It had been a couple of days since the Mutual School Life of Killing had begun, but nobody had killed yet.

To be fair, that wasn't so unusual though, or at least Mokomichi assumed so. He knew for sure that Shino was definitely disappointed that this was the case, but he personally thought it would have been weirder if they'd all immediately tried to kill each other with gusto. It made more sense for them to be wary and to try and wait it out, get a sense of the situation. It also had the effect of building up the tension, which was why they were still waiting before introducing their first motive.

And that tension had been building. Even generally speaking, everyone was jittery. Minah looked haunted, and without her make-up her tiredness and fear were just that much starker on her face. Yet she was still trying to hide it as her friends automatically clung to her, looked to her for reassurance and advice, which was why she had ended up taking the lead so far in making sure that there were rotas in place, at least for their laundry and their food. Masao hadn't been pleased with that at all, especially as as their Class Representative he clearly expected to have full control over the class. He had attempted to get in on Shuuhei and Minori's investigation efforts, and the latter in particular had argued back, hard. He'd also advocated locking away Teruya, which had almost had both Kasai twins attempting to deck him and having to be held back. Tama had very quickly developed the habit of responding to any gaze or gesture that could have been interpreted as negative with "what, you thinking of killing me now?" which went about as well as any reasonable person could expect it to go. Which was to say, not at all.

Since it was pretty much the middle of the day, most people were scattered around the various parts of the building. Masao, in a sulk after his latest clapback from Minori, had been stewing in his room for a while, and Mokomichi had been watching him for a while, just to see if he'd go cause any more trouble or attempt to do something else, or if he'd just stay. Apparently, the answer was 'just stay' so after doing a quick check of all the camera feeds, he decided to check the little recreation room, which they'd filled with random junk for their captives to occupy themselves with between killings, as it seemed quite full.

When that camera feed filled his screen, he found that a number of boys were in there. Most of the little cluster-Soutarou, Ichiro, Satoshi and Ryuunosuke were all sitting around a small table, playing various card games with a surprising amount of enthusiasm while also consuming fizzy drinks and snacks. Then there was Emlyn, curled up in a hard plastic chair with arms that did not look nearly comfortable enough to be curling up in (and Mokomichi knew this as he'd found the damn thing) reading a tatty looking paperback. It was hard to tell if he liked it, though.

Mokomichi watched the group of four playing and Emlyn reading for a few uneventful minutes. Then, Soutarou pulled a face and Satoshi jumped up and grinned, gloating. The other two laughed, their back-and-forth banter piling up and more or less unintelligible until they sat down again and Satoshi grabbed his drink and took a few gulps while Soutarou and Ichiro grabbed cookies from an open packet and Ryuunosuke gathered the cards back together to reshuffle them.

"Seems like you're having fun," Emlyn suddenly remarked, putting aside his book and looking at them.

"Hey, how come you're here anyway,", Ryuunosuke asked Emlyn curiously. "Aren't you supposed to be inseparable from Murayama-kun?"

"Shuuhei is investigating with Minori-san," Emlyn said. "I admit I am not really sure what aid I could offer in such an endeavour so I decided to amuse myself here."

"You don't look very amused." Soutarou said drily.

"The reading material here is…not great." Emlyn admitted. "Still, it is a way to pass the time until Shuuhei comes back."

"You could have just gone with him anyway, couldn't you?" Ryuunosuke asked curiously.

"I suppose I could have, regardless I did not."

"Not even to like, protect him?" Ichiro asked.

"Oh, my Shuuhei can protect himself, he's used to dangerous situations after all." Emlyn responded with a calm that Mokomichi hadn't expected.

Clearly, the other boys hadn't expected it either, though they must have been more used to his generally enigmatic demeanour, since they were his classmates and all. After a few moments of exchanged glances and confused blinking, eventually Satoshi spoke up.

"Holy-" the Lucky Student blinked a couple more times and then put down his drink. "Are you like, not worried at all? How the fuck are you so calm?"

Emlyn didn't immediately answer, and as he gazed at the other boys, Mokomichi stared at him in return. Eventually, Emlyn took off his hat and stared into it while he gave an answer:

"In the first place, outward panicking is not going to do any good. It will not change things if I wear my worries on the outside instead of the inside. But more than that-I have a reason to try and stay strong, for as long as I can. I know that if something happens to me, he won't rest until I am either safe or I am avenged and so I need to be able to have the strength to do the same for him. That is all. Nothing more, nothing less."

Ah, of course he's that calm for that sort of reason, Mokomichi thought wryly. He glanced over to where Mizuki was continuing to make her notes, her hair covering her face. He thought for a moment and then took off his headphones and got up, walking over to her and then crouching down and lifting the locks of hair, tucking them behind her ear.

Mizuki glanced up, startled, and then smiled briefly, putting down her pen so that she could cover his hand with hers.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just came to check that you are, too."

"I'm fine. I'm hoping Hisakawa-san will have some news about them when they return."

She was of course referring to Kaneda, Keiko and Kumori, all of them currently in jail and awaiting the consequences of being caught. Mokomichi nodded at that.

"It's Hisakawa-chan, they'll find something."

"I hope so. I worry about Usui-sempai in particular. We should have kept her here, with us, not doing something like that."

"It was her choice, remember? Just as all of this was our choice."

"I know, I know."

Mizuki sighed, then smiled up at him again, though yet again it was another fleeting smile. She moved her hand away and picked up her pen. Mokomichi took that as his signal to return to keeping an eye on the cameras and so moved away reluctantly. When he sat back down, Mihoko glanced at him.

"If this really were a work of fiction, they would be the two in the most danger now, wouldn't they?" she asked pointedly.

Mokomichi looked at the screen, saw that Emlyn had put his hat back on and returned to his book while the other boys were trying to concentrate on their game. Then, he looked at Mihoko to answer her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just that they're in love. They're utterly devoted to each other. And this story isn't meant to have a happy ending, so people like them or people who are family, or any kind of love…they won't survive together."

"I mean, the point of this is that we're not the ones deciding, in the end. No matter what strings we pull the final blow will be up to them."

Mihoko gave a one-shouldered shrug at that, and frowned at her screen for a moment, where Minah, her three friends and Teruya were apparently puzzling over the random items that filled one of the storage cupboards.

"Even so. This is a tragedy, is it not? Even here, with us, it is a tragedy."

"Are you saying….Mizuki and I, we'd be in the most danger if it was all of us in there?"

Again, the one-shouldered shrug as she looked over at him.

"We still could be." Mihoko answered. "I could be too, theoretically. But in this version of the story, I'm not anymore."

"Huh?"

Mihoko had already turned back to the screen and Mokomichi just gawped at her for a moment. Mihoko's lips were pursed and her eyes narrowed as she stared at the screen, watching Leah exclaim as she picked up clothes and other trinkets, Teruya, Hiro and Ai exclaiming at something about them and Mawa and Minah each taking some of their own to examine.

"So, what's going on there?" Mokomichi decided to try and ask instead.

"They're starting to realise that some of these things belonged to the people who died, the ones who were lured away alongside them who weren't from their classes."

"Wait, that's where they're from? Huh. I did start to wonder."

"You didn't know? That those other murders were us all along?"

"Did you?"

"Not at the time, no. But it's hardly that surprising when you come to think about it."

Once again, Mokomichi found himself gawping at Mihoko. Whether she sensed his surprise or not, however, she barely reacted, simply staring at the screen.

"Kang seems surprised, though." Mihoko commented after a moment.

"She does, doesn't she? She's a better actor than we'd imagined." Mokomichi replied warily.

"Oh, I think about this she's surprised."

"You do? She's the one who gave in the glitter spider though, right?"

"I mean, that's what we're assuming because it makes sense and because she's there anyway and it makes us feel better about it." Mihoko fired back. "But in reality it could have been any of us."

This time, she turned to look at him, tilting her head slightly and raising an eyebrow. He noticed that the bags under her eyes had not diminished. He supposed he could not criticise, as it was likely that none of them looked much better. Nonetheless, it took him by more surprise than he expected. There's something she's trying to tell me, isn't there? He realised. But why then is she not just coming out with it?

"I suppose it could have been. Or even another Reserve Course student who knew about the spider-prank and figured it'd be a good way of getting revenge on the Main Course." He mused.

"Most probably, yes."

Again, the raised eyebrow, saying something without words that he just could not decipher. It was both very Mihoko and very unnerving. He could have just asked, but he doubted that he would receive an actual answer.

"Anyway," Mihoko said before he could decide whether to try anyway. "I suppose we should check on the wannabe detectives."

"You wha-"

He watched Mihoko switch camera feeds so that now she was looking at a corridor in which Shuuhei and Minori were walking down, the latter making notes while the other talked. Mokomichi checked the screen he was looking at, decided that nothing of any particular interest was going on, and took off his headphones so he could scoot closer.

"Wait, isn't he in the corridor that's…"

Sure enough, Shuuhei and Minori quickly realised that not only were they at a dead end, but that they weren't supposed to be.

"He's just asked her to check the map," Mihoko said. "She's telling him to do it himself and to stop ordering her around."

And to be fair, it looked like Shuuhei was suitably chastened as he pulled his own Electro-ID out of his back pocket and tried to find the map. While he did that, Minori slid her pen into the spiral binding of her notebook and then stepped forward to try the door. Quickly, Mihoko spun her chair around.

"Where's Sawada?" she asked Riku.

"Um, bathroom, why?"

"We have a situation."

"Huh?"

"Come on, you're an actor, you can manage a quick scolding." Mokomichi added.

Riku didn't look like he believed this, but as Mihoko got up he went over to take her seat, and got himself ready.

"Ahem, now, where'd you think you are going?" Riku intoned once he was set up.

The animation flickered onto the screen as Shuuhei and Minori jumped. The latter dropped her notebook and bent down to pick it up while Shuuhei whipped around to stare at the screen.

"So, you really are watching us all the time, huh?"

"Well, of course I am!" Riku said. "I need to make sure that none of my students get into any trouble before they're supposed to!"

"You're trying to make us kill each other!" Minori protested, getting up. "That's trouble already."

"Aha, but that's school-sanctioned, so it's different! But this place…nuh uh uh you naughty little scoundrels."

"Why, what is in there that you don't want us to see?" Shuuhei demanded.

"Oh, we want you to see it…but not yet! It's not the time for that! Honestly, what were they teaching you before you got here? Everything has a time and a place, and now it is neither of those."

"So, when do we get to find out what is beyond that door?" Minori asked, edging towards the door.

"Certainly not now so you'd better get yourself away, or I will have to punish you…"

"How?"

"Oh, there are ways. Have you looked up? Above the door?"

Shuuhei and Minori both looked up, and gasped when they saw the guns mounted right above the door. They were stolen ones, from a variety of places, but for obvious reasons they had not been able to get many, saving them for a few select spaces, including the ones they had needed to protect the most.

"I'll be nice though," Riku continued after giving them a moment for the sight to sink in. "And if you go away right now and don't come back here until you're supposed to then I won't decide to shoot you down anyway."

"But you still haven't told us when that'll be." Minori objected.

"The pair of you are supposed to be the clever detectives, especially young Murayama-kun! Figure it out! And leave now if you want to live for a little bit longer!"

"Come on," Shuuhei sighed after glaring at the screen and then the guns. "We're no use to anybody if we're full of holes."

Minori muttered something that Mokomichi assumed was insulting, but she did follow, and soon the two were gone. Riku let out a breath and muted the microphone.

"Well, how was that?" he asked.

"That was good," Mokomichi said. "Should do the job."

"What job? What happened?" Azuki asked, evidently having come back from the bathroom.

"Ah, let us tell you…"

…

Shino was hoping that someone would break the rules.

Well, it would be a pain, really, especially if it was one of the tougher ones and they actually had to fight the miscreant in question. But if it was one of the weaker ones then they'd have a lot of fun in giving them a good scare and perhaps that'd finally give them a death without them needing to break out the envelopes full of photographs. And it'd probably be useful to get Minah, see if she could give any further insight into their states of mind and maybe, maybe give some information back in exchange. They knew that Mizuki was in favour of being able to keep Minah in the loop where possible, and Mokomichi was predictable in agreeing with her. They suspected Azuki and Riku might, as well. Hatsumi was solidly on their side though and as for Mihoko…well, who knew? Shino certainly didn't.

All this scrolled through their head as they walked through the corridor and then slipped into the room that had been designated as the kitchen. These kids really are eating a lot despite it ony being a few days…I would have thought they'd be more worried about running out…still, they can worry about that for real, later. Shino looked around, and then upended the cloth bag they had been carrying and let the various things they'd bought. Then they sorted out the things into vague piles and tried to remember where everything had been stocked before actually putting everything away. In thick gloves and the huge bear mask, it turned out to be somewhat fiddlier task that they'd anticipated, but eventually they had managed to put everything away. With a sigh of relief, they scrunched up the bag and prepared to turn away when suddenly, they heard the door open.

Crap, crap.

Quickly, Shino dove around the corner of a freestanding cupboard and crouched. They technically didn't need to, considering the disguise, but they needed to see who it was and what they were doing. They held their breath as sock-clad feet shuffled in cautious movements and a torchlight beamed straight onto some of the cupboards above the counters. A few seconds later, a wide-eyed Mai came into view, yawning as she rubbed said eyes with her free hand. She was clad in fluffy pyjamas that Shino would probably have approved of if not for the fact their contempt was just increasing as Mai riffled through the cupboard apparently looking for snacks. Not only was she extremely unbothered by the supplies they had, she didn't even notice that they had been restocked. Instead, she hummed slightly as she considered the snacks, looking completely at ease as if standing in her own kitchen.

Of course, the upside of that was that she remained completely oblivious to the possibility that anyone was watching her. Shino really wanted to go and shake the girl, but found themselves waiting until she gathered her things and went, a few wary glances (that still somehow managed to miss any signs of…well, anything being amiss) the only indicator that she knew what sort of situation was in. They only got up once Mai had well and truly gone, and kicked the side of the cupboard as they did so, resisting the urge to scream. A prime opportunity to really rattle the group and they'd just squandered it from surprise.

Unless….I scare them in a different way?

It would be easy enough to summon them back to the hall the next day and call Mai out, threaten her in front of the others and even egg them on. And perhaps they could still do that, but another idea was forming inside Shino's head too, so they went to one of the cupboards and found the condiment bottles, selecting a squeezy bottle of ketchup. Then, they looked around the kitchen space briefly before deciding that the kitchen 'counters' were the best bet and carefully squeezing the message on it.

Then, taking the ketchup bottle with them, they left.

…

"Upupu, good mooooorning! Time to rise and shine, my lovely murderous brats, and you'd best get cracking because I'm displeased with you! But, I'm a magnanimous type of bear so I will let you have your breakfast first….I'll give ya, say, an hour? Which means get your arses dressed, fed and in the hall by eight….or you may not like what happens next…"

Thankfully, Minah was up, along with Mawa as they had decided that between the two of them, Leah and Ai, they were going to sort out everybody's breakfasts.

"What do you think happened?" Minah asked as she gave a sideways glance to the camera, wondering who it was that was doing the talking this time.

"I don't know, but I don't like it. I'm waking up Teruya and making him come with us."

Before Minah could stop her, Mawa had stormed out of the door, leaving clothes strewn over her bed. Minah sighed and wondered if she should tidy them up, but then remembered they only had an hour. Once again, she stared up at the camera, wondering who it was on the microphone today, before just shaking her head and following Mawa, who had managed to gather Leah and Ai as well as her brother. Quickly, the five of them made it into the kitchen. Leah, who so far had probably been the one putting the most effort into food, even above Minah, went ahead.

"You know, I was thinking, if we need to be quick then we should really just hand out bars or something, even though we've been attempting to serve something close to meal-"

Leah screeched abruptly and stumbled back, almost crashing into Mawa.

"Hey, hey, what is it?" Mawa asked, trying to straighten herself.

Gasping, Leah simply raised a trembling hand and pointed, and the rest of them all pushed past her. Immediately, Minah could see what she was referring to-words squeezed out on the kitchen counter with what she assumed was ketchup (hoped was ketchup):

DON'T BE GRREDY, MAI. YOU TOO,TERUYA.

"T-the hell is it mentioning me in here for?" Teruya asked. "What did I do that was greedy?"

"Did you come in here to eat?" Ai asked.

"No shit I came in here to eat, and so did you! We all did, because, you know, we need to not starve."

"Okay, but there's a reason that Monobear decided to mention you two by name, specifically, right?" Ai shot back. "Otherwise why do it? So what the fuck did you and Isobe-san do?"

"What on earth is this ruckus, you're supposed to be getting our breakfasts for us!"

This, of course, came from Masao, who had arrived into the kitchen along with almost everybody else. As Minah's heart sank, Mawa instantly whirled on him.

"And who the hell made you king? You being class rep doesn't mean you get to speak to us like that-"

"Did the two of you sneak out at night?"

Masao interrupted, turning to look at Mai, who had now come close to see the words on the counter and had gone even paler than she was already.

"I-I…I was just getting a snack! I was hungry!"

"Seriously?" Ichiro demanded. "Seriously? The hell is wrong with you? You know the rules!"

"I mean, if it was really a rule it would've been locked up but it wasn't, so there!"

"That, uh, doesn't really help your case." Leah pointed out.

"Oh shut up, goody-two-shoes!" Mai responded, puffing her cheeks out.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Mawa bristled immediately.

A sharp rat-a-tat made them fall silent and turn to Minori, who was gripping a wooden spoon and scowling at them, the blue of her eyes flashing electric.

"Look, we don't have much time, just…you guys, grab us something to eat on the go? We should just get over there quickly before we end up breaking another rule."

"A-ah, yeah, that was what we were going to be doing, anyway."

Before anybody else could argue with her, or even pick up the argument with Mai and Teruya again, Minah quickly started looking for things and handing them out at random, while everyone shuffled back out. She was the last in the line, such as it was, and she was relieved to not be the one leading them this time. As Shuuhei opened the door of the hall and they filed in, more or less standing in the same clusters they had before, she wondered if this was it. If this was when they were going to be issued their 'motive'. The thing that was supposed to finally tip them over the edge. She took a deep breath, steeling herself.

"Hey, I'm sure it'll be okay, right?" Leah asked, apparently misunderstanding Minah's hesitance.

"Ah, yeah, I'm sure!" Minah said, quickly. "Maybe if Isobe-san apologises…"

"Don't think that's likely," Leah pulled a face. "Bu-"

"Upupupu, you guys actually managed to get here on time! Early, even! I am actually impressed, I thought you brats would for sure try to rebel!"

A few shouts and shrieks erupted across the room as the image flickered on the screen. Minah stared directly at it.

"Aaaand, you're all here. Which is actually kinda disappointing!"

"Um, you're the one who summoned us." Minori pointed out.

"Ah, yeah, I suppose you're right," the bear tilted its head, as if thinking. "But but but, you know what that means, right?"

There was a dead silence, and looking over at Masao it seemed like even he didn't dare to speak. Who is it, speaking on the other side of the screen? Do you see me? I know you said it was 'safer' if we didn't communicate but surely, surely, you can send me a signal so I know what's coming?

"Aww man, you're not gonna bite? Surely you're hungry? But fiiiine, I shall tell you all what it means! Simply put, you haven't killed anyone yet! And I'm starting to get a little, little bored!"

"Then, make us!" Hiro challenged, clenching his fists.

"Oh my gosh!" Tama shrieked. "Don't actually say that!"

"Oho, don't worry, I've got all sorts of incentives lined up for the lot of you, but in the meantime…well, I assume that you got our little message."

"Yeah, Isobe admitted to sneaking snacks, but why was my name there? I didn't get up in the night, I stayed in my room like we all agreed to do!"

"Oh did you really now, Kasai-kun?" Monobear asked, tauntingly.

"Yes!"

"Can anyone confirm that?" Shuuhei asked, turning to Teruya.

"I dunno! I was asleep! I mean, I don't know how I managed to sleep, but I did, somehow!" Teruya spat in response. "But I suppose you wouldn't know, since you're all cosily loved up and all that!"

"Hey, that's uncalled for!" Shuuhei said.

"Just admit it!" Mai said. "I did!"

"I'm not admitting to something I didn't do-"

"Really? How can we trust you, hmmm?"

Now, Masao spoke up, and he crossed the room from where he had been standing and sulking by himself until he was right in front of Teruya, just taller enough to be able to look down on him. Minah held her breath.

"How can we trust you? You're not one of us, not really, not 99-A. How do we know you didn't follow Isobe-san, and then write that note to scare her and us?"

"The fu-what?"

"Maybe if I kill you now, right here, then we'll actually be able to get out of here!" Masao declared, suddenly leaning in. "I'll do what it takes to actually get us out of here!"

"Kishitani-san, no!"

Minah's ineffective cry was, however, completely swallowed up by everyone else shouting and protesting, Teruya shoving Masao away and then being held back by Mawa as he attempted to get another punch in as if to start the fight that had erupted earlier. In any other circumstances Minah would have stepped in this time, placed herself between the two boys and tried to reason with them but now she paused, wrung her hands. Would she be seen as a traitor by the others in the camera room if she stepped in? But if she didn't, would the others here notice that and wonder? She didn't know but…

I can't, I can't…

Minah gritted her teeth and made her move, but suddenly, Monobear spoke again.

"Oh, I'd be more than happy to see a little blood get shed at last…but I wouldn't recommend it now you've gone and said that!"

"Why the hell not?" Masao demanded, immediately whipping around to glare at the screen.

"Well, if he winds up dead, they'll all know you did it, and then you won't win the game! You'll just get punished and everyone will still be here! You won't have done anything useful at all…just blustering and trying to show everyone who's boss like the bratty, ungrateful, arrogant Ultimate that you are!"

"Why, that's…how dare you? How dare you? I'll show you who…"

"Um, Kishitani-kun, what are you doing?" Tama asked as the Food Critic started to advance closer to the screen.

"Um yeah, come on, you have to stop!" Hiro said.

"No," Masao gritted out. "Whoever's behind that screen is the one who has to stop and I am going to make them."

"This strikes me as monumentally stupid…" Minori muttered. "How's going to the scree-holy!"

"Uh-oh, are you suuuuuure that this is what you want to do?" Monobear taunted. "Are you suuuuuure? Don't just want to kill the traitor anyway?"

Minah watched in horror, still not fully comprehending as Masao raised his fist and drew it back as an insistent blaring started to resound. Minah resisted the urge to shrink and clamp her hands over her ears as the Kasai twins and a number of the others did. She watched Masao, who faltered for a moment, and then as he shook his head and began to draw his fist back again, she rushed over and stood in front of the screen, the way she should have done for Teruya.

This at least is something though, right?

"Get out of my way!"

"I don't think we should anger whoever this is." Minah pleaded over the noise. "They might just be waiting for something like this to happen so they can do something worse to us. If we can just hold on…"

"With all due respect, holding on isn't doing anything, and I need to get out of here!"

"That siren is something bad, though, I'm sure of it! I don't want you to get hurt! I don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"I swear-"

"Please! Just…don't…"

Masao's eyes bulged, his fist still in the air as he glowered but then slowly, he stepped back and lowered his fist.

"You're all useless idiots, the lot of you."

He spun around and began to storm out, and the blaring stopped. Minah didn't dare to turn around and look at the screen, instead watching as he disappeared.

"Minah-chan!"

Her friends rushed to her, Teruya close behind.

"Upupu, well…I think I've got across my message. So I think I'll leave it at that, and I sure hope that some blood will actually be shed…"

"Oh good, he's gone!" Mawa said.

Finally, Minah turned around and realised that the screen had indeed gone dark. Warily, she looked up at the cameras, then sighed and turned back to look at everyone.

"I think…maybe we should go, now."

Murmurs of agreement went out, and so that was what they all did.

…

As Mihoko watched the class leave the hall on the screen, Shino took off their headphones and spun the chair around.

"Well, that went pretty well, don't you think?"

"That was…that was you, wasn't it?" Mizuki asked.

"Yeah, and?"

"That's not what we planned."

"Yeah, and?"

"I mean, it worked, didn't it? They're all seriously rattled!" Hatsumi exclaimed.

"I think the summoning would have been more than enough-that was risky, you could have been caught at any time. You know that we're supposed to spend as little time as possible inside there when we do have to go." Mizuki said chidingly.

"Oh, leave it, there's no harm done!" Shino rolled their eyes.

"Yes, that's true," Riku said unexpectedly. "But I think you should probably resist that urge for a while…after all, like you said, it worked, right?"

Mizuki pursed her lips, but then sighed and nodded:

"That is true, I suppose."

"I can certainly pinpoint a few possible victims…or culprits." Mokomichi added. "I think tonight we should make sure we're clear how to get things going once a death does happen."

"Right, but for now we gotta keep an eye to see if it happens right now-especially as I've still got to edit the next episodes." Azuki pointed out.

"Sure, sure."

Azuki moved to his section of the room to work on the episodes, and then Mizuki, Mokomichi and Shino resumed watching. There was no need for her to be there as well, so Mihoko got up, fully intending on just sitting in a corner and stewing the way she pretty much had done these last few days when not doing something else. But then suddenly her sleeve was tugged, and she turned to see Hatsumi grin at her.

"Hey, let's leave them to their monitoring and go do something!"

Mihoko raised an eyebrow at Hatsumi.

"Like what?"

"Oh, I dunno, figure out your disguises or something?" she shrugged. "So that once they figure out you're in on this you can get away?"

"Ah, that's a good idea!" Riku exclaimed, though quietly so as to not disturb them. "Shall we go to the sleeping room, then?"

Mihoko stared.

Well, I guess they're gonna drag me if I refuse. Or at least, Yanagi is. So reluctantly, she nodded followed them quietly. Hatsumi enthusiastically grabbed the box of hair dyes and accessories and other bits and bobs and dragged them to the middle of the room, and then sat down. Mihoko sat on one side of her and Riku on the other, and they started to look through.

"So, your hair colour is kinda medium so maybe we should go for something that's not too bright or too dark, regardless of what colour." Hatsumi rambled as she picked things out.

"Have you been thinking about this for a while?" Riku asked, clearly amused.

"I sure have! It's fun, and I like fashion stuff! Mihoko, you do too, you really should have been helping me-"

Hatsumi trailed off as Mihoko just stared at her. Hatsumi blinked rapidly, then decisively clapped her hands together.

"Okay, that stary thing is really starting to freak me out, so you-" Hatsumi gestured to Riku. "Figure out your own hair colours for a moment, I gotta focus on her."

"Sure."

Hatsumi whipped around and reached out to examine a strand of Mihoko's hair, frowning at it. Mihoko resisted the urge to pull away and instead just waited until Hatsumi eventually let go and pronounced:

"Something dark! Like…"

"Like black?" Mihoko suggested, deadpan.

"Yeah, sure! Let me see if we've got any black."

"Uh, I think I know what black looks like…"

Nonetheless, Hatsumi insisted on getting a couple of boxes of black dye out and handing them to Mihoko. To her eyes, one of them seemed more dark brown, so she put that down and turned the other around and around in her hands, regarding it curiously. Black was a common colour, there were so many people in the world with black hair and so many of those people with brown eyes. It was, as far as hair-dye colours went, one of the best. And yet…

In her mind, if she added glasses to that combination, there was only one face she could think of. One very, very ordinary face that she could never, ever forget. Yet it did not seem right to go for the black for that very reason.

Unless…

Mihoko frowned at the range of dyes still in the box, then put the black dye down and plucked out a a dark blue, a shade that would seem black in certain lights but would still be its own colour. At least, that was how it seemed to her. Perhaps it would be the colour that would be created if her own hair colour was mixed into the black she'd just put away, and in the end wasn't that the most fitting, considering that her life was only here because of him?

Yes, that's the one. She picked it up and pretending to consider it, she memorised the brand, the name, the exact colour-just in case she couldn't steal the box when the time came and instead went for one of the ones that looked more brown and after a moment of pretending to consider that one, she held it up and announced:

"I'll go for this."

"Oh yeah, that one's alright too." Riku said. "I think to an extent being too generic might get us tripped up, right?"

"Uh, totally, hence my new look, remember?" Hatsumi grinned, pointing at her own hair.

"I've decided on a name, too." Mihoko said simply. "Or a first name, in any case."

"You have? That was fast!" Hatsumi exclaimed.

"I can think multiple thoughts at once, it's my special skill." Mihoko deadpanned.

Though, this wasn't entirely the truth, because in a lot of ways it was more or less coming from the same place as her thoughts on her new hair colour. She put the box down and grabbed the piece of paper and pencil near her, writing the name. Which was also not entirely the truth. The name she had already thought of was Ema. And the name she had written out there was Anna.

"Oh, very international!" Hatsumi praised.

"It is, rather. What characters are you going to write it with?" Riku asked, curiously.

"I can just keep it as hiragana, can I not?" Mihoko asked, immediately defensive.

"Ah, I mean, you could but…choosing a name's quite the weighty act, you may as well consider the meaning. I'm going to be, too. Something like Arata, because I'll be a new person-or even Hajime for a similar sort of reason-"

"It's just a name."

By which she meant: what meaning? Like eternity, because she was always carrying this with her or reflection because she would always be reflecting? Whole, full, because that was the closest thing to taking an element from his name, which would be fitting but also exploitative, though that just made it even more fitting. Wisdom and truth in an effort to be ironic? And what of beloved, which could be used for either part of the name? And not just as a testament to what she could have had or would have had in another life, but to all the loves that she had been a part of cutting short, all the loves that had been torn apart because of her?

Of course, there were plenty of other options, crystal or inlet, jasmine or dance, but those would just be for prettiness and what need did she have for that, really?

But all of those questions were, of course, for Ema. She had nothing for Anna. There was no need.

She sighed, looked down at the paper before crumpling it, making Riku startle.

"Ah, well…I guess that's a point. Anyway, I'll have to think of a name of my own eventually then, won't I?" he said after blinking furious for a moment. "But I guess a disguise is more important for now."

Riku looked at the boxes that he had taken out and arranged around him as if he were a child playing with bricks. He sighed and then gathered them up.

"Yeah, maybe I'll think about this another day."

"Awww," Hatsumi pouted. "I was looking forward to making you all up."

Riku bit his lip, and Mihoko sighed heavily. It needs to be done either way, doesn't it? Just play along…

"You can do me, if you want."

"I caaaaan?"

"Sure, may as well." Mihoko said. "Though it means I won't be going back out again until it's time to leave for good."

"Aww, who cares about that, come on, come on."

Mihoko let herself be led to the bathroom space and Hatsumi quickly got to work. Mihoko just closed her eyes and let everything happen, trying not to think but inevitably thinking about everything anyway. She was vaguely aware of Riku helping, but apart from that the time passed in a blur until eventually, Hatsumi whipped the towel away from around her shoulders and dusted the remaining snippets of hair away.

"Check yourself out."

Mihoko grabbed the mirror that was brandished, and stared at her new look. It was her face that stared out, but with the dark colour she looked completely different, and that was even before taking into account the thicker fringe than she'd ever had and hair that was wavier than it had been before, only just reaching slightly below her jaw.

"I don't think with that we need to go for fake glasses with you…Anna-chan."

"Don't call me that."

Mihoko was still staring at herself in the mirror, but she could see Hatsumi in the corner of the reflection and she watched as the girl's mouth rounded in slight confusion.

"Why?" she asked.

"I don't want to, yet." She said. "Not yet."

"Ah-"

Mihoko closed her eyes briefly, then opened her eyes and continued, making her argument quickly before any more protests could be made:

"So don't tell anyone else, yet, alright? It is my name after all. I'll decide when I stop being Mihoko and become Anna, alright?"

Because I will never be Anna. But it's better that you think I will be.

"I…um…sure, I guess."

Hatsumi's reflection blinked uncertainly, but then she turned away and yelled for Riku to come and check out her handiwork. And Mihoko just stared at herself, knowing that whatever name she had, she was no longer sure of who she was.