As the party drew nearer, so did Koizumi draw her blankets about herself, trying to think. Emphasis on the trying, because that definitely wasn't easy. She hadn't been able to stop herself from taking pity on Tsumiki and un–brainwashing her practically as soon as she was in the nurse's cabin – but now she had to put up with that constant worrying in the back of her mind, as well as Nidai's hourly thumping on the door to check in on the two of them ("Has she eaten yet? She absolutely must eat! What about push–ups? Has she– what do you mean, 'no'?"). However – she desperately needed to think things out; everyone's lives were on the line tonight.

Why would Togami think something like that, anyway?

That was the biggest question she had about the whole thing, in all honestly. After all – just because Togami had thought it didn't mean he meant it, did he? Perhaps as the mastermind, he intended to throw Koizumi off the trail, by making her think that he intended to kill someone. When, in fact, he intended to… what? What else could he be doing?

She took a breath, and tried again. What else could Togami do? Well, aside from killing someone, he was capable of… cleaning? Leading? Eating? Why would he be trying to distract her from any of that? No, no – it must have had something to do with his ability. He could make anyone do what he said, so…

If he makes one of them do it, while Mioda and I are busy watching him–

Oh, no.

That had to be it. Togami wasn't the threat, but he had pretended to be; thinking that one little thing so that Koizumi would try to watch him and not the brainwashed. Those people would go behind her back, kill someone, then of course Togami would take the blame, since he had brainwashed them.

Nice try, but it's not going to work!

She knew what she had to do, then: Find the brainwashed while Togami was busy in the lodge, and un–brainwash them just before the party. They then wouldn't be able to react to the heir's orders, and so everyone would be safe. Koizumi smirked at the thought, moving to sit up against her pillows. Thanks to her, this party would be perfect – one last good time, before the punishment at the end of tomorrow–

And then the door fell over. Literally – it came straight off its hinges, and ended up flat on the floor. Tsumiki sprang back with a shriek, and though she still kind of fell over somewhere in the middle of that, the door just barely missed her.

"Ah, sorry about that!" Owari grinned, stepping lightly over the door she'd just kicked over. "Figured I might as well knock for once."

Tsumiki whimpered and backed away from the gymnast, shaking her head. "P–please don't do it again–! U–um, unless you really want to… Oh, I'm so s–sorry f–for saying all of that–! i–I don't mean to be b–bossy…"

"Spare me", Owari replied, cocking her head to the side. "So, where's the get–well–soon cake? Y'know, since Hanamura's been cooking up a storm in the lodge, I woulda thought that he'd make one…"

"You came for cake?" Koizumi asked. "That guy's been cooking all day for the party!"

"Well, why's one measly little party taking him so long? C'mon, I'd have thought that for a Super–High–School–Level Chef, a four–course meal for sixteen people with a complimentary buffet would be a snap!"

"Are you kidding? " the photographer began, fully intending to launch into a full–on rant on just how hard that would actually be for just one person, but then Tsumiki made a nervous little noise, wringing her hands.

"S–so, um… A–about the party. I–I was hoping you could m–maybe–? "

"Ohhhh, that's right! Yeah – actually, I came to get you two. Togami's refusing to let anyone in until everyone's at the door, and that food's not gonna eat itself!"

"W–well… Um, Koizumi's not really well enough to be standing there for the whole party, a–and I should be watching over her, so we should really stay here – um, I mean, if that's okay…"

"Nah, he said everyone." Owari glanced left and right before continuing. "Don't you have… I dunno, a wheelchair or something?"

"I'm not going in a wheelchair!" Koizumi protested, trying to get out of bed; only to be restrained by Tsumiki's hand on her chest. At any other time, the concerned thoughts in the nurse's head might have been somewhat soothing, but here they were only frustrating her – if she wanted to do anything, the photographer needed to go to the party on her two legs. "I can stand perfectly fine, let me up–"

"N–no, you've done quite enough running for today. I–I'm not having you get hurt! A–and... Um, I don't have a wheelchair here, either, so…"

"Look", Owari began, leaning against the very–much–empty doorframe. "Seriously, just put her in something with wheels. I dunno – a pram or a sled or something, I don't care–"

"A–a pram?!" Koizumi spluttered, looking Owari in the eye and – thanks to the whole mind–reading thing – realizing that she was absolutely serious about that one. "No way. I'd rather be dead than do that!"

"W–well… Um, at least it has wheels, which i–is a little better than the sled…"

The photographer let out something like a growl, fighting against Tsumiki's grip. "I'm notgoing in a pram, or a sled! I'm going to walk there, right now–"

Her words were choked off by Owari's deciding to help the nurse hold her down, albeit with far more force than should have been necessary. Koizumi probably should have expected it when Owari took that run–up in her peripheral vision – and yet she was somehow surprised by the gymnast's graceful leap onto her chest. Had it not been for the mattress, she was sure that bones would have been broken, for Owari all but dived at her, elbowing the nurse out of the way as she did so. As it was, Koizumi was driven hard into the mattress; several springs made a very unusual noise indeed, and she winced at that.

Owari, on the other hand, seemed quite comfortable balancing on the photographer, with her feet just above Koizumi's ribs, her hands on the photographer's chest, and the rest of her crouched over Koizumi like some sort of bizarre gargoyle. "Nailed it!" she declared proudly, and there was a high–pitched noise of worry behind her; not that the photographer could see its owner with Owari in the way, but Tsumiki's thoughts were going fast enough for her to have made that noise.

"W–why are you–?!" the photographer wheezed; it wasn't easy to talk with Owari on top of her, but she made a pretty decent attempt. Not that she needed to – with the gymnast in such close proximity, the contents of her mind were being all but shoved into Koizumi's brain. It seemed that Owari had memorized every single dish Hanamura had told Togami about at the meeting that morning; and now she could just about taste them.

"Me?" The gymnast wiped her mouth with the back of her hand – was she drooling? – and went on: "I just wanna eat my food in peace. If that means I've gotta stuff you in a pram, I'll do it. And about that– Hey, Tsumiki! Have you got something with wheels yet?"

The nurse's voice came from somewhere to Koizumi's left; Tsumiki must have stayed where Owari had elbowed her. "N–no… Um… P–please don't hate me–!"

"It's fine, just hurry up. I'm hungry."

"Y–yes, of c–course! Wh–whatever you want!" Tsumiki whimpered, all but tripping over her own feet as she rushed out the door.

Some minutes were spent lying in awkward silence – then, as realization dawned that the gymnast wasn't about to get off her any time soon, Koizumi made a half–hearted attempt to roll out from under her attacker. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't successful. Being a tall, strong athlete, Owari was far heavier than the photographer was – all it took was for the gymnast to shift her position slightly, gripping Koizumi's shoulders, and the girl was pinned down again. "Look, just… Just get off me", the photographer gasped, adding after a moment's pause: "Please? "

"Nah, I just got on", she replied. "Plus, it's pretty comfortable here, so–"

"W–well, it's not comfortable for me!" Koizumi hissed between her teeth, wriggling her arms out from behind her sides in order to fold them in front of her chest. She admittedly regretted the action, given that it resulted in Owari's considerable bust resting on her forearms, but it was a small price to pay for looking as stubborn as she possibly could. "And besides, i–if someone looks in… Come on, you know what it looks like."

The gymnast blinked, rocking back on her heels; Koizumi winced at the painful movement, wincing again as Owari racked her brain for everything 'it' could look like. As it was, she came up with mostly Hanamura–related incidents, stuff about meat and the suchlike – and from there, it was all back to food. "Ehhhh, can't say I do. And even if I did know – hey, who cares what it looks like?"

The photographer was about to say something rather rude about Owari's care for life in general, when the two of them were interrupted by a squeaking of rusty wheels, and a loud rattling noise. "U–um…" came a small, quavering voice, and never before had Koizumi been so glad to hear it. "I–I… I found this outside the supermarket… W–will it be all right?"

Tsumiki's mind whimpered something about how she was sure that position wasn't good for anyone, she heard the nurse take a hesitant step forwards – and Owari rolled off the photographer with ease, grabbing Koizumi's arm with a cheery smile. "Okay, c'mon! We've got to get at that food before Togami eats it all himself!"

"Wait a minute! Tsumiki, what did you get?" the photographer asked, as she was dragged forwards, stumbling over the fallen door and out into the night, blinking at the sudden change in lighting.

"In you go!"

"Oh, no, no, no–"

"Mmmmmh… Ibuki's been waiting for a whole six hundred seconds now! C'mon, c'mooon… Do we have to wait for Akane–chan and Mikan–chan and Mahiru–chan! That's three chans too many, Byakuya–chaaaaan! A–and now it might even be that–chan…"

Togami looked out at the cabins from his position in the lodge's doorway, pushing back his glasses on his nose as though that might somehow help, and all Mioda wanted to do was brainwash him into letting her and the rest inside. Not that the island was unpleasantly cold at night, but – the smells coming from within were tantalizing to say the least. She could hear the others talking about how good the food smelled, even caught the rumble of someone's stomach – there could be something like a mutiny, if Togami didn't let them all in soon.

If we were just alone, Ibuki'd brainwash Byakuya–chan… And then not only could she eat, she'd be able to stop him from killing someone! Uh – if he's planning on that, of course.

"Tch… They will be here soon, I am sure. Koizumi, after all, is injured. I imagine that her transport will take some ti–"

"Hey! Listen!" the guitarist yelled, and there was absolute quiet – both from Togami, and from the others behind her. She listened hard, and heard it – a soft, ominous rumbling from somewhere in the distance. It sounded almost like distant thunder, but that couldn't be right; there had been nothing but sunshine all day, after all.

"That's funny", Nanami said, tilting her head. "I… I think I've heard that phrase before. Isn't it–"

"Shhhhh!" Ibuki hushed her, and once again there was qui–

rrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRCHCHTTCHCCTCCAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAAAAAAAAAAA–

"AIAIIIIIEIIEIEIEIEIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Just like that, the low rumbling had become a distinctly female scream, accompanied by a rattling and a clanking like no other Mioda had heard before. Out of the darkness and into the light spilling out of the old lodge came a large, metallic cage of some sort, and it came at very high speed, scattering all of those waiting around the lodge's edge–

–all, that is, but one.

"I… WIIIIIIILL… STOP… YOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!" Nidai howled, and just before the whatever–it–was hit him, he'd braced for the impact. Since she was the closest to him, having backed up the lodge steps and into Togami's arms, Mioda screeched her very loudest and covered her eyes for good measure, but there was no agonizing scream or liquid splattered all over the guitarist; not even any witty commentary from Monobear. It was with great hesitation that she opened one eye…

….and nearly burst out laughing. In fact, she would most definitely have laughed, if not for the furious look Koizumi gave her. The photographer, as it happened, had been crammed into a shopping trolley of all things; and a shopping trolley filled with a mess of pillows and blankets at that.

"Thank you , Nidai", she tutted, even as Owari and Tsumiki ran up behind her, both of them trying to explain that it was quite clearly the other's fault the trolley had gone so fast, and the nurse rearranging the pillows under Koizumi, covering the floor of the trolley so she wouldn't end up hurting herself on the metal bars. As they did so, Mioda nudged Togami with her elbow.

"Sooooo… Ibuki knows Nagito–chan and Teruteru–chan aren't here yet, buuuuut can maybe Ibuki an' Akane–chan an' Mahiru–chan an' Kazuichi–chan an' Gundam–chan an'–"

" Hanamura and Komaeda have been at their posts since breakfast today. Thus, you may all enter – one at a time, however. I will be checking each of you thoroughly. I will not have anything going astray tonight." He pointed behind her. "Get in line."

Mioda blinked, shuffling back to join Koizumi. Surprisingly, she was able to take the handle of the trolley and guide it into the slowly forming line at the lodge's door – Nidai was roaring at Owari, while Tsumiki cowered behind the gymnast. "Hey, Mahiru–chan", she began, trying to sound as casual as she could. "Um – so, aside from her shopping trolley related incident, was there anything... y'know, that she found out?"

"You're really bad at this", Koizumi murmured, then shook her head, barely raising her voice. "I… I think we're going to need to watch more than one person tonight, or the food'll be all gone before we know it."

"The food–? Wh–what's the food got to do with–"

"Shhh." With some effort, Koizumi managed to turn around in the shopping trolley, grabbing Mioda by the scarf and pulling her down in order to whisper: "He's got accomplices."

"Ibuki's got really good hearing, y'know! Mahiru–chan doesn't need to pull her so close" the guitarist replied, straightening and glancing about herself – the others hadn't noticed them, it seemed. Owari and Nidai were shouting at each other, Tsumiki still cowering, and the rest were watching Togami and Souda's vehement argument over whether or not Sonia should be able to bring her traditional Novoselic sauce bottle into the party.

"All these gems, all this metal– I can't allow it!" the heir declared, snatching Souda's wrench when the mechanic tried to wave it in his face. "And I am certainly not allowing that!"

"All I'm sayin' is, Miss Sonia should be allowed to– hey, give that back! It's a tool, not a weapon!"

"It has potential."

"Please, stop!" Sonia called, moving from behind Souda to face the heir herself. "Togami – I would not have brought the bottle if I had known it was going to cause so much trouble. However, I do not believe it is a weapon… I merely intended for it to be a taste of Novoselic culture. I visited Hanamura in the lodge earlier; he told me that it would be fine to bring this. Is taking variety to your party truly such a crime?"

"Me too!" Souda added. "My wrench has a very deep cultural meaning to me, I'll have you know–!"

It wasn't like that line made much sense in itself, but nevertheless Mioda was rather proud of Souda's act. She'd worked hard throughout the afternoon to make sure he and Hinata appeared to be anything but suspicious. They really needed the surprise element to take Togami down, for one thing - and for another, it was much more comfortable for her when they appeared to be quite normal, despite being wholly under her sway. Not that she liked ordering them around in the first place - when this was all over, she'd find some way to bring them back to normal as soon as possible.

"Mioda," Koizumi said under her breath, turning back around to rest her elbows on the front of the trolley, "We're still following him, okay? The accomplice thing is only a hunch, really. At this rate, he's not going to need one, if no–one's got a weapon."

"But… Byakuya–chan won't have one either, will he?"

Koizumi shook her head, pointing instead towards Togami – who was currently locking Souda's wrench inside a large metal case. "He's going to have all the weapons."

"Ooooh, that's totally unfair!"

"What's unfair?" asked Togami, lifting a brow, and Mioda let out a choked noise, wishing yet again that she could just brainwash him into not doing whatever he was intent on doing.

But, I can't… Not with Mahiru–chan watching, definitely not with everyone else…

"Ibuki was just thinking how unfair it is that Nagito–chan and Pekoyama–chan are in there already, probably eating all the food?"

"You're really, really bad at this" Koizumi muttered, only to let out a similarly undignified noise to Mioda's when the latter decided to charge forwards with the trolley, the momentum carrying them up the low steps and straight towards the heir in the doorway. "H–hey! Stop that! You're cutting the lin– hey, look out, we're gonna crash–!"

"Don't worry, Ibuki's raced shopping trolleys heaps of times!" It wasn't a Super–High–School–Level act, no, but the guitarist managed to jerk back on the handle, dig her heels into the creaky wooden floor, and so it was that the two of them skidded to a halt inches from Togami's feet. "Anyway, Ibuki's next! And Mahiru–chan, of course."

The heir sighed, looking the trolley up and down. "Must we bring that… item… into my party?"

"Well, of course not! I can walk perfectly fine–"

"N–no you c–can't!" Tsumiki all but sobbed, racing up the stairs behind them. "Um… I–I'm really sorry, it must be all my fault for not caring enough, but you're not well enough to be walking."

"I'm totally well enough! I was walking just fine this morning, wasn't I?"

"Y–you did–?" Tsumiki blinked, all wide–eyed surprise – and, by the way, completely ignoring Mioda's orders to relent and let the photographer out of the shopping trolley. The guitarist frowned a little – it seemed that Hinata wasn't the only brainwashed person she would need to keep an eye on. Not that she needed to keep much of an eye on Hinata right now - he'd been rather well-behaved throughout today, almost as easy to control as Souda had been. Had her little attempt at making him believe everything was in his head - had that actually worked? If it had, then she was definitely going to need to use it on the others; it could really save her rather a lot of trouble later on.

"Th–then that's why it's become so much worse today! Over-exerting yourself isn't good a–at all!" Tsumiki's words interrupted her thoughts, making the guitarist blink and shake her head - she had a lot more to worry about than how to control people right now. But, before she could retaliate with a few choice words-

"Hmmm… Well, regardless of the necessity, I am of the opinion that the trolley will surely be weaponized, should it fall into the wrong hands. Mioda's handling and… well, the handling of whichever person was responsible for that incident – both nearly caused terrible accidents. Therefore, I will take it upon myself to guard the trolley."

"Byakuya–chan's gonna what?!" Mioda spluttered, and Koizumi made a similar noise. If Togami was planning to kill someone, having a witness right there the whole time didn't make any sense at all! What on earth was he trying to do, by making sure that he'd have a witness? Was he, perhaps, not going to kill anyone? Had he somehow told Koizumi something that the latter had misunderstood? Or… Was he going to use the fact that whenever he was ready to make his move, she would always be right next to him, half–trapped in a steel box of sorts? In fact, the more Ibuki thought about it – if Togami kept the trolley, then the only person who knew about his threat would be close to him – helpless, and of course, she was already going to be punished with the other four tomorrow if no–one else died before she went. And Togami, he'd have all the weapons well within his reach…

Oh… Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Nope, nada, nil, nah, nooooo, n–o–p–e. Not happening!

"I have already explained", Togami harrumphed, running his hands briefly through the contents of the shopping trolley, before moving past to where Mioda stood at its handle. He gave her a cursory look over, ruffled her scarf, checked under her collar, then shrugged. "You may both enter. I will soon follow, to take charge of the item."

The guitarist hesitated, deciding to follow through with her very best pleading–puppy–look. "Soooo, can Ibuki maybe, stay with Marihu–chan? She was having a really great silent conversation…" Mioda trailed off at the stare Togami was giving her – it was hard for even a chatterbox like to keep that sort of thing up under the pressure of such a calculating stare. There was relative quiet for a moment, then the guitarist decided to try and change the topic: "Uh… Does Ibuki have something on her nose?"

"You are really, really, really bad at this", Koizumi mumbled, and Mioda did an excellent job of pretending not to hear that.

"No… It's nothing. Do what you please", the heir declared, turning away from her in order to inspect Tsumiki. "To me, it does not matter, so long as the trolley is not turned into a weapon. Now, go inside."

And so it was that with a squeaking of wheels and a heart very heavy indeed, Mioda pushed the shopping trolley into the old lodge.