Hello everyone! Well…that was a hell of a chapter, huh?

I have now decided, thanks to my schedule, that I'm going to publish shorter chapters, and more frequently. I'm going to try to stick to an every-two-weeks schedule, starting whenever I finish and publish. I hope this works out, and I hope you guys like where this is going to go. That's all I really have to say.

This chapter was a bit difficult overall, anyway. This is me posting my third draft of the thing. :P

Common questions have mostly been answered or avoided on sysrestoreblog.


The New Game, Part One

They couldn't do anything before they figured out how to get to shore.

Hinata had initially judged the distance between the elevator and the second island as swimmable, but on a second look at their surroundings it was clear this just wasn't possible. Four of them were injured, four of them were hamsters, and Saionji couldn't swim. This led to a half-hour of frustrated debate about whether any of them could support a second person, or if Souda's stitches could even survive the trip – but then Hinata remembered the supermarket, feeling like a fool for not thinking of it before. There might be life rafts or preservers they could use, he explained to the rest, and only two or three people would have to swim to shore to get enough of whatever they could find to get everyone else.

"Two or three" ended up being all the able-bodied people they had – Owari, Koizumi, and Mioda. Owari dropped into the water and started for the second island about as soon as the trip had been suggested, but Koizumi stayed long enough to insist that Mioda should stay on the rock and wait for them to return. Mioda protested, but Koizumi insisted, leading Kuzuryuu to mutter something under his breath about "preferential treatment." While Hinata couldn't confirm that Mioda had heard him, the next thing he knew he had four hamsters in his lap and Mioda was swimming after Owari. Koizumi huffed, took off her broken camera, then dropped into the water and swam after them.

They were gone for almost an hour. Saionji and Kuzuryuu made their way to opposite ends of the rock not long after they left; Kuzuryuu stared at his bandages, Saionji kicked her legs back and forth off the edge of Monobear's ear, and neither of them said a word. Hinata couldn't move to talk to either of them anyway, as he had no hope of controlling the hamsters if he let them free of his lap. But he didn't find this to be a problem, as he really had nowhere to go.

Souda and Nanami were closer at hand, but they weren't very talkative either: Souda was still throwing up, and Nanami had busied herself with making makeshift bandages for Hinata's hands out of his tie, and didn't seem keen on being distracted. After a few minutes he wondered aloud about when the others would get back, but that didn't start a conversation, presumably as no one really had an answer. So he kept going, mostly talking to himself. What was it that they were seeing from the rock? he asked. Was it an optical illusion? Was what they knew still even there? How could that be possible?

The silence didn't last long, to Hinata's surprise. "It has to be some kind of a trick," Souda said, pulling himself up and wiping his mouth. "I mean, you can't…you really can't…not even if…"

"We shouldn't worry about that right now," Nanami said, tying Hinata's tie across the back of his palm. "The others'll be back soon. It'd be best to discuss this as a group, and come to our decisions together."

"Right."Hinata nodded his agreement, then stared out at the bridge in front of them. It, at least, appeared to be staying in one place, though he would rather have also seen someone crossing it.

"Yeah…when they come back…" Souda gave Nanami a nervous grin, but it didn't last very long. "I mean, they are gonna come back, right…? If there's a reason they wouldn't–"

"Hey, shut up!" Kuzuryuu cut in, before turning back to his hands and leaving the rest of them to lapse back into silence. Kuzuryuu had probably only wanted quiet, but it was just as well for them not to freak themselves out. Hinata didn't know what he was up against, and he was scared enough of that as it is. He didn't need to expend any more energy on fear.

He didn't remember falling asleep, and he didn't know how he could have in the first place. He was sure he was too high strung, that he couldn't even think of sleeping, but the next thing he knew Nanami was shaking him awake. Once he sat up he found himself looking down at the water, where Mioda was holding on to a cheap pink plastic innertube and waving him down.

It was only a three-foot drop, but the stinging in his hands as he hit the water made it all the worse – his bandages were instantly sodden and useless. He stood it long enough to get himself in the innertube, and together he and Mioda began paddling for Chandler Beach.

To his surprise, Mioda looked, if not chipper, at least a little more energetic. She described some of what they'd seen on the islands on the way, speaking in a somewhat distracted monotone. "Ibuki thinks Mahiru-chan saw the buildings shimmering like Ibuki did. She said it was just a trick of the light, but if two of us saw it then Ibuki's not so sure, and there was this palm tree Ibuki swears wasn't there before anyway, and the supermarket wasn't always so big, was it? And Ibuki's not even sure it had anything like a boat, otherwise Ibuki would've been all over that for living out her dream of being a pirate…"

She trailed off then, and lapsed into silence. Hinata didn't make any more effort to talk – he was busy enough paddling to shore. They weren't the fastest or most efficient system around – by the time they got to the island, both of them freezing cold and soaking wet, all of the others had already arrived, and had moved into a huddle at the top of the beach, with their backs to the water.

As Hinata got closer he saw that they were all gathered around the beach's monitor, the one on which all of Monobear's announcements had been broadcast. Hinata thought he could hear some kind of a faint hum in the air, much like an audio capture of ambient noise in an empty room, and while he could tell from a distance that the screen was dark, it was the kind of darkness where you couldn't tell whether what you were seeing was a darkened room or no image at all.

And then, before he could ask what was going on, a voice replaced the hum. It was bright and clear, with no trace of audio static, and while it could only be one person, while the notes of familiarity could be found if one knew who it was, it was, if Owari, Koizumi, Saionji, Kuzuryuu, Nanami, Souda, Mioda, and Hinata were being completely honest with themselves, entirely different from anything he ever heard or wanted to hear.

"To the Future Foundation's 14th Division," it said. "As you saw, the demonstration I'd planned for the school trial …didn't quite work out as it should have. But I'm sure you got at least the bare bones of the urgency I'm trying to impress on you."

The voice's pitch wavered between high and low, and the timbre and volume were just as changeable. "But don't think of this as a takeover," they said, "Think of it as me changing my mind, changing my approach, twisting in a different way toward the same ultimate goal… buuuuuut, overall, think of it as something less boring! The six of you aren't just passive end-game revelations anymore – in fact, you're the overall objects, and isn't that exciting?"

They laughed, a low, deep laugh that suddenly changed mid-breath, becoming high and shrill. "The hostages have their own rules," the voice went on, "but now I'm going to give you yours, and you only have one. If all of you – and when I say all of you I mean all of you, no more and no less –"

A face flashed on the screen in that instant – a familiar face, but one shot so close that it was without the framing context of hair or clothing, and if any other change had been made this was distracting enough to hide it. "If you don't arrive at Jabberwock Island by 7 AM, I'll kill one of the remaining students. And if you don't arrive tomorrow, I'll kill another one the day after that. And if you don't arrive the next day, I'll kill another one, and so on, and so forth…but if you do? Well, then I won't! And after that...that depends on whether it happens or not. So…come to the island. Or not. It's up to you."

"As for the rest of you…" Their eyes widened, and they looked directly into the camera. "If you haven't checked your Electronic Student IDs yet, then it's your own fault if you break one of your own rules. But if the Future Foundation arrives before 7 AM, then the rules won't have to apply at all, will they? But it's good of you to know, at least. And one night isn't a very long time to wait. So take that as my gift to you. That I recommend that you wait."

A loud burst of static followed their words, and then the screen went dark.


The silence that followed was like nothing Hinata had experienced in weeks. Even the ever-present background noise of the ocean seemed to be holding its breath, though it couldn't be, when the ocean was only a couple yards off, but thoughts like that had no place here, not when he could barely support the ones he was thinking already.

Someone had to speak. He had the thought in his mind, he knew he could do it, but he couldn't trust himself to do it alone. But what was it he was seeing in the others' eyes? Was it anger? Frustration? Defeat? Would he have to support them? Could he? Or was he misinterpreting the length of the space, creating fear where there really was already confidence, or was he just so used to confidence coming after fear that he couldn't comprehend not having it at all.

"I don't know," he said aloud. He saw them all turn, he felt their eyes on him, but somehow it felt good, admitting it. He put his hands to his head, somehow relishing the relief. "I don't know what to do, I really don't–"

"Shut up!" Kuzuryuu said.

Hinata didn't dare say another word.

"Don't you dare do this." Kuzuryuu pushed past Nanami and shoved his bandaged fist into Hinata's shoulder, nearly knocking him backward. "You're not gonna leave the rest of us dragging your ass just because –"

"Then what are we gonna do?" Hinata found himself spitting back. "Come on. I'm all ears."

He fully expected to be dead within the next several seconds, but to his surprise Kuzuryuu hesitated, though he still looked angry. "I… I'm... fuck, that's not fair…"

"Kuzuryuu-kun, Hinata-kun, this isn't going to solve anything!" Nanami got to her feet, and despite her volume her voice had power. "I know this is hard, but –"

"No, Kuzuryuu's right," Owari said, getting to her feet and pounding her hand in her fist. "And I know exactly what we gotta do. We gotta find that bastard and beat them 'til they let us go!"

"Owari-san, no!" Nanami whirled and grabbed Owari by the arm. "You know that's not going to work –"

"Who cares if it's not going to work? They killed old man Nidai!" Owari shouted, pulling away. "If we go down fighting then it's what we gotta do!"

"B-but that's pretty counterproductive in more ways than one…" Mioda's voice was so small, and so still, that it hardly sounded like her own. "Jumping to conclusions…figuring we have to fight…"

"If we fight, we're just gonna be killed faster!" Souda interrupted. "But until then...all that stuff they said, what the hell does that even mean..."

"Whatever it means, we won't...we can figure it out," Nanami said. "We just need to–"

"Forget figuring it out!" Owari yelled over her, wrenching herself out of her grip. "Why are we still sitting here wasting time when we could -"

"Hey, ENOUGH!" Koizumi shouted, pulling away from Saionji and approaching Owari. "Fighting isn't going to solve anything!"

"Of course it is!" Owari shouted. "That's what I've been trying to say this whole time!"

"No, we're NOT!" Koizumi's voice broke into a screech on the last word – Hinata winced against the sound, and the whole group fell silent. Koizumi fell limp, wide-eyed, apparently surprised at her own voice, before she lifted herself up again, rubbing her arms.

"Guys…I'm scared," she said. "I'm scared, and overwhelmed, and if I could I'd say I don't know what to do..." She looked over at Hinata, her expression blank. Hinata gave her a smile that he hoped was reassuring, but she didn't seem to react. "But that's…well, you guys are right. It's stupid. And it's not doing anything."

"As if you're any better," Kuzuryuu grumbled.

"Hey, nobody asked you to talk!" Saionji shouted. "If you'd just fallen off the rock and drowned it would've been better for everyone–"

"Hiyoko-chan, please, not now," Koizumi said, a tired tone in her voice. The change in Saionji's demeanor was instantaneous – she went from livid to tearful within seconds. "But…" she said in a small voice. "But it's true…you heard him…"

"We really can't spend time on this," Koizumi said, looking both at Saionji, who looked to be far from accepting what she'd said, and at Kuzuryuu, who'd turned away, grumbling to himself. "What I was trying to say is, we're not powerless. We can still…we can come up with some kind of a plan."

She didn't seem confident in her words, not in the least, but they'd been said, and the act of speech was enough to pull Hinata away from where he'd been. "You're right," he found himself saying. "You are right. I knew that, even if…yeah."

There was no direct response to his words, but now he could see something other than dead shock in everyone's eyes – there was curiosity, and purpose, and he couldn't help but bask in that. "But a plan to what?" Owari said, looking impatient.

"To…to live, okay? We can figure everything else out…soon." Koizumi shivered, then looked around at the others. Whatever had reassured Hinata wasn't doing the same for her. "I…I…"

"We need to do what we can, and fast," Nanami said. "If the announcement can be trusted, we're safe until 7 AM…"

"But how do we know we can trust that?" Souda's voice was cracking even more than Koizumi's. "Y-you saw what they did to Nidai! They could kill us any time they wanted–"

"But if Ibuki plays devil's advocate, then we don't know if t-they'll do t-that, either," Mioda said, speaking very quickly.

"You're both right, because we really don't know anything right now," Nanami said. Hinata noticed she'd taken a firm hold on Owari's hand. "But we do have at least one thing we can trust. It's the rules, in the Electronic Student ID. They've never been broken by Usami or Monobear before–"

"So you're just gonna go and do what they told you to do?" Kuzuryuu grumbled.

"I never said that," Nanami said. "I'm only saying they might tell us more about what the..." She hesitated. "About what the Impostor is planning."

The Impostor. The word seemed to burn a hole in Hinata's mind. "But how could they change the rules?" Saionji said. "They're not Monobear, they don't have that kind of power-"

"We don't really know what they have, right now." Hinata pulled his Electronic Student ID out of his pocket as he spoke. "But there's no reason we shouldn't look."

The others pulled their IDs out in unison, apart from Souda, who didn't appear to have his, and looked off Hinata's as he navigated to the rules. Usami's rules about excessive violence and littering were the same as ever, though Hinata realized as he read them that he hadn't looked at them in weeks. Monobear's rules about the mutual killing game, the destruction of property, and the free investigation of the island followed, but after the eleventh rule, instead of the usual warning screen about the creation of additional rules, there was a twelfth rule, just as the announcement had said.

In place of the Monobear icon there was a pixelated image of a girl – a girl that Hinata had never seen before. On the tiny screen he could hardly distinguish any details beyond pink-blonde pigtails, a black sweater, a red skirt, and black boots. Like the others she was speaking the rules in a word balloon, with a clear, crisp, and imposing font.

Rule no. 12

The Island Life of Mutual Killing has ended. Its structures and traditions no longer apply.

"That's…what they said during the trial," Hinata said. "That the game was over."

"Then…they must've somehow gotten the power to do that, if they could change the rules." Koizumi shivered. "But…but how…?"

"Ibuki doesn't know," Mioda muttered, "not even after thinking of almost nothing else for hours on end…"

"We can think about that in a second," Hinata said to himself, trying not to get distracted as he swiped to the next rule.

Rule no. 13

Any student who attempts to harm the headmaster will be executed.

"Wait, don't we have that rule?" Saionji said. "It was that two-faced excess violence thing!"

"But it wasn't clear before." Koizumi eyes narrowed. "They're making it explicit."

"That bastard…" Owari's hands shook as she held her ID, but she didn't make any sudden moves. The others moved on to the next, and Hinata followed suit.

Rule no. 14

Any student who attempts to communicate with the outside will be executed.

"The outside?" Souda's eyes went wide and he crammed himself against Hinata in an attempt to look at the screen. "What do they mean, the outside? Is someone watching us?"

"Souda-kun, don't, we don't know how this rule works yet," Nanami said, very quickly, without looking him in the eye. "Hinata-kun, the next one, now."

"Er…" Hinata didn't know what to make of this exchange, but he swiped to the next one all the same. For this rule, the text was so crammed he could hardly read it.

Rule no. 15

If all six members of the Future Foundation's 14th division do not arrive at Jabberwock Island within eight days, all life on the island will be exterminated. The headmaster will execute one student each day until this demand is met.

It wasn't as shocking as it might have been if they'd been seeing it for the first time. But he hadn't quite internalized it, the first time – it had felt to him like the ever-present knowledge of the mutual killing game. But there'd been an element of uncertainty there, an element of possible safety. But he hadn't heard everything, then.

Eight days. All life on the island. All six members of the Future Foundation's 14th division…

"We're going to die," Saionji said. No one responded, for several seconds. "We're… we're going to die…"

"No," Koizumi said, immediately cutting her off, though her voice was shaking even more than his. "Really…don't say that…"

"They wouldn't…" Mioda's ID was shaking in her hands, and an odd, uncertain grin had crossed her face. "They can't…"

"If it's in the rules..." From the look on Nanami's face, Hinata could tell that she was exerting an enormous effort in order to keep her composure. "Then it must be set in stone, but…"

"You don't know that," Kuzuryuu said, without looking up from his ID.

"I…" Nanami gave Kuzuryuu a strained look. "No. No, I don't. But we know they've already followed their own rules. Executing one student each day… that must have been the "demonstration" they were talking about, meaning that today counted as one of the days. Although…at the trial, two students died…"

"Nidai broke a rule," Hinata realized. "He attacked the - the Impostor, and that's why he was killed. But Tanaka…"

There was a short silence after Hinata's words. If the others were anything like himself, Hinata knew they hearing the names repeated in their own thoughts, and remembering the faces that weren't there. "Tanaka was…" Souda gritted his teeth. "But, wait… if he was trying to save us…"

"Who cares if he was trying to save us? He didn't!" Saionji pressed her hands against her head, and her entire body seemed to shake. "We're gonna die – and I'm gonna die – and all of us are gonna die and there's no escape –"

"Don't say that…" Souda was clearly trying to sound calm, but Hinata could see he was shaking as well. "I don't wanna think about it…I'm not gonna think about it…"

"NO!" Hinata could feel it starting for him, as well – the panic, the fear, the need to shut down. But the shout brought him out of it, if only for a moment. "We can't get stuck here. We already said it…"

"I was the one who said it," Koizumi mumbled. "But no one's listening…"

The feeling Hinata had gotten before was coming back. The feeling of being trapped, the feeling of having nowhere else to turn – but now he knew that if he could do anything, he could stop the others from succumbing. "No, I'm listening," he said, turning to her. "I am, really."

Koizumi didn't respond – she just gave Hinata a desperate look. There was a long, pregnant pause as they looked from one to the other, or down at their own shoes – but then Mioda lifted her head, and took a step forward. "Ibuki's listening, too," she said. "Ibuki's…" She paused, as if she was considering what to say next. "Ibuki's here."

"You…" Koizumi gave Mioda a wondering look, then looked at the others. "And, you…"

Saionji said nothing. She looked away, and Hinata could see tears in her eyes. And Owari, who'd been standing quietly at the edge of the circle, didn't seem to be paying attention to Koizumi at all, opting instead to tap her foot and look down the road. But Souda had stopped shaking, Kuzuryuu was at the very least looking up, and Nanami… Hinata didn't know what to make of Nanami at all. She still looked sad, but somehow, now, she looked stronger. She didn't say anything, but her smile was back. Hinata had almost forgotten what a smile looked like.

"Well…" Koizumi took a deep breath, and straightened her posture. "What we've been trying to do is figure out what we know. And we were doing that through the rules…" She paused. "Was that all of them?"

"Wait, I don't know if we know –" Hinata pulled his Electronic Student ID back out of his pocket, and navigated back to the rules. Sure enough, when he swiped left, he found the another rule waiting for him –

Rule no. 16

Any student who disobeys the direct orders of the headmaster will be executed.

There were no rules after this one – just the usual warning about the potential addition of more rules. "Direct orders…?" Hinata didn't like the sound of that. "Wait…have we gotten any direct orders?"

"I don't think so. But we can't let ourselves get distracted. All this is to us right now is a possibility," Nanami said.

"You say that like it's no big deal," Kuzuryuu said. "All the changes, all these rules – how the hell do they have this kind of power? And how'd they GET it? It doesn't make sense, it's not even realistic..."

It was the exact question Hinata hadn't wanted to ask himself. If he did, he'd have to encounter the fact that they'd gotten it at all, and beyond that the fact of what and who they were… "It's the same kind of power Monobear had," he said, instead of saying what he was thinking. "The rules, the games… so, whatever they did…"

"Hey, Chiaki-chan just said we shouldn't get distracted," Koizumi said, an edge in her voice. "If we don't know, then we just don't know, okay? We're not…" She shook her head. "Forget it. All we know is they're waiting for something. They want something to happen, and they're…they're putting our lives on the line for it."

"The Future Foundation." Hinata turned the unfamiliar phrase over in his mouth. "They want them to come to the island."

"But we don't even know who they are," Owari said. "And what do they even have to do with anything out there? How do they know anything about a Future Foundation?"

For a second, no one spoke. "Do we know if they'll come?" Souda said. "Or if they even exist…?"

"If the Impostor invited them to the island, then they must have something they want," Nanami said. "And if our lives are on the line, then they must want us alive…"

"Or it's just another trap, and we're going to die anyway," Kuzuryuu said. "We wouldn't know what they want. We don't know anything about them at all. We never did."

Mioda slammed her fists into her thighs; the resulting thud was barely audible. "Kuzuryuu," Koizumi said, "we already said we weren't going to talk about that–"

"And why not?" Kuzuryuu said. "Never mind, I already know the answer. You can't stop thinking about it. You want to find some excuse. If you just keep pretending that the "Impostor" is some big scary enemy that just came out of nowhere and got rid of poor innocent Togami…"

Hinata's blood ran cold at the sound of the name, and he could tell it'd had a similar effect on the others. "Ibuki's not pretending," Mioda muttered, her fists turning white. "Ibuki's not going to pretend…"

"Then maybe you can ignore how much of this is Togami's fault." Kuzuryuu stood, looking down at Mioda even as she refused to look up at him. "Or whoever they are. How do we know how much of this was the Despair Fever? And that's assuming the Despair Fever wasn't just bringing out everything they were hiding–"

"We don't!" Mioda leapt to her feet, holding the Dark Gods close to her chest. "We already said we don't know anything and we already said we shouldn't think about it! And Ibuki was trying!" She stopped for a moment, panting heavily. "Ibuki's not giving up until she knows anything for sure!"

"Giving up?" Kuzuryuu glared at her. "What do you even have to give up? Togami's gone. He never existed."

"You don't know that," Mioda said, her breath coming in gasps. "None of us do–"

"Kuzuryuu-kun, you wouldn't be doing this if you weren't upset about it," Nanami said.

"And it's not even important," Koizumi said quickly, "so if we just get back on track–"

"Track? I don't see any track." Kuzuryuu turned his back on the rest of the group, and started for the path. "I'm not wasting the last week of my life on this–"

"Wait – KUZURYUU!" Hinata leapt up, but something was stopping him from running after him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To die in peace," Kuzuryuu said. "S'not like I have anything to live for."

"Oh, no you DON'T!" Koizumi leapt up, pushed past Hinata, and ran to Kuzuryuu, grabbing him by the shoulder. "I don't care how much trouble you cause, you're not going to screw things up by running off on your own – HEY!" Kuzuryuu pulled hard against Koizumi's grip, yanked himself away, and took off at a run, disappearing down the tunnel.

"You know what, I never thought I'd say this, but he's right. There's nothing happening and I've waited long enough." Owari pulled her arm out of Nanami's grip, then took off down the path. "That son of a bitch is going DOWN!"

"Akane-chan, I understand how you feel, but we really need to stay together – AKANE-CHAN!" Even as Akane disappeared into the distance Koizumi took off after her, but there was no hope of her catching up. She collapsed to her knees before she could get to the path.

For a long time, no one moved to approach her. Saionji seemed afraid to confront what she was seeing. Mioda was holding the Dark Gods close, focusing on them and nothing else. Souda was doing his best to hide behind Hinata. And Nanami, for all she'd spoken before, seemed to be at a loss for words.

So it was up to Hinata, as long as he was the only one with this in mind. He got up. He walked over to her, and he knelt by her side. She didn't move, or look at him. "I, uh–"

"They're gone," she said. "They could die out there, and we'd never know it."

"But that's…I mean, it's not your fault," Hinata said. "Togami, he, uh…he told me…he thought you'd make a great leader, if..."

"And why would I care about that?" Koizumi stood suddenly, leaving Hinata at calf-level. "Come on. Before anyone else yells at me for wasting time."


No matter how much more they talked, or how much time they had, there turned out to be not much more they could do.

Their fates depended on the "Future Foundation." That was all there was to it. But they still couldn't determine what the Future Foundation was, or whether they were good or bad. Nanami made a decent guess that the Future Foundation might have been the "outside" the rules referred to, and Souda brought up the World Destroyers that Monobear had mentioned, but that reassured no one, so long as it made no change in their situation.

Togami didn't come up again, not directly. Not by name. But the name was never far from Hinata's mind, or the memories or actions attached to it…or what Kuzuryuu had said, about their lack of innocence. But how could they confront that, with all the threats already hanging over their heads? They couldn't. Kuzuryuu was just stirring up trouble, that's all there was to it. It had to be abandoned, or they'd drive themselves mad.

Eventually, after a long silence, Mioda suggested that they go back to the cottages. Koizumi resisted the idea at first. "Are we just supposed to go back – and go to breakfast – and live like normal?" she'd said.

"Of course not," Nanami had said. "But…we've done all we can for now. And we know it. If we keep trying to plan, then that's wasting time. We're all cold, and filthy…and sleepy…"

Hinata looked down at his own soaked, blood-spattered clothes. He hadn't showered in two days, and the salt water certainly hadn't made him feel clean. "Right," he said. "That's right."

"But, so are Akane-chan and Fuyuhiko-chan," Mioda said. "And if we don't know where they are…"

"Nope," Saionji said immediately. "I'm not dying for their sake."

"They'll…we'll find them," Koizumi said. "But Chiaki-chan's right. I...I couldn't even keep up with Akane-chan when she was here. If we don't take care of ourselves we're only going to die faster." With that, and little more discussion, they left the beach and headed for the path, walking almost entirely in silence.

The distortion Hinata was sure he'd imagined from a distance had only gotten worse while they'd been there. Mioda was still commenting on it, though only under her breath – "Is it just Ibuki or did the pharmacy just not exist?" – and Souda clung to Hinata's side all the way across the bridge to the first island, muttering about collapse and missing floorboards. But they couldn't say anything else about it, or even ask any more questions – like how this could possibly be happening, despite every known law of physics. He was sure this was not something they were ready to confront. Until then they could assume it was some unknown mechanic of the island, something set up to scare them, perhaps by Monobear...

Somehow Monobear still felt like an acceptable excuse for everything that was going on. Perhaps he was used to it. He couldn't completely comprehend having to be afraid of…of anyone else. And somehow the 7 AM deadline, as little foundation as he had to trust in it, helped him feel safe, as though the threat would never be present.

The hotel seemed to be stable, and Hinata tried to take this as a sign that everything else was some kind of collective hallucination. Saionji refused to leave Koizumi's side, which led to the girls agreeing to stay together, and leaving Souda and Hinata to fend for themselves. They made an agreement to meet up again at six, to eat before the end of the deadline, before the girls set off for Koizumi's cottage, talking in whispers as they went.

There was a light on in Kuzuryuu's cottage, but all the others were dark. Hinata left Souda to knock on Kuzuryuu's door, but as soon as he did the light went out, and Kuzuryuu didn't come to answer him, not even after he shouted through the door.

So he went back to Souda's side, unsure of what to say or do next. Souda didn't look to be in any state to talk, either – but not for the same reasons, Hinata knew. He was shaking, and for the first time Hinata noticed that his cheeks were red, and his face was streaked with tears. Had he been crying through the whole meeting? Had Hinata not even noticed? He felt ashamed of himself.

"You, uh…" He swallowed. "You okay?"

Souda looked down, briefly, then lifted himself back up with a shudder. "I'm fine," he mumbled.

"You, uh…" Hinata tried not to look down at Souda's bandages. "You sure?"

"I'm fine, okay?" Souda folded his arms and hiccuped.

"Alright. Yeah." Hinata looked away, and rocked back and forth on his heels. "We should, ah, get inside," he said. "We can go to my cottage."

"Ah – yeah. Alright. Sounds good." Somehow, the suggestion had Souda looking a little brighter. Was it the normalcy? Hinata wasn't sure.

After a quick stop at Souda's cottage to get him a change of clothes, they headed into Hinata's, which was just as he'd left it the day before – a mess. He felt a chill when he saw a pair of underwear lying right on the bed, and even more when Souda laughed and elbowed him in the ribs. But at the same time he couldn't help but crack a smile – it was a gesture that brought back good memories.

He ended up cleaning his room, for lack of anything else to do, while Souda washed his hair in the sink – he couldn't shower, or else risk getting his stitches wet. It was near-immaculate by the time Souda came out, toweling off his hair. He was wearing a white tank top, which covered his stitches and what looked like cargo shorts. Hinata supposed the boiler suit currently sitting in the Titty Typhoon was the only one he'd had.

"Feeling better?" Hinata said.

"Eh…" Souda was trying not to look at him. For the first time, Hinata realized it was hard to look at someone who was covered in your blood. "Kinda." He looked down. "No."

He trembled, wringing the towel between his hands. Hinata didn't really know what to do next – there was nothing he felt he could say to even address the scope of what Souda'd been through. So he settled for awkwardly patting him on the shoulder. But he seemed to appreciate it, if the two-second hug he gave him was any indication. He wasn't sure if he'd pulled away out of embarrassment or abdominal pain, and once he did he collapsed on Hinata's bed, groaning.

Hinata went in to take his shower then, and for the first time in over four days he got a good look at himself, complete with the cuts on his forehead and the bloodstains that spread all the way up his neck. He suddenly saw clearly what Nanami had implied about a shower improving things - it wouldn't, and didn't, heal everything, but he felt a bit more normal when he stepped out.

Souda was still awake, and lay staring up at the ceiling. He didn't move at all when Hinata approached him, or when he took several steps towards the light switch. "Er," he said, "are you ready to go to sleep?"

Souda nodded slightly, not making any moves to get up or speak. "Alright, then," Hinata said. "I'm turning out the light."

He flicked the switch, walked across the darkened room, and curled up on the couch opposite the non-functional TV. It was only about three-quarters of the length of his body, and so firm that he found himself wondering if he'd be more comfortable on the floor. But he could handle it. He could deal with a lot worse than this. He could shut his eyes, and go right to sleep, and not think for too much longer about everything that'd been going on...

"Hey, Hinata..."

"Hmmh...huh?" Hinata started, not realizing until then that he had actually almost fallen asleep. "Wha' is it...?"

"Do you think... I dunno... this is so stupid..." Hinata lifted his head to find Souda hadn't moved, although his one visible arm was twitching. "The Future guys. D'you think they're actually gonna come?"

"The Future...guys? The Future Foundation?" Hinata blinked, suddenly feeling extraordinarily weary. "I dunno. I don't even know if I should think about it-"

"That whole time at the trial, I was just thinking," Souda went on, as if Hinata hadn't spoken. "Thinking about being dead, and it was...it was almost like I was half-dead, and then I was just thinking too much, and...and now it's like... I'd almost just got out of there and then they want me to go back, you know? Are they jerking us around for a reason? Is it something I did?"

"Ah..." Hinata couldn't make heads or tails of what Souda was trying to say - only that he was upset, and he didn't know how to reassure him. "No, no, it's not... I think we should -"

"It's like, I keep thinking about her, even when I don't want to..." A strong sadness had entered his voice. "Is it like that? Is it a punishment? Is it a second chance I did all wrong? I did something all wrong, that's for sure... weak and pathetic, that's what they said. That's why they almost killed me... there was all that blood, and..."

"Well, you're not being punished," Hinata said, now sitting straight up. "You're not. This is none of our faults."

Souda turned his head towards Hinata, looking him in the eye, then sighed, and looked away again. "It's almost like they did," he said. "I keep thinking they did... not anyone in particular, just... sh-she... she didn't have anyone to stand up for her... and... should I? I shouldn't... she was... she wasn't..."

He shook his head back and forth across the bed. "I thought she was gonna be the only thing that made me happy," he mumbled, trailing off has he spoke. "All that stuff.. that stuff about getting married and having a dozen children... but was it even worth anything, no matter what I did..."

"Souda?" Hinata stood and took a step towards Souda's bedside, but by the time he got there Souda's eyes had closed, and he wasn't responding to Hinata when he called his name.

For lack of any other solution he went back to his couch, and spent the rest of the night drifting in and out of consciousness, kept awake by Souda's snores and his own thoughts. He scrolled through the new rules again and again, trying to align them with the memories his brain was already trying desperately to repress, and consistently failing. Again and again he asked himself - how could the Impostor possibly do what Monobear had said was impossible? How had they taken control of Monobear in the first place? And if their behavior really was the fault of the Despair Fever…then how? And why hadn't it been cured like the others? And the most painful question of all - if they really were an impostor all along…then what does that mean for the person we all knew? Did he ever exist? Is he still…in there…somewhere?

Now he knew why it was so hard to think of this - because it hurt so much, and so deeply. But in the end he couldn't, and wouldn't, stop.


The Heir he takes what isn't there
And claims it for his own
He hates what others have become
And turns his heart to stone

- Carth