I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing them to stay closed and not succumb to wandering alongside my restless mind. Flopping my body over, continuously kicking my legs back and forth, eager to be doing something. Though nothing I did seemed to matter, I just could not get myself to sleep. Letting a deep exhale escape my lungs, I loosened the muscles around my eyes and let them flutter open. In a swift movement, I swung my comforter off my body, letting it land on the floor beside me, not really caring if it got dirty. I pushed myself upward and stretched the discomfort out of my tired arms. I let myself stare up at the obnoxiously large monitor that sat mounted in the corner of the room, the soft red light it let off mixed with the thin sliver beneath the doorway allowed me only to see silhouettes and shadows, but with my head all dizzy the way it had been, everything seemed to merge together like some uninspired, abstract piece of art. As I stared deeper into that tiny red light, my mind flooded with its usual occupancies; who really killed Rantaro? Why is Kaito looking more feeble, day by day? And more recently, how the hell did Ouma know exactly what I was up to?

That stumped me. I had barely even seen Ouma around since Ryouma's trial a few weeks back, and quite honestly, I presumed he was avoiding Maki, someone I was spending increasingly more time with. It didn't make sense. If Ouma really were the mastermind, why on Earth would he tell me in such a straightforward manner? But of course, this was Ouma, who may as well have been titled the "Ultimate Liar". He loved to embellish the truth, but- What would he even gain from this? And how did he figure it out in the first place? It hurt my head just contemplating what he was up to.

"Rise and shine, ursine!" the kub's obnoxious voices rang out. The monitor above my head lit up, illuminating the room. I watched the shadows dissipate as my logic overtook my imagination. In an attempt to block out the grating voices, I pulled my body off the side of my bed, and took a step towards the bathroom door, feeling drained. My body was heavy, and aching from the lack of sleep and mitigation, every step that I took felt like I had weights tied around my feet. Swinging the door open, not bothering to even turn on the light, I walked directly to the sink and began to fill the basin with biting cold water. I blinked, hard and rapidly, in an attempt to adjust to the change of lighting between the two rooms, before I caught my own eye in the mirror. ' God,' I thought, raising my hand to my cheek and brushing my fingertips over my dry skin, ' I look awful.'

With an exhale, I broke eye contact with myself and turned off the tap. I took a step backward, bending my back, and with a gasp of air encapsulated in my lungs, I plunged my face into the frigid water. I squeezed my eyes shut, letting out air bit-by-bit, and allowed the pain to take me. My face stung, the cold sending shivers throughout my body and goosebumps up my arms and legs, but I felt my mind slowly catching up to itself; waking up. With a flick, I pulled my head out of the water, my hair splattering small amounts onto the mirror and roof. Breathing heavily, I pushed the wet hair out of my eyes and looked back at myself in the mirror. Nothing really changed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I jumped, startled by the forceful knocking- no, pounding on my door. Slightly confused, I shook my head, sending it back into a conscious path, and made my way to the door, all while the banging continued. As I grabbed the knob and pulled it opened, I was baffled to see Tenko, eyes filled to the brim with determination, and her fist still raised as if she were still pounding.

"Shuichi!" she barked in an authoritative tone as if she were commanding some kind of military roll-call. My eyes darted around the hallway, looking for an answer, but it was completely empty.

"Tenko…?" I replied, landing my attention back on her. She let out a sigh of relief and let her arm drop to her hip, her other arm doing the same.

"Why are you all wet? Ugh, I bet you were doing something dirty, you degenerate male!" she spat, deeply emphasizing the 'degenerate' with a look of disgust on her face. ' What on Earth could I even be doing alone to end up like this? ' I held myself back from rolling my eyes- a common occurrence when speaking to Tenko, and in an attempt to divert the subject, crossed my arms over my chest.

"Why are you pounding on my door so early in the morning?" I questioned before Tenko quickly pointed her finger towards me.

"Hah! Silence is an admission of guilt!" she rang out. This time I did roll my eyes. Tenko returned to a more relaxed demeanour before she continued, "Anyways, you're like- 10 minutes late already!"

"Huh?" I inquired, confused. Before I could even begin to theorize, Tenko grabbed my jacket by the cusp of the wrist and began dragging me away from my dorm. Instinctively, I caught the doorknob behind me and pulled it shut with a bang, slightly tripping over my own feet as Tenko's pace increased.

"Geez, didn't you hear the Monokub announcement? We're all supposed to meet in the gym! God, degenerates can't do anything right!"

I continued on with Tenko, not really listening to her ramblings, but pretending to nod my head along. I was still exhausted, my cold-water trick only working ever-so-slightly. My mind was preoccupied with what was happening. It's never a good thing when we have to gather for an announcement. 'It's been a while…' I thought, my eyes piercing the ivy-covered gymnasium door, 'It's probably a motive…'

Tenko finally released the tight grip she had around my clothes, leaving faint wrinkles in the fabric. She pushed the large door open with both arms in front of her, revealing a ray of yellow light and the faces of the Ultimates. The rest of the Ultimates. Tenko sprung forwards, sprinting to the middle of the gym to meet Angie and Himiko, who seemed to be deep in conversation- or rather, it looked more like an oration. I made my way towards Kaito who seemed to be desperately trying to hold a conversation with Maki.

' She's so… cold. ' I thought, ' It looks like he's just talking to himself. '

"Ah, Shuichi, you're here!" a voice cheered from the opposite direction. I snapped my head to see Tsumugi, hand lapping over the other in a poised fashion, and a lovely smile painted over her lips. I flashed a lazy smile back.

"Yeah, we thought you might be fuckin' dead," Miu chimed in, hand on hip in a confident manner, "Why do you look like a wet dog?"

I heard a few snickers emerge around me, but I ignored the insult and continued on my path towards Kaito.

"But- Isn't a wet dog better than a filthy pig?" Ouma joined in, raising his finger to his chin as if he were deeply contemplating the idea. A sly smirk crept around the corner of his lips. I looked around, slightly confused as to how to take the comment. As I continued my focus on Ouma, I watch as he laughed at Miu, continuing to pester her, before his gaze turned to the corner of his eyes, back in my direction. I looked away, almost immediately, but I was unable to put a finger on why. It was almost instinctive.

Before I knew it, my thoughts were beginning to cloud and spiral with the usual topics, as it mixed with Kaito's non-sensible banter of the day.

My heart dropped. A single sentence sent me into a storm of emotion and confusion, desire and dysphoria. Yet I wasn't alone. Shock spread across the faces of the majority of us, the gears unable to turn. My body trembled, and part of me thought I might be sick.

' Transfer student? Resurrection? ' I clenched my teeth, ' Is this some kind of sick joke? ' The few students left unfathomed by the news were Angie and Korekiyo, who both looked like they were devising plans and debates over who to revive. Maki, who showed the same, straight-faced glare that she always wore; And then there was Ouma, who didn't seem shocked, or even overly-cocky like he usually would. Instead, he gave the same, strange look of concern and suspicion as he did the other night in the library. I wanted to figure out what that look meant, but my mind was far too preoccupied. As we all began exchanging worried glances with one another, an overwhelming sense of consternation fell over us like a heavy snowfall. ' This isn't over. '