FireDusk: That was the motive I originally had in mind...

RubyLeo: A shipping for everyone? For Marilyn, too? And for Daichi? And for Akira? xD

"I m-made t-this m-myself," Jason stammered as he shyly showed us the bowl he brought with him. "W-would you t-try it?"

As Daichi had left again I had decided to stay with Tani for some more time. I wasn't sure if she was appreciating it or if I just annoyed her again but I thought that it would be good to keep her some company. And then Jason had turned up, bringing some food with him.

"I thought the f-food in h-hospitals i-is always b-bad," he said, blushing slightly. "S-so, I m-made you s-something." He was really considerate, I noticed once more. Even Tani wouldn't turn him down in such a situation, no, she actually thanked the tall boy.

The only problem was that it was difficult for her to eat. Due to the damage her jaw had taken she was barely able to open her mouth and chewing was absolutely impossible. Also Tani shouldn't move her arms which made it even more difficult. I could understand very well how someone like her would hate to be seen in such a helpless state and I wondered how I could make her feel more at ease.

"I could feed you," I offered, making her glare at me. "No!" I should have known that she would react like this but I still thought that it would be better to be fed by a human being than by these creepy Monokuma nurses.

Jason apparently gathered all his courage before he asked "M-may I?" There was an awkward moment of silence until Tani murmured "Alright. Thanks."

To prevent this scene from getting too embarrassing I changed the topic. "Do you know if hospital food really is that bad?" I asked. "I never really had to stay in a hospital for long so I have no idea."

Jason was very carefully offering Tani a spoonful of his soup before he answered "I've b-been in one s-some y-years a-ago. A-appendix o-operation. B-but I d-don't really r-remember the f-food."

"Have you been?" I asked Tani, remembering the scars on her hands. "Never," she simply replied and I decided that it would be better not to push her. The situation was bad enough for her, she wouldn't have to talk about things she didn't like.

After some more spoons of soup Tani was done and trying to maintain her dignity she thanked Jason once again for his efforts. Still as red as a tomato the boy just nodded.

Tani had to swallow some pills the Monokuma nurses had brought her. That was quite risky since no one could know what kind of pills those were but since she was still not healthy enough to leave the bed it would probably be better to accept the help she got.

"If you want to rest we can leave," I said but to my surprise Tani shook her head a little. "Had enough rest," she murmured and I beamed at her. If she didn't mind us staying with her, she really had opened up a bit! Maybe we would actually become friends in the end!

And so Jason started to draw a bit more while I talked a bit to the injured girl. "It was really brave of you to jump at that car," I said. "Was stupid," she murmured and I smiled encouragingly. "Still it was one of the bravest actions I've ever seen. You're not afraid to get up again, are you?"

"Can't wait to," she replied, just what I had wanted to hear. "I'm sure you soon will," I continued. "But you know, it wouldn't be weird here if you'd be scared. So, if you ever feel afraid of something don't hesitate to speak with someone about it. We would all like to help you." She just nodded, probably damning her situation.

Here Jason stopped his drawing and proclaimed "I f-finished the c-comic… for T-T-Tokaku." His eyes were reflecting his sadness as he insecurely looked down at the paper. "Would you like to show me?" I asked and he gave me the pages he had.

It was a short little comic story about Takako Nishiyama, the beautiful super heroine. Though neither the story nor the design were extraordinary well done it was obvious to see how much effort Jason had put into it. I knew that Tokaku would have loved it and remembering her beautiful singing voice she would probably even had thought of a nice theme song. And Alice could have played the music to it…

"W-what do you th-think?" Jason asked carefully and I quickly smiled again. "It is great. It's like a nice memory of Tokaku. And I think we should keep her in memory."

"Sh-should I show V-V-Vivienne?" Jason asked nervously and I thought about it for a moment. "Wait with it. I don't think she has recovered enough for it yet. But it is nice of you to think of her."

Jason looked happy about the praise and he carefully offered Tani to draw some comic about sea adventures. The girl nodded but I wasn't sure if she would really like that or just didn't want to be rude to Jason. Either way it was a nice act of her.

"I'd love to swim," Tani murmured, looking longingly towards the window. I could guess that it would take some time until she would be able to swim again and remembering how she resembled a fish in water I knew that this was hard for her. "You certainly will," I said. "Sooner than you think now." No one had used the pool again after Sandrine died in it but I didn't want to tell Tani about that.

Tani hesitated for a while, looking somehow embarrassed before she said "I need to take a bath."

Of course she couldn't just stop washing herself until she had fully recovered but I could see the problem there. Undressing herself would be difficult, going to a bathtub nearly impossible. And again having creepy Monokuma nurses helping you would be just terrible. But it was out of the question that Jason or I would help her, just the thought of it made Jason blush again. And I also didn't want to ask Panini or Vivienne since they were still too upset.

Marilyn was probably the best option here. Despite her current anger she had a caring side and probably wouldn't let Tani down. "I will ask Marilyn if she helps you out, if that is all right for you?" I offered and Tani nodded, still looking embarrassed. We then left and Jason told me that he would look for Marilyn. It looked like he was very determined to help.

Back in my room I could barely believe how quick the time had passed. Evening of another day had come once more and I wondered for the first time how long we actually had been here by now. Wasn't anyone missing us?

Just then I remembered that I had wanted to check on Panini once more. Yet as I knocked on her door no one answered and as I checked my handbook I found that she wasn't even here but near the forest. What was she doing outside at a time like this?

I would better follow her and watch out that nothing happened to her. Night time would begin soon and just like Monokuma said if you were outside at that time there was no guarantee that you would return unharmed.

Wandering through a forest in the dark of the night was certainly nothing I really liked to do. I could barely see anything and got constantly slapped by some branches while the wild creatures around me kept on rustling as if they were following me. Finally I came to a clearing where at least the moon was lighting up the night.

Panini had come here, looking incredibly lost as she was sitting on the ground, her arms twined around her knees, and stared up to the stars. "What are you doing here?" I asked, carefully coming nearer. "It could be dangerous here." I wouldn't have been surprised if Monokuma had brought a wolf pack here, just to punish those who were stupid enough to go outside in the dark.

Panini didn't react to it, she just looked at me with these terrible empty eyes. "Come on, we should go back," I said, offering her a hand. Panini took it and slowly got up. "Is it… is it my fault?" she asked. "What do you mean?" I wanted to know and she whispered "That Tokaku is dead. And that Sandrine had to die. And that Vivi is so sad."

By now I could see the tears in her eyes as she looked up to me and I smiled reassuringly. "Just why would you believe that? Nothing is your fault, Panini."

"But if I hadn't told everyone about those bruises, then…then Tokaku..." she started and I shook my head. "Everyone else would have died. You saved my life, you know? And Akira's. And Vivienne's. And everyone else's."

"But I just let her die," Panini sobbed. "Vivi tried to save her but I just didn't move. She even killed for me and I just let her die!"

"But that was the only thing you could have done," I said calmly. "It was not like you had a choice. You didn't have a chance to save her. And Tokaku knew that, she was fully aware that she had to die. But do you remember how she smiled? She felt relieved in the end."

Panini stared at me wide-eyed and under all her tears I thought I could see a little spark of hope before she hugged me all of a sudden. "If only… if only I hadn't been so selfish," she murmured. "Tokaku wouldn't have killed if only I hadn't spent so much time with her. But I… I really wanted us to be friends!"

"Everyone would understand that," I reassured her, softly patting her back. "And no one would call you selfish. Who knows what would have happened if you just rejected Tokaku? Maybe it would have driven her mad. And you even tried to help her. You wanted her to get together with Vivienne after all."

"And now Vivi suffers from it," Panini whispered. "Just because I had to be selfish she is suffering now." "You wanted them to be happy together," I said. "Why would you call that selfish?"

"Because," she said, looking up to me again. "Because I just wanted..." But before she could finish her sentence we heard a crackle and as we turned around we could see a boar slowly approaching us. I backed away from the huge animal and murmured "We should really leave now." But Panini finally smiled at me again. "It's just a pig." Her last word was almost drowned by a loud gunshot.

Panini screamed and I quickly hugged her again, so she wouldn't turn around to look at the boar.

"Oh, sorry!" someone said and Artyom quickly entered the clearing as well, his gun still in hands. "I didn't know you guys were here."

Panini had turned into a trembling crying mess and I tried my best to calm her down again. I wanted to say that it was just an animal but then I remembered how she cried as Monokuma told us the story about this silly bird she once hurt. Panini probably could never look at a dead animal without starting to cry, especially not in the situation we were in. Plus I feared that Tokaku's execution had left her with a trauma you couldn't just ignore.

If anyone else had started to shoot and kill after what we had faced yesterday I would have guessed that they turned mad. But for the Ultimate Hunter this was probably one of the most normal things to do. Artyom quickly grabbed the boar and with one last apologizing look in our direction he dragged it back into the forest.

Since Panini wouldn't walk on her own anymore I lifted her up and carried her through the forest. I just hoped that we wouldn't walk into another animal or get completely lost. There was no possible way I would be able to carry Panini the whole way back to the hostel but I would try to hold her as long as possible. As I looked up I could see some stars between the treetops and watching them I promised to heal Panini from her trauma.