Thinking back later on – much later on – Gentarou would have wondered how they had managed not to fall and break their neck as they ran down the stairs they found almost as soon as they left the kitchen. It didn't take long to reach the deck below, though, and while the stairs continued further down they didn't even try to go any further: they already knew that the D deck was underwater, and since they were coming down from the B deck, that had to be the C one – so it was as far as they could go.

Not that they had nowhere to go: in front of them stretched a long, long hallway with plenty of rooms on both sides. "I take it we're going to have to try plenty of doors. Again," Nagisa grumbled.

Gentarou sighed. "Looks like it. Alright, two on each side. Let's sta-" he began, but trailed off as something reached his ears – voices. "Wait. Are those…?"

Murakami nodded. "It must be them," she muttered, and that was all that needed to be said: the next moment they were all running through the hallway, ignoring any doors they saw only to follow the sound of their voices. They were getting closer and closer, and Gentarou could almost make out their words – but where…?

He abruptly stopped running when he reached a much larger door than the others they had ran past: a double door, slightly ajar… and the voices were coming right from it.

"… so what now?"

"…can't go through like this…"

"…need the others..:"

Nagisa, who skidded to a halt just on time not to collide with him, laughed. "Here they are," he exclaimed, immediately walking up to the door and opening it fully in a rather theatrical fashion. "Hey guys! Did you… miss… what?"

Gentarou could immediately see the reason of Nagisa's puzzlement: the others were there, yes, all five of them… but the room itself was most definitely something he had not expected, and Gentarou had thought nothing could surprise him anymore.

It was a huge room, far larger than the others he had been into, and it was filled with beds. Well, 'beds' was perhaps a too generous term; they were more like cots, dozens and dozens of cots that took over most of the room.

"It looks like a… a hospital, or something like that," Gentarou murmured. But while hospitals had never made him uncomfortable – and he had seen plenty of those until one especially observant doctor had finally been able to tell what was wrong with him, which part of his brain wasn't working as it should, and give a name to his problem – that place most certainly did. The atmosphere felt… oppressing. And he wasn't the only one to feel it, either: Teruaki had definitely moved closer to Murakami, who was now reaching to hold his hand.

"Pretty creepy, isn't it?" Mars asked, her voice trembling a little. Most of the relief they may have felt in seeing each other again – after all, Gentarou mused, if they didn't meet up again they would have likely had no way to get out – seemed to have faded for the most part; Nitro looked especially grim, eyeing his surroundings while keeping his arms tightly folded to his chest, while Mercury seemed to be unable to tear his eyes off the three numbered doors – [7], [3] and [8] a few feet from them. There was another door with no number on it, but it wasn't budging despite Pluto's efforts to open it.

On the other hand, Mercury and Venus made a brave attempt at a smile.

"Good to see you again. We were starting to get worried," Mercury said. "Are you alright?"

Gentarou and Nagisa exchanged a glance, then turned to Miss Murakami. She stood a little behind them, and Teruaki was holding her hand tightly. She smiled back at Mercury. "We had a little setback when Teruaki almost got himself locked into a freezer, but we made it out just fine," she said calmly.

So, it looked like she wasn't up to tell them about the dead body. Maybe she did not mean to scare them or had some other reason for that, but either way it was fine with Gentarou: it would spare them the necessity of telling an unpleasant tale.

Pluto, who had given up with the door and rejoined them, blinked. "A freezer?"

"We ended up in a kitchen," Nagisa explained. "Teruaki got stuck in the freezer for a bit."

"Aww, you must have been so scared," Mars cooed, looking down at Teruaki. She seemed to have taken a shine on that pathetic kid, Gentarou thought for just a moment before wondering if they had seen more than what they were letting by, just as they were avoiding mentioning the trap and the dead body. Or maybe some doors had traps while others had none?

"Y-yes. I m-mean, no. N-not too much," Teruaki was replying, trying – and failing pretty miserably – to sound brave. Mars, however, pretended to fall from it.

"Such a brave little boy," she said with a chuckle, reaching down to ruffle the child's hair. Gentarou had enough time to notice the 'brave little boy' was blushing violently before he heard Nagisa speaking.

"What about you? Where have you been?"

Pluto shrugged. "We went through a first-class cabin – where we learned that Mercury is the next Ray Charles – and then a casino, where Venus beat the slot machine in five seconds flat. I'm sure it takes years of practice to do that," Pluto said, winking at Venus, and she sighed a little dramatically at his jab.

"He's been try to talk me into going in Vegas with him once we're out of here."

"We could become rich, I tell you. Rich," Pluto pointed out. "Think about it."

That sure got Mars' attention. "Can I come with you? Please?" she asked hopefully.

Mercury shook his head at her. "Not a chance. You're a minor," he reminded her.

"But they're younger than I am!" she protested, turning to glance at Gentarou, Nagisa and Teruaki.

"They didn't ask to come gambling in Vegas," Mercury pointed out patiently.

That was enough for Gentarou to decide he didn't have enough patience for their antics. "Actually, I'd be content with just getting out of this ship," he said a little coldly.

Nitro, who had stayed silent all the time, seemed to share his thoughts. "The kid is right. We have little time as it is, so no point in wasting it," he snorted, gesturing to the three doors on the other side of the room. "We've got three this time. Gotta pick teams and all that."

Pluto nodded. "True enough. We'll talk about money another time, then," he said with a sigh before walking closer to the doors, gesturing for the other to follow. "Very well," he spoke again once they were all standing in front of the doors. "I suppose our Teruaki here wants to go through the same door as Miss Murakami," he said, smiling down at the child.

Teruaki, whose hand was still firmly grasping his teacher's, immediately nodded. "Y-yes. P-please."

"Very well. Let's see…"

There were a couple of minutes of silence as they tried to figure out what teams could allow them to go through the doors while allowing that damn kid to go through the same door as his beloved teacher. In the end, it was Nitro to speak. "Okay, hear this out. If Gentarou, Mars and I could go through door [7] while Mercury, Venus and Pluto go through door [3]…"

"… then Murakami, Teruaki and I could go through door [8] together," Nagisa finished for him. "Sounds good to me."

"It is a good solution," Mercury agreed. "Also, I suppose that once we're through each room we'll once again meet somewhere else on the-"

Clack.

Gentarou's mind didn't even have the time to register the sound that reached his ears before the lights went out and everything was pitch black. "Hey, what the…?"

"What happened?"

"Hell if I know. Isn't there a switch or something?"

In the moments of confusion that followed, with all of them walking around blindly and speaking at the same time, Gentarou bumped against someone. He staggered back for a moment, and bumped on someone else; they barely avoided falling in a heap on the floor.

"Who's that?" Nagisa's voice reached him, not too far from his right ear.

"Gentarou," he replied, steadying himself, and was about to add something, but then a sudden snapping noise reached his ears in the dark and through the voices, not far from them. The sound of something dropping on the floor followed. "What was that?" he asked, suddenly alarmed. He blindly stepped in the noise's direction.

"I have no ide-" Nagisa began, but the next instant the lights were back, and he fell quiet – all of them did. Venus, who had wandered further than all of them, spoke from the other side of the room. "What the…?" she began… and then fell as quiet as all of them. Gentarou didn't even hear her question: he could only stare ahead, his mind refusing to process what his eyes were seeing.

Before the lights went out Teruaki was standing next to Murakami, his hand holding on hers. And he still stood there, as though petrified on the spot, empty hand still lifted and eyes wide behind thick lenses – but he was alone, and on the ground, only a few feet from him…

Another moment passed in complete silence before any of them spoke or moved; Gentarou himself couldn't even think for a few instants. His eyes went from the body lying on the ground to Teruaki's still lifted hand, and for a moment he could almost see the moment Murakami's hand had been yanked away from his grasp, he could almost-

"Shit," Gentarou heard someone uttering somewhere on his left, and a moment later Nagisa was stepping forward to grab the child, to pull him away as though putting some distance between him and the body could do anything. Teruaki let himself be pulled away with no resistance, and without a noise; his arm fell limply on his side, and that was the only movement he did. He simply did not react to anything: he stared ahead with blank eyes, mouth slightly agape – he seemed to be barely even breathing.

"Oh God. Oh my God," Mercury managed to utter, his skin ashen. "Is… is she…?"

His voice faded, and no one answered to his question. There was no need to: Murakami clearly was dead. She lay on her back, facing the ceiling with still open eyes, her neck bent in an unnatural position over her left shoulder; no medicine degree was needed to tell it was broken.

The silence was broken by a strangled noise coming from Mars, not a real scream as much as a cry of denial. She took a step back and covered her face with her hands, desperately shaking her head. "No!" she choked out, nails sinking in the skin of her forehead. "No, no, no, no, no…!"

Venus seemed to break out of her trance and took a step towards her, probably wanting to comfort her, but she never reached her: one moment later Mars had torn her hands away from her face and was staring at Teruaki. "Why?" she shrieked. "Why did you do it?"

Teruaki looked back at her with empty eyes, as though not comprehending her words… and to be honest, for a moment Gentarou couldn't either: it was just too absurd to be true.

"Mars, what are you saying?" Pluto spoke up. "Good God, you can't be seriously suggesting-"

"He was with her, and now she's dead!" Mars cried out, a clear edge of hysteria in her voice.

That cry – or maybe it was the word 'dead' – seemed to snap Teruaki out of his trance. He opened and closed his mouth as though trying to speak.

"I-I… I…" he tried, but his voice failed him immediately, and he began shaking so violently that for a moment Gentarou thought he could be about to have a seizure. "I…"

Whatever he may have tried to say next was covered by Nagisa's snort. "You can't be serious!" he snapped, causing the child to recoil. "He's just a kid! He's not even tall enough to reach an adult's neck, let alone strong enough to break it! There's no way he could have done it!"

"He's right," Venus backed him up. "Honey, please, be reasonable…"

"But… but…" Mars looked around with wide eyes. She seemed lost, and confused, and terrified, but all Gentarou could feel right now was annoyance. How could she be so stupid?

"You're ridiculous," he said dryly. "Care to explain how you think a nine year old could have broken a grown woman's neck? He may be smart, but you don't snap one's neck bone by being good at math."

That seemed to finally get the message through, and Mars swallowed before looking down. "I… you're right, I… I lost control. I'm sorry," she choked out, then looked up from the floor and to Teruaki. "I'm sorry," she repeated, but he was not looking and perhaps not even listening: he was keeping his face buried in Nagisa's shirt. He was shaking, but not crying; he seemed to be beyond tears.

"It's alright," Mercury said quietly, awkwardly reaching to put her arms around Mars' shuddering frame. "It's understandable. I mean, we're all rather shaken, and-"

"Not all of us, no."

Nitro's gruff voice caused most of them to wince: he had said nothing until that moment, and they had forgotten he was even there. But now he sure had their full attention, Gentarou mused.

Pluto looked at Murakami's dead body once more before turning to him. "So, you're saying…?"

"Of course I am. What do you think? There is just us in this room. Light goes out, one of us is killed. Neck snapped like a twig. It can only have been one of us," Nitro said quietly.

There was a long, heavy silence as they all stared uncomfortably at each other. Gentarou turned to glance at Murakami's still body. What Nitro had said was true: the killer had to be one of them. The thought didn't upset him, not really: he had known from the moment they had read the rules that there was a very real risk they could turn against each other. He had expected it to happen, even. It was a shame it had to happen to Murakami, though: she truly seemed intentioned to make sure the youngest participants, himself included, would make it out – so with her death he had lost a valuable ally.

For one single moment, Gentarou Hongou was remotely aware of the fact something was off, that he wasn't feeling as he was supposed to feel, wasn't thinking what he was supposed to think in regards to the death of a—

monkey

—human being, but the thought was gone from his mind just as quickly. There were other things he should concern himself about… namely, the fact one of them was ready to kill, and already struck.

He sure as hell wasn't planning on being next.

"Gentarou."

Mercury's voice snapped him from his thoughts. Gentarou turned to glance back at them, and he was taken aback to realize everyone was looking at him. A cold shiver went up his spine: that wasn't looking good. At all. "What? What is it?" he asked, instinctively turning to his right, where Nagisa and Teruaki were. Teruaki seemed once again unresponsive, and Nagisa, who was keeping an arm around his shoulders, was looking back at the others with a confused frown on his face.

It was Venus to speak first. "Well, aside from Teruaki, you were the closest person to her when the lights turned on, and…"

"No way!" Nagisa spoke up before Gentarou could, causing Teruaki to recoil and snap out of his trance. "Gentarou was beside me all the time!"

Pluto looked back at him. "All the time?" he asked, calmly.

Nagisa paused for a moment, biting his lower lip. "Not all the time," he finally said reluctantly. "But we bumped in each other almost immediately, and then we stayed close by. I would have noticed if he left. He was with me when we heard the snap – we were talking, so-"

"And how do we know you're not covering for him?" Nitro cut him off. "What if you're in this together?"

Gentarou ground his teeth. Not only he had just lost an ally in that madness, but now he was also being accused of having killed her and he couldn't even tell that he would have had nothing to gain and everything to lose from her death without exposing the fact he was planning on escaping from that place leaving most of them behind. It was so damn frustrating… and worrying. Very worrying.

"Listen, I-" he began, only to train off when he felt someone grabbing his vest and pulling weakly at it. He turned to see Teruaki looking up at him.

"P-please, tell me you d-didn't," he almost begged, his voice little more than a pitiful whimper. Gentarou drew in a deep breath and shook his head.

"No, of course I didn't," he said quietly, then, "do you believe me?"

Teruaki looked down and nodded once, saying nothing more. A weak chuckle came from Nagisa. "That makes two of us," he said, then glared at the others. "Listen, it could have been anyone, okay? We moved around a lot after the lights went out. All of us. Before and after we heard that snap – whoever killed her had all the time needed to move away from the body. Speaking of which, why would Gentarou or I have stayed nearby if we really were responsible? The most reasonable thing to do would have been moving the hell away before lights could come back on, don't you think?" he asked somewhat challengingly, and one after another the others looked away.

"He has a point," Venus said with a sigh. "I know it doesn't make me look all that good since I was the one farther away when the lights came back on, but I'm rather sure I wouldn't have lingered nearby if I killed anyone. I would have put some distance between myself and the body should the lights come back on."

It didn't escape Gentarou how none of them wondered why she had been killed. It was enough to make it clear that all of them were just as aware as himself that not all of them could make it out, that some of them would be left behind… and that none of them wanted to be among the ones who stayed.

In that moment Gentarou knew, with chilling certainty, that while Murakami had been the first victim she wasn't to be the last

Apparently unaware of his thoughts, Pluto reached up to scratch his chin. "It is possible that whoever killed her didn't know the light would turn back on. I mean, the sudden blackout caught us all by surprise. Unless, of course…" he paused and turned to Nitro. "Is that what you think? That the blackout was planned?"

A nod. "Yeah. I mean, it could be a technical glitch or something, but… don't know. Whoever put this whole thing together sure had to spend plenty of time putting it together, so it seems weird that something like a power failure would happen. Also, don't you think it was a little convenient? And how would whoever killed her know that the lights would stay off for enough time to break one's neck?"

Venus paled. "So you think that whoever did… this knew they would have enough time?"

Nitro nodded once more. "I think so. I also think they knew the blackout would happen and chose a victim beforehand, because come on, there was so much confusion and yet they sure moved quickly for the kill. They knew she wouldn't have moved around to stay near the kid. Maybe that's why they picked-"

He was cut off by a sudden sob. Gentarou turned to see that Teruaki's whole frame was shuddering, violent sobs tearing the breath from his lungs.

"I d-didn't m-mean to… I'm s-sorry," he choked out, and for one absurd moment Gentarou almost thought he was confessing to killing Murakami. Then he realized, truly realized, what Nitro had just said – that the fact she'd want to stay close to the child had likely been the reason why she had been picked by her killer in the dark – and he knew what Teruaki was thinking: hadn't it been for him, perhaps Murakami wouldn't have been the one to be targeted in the first place. Nitro seemed to realize that, too, for he bit his lower lip.

"Oh. Oh, shit. Look, kid I didn't mean it like that, I…" he tried, but his voice faded and he dropped his shoulders helplessly. He looked over at Venus, who came forward and crouched in front of the sobbing kid.

"No, Teruaki, no, sweetheart," she murmured, reaching to take off his glasses with one hand and dry his eyes with her sleeve. "You don't have to be. It was not your fault. You did nothing wrong."

The child let out another hiccupping sob, giving no sign of having heard her at all. Nagisa reached to take Teruaki's glasses from Venus' hand and gave her a small smile. "Let me try to speak to him for a minute, okay?" he said before putting a hand on the child's shoulder and leading him away. Gentarou followed them with his gaze just enough to see Nagisa making the boy sit on one of the cots before sitting next to him and start talking, his voice low enough not to be heard by anyone else. He turned his attention back to the others.

"So," he said quietly, "you think one of us knows more of this… game than they should. Is that right?"

Nitro tore his gaze away from Teruaki and Nagisa and looked back at him. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying."

"This means that one of us could be the one behind all this," Mercury murmured.

"Given that there is just one person behind this. It seems unlikely to me," Venus pointed out.

Pluto frowned. "This would mean that more than one of us is involved," he commented, then, "I'd say we can safely exclude Murakami, as well as Teruaki, Nagisa, Gentarou and Mars," he muttered.

Mars, who had been silent the whole time, looked up at him upon hearing her code name. "What…?"

"As Mercury pointed out earlier, the four of you are just children," he said gently. "And no matter how absurd this situation may be – you truly are too young to be involved into some insane plot to kidnap people. Not to mention that, to be honest, I don't think any of you would be strong enough to break a grown woman's neck without at least some difficulty. And whoever killed her did so swiftly. Perhaps it's not impossible for one of you to have done it, but… I do think it's unlikely."

"That would only leave you, me, Mercury and Nitro," Venus said, nervousness clear in her voice. Gentarou took a good look at her built: she was rather athletic and sturdy, and it wasn't much of a stretch to think she might be able to break someone's neck if so she wanted. It wasn't a stretch at all.

Pluto sighed. "It would seem so. Of course, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility someone else is on this ship with us. But it's-"

"Unlikely," Mercury finished for him. "I don't like the idea at all, but… I agree." He sighed before looking past Gentarou, where Miss Murakami's body still lay. "Perhaps we should… you know, at least lean her on one of the beds, perhaps put some sheets on her. We cannot leave her like that."

Gentarou didn't think there was any point in it – she was dead, and dead people certainly do not need to be comfortable – but apparently everyone felt like being terribly sentimental, he didn't have any interest in arguing. So he just nodded and went to take the sheets off a bed while Pluto and Mercury went to lift her body and lay her on the closest bed. Mercury was brushing her hair off her face when Gentarou approached with the sheets, and even though they were quick to take the sheets from his hands and cover the body Gentarou could see for a moment the marks on her right cheek – scratches, probably from the moment her murderer's hand had grabbed her face before twisting her head, snapping her neck.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Gentarou quickly walked back to the middle of the rooms along with Nitro and Pluto. Nagisa and Teruaki had meanwhile rejoined the group, and the child seemed calmer now, if still deathly pale and once again unresponsive; Gentarou wondered what Nagisa had exactly told him.

"So… what now?" Nagisa was asking, his voice low.

"Now we go ahead," Venus replied, her voice just as quiet, gaze fixed on the three numbered doors.

Mars blinked. She was still pale, and when she spoke her voice shook. "Ahead?" she repeated, sounding terrified. B-but one of us may be…!"

"I'm afraid we have no other choice," Mercury pointed out. "One or more of us could be murderers, true – but we have only six hours left, and if we don't leave this ship by then we're all going to die anyway. Don't you agree?"

Gentarou nodded. "Not much choice there," he said quietly, and the others agreed – no, they had no choice.

"I suppose we should rethink the teams," Pluto muttered.

"Well, not necessarily."

Everyone turned to glance at Mercury, who reached in his pocket to take out something – a key card with a [8] printed on it. "Murakami's card," he explained. "It fell from her pocket when we lifted her on the bed. If we use this, we could keep the teams as they-"

"W-wait."

Gentarou blinked when Teruaki spoke up. He was staring down at the floor and his voice was weak, but he did not break down again. "What is it, dear?" Venus asked gently.

Teruaki swallowed. "I-I want to g-go in with Nagisa and G-Gentarou," he murmured, causing Gentarou to blink. Why him? He glanced at Nagisa, who gave him a slight nod and mouthed a 'later'. What had he told to the child? Had he told him that Murakami had wanted them to get him out of there?

Nitro glanced at Pluto. "Is there a way?"

Pluto scratched his chin in through for a few moments, brow furrowing in thought. "Yes. Yes, there is. Nitro, would you be kind enough to go with Gentarou, Nagisa and Teruaki? Your digital root would be [3], and the rest of us could go through door [7]."

Nitro nodded. "If it's alright with the kids," was all he said.

"It's fine with us," Nagisa said, putting a hand on Teruaki's shoulder. "Gentarou?"

Gentarou hesitated for a moment. On one hand, it was true that he would find himself with two people out of three who he was sure could not have killed Murakami and thus were unlikely to be among the responsible of that madness. But on the other hand he did not trust Nitro, and the man looked pretty damn strong; Teruaki would have been useless in case they needed to resort to strength to defend themselves, and he did not think Nagisa and himself would be strong enough to fight him off.

Then again, just as he did not trust Nitro, he trusted nobody else – so for all he knew going through some other door with others would have put him in even bigger danger. He couldn't tell for sure there was only one wolf in sheep's clothing among them. In the end, he shot another glance at Nagisa and nodded. "Works for me," he finally said. "Not that it makes much difference. We're bound to meet again later," he added, fully aware that from that moment on it was going to be nothing short of a race, all of them trying to reach door [9] first… and with allies that would allow them to open said door and leave, leaving the others behind.

Venus nodded. "True enough. It is set, then," she said, then looked down at the card still in Mercury's hand – Murakami's. "As for that card, perhaps you should let Teruaki have it," she added.

Despite her attempts at sounding pleasant, Gentarou could immediately guess what her true worry was: with that card Mercury and Pluto would have been able to open door [9] by themselves, so what would have kept them from killing her and Mars behind door [7], blame it to an accident and then go together through door [9] when they got the occasion? Nothing would. But at the same time…

"I don't think that's a good idea," Gentarou spoke up. "Teruaki is just a kid, and any of us could take the card from him. If the murderer wanted Murakami's card – speaking hypothetically, of course – then what would keep them from targeting Teruaki as well? He'd be an even easier prey."

A brief silence followed, most of them uncomfortable shifting their gaze through the room; Teruaki was almost hiding behind Nagisa and him now. In the end, it was Pluto to speak.

"Fair enough," he said. "If the murderer truly was after the card, then giving it to Teruaki would put him in danger. What do you suggest us to do, then?"

Gentarou thought quickly. He couldn't suggest himself or Nagisa to keep the card; young as they were, someone could object that they would make easy targets as well. But on the other hand, he trusted none of those who would go in the other room – and if Mercury and Pluto truly did work together to make it out with the cards needed to go through door [9], given that door [9] would be the next they'd encounter, there was too much of a risk of being left behind to drown. On the other hand…

"Let's leave it here," he said quietly, then, "for now."

For a few moments, everyone stared at him as though he had gone mad. "Leave it here?" Mars repeated, clearly confused. "But… why? We could… need it, right?"

Venus, however, seemed to be more perceptive. "For now?" she repeated.

Gentarou nodded. "Yes. You mentioned there were closed doors with odd symbols above the lock on A Deck; we found another door with a similar symbol back behind door [3]; there was a key to open it. I'm certain it's the same for those doors, and that we're meant to find the keys to open them somewhere – which means that we must be about to return to those doors at some point. And if we can return there, then we'll be able get back into this room as well," he added. He could not be completely certain of it, but it was a fairly logical conclusion… and after all, he certainly did not need the [8] key card to get out – not if he stuck to the plan of getting out with Nagisa, Teruaki and Mars… and Pluto, maybe. "No one here has any need for that card in this moment anyway – isn't that right?" he added, staring straight in the eyes of each of them.

Identical, anonymous faces turned away from his gaze one after another. Just as he had thought, none of them would risk inviting further suspicion on themselves by insisting to take the card with them. In the end, it was Pluto to speak.

"You do have a point. Very well, then. Mercury, would you mind leaving the card here?" he asked.

Mercury didn't look seem enthusiastic – no one did, after all – but he did take the card out of his pocket and went to put it on one of the cots before walking back up to them. "Alright. I guess we should get going now."

It was quickly decided that they would all go in at the same time so that neither team could take the card while the other went ahead. Gentarou was not surprised: none of them trusted the others, after all.

Himself included.