The girl couldn't believe what it was she was seeing.

She'd known, of course, what had happened. She knew by now that the events in which her lost person had lost their life had led to the horrible videos that had been on the news. The videos of this so-called Mutual School Life of Killing, styled like some kind of murderous gameshow except it was real, it was actually happening. And it was the reason for everything that had been happening recently, she knew that too. She knew now, that the fire at the famed Hope's Peak academy had either been a prelude or a distraction so that this game could finally start, an apparent endgame for a group of people who had been classed as terrorists.

But she hadn't been watching those events. Some of her friends from her school had, and they'd been asking her about it, whether she'd known anything, whether she'd heard or seen any signs that her lost person was involved in any of it. She hadn't, until now she hadn't. But now here she was imagining that the notebooks tucked away in her underwear drawer were burning a hole, while she was finally, finally watching those videos. Watching the events play out and knowing that her lost person had been one of the terrorists who had helped to plan this, even if he wasn't one of the ones who was currently keeping the members of Class 99-A trapped, forcing them to kill each other.

My brother is a terrorist, she thought. Was a terrorist.

Sosuke Mori's sister wasn't sure which of those statements was worse.

She took a breath as she watched the teenagers clustering around the body of Teruya Kasai, his twin sister's wailing so desperately high-pitched it sounded tinny in her headphones. Had he planned this, too, this very moment, right down to the person who had done the deed? Just like with the first 'case', although they'd been shown the murder happening, the culprit had been blurred out. The audience was meant to solve it along with the actual people still left trapped, though she couldn't see how the people still doing this were meant to know since there was no way to comment. Unless they were looking at the social media pages where people were eagerly theorising as though it was fiction.

The ending credits rolled, and she breathed out a sigh of relief. There wasn't yet a new episode out and she was glad of it. She'd watched all the ones that were currently up back-to-back as soon as she'd been able to and she wasn't sure she'd be able to manage anymore. She knew that there was so much going on that it wasn't that outrageous that the police or anyone even higher up had been able to get any closer to finding out, even if they did have suspects from the fire (and one who had turned himself in prior to that, apparently). They were scrambling and didn't even have the slightest clue, and yet here she was with her brothers notes detailing everything, every last thing. All the clues, right there hidden away in her drawers.

She couldn't believe it. And she didn't know what to do.

"Onee-chan? Emi-onee-chan?"

Emi jumped at the sound of her name and quickly minimised the window before turning around in her chair and glaring at her little sister.

"Kiho! I told you to knock!"

"I did, but you didn't hear me…"

Kiho's eyes went wide and immediately, Emi felt bad.

"Did you see what I was watching?"

"Y-yeah?" Kiho fidgeted, shrugging. "But I mean, everyone from school's watching it so it's all we talk about."

"Right."

She didn't know what to say-they'd barely talked about any of this. Their lawyer had thankfully not followed up about the package, and she didn't think that either of her parents had been forewarned about its arrival as far as she could tell. Of course, they barely talked about Sosuke at all and whenever the topic was bought up they'd made it clear it was very much a forbidden one. Emi had quickly stopped trying, but Kiho, being only ten, still asked every so often and would either be met with the cold shoulder from their mother or a brisk scolding from their father. There was no question of a funeral. Not just because of the situation, but because there was no way that the Mori family would want to invite further public scrutiny into what was, undoubtedly a disgrace.

So naturally, all they could do was just sit with their own feelings about everything and avoid each other as much as was humanly possible. It was easier for their father, he claimed to have things to do at work (somehow, still) and it was such a Sosuke sort of response to the situation it was almost funny. Only almost though, because now here Emi was feeling as if her sister was a stranger, too.

"Onee-chan, I don't get it!" Kiho declared suddenly.

"You don't get what?"

"Nobody explained it to me! Why Nii-chan killed himself!"

Kiho's lips wobbled and Emi sighed.

"Come in, Kiho."

Kiho did so, and immediately jumped on Emi's bed, sitting right in the middle. She didn't have the heart to tell her off, and instead just turned her chair to face her little sister.

"Honestly, I don't know either."

"But you talked to him on the phone more than I did!"

Yes, because he was trying to get me to join the Reserve Course…

"You know what Nii-chan was like, he didn't really talk about things like that," Emi offered up instead. "I thought he liked Hope's Peak."

I didn't think he cared about what was really going on there. She remembered just how frustrating the conversations with him had been. Even before this centenary year, when she'd been applying to high schools she'd had no interest in Hope's Peak and its unusual systems. It had seemed too oppressive, too drama laden. Yes, she wanted to get good qualifications for university, but she also wanted a normal high school experience. And until the world had gone to crap that was exactly what she'd got. Much better than a school experience filled with bullying, harassment, inferior facilities and a fear of assault or worse.

"Yeah," Kiho pouted. "He did. That's why it's confusing! Why would he do something like this? And why did he die instead of getting arrested? It'd still be the same, right?"

"It would be humiliating. He worked with the law, remember?"

"Yeah…."

Emi let Kiho talk, ask questions, even cry and rage a little bit. All she could do was nod along and give as non-committal an answer as possible. Eventually, though, her little sister got tired of talking and wandered out of her room, presumably to either go back to sitting and thinking or whatever else it was she did in her room. Emi waited a few moments just to be sure she wasn't going to randomly wander back in and then went to her drawers and rooted through all her clothes until she found the notes and flicked through.

She still hadn't figured out who the unfamiliar handwriting belonged to. A name had been on the inside of the front cover but it had been carefully cut out, and as far as she could tell there weren't any references to the person's name anywhere else in the book or the accompanying sheets. As for the one that Sosuke had written-it appeared that he'd taken out pages, re-written some but then stuck the others back in carefully to make it seem as if the notebook hadn't been tampered with in the first place. The final page of that notebook-the actual final page-made mention of 'the other person's records' having a backup to be sent separately in case something happened to them first, but not him. But apart from that there was nothing, it was a complete mystery. So many other people were named, including those she knew had been arrested and (which was yet another thing she couldn't believe) Minah Kang, but this one person….

"Why?" she asked aloud (though quietly). "Why would you…are you protecting this person, or…?"

It occurred to her that maybe she hadn't known her brother at all. She couldn't say that she'd ever been particularly close to him in any way, and she wasn't sure she wished that she had been. Yet now, suddenly, this realisation just made her want to cry. Not just in little outbursts as Kiho had done but to just sit in the middle of her room and weep until she was completely submerged in her tears.

"My brother was a stranger. My brother is a stranger." She murmured.

Somehow, those two sentences sounded so much worse than the ones were the word stranger was replaced with terrorist. Somehow, she knew that whoever this person was, they were so much better off than her right now because clearly they had known him, and he'd known them well enough to hold them in such high regard. She envied them for it, wanted to know who they were so that she could ask them everything that she still didn't understand, to fill the gaps in her own understanding.

There was one thing she did understand though: that whatever the reason was, now that he was gone he wanted all these plans to be torn down behind him, leaving behind this other person. If her parents had gotten ahold of these notebooks, or even if the lawyer had presumed to act on behalf of the Mori family name instead of Sosuke's expressed wishes, that wouldn't happen. But chance and time had conspired to make sure that she, of all people, had been the one to get it first. Which meant that there was a second thing she understood-

She would have to hand the notes in.

…

Kumori couldn't hear.

Rather, he could hear. There was nothing wrong with his ears. On some level, he knew that it was just him, his head. But everything felt so far away these days, as if he had found himself in a void with the rest of the world outside of that void, blurry and muffled. In the same way he knew that the effect was only in his own head, he knew exactly where he was, and that the game had probably managed to start without him. How far it had gotten, he had no idea, not when all the days had rolled into each other, spent boxed in the same four walls he could see right at the edges of his new unfocused world.

He didn't mind though, not really. Nothing felt like it mattered, here in the void.

And so he sat, his mind filled with clouds and time rolling on endlessly. He ate, sometimes, but didn't remember what it was he was eating. He was eating right now, picking something up on a fork, putting the fork in his mouth, pulling it away and chewing and swallowing whatever was in his mouth. Something slightly tough, but not too difficult to chew. He didn't know what it was, though, because even the tastes felt far away-

Something shifted, at the edges of his void. He felt things moving, and something about the four walls changed. He was no longer sitting on a lumpy mattress, but something hard and smooth. It took him a little while digging through his mind-clouds to label the sensation as that of sitting on a chair. It was close, oddly intrusive, and he found himself focusing on it even as a loudness swarmed, washing over him, rising and falling. People's voices. Questions, he realised, someone is asking me questions. That had happened a few times before-the last time he remembered, the last time his mind was clear, it had been his sister and the friend's sibling that she'd called to try and help him.

"What…Kumori, Kumori, what are you saying-please, don't listen to him! He can't know what he's talking about!"

"Hoshiko-chan, I'm sorry, I-"

"No, don't!"

"Onee-sama, I know what I'm talking about."

"No you don't, you can't, I'm not-"

"Onee-sama, let me go, please. This is what I want. It is better than killing you, after all, which would be the only option."

He remembered how cold it had gotten after that, the moment that he realised that he'd said it aloud, the moment that Hoshiko had understood. It was then that he'd felt it open up around him, the void. That, too, he remembered and that was more than enough for him-

"You will tell us where Kaneda Kagane has gone!"

Wait.

Kumori blinked. The world rushed back in, suddenly, the void disappearing. All the details crowded in on him, every last one. The grey of the walls and the floor, the harsh flickering fluorescent lights above, the way his prison-issue shoes chafed at his feet. The piercing stare of the detective when Kumori remembered that someone was sitting across from him, even every wrinkle in his face-it was all magnified. Kumori swallowed and blinked. The motions hurt. They all hurt.

"W-" his voice cracked, and he put a trembling hand to his throat. "W-water."

"Oh, so you speak?"

The detective sounded bored, but he made a gesture with his hand. Kumori didn't follow the gesture to see where it pointed too-it was taking all his effort to look at the detective, to process all the sights and sounds and feelings. Instead he just kept swallowing, trying to get some moisture back into his throat until a cup of water appeared in front of him.

"T-thanks." He managed, remembering his manners before taking a few huge gulps.

A moment, and then another. The world was shrinking again, but not back into the edges of everything. Rather, it felt as if it were settling, all the sensations returning to their rightful resting place. And yet, Kumori didn't feel at peace at all. How could he, after the words that had dissipated his void.

"Sorry," he said, just as the detective clicked his tongue and prepared to speak again. "Sorry, I-did you say that Kaneda-sempai….that he has escaped?"

"Yes." The detective said. "What can you tell us that? Was that always part of your plan?"

"I do not think…" Kumori said slowly. "I do not think that being imprisoned was something he anticipated. It would have not happened if I had not told you what they had gone to do, and what we had done."

"This is true, but that does not mean you're off the hook-you clearly knew what was going to happen and you didn't say a word about that."

"I couldn't destroy everything," Kumori said. "Even if some of it had to finish, I still had to let the rest of them see it through. It's justice, after all. Vengeance."

"What justice is there in torturing your peers? In livestreaming that torture? Whoever your friends are, I'm thinking that they are sadis-"

"No they are not!"

Kumori thought of Yuna and of Hana, of Riko. Of the other victims of the Izuru Kamukura project. There had been so many opportunities for the world to try and do better by them, for Hope's Peak to have done better and they'd bulldozed right by all of them, flattened all of his hopes one by one. What right did they have to decency? No, he would not believe them to be sadists.

But then he thought of Sho, standing there and smiling. Of how eager Kaneda and Shino had been to kill, not just determined but eager. Both of them had had smiles like that, and somehow, sitting here and thinking about that with the full weight of what he had done pressing hard on his shoulders he wondered about that. Wondered if the fact that their killing had been righteous, for a purpose made that eagerness alright. He thought of Kaneda, and the odd gleam his smile took on sometimes, and he took a breath.

"I cannot help you with that, will not," he said. "You may do to me what you will because of that. The game has to go on, that's all they deserve. If he's gone back to help with that, I will not help. But I can think of somewhere else he might have gone. Or, someone else."

One more face in his mind, one more innocent face that hadn't deserved any of this. Hoshiko was of course not Kaneda's someone, but it was because of her that he could guess who Kaneda's was.

"And who might that be?"

"His sister, Kagami." Kumori said. "I'm sure he'll be going to her-he's devoted to her. He won't want her to become what we're trying to take down, still. Find her, and it's possible that sooner or later you might find him."

Even that felt like a new betrayal, but that was all he could do. The world was slipping away again, the void rushing in around him. He welcomed it, let it envelop him. He knew more demands were being made of him, more questions asked but it did not matter.

He could no longer hear.

…

Keiko startled when she heard the door to her cell unlock, almost dropping the letter she had been reading. Kiku, no matter how many times she had tried to explain that she had been involved in many bad things, still refused to believe that she deserved to be here. Of course, she wasn't explaining everything fully-she couldn't, not without betraying everyone else even more-but even so she thought that Kiku would have been horrified by what she had been trying to do. She had assumed that he'd be so appalled by the disrepute she'd brought down on them all by being caught setting the fires that he'd stop talking to her. Indeed, that was what Tsubaki had done, and her aunt and uncles (and, by default, her little cousins-though there was no way they knew or understood what was happening). Yet, Kiku was here writing to her, had forced the lawyer that her father had hired (the only interaction he'd had with her at all) to let him tag along to visit her, passing on the occasional message from Tarou too-poor, sweet Tarou who also didn't seem to hate her. He seemed to believe that she was somehow a good person. That she deserved better than rotting in prison until a trial, and then continuing that rot after the trial. She had a feeling that time would not change Kiku's mind for him, as he'd always been stubborn.

She bent down to pick up the letter and despite the knot in her stomach tightening at the thought of her family, she looked up to smile at the officer.

"I'm sorry, give me a moment."

"The detectives want to see you again," the officer said with a reluctant smile. "I have to cuff you."

"Of course, I understand."

Keiko folded the letter and put it on the desk with the few other letters she had received from Kiku and then let the officer cuff her hands and lead her down to the interrogation room, where the two detectives were waiting. She noticed that her lawyer wasn't present, but decided not to ask about it, instead greeting them politely and sitting down when directed before waiting.

"You can take off her cuffs." One of the detectives said.

"But-"

"Despite the crimes she's connected to, we know full well she's not a threat, don't we?" the detective said.

Something glittered in his voice, and Keiko bristled without really understanding why. It wasn't as if she wanted to be considered any sort of threat, after all. A wrong-doer, yes, but she didn't want them to think she'd do anything else like that ever again. Because she wouldn't. Taking a deep breath, Keiko made sure that she looked as calm as possible, keeping her hands in her lap and waiting patiently as the detective and the officer looked at each other. Eventually, the officer came to unlock her handcuffs, giving her a meaningful look while doing so. Keiko made a point to thank the officer before then turning to the detectives.

"Good afternoon," she said. "What can I help you with?"

She had an idea of what they would ask, just as she had prepared answers ready, the same polite evasions. Just because she was no longer going to do anything did not mean that she could reveal all. They'd realise it was her, even expect it to be her if they were found and arrested and once they were in prison too. They were still her friends after all, weren't they?

But the detectives did not start with their usual questions. Instead, they exchanged a look before the one who had ordered her cuffs to be undone said simply:

"Minah Kang. She's a friend of yours, correct?"

"I…." Keiko blinked. "I suppose so. She's in the year below me, of course, but we did get along."

"How did you meet her, then?"

"It was when I was doing laundry duty near the beginning of the year," Keiko explained. "She came in to do her own laundry and then…and then she helped me."

"She helped you?" the other detective asked. "How?"

"She helped me with my laundry duties, once she had done her own. I was in charge of the laundry room on campus, you see."

"Just you?" the first detective asked.

"Yes, sir." Keiko replied. "Because of my Talent."

"Ah, yes. Even so, I can't imagine that any teenage girl would be pleased to be saddled with an entire school's laundry."

"I…it was my duty."

"Even so, you must have been grateful when Kang-san came to help you."

"Well, of course."

Keiko couldn't help herself, she smiled at the memory as she continued:

"She certainly didn't have to do such a thing, but it was very kind of her to do. She had her own responsibilities and didn't help every week, of course, but I wouldn't have expected her to. Even if she had only done it the once I would have been grateful for that forever."

Keiko stopped abruptly, feeling her cheeks heat up. She could tell that the detectives had noticed too, for they both studied her carefully before exchanging a look.

"So, she's someone you hold in high regard, yes?"

"I…of course I do."

High regard was, of course, a understatement-but she didn't want them to know that.

"And yet you don't want to help her?"

"O-of course I do!"

"Yet you're not saying anything, even though you are fully aware that she could die at any moment. Heck, she could be getting killed, right in this very moment. All you'd need to do to save her is tell us everything that you know-because we know that you know things, otherwise you would not have been involved in attempting to burn down Hope's Peak, would you?"

Keiko didn't know what to do, or say. She thought of every little interaction she'd ever had with Minah, right from that very first day when she'd walked through the door of the laundry room, dragging a large sports bag with her right up until that final moment when she'd tucked her in and confessed her love.

"Is…she's still alive, isn't she?"

"For now, yes," the detective said. "But that could change at any time, as I am sure you're aware."

Of course she was aware, she was all too aware. Aware that a case could easily be made that Minah was only there because of her, that she wouldn't have been so dragged down in guilt to think that giving herself up for the game was the only thing she could do if only Keiko had been selfless enough to let her go. And hadn't she been the one to promise to herself that she would do anything for Minah, anything at all?

"I…there's a chance you could save her?"

"You need to tell us what you know, first."

Keiko bit her lip. What would the others think? They'd be so angry, wouldn't they? But they're smart and fast, right, so surely they'll get wind of this and be able to escape in time….but Kang-chan…Kang-chan…

If she just told them the where, the when, the how, she didn't need to say any names. They could just go to the specific warehouse, rescue Minah and whoever else was there and that would be it. She didn't have to say any of the names of the others, though deep in her heart she knew that once the warehouse with the game in had been found, it wouldn't take that long to find them and they'd know. They'd know it was her.

But Kang-chan….

She took a breath and closed her eyes briefly, before placing her hands on the table, trying to ground herself. All her memories of Minah ran through her head once again, and that was more than enough to help her make her decision. So she steeled herself and sat up straight. Swallowing hard, she looked her interrogators in the eye and started:

"Do you know of the Artificial Beach? There's a particular warehouse there…"

…

Mihoko looked up from the editing she was doing when Mokomichi and Shino returned from the latest execution and she studied them both. Shino looked as they always did-cheery and unbothered, while Mokomichi just seemed closed off as he always did. However, this time, he was scanning the room, his brow furrowed:

"Did Sawada come back?"

Mihoko shook her head, though in truth she'd completely forgotten that Azuki had left, even though she'd been the one left with the task of overseeing everything. She hadn't minded too much-anything that required their mascot's voice she'd dumped on Riku, but pressing buttons and staring at screens wasn't so onerous. She just needed to pay enough attention to be able to go through the motions, and then she let her mind wander. Wander to the wondering about how long it would take for the moment she was waiting for. She'd already stolen away the box of that hair dye-Hatsumi had turned that area into such a mess she'd be surprised if she or anybody else really noticed. She and Hatsumi and Riku had also talked more about their escape plans-or rather, she'd let them talk and offered interjections while inside her own head she made her own plans. Mostly because she knew that the others could probably still hear them, and she didn't want them to get an inkling of the idea that her own goals were just that bit different from the rest of them.

Oh, who am I kidding? My plans are very different, she thought, which is why I need to get away as soon as I can, before they find out. But it's taking so long…

"Huh, he isn't back yet?" Hatsumi asked. "That's weird, usually he's really quick!"

"Yes, this isn't like him." Mizuki joined in, looking worried now. "Perhaps something has happened?"

"Nah, I don't think so," Shino said. "Maybe boy's finally decided to do a runner and squeal on us. "

Shino plopped down on the floor, crossing their legs and then uncrossing them, deciding to stick them out.

"He wouldn't do that, surely." Mizuki objected.

"He could have…" Mokomichi considered, hands in his pockets as he leant against the table.

"What's happening?"

Riku, who had just gone to use the bathroom (Mihoko thought), came in.

"Sawada hasn't come back," Mizuki said. "I'm concerned."

Riku frowned tentatively, tilting his head slightly as he looked around the room once, then twice. Mihoko rolled her eyes-it was not as if the place was big. But then, Riku spoke:

"Maybe someone should look for him? Now I'm thinking about it, he left a long time ago. And isn't it dark out by now? And with the people around, maybe they attacked him for the food he was buying?"

"There's a point…"

"Nah, I definitely think that he's done a runner," Shino declared. "I mean, he's one of the only Ultimates still here and he was getting proper twitchy about all this. He was always complaining about everything we're doing. Let them take him, I say. One less thing to worry about. It's not like we can't fill in his role."

Mizuki's eyes narrowed in a glare, but Mokomichi stepped forward:

"Well, whether it is that or whether he is in trouble, we shouldn't have let him go on his own. Plus, it will be an inconvenience because more of the burden is placed on our shoulders so no, we can't just 'fill in'. Tell you what, I'll go and look for him."

"I'll come with-"

"No, you won't," Mokomichi said. "I want you to stay here, it's a lot safer in here right now than it is out there-"

"That-"

"It's safer. I want you to be safe."

Shino made gagging noises. Mokomichi crouched by Mizuki's chair and took her face in his hands, and the two of them began to talk, completely ignoring this reaction. However, Mihoko turned to glare at them. They had no idea how precious it was, did they? To have someone who properly cared? To hand over cereal bars and zip up one's coat when one's hands were far too stiff to manage it properly. To, for all their flaws, to offer themselves up for one's sake when everything unravelled. Mihoko didn't much like being jealous of those two, she still found herself rolling her eyes as just how intense they were because come on, but that didn't mean she didn't want them to have that.

"What, what's that for?" Shino asked when they noticed.

"Not everything is a joke, you know." Mihoko informed them.

Shino pulled a face.

"You know you've been really boring lately, don't you?"

"Well, forgive me for not having as much fun as you are," Mihoko snapped. "We don't all have to be like you, you know."

"What's that meant to mean? And aren't you having fun? It's going so well."

"Oh, that it most certainly is."

Mihoko knew immediately that this was perhaps too much when Shino stared at them. Had it suddenly become obvious that perhaps it was not Azuki who was most likely to squeal, but her? Of course, even if that was what they were thinking they'd still be a few steps behind. If she had any capacity to be amused, then that would have been funny.

"Well, I mean, if you don't laugh you will cry," Hatsumi offered. "But for what it's worth I think at least a quick scout of the beach would work."

"And that's what we'll do."

Mihoko blinked, not having realised that Mokomichi and Mizuki had finished talking. Now both of them stood up, standing close together. Mizuki didn't look particularly happy, but seem resigned to whatever they'd agreed.

"One of you go with him," she commanded. "Take first aid supplies, just in case. Don't venture too far, just see if you can find any signs of him on the route to the usual stores."

"Nah, I want to mess with their heads a little more."

Shino jumped up and immediately went over to the desk, putting headphones on. Mihoko couldn't help but think that if that how flippant they were going to be when their team was potentially in danger, then perhaps they all deserved to get caught. She also wondered if perhaps, this could be her chance. She'd have to travel lighter than she'd originally thought, but maybe…

"I guess I'll come." Mihoko shrugged.

"Woah, wait, I thought we didn't want people seeing you!"

"They won't realise who I am, will they? You did a pretty good job."

"That's true…."

"Besides, I didn't see either of you volunteer, and we're wasting time. I'll get the supplies."

She strode off to do just that, thankful that the box of hair dye was right at the bottom of her bag already. She chucked a few clothes in, then added things that could reasonably count as 'first aid supplies', at which point Mokomichi came in.

"Radio said it was going to rain, earlier, didn't it?" he asked.

Mihoko paused. Mokomichi was watching her, but she couldn't tell if it was idle boredom or curiosity. Somehow, she felt that he at least knew that there was something more wrong with her than having become 'boring', and no doubt he'd try to probe her as they went hunting for Azuki. But that was something she would deal with later. Zipping her bag up deliberately, she poked through another pile of things until she found a couple of umbrellas. Then, she nodded at him and said:

"Let's go, then."