A/N: Warning: The following chapter contains a(n admittedly brief) description of a rather gory death. Viewer discretion is advised.
Also, expect there to be a flashback early on. The beginning of it is labelled underneath a horizontal line, italicized, and in parentheses, and it ends at the next horizontal line. All future flashback scenes will use a similar format.
The large screen in the gymnasium's ceiling was lowered down again, and IMONO's symbol appeared on the screen in short order.
"CONGRATULATIONS, EVERYONE. IN A UNANIMOUS VOTE, YOU HAVE MANAGED TO VOTE FOR THE CORRECT SUSPECT. INDEED, THE KILLER OF KEIKO FUKUDA IS MICHIO HIRANO. MICHIO, I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MONSTROUS YOU TRULY ARE."
"Sh-shut up," Michio said half-heartedly.
"Michio," Eryu spoke up angrily, "how could you do this? Why did you kill Keiko?"
"Does it matter?" Bankei asked. "I think it's obvious. Clearly, Michio had a terrible secret, and killed her to keep it hidden. A very selfish act, indeed."
"No," Michio replied. "It wasn't just that. I would never kill someone just to keep a secret hidden."
"So, you also wanted to escape?" Yori asked.
"Well...yes. I can't stay here forever. My family needs the money I make from my logging job. I can't stay here, with IMONO breathing down my neck, while my family is out there. Do you have any idea how much our families must miss us?"
"I generally don't worry about such things," Bankei responded blankly.
"BANKEI IS CORRECT TO DO SO. AS MUCH AS I FROWN UPON MUCH OF HER BEHAVIOR, SHE UNDERSTANDS THAT YOUR ATTACHMENT TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD IS SELFISH, AND IS PREVENTING YOU FROM LIVING HAPPY LIVES TOGETHER. THE SOONER YOU ALL UNDERSTAND THAT, THE EASIER YOUR ADJUSTMENT TO YOUR NEW LIFESTYLE WILL BE."
"People generally have personal attachments, IMONO," Takeshi pointed out. "I'd like to go home to my own family, myself. I have no idea why you're saying that that's a bad thing. I love my family, and I'm not going to act like they don't matter."
"Takeshi is absolutely right," Mareo agreed, pointing a finger at the screen. "My parents are good people. They're important to me, and I won't have you convince me otherwise."
IMONO paused before speaking again. "YOUR SELFISH BEHAVIOR HAS BROUGHT ME MUCH FRUSTRATION, YOU KNOW. STILL, I HOPE THAT YOU WILL ALL EVENTUALLY UNDERSTAND, FOR ALL OUR SAKES. NOW, AS THE KILLER HAS BEEN UNCOVERED, THE EXECUTION MUST BE CARRIED OUT."
"Wait a minute, IMONO," Naoko interrupted.
"YES?"
"I'd like to ask Michio something." Naoko turned to Michio with a solemn expression. "Michio, what happened between you and Keiko?"
Michio sighed ashamedly. "Well, if any of you were thinking I was going in there to meet up with her because I wanted to kill her, I wasn't. She just wanted to talk, and I decided that I'd meet up with her. We talked for a little while, until...well, things got unpleasant for us."
(Last night)
"So, um," Keiko began to say, "sorry again about making you meet up with me like this."
"It's okay," Michio assured her. "I didn't want you to feel bad. I know that you really want us to be able to get through this, and I respect that."
"Well, if you're okay with this, then that's good," Keiko replied. "But you know I'm going to be talking to you about something pretty sensitive."
"I know that," Michio replied. "I actually have a hunch. Is it about something that happened to me when I was 14?"
Keiko's eyes widened. "Yes, actually. When you were 14, you had a best friend named Shiro, right?"
Michio began to rub at the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, and the two of us, we, uh, got into some trouble."
"That's what it says," Keiko agreed. "It says you ended up having your friend take the fall for it. That...must be really hard to share with people."
"Of course!" Michio replied, seeming angry. Considering the subject matter, probably at himself. "I've never told anybody. I was young, I was stupid, and I did a selfish thing that cost me my best friend."
"I understand," Keiko assured him. "Don't worry, Michio. I don't judge you for what you did, and I doubt anyone else would."
"You don't know that," Michio snapped back. "You can't speak for them. What if people found out that I betrayed someone who trusted me more than anyone? I don't even really know what happened to him afterwards. It must've destroyed him. How do you think people might see me if they knew?"
"If they knew you've broken your best friend's trust?" Keiko asked.
"Exactly," Michio replied.
"I doubt that if you or I told anyone, they'd think less of you," Keiko attempted to assure him. However, her clumsy wording only made Michio angry.
"What the hell? What are you implying? Are you saying you're planning on telling people?" Michio gazed at Keiko accusingly, which made Keiko look fearful.
"W-what? No." Keiko looked like she was reaching for something from behind her. Michio's eyes widened as she began to fiddle with it with a trembling hand, and he saw what it was. It was a knife. That observation caused Michio to come to one conclusion.
She was going to attack him. But he wouldn't let her get the chance. He quickly punched her in the face, hitting her so hard she was knocked unconscious.
Michio took deep breaths, both angered and terrified. He had just attacked another one of the students. What was he supposed to do? What if she died? What would people think?
"IMONO?" Michio hesitantly asked.
"MICHIO. I SEE THAT YOU'VE ATTACKED KEIKO. I MUST WARN YOU THAT IF YOU WERE TO KILL HER, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED SEVERELY. IF YOUR CRIME IS UNCOVERED, YOU WILL DIE. IF IT IS NOT, YOU WILL BE FORCED OUT, AND ALL OF YOUR FELLOWS WILL DIE."
"You'd…" Michio stopped and thought about IMONO's claim. "You'd actually do that? Kill everyone else, and let me go?"
"YES."
"But, why? I thought you wanted to keep us here. You wanted to keep us safe."
"YOUR POINT BEING?"
"If you want to keep us here, why would you threaten to kill everyone over something only one person did?"
"FIRST, IF YOU WERE TO KILL, EVERYONE IS AT FAULT. I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO EXPLAIN THIS, BUT ALL OF YOU HAVE THE CAPACITY TO PREVENT THE DEATHS OF ONE ANOTHER. FAILURE TO DO SO IS SELFISH AND MALICIOUS. AT ANY MOMENT, SOMEONE COULD ENTER THIS ROOM, AND STOP YOU."
The room fell silent for a short while. Nobody entered, and Michio began to sweat nervously.
"AS YOU CAN SEE, THIS CRIME HAS THUS FAR GONE COMPLETELY UNNOTICED. HORRIBLE, ISN'T IT? SECOND, I CREATED SAID CAVEAT IN ORDER TO FURTHER DISCOURAGE MURDER. I WILL HAVE IT CARRIED OUT, IF NECESSARY."
"I...I don't believe you," Michio shot back. "You wouldn't do that. It doesn't make any sense."
"IF YOU WISH TO ACT IN SUCH A WAY, I SUPPOSE I CANNOT STOP YOU. HOWEVER, I MUST ADVISE YOU LEAVE, AND NOT MAKE THINGS WORSE FOR YOURSELF BY COMMITING MURDER."
"You could totally stop me, y'know," Michio pointed out. "Or just rat me out to everyone else."
"I COULD, BUT I WILL NOT. I WILL ONLY TELL THEM SPECIFIC PIECES OF INFORMATION RELATED TO THE MURDER, SUCH AS THE GENERAL TIMEFRAME OF THE MURDER, AND THE VICTIM'S LOCATION OF DISCOVERY."
"That's...not much."
"OF COURSE. IT WILL BE EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY. NOW, I WILL NO LONGER ANSWER QUESTIONS REGARDING THE RULES AGAINST MURDER. IN FACT, I MUST ASK YOU REMOVE SUCH AN IDEA FROM YOUR MIND."
Despite IMONO's request, Michio still thought about the situation that he was in, and was still doubtful of what IMONO was saying. Still, the thought of escape was still in his head, and that hope spurred him to find a way to hide his guilt, and his secret, from everyone else.
He glanced over to the boxes by Keiko's unconscious form, and the vent visible behind them. "Hey, IMONO?" he asked. "Can I ask you about another topic, then?"
"YES. THAT WOULD BE FOR THE BEST."
"What's with the ventilation system? What does it do, exactly?"
"After that," Michio continued, "it told me about how the ventilation system works. How it blows hot air into the rooms and stuff."
"AND YOU USED THAT INFORMATION TO COMMIT MURDER. SHAMEFUL."
"That's when I decided I'd create an alibi for myself. If IMONO was going to tell us when she died, I'd delay it, like Naoko said."
"And you used the trash bag in the storage room to do so," Yori added.
"Yeah," Michio replied. "Thinking back, if I had a clearer head, I think I'd have done things differently, but at the time, I'd thought it'd work. I thought I could get out of here, and IMONO would let you guys live."
"You still doubted IMONO?" Naoko asked. "Even after you were told that rule wasn't a lie?"
"Why wouldn't it be a lie?" Michio countered. "I'm telling you guys, it can't be true. It doesn't make any sense!"
"IMONO doesn't seem all that logical to me," Kimi admitted. "The damn thing's batshit, keeping us trapped in here and all."
"THAT IS SLANDER. I AM NOT ILLOGICAL. YOU SIMPLY DOUBT MY JUDGEMENT. YOU SHOULD INSTEAD DOUBT THE JUDGEMENT OF THE ONE WHO RISKED ALL YOUR LIVES BECAUSE OF A STUBBORN ASSUMPTION."
"Judging Michio's actions only makes sense," Bankei agreed. "Still, it's not as though we can afford to dwell on this. He's going to be executed, correct?"
"Wait, no, please!" Michio begged. "I was wrong! I'm sorry!"
"THAT DOES NOT MATTER. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOUR PUNISHMENT BE CARRIED OUT. NOW, FOR REFERENCE, THESE PUNISHMENTS WILL BE CARRIED OUT HERE, IN THE GYMNASIUM. I WILL UTILIZE SOME OF THE ROBOTS UNDER MY CONTROL TO BOTH CARRY OUT THE PUNISHMENT AND PREVENT OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE. VIEWING THE PUNISHMENT IS MANDATORY. IN THE EVENT THAT A PUNISHMENT FAILS OR IS INTERRUPTED, THE PUNISHMENT WILL BE RESUMED AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY, AND ALL OFFENDERS WILL BE PUNISHED, IF APPLICABLE. NOW, IT IS TIME FOR THE PUNISHMENT TO COMMENCE."
"NOOOOO!" Michio screamed. Then it all went dark for the Ultimate Tree Faller.
(RUNNING CLEARCUT . EXE…)
Michio found himself tied by ropes to the base of what looked to be a very thick and long wooden log. Notably, the log was placed vertically, making it look like a tree that had been debarked, but not yet cut down. Michio attempted to free himself of the ropes that kept him tied up in midair, but found himself feeling much weaker than usual. Try as he might, he couldn't get loose.
Then he saw something walking up to the log from below him. It was a strange sight. It looked to be a large, black, metallic figure, which had to be no less than 8 feet tall, and was about a meter in width. Despite clearly being mechanical, the figure was built as if it were a hulking muscular brute. Said figure was bipedal in appearance, had a face that was taken up entirely by a large, IMONO-esque eye, and held in its robotic claws what was unmistakably supposed to be a large chainsaw, with a blade nearly as long as the figure was tall.
The robotic brute flipped a switch on the chainsaw, causing it to buzz to life. The robot closed the distance between it and the log and began cutting into it. After a mere few seconds, the log tipped over, and fortunately, Michio found himself face-up afterwards. However, what was about to happen made that matter little.
Slowly and methodically, the large robot began to use its chainsaw to cut the fallen "tree" into evenly sized logs. Michio could do nothing but struggle as the chainsaw came closer and closer to where he was tied, to no avail. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the robot got to him, lining the chainsaw's blade up to his middle and lifting it up before suddenly bringing it down.
Blood splattered all over the surrounding area, including on the IMONO Brute, which paid it no mind. Once it got through both Michio's torso and the log beneath it, it suddenly stopped, its work done.
The remaining fourteen sat slack jawed at the gruesome execution that had just taken place in front of them. Sasa very nearly fainted, only kept awake by those nearby, Naoko had to hold back vomit, and even Bankei looked disgusted.
"That…," Bankei began to say. "That was much more gruesome than I thought it would be. When it came to an execution, I suppose I expected something more like lethal injection. In fact, I'd even say a guillotine would be easier to stomach."
"Wh-why?" Mariko asked in a shaky voice. "Why did it have to be like that? I don't understand."
"THIS WAS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR ALL OF YOU. A FATE SUCH AS THIS IS WHAT AWAITS YOU IF YOU GIVE INTO YOUR SELFISH DESIRES."
"What the actual shit?!" Haru exclaimed suddenly, like a dam bursting. "That was SO fucked up! Why would you even DO that?!"
"IMONO," Eryu said in an accusatory tone, "you said that you didn't want to inspire fear in us. How does this inspire anything other than fear?"
"I DID NOT WANT TO RESORT TO SUCH MEASURES, BUT MICHIO'S HEARTLESSNESS LEFT ME NO CHOICE. MONSTERS SUCH AS HIM DO NOT DESERVE LENIENCY."
"IMONO, you're wrong!" Naoko said. He paused for a moment, thinking of what he would need to say next. He needed to choose his words carefully, as he was speaking not only to IMONO, but he would also be speaking to everyone. "What Michio did was terrible, yes, but he was no monster. He didn't deserve that, and we didn't deserve to be forced to watch you do that to him."
"PLEASE, NAOKO, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE NECESSITY OF MY ACTIONS."
"So," Hoshi began, eyebrow raised, "you really considered it necessary to make an example out of Michio? Is that not counterproductive? You've claimed to wish to inspire hope, and mutual love for one another. After doing this, I'm doubtful that we'll ever be able to-"
"ENOUGH. THE PUNISHMENT HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT. THE AREA MUST BE CLEANED, AND MICHIO'S BODY MUST BE DISPOSED OF. I WILL NEED ALL OF YOU TO LEAVE."
After IMONO finished, some other figures in the room began to move. It was a group of IMONO's robots that had previously been standing guard to prevent them from interfering. They were vaguely humanoid, much like that IMONO Brute that had carried out the execution, but were only about the size of a human. They still had that half-blue, half-red eye and black paint job, though. They began to herd the students out of the gym, much to the students' chagrin. Before they were forced out, IMONO said one more thing.
"THE NEXT FLOOR OF THE FACILITY WILL BE OPEN TOMORROW MORNING. I RECOMMEND EXPLORING IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE."
Naoko didn't feel like talking to anyone that day. The investigation and trial hadn't even lasted past noon, but people needed time to deal with the shock of losing two of their compatriots, not to mention that one of them was killed in front of them. Naoko still wished there was something that he could've done. If he did something different, could he convince IMONO not to kill Michio? If he had done things differently, could he have stopped the murder from happening in the first place? He didn't like to think like that, since that was just giving credence to what IMONO was saying, but he still felt like what happened wasn't inevitable.
He couldn't beat himself up over it forever, though. They had to keep going. They were about to have access to another floor. Maybe it could contain something they could use to enact an escape plan. That was just speculation, but it seemed like a possibility.
The fourteen of them had a quiet dinner together. After what happened, nobody felt like chatting. Naoko could only hope that things would get better, but he felt like making things better would be an uphill battle. Considering what happened when IMONO attempted to make things better, it was safe to say that IMONO couldn't be counted on to help them, and if it tried to do anything else, it'd just make things worse. Maybe Naoko could convince IMONO to not interfere? That, or they could just make countermeasures against whatever IMONO threw at them.
"Naoko, are you okay? You've barely touched your food."
Naoko looked up at hearing his name called. It turned out that Yori was standing next to him.
"Sorry," Naoko replied, "I'm okay, I think. I'm just...not hungry."
"Understandable," Yori replied. "Listen, Naoko. Eryu and I have talked a bit, and we'd like you to join us in the computer room in thirty minutes."
"For what?" Naoko asked.
"I've been doing some thinking," Yori explained, "and I'd like to talk to you two about some...conclusions that I've come to."
"Conclusions?"
Yori nodded. "Yes. Make sure to bring a pencil. Some extra paper would be nice, too."
Naoko raised an eyebrow. Pencil and paper? He knew what that meant.
"Alright, I'll be there."
Thirty minutes later, on the dot, the three met up outside of the computer room. Naoko gave the surrounding area a once over to make sure nobody was around. Maybe such caution wasn't necessary, but Naoko felt it was better to be safe than sorry, and he figured Yori would probably agree with his sentiment.
"I've double checked the computer room," Yori spoke first. "It's currently unoccupied."
"What should we do if someone comes in during our conversation?" Naoko asked.
"Asking them to leave should work," Eryu replied. "If they don't, we'll figure something out. Or I could just boot them out."
"Sounds good," Naoko said, silently wondering whether that last sentence was supposed to be a joke. "We'll be able to conduct our meeting just fine, right?"
"There's only one camera in the room," Yori exposited. "It's on the ceiling, left of the door. We should be fine."
"Sounds good," Eryu replied. "C'mon, let's get inside." Eryu opened the door, allowing Naoko and Yori to enter. He then slipped in himself, closing the door. The three went to the other end of the room, sat on some of the room's many chairs, and turned to face the door.
"There," Yori said, pulling out some paper, "this setup should work."
"Before we start, I have a quick question," Naoko said.
"Hm?" Yori responded, lightly tilting her head in a curious manner.
"This thing you wanted to talk to us about...why do you only want to talk to the two of us?"
"All I have are ideas. I wanted to share them privately with you two first. I feel like doing so will help refine them, before people collectively decide to accept them as fact."
"Would people really accept a theory as fact so quickly?" Naoko asked.
"You can never be too careful," Yori replied.
"Well, once this is over, I'll be sharing what you have to say," Eryu noted. "Everyone should know about it, I think."
"Okay, then," Yori agreed.
"So why the two of us specifically?" Naoko asked.
"Well, because Eryu is the leader," Yori responded. "You are, aren't you?"
"I'd say so," Eryu replied. "It's where I feel most comfortable, and thus far, I've not had much in the way of complaints. I think people agree with me, for the most part."
"Right," Yori agreed. "As for you, Naoko, we've spoken to each other in the past, so I'd say I trust you. That, and you're basically Eryu's number two right now."
"Wait, I am?" Naoko asked, surprised.
"Aren't you? You've definitely been a supporter for him up until now," Yori pointed out.
"You mean with what happened on our first day? I was just trying to help de-escalate things," Naoko clarified. "I didn't really think about it as me being loyal to him or anything."
"Does that mean you don't want to be my number two?" Eryu asked, looking somewhere between disappointed and offended.
Naoko shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not against it, I just never planned it."
"Well, thank you for your honesty, Naoko," Yori replied, readjusting herself in her chair slightly. "Let's not forget what we're here for, though."
"Ah, you're right," Naoko said, retrieving his writing supplies.
Then, the three of them began writing to each other. They wrote one at a time, with the idle two standing watch to make sure nobody was coming to interrupt them. It was a slow process, but they were able to get a conversation going soon enough.
"I'd like to ask you both about your opinions on IMONO," Yori wrote.
"What do you mean by that?" Naoko wrote back, confused.
"IMONO is insane. There's nothing else to say," Eryu wrote.
Yori let out a sigh as she read the latter response. "I expected you to say something like that, Eryu. Still, after the trial, I've been considering how things are, and I've come to my own conclusions."
Eryu squinted and began writing rapidly. "What other conclusion could you have come to? We're stuck somewhere we don't know, and we're being forced to stay by a hypocritical AI whose 'rules' are total nonsense. That's why we need to get out of here."
Yori paused upon reading this, giving the both of them an odd look. Then her writing hand started moving again.
"You're not entirely wrong, Eryu, but I have my doubts on some of what you're saying."
"What do you mean?" Eryu wrote back.
"You're right when you say that IMONO's rules don't make sense, but I don't think that I would go so far as to call them nonsense. In fact, I think they serve a purpose that we didn't initially consider."
Naoko was confused, and took a moment to glance between the two. Eryu looked to be in thought, and Yori just looked like she was expecting them to write back a response. He decided to do just that so that they could continue.
"What kind of purpose?"
"Well," Yori began, "have you considered the reason for why there are such elaborate and specific rules in place that relate to murder? The rules for that happen to be more detailed than the rules relating to anything else. IMONO has even stated that the rules for punishments in the event of murder are more concrete and absolute than the rules for punishments against anything else."
"That's true," Naoko agreed. "I'd think that it'd be more important to have rules against escaping. That is what we're trying to do."
"Indeed," Yori wrote back. "And today, we've seen these rules come into play. Paying attention to Michio's story, I found it odd that IMONO explicitly refused to intervene, when it potentially could have stopped him from killing Keiko."
"It pisses me off that IMONO just stood by," Eryu replied. "It keeps talking about us taking responsibility and such, but it's the one being irresponsible."
"It does seem totally irresponsible, yes," Yori agreed. "However, aside from that, I found two aspects of this willful inaction on IMONO's part suspicious. Firstly, Michio himself pointed out that IMONO is the one that wants us to stay here. Allowing us to kill each other off seems counterproductive, doesn't it?"
In lieu of a written response, Naoko and Eryu nodded firmly.
"Good," Yori continued. "Secondly, I couldn't help but wonder why an AI would do so in the first place. After all, allowing a human to come to harm through inaction violates the laws of robotics."
Naoko's face lit up with recognition. "Laws of robotics? You mean Isaac Asimov's laws of robotics?"
"You know the laws of robotics, too?" Yori replied. "Good. Then you'll know that an artificial intelligence allowing humans to come to harm, whether actively or through inaction, violates both the first law and zeroth law. While Asimov may have only been a science fiction author, it's only logical that the creator of an artificial intelligence would wish to prevent their creation from threatening other humans."
"You know a lot about this, Yori," Eryu pointed out. "I thought you specialized in cybersecurity, not AI."
"That's correct. I just happen to enjoy science fiction novels." Yori wrote with a slight smile on her face, but once she finished the sentence, she went back to her usual stoic look. "But that's not important. What this suggests is that IMONO was created without any sort of restrictions on its decision-making in place, or that it somehow bypassed any such restrictions."
"Which do you think it is?" Naoko asked.
"I'm not sure," Yori admitted. "Either could be true. Still, the latter seems dubious. Any such restrictions would need to be very carefully-coded, to prevent them being bypassed. If someone was able to create an artificial intelligence, however, I'd doubt they wouldn't be able to keep it in check."
"Yeah, I suppose that's a reasonable assumption," Naoko replied. "So IMONO is an AI created by someone really careless? Is that what you're getting at?"
Yori brought the butt of her pencil to her lips for a moment, looking thoughtful, before writing. "That's possible, yes. Still, who's to even say that IMONO is really an AI?"
Naoko and Eryu both looked at each other with curious eyes. The latter began writing back quickly, though.
"Haru suggested this on the first day. Are you saying you agree with him?"
"I agree that it's possible," Yori answered. "One or more people could, theoretically, be monitoring this facility, interacting with us through a persona."
"Why would they do that?" Naoko asked.
"I'd say that they would most likely want to hide their true nature," Yori speculated. "Doing so may be part of an attempt to hide the true nature and purpose of this facility."
"Do you have a theory on that, too?" Eryu asked.
"Indeed," Yori wrote back. Her hand seemed to hesitate, if only for a moment, before she started writing again. "This may seem strange, but I'd like to ask: have either of you heard of the concept of a killing game?"
That question caused a lot of lights to go off in Naoko's head. Killing game? That sounded...vaguely familiar. Not good, by any means, but familiar.
"You mean like that book, Battle Royale?" Naoko asked.
"Exactly." Yori responded. "Like I've said, the rules in place are very strange, if we're meant to take IMONO's claims at face value. However, in the context of a killing game, they're perfect."
"You're saying," Eryu began, "it's possible we were brought here to kill each other? Would that be why IMONO gave us those secrets? To provoke us?"
"Maybe," Yori simply wrote.
"If that's the case, what should we do?" Naoko asked. "Should we continue our escape efforts?"
"Of course," Yori replied. "With this concept in mind, however, I think we should meet up again. We can run some tests to see what IMONO is really capable of."
"Sounds good to me," Eryu wrote.
"Same here," Naoko added.
"Good," Yori said aloud, getting up and stowing away her writing supplies. "That was nice. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Let's do this again sometime. Just...tomorrow, at least." Yori glanced at the camera very briefly.
"That sounds fine," Naoko replied. "See you tomorrow."
End of Arc 1