After he showered, he headed to the cafeteria and found it empty, too early for lunch it seemed. A bowl was left out full of fresh fruit, which Shuichi stared at curiously. He supposed it wasn't that strange for a place like this to have fresh fruit always available for a snack, the funding was probably high, he just found it weird that the regular menu favoured traditional Japanese food, especially Hokkaido's flair, yet they openly offered fruit.

Not questioning it further, he grabbed an apple and also used one of his tokens to get a popcorn ball from the vending machine, heading outside to sit at one of the benches and eat it. His parents probably would've freaked if they saw him eating such an unhealthy thing. He looked around and saw Sayaka and Kokichi playing chess with each other while Chihiro cautiously climbed up one of the ladders on the playground. There was no sign of Ibuki or Mondo.

"Apples and popcorn? Now you're speaking my language!" Aoi popped up from nowhere, making Shuichi jump and spill some lose kernels on the ground.

"Don't scare me like that..."

"Sorry," She pouted and picked up a few kernels, popping them into her mouth. "They're totally still good! Why waste food like that?"

"That's...pretty gross," Shuichi said.

"You alright?" Her tone became softer.

"I'm fine,"

"Did you get the rectal?"

"I'd rather not," The image was still too fresh in his mind.

"Got it. Hey, wanna play basketball with me until lunch? Or we could gather up everyone else and play some kickball," Aoi offered, smiling.

Shuichi just shook his head. "I just want to lay down for the rest of the day."

"Think about stuff?"

"Yes. I'll see you at lunch,"

"It's a date then!" She suddenly took his hand and gave him a high-five, making him blush. He looked closer and realized a tiny scrap of paper was pinched between her fingers. He slipped it into his own and she stepped back, waving. "See you,"

Back in his room, he carefully unfolded the paper and read Aoi's note, finding her writing to be slanted and small.

Meet Miss Kirigiri by the ice machine next to Fujisaki-chan's room as soon as you can. Flush this note!

Shuichi just as quickly folded it back up, went into his bathroom, and dropped the note into the toilet as he lowered his pants. He felt a bit silly, but also not silly, because as much as he'd like to hope there were no cameras in his bathroom, one could never know for sure.

The ice machine was interesting, it was where she chose to speak to him yesterday. Aoi said there were several places in Front Half that had no audio surveillance, but Kyoko seemed to prefer that one. Maybe it was because there was also no video surveillance there, or maybe it was because she felt the safest there because the ice machine was so noisy, or maybe he was just overanalyzing things.

He left his room and walked down the hall, not seeing Kyoko near the ice machine but instead seeing her laundry cart parked halfway down what Shuichi considered to be Chihiro's hallway. He heard her humming to herself and followed the voice, finding her putting fresh sheets on a bed in a room that had posters of punk rockers littering the walls, with one solitary baseball player above the bed.

"How are you, Kyoko-san?" He asked curiously, bowing to her.

"I'm fine. My side hurts a little, but I'm used to it,"

"Need some help?"

She shook her head. "This is the last room for today. Three are coming in today, two girls and a boy. This is the boy's room, obviously," Kyoko smiled a bit.

"Well, I just came out here to get some ice. My room is all out of it," He said. "And my room doesn't even have another bucket,"

"The machine has a stack of them. I can show you if you'll push my cart," She said, and Shuichi nodded and followed behind her, indeed pushing the cart.

As they walked, Shuichi thought of all the research he had done on leukemia and the fact that there were actually several different types of it, all affecting different blood types, but mainly white ones. A majority of them only affected children, the elderly, or men, but there were still a few other possible candidates. Especially since anyone could get a disease, that statistic just meant it was more likely in that gender or age, but that didn't mean everyone else was exempt.

Once they arrived at the machine, Shuichi picked one of the buckets up and started talking in a low voice. "Asahina-san told me about your problem. That you're really sick and don't know how to get treatment. It depends on what kind of cancer you have,"

"What?" Kyoko asked, genuinely looking surprised with her hand on her chest. "My cancer has been gone for months. I'm in remission," She crossed her arms in front of her chest then, staring at him.

"But it could come back, you know. Especially since you work so hard here..." He trailed off. "What kind of cancer did you have? I thought it was leukemia because you're young,"

"I'm thirty-two," She continued to stare at him. "I had acute myeloid leukemia. A really rare form, the doctors told me. It means my cells overgrew into my bone marrow and blocked off healthy blood cells. I already had chemotherapy and took a lot of medicine for it, and the doctors released me after a time when they checked my blood again and found no abnormal cells in my blood,"

He nodded, pretending to break up chunks of ice.

"I remember the feeling of being in the hospital, you know. An old friend of mine visited a lot but after a while she stopped, saying my image was too much for her. I remember her crying over my bed once, begging to know what I had done with my lovely locks of lavender," She ran a hand through her short hair. "My grandfather was adamant over me not having any visitors though. He said they prevented me from recovering properly and banned anyone else from seeing me that wasn't him or the doctors,"

He started to fill up his ice bucket extremely slowly.

"Nobody else. I...was quite lonely. I have trouble admitting that to even myself nowadays, but I was. I loved that man for all its worth, but this is one area I strongly disagreed with him on. What sort of a man does not let anyone see their close friend or relative when they are gravely ill?" She frowned.

"That's all the more reason for you to think about getting yourself checked out again. If your cancer comes back, you'll have to get surgery done and replace your bone marrow. There's a good chance you could die,"

"I'll get checked out during my vacation then," Kyoko glanced away. "They'd let me since the hospitals all have a patient confidentiality. Nobody would even need to know who I was or where I came from,"

"Then that's great. Get yourself checked out so you don't have to worry about the cancer coming back," Shuichi looked at the ice in the bucket, shaking it around.

"My grandfather would surely scold me for my poor health..."

"But that's none of his business. You can't help getting-"

"Hi, Shuichi-oniichan,"

Shuichi jumped and turned around, finding Chihiro standing there in a white T-shirt and plain denim overalls and purple house slippers. "Hey. Did you enjoy the playground?"

"It was fun at first, but then it got boring. I fell down a lot because I'm not strong enough to pull myself up," He beamed. "Guess what? I got a shot earlier and I didn't cry,"

"Good for you," Shuichi smiled.

"Want to watch TV with me before lunch in the lounge? Sayaka-oneechan says they have Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. They also have stuff like Netflix. We could watch Gundham or Digimon, or watch a Disney movie like Anna and the Snow Queen,"

Shuichi shook his head. "Not right now, but I'll join you in a minute, okay?" He smiled. Chihiro stared at the two for a while before running off.

He then turned back to Kyoko, opening his mouth only to realize he had nothing more to say. "Ummm...just don't work yourself too hard,"

Kyoko nodded. "I won't. I don't think you have to worry about that. And you're right," She suddenly took his hands and squeezed them. "It's none of my grandfather's business who comes to see me when I'm sick,"

The doors suddenly banged open at the far end of the hall, making him jump as he expected Miu to come for him again and scold him for getting too friendly with a staff member. Kyoko caught his expression and sighed.

"Just the new residents,"

Three employees clad in pink were wheeling gurneys around. Two housed two sleeping girls with blonde hair, while the third was a redheaded boy with a nose piercing, presumably the punk fan. All three were asleep. Shuichi leaked in a bit further and gasped.

"Those two girls...I think they're twins! Identical!"

Kyoko looked amused. "Yes, you're right. Their names are Kaede and Kiyomi. Now hurry along. I need to help these three get comfortable," Kyoko gently nudged Shuichi along, and he walked up to the lounge, not having anything else to do. He found Chihiro in there, swinging his legs in his chair and eating a package of cheese crackers. He glanced up when Shuichi came in.

"I got two tokens for not crying when I got my shot!" He explained. "Because I'm a strong boy!"

"Indeed,"

"Oh, do you want this? I can't eat it by myself, I'm too full," Chihiro held out an unopened package of cheese crackers to him.

Shuichi shook his head. "You can save it for later,"

He nodded and turned his attention back to the TV where Anna was singing about hoping to find true love. "The movie is good, but I wish I could go home," Tears began to leak from his eyes again and Shuichi was reminded of Sayaka.

"Same here," He scooted over close to Chihiro. It was a tight fit, but he found he didn't mind. He placed an arm around Chihiro's shoulder and pulled him close, and Chihiro responded by resting his head on him. It touched him in a way he wasn't sure he quite understood and made him feel like crying.

The two watched the movie for a while, Chihiro polishing off the rest of his crackers. Still staring at the TV, he randomly said: "Miss Kirigiri has a daddy,"

Shuichi stared at him. "Everyone has a father,"

He shook his head. "Her daddy is special. She really misses him and wishes she could see him again. But she's not allowed to,"

"Sure,"

"That's a secret though. Nobody else is supposed to know. She wants him to see her,"

"And how do you know something like that?"

Chihiro shrugged. "I just do. Like I know that you make everyone think Persona is your favourite game series when you really like Zero Escape more, or how you don't want people to see your eyes," He looked at him, making Shuichi gape.

"Sheesh," Was all he could say.

Chihiro giggled. "Aren't I good?" And even though there were tears still on his cheeks, he smiled.

The two managed to finish the movie just before the bell for lunch rang, and Shuichi helped Chihiro push the chairs back where they were before and the two walked to the cafeteria together. The others were already there, and Shuichi saw there were two new spots set up for Ibuki and Chihiro. He took his usual seat and Mikan served them.

Lunch was quieter that day than it was most days, though Sayaka and Aoi were still trying to coax conversation out of Ibuki and Chihiro.

"Most of this food is Japanese!" Ibuki finally commented in surprise. "Ibuki's not used to such fare. She always ate a ton of Western stuff!"

"We had omurice for breakfast and Mioda-chan asked eagerly if it was the same thing as an omelette," Aoi chuckled.

"I just had cereal," Chihiro said happily. "Lucky Charms,"

"I guess omurice is similar to an omelette," Shuichi finally said, eating his own food slowly.

"It's literally just an omelette!" Mondo said.

"With ketchup on it! All squirted on it. In the shape of a little heart that says 'My dear I absolutely love you'!" Kokichi laughed.

"'My dear, you are my greatest love! You are the love of my life!'" Sayaka chimed in.

"'My dear, you are so delightful in everything that you do!'" Ibuki teased.

"'My dear, get us the fuck out of here,'" Mondo grumbled.

Chihiro stared at him in awe. "You said a bad word!" He gasped, pointing at him.

"Yeah? So what if I did? You can't tell anyone on me,"

Chihiro returned to his food, looking away awkwardly. Ibuki and Kokichi decided to amuse everyone by making their forks all float around and attack each other, until Kirumi arrived and took Ibuki with her, and then the table was silent once more.

[][][][][][]

After lunch, everyone went outside again for their hourly play sessions and Kokichi suggested they all play a game of badminton together; three-on-three. Mondo, Ibuki, and himself would be against Shuichi, Aoi, and Sayaka with Chihiro on Kokichi's team as a bonus.

"More of a liability," Mondo commented.

"What's that?" Chihiro instantly asked.

"Read my mind if ya wanna know,"

"Ibuki thinks badminton is boring. She wants to play tennis instead. Badminton is for people who are too pussy to play tennis," Ibuki chimed in.

"Aren't you lovely," Aoi sighed.

"You don't have to play if you don't want to," Shuichi said, trying to defuse a possible argument. Ibuki tossed her racket on the ground and started to head for the actual playground.

"What a shame, our group needed more feisty girls," Kokichi laughed. "Just don't accidentally fall off the ladder!"

"So the new teams should be Ouma-kun, Mondo-kun, and then Aoi-chan and Shuichi-kun," Sayaka smiled. "I can be on the sidelines,"

"I'll help!" Chihiro added. Everyone nodded in agreement and started to play for a while, Ibuki watching from one of the swings she was swinging on. The score was evenly-tied when the door to the lounge flew open loudly and the new boy walked out, looking dazed as he ran a hand through his hair. Not only did he look dazed, but he also looked annoyed. His hair was a vibrant red Shuichi presumed wasn't real, and also pegged his age at around sixteen. He wasn't too shabby in the muscle department and wore enough piercings in his ears to put Ibuki to shame. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at him.

"He looks like a rocker," Aoi whispered from next to him.

The new boy stopped near the trampoline and looked around again, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "The fuck is all of this? The fuck is going on here?" He demanded in a distinct accent that placed him as being from Shinjuku.

Chihiro instantly walked over. "You're at The Institute. Hi, I'm Chihiro, what's your n-"

The new boy instantly shoved Chihiro away, sending his back into the trampoline and making him hit it hard. He stared up at him with an expression of shocked surprise and mute betrayal. It didn't even seem like he realized he had done it, as the new boy didn't acknowledge him, or the players, or Sayaka, or even Ibuki, who had stood on top of her swing and was holding onto the chains, slowing in her movements.

"I asked what the fuck is going on? So what's going on?" He demanded again.

"Man, you knocked poor Fuji-chan out. You shouldn't have done that," Mondo sighed, shaking his head. "He was just trying to be nice to you,"

New Boy glanced over at Mondo and tilted his head. "And who the fuck are you?"

"Oowada Mondo. Now go help Fujisaki-chan up,"

"Why?"

"Because you knocked him over, so you help him back up,"

"I'll do it," Aoi dropped her racket and hurried over to where Chihiro was, bending over to take his arm, when New Boy suddenly shoved her down. She fell down hard on the gravel, wincing.

Mondo threw his racket down. "Now you gotta help them both up. You can't just push a chick down like that, man,"

"What if I don't?" New Boy challenged, making Mondo crack his knuckles.

"Then I'll fuck you up, rock-star-wannabe,"

Ibuki was still standing on her swing, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked over in interest. Kokichi had bailed, running back over to the lounge door.

"If he's going to keep being a jerk, then don't even bother with him," Aoi snapped, slowly getting back up and walking over to where Chihiro was. She held out her hand. "We're both okay, right Fujisaki-chan?"

"Uh-huh," He nodded, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Who are you calling a jerk?" The new boy demanded, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Mondo mirrored the action. "I'm not going to apologize to anyone! I'm leavin' this place and nobody can stop me,"

"We're all stuck here, dude. Better get used to it," Mondo shot back.

"Stop it," Aoi cut in. "Both of you. I don't want to see a fight," She pulled Chihiro close to her.

"Last fuckin' warning before I punch you square in the face,"

Kokichi seemed to have changed his mind about heading inside, as instead he climbed up on the monkey bars, sitting on the railing, while Ibuki leapt off her swing and landed on her feet, slowly walking over to the boy's other side, making her hips sway in that way Shuichi liked. She looked intense.

Kokichi looked intense too, like he was focusing on something. Some of the bugs that were swarming around him suddenly started to swarm around the new boy harder, gusting right at his face. Ibuki got behind him and shoved him, making him fall to the ground. She laughed and jumped away. "You've got bugs on you! You've got bugs on you!"

Before the new boy could start getting up, Mondo had advanced on him, kicking his shin hard and making him groan. Sayaka frowned.

"Stop it! Don't we have enough trouble already?" She shot a pointed glare in Kokichi's and Ibuki's directions as well.

"He started it," Shuichi responded softly.

"I'll get you for that! You can't just kick me like that," The new boy huffed, finally managing to stand up. His face was now as red as his hair.

"You can't do shit now. Not with them around," Mondo dropped to his knees and motioned to the door, where Celestia and Kirumi were standing in the doorway to the lounge, holding small black gadgets in their hands. Celestia's smile was gone, and Kirumi looked less formal and more like a warrior. Shuichi could tell they were ready to move in at any second if need be.

Mondo helped the boy up, taking his arms.

"Is everything alright, Saihara-chan?" Kirumi called out.

"I think so," Shuichi nodded.

"I hope so. This heat is not good for my skin," Celestia sighed, and the two women headed back inside.

"We're fine. It was just a small disagreement," Aoi reassured everyone, and Ibuki nodded in agreement.

"Totally!"

"I think he was just scared and upset. He didn't mean anything bad by it," Sayaka pouted sadly, though there was the shine of genuine kindness in her eyes.

"I'm going to vomit," The new boy warned, covering his mouth. Mondo steered him over quickly to the one side of the fence that didn't have a tarp over it.

"Not on that trampoline, we use that shit. Do it here,"

Shuichi followed and widened his eyes as he watched the boy lean over and vomit violently, spraying the chunks through the fence. The last proof that he had ever been someone else before coming here, that he had been free once.

"Ooooh, is that lettuce in there that I see? And a yolk?" Ibuki chimed in, leaning closer.

"You feel better now?" Mondo asked, and even though the boy nodded, his cheeks bulged and he started vomiting yet again. "Now?"

Still more vomit.

"Geezh, you give towels away with your showers too, kid?"

He finally finished, taking a deep breath. "God, I hate pukin' so much. I think I'm going to pass out,"

"You won't, you're fine," Shuichi tried to reassure him, not knowing if he would faint or not. "Come over here in the shade,"

Mondo led him over to the picnic tables and he sat, taking another deep breath.

"Got a name, kid?"

"Kuwata Leon. I'm from Shinjuku, and I don't know anything about this place. Nothing at all," He sounded exhausted. "I don't even know how I got here,"

"We can tell you what we know, but you need to apologize. We can't have people fighting with each other in a place like this," Shuichi scolded softly.

"And your first apology can be to Fujisaki-chan. That's how you start getting on our good side," Kokichi put in, for once sounding nothing like his usual joker self.

"T-That's alright, he d-doesn't have to," Chihiro sniffled. "H-He didn't hurt me,"

"I sorry I knocked ya over," Leon apologized to Chihiro, looking over at the others. "How's that?"

"Apologize to her too," Shuichi pointed over at Aoi.

"Sorry...chick. I don't know your name,"

"Asahina. If we start getting along, you can call me Aoi-chan or Hina," She looked away from him in annoyance.

"As long as you don't call her 'sweetie'." Shuichi added, earning himself a clap on the back and a laugh of approval from Kokichi.

"Sure, whatever," Leon wiped his mouth off.

"Now, can we finish our goddamn gam-" Mondo began before getting cut off by Sayaka waving at someone over by the door.

"Hello girls. Want to come over here?" She asked softly, walking over. Shuichi glanced in that direction and saw two little blonde girls holding each other's hands. Their hairstyles were identical and worn long, except one had music notes in her hair and the other had little arrows that resembled the ones from Dance Dance Revolution. They were both wearing matching pink sailor dresses with black tights and turtlenecks underneath, black boots on their feet. Even their expressions of dazed terror matched each other.

"It's safe to come over, the trouble is over," Aoi added kindly.

I wish that were true, Shuichi thought to himself as the two girls walked over, still looking bewildered.

"They're cute!" Ibuki gasped.

"They look awfully young," Shuichi said, glancing at Chihiro, who had taken to hiding behind Ibuki with a slight blush on his face. They couldn't have been older than Chihiro.

"What are your names?" Sayaka asked breezily.

"Mama says we're not supposed to give our names out to strangers," The one with DDR arrows in her hair commented.

"We're not strangers around here,"

"Yeah, we're one big happy fuckin' family," Mondo grumbled.

"Sure are! Oowada-kun and Asahina-chan are the mommy and daddy, Maizono-chan and I are the crazy aunt and uncle, and Fujisaki-chan is our little baby! You can be our babies too!" Kokichi teased, his eyes lighting up.

"Hey, what about Ibuki? She needs a role!" She chimed in.

"You can be the red-headed stepchild we adopted one day while we were drunk,"

Sayaka ignored him and continued to smile at the girls.

"I'm Akamatsu Kaede, and she's my twin sister, Kiyomi," Kaede answered easily, the one with the musical notes in her hair.

"Your names are adorable," Sayaka nodded.

"Yeah, and they match! They're nature-themed," Aoi chimed in.

"We were playing a game of badminton, would you like to watch? Or you could even join us in the next one," Sayaka offered.

"Alright," Kiyomi answered uneasily, but Kaede was still smiling.

"That sounds like fun!"

And thus, the game continued on. Aoi's team ended up winning, which surprised nobody as she was super athletic and sporty. Kokichi sighed.

"Oh well, better luck next time!" He grinned.

Ibuki was still swinging on the swings. Kaede and Kiyomi had grown bored of watching the badminton game and were instead playing on the playground with Chihiro, sliding down the slides and giggling. Leon was resting on the picnic table with his head down and buried in his arms.

"Want to play another match?" Aoi asked the others curiously.

"No way, chick. You obviously have us beat," Mondo declined, shaking his head.

And with that, everyone decided to disperse and go do their own things.

[][][][][][]

At four that afternoon, Shuichi was back in his room, trying to read about the Kirigiri family. He wondered if what he was doing would tip off some sort of alarm, suddenly being so curious in the intimate family details of another staff member's life, but nobody had mentioned anything about it to him. Nobody mentioned anything about his black website, and he briefly thought of testing their monitoring by Googling ways to commit suicide or something similar, then discarded the idea. Why challenge something like that?

There was a sudden knock on his door, and before he could ask who it was, the person walked in, revealing they were a caretaker. She wore a pink dress devoid of any extra accessory or ornament, with long blue hair pulled into a side braid and black glasses. Her nametag read she was named Tsumugi.

"Right, my eye appointment," He said to himself as he turned the laptop off.

"Yes!" Tsumugi responded in a crisp but formal tone. He was glad for it; sick of Celestia and her fake smiles and faked perkiness.

They went down to the third floor on the elevator again, Tsumugi playing with her braid.

"How far down does this elevator go?" Shuichi asked randomly. Tsumugi froze in her motions and sideyed him.

"I don't think you should worry about something like that,"

"Just making con-"

"Don't. You don't need to,"

Shuichi took the hint and shut himself up.

Back in 3-15, Miu had been replaced by a tall man in a crisp blue suit and matching white hair, who stiffly bowed to him.

"Doctor Munakata. I am the main Chief of Medical Operations around here," He waited for Shuichi to bow, and Shuichi stepped back and very quickly did so before looking away. "And this is my assistant, Doctor Kimura,"

"I heard...you're new here, right? Take a seat," Kimura said, speaking in a strange and stilted accent. She wore a pink suit with a pencil skirt and black tights, a matching mask around her mouth. She motioned to the chair with the projector, and Shuichi sat, finding himself glad he was just receiving a simple eye exam after everything else that had transpired.

Munakata gave him another shot, and as Tsumugi started to strap him into the chair, Shuichi's eyes widened as he felt his throat start to close up, his breathing becoming heavy. "I-I can't..." He gasped.

"It'll pass." Munakata said in a bored tone. Kimura was searching through her drawers. Shuichi just stared at them in desperation, his throat burning and his lungs growing hot. Spit dribbled down his chin. His throat closed tighter, tighter, tighter, until...

It suddenly opened back up, allowing Shuichi to take a great gulping gasp of air.

"I told you you would be fine. Seiko-san didn't need to intervene,"

"W-What...what was that?" Shuichi asked, panting heavily.

"Nothing."

Kimura walked over then, shining a flashlight into Shuichi's eyes. "Glasses? Lenses?"

"What did you do to me?! I couldn't swallow. I couldn't even breathe!" Shuichi demanded instead, moving his head away from the light.

"You can swallow now..." Kimura flicked her flashlight again. "Lenses or glasses?"

He shook his head to both.

"Look straight ahead."

A white screen was pulled down in front of him and Tsumugi dimmed the lights.

"Keep looking. If you...look away once, Kyosuke-san will...slap you. Any more...a light shock. Painful. Understand?"

Shuichi nodded again, swallowing. His heart was still hammering like mad. "Does the Prime Minister know about this?" He still couldn't help asking.

"Please shut up," Tsumugi sighed wearily.

Classical music started up; it sounded like a violin and a piano mixed together. Tsumugi hurried over to the projector and switched it on, making a blue dot appear in the middle of the screen, blinking. Then a red dot appeared beneath it, then finally a green dot. The dots then started to swirl around each other, flashing in sync. Others began to appear until soon the whole screen was filled with glowing dots.

They swirled, they flashed, they twirled around, the music speeding up to match the visuals. Shuichi felt as though he was about to pass out or have some sort of mental breakdown. He thought of Leon Kuwata puking through the fence and felt his own stomach twist, realizing he might puke too but he didn't want to, not because he hated it like Leon did but because it would all fall into his lap and it'd be warm and gross-

Munakata slapped him good and hard, no expression on his face. "The screen, sport,"

Shuichi felt something warm dripping down his lips and realized Munakata must've broken his nose when he slapped him. The lights continued to swirl around wildly, invading even his inner thoughts in his brain.

"Turn it off, Tsumugi-san," Munakata said, but Tsumugi never did; if anything, the dots just increased in frequency, getting bigger and surrounding him in bright colours. He tried closing his eyes but the dots were still there, burning the inside of his eyes with their brightness.

"You are alright," Kimura said from somewhere far away, maybe even underwater. He heard Munakata yelling for Tsumugi to shut it off already, or maybe that was just in his head too. More coloured dots, everywhere, on the ceiling, on the walls, on the floor, on his body, in his mind. They were all swirling around him endlessly, flashing. He suddenly became aware of his body shaking from side-to-side, his hand thrashing in front of him. He tried to say that they were killing him, that he was having a seizure, that they should've known better, but all that could come out of his mouth was a gargling sound.

Then the dots were gone, he was falling out of his chair, and falling into the blessed darkness, the cool, cold, black darkness, and when he finally fell into it, he felt relief. It was such a relief.

[][][][][][]

Someone slapped him hard to wake him up. It wasn't a slap of punishment, but it wasn't a slap of kindness or concern either. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself on the floor with Tsumugi leaning over him, on her knees with her braid swinging close to his face. She was the one who slapped him. Kimura and Munakata stood in the back, watching.

"He's awake. Can you stand up?" She asked shyly, stepping away.

Shuichi wasn't sure if he could or not. His arms felt like limp noodles again and his new injection site burned and itched. His mouth tasted foul. His throat felt tight. It reminded him of when he came down with a bad case of a stomach bug. He ran a high fever and couldn't move for days. He felt like that now, like his body had slipped away from his mind and vanished off somewhere in the atmosphere.

Munaka easily pulled Shuichi up, making him sway violently. "Your name?"

"S-Saihara...Shuichi..." The name didn't sound like it came from his mouth, instead it sounded as if it came from the part of his mind still out floating in space. His nose hurt and he gingerly wiped it with his hand, finding dried flecks of red on his finger. His face throbbed from repeated slaps and he felt numb all over.

Tsumugi and Kimura were on either side of him, gently sitting him down in a regular kitchen chair in front of a table. Large blue-backed cards were stacked up neatly in front of him.

"Can't I go to bed? I feel sick," He asked slowly, still trying to find his voice.

"The disorientation will pass. Doctor Kimura has a new test for you. Afterwards, you can go back to your room and rest. Might also be wise to skip supper," Munakata responded.

Kimura sat in front of him and held out a card, the blue side facing him. "This?"

"A card," Shuichi blinked in confusion.

Tsumugi slapped him hard, putting her hands on her hips. "Stop trying to be funny...it's not working," Shuichi glanced at her and saw no remorse nor hesitation in her eyes. Not even a shred of regret. He realized then that she saw him as purely nothing but a test subject, not a real child. With a test subject, you ask them to do what you want and punish them when they don't comply. And when the tests were over, you headed to the breakroom and had coffee and sandwiches and talked about your own kids, who were real kids, or complained about the weather, politics, current events, whatever.

Shuichi felt like there would be a time soon in his life where he would flinch at the sight of an open palm, even if it were someone just trying to give him a high-five or a beckon.

"This?" Kimura asked calmly, holding up a new card.

"I don't know. How am I supposed to know? I don-"

Tsumugi slapped him again, even harder. His ears began ringing and beside himself, Shuichi started to cry. He couldn't help it. He thought The Institute was a nightmare, but this was the real nightmare, being only half-alert and being told to decipher cards he couldn't even see and being slapped when he said he couldn't.

"Try." Munakata said.

"I just want to go back to my room and rest," Shuichi sobbed. "I feel like I'm going to be sick,"

"This?" Kimura held out a third card.

"I don't know. I'm not TP, I'm TK. Asahina-san could tell you what's on those cards, and Fujisaki-chan definitely could, but I can't because I'm not TP!"

Kimura held up a fourth. Her expression was maddening because Shuichi couldn't make out what she was thinking at all due to her mask. He wondered if she did that on purpose. "No more slaps...a shock. You might...another seizure,"

"I don't know what's on it!" Shuichi insisted. "A bridge? The Eiffel Tower? Mt. Fuji? Jupiter? Some guy in his underwear? I don't know! I can't tell you!" He closed his eyes and awaited the shock, only slowly opening them when none came and Munakata was instead backing away. Kimura was stacking the cards up neatly.

I wish I was dead.

"Tsumugi-san, take Saihara-chan back to his room," Munakata ordered, and Tsumugi nodded. Shuichi walked steadily alongside her and blinked a few times, still seeing the dots despite everything.

"I'm not a TP, you know that, right?" He tried once more.

"Whatever," Tsumugi rolled her eyes but perked up upon seeing Miu. Her smile became a real one, shy and flirty. "See you tonight?"

"Totally!" Miu laughed and stared at Shuichi. She suddenly made a fist and drove it into his face, making him flinch and hold out his hands, crying out. He slowly lowered them when seeing Miu had lowered her own fist, laughing hard."I love doin' that kind of shit! Some of these kids have the funniest reactions!"

"I agree," Tsumugi smiled softly and continued to walk Shuichi back to his room. In the main corridor, Kaede and Kiyomi were peeking out at him shyly from behind a wall, both holding dolls as identical as they were. He thought they looked like creepy twins from an old horror movie. Tsumugi stopped at his door and left without another word.

Shuichi saw still nobody had come to take his computer away, yanked off his shoes, and fell asleep for the remainder of the night after collapsing in his bed.

[][][][][][][]

When Shuichi woke up that next morning, as usual, all of the pain and despair he had felt the previous day had seemingly melted away into nothing, as if it hadn't ever been there in the first place. Maybe they really were drugging his food.

After breakfast with everyone else, the majority of them headed outside for their hour of play, pausing in surprise when they found an inflatable pool filled up with water and pool toys, a sprinkler spraying down the yard and a blue cooler set beside the hose, currently closed.

"Is this a pool party?" Ibuki asked curiously.

"Who set this up for us?" Mondo asked, not making any further moves forward.

Shuichi couldn't blame Mondo's hesitance. After the hell he experienced the other day, no way was he just going to give in and have some fun in a place like this. It was almost like some half-assed apology in a way.

Sorry we put you through all those invasive horrible tests, but here's a pool party!

Then again, the sun was particularly hot that day even for the morning, and the pool did look inviting...

The twins and Chihiro instantly started to run over to the pool, stopping when Sayaka snapped her fingers at them. "It does look like fun, but we can't possibly swim in our clothes, right?"

"Yeah, my underwear will turn see-through if that happens," Aoi chimed in.

"None of us needed to know that, chick," Mondo sighed.

The group headed back inside and Shuichi searched through his closet, knowing he didn't see a swimsuit anywhere when he first examined the room a few days ago. Yet when he pulled back a few layers of clothing, there was indeed a pair of grey swim-trunks, long enough to go past his knees.

Different from the blue pair he had at home, but it'd do. Maybe Kyoko somehow got her hands on bathing suits for everyone.

He slipped his on and also put on a white shirt, keeping his cap on as he headed back outside to where everyone else was. Sayaka and Kokichi had already come back; Sayaka using the hose to fill the pool up some more. Shuichi blushed when he saw her swimsuit; dark pink with magenta bows tied around her waist and neck to keep the swimsuit in place, though it was very low-cut and exposed her large breasts and hips.

"Like what ya see, huh Shuichi-chan?" Kokichi randomly pulled Shuichi into a death-hug, making him gasp in surprise. His own swim-trunks were a bright orange patterned with yellow polka-dots and were the same length as Shuichi's. "And come on, did you have to wear that stupid hat out here too? It'll get soaked in the pool,"

"That pool is too small for me to properly swim in," Shuichi declined, wrestling out of Kokichi's grip. Sayaka finished filling the pool up and dropped the hose, taking a moment to pull her hair into a high and tight ponytail.

Aoi came out next, dressed in a blue one-piece patterned with yellow stars that hugged her curves nicely. Her normally-ponytailed hair was instead up in a bun. Shuichi blushed even more.

"I think the younger ones are mostly going to use the pool, which is fine. It looks more like a wading pool to me," She said, and he nodded in agreement. "That's alright. We could just run in the sprinkler, or see what's in that cooler,"

"Water balloons, most likely," Mondo and Leon came out at the same time; Leon wearing blue trunks similar to Shuichi's, but Mondo's was a tight black Speedo that made both Sayaka and Aoi blush at the sight.

"I'm not going to do any of that kiddy crap. Just some water on my face and a run in the sprinkler and then I'll be done," Leon huffed.

Ibuki was the last one to arrive with the three youngest in tow, gasping. "So many cute girls here in bathing suits! Ibuki is so jealous! Girls these days have such large breasts!" Her own swimsuit was a white skimpy bikini that showed off her small breasts and large hips. Her own hair was up in pigtails. "Come on! Let's get this party started! Ibuki wonders if there's a radio hidden around here,"

"Maybe you could sing something for us?" Sayaka offered instead.

Kaede and Kiyomi had their hair tied in pigtails and wore identical lavender bathing suits with a shadow of Mimi the fashion doll on them. The two hurried over to the pool and jumped in, starting to splash each other. Chihiro wore swimtrunks patterned with dinosaurs and kept his hair tied back in a white swimcap, which ironically made him look girlier in Shuichi's opinion. He slowly climbed into the pool too and swam in circles around the twins.

"Got you!" Aoi's voice reached Shuichi's ears, and before he could properly react, he felt the clap of cold water on the back of his shirt, making him shiver violently.

"Water-balloon fight!" Kokichi yelled, grabbing an armful of the colorful balloons and chucking them at random.

"Don't get me!" Sayaka squealed happily, running away.

"Ibuki wants in on this too!" She grabbed some balloons and started running, throwing some more at Shuichi.

"H-Hey! Don't just throw them at me!" Shuichi couldn't help a small smile that formed on his face. "Get Ouma-san,"

Kokichi had climbed to the top of the monkey-bars and had his arsenal neatly placed in his lap, carefully swinging his legs back and forth.

"Darn it! We can't get him," Sayaka pouted at Aoi.

"There's still other boys though," She grabbed a blue balloon and threw it at Mondo's back, laughing. "Got you!"

"Come on, I'm not playin'," Mondo grumbled, which made the girls giggle more.

"Sure you are! You're not thinking of getting into that itty-bitty kiddy pool, are you?" Sayaka put her hands on her hips.

"Not in that outfit," Ibuki huffed, dancing around in the sprinkler. Leon was beside her, obviously eyeing the way her swimsuit protected her bits.

"Says you!" Kokichi teased. "You gotta be wearing the skimpiest outfit out of us all!"

Shuichi blushed at that and stole a glance at Sayaka, who seemed to have given up on their water-balloon fight and was instead swinging on one of the swings. He was suddenly curious about seeing her trying to do a dive off a diving board.

"Now I have the ultimate weapon!" Aoi laughed, shaking the sprinkler around. Ibuki and Leon gasped and darted away, while the twins hurried over, curious.

"Could you spray us?" Kaede asked nicely, clasping her hands together.

"Of course!" Aoi waved the sprinkler around slightly, making some drops fall on the twins, who giggled.

"I wish there was a water-slide here. Or a Slip-and-Slide," Kiyomi pouted a bit at some memory. Kaede gently took her sister's hand again and the two walked over to the trampoline, starting to jump on it.

"Shuichi-oniichan," Chihiro gently tugged on his swim trunks. Shuichi looked down in surprise.

"What's wrong?" He asked, not seeing any obvious injuries. Chihiro puckered his lips a bit.

"I have to pee. Can you please take me to the bathroom?"

The bathroom where? This wasn't a school; the only ones Shuichi had seen were the ones in their bedrooms. Could Chihiro even make it to his own?

"Shuichi-oniichan?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go," He walked ahead, briefly wondering if he should've taken Chihiro's hand before deciding against it. Chihiro might've found that to be too weird.

They walked along in silence, and thankfully they did manage to make it all the way to Chihiro's room. The little boy gasped happily and raced inside his bathroom, shutting the door. Shuichi stood outside for a few seconds before Chihiro came back, looking happy.

"I even washed my hands," He promised, holding them out. "See? Smell them,"

"I believe you," Shuichi led him back outside and watched him play in the sprinkler, cheering Ibuki and Leon on as they raced in and out of the water shower.

Kokichi remained perched on the monkey-bars, happily dropping balloons on anyone who dared to walk underneath him. Sayaka continued to swing on the swings before growing bored and sitting in the wading pool, drawing her knees up to her chest. Aoi and Mondo sat on a picnic bench together, whispering about something. Kaede and Kiyomi were still jumping on the trampoline together. Shuichi sat down in the wading pool across from Sayaka, pulling his own knees up to his chest. She gave him a smile, and he found himself smiling back.

Shuichi would always look back on that particular day as being a shining light in what was regularly Hell on Earth.

[][][][][][][]

After lunch, everyone retired to their rooms, too worn-out to do much of anything else physical. Shuichi hung out with Mondo a bit before it was evening and started to head back to his own room, hearing a TV somewhere and curiously following that instead, finding Aoi's door wide open. She was resting on a giant beanbag similar to what Sayaka had in her room, and she was blankly watching something on the TV that was currently featuring a guy pulling out the spine and skull of another guy. Shuichi wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"You like shows like this?" He asked in surprise. Aoi just shrugged and unwrapped an ice-cream sandwich, and only then did Shuichi notice a grouping of empty wrappers surrounding her.

"Want one?" She offered one to him. "Used all of my tokens up to get these,"

Shuichi sat beside her and took the dessert just to be nice. "Why didn't you tell me the light test was so bad, Asahina-san?" He finally asked after a time, focusing on her instead of the TV, where someone had just puked chunks onto the screen.

"'Call me Aoi-san. I like that better." She burped softly.

"Aoi-san...why didn't you say anything?"

"They make you look at coloured lights that make you feel woozy. Nothing bad about that," She shrugged, taking a bite out of her ice-cream sandwich. Her face looked green.

"That's all that happened with you?"

"What happened with you?"

"I got a shot and had a bad allergic reaction. My throat closed up and I couldn't swallow or breath,"

"Geezh, I'm sorry. They did give me a shot too, but nothing happened," Aoi sighed.

"I passed out while looking at the lights. I think I might've had a seizure, and when I woke up..." He swallowed slowly, feeling a lump starting to grow in his throat. He clenched his fists and tried to get himself under control, he did not want to lose control and start crying in front of this pretty girl with her pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair. "They slapped me,"

"What?!" Aoi looked over at him suddenly.

"Then one of the doctors...Kimura, do you know her?"

Aoi nodded. "The one with the mask on her face," She took another bite of her sandwich.

"Yeah, her. She tried to show me a bunch of cards and have me say what was on them. They were those telepathic cards, I'm sure," Shuichi continued to explain.

"Yeah, I know those. I've gotten them done like two thousand times," Another bite. "Until I saw the lights, then they just took me to my room. Maybe they got the paperwork mixed-up and thought you were TP instead of TK,"

"But when I tried to tell them, they kept slapping me like they thought I was lying," Shuichi had started whispering suddenly.

Aoi shrugged again and burped loudly.

"You think this happened to some of the other kids?"

"I never asked," She glanced down at his unopened sandwich. "You sure you don't want that?"

Shuichi gingerly unwrapped a corner of it and took a small bite, chewing and swallowing. It tasted fine, if a bit melted. The thought of Aoi having eaten what was clearly around ten or eleven freaked him out though.

"I'm celebrating, you know. Don't you want to know what?" She looked back at the TV, where a girl was getting raped by a dog. Shuichi refused to look at the screen. "I'm throwing a party for myself,"

"What are you celebrating?" Shuichi asked.

"Sayaka-chan and her memory. She's just like you, nothing special, just a small bit of TK, yet they came and took her. They came and took her an hour ago, and as Ouma-san would say, we will see her no more," Aoi suddenly clutched at her stomach with a moan. "Oh God, my stomach..." She then started to cry, whether from her stomach pain or Sayaka being gone Shuichi had no clue, but he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She rested her head on his shoulder.

[][][][][][][]

Shuichi spent his night researching more about the Kirigiri family after he deemed himself too much of a coward to genuinely look up and see if his uncle was truly dead or not. He had already found all of the information he needed, but it was always good to double-check the work.

After twenty minutes, he turned the computer off and debated who to talk to; maybe Aoi if she wasn't sleeping her sugar off, when suddenly the lights came back. They swirled in front of his eyes and started to pull at him, like a train leaving the station.

He quickly put his head down on his desk and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths in the hopes the lights would leave him. At least he could still swallow. Eventually the feeling of being pulled along was gone too; it had only been a minute or two but it felt much longer.

Shuichi stood up and started to brush his teeth in the mirror, eyeing himself. They likely knew about the dots already, but they didn't know about the other thing. The fact that while he had no idea what was on the first or third cards, the second had been a picture of a boy riding a bicycle and the fourth had been a picture of a tan dog with a red ball in its mouth.

It seemed he had some TP in him after all.

He rinsed his mouth out, turned off the lights, undressed, and crawled into bed.

What purpose did the lights even serve anyway? It couldn't just be for strengthening the talents of shiros like him, since positive people like Kokichi and Aoi received them too. There had to be some other reasoning behind it.

All he knew was that the dots were gone, just like Sayaka was gone, and the dots may come back again but Sayaka never would. Sayaka had gone to Back Half and they would see her no more.