickly tuning back out, “So nobody is gonna be scared of this kind of thing,” Himura said, determined to now wrap up her speech, as she was unsure where she was going with it at this point.

“So, uh, in conclusion, Monoku-man, you aaaaare… failing! And we’re winning!” Himura said, finishing with a smile.

“I’m going to be late for the meeting in the amphitheater. Why did Monokuma need us anyway? We already know what we have to do to get out of here… We all agreed to stay strong and don’t do anything. Did he got tired of waiting…?” Yukimori was in a hurry. She didn’t hear Monokuma’s voice that called out that all the students should arrive at the amphitheater. She immediately rushed outside of her cabin as soon as she saw the notification from Monokuma. Her blue ribbon was still a bit losing around her neck as she buttoned up her blouse. “Why does this always happen to me? I’m sure that I set my alarm at 8 Am.” A small sigh escaped her mouth as the sight of the theatre came in her vision. Making her speed up a little when they all stood there yelling and discussing something. Rather confused she arrived in silence.

Yukimori tied her ribbon correctly as she moved closer to the others. Rather embarrassed of being late she looked up at all of them, hoping to get an answer out of their conversations to know what Monokuma said.

The first one she heard speaking up was Aurel. Searching his voice when all of a sudden she saw a half-naked, white-haired boy standing there with a towel around his waist. A blushed came on her cheeks, covering it up with one of her hands as she listened closely to what he was saying. Making her frown first, but then her eyes became slightly bigger at the surprise (Did Monokuma tell us to kill each other fast? Because he was bored?! That’s just insane…). When Aurel left she noticed Ryuma who spoke next. 4 simple words were all he had to say, well she couldn’t blame him. Others already spoke for all of them. ( Of course, we won’t kill each other. Why would we? We are classmates after all.)

Yukimori wanted to talk with Ryuma about all this for a while now. He seemed like the person that would listen to people without judging too much. Making her way quickly to Ryuma after he spoke. She got surprised when somebody raised their voice, she turned around to find out it was Himura. Throwing bold but true facts at Monokuma, she was happy that Himura wanted to find a way out of her as fast as she could. Yukimori nodded in agreement, but deep inside she felt like Monokuma wouldn’t even care about what we all said right now. (After all, he built this whole place to keep us all and to make us kill each other. Would he really stop when we said this to him…? I hope that we can all stay strong and move out of here quickly before somebody gets killed) Her thought lingered in her head. In a second she remembered what she was planning to do, and got back to asking Ryuma what he thought about all this.

Ryuma’s back was already turned to her when she noticed him standing up to make his way out of this mess. Her feet felt like bricks that she couldn’t move on her own, moving slowly towards Ryuma as she reached out for his wrist. Hesitating for a moment, she shook her head and gently pulling his sleeve for a moment. “Euhm … Excuse me, Ryuma? Could I ask you something, if you have the time of course? I don’t want to bother you with this.” Her grey/ blueish eyes looked up at the big guy standing in front of her. Regretting the fact that she pulled his sleeve immediately. What would he think of her touching him like that, she’s still a stranger to him. “I wanted to speak with you about all this, you seemed to be the type who wouldn’t judge others that fast. It would be nice to know what you think, maybe you might feel better about telling someone your opinion…”

Yukimori had a small blush on her cheeks, and her hands got a little sweaty from how nervous she was. Holding her own hands before her as she waited for a response, hoping he wouldn’t think bad about her approaching him so out of the blue.

Taka Tsuin

Throbbing. His head was throbbing. A dull and steady pulsate, pushing and pulling periodically on the grey matter inside of his brain. The mouth burning, the chest aching; all while feeling like he's continuously falling into a deep chasm with no beginning or end. The endless void contorted around Taka; he wanted to scream in both anger and fear, prevent himself from sinking into the abyss, but everything was limp, limp and cold. He felt himself slowly fading, dimming, like a flickering flame on the edge of burning out-

"Guah!"

With a short gasp, Taka woke from his slumber and shot upright in his bed. Heavy breaths were drawn while he stared down at his trembling hand, the horrible feeling of that nightmare still lingering like a headache after drinking too much. His untied hair fell beside him, some of it dangling right next to the bed. He angrily swiped it to the side, clearing his vision so he could take a better look at the surroundings. It was still that same cabin he fell asleep in; the one set aside for him by that maniacal little machine.

"Damn shit... this nightmare ain't over yet."

---

"What the hell do you mean, forcing us together?!" Taka screamed in defiance at Monokuma. He'd been a little slow to get to the theater, what with him getting ready and all, but all this thing seemed to want, was toy around with the lot of them. "I'm startin' to have it with you, bear! What the hell gives you the right?!"

Taka's balled-up fist was shaking from the pressure put on it, but he didn't have the guts to step forward and sock Monokuma for it yet. Not after remembering what he did to that girl who tried it earlier. That didn't mean he was going to just lie down and take it, though. "I don't care the hell you're playing at! We're not some kind of freak-puppet show, you got that?!" he yelled in defiance, pointing towards the bear.

"I don't care who the hell you pair me up with! I'm not murdering anyone!"



This is all some kind of joke, right? This camping trip was a nightmare that just kept getting worse. First Naomi has to tolerate being stuck with a bunch of total strangers, they drag her into everything, and just when she started getting a little comfortable around the lot, she's forced to be around someone all the time. It was cruel. This bear was cruel. Naomi hugged herself and bit down on her lip, shaking ever so slightly as if a cold breeze washed over her. It didn't help that one of the boys was so loud, so intolerably loud! Didn't he learn from yesterday?! Or before?! If you provoke the bear, it'll just keep getting worse and worse and worse...!

"Just stop already, I don't want any of this...!" Naomi muttered to herself. Who was she going to have to put up with, anyway? Was it someone dangerous, annoying, a hindrance, some freak or any combination of the four? No, that wasn't the problem... how the hell did the bear want them to murder anyone like this?!

"The... the handcuffs..." Naomi chimed in once the loudmouth had settled down. "How... do we get rid of them? When are we going to be released from our partner?" she asked, glaring at the bear up on the stage. She felt she knew the answer, though. This was a motive for murder. Thinking logically, the answer would be...

Meanwhile, Flare was already out on a stroll when the morning-announcement played, so she was one of the, if not the first there. Seeing everyone trickle in in their own way was sort of relaxing, and it made time fly fairly quick. For some reason, she held her left hand close to her chest, someone with a keen eye might have noticed a small cut on the palm of it.

Once everyone arrived at the amphitheatre and heard the actual announcement, Snow couldn’t respond with anything but a deep disapproving frown.

She rolled her eyes at Naomi’s questions before answering. “Isn’t it obvious? The handcuffs fall of when your precious heart stops beating.” She sneeringly said, gesturing to cut of her head with her hand.

“But am I gonna put those handcuffs on? Yeah, I don’t think so.” From her arrogant tone, one might think that she is parading, but she is in fact, just very annoyed. “Nobody actually expects me to tie myself up with one of these barbarians willingly, do you? That’s...dumb...” She crossed her arms defensively, as she hoped that she actually had a choice. Being handcuffed to literally anyone here would be actual torture. Not only does she value her privacy, but the fact that they are always around her means that she is forced to get closer to them; literally. And that thought scares her.

“If we do all get handcuffed, I’d like everyone to stay here after the bear leaves. I want to make sure that we all understand each other in order to... minimize risks.” Flare said with an authoritative voice. She didn’t expect everyone to listen, but if at least half stayed, then they could come up with a way to deal with the troublemakers.

“right…” Snow scoffed at Flare, before facing the bear and sharply pointing at it. “And one more thing? You’re voice actually sounds worse than a witch screaming of the top of her lungs while scratching her ugly nails on a chalkboard, like; ugh, go mute…”

---

"Just put them on already! We can’t get around this!"

5 minutes. That’s how long Naomi had been yelling at the extremely stubborn Snow to put the damned handcuffs on.

“Shut up! I’m not gonna say it again! I'm not gonna listen to that dumb bear, nor you! Just, put them on somebody else or something,” Snow fired back at her.

"Oh my god, why are you so difficult about this?! I can’t put them on someone else! Are you deaf?! If we don’t link up with each-other, he’s going to kill us! Do you just have a death wish or something? Because I don’t want to die!" Naomi yelled while lashing out, pulling up her arm which already had one half of the pair attached to it. She pulled on it to extend the cord and then dangled it in front of Snow’s face. "If you’re not going to do it yourself, I’m going to!"

“I’d rather die!” Snow slapped the cord away from herself, taking a step back to protect herself from Naomi’s advance. “Or… I don't! But that doesnt mean I have to listen to you, bitch!” Despite her tone, she still bit her lip and crossed her arms, only shortly making eye-contact with naomi before staring away.

"I’M a bitch?! You’re the one who’s refusing to coöperate! I don’t want to be stuck with you, but the sooner we get this over with, the sooner both of us are going to accept we need to! Stop being so fucking selfish!" Naomi continued to yell, louder and louder. "Just do it already! We don’t have much of a choice here!"

In return, Snow stared at naomi with furrowed eyebrows for half a minute straight, appearing to say something before stopping herself. “I don't...You...Just...do it already!” In a sudden movement, Snow extended her arm towards Naomi, looking off to the side intensely. Naomi didn’t waste any time to step forward and lock the cuff around the hairdresser’s wrist, which left the both of them stuck with one another. Naomi took a step back, both hearing and feeling the cord inside extend as she took some distance from Snow.

"T-There… it’s done," she said with a slightly shaky voice. Naomi looked down at the metallic device around her wrist, taking note of both the timer reading “20:00:00” as well as the small button next to it.

Fiddling with the handcuff, Snow didn’t bother to acknowledge Naomi as she tucked on the cord to test it’s flexibility. “I’m going to my room…” She said as took a step forward, only looking back to wait for naomi to follow suit. She didn’t. Naomi just stood there, brows just as furrowed as Snow’s can get.

"Your room? For what?"

“So I don’t have to see your tense face.” Before finishing her words, Snow already turned around and took another step, hoping to avoid Naomi from responding. Instead, the cable between them jammed as its maximum length had been reached. Naomi stumbled a bit, but then pulled back to prevent Snow from moving forward.

"Excuse me? You’re not going anywhere without me, and I’m not going to go to your room just because you want to! We’re stuck together, you got that?! So you don’t get to boss me around!"

Between the tugging of the cord and the rebellion of Naomi, Snow’s mood returned right back to the start, maybe even getting worse as a vein on her forehead looked ready to pop. “God, your voice is even worse than the teddy!” Snow sneered as she dug her heels in. “Alright then, why don’t you tell me what to do then! I’m sure that’ll work out for you!”

"Yeah, I’m sure that’ll work out for me! Especially when you didn’t listen to me for five minutes straight before finally putting these things on! God, why did I have to get stuck with someone this insufferable?!"

In a fit of anger, Naomi pushed the button next to the timer, causing it to start counting down while the two of them were temporarily released from each other.

"Go to your room for all I care! I’m going to the supply cabins!"

“Fine!”

And so the two went in opposite directions, until the time that they would inevitably continue the fight.

---

---

Hmm... so they were going to have to do this, huh?

...

Yeah, no he wasn't gonna do this, at least not yet anyways. The thief was staying put, not as willing to march on to his impending doom as his other peers, but he was going to do his best to delay the inevitable. Resting the side of his head on his hand, he went about surveying the Ultimates before turning his gaze over to Momoe. She looked to have the same thought as him, because when he’d finally found her, her head was in the process of turning toward him as well. The two were staring each-other down and Aurel saw a faint smile on her lips, despite the distance between the both of them.

Aurels gaze lingered a few seconds too long on her before realizing the smuggler had caught him staring, with the main tip being that smile. That damn smile. Blinking, he turned his head back down to staring at the masses, his eyes alternating between them and Momoe for the next minute, though that wasn’t going to last too long.

Following that, he rose up from his seat and slowly began to trudge downwards towards the bear, sighing as he did so. As much as he would like to wait, better to get this over with than let these feelings fester.

“Pretty interesting, right?”

Momoe’s voice resounded from behind Aurel. She must’ve followed him as soon as she saw him make a move, because when he slightly nudged his head to glance in the direction of her voice, she was only a couple of steps removed from him. “Don’t worry though; I don’t really want to be stuck with you either. I just want to get this over with,” she said as she continued her stride towards Monokuma, her expression having softened but still showing amusement.

He gave a shallow nod in response to the girl before slowly turning his head back forward, pressing onward towards the bear. "At least we have that much in common," he murmured flatly, sighing as he ruffled his messy hair.

He remained silent the rest of the way down, pondering on the circumstance as the crowd slowly abated as they received their handcuffs. Before he knew it, it was him and Momoe's turn to receive their handcuffs. Well, it was now or never as the thief snatched their pair of handcuffs from the bear and briefly inspected it.

Despite having seconds thoughts, there was really no more time to contemplate it as he gingerly attached the cuff to one of his wrists before rubbing the area around it. With a grunt, he slightly angled his head in Momoe’s direction, extending the his cuffed hand towards her before offhandedly remarking, "Hopefully this is the closest either of us will ever come to being arrested."

The cuff was grabbed roughly, soon followed by a click as Momoe came to stand right next to Aurel. She showed off her own cuffed wrist, then made sure he couldn’t look away from her eyes. The smuggler didn’t look very pleased.

“Real cute. If you’ve got the guts to crack jokes like that, at least look me in the eye while you’re doing so.” She turned her face from Aurel to Monokuma, then back to the thief. “Let’s get off the stage,” she said. “I’m tired of this bear’s face.”

"You and me both." Hopping off the stage, he walked alongside the smuggler in the general direction of the enclosure - or, at least he thought he did. It wasn't a few seconds and the arm that was affixed to the cuff was flung horizontally into the air, with the same being said for Momoe. Blinking, he looked over to Momoe. "... where are you going?" he asked. She took a step back and turned to face him.

“What? I said we’re getting out of here. Don’t tell me you’re intent on sticking around?” Aurel only gave a brief nod of his head, indicating that, yes, he was going to stick around.

"Flare's thought process is logical, plus there's one thing I want to test out with these cuffs," he said, confirming his reason for lingering around the area. The thief eyed the girl for a brief second before nonchalantly tugging at their bindings. As much as he would hope Momoe would follow along, he expected her to act contrary to this plan. His suspicions were confirmed when the chain returned to him with no resistance, reeling back into the device around his wrist.

“Good. Gives me a reason to test out the release function,” Momoe flatly retorted. She lowered the arm she’d used to push the button on her cuff and turned her back to him. Momoe then cocked her head back over her shoulder. “You can find me at the labs when you’re done, hotshot.”

So much for using their time optimally.

"... was hoping you wouldn't do that," he sighed, feeling the freedom of being able to move his wrist again after like... what, thirty seconds? The only thing he could really do was frown back at the girl while grasping onto the cuff. Momoe just grinned.

“Sure, and I’d been hoping you were just gonna follow along, but neither of that happened, did it?” she snidely remarked. The smuggler aimed her head back in front of her and began to step away from the boy.

The thief could only just roll his eyes before plopping down onto the seat, rubbing the side of his temples. His mouth was slightly agape, though it did dawdle between closing and opening for a second, like a nutcracker. "If that's the case, then..."

He murmured before looking up, glaring at the back of Momoe's head before giving what he considered to give a suitable response. "... then if you need me, I'll be here."

Momoe didn’t look back at Aurel, but she still lazily gave a thumbs up to the boy behind her. “Sure. You’ll be here,” she half-heartedly replied, pocketing her hands and exiting the area.

---

Himura glared at Monokuma, a scowl on her face. If she had it her way, she’d go up there and kick that bear’s ass for the stupid shit he was putting her through. She wasn’t dumb, though; she knew she was lucky to have lived the first time.

She looked over at her unwanted partner for this motive. Honestly, she didn’t have much of an impression on Hibiki. So, who knows, maybe he was one of those people who are secretly super fun? He seemed like he wasn’t very talkative, though, but if nothing else, Himura knew that meant he was easy to lead.

She smiled—some motive this was! Monokuma had failed to stop her from finding a way out, so she knew it was only a matter of time.

She snapped her cuff onto her arm, showing the other one to Hibiki, “Ready to go, partner?”

In response, a yawning Hibiki slowly looked at his wrist, twisting it around a couple times before slowly turning his eyes to the handcuff. The metal surface didn’t look very comfortable but he wasn’t feeling particularly defiant; so after releasing a deep sigh he put on a tiresome smile to look at Himura, and extended his hand to grab the handcuff on display.

“Sure…”

Himura smiled in an attempt to look welcoming, “Good good! Y’know, I think we’ll end up working together just fine! I mean,” She turned her attention over to some of the other pairs, most notably Naomi and Snow, who were already screaming at one another, “We’re certainly not those bitches,” She finished with a laugh.

“Don’t be so mean.” Hibiki cringed at Himura’s rough choice of words. “I am sure they’re having a really tough time right now-” He calmly stated as the handcuff wrapped around his wrist with a click. “We can’t all be as positive and fearless as you...Chikako.” As the warm smile on Hibiki’s face permeated through his sloggy posture, it created an odd sense of comfort.

“I was hoping to investigate the assortment of books that are on display in my personal lab.” He yawned again. “...Do you mind coming along?” He jokingly stated as he raised his cuffed arm.

Himura frowned, displeased with both Hibiki’s defense and his suggestion of leaving, “Don’t you think it’d be better to hang around here so we can, y’know, figure out the game plan or whatever Flare was going on about? I think that’d be better,” She stated matter-of-factly, “Plus, what do you think you’re gonna find in there? A dictionary? That’s not exactly gonna help us out right now.”

Hibiki looked at the continuing argument between Snow and Naomi, darting between the two before returning to Himura.

“I don’t like...crowds very much, especially noisy ones.” He nonchalantly scratched the back of his head, hoping to keep things low-key. “If you want to stay that’s okay, we can separate these things...for a bit.” As he raised his arm he smiled at Himura again. ”Brainstorming isn’t my strong suit anyway.”

Himura’s frown deepened, her expression cross, “Fine then,” She unhooked her part of the cuff, hopping the slap the chain against Hibiki, only to watch it harmless retract into his own cuff, “I’ll be doing something useful while you’re off doing whatever dumb bullshit you’re up to. Come get me when you don’t feel like dying, lameass,” She turned around, storming away from Hibiki with an over-exaggerated stomp.

Hibiki let out a defeated sigh, turning around and slumping to his lab.

“I was hoping you’d come find me.”

Lilly had taken something of a double take over the course of the meeting. While she was half paying attention, that remaining fifty percent was her watching for an opportunity to find Monokuma alone. He kept on about his motive, but in reality, she was only interested in clarifying some parts of the rules with him. Specifics, mostly, that weren't clarified explicitly in the handbooks, but it was information she wanted regardless, especially now that her camera map was completely drawn up.

But watch as she might, the opportunity never came. The next second, he they were called to collect pairs of handcuffs. There were obviously some things in his speech that she missed, if her surprised - if not curious - expression wasn't obvious enough. Still, she tried to take the initiative; as much as being bound nearly twenty four hours a day didn't sound the most appealing, making a new friend was always welcome. There was even room to invite her to the Girl's Club.

“Lilly?”

With the odd looking handcuff already locked around her wrist, Flare reached out to the pink poptard. It wasn’t like she was dreading what was about to come, but her hanging eyelids certainly betrayed a reluctance to tie herself to Lilly.

“Could you put the handcuff on please?”

As she bounced her way down the Amphitheatre steps to the stage, Lilly heard her name called out from somewhere nearby. A quick, frantic glance about located the source: her partner, Flare.

"Oh, hi hi!" Lilly called out, bouncing through the short distance between her and Flare, "This is super weird, right? Right? I don't get why they're forcing us to do something like this..."

“Yeah...It is odd; which is why I want to discuss it with everyone.” Observing Lilly as she closed the distance, Flare could see the overwhelming enthusiasm that hit her like a tidal wave; as she took a step back, she made it clear that she wasn’t used to such bubbly behaviour. “I can’t imagine what the bear wants to accomplish with this.”

Lilly took another step closer to Flare as the latter finished her own comments of the matter. She was energetic, certainly, but she also very obviously had no qualms violating another’s personal space; the moment she was close enough, she reached down and, with a firm but gentle grasp, likely owing to her weak physical strength, took hold of Flare’s wrist. If the girl wanted to, it would be no hard feat to pull away, but Lilly didn’t pay any mind to that.

”I hope this doesn’t last too long, I’ve got so much work to dooo…” she whined, idly, as she played with the pair of handcuffs. From an outside perspective, it might have looked like she was simply rolling them around in her hands. But at such close proximity, Flare could see properly: she was evaluating them. Turning them over, checking the locking mechanisms as best she could from outside. thumbing the timer - all of it in an experienced, though unprofessional, manner.

All Flare could do during the assault, was uncomfortably tilting her head back, hoping that Lilly would back off before Flare could sour the mood. However, when she noticed Lilly playing with the handcuffs she calmed down. With a squint, Flare evaluated Lilly as she was checking out the cuffs.

“You should find a way to work with me then. We’re gonna be together for now.” She stated as she took one side of the handcuffs from Lilly and locked it around her wrist.

”Wha-” Lilly exclaimed, flinching slightly at the sudden click of handcuffs being locked around her wrist, ”I-I wasn’t ready..!” What had once been a half childish, half serious expression had turned completely childish - complete with a pout.
”Meanie…”

Though at first she seemed upset, and her words and facial expression seemed to back that up, she rapidly changed gears. Almost as quickly as she had taken to berating her partner, Lilly gave a small, light giggle, and pushed her way into the taller girls torso, in a kind of no-arm hug. Even then, despite the angle, it didn’t seem particularly awkward.
”I bet this is gonna be super fun, don’t you?”

Flare should really have expected it from someone with no concept of personal space and an infinite amount of cheers, but still, she didn’t expect this. She did not know what to do at all as she raised her arms awkwardly, only to slowly, very slowly, wrap them around Lilly.

“S-sure…” At least she could find solace in the fact that Lilly couldn’t see Flare’s face as it was, not blushing or red, but uncomfortable and irritated. Before releasing her from the hug, Flare took hold of the other side of the handcuff and put it around her own wrist. “So what are you working on?” She smiled as she released Lilly.

”Oh, oh, yeah! Well…” Lilly began, taking a deep breath, ”I’ve sorta been making this map, of all the camera locations and stuff. I’ve got this super big detailed map of the whole place now!” as if to emphasise, she brought her non-handcuffed hand up into the air, attempting to spread out her small, five foot on the dot body, ”Cause that sounded really useful!”

Then, as quickly as she had pulled away, she leaned in once more. This time, though, it wasn’t for a hug. Lilly stood up on her toes, expecting Flare to lean down so that she could whisper into her ear.
”This is super-confidential-top-secret stuff though, okay? You gotta swear on your life not to tell anyone.”

Although she did not lean forward, she still intended to listen carefully. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

”Weeell…” Lilly giggled, ”So y’know how I’m gonna try and take over the cameras and stuff? Well, I had this idea, and, and,” somehow, she managed to lower her voice even more than before, ”If I get it right, well… I-I think I might get access to the Game’s entire server system, if there is one!”

“That’s...“ Flare’s face went through a variety of emotions, from confusion to surprise to caution with a smile somewhere in between. “And you didn’t tell anyone? Nobody knows?” She gently grabbed Lilly by the shoulders. “I know you love to be social and have fun with everyone but...You should keep this secret to yourself. It’s a dangerous thing you’re playing with and I don’t want to see you hurt, nor the others. If our captors find out…it could be bad.” Although her words were urgent, Flare was completely calm during this exchange, yet she was reluctant to let go of Lilly until she had an answer.

Lilly squirmed uncomfortably in the sudden grasp. Hugs were her raison d’etre, be that giving or receiving, but this was no hug. A bashful, quiet giggle followed. ”I-it’s just a theory,” Lilly reaffirmed, attempting to wriggle out of Flare’s grip. In her gentle hold, the limits of Lilly’s physical strength were obvious. ”There might not be anything to hack, if Monokuma’s smart. I-I hope there is, so I can be helpful to everyone… b-but okay, I’ll keep it secret. On one condition, though!”

Noticing the tension, Flare softly let go of Lilly before placing a hand on her hip. “Anything you want.”

Something of a heat rose to Lilly’s cheeks. She backed away from Flare a step, half looking up to the girl, and then away again in anxious excitement and embarrassment. ”Um, well, you see,” Lilly glanced around, checking who was nearby, and ducked back up close to Flare, whispering with abashed furore, ”Chikako kinda sorta invited me to this, um, girl gang, and I know she’d want more people to join so, so, I was thinking you’d maybe like to join too..?”

”Uhh…” Flare raised her eyebrows out of surprise, as she definitely expected something much more complicated and important. Trying to awkwardly raise a smile, she scratched the back of her head. ”I-i can do that, sure.” As she breathed in deeply, all tense feelings gathered in her lungs, and with a long sigh, they were blown away. The now relaxed Flare extended her hand towards Lilly with a smile. “It’s a deal.”

Chikako would definitely be pleased. Lilly smiled, a shy, innocent smile of happiness, and grasped Flare’s hand with her own. ”So, uh,” Lilly let out a childish giggle, ”W-we should probably, um… come up with sleeping and _{bathroom arrangements sometime soon, huh?”}

---

Knock, knock

“Hello!? If you’re in there you better come out! It’s been 15 minutes and I am not about to die because of an incompetent brat like you!” Snow shouted as she slammed her fist on the door to Naomi’s cabin. She was visibly red from anger as she didn’t exactly cool down after her last interaction with the ultimate Linguist. 20 minutes was not nearly enough alone time, and on top of that, the past 10 were spent searching for a person she doesn’t even like.

As her arm slumped down beside her body, Snow sighed in discomfort and turned around, only to see Naomi in front of her.

The girl glaring back at her wiped the sweat off her brow, sweating buckets and breathing hard. Her pricey clothing did nothing in this weather and her white button down stuck to her skin in the worst ways. All Naomi wanted to do was get inside and never come out, along with a nasty urge to slam the door on the white-haired girls snarling red face. ”You...” As she stared at the other girl, a thought passed through her head, 'one minute she’s got some kind of stubborn death wish and the next she’s begging.'

She let out a chuckle, ”...Remind me not to bother.” Her usually emotionless face smiled smugly for a millisecond before she reached into her pocket for her monopad.

She held it up and stared at the other girl expectantly, but impatiently added, ”Move.”

“Excuse me?” Snow sneered, placing a hand on her hip. As she surveyed Naomi with a resentful gaze, her expression turned arrogant. “Why do you look so horrible? Did you take a dip in the lake to cool that bitter brain of yours? Pfuh, it suits you.” Sharply turning her head away from Naomi, Snow tried to contain her emotions, as the corner of her mouth was starting to lift.

It was never going to come out that the reason Naomi was all hot and bothered was because she had been searching for the hairdresser. No one with that much egotistical superiority complex needed a confidence booster. Naomi brought a finger up to her lips in mock horror, “Oh? You’ve stooped so low as you insult looks now, how vain. I wish I had your stupidity so I could focus on something else instead of our impending deaths.” She took a longer strand of hair and twirled it between her fingers, “Since we’re all gonna die anyway, maybe I’ll just wait for time to run out-”

Naomi turned around and looked over her shoulder, “How about that? Or say you could get over your pretty princess panties and move?” She turned her head back around and stared up at the clouds, hoping for some higher power to take over the situation.

Turning her head back slowly, Snow almost showed her teeth out of frustration. “Why are you so insistent on making my day as horrible as it can be! Like, if you want to die, at least do it alone where you can't bother anyone!?” Snow took a heavy step forward, extending the cord hanging from her wrist to Naomi, though she made a careful notion to avoid eye-contact. “Now put this stupid thing on before you kill us both.”

But, of course, God didn’t exist. How else could the world be so sick and demented? How else could blood be thinner than water? Maybe the god of torture came up from hell a long time ago. Her insides clawed at her to apologize for her hurtful words, Mami had always told her that there was no use in revenge and to always follow the golden rule. But what good did it do when the world was so full of shit and sewage? As Naomi ran over Snow’s words in her mind, another force plunged inside her and beat her conscience with a baseball bat.

Naomi pivoted on her left foot and stomped over before smacking Snow’s outstretched hand and grabbing the end of the cord to be a barrier between the two of them, “Why would I do that if I could drag you down with me?” She gave the other girl a sweet smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “I won’t put it on until you do as I say. You know, I was very well planning on fucking going along with you little miss heiress whore, but someone needs to teach you a lesson.”

“I am never-” She brought the cord up to Snow’s neck, their faces inches away from each other, “Going to be made to do anything by societal elitists who view others as ants. You think the world revolves around you with everything on your dust rose fingertips and chiffon dresses, but Caesar had it all only to get stabbed in the back 23 times. But you’re just a poor little girl who will never step out of your comfort zone and get all the fake compliments for it. Beg with words for all I care, but I want actions.” She watched as the time on Snow’s wrist went down to 55 seconds. “Ready now?”

Once more, life found a way to tear down the precious exterior of Snow’s white walls. With a knot forming in her throat, Snow had trouble keeping a composed look; her knees were trembling and her eyes started to get watery. Nothing ever went her way, and everyone always ended up antagonizing her, all she could do was fight back...But right now she didn’t feel like fighting back.

“F-fine..” Snow took an awkward step back and to the side, almost tripping in the process. “Can you attach the cord now?”

Naomi took a step back and slipped the cuff over her hand, “Now that wasn’t very hard, was it?” She opened the door and walked through, letting Snow follow her or get pulled in. She quickly started unbuttoning her shirt and peeled it off, revealing a matching white cami underneath. As she turned away, the world seemed to come back into full color as she realized what she had done.

She was just like her sister. No, Naomi was worse.

A shudder ran through her, hopefully unnoticeably since it was quite a bit colder inside the darkened room. Naomi reached for a new blouse, dreading it’s long sleeves before realizing something, the shirt she had taken off was caught in the cord with no way off...

A heavy blush overcame the smaller girl as she turned her body to peer at it.

On the other end of the cord, Snow simply stared at the shirt, and to Naomi, and back again. This was a joke...Not a joke that warrants laughter, but disappointment. The intimidating naomi from a few seconds ago had completely disappeared but lucky for her, Snow still felt defeated.

“Just leave it there.” She spoke as she walked towards a couch, letting herself fall into it with a puff. “You know-” She looked at Naomi, ignoring the blush and peering through the locks of hair hanging from Naomi’s head. “Whoever cut your hair should be arrested, you should see a real hair-stylist.” Although her words were as rude as ever, the condescending tone had disappeared.

As the words slipped out of the white-haired girl’s mouth, Naomi’s head snapped up, though her worried eyes seem to dull and her fists clenched, “It’s not supposed to look good... it’s an act of defiance.” She peered around the room, looking for something, before finding a simple, yet elegant tea set and starting to divide up the leaves, “I wouldn’t want the neighbors to think I was some puppet on a string.” She stepped into the bathroom and started the water.

After a while, Naomi came out with two steaming cups of tea and sat down on the far end of the couch, leaving the tray on the coffee table. She took her own cup and blew on it gently, her proper upbringing shining through.

“Like, first of all, That’s not defiance, it’s ugly; give me 10 minutes and I’ll show you what defiance looks like as a haircut.” Though she was done with the fighting, talking about hair always brightened Snow’s mood, so it was only natural that she regained a little sazz along with it. “And second? That tea came from the bathroom, sorry but I’m not drinking that…”

Naomi looked up, then back down at the tea before biting her lip, “Oh-... you’re right.” She stared at the cup before taking a sip anyway. A moment of silence passed as her conscience came back out of the deep end and started another argument inside of her. Naomi continued to stare down at the tea, focusing on the frayed ends of her hair.

’You can’t go outside... We choose your friends... Sit up straighter, be quiet!’ She’d never get the chance to go outside and meet a real hairstylist in the first place.

“What... What style would you suggest?”

”Well…”

Chikako wasn’t able to keep herself still. She stared at the ceiling, using her legs to push herself off of the table and balance on the hind legs of the chair.

She didn’t understand how Hibiki was able to handle something so boring—and he kept coming back here, too! She had thought maybe he had gotten all the “being boring” out of his system yesterday, when she was first forced here, but nope! Here they were!

None of this was panning out like she thought it would. She just wanted to find a way out, but it seemed like Hibiki was more interested in sitting around doing… uh…

“What the hell are you doing, anyway?” She asked.

Hibiki slowly lifted his eyes off the page and up to the shorter girl. It was much harder for light to come in through the windows, forfeiting any barrier to keep him from looking Chikako in the eye. “I’m comparing psychology and sociology to help understand the other Ultimates and the motive.” He scratched the back of his head and took a sip of the cold water he had brought with him from the mess hall. “It’s... interesting that we would all be paired together for the motive.”

Spread out on the table were scattered papers filled with meticulous notes including color and personality profiles of each of the ultimates along with books stacked next to a handwritten copy of the Killing Game’s rules. Next to each rule was a brainstorming of explanations. On top of the Ultimate pages was a tier list of some kind, valuing Ginshi and Flare at the top and Snow at the bottom.

Chikako’s name was not on the tier list.

Chikako just shrugged off the commentary, not really bothering to dissect the language, “Yeah, okay, whatever,” She lowered herself down, looking at the materials gathered. Her gaze landed on the list, and she yanked it from off the table, a smirk on her face, “So is this like your ‘to bang’ list?” She asked, amusement filling her words.

Hibiki closed the book with a snap and set it lightly down on top of a leaning tower of other books. He then leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table, with his chin resting on his right hand, a small smile curving up his lips, “...Are you unhappy that you aren’t on the list?”

Chikako’s eyes widened, and she looked down to double-check the list. Sure enough, she was the only one not on it. Chikako frowned, throwing the list on the ground with pretend carelessness, “Man, whatever, I don’t want you to want to fuck me anyway! You’d be boring,” She crossed her arms, turning her head away, trying to project an aura of coldness, “... But… I am curious… Why am I not on it?”

Hibiki hadn’t thought past his response, so he changed back to his normal expression while she was looking away, “Purely to save face... People don’t like to be written about behind their backs.” If anyone looked around, they would know he hadn’t made a personality chart for her either. “I suspected we would be spending a lot of time together.” Hibiki took another sip and pulled at his collar, wishing for shorter sleeves. He stared down at the list, willing it to move with his pure laziness, only to give up after .2 seconds.

Chikako huffed, pulling further into herself, “Yeah, alright, sure. Whatever,” She said, further attempting to project her stone cold angst, scrunching her face in an almost comical impersonation of anguish.

As Hibiki watched her continue to pretend, he rubbed at the back of his neck. It wouldn’t do for the atmosphere to get anymore sticky, “...Do you wish to gossip about the other Ultimates? Or would you prefer a different conversational topic?”

As he stood up, he rearranged the almost toppling stack of books and finally picked up the list on the floor, taking a moment to dust it off.

Chikako immediately perked up, her energy resurfacing as if my magic, “Oh, Hibiki, how naughty! Gossiping about the other Ultimates!?” She exclaimed, “Well, if you insist, I’ve definitely had some thoughts I haven’t had the time to air out. Like, what’s up with Shirou hopping on everyone’s dick all the time with his hero schtick? Like, what’s he trying to prove, you know? And like, why are half of the girls here so shitty? I’m like trying to form my girl gang and everything and like so many of them are just so bitchy all the time, you know?” She said, allowing herself to monologue with the excuse given to her.

“But hey, you’re the one who suggested this, so that means you’ve got thoughts of your own. What’s on your mind, Hibiki, hm?”

Immediately a feeling of dread creeped under the blue-haired boy’s skin. Perhaps not the best conversational topic for the both of them... It seems his accommodating tendencies had shown their ugly head again. He moved back to his chair, switching it backwards and resting his arms along the top. “A girl gang? It seems like you’ve thought of a great idea Chikako.” He took a second, swirling Chikako’s question around in his brain, “...I wanted to know more about your interactions, since mine can only go so far... What do you think of our Ultimate Hacker, Lilly Hart?”

From what Hibiki remembered, she seemed to be acting a bit differently after their first meeting with Monokuma. He was missing something in his observation, something had happened to affect her greatly.

But honestly, Hibiki was soon going to run out of energy for small talk, he usually didn’t speak much outside of lessons. Hibiki reached over and took a longer gulp of water.

Despite Hibiki not answering her question, Chikako happily continued to talk, “Lilly? She’s cool. She’s part of my girl gang so she’s legit, but I don’t think she’s actually a high schooler. She’s gotta be like 12 or something. What about you, where’s she on your fuck list? Wait, is she on your fuck list? She shouldn’t be, I wouldn’t mess with that.”

When looking over to the list again, Lilly Hart was indeed on the tier list, on the row before top tier in fact. And where the law was concerned, going with the flow was overreaching Hibiki’s boundaries at this point. Luckily he had swallowed most of the water, but Chikako’s words still left him coughing up a storm as he started to choke. “...She... *cough cough* is infact... *cough* not on that list...” His face grew red, whether from the conversation or choking, it was hard to say. “She reminds me of an old student of mine.”

A few coughs later, he took another sip and seemed to get his throat under control, though it sounded slightly raspier, “Does she seem kinda down to you?”

Chikako shrugged, “Nah. She seems fine. And pretty lively since I last spoke with her, anyway. She’s very focused on all those cameras though, but that’s good. The more we can do to form an escape plan, the better,” Chikako said, then leaned back in her chair, having sombered herself by remembering the circumstances they were under.

Sensing the change in atmosphere changing, Hibiki wondered if Chikako was the type of person to be calmed by uncertain promises. He leaned closer to her from his side of the table, “...Humans make mistakes...” He paused as he tried to better formulate his ideas into words, “And Monokuma must be controlled by a human. A cage created by mankind is never inescapable.” Knowing that he was sounding cheezy and childishly optimistic, he stared down at his own handwriting.

“Hmmm…” Chikako hummed, barely acknowledging the thought, “You know what, I’m gonna head to my lab. I need to get some exercise…” Chikako trailed off, disconnected from Hibiki before he could protest, “I’ll be back soon; stay cool, loser,” She said, giving Hibiki a smile before speed-walking out of the room to the world outside.

Hibiki raised his head to follow her out with his eyes, only to be attacked by the rays of sunlight. He let out a little groan before stuffing his head into his arms on the desk. Comforting would never truly be his strong suit.

The blue haired boy had already done quite a lot for the day and decided it was the perfect time for a siesta, he rolled over to the couch, which had been pulled up to the table for easier access and laid down. Under the cushion, he pulled out Chikako’s personality chart and jotted down a few notes before placing it back into it’s hiding spot. The Tutor then hugged one of the pillows, wishing its heartbeat against his like his baby Ritsu.

Considering this was supposed to be a summer camp, usually you’d think it’d be a little warmer out and about, even with the sun down. Ryuma tried to concentrate on wringing his hair out with his bath towel, but couldn’t help his teeth clatter as he walked further and further away from the warm communal bath. The white-haired boy had left his shirt and hoodie off as he didn’t want to bother changing clothes off and on again later, but this had been poor judgment on his part. As Ryuma walked up to Taka’s dorm, he grimaced, remembering that’d he left his pile of clothes for tomorrow right next to the toiletries on the nightstand. Once inside, he’d have to wrap them around himself or something, it was way too fucking cold out here! And all the ‘pleasant breeze’ was doing was slapping his messy wet locks into his face, further turning him into an icicle.

“...Oi, the hell?! Are you crazy? You’re going to freeze like that!” Ryuma could hear from behind him. It was the voice of the boy he’d been chained to the entire day, except for when the two had separated a short while ago so he could shower. Taka must’ve arrived not too long ago. He ran over and unlocked the door of the cabin, not bothering to re-link their cuffs in the immediate moment. “Get inside, seriously… this isn’t the weather to be walking around like that!” the guy ordered Ryuma.

Ryuma gave the other boy a grateful nod before sweeping into the room. He quickly grabbed the hoodie off his pile of clothes before dive bombing into the bed. With shockingly quick dexterity, he slipped the hoodie over his head, and wrapped the bath towel over it, starting to look more like a frozen potato instead of a scraggly teenager. “How was... your w-walk?” He blew into his hands and rubbed his arms, not bothering to feel frustrated with himself in his numbed, frozen brain.

“Fine,” Taka replied bluntly. He closed the door behind him to block out the breeze and paced over to the other guy. The cross-dresser fiddled with the cuff on his arm for a little bit, pulled out the cord and reached out to Ryuma with it. “Don’t forget. I don’t want to risk that... bear... pullin’ shit on us. Fucker’s got the entire place on lock… still couldn’t find an exit anywhere.” Once the cuffs were secured again, Taka stared at the wall for a bit. An awkward silence hung in the air for a few moments. Just long enough to be uncomfortable for the both of them. Then, Taka turned his head back and said: “...Hey, can you get out again for a sec? I need to jump into a different get-up.”

Ryuma had mixed feelings about the cuffs. On the one hand, it was super shitty to go everywhere with a complete stranger for more than 23 hours a day, but on the other... This motive created the perfect alibi, and no one would be such a dumbass as to kill their cuff partner either. He looked back up at Taka and they both continued to keep this awkward silence hanging. The situation didn’t really warrant any kind of small talk, but he wished the guy would at least give him something to shoot the breeze abou-

“Geez, why’s it matter? It’s so important that I have to go freeze my ass outside again?” A hint of defensiveness leaked through his voice, the Parkour Athlete wasn’t exactly ready to face the outdoors just yet. Obviously Ryuma hadn’t really put two and two together either, otherwise he would’ve cut himself off already. He hadn’t really bothered investigating Taya the other day and the thought had completely slipped from his mind. “What’s the deal with you and that chick Taya anyway?”

“Are you mocking me, asshole?! I am Taya!” Taka defiantly yelled back. “Did you forget my talent or something?! What, you looking for an excuse to peek on a girl getting dressed? Because I’m going to, and if I catch you even as glancing at me, I’ll get the first fucking murder out of the way real quick!” he snapped. Taka stomped a bit further into the room and threw open his closet, just about reaching the end of the cord’s allotted length. With one hand he picked out one of the sailor uniforms in it, then turned and walked back to Ryuma. With a growl, he said “So, you going to get out or what?!”

His jaw dropped as he watched Taka move around the room, even threatening to murder him. Geez, what was his fucking problem? Was he such an effin’ prude that he couldn’t change in front of another guy? “Fuck, fine! Don’t get your panties in a wad!” Ryuma stood up and wrapped one of the lighter blankets around him before scurrying out the door. “You’re welcome- Christ!” He shivered as the breeze smacked his bangs into his eyes.

“Thank fuck!” Taka yelled from the other side of the door as it slammed shut with the force of a thousand supernovas… or that was the intent, but the metal extension cord prevented it from fully closing. There was a tiny gap still there, but the boy on the other end didn’t seem to notice as Ryuma could hear the shuffling and dropping of clothes even while standing outside.

Watching the breeze pick up leaves on the ground, Ryuma shivered and spouted quite a few swear words under his breath. Needing something to do anyway, he grabbed his monopad out of his jean’s pocket and searched for Taka’s name. “Well fuck me sideways with a chainsaw...” He murmured, seeing ‘SHSL Crossdresser’ written at the head. It wasn’t like Ryuma had memorized everyone’s names and corresponding titles, that wasn’t a priority of things to do, not being shanked was at the top of the list.

Completely forgetting Taka’s warning, Ryuma slid against the door to the gap, taking a quick peek inside. What he saw, was that the boy he’d been talking to just a moment ago had already undergone a metamorphosis. The suit he’d been wearing had long been thrown to the floor and his hair had been untied and was now free-flowing, barely showing a skirt and leggings behind its curtain. But the most… impressive sight was a little higher up. The chest had gotten a little swollen while he’d been looking away, with the person on the other end busy securing a bra around it. Taka’s face was just visible from the angle Ryuma was looking at, the eyelashes a lot more pronounced. Combined with the slender, but fit stature, Taka suddenly looked very feminine.

Hella blushing, Ryuma through his head back and sniffled. Now that was quite a bit different then he had expected. What kind of voodoo shit had just gone down for that transformation. Ryuma thought there must be some higher power, but this wasn’t exactly some miracle. He stared down at the character tab again and started searching its contents. There wasn’t too much else to go on. Whatever Taka had done to make this work, he must have been an expert. Then again, he wasn’t called the SHSL Crossdresser for nothing. Ryuma stopped himself from taking another glance, remembering the murderous threat he had been given earlier and looked down at his chest. H-How had he...?

“I-I’m finished!” a voice called from the other side. It wasn’t Taka’s; at least, not the way he remembered it to be. It was a slightly girly and somewhat forced voice. It had some of Taka’s pitch, but when he saw the other person again, Taka already looked completely like Taya. ‘Taya’ fiddled with her hair a little and had a slight blush flushed over her cheeks. Still, the voice from earlier didn’t quite match hers either. “U-Uhm… thanks. I don’t… usually do this near other people. It’s really… fucking embarassing, honestly.” she managed to murmure out with a few pauses.

Pushing the door all the way open, Ryuma wiped his nose on his sleeve, “...No problem.” What was he even supposed to say? ‘Nice job?’ As another breeze slipped through the doorway, Ryuma quickly closed it and pivoted around, staring down at the remnants of the boy he’d seen earlier. After a moment, he sat on the corner of the bed, laying the extra blanket back out. “So... you still good sleeping on the bed?”

“Y-Yeah. Don’t worry about it,” ‘Taya’ said. “I may look like Taya, but… I’m not really in the right state of mind to be her right now. You’ll see her tomorrow, so if I’m not okay with it then I’ll… let you know.”

As Ryuma was shuffling around the room, so was ‘Taya’ as she picked up the clothes from the floor and stored them back in the closet. She approached the side of the bed opposite to Ryuma and sat on it with her back turned to him. Despite not being able to see her face, Ryuma could sense the intense blush coming from the cross-dresser’s face on an instinctual level. “A-Absolutely no touching… and we’re still sleeping back-to-back like we agreed,” she said.

“...Gotcha,” Ryuma hadn’t originally been blushing, but it came almost as a reflex to mirror hers. His- Hers? Whatever let’s just go with they! He sneaked another glance at her blushing face before finally he couldn’t take the awkward atmosphere anymore and he laughed. What’s the use in trying to figure it out? “I can keep my hands to myself ya know.” Ryuma slipped off the bath towel and hoodie, throwing them at the wall nearby. He unbuttoned his jeans before deciding against it, pulling them higher and slipping under the covers, turning his back towards them.

“G’night.”

“Yeah… you too,” ‘Taya’ replied before snuggling up with their own back against Ryuma’s.

The fireplace of the campsite was a tranquil place. None of the students ever visited it on any normal occasion, but the situation right now was far from that. Both Ayu and Hiroki sat on one of the large stones dotted around, just big enough to accommodate two people. Neither of them had said much while they were sitting there, or even at any other point in time. Earlier in the day, Hiroki had suggested to come here for some rest. Ayu was daydreaming like usual while the boy tried desperately to cope with the awkwardness of being stuck together for at least 1420 minutes in any given day. His partner’s silence didn’t help much either, not until he finally heard something come out of her mouth.

“...Hey. What’s your opinion of all this?” she asked rather cryptically. Ayu didn’t turn to look at him as she posed the question, either. Her gaze remained focused upwards, just above the treeline, as she stared at the bright blue sky.

“Uh…” Hiroki turned to look at her for a brief moment, before returning his attention to the ground, “Well,” He mumbled; he didn’t want to have to ask her to clarify, but he obviously wasn’t getting it, so he sighed and asked, “About what, exactly? The motive? Or this whole… killing game situation?”

“Hm… Yeah, most of those I guess…” she absent-mindedly muttered back in response. Her head lowered as she took a renewed interest for the unlit fire pit. “Hey… who’s skin do you think Monokuma is trying to get under?” Ayu continued to interrogate. She pulled with her arm to extend the cord, allowing her to look down at the bracelet on her wrist. “Not just the motive, either… everything so far.”

Hiroki furrowed his brow, giving himself time to think before responding, “Well, to be honest, I don’t really know if they’re trying to target anyone in particular. Nobody seems to be handling this well. I mean, the amount of fighting that’s gone on already, and with many different people, proves it’s getting to most of us, if not everyone…” He then widened his eyes, looking almost flustered as he continued, “Not that I think anyone would kill someone or anything, I just—y’know, this whole thing is stressful, but I think they’ll persevere.”

“So that’s the way you think, huh…?” Ayu said, paused, and asked “Then, do you trust them?” She let the question linger in the air for a few moments, but not long enough for Hiroki to respond to. “Aren’t you afraid of any of them? Or maybe afraid of yourself…? Even you’re not scared, are they?” she continued to question. This time, Ayu looked back at Hiroki, almost expectantly after firing off that flurry. It came paired with one final question. “What are your honest feelings?” she asked, as if to sum it up.

Hiroki stared at Ayu, wide eyed. He let out a quick, breathy laugh, but his face was clearly panicked. What does he say to that? An almost familiar sort of sickness hit him; he really hated being put on the spot like this. But, well, she wanted the truth, and he was in no place to deny that to her… “I don’t know. I don’t know if I trust anyone. And I’d like to think I wouldn’t murder someone, but I’ve surprised myself a lot with things I thought I’d never do. I definitely don’t think I’m going to last in this game if it keeps going, though. I’m… I’m pathetic. I’ll probably die here, and maybe it’ll be what I deserve,” He said, shaky after confessing his thoughts, unwilling to look at Ayu.

“Really?” the girl replied, her monotone voice a bit livelier than usual. “I don’t think you’re that bad of a person… after all, you’re strong enough to be honest. Not everybody is like that,” Ayu said to him, turning her own gaze away. “I think I trust you, though. I don’t think someone who can admit they’re afraid would do something bad.”

“I was only honest because you asked,” He muttered. That sick feeling hadn’t left him, and had somehow seemed to have gotten worse. He was overwhelmed with some emotion, or maybe several, that he just couldn’t place, “But I guess I’m glad you trust me. I have a pretty bad track record with that, though, so… proceed with caution, I guess. It’s easy for me to fall out of line.”

Ayu didn’t respond for a few seconds. It caused Hiroki’s speech to hang in the air for an uncomfortably long time. Then, Ayu let out her delayed “Huh?” as she whipped her head back around. She blinked a few times and said: “Oh... I’m sorry, did you say something? I spaced out a little...”

The girl rubbed her eyes and looked a little fatigued, but she still stood up before Hiroki could. “Hey, let’s go eat something… I’m kind of hungry,” Ayu told him, entirely tone-deaf to the situation.

Hiroki opened his mouth, as if to protest, but just kept his mouth shut and stood up, “Sure, let’s go,” he said. He just hoped she wasn’t going to make him eat in front of her...

---

---

Tick tock, tick tock.

Dirt was being kicked up as the thief made a brisk sprint towards the lab, counting down the seconds they had left, "fifty-eight, fifty-seven, fifty-six..." Thankfully, he was swift enough to find himself at the crossroads to the labs, catching his breath for a brief second as he scanned each lab.

Aurels eyes darted between each of the doors leading to their labs, traversing down the path as he began biting away at his finger. He honestly couldn't believe how inane this situation was as he looked back down the path and sighed, still counting down, "forty-five, forty-four, forty-three..."

Despite looking no different than a crack addict needing their fix at the moment, he managed to narrow it down to two labs - Maiya's and his own. Aurels eyes continued to drift constantly between the two, never staying more than a hairs length of a second, but time was running short; the decision was nigh.

Without much thought, he bolted towards Maiya's lab and, almost like his pounding heart, he burst through the door, throwing it open with a reverberating slam. Inside was a person rummaging through one of the containers, the edge of her long coat draped across the floor. In response to Aurel’s sudden entrance she cocked her head back, meeting him with a smirk.

“Yo. Took you long enough. Managed to find a new lighter in that time,” Momoe cheerfully told Aurel, holding it up for him to see. A basic, translucent green lighter. “Almost out of fuel, though. Pretty worthless; even my old one will last longer than this thing.”

"Good to know that you value a lighter more than your own life," he duly responded as his breath began to abate. "You do realize we have-," Aurel began to murmur something to himself before shoving his thoroughly chewed finger into his pocket, "around thirty more seconds or so before we bite it, right?"

“Sounds like plenty of time to me,” Momoe said as she pushed herself up from her crouch. She let the lighter roll into her sleeve, then pulled that very same sleeve back to inspect her bracelet. “More like twenty seconds by now…” the girl noted, idly fiddling with the device. She pulled out the cord, but didn’t make any moves towards Aurel. Instead she just looked inside of the part they were supposed to link up with. “Pretty unique shape, if you ask me… I bet these things would jam if you tried to forcefully shove someone else’s in here.”

"The shapes are all the same," he grumbled, pulling out the cord from his own cuff before holding it out to her, "more like there's an I.D. or something in the cuffs... now, anyways." Aurel looked up to her, seconds still on his mind as he jabbered out, "How about you reconnect us since you were the one who disconnected us in the first place."

“The same, huh?” Momoe muttered, coiling the cord around her thumb as she rummaged through her coat with the now free hand. She pulled out the same green lighter from before, flicking it on and holding it close to the opening. “Don’t see any kind of chip, though… don’t you need one of those or something for that? Ah, I’m bad with all this tech stuff anyway,” she casually commented, releasing her grip on the cord and letting it sink back in. “I’m fine though, thanks. I’m not in any rush,” Momoe told Aurel, a shit-eating grin plastered all across her face as she continued to stare at the bracelet. “Six… five… four…”

She didn't even get the chance to say three before the cord snapped back out, in due part to Aurel snatching and ripping it out. It only took a second before the thief reattached them back to one another with a resounding *click*. From what he caught on the time, if he was a second too late, the duo would probably be gunned down, maybe gassed in this lab, or some other horrible end he imagined.

But one thing was for certain as he looked up with a scowl at this dumbass standing here with a grin on her face. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

Momoe raised her one free eyebrow at Aurel, letting her hand fall to the side of her arm, the sleeve covering it whole again. “What? Where’d you get that idea?” she said, purposefully exaggerating her tone of voice. “If I was trying that, I’d be over in the bathrooms or something. I said I’d be here, didn’t I?”

The girl turned her back to him and started to haphazardly pick up some of the trash she’d littered all over the floor, sloppily tossing the junk back into the container. Momoe continued to talk while turned away from Aurel, saying: “I mean, come on. Saying I’d planned to kill us both is like saying the thought of letting us die crossed your mind. Well, I guess you did come about a minute later than I’d expected you to… props for that, yeah?”

Aurel blinked, staring at her with his mouth agape, making a multitude of facial expressions conveying one emotion - exasperation. Puckered lips, slit eyes, raised eyebrows, the whole kitchen sink, as he looked at her dumb grin. The longer he stared, the more he went between facepalming with his free hand and looking at her, the cycle constantly continuing. It was like watching a mime put on a show, the kind where he acts like he's screaming, stuck in an invisible box.

"What are you getting at," he murmured, silently looking up as he tilted his head, "playing around with our lives like it's some sort of friggin' game?"

The room went silent after Aurel’s question, save for the odd sound of junk slapping against more junk. The dead air hung around for a few moments, as if to let the both of them ruminate on those words. Once her job was finished, Momoe stood up and dusted off her sleeves. “Y’see,” she started. “I don’t know what you were expecting. Isn’t you surviving your concern? I’m not going to let this motive suddenly change the way I’ve been doing things, not for you. If you don’t want to risk your life, why not be quiet and just follow along, yeah? Seems like the best option for both of us,” the smuggler smugly stated. An exaggerated shrug reinforced how unconcerned she was about the whole thing.

"Why are you such a bitch?"

A flat retort followed a split second after she finished her short monologue, his own words having as much tact as her own. He wasn't shying away from glaring at her either with a mildly visible scowl; if looks could kill, he would have probably been the first blackened by now. She met his stare by not looking away, though her face was much more relaxed than his.

“Is that your big comeback?” Momoe asked him, her voice a dull monotone. She sighed and slumped her shoulders. “I just know what I want out of people. Someone who doesn’t waste my time asking me pointless questions. How about you actually give me a reason to be nice, Aurel? Because I’m not going to waste my breath.”

"Decreases your chances of getting targeted, you don't impede everyone's progress, one of them could help you without you asking-" he started to list off, before being caught off-guard and off-balance by Momoe suddenly yanking the chain.

“Good attempt, but I don’t care,” she told him, before saying that “I’m going to your lab next. Haven’t checked much there yet.” Momoe walked past him as soon as she finished talking, but after taking only a step or two out the door, was stopped by her arm being locked in place. She turned back, looking as the cable had reached its outer limit with Aurel standing his ground. “Oh?” she let out with curiosity, her lips curling up with slight amusement.

Aurel stood there motionless, aside from his cocking his head and giving the cable a light tug before looking down at it and clicking his tongue. "Yeah, no; we can come back later to look at my lab, but you've wasted some of my time making me look for you," he gave the cord a rough tug for emphasis before walking towards the girl.

"We can either go back to the amphitheater, finish our discussion and attempt to make a plan and then come back to look at my lab, or we can test another feature of these cuffs," Aurel sounded more exasperated than anything, especially with his semi-neutral, semi-irate expression as he departed from the lab. Despite his state, he braced himself for how this inane girl would act as he passed by the door to his lab. Like Momoe, though, he was stopped dead in his tracks by the chain’s maximum length being reached.

“Sure, let’s test it. Needed a break, anyway…” Momoe commented, shaking her sleeve to let her never-ending packet of cigarettes slide out. “Man, with guys like you I’ll run out in no time…” she complained, clicking it open and taking out one of the sticks. From the look of things, there didn’t seem to be too many left in there. She lit it up and leaned against the side of one of the cabins, not bothering to look towards Aurel.

This was going to be a while.

---

On the dawn of a new day, a cold morning breeze snuck its way into a familiar cabin, it’s freezing touch filling the lungs of Snow. Shallow breaths, troubled gaps for air, her entire body shaking yet frozen, but not from the cold. She couldn’t look away from it, yet her brain barely believed what laid next to her.

In a terrified impulse, she struggled to get away from the body, only for the body to pull her back in with the cord as she fell towards it. From the fear of the impact of the fall, she closed her eyes, and opening them again seemed an impossible task. For a few seconds she laid there next to a corpse, and upon finally opening her eyes, the two girls’ gazes deadlocked, though one set couldn’t react.

Once more pulling herself up, she shifted her attention to her wrist, where the handcuff was still strongly attached. No matter how much she pushed or pulled, it wouldn’t bend, not even wounding her lip as she desperately tried to bite it off could set her free from this nightmare.

All she could do was put as much distance between her and the corpse as she could, so slowly but steadily, she shuffled away from Naomi, until her back hit a wall. There she sat, arms around her legs, blood dripping down the corner of her mouth, and her eyes peering at the remains of someone she barely knew. The serious headache she felt ever since she woke up didn’t even strike her as odd as her mind began drifting off in a defensive mechanism, until her eyes turned foggy and she completely disconnected herself from reality, never facing away from Naomi.

“Goddamn that bear and his stupid fuckin’...”

The message left Taka in a foul mood as he was struggling with tying up his hair, being on his second rubber band after the previous one had sprung, only to get caught in those damned cuffs. Not that they made it particularly easy to tie up hair either- the stuff always got stuck in the small opening for the extension cord. Taka heard some rummaging from behind, cocking his head over the shoulder to see a groggy Ryuma get up after the morning announcement.

Ryuma’s head hurt and his body was covered in sweat- which made him start to shiver as the that morning was particularly cold. Whatever he had been dreaming about escaped him, but the emotions that forced his heart to do acrobatics must have meant the dream was not too happy. As Ryuma struggled to force himself to relax he sat up, only for a wave of dizziness to hit slap his noggin’ for getting up too fast. Laying back down he wiped his hands down his face and groaned. “Geez... I’ll never get that shitty, fucking bear’s voice out of my head...”

Ryuma finally sat up and slipped out of the covers, his legs crying out for more blood circulation thanks to sleeping in jeans two nights in a row. But that was a little... inappropriate in the parkour athlete’s current situation. He grabbed at the shirt lying on the floor and gave it a sniff, letting a piss-poor grimace slip over his face. Dropping the hellspawn, he grabbed at his hoodie instead, only to hear a sound Ryuma had wished to never hear again-

A blood-curdling scream.

“...! What the hell?! Isn’t that-?!”

As the hoodie dropped to the ground and Taka’s voice cut off, Ryuma bolted towards the door, the only thing bringing him back to the reality of his situation being the door and the sound of the cord wriggling across the floor. One hand held the doorknob with a death grip, while the other squeezed into a tight fist, his nails digging into his skin. He slammed the door open and glanced back at his companion.

“I can’t pace myself- I can carry you,” It didn’t sound so much like a question, more like Taka had better come up with some other solution or he’d be lookin’ like either a princess or a ripe sack of potatoes in half a second.

“A-are you out of your fucking mind?!” Taka complained after recovering from a stumble. Ryuma’s aggressive movements caused a few too many strong tugs on the relatively short cord. With no time to hesitate, Taka glanced down at his cuff. “...Shit! Damn it all to hell,” he cursed, pressing the button to release the lock. He yelled at Ryuma. “Just go! I’ll catch up!”

Ryuma gave a nod before speeding through the door, heading in the direction he heard the scream. If he remembered correctly, Snow had been staying in Naomi’s room... Another rush of adrenaline blew into him as he sped by the last cabin, his arm reaching for the doorknob and it gave away immediately. He heard shuffling to his right, but the sight in front of him made Ryuma stop cold.

“*Huff… Puff...* H-Hey! What the hell are you gawking like that for?!” Taka yelled. He shuffled closer, needing to take a look for himself. “We don’t have the time to stand A-...! A-ahrou...”

Taka froze, just like Ryuma.

Inside the cabin, Snow was huddled up against the wall. Blood dripping gently from her chin as it trickled down from the corners of her mouth. Attached to her, following the cord, there lay on the bed, the still body of Fukuda Naomi. Her throat was brutishly cleaved open, it stained the sheets of the bed both of the girls needed to share. Her eyes were aimless. Her skin was pale. She was dead.

Taka Tsuin

This wasn’t real.

There’s no way any of this was real.

Shivering. That’s what Taka was doing: Absolutely reeling from the grueling sight. He hadn’t taken the bear seriously enough. He didn’t think anyone would actually give in to the thing’s demands. Wasn’t everyone just starting to get along, damnit?! Sure, he didn’t know most of these people that much, and he hadn’t seen much of Momoe or Naomi, but… he didn’t think it would come to this. Who… would get it in their right mind to...

“Shit… Shit! Goddamnit, why?!”

A stupid tantrum for a stupid guy. ‘Why?’ Well, why the fuck not?! Apparently, the minor inconvenience of being stuck to a person for a few days was just insufferable! If he could manage, why didn’t anyone else?! Taka stumbled backwards, his head feeling light. He’d never seen a body before, set aside a murdered one. It had to be that bear’s fault, there was no other way. He’d snuck in at night, killed Naomi… killed... Naomi... that’s it, right? Right. The bear. It couldn’t have been one of them. Taka couldn't believe it.

He didn't want to believe it.