Chiaki looks over her surroundings a few more times. As soon as she sees she's in the clear, she goes on ahead and steps out of her cottage. After closing the door behind her, she squints, raising an arm up to shield her face from the sun's rays.

'Huh, is it just me or, or is it a lot brighter than usual?'

She decides that it's probably nothing too important. Right as she takes another step forward, she pauses, adjusting her bag and making sure that it isn't too loose on her shoulders. She tests it a couple of more times, and once she's sure with that, she fully heads off, back to the same routine she's so familiar with by now.

'Well, here goes another day on this island.' Chiaki muses to herself.

As she heads closer to Hotel Mirai, she suddenly sees...something kind of unusual, making her pause for a bit. 'Huh, where did that come from?' She squints.

It looks like she isn't just seeing things. There's something right in front of the hotel, and it's...very weird and eerie to see. It's hard to tell exactly what it is because it's completely covered by a large white cloth, but it looks rather tall. Maybe even taller than Nidai by a good amount.

As she approaches closer to it, she notices that thing isn't the only thing in front of the hotel. There's also a sign next to it. She turns her attention to that sign, and after seeing it signed by a paw print, she quickly realizes that it's from Monokuma himself.

That makes her grimace from disgust. 'Just what is he planning now?'

As much as she hates that bear, she can't just risk ignoring this sign, not if it turns out to be something important. So, she goes and reads what's been written on it.

In case you're wondering what this big thing (that's right in front of the hotel) is, you can say it's another one of my upcoming beary special surprise for you all! I just thought it'd be nice to build something up in this kind of way, you know?

Oh and by the way, if any of you kiddos get any funny ideas or try to take a peek inside before it's ready, I won't hesitate to shoot you down! And right on the spot! You don't believe me? Go ahead and try it, then. Let's see if you still think I'm bluffing after I've turned you into swiss cheese, upupupupu!

Chiaki blankly stares at the sign. There's a lot she can say about it, but she'd rather not waste too much of her thoughts, so all she can really say for now is, '…He even wrote down his stupid laugh in there.'

"There you are, Nanami." Komaeda's voice calls out to her.

She turns to face him, managing to calm herself before that. "Oh, hey hey, Komaeda."

He then follows her gaze. With a hum, his eyes narrow as he stares deeply at that sign, before facing back to her with a relaxed smile. "Ah, so you've seen it too?"

"Yeah, I did." She glumly nods, continuing to stare at the ground instead of making eye contact with him.

"Ah, sorry. I shouldn't have pressed any further."

Chiaki inwardly winces, now feeling guilty about it. She'll admit that the topic is making her lose her mood, but it's not Komaeda's fault at all. If there's anyone who deserves the blame, it's that damned bear. "No, please don't apologize for it. I should be the one apologizing for taking it out on you." She bows her head.

"But you don't have to apologize either. It's completely understandable." He insists, even putting up his gentle smile to lighten the mood up.

Chiaki isn't sure on what else she should say to that, so she ends up doing what she usually does. Keep herself quiet, and then stare off into the ground to avoid eye contact.

He must've noticed how quiet she's been, so he immediately changes the topic. "Do you want to come in?" Though after that, he immediately backtracks and sheepishly raises his hands up. "Ah, but you don't to feel obligated to do it or anything like that. I won't try to overstep myself with you."

She gently shakes her head. "It's okay. But, yeah, I think I'd like that."

They both get inside and head off to the dining area. And once they're in, Komaeda then turns to her. "If there's anything you need, you're free to let me know anytime, okay?"

Chiaki just nods at that. "I'll keep that in mind, but I think I'm good now."

He stares at her for a couple of seconds or so, before smiling and nodding. "Okay, I think I'll see you then."

Chiaki watches him leave her side, before she goes ahead and looks for any available seat, preferably one where she could eat alone. As she looks around, one thing keeps nagging on at the back of her mind.

Koizumi and Pekoyama; their two dead classmates. It's been days now since it all happened, and yet, she doesn't think she'll ever get used to that.

It just…didn't feel right at all.

Still, even with that, it seems things went back to being a bit more normal now. At least, from how it looks so far. It's a bit hard to understand exactly what everyone's talking about, but they're making small talk with each other again and so far, they're having some fun with it.

Like how Ibuki is talking a lot to Mitarai while wildly gesturing her arms around, and Mitarai isn't getting a word in, but he's listening to her. Souda and Hinata are sitting close together, and Souda's even wrapped an arm around Hinata while gesturing to somewhere. From how Hinata's smiling awkwardly, they're probably talking about some boy stuff together, the kind of things that she wouldn't really get.

As Chiaki continues to look around, she sees another one of her classmates, and a heavy feeling sinks in her heart.

Kuzuryu is still sitting by herself, far from nearly everyone else by at least a couple of tables away. She isn't looking at anyone or anything in particular; she's just staring onto the table under her. It's a bit hard to read her exact facial expression from there, but it's clear she isn't quite as…aggressive as she usually is.

Despite any better judgment, Chiaki decides to approach her while reaching a hand out. "Hey, uh, Kuzuryu?"

"What the fuck?!" Kuzuryu yells, jumping back from her seat and nearly falling over on the stop. She manages to steady herself right at the end of it, and once she got her balance back, she turns to face her with a glare. "The fuck do you want now?"

Chiaki steps back a bit, suddenly realizing that this situation is a lot harder than expected. One wrong move, and she could end up worsening it. Taking a deep, but quiet breath, she straightens up her back, overall making herself not look as weak and timid as she would've been otherwise. "I was just thinking that…you know, maybe I can sit together with you? If that's okay?"

Kuzuryu glares even deeper at her. She scoffs and then turns away from her. "I don't need your damned pity, so why don't you go and piss off right now."

Chiaki quietly breathes in, preparing herself for what she's about to do next. She knows she's probably pushing her luck a bit too far here, but even so, she doesn't move even a bit from that spot. Instead, she stares her down, but with the gentlest look she can muster. "Kuzuryu, I really do mean it. We don't have to talk or do anything else like that if you don't want to."

Her glare intensifies for more than a moment or so, before she finally relents with a slump. "Fine, you can stay, I guess. Just keep your mouth shut and don't make any eye contact. You understand that?"

Chiaki nods. "That's fine by me." And, after making sure that Kuzuryu is still somewhat calm about it, she takes a seat in front of her. All the while, she keeps avoiding eye contact with her as much as possible, just as promised. Though even then, she can see how tense Kuzuryu's body language is.

Other than that, though, it's quiet and peaceful for the most part.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And just like that, a girly-sounding scream echoes in the entire dining area, making almost everyone turn their heads to the source of that, with some even being bold enough to stand up and look closer. Or, if not that, then they'd jump back or just freak out from how sudden it was.

Like how Tsumiki has fallen over her chair, and now, she's crying a lot, either from the shock of hearing something so loud or from the impact itself. Maybe even both. Either way, it's understandable why she'd react like that. And then there's how Kuzuryu nearly flipped their table over while cursing out loud and bolting out of there.

'Well, it looks like I jinxed it.' Chiaki thinks to herself as she winces, managing to cover her ears as the screaming goes on for a second longer.

Another high-pitched scream shakes the entire room. "WHY THE HELL IS THERE A RAT IN HERE?!"

'Oh, that one sounded like Saionji.' Chiaki notes as she stands up and looks around. And sure enough, she sees Saionji has climbed on top of one of the tables.

Not only that, there's something else going on, and, well…it's the last thing anyone ever expected.

"Wait, please, let me handle it! Don't step on any of them!" Souda's pitch is a bit higher than usual. He's frantically running around all over the place. Whenever he ends up bumping at some of their classmates, he could only mutter out a hurried "Sorry! Excuse me!" to the ones he bumps at and running towards whatever he's chasing at, if it's even there.

'What's up with him?' Chiaki wonders, watching him stumble around and look even more frantic as time goes on.

And then, Souda suddenly dives down on the floor. He did it so quickly, it's kind of concerning to watch, since it looks like he could've gotten bruised on his knees and elbows from doing that. If he was in any pain at all, he didn't show it, as he gets up just as quickly afterwards, finally scooping something up in his arms.

From there, Chiaki can see exactly what he's holding, and what he's been chasing after this whole time. Two rats, and one of them is a lot shaggier and bigger than the other one.

Souda breathes out a heavy sigh of relief, bringing the rats much closer to his face. "Oh damn, you two nearly gave me a heart attack right there." He gently scolds, before turning around. But as he did that, that's when he finally notices that everyone's been staring at him, and they all saw those rats too.

Mitarai clears his throat. "I think you might want to start explaining this while you still can."

That makes Souda start panicking even more, while holding both rats even closer to his chest. "I swear, it's not what you think it is!"

Sonia raises an arm up. "Let me handle this." She doesn't even bother to wait for the others' to say anything further as she walks towards Souda's direction.

"W-Wait, Miss Sonia!" He stutters even more, trying and failing to run out of there.

Sonia's face is completely unreadable as she asks him, "Souda, why didn't tell us you had rats with you the whole time?"

At that moment, it looks like Souda's entire being is shaking. He's a…stuttering and stammering mess, and he couldn't even get a word in. Chiaki can't help but actually feel bad for him right now.

"I wish you'd been more honest from the start…" Sonia raises her head. Her eyes are sparkling, and they're brighter than anyone's ever seen before. "Because they're so adorable!" She squeals, eagerly holding her hands out. "May I please hold them?" Her fingers slightly twitch every second or so, and it's in the grabby hands kind of way.

Souda stares at her. "Wait, you think they're cute?" He asks, confused and in disbelief from how a big 180 that was.

Sonia laughs. "Why wouldn't I? Only a heartless person wouldn't fall in love with their cute little beady eyes and tappable noses." She says, her voice devolving into a more babytalk kind of tone.

Souda makes some kind of noise while his entire face goes fully red. As in, everything from his forehead up to all the way down to his chin. He stays like that for a while before he manages to calm down somehow, now laughing along with her. "Yeah, that's right."

"Can you tell me what their names are?" She asks, still pretty excited about the whole thing.

"Sure, sure." He nods, presenting one of his pet rats to her. "Okay, so, this little guy here is Speedy." Afterwards, he then shows her the bigger, shaggier one. "And this one is his partner-in-crime, Jerry."

"They're both very lovely." Sonia coos. "And their names are rather cultured too." She further comments with a giggle.

Souda makes another kind of noise, and then he looks away from her for a moment. "Ah, um, if you want to, you can hold Jerry for a bit."

"Why, I would love to!"

And just like that, Souda hands that rat over to Sonia, who's now looking like the happiest girl on Earth while gentling the rat with both hands.

While Sonia's having the time of her life right there, Tanaka steps forward towards their direction, though his movements looks a lot more stifled and reserved for some reason, like he's trying to restrain his movements somehow. Not only that, he's covering even more of his face with his scarf.

Souda notices Tanaka coming closer. He doesn't say anything to the other boy, but his stance is a bit tenser now. The two of them stare down at each other for who knows how long, until finally, Tanaka's the first one to break the silence.

"I never thought that someone like you managed to make a blood pact with such powerful gods." He mumbles under his scarf.

Souda's tense face quickly melts away into a confused one after hearing that. "Huh? I'm sorry, I don't think I'm following that at all."

"He thinks they're adorable too." Sonia helpfully translates for him, now petting the rat she's holding. And then after that, she upgrades that treatment into gently scratching behind its ear with a finger. It looks very content with the petting session she's giving it.

Shortly after that, Tanaka grumbles something under his breath and hides his face in his scarf even more. But, even with his scarf already hiding more than half of his face by this point, it's obvious that he's getting really flustered and red all over.

It didn't take any time at all for Souda to catch up with that. "So you wanna hold them too?" A sharp, toothy grin shows on his face. "Well, sure, you should've said so at the start! You nearly scared me with that." He says with a laugh, and then gently puts the other rat, Speedy, onto Tanaka's palms.

"Unhand me this instant!" For how much Tanaka protested about it, he clearly didn't resist it at all. He pretty much takes the rat in his hands in no time at all, and he's already gently petting down its back.

That got everyone to start commenting on the side.

"Ohh, those were his pets. That makes a lotta sense now."

"Woah, that explains all the squeaking Ibuki's been hearing for a while now!"

"I'm glad that it turned out alright in the end, but he could've saved us a lot of trouble if he was honest from the start."

Not everyone is taking well to those rats, however.

Saionji, who's already gotten down from the table by now, immediately scoots away with a surprised yelp, getting herself as far away as possible as she glares at Souda's pets. "Eww, that's so gross! Looking like an oily hobo is one thing, but why would you carry those icky and hairy pests with you too?!"

"Hey, take that back! Speedy and Jerry aren't gross at all! I'll have you know they've just cleared all their shots this year!" Souda steps forward and spreads his arms around, like he's trying to shield both of his pets from her view.

That only makes Saionji double down even more, even making her try to stand up as tall as she possibly can to make herself look bigger. "Like hell that matters! You can scrub squeaky clean as much as you want, but a rat is still a rat!"

"And that's where you've got it all wrong, Saionji!" Sonia suddenly cuts in with a very commanding voice. One can even say that it's powerful enough to make it feel like the room shudder for a moment or so. "Rats are actually one of the cleanest pets you can own, and if anything, they groom more frequently and thoroughly than a cat would!"

"M-Miss Sonia?!" Souda murmurs, blushing and sputtering the rest of his words around. And he also looks like he's about to faint on the spot for some reason.

"She speaks the truth." Tanaka suddenly joins in with that too, crossing his arms with a scoff. "I could even say they're far cleaner than the likes of you."

"W-What the hell are you even saying now?!"

"That's enough, you guys." Hinata says with a sigh, stepping in between them before it can escalate any further. He even spreads his arms a bit to get some distance between them, just in case if anyone thinks of running forward to the other party.

"Huh, Hinata?" Souda murmurs.

Both Sonia and Tanaka look pretty surprised by Hinata's intervention too, though they didn't say anything about it.

"…The hell do you think you're doing?" Saionji blankly asks.

Hinata palms over his neck, and then says in a weary voice, "I'm just trying to keep another fight from breaking out."

Before the others could say anything to that, Saionji quickly cuts in. "You know what, why don't you mind your own business for once?" She darkly smiles at him. "It's not like there's anyone left who'll care about me in this hellhole, not after what I've done back there."

Hinata quietly breathes out, and then he looks over at her direction. "I won't deny that you did help Koizumi murder someone, and I won't pretend that you didn't know anything about it, either. But even then, as long as we're stuck on this island together, you're still one of my classmates." One of his fists clench at his side. "And I'll be damned if I let that bear divide us again, even further than he already did."

Kuzuryu snorts, but other than that, she doesn't move from her spot. "How do you know she won't try to kill any of us again? Don't tell me you're going to try and lecture her to death with your jackshit talent."

Hinata turns to her, maintaining firm eye contact as he tells her, "Because if it happens again, we'll immediately know if she's the one responsible. Even if she isn't the true culprit, she'd still be our first suspect." He then pauses, and swallows, like he's disturbed by what he's about to say next. "There's nothing for her to gain at that point if she'd try it again, and she still has a lot to lose in doing that."

"You think I'd care about that?" Kuzuryu huffs as she turns away, making it clear that she's done with this conversation.

"Forget it. I'm out of here." Saionji grumbles, huffing as she walks away from there.

No one tries to follow her, or even call after her; the only thing everyone did is to watch her leave the dining area. It's kind of understandable why so many of them would feel hesitant about it; it'd be hard to forget what Saionji had nearly done to them all.

Still, that doesn't mean it wasn't worrying in the slightest.

Nidai looks over where Saionji was last seen, looking like he's thinking hard about something. Shortly after that, he starts walking towards the exit. "Well then, you'll have to excuse me for a bit!"

"Wait, wait, wait." Souda cuts in, getting himself in front of the other boy and blocking his way. "I don't know, man. You'd scare her off first if you tried going after her like that."

"Huh, why not?"

Souda gestures at Nidai's entire body. "Look at yourself!"

While those two continue with that, Hinata sighs once again. "Looks like I'll have to go and talk to her." He tells them, before heading off to wherever Saionji had gone off to.

"Wait, Hinata." Chiaki finds herself walking towards him. "You sure you're going to be okay?"

Hinata stops in his tracks, turning to face her with a surprised look. Though he quickly changes that to a more relaxed one, probably to ease her somehow. "Yeah, don't worry. I'm just going to talk to her for a bit." He shows her a small smile. "Nothing is going to happen, and besides, it's not like she can do much against me, even if she really wanted to."

Chiaki stares at him, now suddenly realizing the reason for that. 'Oh, yeah. That's a fair point.' She nods at him. "Okay, if you say so. Still, please be safe."

He nods back at her. "I will."

She watches him leave the dining area. And so, there's nothing else she can do other than to wait for now.

Chiaki has no idea how much time has passed since then, but if she has to estimate, it kinda felt like at least half an hour or so. As she lets her thoughts wander around again, suddenly, she's hearing footsteps come closer to the dining area. She turns to the direction they're coming from, and sure enough, Hinata's back inside.

Just as Chiaki gets up from her seat, she hears a familiar voice shouting out his name.

"Hinata!"

Oh, looks like someone else has already beat her to it.

And right on cue, Souda's rushing towards him. And then, once he's close enough, he then goes up ahead and starts wrapping his arms around the other boy, right around his neck and shoulders.

Hinata awkwardly chuckles, but other than that, he seems to accept the hug. "You're acting like I was gonna be a goner. But, anyways," He starts as he recomposes himself, and by then, Souda has already let go of him. "The good news is, I managed to talk to her. It was just a talk, really. Nothing physical came out of it."

"Oh man, that's good to hear." Souda says with a warm laugh, before slightly smacking his hand on Hinata's back. "You really made me worry about you for some time, you know?"

A bead of sweat drops from the side of Hinata's head. "I don't think I've been gone for that long, though."

"Since you said that you've got good news," Komaeda suddenly interjects. "Then it's safe to assume there's some bad news to go along with that, then."

Hinata grimaces a bit, turning to his direction. "Yeah, about that…she…well," His shoulders slump slightly. "I guess you can say she just needs her space for now."

"Is that so? That's all she told you?" Komaeda presses further.

Hinata takes a deep breath. "She won't try to do anything drastic, if that's what you're implying. Again, even if she did, there's nothing for her to gain."

Komaeda stares at him for a good while or so, before relaxing himself. "Alright, if that's what you say so, then who am I to doubt you? Sorry for questioning you any further than I should've."

"It's fine. You don't have to worry about it."

With that conversation about Saionji over with, everyone goes back to finishing their breakfast. It did get interrupted when Souda's pet rats escaped, and the incident afterwards kinda made them forget about it for a while.


The mood went a bit down after that incident with Saionji, but that didn't stop everyone from leaving the dining to go and spend their free time somewhere else.

Just like everyone else, Chiaki goes up ahead and exits Hotel Mirai. Since she still has more than enough free time, there's still a lot she can do before the day is over. After mulling over it, she decides to go and take a walk at the park on the Central Island.

It's been a long while since she last went there, and if she's being honest, there is one thing she wants to check on, just in case.

Once she's made her way there, her suspicions are immediately confirmed. The statue in the middle of the park is still intact, which of course, means that the timer Monokuma put is still there too.

Chiaki's frown deepens as soon as she takes a closer look at it. While it's still far from the last fays so far, those numbers still progressed quite a bit. 'Just how long can we keep doing this? Even if…no one tries to commit another murder, we're still stuck here with no way out. And who knows what could happen once the timer finally ticks in.'

She stares some more at that timer. Even now, it's still hard to say for sure exactly what it should be; could be a bomb, could be something else, that bastard bear just won't tell them what it really is.

'There's no one else here aside from me, and that bear hasn't shown his stupid face at all since yesterday. I wonder if I should do something about it.'

Her mind made up, she comes forward, reaching out to the timer. Right when her fingers are just less than inches away from touching the device, she suddenly retracts her hand at the last second. She hurriedly steps back, staring at the timer with wide eyes, and then she stares back at her shaking hands.

'But, would it even be enough? I don't even know how to disarm a bomb outside of games. If I tried to do that here right now…,' She closes her hands, her breathing only getting heavier with each second. 'I might end up making it so much worse instead…'

Her hands alternate between opening and clenching at her sides. 'No matter how much I want to, why can't I do anything about it at all? I…I hate this so much…'

Chiaki shakes her head, forcing herself to steady her breathing. It won't be good to think too much about it. As soon as she's somewhat calmed down, and she's sure about it, she then turns to the side, immediately noticing that Hinata's there too, right at the other side of the statue. It looks like maybe he just got here, and somehow, he didn't notice her yet.

"Woah, I didn't expect to see you here, Hinata." She suddenly blurts out.

That catches Hinata's attention; he turns around with a pretty surprised look. Though, his surprise quickly fades away. "I guess I could say the same for you too." He says with a soft laugh.

Several more moments of nothing but silence go by, and neither of them have been looking at the other much.

She realizes just how quiet and awkward it's starting to become, and so, she racks her brain up, trying to think of a topic to start up another conversation. 'Come on, there's got to be something.' Right as her mind starts going blank on thinking about it, she ends up asking him, "Oh, yeah. Hinata, since we're here together, is it okay if you tell me more about yourself?"

"Oh, um." Hinata turns his attention to her. "I don't think there are a lot of interesting things about me, to be honest. I mean, the whole…Ultimate title aside, I'm just an ordinary, average guy." At the end of that, he sheepishly chuckles while scratching the back of his head.

"That's not true at all." Chiaki shakes her head. "From what I've seen, you often go out of your way to help others, and I think it's really admirable, you know?"

"Well, I mean, I guess it's one thing I'm good at. Otherwise, I'm not really great at a lot of stuff."

"What do you mean by that?" She tilts her head.

Hinata quietly breathes out, looking away from her for a moment or so. "I truly mean it when I say that I'm just an ordinary and average guy. If you take my Ultimate title away, then that's all what I really am. My grades are average, my looks isn't something really remarkable, and I don't exactly a big social presence."

'I think I can see where he's coming from with that.' Chiaki thinks, but other than that, she keeps quiet, letting him continue.

A tiny, faint smile makes its way on Hinata's face. "You know, I've always been a big fan of Hope's Peak Academy. I've always dreamed about being one of their students someday, and now, I guess I got what I wanted. But," His slight smile fades away into a small frown. "I'd often wonder what they saw in me. What made them think I deserve the title over someone far more skilled than I'll ever be?"

Chiaki notices just how…quiet he becomes after saying all of that. 'I…I never thought you felt that way about your Ultimate title too.'

Hinata must've seen how surprised she looks, and so, he immediately puts his hands up, realizing that he might've talked about it longer and in more detail than expected. "A-Ah, sorry for suddenly venting out to you like that. I didn't mean to bring the mood down with that at all."

Chiaki shakes her head. "No, it's okay. I think I get what you mean by that too, actually."

"You do?" Hinata half-exclaims, half-whispers.

Chiaki nods a bit. "Yeah. If I'll be honest, I never cared much about Hope's Peak. The only reason why I'm here is because of that letter, and I still don't know what exactly I'm supposed to be." She thinks back on her still-unknown title, and one of the talks she got about it.

'Not to mention, if my Ultimate title does turn out to be the Ultimate Gamer, then all I'll ever have is a pile of games.'

"I think that non-Ultimates have it a lot better, actually." She further comments, now faintly remembering about it was before all of this happened. "They don't have to stick to just one path in life."

Hinata hums, and then nods. "Yeah, I think I can agree with that. And not to mention, the life of an Ultimate sounds great only on paper. You get to skip classes, the exams only happen once a year, and you could spend all your free time further perfecting your talent, as well as whatever else you want to do—"

"Wait, is that really how Ultimate students work in Hope's Peak?" Chiaki interrupts as she stares at him, wondering if she heard that right.

"It's exactly how they work, unbelievable as it sounds." Hinata confirms with a slow nod.

'That…that doesn't make any sense at all.' Chiaki isn't sure exactly what she should make of that, so she prods him more about it. "But I assume there's a catch with that, right? It sounds way too good to be true."

He shakes his head with a grimace. "And you're right about that. The yearly exams I've mentioned earlier is what makes or breaks you as an Ultimate. If you pass, then you get to stay for the next school year. And if you don't…" He gestures his hand down, visualizing the slow but harsh impact of it all. "You get expelled. Your entire future is gone, just like that."

'Wait, the school seriously expels you over one failed exam?' She stares at him. "So that's just it? You can't even retake those exams if you fail?"

"They probably thought that'd be the best way to motivate the Ultimates to push themselves to the very best." He says with a slight shrug.

Chiaki frowns at that. "That doesn't sound very effective at all."

"It is what it is." Hinata solemnly comments, before shaking his head. "But I think that's enough talk about Hope's Peak Academy. Whatever's going on with them is the last thing we can worry about for now."

"I think I'll agree with that." Chiaki replies, wanting to move away from that topic too.

"So, uh," Hinata begins with a slight stutter, before pausing. From how sorta awkward he looks, he's probably in the middle of thinking of a new topic. After a few seconds pass by, he then clears his throat and asks her, "Do you have any favorite food?"

Chiaki hums, thinking hard about it, maybe a bit harder than she should. "I think I really like strawberries." She blurts out.

"Strawberries?" He repeats.

She nods. "Yeah. I'm not sure how to put it, but I think I just really like the way they taste." As she thinks of it more, she inwardly adds, 'And in a way, they kinda make me think of home.' She then turns to him, moving the topic away from herself as she asks him, "What about you, Hinata? What's your favorite food?"

"A-Ah." Hinata stammers.

His face is getting kinda red again, and for a moment, that makes Chiaki wonder if his favorite food is something that's a bit more unusual. "It's okay. I won't laugh at your favorite food." She tells him.

He waves his hands around, deflecting against that. "It's nothing like that at all, really. It's just that…well, I didn't expect you to ask that back to me. But if you really want to know, then mine would be kusamochi." And then after that, he grimaces for a bit. "Though, sakuramochi is a completely different story."

"Ohh. I don't think I've ever had either of them before."

Hinata smiles at her. "You should definitely try kusamochi when you get the chance to." He looks around their surroundings, before telling her in a somewhat hushed tone, "And of course, avoid sakuramochi like the plague whenever you can."

That makes her worry a bit. "Is sakuramochi really that bad?"

He puts a hand over his chin, looking rather deep in thought for this kind of topic. After a couple of tense seconds, he playfully shakes his head. "Nah, I'm just messing with you. I won't actually hold it against you if you do want to try it too." He laughs a bit at the end of that.

Chiaki stares at him for a good second or so, and then she gets a little puffy at him for that. "Hinata…"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist it at all." He says, still slightly chuckling.

After that, they both go ahead and went their separate ways for now. As Chiaki heads back to the First Island, she hears the familiar jingle from her e-Handbook; she's sure that she's used to hearing that by now. And just as expected, she got another Hope Fragment from Hinata.

'So he likes kusamochi a lot, huh. I'm not exactly good at cooking or anything, but I wonder if I can still learn to make them someday.'

She lingers on that new fact a bit more, before finally putting it back in her bag, now thinking back on one of the conversations they had just now. 'Life at Hope's Peak sounds a lot more different than I thought it'd be. I guess being an Ultimate isn't as easy as they all say it is. And then there's how Hinata feels about it.'

She tightens her grip on her bag's straps.

'I never thought that the pressure would get to him too. If he ever needs it, I'd do whatever I can to help ease him better.'


After hanging out with Hinata, Chiaki heads back to Hotel Mirai. And from the looks of it, she's just in time for dinner too. Though, she kept to herself this time around instead of sitting with any of her classmates; she got enough socialization for now.

So, yeah, nothing much happened during dinner.

Also, now that she thinks about it, aside from what happened in the morning with Souda and his pet rats, and also that small incident with Saionji, this day has been rather uneventful overall. After everything that happened these past few days, she prefers it this way by far.

It's so much easier to swallow small incidents like that compared to yet more death and destruction caused by that damned bear. It makes life feel more normal and not like…this living nightmare she still can't wake up from.

She yawns, and at that moment, she feels kinda thankful her sleepiness kept her from thinking anymore thoughts like that. 'I think I should sleep now. These days have taken a lot out of me.'

Just as she's about to head back to her cottage, she hears something rustle from behind her, followed by some kind of other noise. She turns to where that noise is coming from, and sure enough, she does see someone behind her.

"Psssst, hey, Chi!" Ibuki sorta loudly whispers, waving her hand around and motioning her to come over.

Normally, Chiaki would feel more cautious about this, especially considering the kind of situation everyone is still stuck in. But with how obvious and silly Ibuki looks, somehow, she just can't feel threatened by her at all.

'I guess there's no harm in it.'

Having made up her mind, she walks closer to her. "Hey hey, Ibuki. What are you doing out here?"

Ibuki crosses her arms and smugly smirks at her. "Oh nothing much. Sonia wanted me to tell you this." And then she beams up a huge grin and spreads her arms around. "You're cordially invited to tonight's party!"

Chiaki blinks, and then repeats, "Another party? Tonight?"

"YEP!" Ibuki nods her head a lot, maybe a bit too much.

'But I want to sleep.'

Ibuki notices her lack of reaction, so she tones down her excitable energy and tells her in a much calmer tone, "It won't be anything too fancy. We're just gonna make chocolate together."

"Oh, really?" Now that piques Chiaki's interest. 'If it's something as simple as that, then I think I might be able to handle it.'

"Yesss-a really. And if that isn't enough to convince you…" Ibuki leans even closer and then whispers in her ear, "Tonight will be an all-girls kind of party. And you know what that means, don't you, Chi?"

She swears her cheeks heat up even more after hearing that. "There won't be any boys in there? And Hanamura won't be there?"

"Especially NOT him!" Ibuki shamelessly cackles with her.

And at that moment, Chiaki realizes that it's complete checkmate with her. 'Oh no, now I can't turn her down. Not like this.' She forces down her sleepiness as much as she can. "Okay, I think that sounds good. I wouldn't mind joining in."

"Heck YEAH!" Ibuki pumps a fist out. "Now if you don't mind, just sit back and let the UNTV hitch a ride for you."

Chiaki tilts her head. "UNTV?"

"The Ultimate Nanami Transport Vehicle!" Ibuki clarifies with a smile, holding her arms out like she's about to scoop her up on the spot.

Chiaki feels her cheeks instantly go red, because now she's suddenly remembering the last time Ibuki had done the same thing. "Ohh…right…" On the inside, she thinks to herself, 'I guess I wouldn't mind if she'd do that for me again. It did feel really nice.'

So just like that, Ibuki has effortlessly scooped her up in her arms, and wow…she's so gentle while carrying her again. So much so, Chiaki can already feel her eyes closing from that. It's just so relaxing, she can't help it at all.

"Wakey wakey, Chi!"

Chiaki's eyes suddenly open, nearly flailing around before realizing that she's still in Ibuki arms. She looks away from her, mumbling, "I didn't do anything embarrassing, did I?"

Ibuki shakes her head with a laugh. "Nope, but you were so cuuute! You were just like a lil' baby!"

She instantly realizes what Ibuki meant by that, and that only makes her feel even redder than before. So much so, she can't even say anything about that. She feels a bit thankful that other than that, Ibuki didn't tease her any further about it.

They both get to their destination in no time at all. From what Chiaki can see, they're not using the cabin this time around, which is understandable; everything that happened back there still feels too fresh. Instead, they're right here at the diner.

Ibuki gently sets Chiaki down on her feet. "And we're here!" She announces, before turning to her with a wink, holding her hand out in front of her. "Do you need me to escort you?"

"Yeah, I think I'd like that." Chiaki replies, and with that, Ibuki takes her by the hand. Ibuki still feels gentle as ever, which is kinda funny in a way, knowing how she's usually so hyperactive.

Once they're both inside, she can see that it's all true. None of their boy classmates are in here. But there is someone here, and she kinda didn't expect to see her. "Saionji?"

Saionji crosses her arms, refusing to make eye contact with her, or anyone else, for that matter. "In case you get the wrong idea, I'm only here for the chocolates."

'Okay, that's fair enough.' Moving away from that, she mentally counts everyone currently present, and since even people like Tsumiki, Kuzuryu, and Saionji are here, that makes about seven of them in total.

'We really went down to seven girls now…'

Chiaki shakes that thought off before it can get worse. She can worry about that some other time. The last thing she'd want is to bring everyone's party spirits down. So for now, she decides to occupy herself by standing somewhere while waiting for what might happen next.

Sonia comes in, and more or less asks them all if they have any prior experience with making chocolate sweets. The answers Chiaki heard are pretty surprising, but expected when she thinks about it; Ibuki has plenty of experience and is good at it, Saionji has enough experience, Tsumiki has tried it before, and Owari did it maybe once or twice with someone.

And then there's Kuzuryu's answer. "Do I even need to bother with that kind of shit?"

Sonia gives her a perplexed look. "Wait, so you've never made chocolate sweets before? But what about for Valentine's Day?"

In return for that, Kuzuryu gives her that kind of confused look. "Huh? You're saying I'm supposed to make them for that day?" She crosses her arms. "Don't tell me you seriously go out of your way to make chocolate for a bunch of guys just like that. I don't see the point of doing that if I can easily get some for cheap."

"I suppose I get it now." Sonia laughs it off awkwardly, ignoring Kuzuryu's flustered comments, before turning to her. "Ah, then what about you, Nanami?"

Chiaki wonders how she should reply to that. With a shrug, she then says, maybe a bit too honestly, "I don't have any experience at all." Inwardly, she adds, 'Though, I know how to make graham balls at least. But that's about it, really.'

Kuzuryu snorts, and then she laughs. "Wow, you're pretty straightforward with that, huh."

"That's okay. It just means I'll have to help you two there." Sonia reassures, giving them both a warm smile with that.

It's probably just Chiaki, but there's something about her smile that made her heart race for a second or so. Maybe it's because this is the first time someone went out of their way to teach her something like this.

Just as Sonia promised, she did show them both the basics of how to do simple chocolates. All they've got to do is to melt down the baking chocolates first, use it for whatever they want it for, and then either bake it or put it in the freezer, depending on what they've got in mind.

So now, Chiaki's trying her best with that. So far though, she's, well, kinda not super satisfied on how she's doing. 'This looks like something Fuuka would make.' She puffs her cheeks at it.

Just out of curiosity, she takes a quick peek at how the others are doing. The one batch she sees are chocolate cookies that look like cute animals, like puppies, kittens, and bunnies, among others. "Woah, they look really cute." She remarks.

"You got a problem with that?" Kuzuryu turns to her with a glare.

Chiaki immediately raises her hands in front of herself. "Ah, no. It's just that," She quietly swallows, struggling to find the right words to say. She doesn't want to know what might happen if she slips up. "They, you know, look really good. I don't think I can make something like that."

"You're not trying to make fun of me with that, are you?"

She earnestly shakes her head. "I really mean it."

"Hmph, whatever you say." Kuzuryu turns away from her with a grumble.

The two of them continue to work on their respective batches. Though Chiaki knows it probably isn't a good idea, she can't help but discretely look at Kuzuryu now and then, just to make sure she isn't hurting herself or anything like that.

Thankfully, so far, Kuzuryu looks fine. If anything, it looks like she's starting to relax somehow, and her eyes look softer somehow, even it's just a little bit. "You know, I'm just wondering if maybe…" Her hand clenches into a fist. "…If maybe Peko would've loved it. You get what I mean?"

Chiaki goes quiet at that, not sure on how she should answer. She never thought that Kuzuryu would have that kind of side to her.

Kuzuryu notices her staring at her, so her face immediately hardens into her usual glare. "The hell are you looking at now? Bet you're having a laugh seeing me get all mushy right now, aren't you?"

"Ah, sorry about that." Chiaki shrinks back, immediately looking away from her.

That only makes Kuzuryu scoff at her. "You know what, just forget I even said anything."

Neither of them says anything else, and neither of them try to look at each other during that either. And so, because of that, the rest of their time spent making the finishing touches on their respective chocolates ends up becoming pretty awkward after that.

The others look like they're just about done with making their own batches of chocolates too. So, once they all gathered it together, they put their batches away until they're all ready. The only thing they can do now is to wait.

It's hard to say for sure exactly how long they've all waited. If Chiaki has to estimate it, it's probably around an hour or so. Either way, it feels like time passed by once their batches are done being prepared.

"Looks like they're all done." Sonia announces as she takes each batch out.

Everyone wastes no time getting there to take a look at the finished chocolates.

Ibuki's chocolates look like the best of the bunch so far. They're all shaped like hearts, but at the same time, they have intricate designs engraved onto them. Most, if not all of them look rather gothic but cute.

The batches of chocolate cookies that Kuzuryu made turned out pretty well too. They already looked pretty cute even before getting baked, but now that they did, they look even cuter than before. Saionji made some kind of simple but cute chocolate cupcakes.

It looks like Tsumiki went along with basic shapes, like circles and rectangles, and they look pretty good too, since they're all perfectly symmetrical without any cracks. Owari did her best with hers, which basically looks like a simple pancake with chocolate toppings, and that's all that can be said about it.

Chiaki stares at the ones that she made, a bit unsure exactly how she should feel about it. She already has zero faith with her culinary skills, and seeing what she made just now only further reinforced that. 'Yeah, they don't look so good right now. I just hope they're not bad enough to give anyone food poisoning.'

And then there's…the batch of chocolates that Sonia made. To say that they're very different from the chocolates that everyone else made would be a huge understatement. They don't look bad, at least, not as ominously bad as Mystery Food X is, but they are a lot bigger and thicker compared to the other chocolates.

"The hell is this?" Kuzuryu questions, slapping a finger at one of them. She hisses a bit as she quickly retracts her hand, probably surprised by how hard it felt.

Sonia puts a hand over her mouth as she laughs. "Woops. I must've gotten so carried away, I accidentally made chocolate rations."

Kuzuryu makes a face at that. "Chocolate what now?"

"Chocolate rations." Sonia repeats. "They're a lot thicker and harder than commercially-produced chocolate, and they only taste a little bit better than boiled potatoes."

"So you're saying that it doesn't taste good at all." Saionji stares at Sonia's chocolate like she's staring at dead-eyed fishes instead. "You sure you aren't just covering your sucky chocolate up?"

Sonia lets out a scandalized gasp at that. "I'm telling the truth! I'll have you know that there's a good reason why chocolate rations are designed like that."

"Sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep tonight, I guess."

Owari takes a closer look at those chocolates, only to shrug. "I dunno. They still look fine to me!" Then without any warning, she grabs one and then pops it straight in her mouth. "Yep, still tastes good enough. A bit hard though." She comments, though her voice is somewhat muffled since she's in the middle of chewing it.

As Chiaki watches them continue to banter about Sonia's questionable chocolate, her thoughts start wandering again. 'Huh, I made chocolates together with my classmates. I never thought I'd be able to experience something like that. It felt…really nice and fun, I think.'

She then turns to look at the batches of chocolate that they all made together. She lets herself smile for a bit. 'I think I wouldn't mind joining them again some other time.'


A/N: Apologies for taking this long for this! I got pretty busy these past months, and not only that, this chapter ended up getting way longer than I expected it to be. I thought it'd be at least the average 5K length, but haha, funny how it kept getting longer and more elaborate.

Also fun fact, the scene with Kaz and his pet rats there was actually gonna be used in part two of the prologue, but I thought it messed up the flow there, so I took it out. I still thought that the scene is too funny to not be used, so I decided to drop it here instead.