A/N: THIS IS IMPORTANT

I teased in chapter 3 that soon I'd be touching on some sensitive topics. While I mentioned one of them in that chapter, this is going to be the one that is a bit heavier in regards to said subject matter. I decided against making the scene involving said topics overly-long, but it's not all that brief, either.

So, yes. This chapter will contain the following topics:

*Phobias (Specifically, claustrophobia)
*Depression

Naoko entered the cafeteria, seeing that most of the students were already there. The chatter was very light, and Naoko could tell that people were largely in a bad mood.

"Everything okay?" Naoko asked, knowing that he wouldn't get an affirmative answer.

"Yeah, everything's hunky dory. We're thinking about starting an improv troupe." Haru's voice practically dripped with sarcasm.

"We've all been worried about those facts that have been distributed among us," Yori cut in. "Each of us now have sensitive information about one of our fellows. It's only natural that people would be nervous. Said information could be blurted out at any moment."

"No need to talk like that, Yori," Keiko said, exiting the kitchen with plates in hand. "People are worried enough as it is without you reminding them."

Naoko looked over at Keiko. "Keiko, you're cooking again?"

Keiko smiled. "I thought you'd all appreciate it. Don't worry about it. I don't mind a little extra work."

"Sorry for how I phrased that," Yori said, getting the conversation back on track. "I figured that that was what's been on all our minds."

"It's been on my mind, yeah," Mareo admitted. Many of the others seemed to agree.

"I know that Eryu expressed interest in us keeping the secrets we have to ourselves," Keiko said, "but I still think that the fear that Yori spoke of is the real problem. It should go away if we all share with each other, right?"

"That, uh, might be difficult for some of us," Hoshi commented, looking much more anxious than usual.

"Maybe we need to just blurt out what we got," Kimi suggested. "Don't worry, guys. I don't think IMONO would be able to get much dirt on yours truly."

"We're not doing that," Naoko said.

"Seconded," Eryu added.

"Hey, Eryu," Ishi suddenly said, "I've actually been thinkin' about something."

Eryu gave Ishi a curious look from across the room. "Oh? What is it?"

"It's about what Keiko just mentioned. You said you think we shouldn't share with each other, right? Doesn't that go against what you said before? Y'know, that we should communicate with each other, and share what we find?"

Eryu let out a long sigh. "I did say that, didn't I? When I said that, I wasn't referring to that sort of sensitive information. I wanted people to share information related to our...y'know." Eryu began to gesticulate, his body pointed to the direction of the camera in the room. He was being careful not to say it outright, but the sort of information he was referring to was clear.

"I get what you're saying, and I don't mean to play devil's advocate," Takeshi spoke up, "but wouldn't that still be keeping secrets from each other?"

"We'd be keeping secrets for each other," Eryu argued. "Those two are distinctly different. Besides, do we really want to place our trust in an idea that IMONO had? Letting this information become known is exactly what it wants us to do."

"It is a flawed concept, isn't it?" Keiko agreed. "We've barely known each other a day. That's far too little time for us to become close enough to share such things. Still, I'd appreciate it if we can agree on a compromise that puts these secrets behind us."

"Any idea how to do that?" Naoko asked.

"I do have one, yes," Keiko replied. "After some thought, I think I can say that private, one-on-one conversations would be the best way to deal with this issue. If you have someone's secret, and you'd like to talk to them about it, ask them. If they consent, you two can talk about it. Just avoid being judgemental, that's all I ask for."

The cafeteria's occupants gave that proposal some thought. It certainly sounded better than sharing it with several people at once, that was for certain.

"A more realistic approach than your original proposal, that's for sure," Eryu commented. "Well, I suppose if people are okay with doing that, they can. Just be careful, everyone. And no blackmail."

Naoko had a feeling that that last statement was intended for Bankei.

"Oh, one more thing," Eryu continued. "I've been thinking about the nighttime rules, and I feel they're a bit loose. I'd like to ask that people be in their rooms by 10:30PM at the latest. Does that sound good?"

"What if we want to get a midnight snack or something?" Michio asked.

"Is that really necessary?" Eryu responded, looking both confused and annoyed. "Just bring something to your room before 10:30. Eat it in bed. Just stay in your rooms at night."

Well, Naoko was glad that that was addressed. The question that he now had in his head was how they'd be able to make sure people actually stayed in their rooms. Maybe they could ask IMONO to say if anyone sneaks off at night? Something to think about.

The group managed to experience a mostly-uneventful dinner together, but unfortunately, people were still nervous. That idea that Keiko shared. It was something that Naoko could see some of them being okay with, but he also got a feeling that quite a few of them were going to be very sensitive about whatever was shared about them. Hoshi in particular knew exactly what was shared about him, and talking about it meant talking to Bankei. Naoko felt really sorry for him, just for having to contemplate that.

Naoko himself was enjoying a nice meal, and was sitting across from Yori, who had decided to speak to him via writing again. This time, however, she passed both the paper and the pencil, allowing them to have a full back and forth conversation.

"Have you inspected the room with the shutter door?" Yori wrote.

"Only briefly," Naoko wrote back. "There's a control panel next to the shutter door, and some cameras. I know that."

"Well, the control panel doesn't work at the moment," Yori explained. "I suspect it's been disabled. Also, I don't think the cameras are the only security measure in that room."

"What else is there?"

"I noticed something odd about the ceiling. Minor indentations. I believe there are spots on the ceiling that are designed to slide open to reveal something."

"Like what?" Naoko asked. "Ceiling-mounted weapons? Like a machine gun or something?"

"Possibly," Yori replied. "I'm not sure if IMONO would use such a thing, however, given its claims up to this point. I tried speaking to it directly about it, and I was given some vague answers."

"Should we try finding another escape route?"

"Maybe. If IMONO is okay with utilizing the threat of lethal force, however, it may not matter where or how we attempt to escape."

"Okay. Then maybe we should try escaping through there anyways."

Yori, after receiving this reply, didn't write back, and instead simply nodded. Naoko took that as a sign that their conversation could be picked up some other time. Still, before they moved on completely, Yori presented Naoko with some papers and pencils to write secret messages with, which was very much appreciated.

After some time focusing on his dinner, he noticed that a piece of paper had been placed beside him. His eyes widened. Was it another reply from Yori, perhaps? Naoko looked up, and saw that she wasn't looking at him. He grabbed the note quickly and opened it up.

"Hey Naoko," the note read, "I didn't wanna bother you in person, so I thought I'd give you this. I have your secret, and I thought that since Eryu said it's okay, the two of us can talk about it. Y'know, if it's okay with you. Just give me a yes or no, and we can talk in your room. No pressure! Signed, Mine."

Naoko was shocked. Mine had his secret? That was strange. He had hers, which clearly meant that IMONO had...given them each other's secrets. Was that intentional? It seemed to have given each of them out mostly randomly. Nobody seemed to have their own.

Naoko could think about that later. Instead, he went over to Mine, and tapped her on the shoulder. Mine looked at him nervously. Naoko gave her a silent nod. Mine gave a smile and nodded back.

It was decided. After dinner, Naoko and Mine met up with each other in the hallway opposite of the dorms.

"Hey, Naoko!" Mine said, putting on her best smile. "Thanks for agreeing to do this. I just didn't feel comfortable holding onto this forever, y'know?"

Naoko smiled back. "It's fine. I should probably let you know something first, though. It may sound like a crazy coincidence, but...I actually have yours."

Mine gasped dramatically. "You do? I didn't know that. Is it...bad?"

"It could be a lot worse," Naoko assured her. "Do you still want to do this?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, Naoko. I'm not scared."

"Good," Naoko said, leading Mine inside his room. When he opened the door, the claustrophobic girl made her way inside quickly.

"Wow," Mine said, looking around the barren room, "it's so empty. Have you not found anything for your room?"

"Nothing too interesting thus far," Naoko replied. "All we have is this floor."

"Right! IMONO said something about other areas in this place. They're being cleaned up or something, right?"

"Something like that," Naoko replied. "Don't know what that's about."

"Me neither." After she said that, the two of them shared an awkward silence. Naoko decided to do something about it, and sat down on his bed, inviting Mine to sit down next to him, which she did.

"So," Naoko began, "I know you wanted to talk to me about my secret, but as I said, I have yours. Would you rather go over yours or mine first?"

"Would yours be okay?" Mine asked.

Naoko thought about this for a moment, before deciding on the most courteous course of action. "Yes, I'd say it would be."

"Really? Alright, let me just…" Mine pulled out her phone and went to her inbox. "It says here…" She paused again, and acquired a saddened look. "...It says that you suffered from depression when you were 13, and that you, um…"

Naoko gave a gentle wave, though he wasn't exactly happy while doing so. He knew exactly what that was referring to. "You don't need to continue. I get it."

"Okay!" Mine exclaimed, a little louder than she probably intended. "I understand that that must've been really hard for you. Just know that I don't judge you for it in the slightest."

"Thank you," Naoko said. "It means a lot to hear you say that. It really does."

"I'm sure," Mine replied. After that, there was another pause.

"Would you like to move onto your thing, or would you like to ask about it further?" Naoko asked to relieve the tension.

"What? No! I don't want to force you to do anything. Just...tell me mine. That's all I ask."

Naoko nodded. "Alright, well, according to what I was given, you're claustrophobic. That's it."

Mine looked confused. "That's it? I thought that was...I hate to say it, but I felt like that was obvious. Remember what I said when we first met?"

"You mentioned feeling boxed in, yes," Naoko replied. "I'd imagine being here has been really hard for you because of that. We are trapped here, after all."

Mine nodded repeatedly. "Absolutely! I know I'd rather not worry people by acting out, but the thought of staying here forever has really been freaking me out. At least it's not completely cramped. I've definitely been in situations that have been way worse for my claustrophobia."

"Really?" Naoko asked. "I guess I can't really comment on that. I can't really relate to you on that point."

"Yeah, I mean," Mine said, rubbing her arm, "I actually remember something that happened in high school that was way worse."

"You do?" Naoko asked. "Is it a vivid memory, or is it vague, like most of our high school memories?"

"It's...pretty vivid, for the most part. There were these kids, and they trapped...they…" Naoko could tell that Mine was uncomfortable recalling such a memory. Her breathing was becoming irregular, and she was beginning to sweat.

"It's okay," Naoko assured her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "You don't need to tell me anything, remember?"

"That's...that's true," Mine agreed, wiping sweat off her forehead. "Thank you for talking to me about this, Naoko. I really appreciate it."

Naoko smiled. "No problem. Now, is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"Nah, I think I got all that out of my system." Mine suddenly shifted to a look of remembrance. "Oh! And I should probably go and find Bankei! Who knows what that girl could be doing right now, am I right?"

"Definitely," Naoko agreed. "I'll let you get right to it, then."

Naoko opened the door for Mine, who left right away in search of the mischievous mythologist who had already given them all more than enough trouble. Naoko, on the other hand, had no such responsibility. He decided to stay in his room for the time being. He quickly remembered that he didn't have much in the way of activities in his own room, however, so he sat down on his bed and decided to do some thinking.

The idea of escaping as a group was something that they had, since the beginning of their time in the facility, been pondering. Unfortunately, it seemed like coming together to work on such escape plans was being put on the backburner, as new issues were already arising that were keeping them from focusing their efforts. Still, while he had time to think, he'd consider some of the options that they had. He could share what he thought up later.

Grabbing some papers and a pencil, Naoko began writing down some ideas that came to mind, while making sure the camera in his room couldn't see what he was writing. The first thing he thought about was the very conspicuous door. He and Yori had already spoken of the door, and how a way out had to be through there. It only made sense that they'd want to get out through there. The obvious issue with that plan was that the room had some heavy security measures. There were a pair of cameras, and possibly some hidden weapons, too. And those were just the security measures they had even thought about.

There was the question of whether or not IMONO would actually kill them over them trying to escape. If so, they all had to escape before IMONO found out. If not, it'd still be best to escape without being caught beforehand, because who knew what IMONO would do to stop them from escaping again?

The next question Naoko thought of was what they would do to get past the door. Apparently, it couldn't be lifted. However, could it be blown open? Maybe, but how would they create or find a powerful explosive? Some heavy equipment could possibly bust it down, if they could find any. Still, IMONO was watching them, so it wasn't like they could get such equipment to the room itself without it being noticed. Or could they? Something to think about if they were to find such equipment.

Could they, perhaps, dig their way out? That seemed like a farfetched notion. Firstly, they'd need some good equipment to actually dig a hole. Secondly, they'd need to find a good area to do so that wasn't being watched, and even then, it'd be a noisy process. Third, they'd need a way to cover it up when they weren't working on it. Fourth, they needed a good way to dispose of the stone they chipped away. It wasn't like mined stone just disappeared or anything.

Could they usurp IMONO? If so, how? Yori was a security analyst, so she could probably find a weakness in IMONO's programming to exploit. But wait, how would they even get a look at IMONO's code? For that matter, how the hell would they be able to hack into it? They'd need access to wherever IMONO was running, right? This was all outside Naoko's field of expertise.

Or could they just...wait? It sounded like a lame tactic, but maybe it could work. After all, they had friends, family, and so on. Certainly, there had to be people looking for them. It wasn't like a place like this could just fly under the radar, could it? How long would it take for the place to be found? A month? A year? What if the place was in a location so remote, finding it would be impossible? If that was the case, waiting for rescue would have to be a last resort.

Naoko put the paper down. Already, he was getting overwhelmed with ideas. He didn't even know if any of them were even all that good. What was wrong with him? This situation seemed perfect for him. He was supposed to be the expert puzzle solver. He was supposed to be the one that was good at figuring things out and thinking logically.

Naoko pushed those thoughts out of his mind and took a deep breath. He was no Macgyver. That was okay. He could talk about it with everyone else at a later time if he needed to. Already, he had some ideas laid out for them, and considering the fact that they had no clear time limit, it was a good start. Naoko neatly folded the papers he wrote on and slipped them into his pocket.

He checked the time and was surprised to find that it was already getting close to 10PM. How long had he been in his room for? He must've lost track of time at some point between inviting Mine into his room and beginning his brainstorming session. The fact that he was in his room for so long rather worried him. Who knew what could've been happening? Curious of exactly that, Naoko slipped out of his room.

Naoko found himself in the space in front of the dorms, with hallways leading to both the large square room as well as the gym and some other rooms further along said hallway. Naoko figured that there would probably be more people in the cafeteria than anywhere else, so he decided to head down the former hallway. Before he could even reach the door, however, it opened on its own, revealing two figures on the other side.

"Sup, Naoko?" Ishi said conversationally, Yori standing behind her.

"Oh, hey you two," Naoko said. "Has anything happened since the time I've been in my room?"

"No," Yori replied. "What do you think could've happened?"

"I don't know," Naoko admitted. "I was just worried because of how on edge people have been recently."

"I suppose I didn't make it any better," Yori said. "I said what I was thinking without considering how it may have affected them. With how worried people were, they didn't need my cynicism. I'd like to atone for being reckless like that. So, I've talked to Ishi here, and she and I have agreed to talk about her secret, since I have hers."

"Yep, and we'll be doing it while enjoying some time in the washroom together. So yeah, if you want to stop by and see some girl-on-girl bonding, feel free to stop by," Ishi said, giving Naoko a suggestive wink.

"That...sounds like it'd be an invasion of privacy," Naoko pointed out.

"Ha!" Ishi laughed. "Just kidding."

"It'll be purely platonic, just so you're aware," Yori assured Naoko. "I know it sounds suggestive."

"Will it be purely platonic, though?" Ishi joked.

"Well," Naoko said, brushing off Ishi's comment, "you two have fun, I guess."

"Okay, Naoko. See you later, I suppose," Yori replied.

The two began to walk past Naoko and towards the washroom, and Naoko stood there thinking about what their conversation would be like. Hopefully it'd stay mellow. He'd hate it if they got angry at each other. Then again, his meeting with Mine was pretty mellow, so maybe they'd both be fine, too.

Suddenly, Naoko remembered the papers he had been writing on earlier. He thought that maybe Yori would like to see them, at the very least so that she could mull over the contents. Naoko followed the two of them, stopping them before they entered the washroom.

"Hang on, Yori," Naoko said. "I just remembered there's something I'd like to give you."

"Oh?" Yori replied, turning to face him. Naoko handed her his papers, and she opened them up to take a look at their contents.

"Hm," Yori said. "Interesting. It looks like you're putting quite a bit of thought into this. Thanks, Naoko. I'll share this with the others in the morning."

The two girls entered the washroom, leaving Naoko alone in the hallway. He wasn't alone for long, though. Soon, he began to hear footsteps from his left. Naoko was curious, and peered over the corner to see Haru making his way over.

"Naoko? Hey, man," Haru said, closing the distance between them.

"Haru?" Naoko asked. "Hey. Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah," Haru replied. "Just thought I'd head to my room for the time being. You?"

"I was just interested in seeing how everyone is," Naoko replied. "I'm really hoping we'll get through this."

"We probably will," Haru said. "I mean, I don't expect us all to be all buddy-buddy, but hey, what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know," Naoko replied. "I think we have a good chance of becoming friends if we put our minds to it."

"Does that include Bankei?" Haru asked. Naoko paused, not really sure if said girl would ever do such a thing. "Yeah, that bitch is crazy, ain't she?"

"Yeah, I spoke to her in private, and she wasn't very agreeable. Based on what she told me, she seems to enjoy having fun at other people's expense. Not a good trait for a friend to have."

"You're telling me," Haru agreed. "Let's hope Mine can deal with 'er. She's gotta be tough as nails to be able to handle that chick."

"Yeah, here's hoping."

After that, their conversation ceased, and Haru went to the dorms. Naoko on the other hand decided to head down the hallway that Haru came from. He made it to the T intersection in the hallway when he noticed yet another large figure, this one being Michio, holding a bag of trash.

"Oh, hey Naoko," Michio said. "Going somewhere?"

"Nowhere in particular," Naoko admitted. "I thought a while ago that I would head to the cafeteria, but to be honest, I just wanna go where there's people."

"Well, I'm here," Michio pointed out. "I shouldn't stick around for too long, though. I'm the one taking out the trash, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Naoko replied. "I hope you don't mind doing so."

"Nah," Michio replied simply. "It doesn't bother me. Hell, I've actually been keeping some spare trash bags on me recently. Saves me from making trips to the trash room. So yeah, I'm pretty comfortable doing so."

"Well, then I hope you're in good spirits. I've been kinda worried recently. About everyone, that is."

"Understandable," Michio said. "I wouldn't worry too much, though."

*Dong, Ding, Dong!*

"THE TIME IS NOW 10PM. IT IS NOW NIGHTTIME. YOU MAY CONTINUE YOUR CURRENT ACTIVITIES, BUT I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU RETURN TO YOUR ROOMS AS SOON AS YOU ARE ABLE. SWEET DREAMS."

"Ah," Michio responded, "it's nighttime now. I should finish up my work. Sorry, it looks like we'll be cutting our talk short."

"No need to apologize," Naoko assured him. "It's not your fault or anything."

"Yeah," Michio agreed. "I'll be going to bed soon. You should too. After all, if you wanna talk to people, there's always tomorrow."

Naoko nodded. "That's a good idea."

*Dong, ding, dong!*

"GOOD MORNING. IT IS NOW 8AM. IF YOU ARE ALREADY AWAKE, THEN HELLO. LET US ALL WORK TOWARDS MUTUAL HARMONY TODAY."

Naoko woke up with a long yawn. Yet another night spent in the facility. Another weird IMONO-related dream. Probably a result of stress. Well, he didn't have to carry such stress with him all on his own. He had all of his fellow Ultimates, after all...except Bankei.

Naoko made his way to the cafeteria for another communal breakfast.

"Hey Naoko!" Mine said happily as she saw him enter. "Thanks again for inviting me to your room yesterday!"

Naoko gave her a thumbs up. "No worries."

"Wait," Mareo cut in, "you invited her to your room, Naoko?"

"Heh," Ishi chuckled. "Wow, Naoko. I guess you didn't need my offer after all."

"It wasn't like that," Naoko countered. "We talked to each other about the secrets we got."

"What do you mean by that?" Eryu asked.

"We got each other secrets," Naoko clarified. "I gotta say, I was surprised. I don't know if it was intentional on IMONO's part or what."

"Sh-should we ask, maybe?" Sasa suggested, without much in the way of confidence.

"Do you think we'd actually get a concrete answer?" Takeshi asked.

"I dunno, maybe," Michio replied.

"I don't wanna deal with IMONO today," Kimi said. "Let's just not." A good few people nodded in agreement to that sentiment.

"I can ask IMONO about it in private, then," Yori offered.

"As can I," Bankei added, earning her some suspicious looks.

"You and Mine must've gotten off easy, Naoko," Haru said. "You two were able to kill two birds with one stone. That's what I call efficiency."

"With any luck, all of this will be behind us shortly," Hoshi commented.

"Yeah, here's hoping," Mariko agreed.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm afraid I've noticed something," Yasuo spoke up from the back of the room.

Naoko had noticed something, too. He had just heard everyone in the room speak at least once, and to be honest, it was comforting to hear everyone's voices right at the start of the day. Except, well, it wasn't everyone's voices.

"Keiko isn't here," Naoko said. "Funny. She woke up pretty early yesterday."

"Maybe she has an erratic sleep schedule," Mareo suggested. "Not the healthiest trait, but I guess we wouldn't actually know about it unless she told us."

"You're probably overthinking this," Hoshi replied. "Maybe she just had to use the bathroom before coming here."

"Then she'll probably be here soon enough," Yori reasoned. "Let's just focus on breakfast for now."

That was the end of the discussion, as nobody seemed to doubt such a possibility. So, the fifteen of them that had arrived in the cafeteria on time enjoyed a nice breakfast together. Unfortunately, it became apparent that even after a full five minutes of breakfast time, Keiko still hadn't arrived. Naoko looked over to Yori, and decided to move over to her in order to address it.

"She's still not here," Naoko pointed out.

"I know," Yori replied. "Do you think something's wrong?"

"Yeah, I'm starting to think that," Naoko admitted. "We should check her room."

With Yori in tow, Naoko left the cafeteria to check the dorms. Approaching Keiko's room, he rang her doorbell, hoping to get Keiko's attention on the other side. It didn't work. Naoko then rang the doorbell a few more times. Still, nothing. He knocked on the door loudly. Nothing.

"Where is she?" Naoko wondered aloud.

"Somewhere else, clearly," Yori responded. "Let's look around. Maybe she really is in the bathroom after all."

Naoko shrugged, not really disagreeing with that possibility. So, the two of them made their way towards the bathroom. They passed through the square room that connected the dorm's hallway to the hallway with the entrances to the medical room and storage room, and into the latter hallway.

Yori then stopped Naoko for a moment. "Let's check some other rooms on the way," she advised. Naoko considered that a good idea and agreed. Yori peeked into the medical room and didn't say anything. Naoko peeked into the storage room adjacent and couldn't help but scream.

In the room was something that Naoko never even wanted to consider a possibility. He could see in the room the many plastic containers that he remembered. They were largely placed close to the sides of the room, many of which were stacked atop one another. This placement allowed Naoko a clear view of the center of the room. There, he saw a pool of blood, the origin of which obvious, as in the middle of the pool, Keiko's body lay, her throat cut by a knife that was still in her neck.

A/N: Oh boy, a murder! Things are getting underway, for sure. I was initially a bit iffy about the concept that I had for this one, but I've decided to stick to my guns on it, so expect the next few chapters or so to involve the cast dealing with this case.

Also, there's kind of an important thing I'd like to mention. I referenced in the author's notes at the end of the prologue that I was interested in getting some artwork for the cast. That's still something I'm interested in, and I've been experimenting with some different things that could allow me to get some visual representation for the sixteen of them, but, well, there's a problem. The problem, obviously, is that FF does not support images. This wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't also interested in using some other images. Specifically, I've created some maps that show the layout of the facility (I haven't done the entire facility yet, but I'll work up to that) that I've used as a reference while writing. However, I'd like to share them with my readers as well, to make things easier to understand. In order to do that, I'll need to use another site, so I've decided to apply for an AO3 account. As soon as I can, I'm going to try uploading onto there as well, and update this fic on both sites (I'm aware that other fics have been uploaded to both FF and AO3, so yeah, I'm gonna do that).

I know that, based on the view count, not many people have noticed this fic yet. I'm fine with that, personally, but I'd still like to say this to anyone who's interested. If you'd like to see this fic with some images attached, then search for this fic over on AO3 in the coming weeks.