Wakana

"Ah, where will you be later?"

"Probably the laundry room, though I'm going to talk to Cain-san at some point too. I'll probably be there a while, considering it's my turn to do the laundry. "

"Erica-Chan?"

"Yes. I'm not sure I'm at the point where I'm worried about her, as such, but I have a feeling it might be worth checking in."

"Oh, sure, sure. Then, once I know Chieko-Chan's okay, I'll come join you, okay?"

"Not a problem, see you then."

And so Daisuke had gone downstairs, and I'd returned to Chieko, and when later on Noriko and Hokuto had decided to coax her to join them, I decided it was fine to leave her in their hands such as it were (she was still so very frail seeming then). In as good a mood as it was possible to be in in such a situation, I headed down to the laundry room all prepared to keep a friend company as he did chores. But that was not what had happened.

Ah, so it looks like I'm awake now, I realised in the midst of my remembering. I sighed quietly so as to not wake Chieko or Shizuka, and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. Without looking, I reached out for my phone and held it above me as I unlocked it and blearily squinted at the time. Huh, okay. Locking the screen again, I put it back, and returned to staring at the ceiling. It was still pretty early, but I had definitely fully awoken now, and from past experience I knew I wouldn't be going back to sleep again.

"Hey, Arata-tan, weren't you attempting to get Inoue-tan to fix your…uh….thingy? Just yesterday, I think it was, in the morning?" Masashi seemed to remember suddenly.

"Oh? Did you break your equipment?" I asked Kimihiro curiously.

"Ah, yeah, I did." Kimihiro shrugged and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I dropped some of the stuff yesterday after clearing for the party and I wanted him to check over it, make sure nothing's particularly broken inside, you know?"

"You should've asked us to help you out, I'd have been fine with helping you carry it all back to your room!" I exclaimed. "Though, that's not really the point here now, I know."

"Oooh, this is a development! How come you didn't mention this before?" Erica asked.

"It was yesterday morning though." Kimihiro shrugged apologetically.

"Okay? So?" Hokuto asked.

"Before the motive, I'm guessing. So far off enough that the request may not have logically led to Arata-kun being the last to see Inoue-kun alive." Kanekatsu explained. "Which does beg the question, how did Inoue-kun respond to your request, Arata-kun? I do remember hearing you go to ask him, but I wasn't around to hear any response."

Kimihiro started to answer, but Erica interrupted.

"Now, hold on, are you sure this isn't an attempt to cover up Arata-san's possible involvement? Such elaborate alibis aren't unheard of, you know? And if you were accomplices, there'd be even more incentive to create an alibi?"

"No way! There's no way that three people banded together and killed him." I protested in disbelief. "No-one here's that cold."

"Nobunaga-san existed." Erica pointed out.

"Nobunaga-san doesn't exist now to be a suspect, does he?" Akira pointed out, almost deadpan.

"Your theory is out there, Cain-san. In any case, under no circumstances will I be driven to kill. I believe I have stated this repeatedly." Kanekatsu responded, clearly miffed.

"Not to mention, Kita-kun and Iwafusa-san both attested to remembering Arata-kun approaching Inoue-kun."

"Ah, and I remember too. Ho-Chi, you were there too!" Noriko exclaimed. Hokuto blinked for a moment, and then nodded.

"Yup, that's right!"

"So that makes four people who remember it." Daisuke concluded.

Erica pouted dramatically and put hands up in mock surrender.

"Okay, okay. I was just playing devil's advocate, geez. "

"Yeah, well, sometimes you come off as the actual fucking devil himself, no offence." Masashi muttered.

"In any case, if we're going to go down this line of inquiry for now, the question we should be asking is how Inoue-kun responded to Arata-kun's request. " Kanekatsu said resolutely. "So?"

"Yeah, no going back now." I murmured before realising that I'd just spoken aloud. I turned my head slightly and let out a short breath of relief when it didn't seem as if I'd woken either of them. I considered getting up again, sneaking back down by myself, but decided against it. It wouldn't be the same now, nobody else would come back down at this point, I felt pretty sure on that point.

And in any case, I'd promised to Tyson that I'd at least try. As far as sleeping went, that was already out of the window. But if I stayed, that would at least be something. Then I'd be able to say for sure that I had tried.

So, I'll stay here.

...

Akira

I knocked on the door of the master bedroom.

"Yes?" Chieko's voice came.

"Ah, it's me. I've just got the washing basket here."

A moment passed, and then Chieko opened the door, though not too widely.

"Good morning to both of you." I said, noticing that Shizuka was peering around Chieko's legs.

"Morning!" Shizuka replied cheerily, before moving away from Chieko and slipping out of the door before going down the stairs. I looked at her for a moment, seeing myself and Hibiki at that age chasing each other down the stairs (or rather, her chasing me…), before coming back to the present and looking back at Chieko.

"Good morning." Chieko echoed after she had left, a lot more soberly, though she still smiled in a friendly way. At that moment, Wakana came to the door to see what was going on.

"Oh, morning, Kazama-Chan."

"Good morning. Here's the basket." I said, handing it over. It was a larger basket, one I didn't use that often because the smaller washing basket was more than enough for me, but that I had ended up keeping anyway. I didn't know why, in all truth and honesty, Yasu or someone like her would have probably had more use for it than me. Still, it was useful now, which was the main thing.

"Thanks, Kazama-Chan. Is anyone making breakfast?" Wakana asked as she and Chieko took it.

"Yes, Masashi's taking care of it today." I told her. She nodded.

"Oh, okay. Do you know if anyone else's changed their mind about the washing-about wanting it done, I mean?" she continued.

"Not as far as I know." I answered honestly.

"Ah, that's okay." Chieko replied. "We can ask later-we'll be taking care of it, after all."

"Yes, yes. Well, I'll see you down at breakfast then."

"Sure." Wakana nodded, before the two of them dragged the washing basket inside and half-shut the door. I stood there for a brief moment, then smiled a little to myself and went downstairs for breakfast.

...

Noriko

I had been thinking a lot about the book these past few days, especially since yesterday, even though I'd been trying hard to not think about the entire mess. Because it would be a mess, wouldn't it? It still involved all of them, after all, and it wasn't unreasonable to imagine at least some of them wouldn't be crazy about the idea. And what about people involved who were beyond us? The families and friends of our dead classmates, and even Yukizome, Munakata and Sakakura. The book was meant to be specifically my view of the events, but it was silly to operate under the assumption that this was all about me. I had to say something.

But, is there a point? I needed this, and Sachiko did too, and that was why I'd thought of it and given her the permission in the first place, which was kind of ironic considering how annoyed I'd been about the attention the killing game had gained me at first. Objection wasn't going to change that in any way. It's respect though, isn't it? Basic respect. It would disrespect everything we'd been through together, the connection we had as SHSL Survivors, if I just let inevitability take charge.

So, I will say something. But, not now. Looking around at my friends as we sat and ate breakfast and goofed around, I knew it couldn't be now. And not for the rest of today. Not when there was movie night tonight.

"Upupu, good to see you've all gathered punctually-and that you managed to get smelly old Inoue-kun to join you! Would've been a shame if I'd had to punish him at this point…."

"Fuck off." Hideki yawned, sticking up a grimy middle finger to complement his words. Interestingly, he didn't seem particularly bothered by being called smelly. Or old, for that matter.

"So, what are we all here for?" Hokuto asked.

"What motive is it this time?!"

Erica said at the same time. We all looked at her, and she shrugged.

"What, it's true, right? It's always motive, right?"

"Couldn't it be something else instead?" Kimihiro wondered absently.

"No." Kanekatsu shook her head. "Well, the possibility exists. But given the past track record, she's probably correct."

"Awww, you stole my thunder, you pair of smarty pants." Monobear said morosely, before seeming to perk up again.

"But anyway, I've been waiting long enough to put it into effect and share it with you, so-"

"Woah, hold up, waiting?" I asked. That sounds odd...the thought of what it could mean sent a little shiver up my spine.

"Don't you young ones know not to interrupt? Meh, whatevs, basically I got bored yesterday and came up with this splendid idea and I was all ready to gate-crash your little party and all but then I decided nahhhh."

Monobear did a little twirl on stage, and then continued on his little ramble.

"I mean, it would be mean of me to ruin it, right? So I decided, ooh I'll let the little brats have fun tonight, then crush their false sense of security tomorrow! Sounds reasonable, right?"

"Uh, no." Masashi said empathetically, which was pretty much all that needed to be said on the matter, really.

"So, anyway, I'm sure by now you can say the first part with me….'if nobody-"

When none of us obliged, Monobear drooped and became morose again.

"Kids these days, eh? Fine, fine. So, if nobody kills within three days, then half of you won't be waking up that morning."

"Huh? What's that meant to mean?" Hokuto wondered.

"That half of us will be murdered in our sleep if somebody doesn't kill instead, is my best guess." Daisuke suggested grimly.

"I was thinking the same thing." Kanekatsu agreed, no less seriously.

"Well, poisoned, to be exact, but yes! Well done!" Monobear proclaimed. "I won't tell you the mechanism it'll happen by, nor what type of poison, not when there's a forensic scientist and a technician on the loose. But all of your bedrooms have been equipped and are ready to go. If someone kills, they'll be disabled. If not, then…half of you are just never gonna wake up again!

Though, it won't be as nice as just going to sleep forever, before any of you go thinking oh let's be sacrificial lambs. And just to make it even more fun, it'll be done at random! Hows about that, hmm? That get your blood boiling yet?"

I wasn't stupid, I knew that in deliberately holding back until after the movie night, I was being like Monobear-or technically Enoshima- had been. Creating a false sense of security. And yet, even with that, I was waiting. Because surely that was better than ruining things, right from the outset? It wasn't that bad, to want one last thing to be good and simple before the fallout, at least I sure it wasn't.

"Yo, Edano-tan, why're you staring off in space like that?" Masashi prodded my arm playfully.

And though I turned with a deliberately vague and cheery non-answer ready on my lips, that was not what came out. Instead:

"There's going to be a book about us."

The effect was instantaneous-all conversation halted, deathly silence more suited to the night than this sunny time of morning filling the room instead, and all those disbelieving eyes staring at me in incomprehension. Oh, what did you do, Noriko, I asked myself even though I knew the answer.

I ruined it.

I struggled so much to even get this chapter to 2000 words. It was just like, nope, I wanna be short. Very annoying, but in the end I decided to give in. I suppose the chapter's quality would have been reduced if I'd really tried to force it in the end, so I guess I can live with it.

Anyway, I have a question for the chapter for you all, but it's not actually related to this fic or even DR in general. It's about Juuni Taisen. To explain, I'm doing a Juuni Taisen one-shot collection as a sort of side-project (it's not uploaded anywhere yet, I'm going to upload all the chapters at once when it's finished). It's about the people who might miss each of the characters after their death, or at least people who might care to know that they no longer exist (trying to explain the reason I came up with such an idea would probably take a century so I'll leave that for the author's note for that fic when I actually get to upload it lol). So for examples from chapters I've already written, Sharyu's chapter is from the POV of her boyfriend, Uuma's is from one of his clan members, Inonoshishi's is from a distant family friend. I even have a couple that aren't from the POV of a person (example: Ushii's is from the viewpoint of 'the battlefields of the world'). But I am really, really struggling with coming up with ideas for Dragon and Snake's chapters. I simply can't think of a person or thing that might care that they're gone. Not to mention whether I should treat them as a set and have them both mourned in one chapter (so to speak) or have a separate chapter for each of them.
So, yeah, if you're a Juuni Taisen fan too and you have any suggestions, please tell me them in a PM or something, it would help a lot. And if I used your suggestion I would definitely credit you.

Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please leave feedback!