Much of the day had already gone by without much to say about it. He knew that people were busy, but he hadn't yet seen much about it in person. Once he realized it was starting to get a bit late into the day, he decided it was about time that he helped chip in, after spending a good deal of time doing his own thing. There was just the question of what was currently happening.

Naoko's first stop? Well, the fourth floor, of course, where just about everything was happening. He headed down the stairs and was planning to just pass through it, but once he actually approached, he overheard what sounded like a conversation already in progress.

"Yeah, we can probably just, y'know, gather everyone here, chill out with a drink or two, and then, like, give 'er the business." Well, that was definitely Ishi's voice.

"Do you even know what that term means?" That was Kimi's.

"Do you?" And that was Mareo's.

"Well, yeah. I just wanna make sure she does, 'cause I don't want her encroaching on my shtick."

Naoko rounded the corner and soon enough, he saw that Ishi, Kimi, Mareo, and Yori were all sitting around the common room together, speaking about…something or other. And, well, it looked like since he was there, he was officially a part of it.

"Naoko, you came at a good time," Yori greeted him.

"Heya," Kimi waved to him from her prone position on "her" couch.

"Hey," Naoko greeted them back. "What have I missed?"

"Truth be told, not that much," Mareo admitted. "For the most part, we've simply looked through the different compounds as best we can."

"I've heard," Kimi said.

"Of course you have," Yori responded, "I told you about it myself just five minutes ago."

"Yeah, and I think whoever made that shit is a total freakshow," Kimi replied. "Seriously! Who the hell thinks it's a good idea to create a super-strong adhesive that never dries?!"

"Well, just be glad you weren't there," Yori said.

"Not to mention the fact that you weren't the one who got their finger stuck in it," Mareo reminded them. "Eryu had that wooden board stuck to it for at least an hour."

"Seriously?" Naoko asked. "Well, I don't know whether or not I should be glad that I wasn't involved in that."

"Well, Eryu's glad, most likely," Mareo figured.

"Suffice to say, that endeavor hasn't offered us much," Yori said. "At this point, we've decided it's best if we shift our focus away from the laboratory almost entirely for the time being, and focus on what we can do with the distillery's equipment."

"Precisely. So, we ended up having to take the ethanol from Eryu's room that Ishi hadn't already taken from it, and move it into the laboratory for experimentation purposes," Mareo explained.

"Yep," Ishi agreed. "I remember going in there, alright…Actually, that reminds me. What's up with putting stuff in Eryu's room? When I went in there, I noticed he keeps a storage container in it. What's up with that?"

"Oh, that?" Yori responded. "That's just something we might need in the future."

"Something you might…Wait, does that mean it's important?" Ishi responded confusedly. "Damn. Kinda makes me wonder if I should've looked inside."

"Regardless," Yori began, redirecting the conversation, "that itself should probably be put on the back burner for a short while if we're going to focus on the new issue at hand."

"What new issue?" Naoko asked.

"Don't buy it, Naoko," Kimi warned him. "It's a trick question. It's actually an old issue, and its name is Bankei."

"Don't you mean her?" Ishi asked.

"I'm trying to be funny!" Kimi snapped.

"Okay, let's calm down," Naoko urged them. "What's Bankei done now?"

"She hasn't done anything new, as far as we know," Yori clarified. "However, Ishi thinks it's time we take that not-quite-extreme action we'd been considering for her."

"Yeah," Ishi confirmed. "Honestly, I think me and Mariko were right all along. Her honesty is kinda…disturbing. And besides, just 'cause she can't lie doesn't mean she's not, like, a threat."

"So, we're considering meeting here tomorrow, around noon, and telling her, with no ambiguity, exactly what she'll be in store for," Yori continued.

"I see," Naoko replied. "So, we'd all participate? All of us, including Bankei?"

"Totally," Ishi affirmed. "We gotta get everyone's opinion on it, right? To make sure we can commit to the best decision, and stuff? It can be like a party, and it'd even come with Bankei being totally dunked on."

"It could, I guess," Kimi supposed. "But it could also come with her being her usual fuckhead self. Why not just throw 'er in a cell?"

"Well, we definitely have that in mind, but for how long do you suppose we'd have her in there?" Mareo asked her. "And for that matter, who would we trust with providing for her?"

"Literally anyone with half a brain?" Kimi remarked. "And for how long? Fuck, I dunno…8 million years?"

"8 million?" Ishi responded. "There's no way she'd live that long!"

"Well, yes, but it's also just not realistic," Mareo pointed out. "We don't know what IMONO would consider extreme, but having her be dependent on us indefinitely could very well be seen as such."

"Fuck that robot, A.I., or whatever it's supposed to be at this point," Kimi argued. "Let's just do something and ask for forgiveness if we have to afterwards."

"I can see how that would be tempting," Yori supposed. "Still, let's not take any unnecessary risks at this stage. If we need to, we'll clear our ultimate decision with IMONO. If it rejects it, we'll just have to make revisions. Should be a simple enough affair."

"Okay, so, do we need to do anything right now to prepare, or…?" Naoko asked.

"We'd probably, like, have to tell people to meet up and stuff," Ishi figured. "Other than that, I mean, not really."

"This better not end up actually being a party," Kimi said. "The last one sucked ass."

"It's not gonna be like a full-on party," Ishi asserted. "Or, at least, probably not. It's just gonna be, like…a get-together."


Naoko had no real complaint in regards to that idea, so he ultimately agreed to it. That would just have to be something for them to do on the side, though, since they still had to focus on their usual business. Thus far, they had just about everything they needed, and had more than enough time to work with it. To make a long story short, by the end of the day, they felt like they'd made progress on that. Plus, the safe was still being worked on. All in all, it was a fairly productive day. That meant that there wasn't much to speak of, up until the next day.

They'd already let people know what was coming later that day, so it wasn't like they had to make the announcement when they met up that morning. Still, it wasn't like it was ignored, as people still had some thoughts on the matter. Kimi was still apprehensive about the idea, partly because she didn't like the idea of them having to be in the same room as "that motherfucker" for longer than a minute or two. Honestly, Naoko could see why she'd be worried about that, as Bankei already was well known for being manipulative and callous. Still, with any luck, they'd have enough strength in numbers to see through the encounter. Everyone else seemed to feel at least somewhat similarly to Kimi about the whole thing, though there were a good couple of them that were, at the very least, interested enough in it to be proactive about it. As for Bankei, she wasn't there with them, but Naoko had a feeling she already knew about it. That, or she'd be informed of it not long before it happened.

Once noon rolled around, and they actually met up in the fourth floor common room, Naoko took note of what things were actually like for them. His involvement was, admittedly, fairly minimal, but at the same time, it wasn't like they went all out beautifying the room, like what they did with the pool room that one time. Sure, there were drinks, and some of the furniture was rearranged a bit for the occasion, but there weren't snacks or music or anything. So, despite Kimi's concerns, it really just seemed like a get-together…Still, they all seemed to know full well that it was by no means meant to be a pleasantry-based affair.

"So, first of all, thank you everyone for coming," Yori began. "Bankei, have you been informed as to why exactly you're here?"

"Well, I have an idea, at the very least," Bankei replied. "It seems to me like some of you might enjoy what you have planned for this, but by contrast, I…I seem not to have much to look forward to."

"I see," Yori nodded slowly. "Well, we figured this might be the case. Perhaps this will warm you up to this affair?"

Yori looked over at Ishi and motioned her to give Bankei a full cup of tea. Bankei seemed apprehensive about accepting it, but did so nonetheless, looking down at it strangely.

"This…You're giving me tea?" She asked.

"Yeah, you like that stuff, right?" Ishi replied, looking and sounding rather uneasy.

"Yes, I do," Bankei supposed. "I just find it strange that you would do something like that for me. Making me tea, trying to make me feel comfortable…"

"No need to overanalyze this kindly treatment," Mareo replied. "It's more a formality than anything."

"Plus, making the tea wasn't, like, super hard or anything," Ishi added. "It's just instant tea."

Bankei raised an eyebrow at this. "Instant?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's not a huge deal," Ishi asserted. "Why'd we break our backs making something that'd just taste the same?"

Bankei looked at her almost offendedly as she slowly brought the tea to her mouth and began to drink.

"Well, a kind gesture is a kind gesture," Bankei responded unsuredly.

"Awesome!" Ishi said assuredly. "Alright, cheers to that!"

Everyone else in the room seemed to be in general agreement with the sentiment, but Bankei seemed like the odd one out. She just stared over everyone else with a general look of…intrigue? Yeah, that seemed about right.

"So, we might as well ask the question at this point," Eryu weighed in. "Bankei, have you been up to anything lately? Anything we'd want to know about?"

"That's not the first time you people've asked me a question like that," Bankei pointed out.

"Just answer yes or no," Eryu asserted.

"Yes," Bankei said simply.

"You have, huh?" Naoko responded. "What have you been doing?"

"Well, I suppose the main point of interest is that I've been spending quite some time on the fourth floor," Bankei began. "Giving up my burdensome crutches made this a much simpler task, obviously, as I'd say I'm much better now, physically speaking, than I was some time ago."

"Yeah, I can see that," Eryu supposed. "What have you done on this floor thus far?"

"Well, I've looked over a lot of its contents, much like you seem to have," Bankei replied. "The medical room and the laboratory have been particularly interesting to me. I looked over some papers in the medical room, for example, that I couldn't even begin to decipher. They seemed like they were meant to be scientific journals, or what have you, but that's just not a pursuit I put much stock in. Hard science just seems more of a…I want to say 'mannish' pursuit."

"We're not here for your op-ed," Kimi butted in.

"I know that," Bankei responded swiftly, a hint of derision in her voice. "Granted, I can certainly see myself speaking more about them, under different circumstances, but like I said, I could only gather so much from all that text."

"So, you didn't get much out of them, is what you're saying?" Takeshi asked.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to convey, yes," Bankei replied, seeming rather annoyed.

"So, if that's the case, what about the rest of the room?" Yori asked. "Or, for that matter, what about the laboratory?"

"I'm sorry, but isn't this all a rather one-note topic?" Bankei asked. "This can't be all that we spend our time on."

"Well, it's only noon, so we have plenty of time," Yori reasoned. "Besides that, I think it's a good idea to be thorough."

"Okay. I was just under the impression that we were here for a different reason."

"We'll get to that, but first, we need you to be as transparent as possible," Mareo explained. "We think it's very much possible that, during your time here, you did something that would very much alarm us if we knew about it. Have you done anything of the sort on this floor, or any other floor available to us thus far?"

Bankei looked like she was taking a moment to think of a response, but, unfortunately, she wasn't able to answer in time before Kimi spoke up, seeming troubled by something.

"You guys," Kimi said aloud, "does anyone else feel kinda…strange?"

"Strange? What do you-..." Naoko was confused at first at what she might've meant by that, but all of a sudden, he started to feel it, too. It felt like his…It…


Naoko awoke some time later in a daze. He was slumped over, next to one of the common room chairs, and suffice to say, he was not in the best condition. Still, while his observation skills weren't at their peak at the moment, he could tell that that didn't really make sense. Last he remembered, he was just sitting down on a chair - a different chair entirely, in fact - and he…Well, he started feeling strange, like something was wrong with his brain, but right after he managed to register this…everything went black.

He managed to get his bearings together for long enough to take in his surroundings a bit more. He was still in the common room, obviously, and…it was definitely different. Other people were in there with him, not all of them awake. He saw some chairs that were knocked over, some drink cups (plastic and, in one case, ceramic) were on the floor, the ottoman's lid was removed and laid on the ground next to it…Oh, and he was definitely sure he saw blood. Speckles of it were visible on the floor, and there was even a sizable splotch in front of one of the chairs that wasn't knocked over. What the hell happened? He had no idea, and from what it seemed, nobody else did.

"Fuck, dude, what happened?" Kimi asked aloud, looking to be in pain.

"Did…did someone hit me in the face?" Mariko asked, in a similar state to Kimi.

"Naoko, you're up," Yori said, helping him get to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Mostly, I think," Naoko supposed. He tried to inspect himself, just to confirm everything was okay, only to realize that there was a bit of an issue. His left arm was oddly sore, and upon further inspection, seemed a bit bruised. Yeah, something definitely happened with that. And Yori seemed to not be in the best shape herself. "Yori, are you…?"

"Well," Yori began, bringing a hand up to the side of her head. "I think I might have taken a blow to the head. Nothing major, just some…residual soreness." Despite what she said, Naoko couldn't help but notice her wince slightly when her fingers made contact with what was presumably where she was hit. The act of her bringing her hand to her head also revealed that her right hand had at some point received a small cut. "I'm not sure how it happened, strangely enough."

"I don't know what happened to me, either," Naoko admitted. "It seems like in-between the start of our get-together and now, something…really bad happened."

Naoko looked away from her and back at the rest of the room again, only to have his eyes drawn towards something he didn't notice at first. That splotch of blood on the floor? It looked to be directly connected to a blood trail, leading towards, of all places, the distillery. Realizing what that meant, he put the matter of the room's contents aside for the time being, and rushed towards the door to the distillery, Yori following close behind.

Opening the door and looking inside, he saw a rather uncomforting sight. Broken glass and stains of liquid were abundant in the room, both on the counters and on the floor. In fact, he noticed that some parts of the floor were discolored, and even just from where he was, some of the glass fragments looked blackened. That, and the glass cabinet, appropriately enough, was also made a mess of, cracked and with much of its contents seemingly destroyed. He couldn't exactly see everything, what with the counter blocking line of sight, but he could definitely see, not far from the cabinet, that the large metal storage tank seemed to have sprung a leak. Or, more accurately, it seemed as though the glass window that previously let them see inside the tank had broken, with the tank's contents having long since poured out and onto the area in front of it. Finally, Naoko would be remiss not to notice that, on the right side of the room, Bankei could be seen, back against the wall, unmoving.

"Oh my god," Naoko said aloud. "What…happened to this place?"

"I don't know," Yori responded, peeking over his shoulder. "But Bankei, she…is she alright?"

"Let me check," Naoko replied. He walked over to Bankei and examined her. It looked like something was wrong with her neck, and her Kimono was rather disheveled, but…she was still breathing. Apparently, she wasn't immune to whatever happened to the rest of them, but that didn't really provide any answers as to just what happened.

He looked over from where he was and noticed something odd. All things considered, the blood trail was just one of many things that were of note in the room, but Naoko saw that it didn't just go to the door. It continued from there, and led not to Bankei, but to the tank with the broken window. That, and the dark liquid that had poured out of it looked to be in a bit of an odd shape. Not all of it was pooled on the ground, as quite a bit of it looked to be covering something. Did that mean what Naoko thought it meant? He didn't want to believe it, but he had to take a closer look.

He stepped towards whatever was covered by the viscous liquid slowly. He wasn't really worried about it harming him, since he was pretty sure that it was just some form of molasses that was meant to be used to make ethanol. Still, that still meant that he had to be careful not to make a mess with it. He wanted to reach for that towel above the sink, but it wasn't there, so he needed something else absorbent. He saw something on the distillery that seemed like it might fit the bill, that being a plastic bag of bandages, but given how out of place it seemed, he wasn't sure if taking it was such a good idea. But if he didn't, then…what was he supposed to do? Scrape it off with his finger?

"I need something to get some of this stuff off of this…whatever this is," Naoko said.

"I can help with that," Yori volunteered. "Excuse me."

She left the room for some time, and while she was gone, someone else entered the room.

"Naoko?" Mareo asked. "What's going on over there?"

"There's something under this," Naoko explained. "I-I think it might be one of us."

"What?!" Mareo responded, shocked. "But we…Well, what are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting on Yori," Naoko replied. "She left to get something to help us clean up some of this molasses."

"Well, if you're right, she'll need to hurry," Mareo said nervously, moving towards him. "We're all trying to get our bearings, and I believe Ishi is being woken up right now."

"Ishi?" Naoko asked. He didn't see Ishi in the common room. If she wasn't here, or there, then that meant that-

Yori returned with an entire roll of paper towels. "Here. I got this from the women's bathroom. It'll have to do for now."

Naoko accepted it, taking a sheet of it and using it to wipe away some of the molasses covering the notably human-like shape. It was only a thin layer, so while it was a bit rough, he could see a bit of what was underneath all of it. It was a jacket. Not a blue jacket, like Eryu's, but a brown, leathery jacket. He recognized it right away.

It was Takeshi's.