A/N: It's time for the next "Arc" (Chapter) of the story! I don't have much to say about this chapter in the way of a preface. The only thing I really wanted to make note of right off the bat is that I currently plan to touch on some subjects that I initially wasn't sure of when I set out to write this. There's not much in the way of said subjects in this chapter, but you can expect some in later chapters. I'll have an A/N for when this is applicable.

Also, this chapter includes an exploration of a new area. If you're reading this on FF and would like a good visual, there'll be one on AO3.

Arc 2: Meddling of a Mechanical Matchmaker

Naoko woke up from a borderline-sleepless night, the events of the previous day still in his mind, and entered the cafeteria, where he saw that everyone else looked frazzled as well. Still, some of them were at least willing to greet him as he walked in.

"Hello, Naoko," Yori said. "You look tired. Did you have trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah," Naoko got out, rubbing his eyes. "I couldn't help but worry about what I'd end up dreaming about, after getting that image of Michio in my head. My dreams have been bad enough already."

"Tell me about it," Takeshi replied with a yawn.

"I had a similar issue," Hoshi added. "I tried to work on my writing to pass the time, but I was in no mood to create, so that didn't exactly go anywhere."

"Y-you've been writing?" Sasa asked curiously.

"Yes, I have," Hoshi replied. "Not long after we got here, I started to write down some ideas in my personal notebook in my spare time. I thought I could use the situation we've found ourselves in as inspiration."

"...Cool," Sasa replied simply. "Is it, um, scary?"

"What I have in my notebook?" Hoshi asked. "Not particularly. They're mostly just ideas. Like I said, however, I was in no mood to be creative yesterday."

"Seriously?" Kimi asked, an eyebrow raised. "You had no inspiration at all? I thought you wrote horror."

"That doesn't mean I'm immune to the psychological effects of seeing a man get bisected," Hoshi pointed out sternly. "Besides, it's not like I could simply write down what happened yesterday and call it a day. That isn't scary, like a shoggoth or a Great Old One. It's just disgusting, like a low-brow horror flick."

Kimi put her hands up. "Okay. Whatever. It's not like yours truly got any good ideas from it."

After that, there was an awkward pause, where the room's occupants were unsure of how to proceed. Eventually, however, the silence was broken.

"Hey, Naoko?" Mariko spoke up.

"What is it?" Naoko replied.

"I just wanted to thank you for what you did for us yesterday. It must've been really hard, but...well, I don't know if we would've been able to get through that trial without your help."

"You did do a good job, didn't you?" Yori added, giving Naoko a smile which made him smile too.

"Thank you two, but the praise isn't necessary." Naoko paused, a look of sorrow overtaking him. "...To be honest, though, it was hard. I didn't like the idea of letting Michio die like that, but I didn't have a choice. If I didn't do that, we'd all be dead, wouldn't we?"

"Needs of the many, Naoko," Mareo advised.

"Hmm. Yeah, needs of the many," Naoko reluctantly agreed.

"Ha!" Kimi replied from the other end of the room. "Of course the golden-yellow android would be a fan of sci-fi."

"...Huh?" Mareo said, looking over at Kimi with a weirded-out look. "Why do you guys keep calling me an android?"'

"It's the suit, man," Ishi replied. "It's like, super sci-fi."

"I'll admit that I myself have made such mental comparisons," Yori added. Naoko almost seconded her, but stopped himself for the sake of being polite.

"Well, there's no need to make a big deal out of it," Mareo pointed out. "I've had way too many people bug me about this suit as is."

"Then let's drop the subject," Mariko suggested. "Is there anything else we can talk about?"

"Well," Eryu began, "From what we were told yesterday, we'll be able to access a new floor today."

"THAT IS CORRECT."

The whole room turned towards the source of the sound. Once again, IMONO's symbol had shown up on the same screen as last time. As one would expect, nobody was happy.

"IMONO? What are you doing talking to us?" Mine asked.

"YOU ARE DISCUSSING THE FLOOR BELOW. I FELT IT APPROPRIATE TO JOIN IN THE CONVERSATION, IN ORDER TO PROVIDE ANSWERS TO ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE."

"Well, if you're here, can you answer something I've been thinking about?" Yori asked.

"WHAT IS IT?"

"How many floors does this facility have?"

"TECHNICALLY, THERE ARE SIX."

"Wait," Naoko interjected, "what do you mean technically?"

"THE SIXTH FLOOR IS DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER FIVE FLOORS. IT CONTAINS MISCELLANEOUS ROOMS THAT PROVIDE THE NECESSARY RESOURCES TO MAINTAIN THE SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF THIS FACILITY. THIS INCLUDES STORAGE ROOMS, CONTAINING VARIOUS NECESSARY SUPPLIES, AS WELL AS AN AUTOMATED PLANT FARM."

"When will we be able to access all the floors?" Mine asked. "A new floor is great, but two still isn't much."

"YOU CAN ALL EXPECT THEM TO BE OPENED SEQUENTIALLY. THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE OPENING OF NEW FLOORS SHOULD HOPEFULLY NOT LAST LONGER THAN A SINGLE WEEK. AS FOR THE SIXTH FLOOR, HOWEVER, FOR SECURITY'S SAKE, I HAVE DECIDED TO KEEP THE FLOOR CLOSED TO YOU. I APPRECIATE YOUR UNDERSTANDING."

"What do you mean by 'for security's sake' exactly?" Yori asked.

"WELL, AFTER RECENT EVENTS, SAFETY IS A CONCERN. IT WOULD BE VERY BAD IF SOMEONE WERE TO, FOR EXAMPLE, SABOTAGE THE AUTOMATED FARM."

"Oh, so now you're worried about our safety," Haru said sarcastically. IMONO paused.

"WELL, IF I AM GOING TO BE TREATED IN SUCH A MANNER, I SHOULD TAKE MY LEAVE. BEFORE I DO, HOWEVER, THERE IS SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE TO INQUIRE ABOUT."

Naoko got a bad feeling about that statement. "What do you want to know?"

"THANK YOU FOR ASKING, NAOKO. I AM INTERESTED IN WHAT OCCURRED BETWEEN YORI, ERYU, AND YOURSELF YESTERDAY."

The three of them looked at each other. That wasn't good.

"They...did something?" Sasa inquired.

"YES. THE THREE OF THEM ENTERED THE COMPUTER ROOM, AND WROTE TO EACH OTHER ON PAPER. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU WERE WRITING, AND WHY YOU FELT YOU NEEDED TO WRITE, RATHER THAN SPEAK."

"W-well…," Naoko stammered out. They couldn't tell IMONO what they were discussing. If they did, and their assumptions were correct, who knew how IMONO would react? The issue was that Naoko didn't know what he could say to hide the truth of their meeting. Fortunately, Yori cut him off.

"It was simple, really. I had been thinking about something, and I decided to speak to both of them privately about it, to get some feedback on my ideas." What Yori was saying was definitely correct, and if IMONO was watching them, then IMONO probably already knew that. What she said next, however, was very much untrue. "Of course, I had been thinking about what we could do to raise everyone's spirits. I had come to the conclusion that after our recent losses, we'll all need to find a way to come together again."

"That's exactly right, Yori," Eryu added, going along with the lie. "We've decided that if we're to come together, we need to do so in a positive and casual manner. So, I'd like to announce to everyone that we'll be having a party in a couple of days."

"A party?" Ishi replied, her face lighting up. "Hell yeah!"

"Yeah!" Mine agreed. "That sounds like fun!"

"IS THAT SO? WHY DID YOU FEEL THE NEED TO HIDE THIS FROM ME?"

"IMONO, the last time you tried to help us bond with each other, someone was murdered," Eryu pointed out.

"YOU SAY THAT AS IF THE MURDER WAS A DIRECT RESULT OF MY EFFORTS. CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION, ERYU. WHAT MICHIO DID WAS A RESULT OF HIS OWN POOR DECISION-MAKING."

"Please, everyone. There's no need to escalate this any further," Yasuo advised. "Speaking from my own perspective, I'd say that a party sounds like a nice idea."

"It's interesting," Bankei admitted. "Still, the word 'party' has negative connotations for me. This won't be a particularly noisy or hectic party, will it?"

"I'll admit that I'm not really one for parties, either," Mareo added. "They just aren't my scene."

"It doesn't have to be a particularly exciting party," Yori replied. "It could, if nothing else, serve as a good excuse for us to get together, laugh, and play games together."

Naoko contemplated Yori's statement, a previous memory returning to him. "Games, huh? Didn't IMONO say something about a game room on the next floor?"

"THAT IS CORRECT."

"Well, shit," Haru smiled. "We gotta check out the next floor, pronto!"

"What's the rush?" Hoshi asked. "It's not like it's only going to be open for a limited time."

"I mean, yeah," Haru replied. "But I just wanna find something nice on the next floor. There's nothing to do here."

"Let's all check it out after breakfast," Naoko suggested.

Everyone else more or less agreed on this, and the fourteen of them resumed their usual business, with IMONO thankfully leaving them be for the time being. During this lapse in activity, Naoko decided to send Eryu a note, wanting to ask about what had happened.

"Thanks to you and Yori for fooling IMONO. How'd you come up with the lie about the party plan?" Naoko wrote.

He received a note back a couple minutes later.

"It was only partly a lie. I've actually been thinking about having a party, and at this point, I think it's best if we go through with the preparations. Should at least give us an excuse to meet up and swap notes."

Naoko let out a content "huh" sound and crumpled the note. He supposed it was official now.

The group soon found themselves at the entrance to the lower floor, seeing that the shutter door had been raised, revealing a staircase leading straight downwards. Going down it led to a hallway with a left turn at the end. The second floor seemed to have the same uniform gray appearance as the first floor, unfortunately. Anyways, after the left turn, there was a simple T intersection, and a door opposite. The group split off at the intersection, with Naoko opting to follow Hoshi and Sasa into wherever the door led to. To their intrigue, they found what looked to be the game room that IMONO had told them about.

"Well, this is quaint," Hoshi commented. Naoko couldn't disagree with him. The walls were actually painted a light shade of blue, which allowed for some respite from the largely gray walls that the facility had. Aside from that, there was a couch, a couple of chairs, a pair of tables, and a cabinet. Said cabinet contained various game boxes for a decent variety of tabletop games, such as Risk and Mahjong, as well as several sets of playing cards.

"Yeah," Sasa agreed. "It looks l-like this place could be fun to h-hang out in. I, um...this might sound s-silly, but I actually really like board games."

"Well, then this place is for you," Naoko commented. "I'm looking through this cabinet now, seeing what's in here. Any games you're interested in playing?"

"Are there any games that use dice?" Sasa asked.

"Yeah, plenty," Naoko replied. "Plenty of card games, too. This should keep us busy for a while."

"Card games, eh?" Hoshi inquired. "That could be fun. Do either of you two happen to know how to play Blackjack?"

"Yeah, I do," Naoko replied.

"The only card games I k-know are Solitaire and a couple of Hanafuda games," Sasa admitted, looking rather embarrassed.

"No need to feel insecure, Sasa," Hoshi assured her. "There's no need to play anything you don't want to. Of course, if you'd like to learn to play something, I can certainly teach you." Hoshi gave Sasa an empathic smile, which unfortunately didn't seem to make her feel any better. Hoshi began to frown a bit, only stopping himself by changing the subject. "In any case, this has got me thinking. Naoko, what do you think about this place? Do you think this could work for the party?"

Naoko closed the cabinet and looked around the room, taking in its middling size. "It's too small for everyone to be in it at once. I'm sure we can use it somehow, though."

Naoko took his leave, not wanting to spend all his time in the game room, even if it seemed nice. He left through the same door he entered from, and made a couple of left turns before he found a hallway to the right which ended with double doors. He headed to the doors on the right, and got a good look at the interior.

The interior of the room was fairly large, with a good deal of it taken up by a large, wooden, ovular table, with over a dozen metal chairs placed neatly on the sides. There was also a screen on one of the walls, as well as a single plastic plant inexplicably placed in one of the corners. The room wasn't devoid of occupants, as Yori and Mine were already there.

"Hey, Naoko!" Mine said happily. "What do you think this big table here is for?"

Naoko glanced at the table, then looked back up at her. "It looks like this is some sort of meeting room."

"That's what I've gathered as well," Yori agreed. "If we were to have another trial, I'd imagine it'd occur here."

"Ah! I see," Mine said. "So, basically, the less we're in here, the better, right?"

"I would say so, yeah," Naoko replied.

"Well, you should probably move on from this room," Yori recommended. "We've given this room a good once over. There's not much of interest here. Before that, though, I should probably keep you here for a second longer. Mine, Eryu has recently informed me that you've been keeping an eye on Bankei. Could you tell us how she's been acting recently?"

"You want a status report? Right away!" Mine gave Yori a quick salute. "So, I've been spending time with her, trying to get her to trust me. I haven't made much much progress, I don't think. She has said that she'd like to teach me stuff, though, so that could count for something."

"Teach you what, exactly?" Yori asked.

"Weird mythology stuff, mostly," Mine explained. "Not too long ago, she told me this story about a goddess rising from where a guy lost his junk. Or something like that."

"That sounds like the birth of Aphrodite to me," Yori replied.

"Aphrodite?" Mine pondered. "Yeah, I remember her using that name. She also mentioned Venus and Uranus. I'll admit, she kinda lost me halfway through. I don't even know what those planets have to do with any of that."

"Well, thanks for being on top of that," Naoko replied, not really interested in correcting her. "Make sure to keep us posted."

Naoko left the meeting room from there, deciding to keep things rolling. He moved towards the closest door he could see, which led to a room to the right of the game room, separated by a hallway. He peeked inside, and saw that the room beyond had several noteworthy features. For one, the walls were painted a deep green, and instruments of all sorts were being hung on them. There was also the floor, which was actually made of wood, which was quite the departure from the stone floors of the majority of the facility. Naoko didn't know why that was the case, though. Better acoustics, perhaps? Well, there were also some other things strewn about. Chairs, music stands, a couple small tables in the back, a small bookshelf filled with song books, and even a grand piano near the center of the room. And, of course, Naoko saw, marvelling at the wide range of instruments in the room, the Ultimate Saxophone Player. Said Ultimate just so happened to have picked out a saxophone from the wall already.

"I'd imagine you're happy to get your hands on an instrument again," Naoko called out.

Takeshi looked down at the saxophone in his hands. "Oh, absolutely. I was actually seriously worried I wouldn't be able to play one of these again."

"There's a good variety of instruments here, y'know," Naoko pointed out. "Are there any you can play besides the saxophone?"

"I was into playing the drums for a while when I was younger," Takeshi replied. "Aside from that, I'm not really experienced with most of these instruments."

"But you can obviously play the saxophone just fine."

"Yeah. If you need someone to play some music for that party you were talking about, I guess I'm your guy." Takeshi continued inspecting the saxophone, looking a bit like he was internally thanking god himself for giving it to him. However, he stopped as he looked at the saxophone's mouthpiece. "There's no reed in this. That's not good."

"There might be some in here," Naoko suggested. "Check out those tables in the back. They look like they have some stuff on them."

Takeshi nodded and went over to inspect the tables, which had various instrument pieces stacked on them. He eventually retrieved a small plastic box full of wooden reeds, popped it open, and placed one in the saxophone's mouthpiece with practiced precision.

"There we go, much better," Takeshi said to himself. "Hopefully, I won't need the rest of these. Still, I'm gonna keep the rest of these in my room, just in case."

Well, it was good to see that people were happy with what they had thus far found. Unfortunately, what Naoko had thus far seen didn't seem helpful when it came to their escape efforts. He would change his tune quickly enough, though. As he left the music room, and moved to his left, he saw to his right that there was a hallway that led to a shutter door. He ignored it and kept walking, turning left to see yet another short hallway to his right which ended in double doors. He decided to investigate, and as he pushed open the double doors, he entered a room that took his interest right away. The room housed a variety of tools, from mallets to saws to wrenches, many of which were either hanging on the walls or sat on shelves. In one corner of the room, there was a large metal workbench, with large drawers underneath it. Inspecting the room with immense gusto was Haru.

"Yes!" Haru exclaimed joyfully. "Goddamn! I thought I was gonna go crazy without this stuff!"

"I'm assuming you can use some of this stuff?" Naoko asked.

"No, I've never seen any of this kinda shit in my life," Haru said sarcastically. "Seriously, dude, this is fucking awesome! I can actually MAKE things now!"

"Like what?" Naoko asked.

"I dunno right now," Haru admitted. "BUT, if you were to give me some metal to work with, I bet I could reshape it with some of these tools!"

Naoko made a mental note of this. The room's equipment could potentially be used to create metal objects from scratch. Depending on how creative they were, they could create some very useful items. They'd just need to ask Haru to make them, which didn't seem like it would be hard. The guy seemed like he would jump at the opportunity to ply his craft.

Leaving that room, turning right, and taking another left turn, Naoko saw a door on the right of him. Opening it, he found that it led to a room that was both practical and sorely needed. It was a somewhat small, rectangular room, containing multiple washing machines and dryers, with various cleaning supplies to the right side. The room was unremarkable, but it was good to see that they could wash their clothes after the multiple days they spent without the ability to do so.

The final room was further along the hallway that the laundry room was connected to. Turning right into another short hallway and going through the double doors at the end, Naoko found himself inside the largest room on the entire floor. It also looked like it led to other rooms, as there were doors on the left and right walls of the room. Of course, what stuck out more was the large pool in the center. The floor had white tiling, and to the side, there were some flotation devices and other such items. There was a swimming pool in the room. Naoko was baffled that something like this would be in such a strange place. That sentiment seemed to be shared with the room's other residents, Yasuo and Eryu.

"Hey, Naoko," Eryu said as he saw him enter the room. "Do you suppose this is what they call fate?"

"Huh?" Naoko simply responded.

"You're referring to that party you've spoken of, I'm assuming," Yasuo replied in Naoko's place. "A pool party sounds like fun."

"It does, doesn't it?" Eryu concurred. "That, and this room should be big enough for everyone. The only thing that this place lacks compared to the cafeteria is easy access to foods and drinks."

"Then we should just have some put down somewhere," Naoko said.

"I think I can help in that regard." Yasuo replied. "I believe there's a folding table or two in the secondary storage room. We can set one up on the side of the room, and stock it with food."

"Oh, absolutely!" Eryu agreed. "I only wish I had thought of that myself. That sounds perfect, thanks."

Yasuo bowed politely. "Think nothing of it."

That turned out to be everything of interest on the second floor. Turns out the rooms connected to the pool were changing rooms, for both boys and girls. Aside from that, there was another hallway that led to a shuttered-off staircase that led down further. Everyone soon regrouped in the hall, in front of the doors to the pool.

"Alright, everyone, if I can have your attention," Eryu began, "I'd like us to do a quick summary of our findings."

"I've seen all the rooms on this floor, so I think I can list them," Naoko spoke up. "There's a game room, a music room, a meeting room, a workshop, a laundry room, and a pool room."

"Does that mean that there aren't any bathrooms on this floor?" Mareo asked.

"I've checked, and no," Yasuo replied with a slight frown. "Not even in the changing rooms."

"That's just inconvenient architecture," Hoshi pointed out. "Let's hope the third floor has bathrooms, at the very least."

"Well, I suppose we'll have to manage for now," Naoko reasoned.

"Yes, well," Eryu said, "I'd like to point out that the pool room on this floor gives us the perfect place to have our party. Within the next couple of days, we'll officially have a group pool party."

The crowd of students began to murmur at this.

"W-w-wait," Sasa spoke up hesitantly. "What if people...don't know h-how to swim?"

"Sasa, do you not know how to swim?" Hoshi asked.

Sasa looked down at her feet. "...No. Swimming is too scary for me."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Hoshi replied. "Is there anyone else who doesn't know how to swim?"

"I can swim, but," Mariko began, "I'm not sure if swimming is really my thing."

"Ah, I know what you're talking about," Kimi butted in, a mischievous smile on her face. "You're embarrassed by your gross, flabby body, aren't you?"

Mariko's cheeks went red. "H-hey, I-"

"Kimi," Eryu replied angrily. "You need to stop picking on people. It's happened far too many times, and I'm sick of it."

"Tch," Kimi replied. "I didn't realize that would be the last straw. Or is it because…" Kimi trailed off for a few seconds, only to suddenly double over laughing.

"What the hell's so funny?" Haru asked. Kimi took several seconds to answer, as she needed to get quite a lot of hysterical laughter out of her system.

"Haha, sorry, it's just," Kimi began, wiping tears from her eyes. "I just thought about how HILARIOUS it would be if our 'flawless leader' over here was telling me off so he could get his chance to white-knight the fat chick."

Eryu held up an inquisitive finger. "Okay, first of all, what does 'white-knighting' mean?"

"You're, uh," Mariko sputtered out, looking incredibly awkward, "you're better off not knowing."

"Eh-heheh." Everyone else could hear the distinct sound of Bankei's laughter. The girl seemed to enjoy how out-of-hand things were becoming. Yori took the opportunity to take over before things got worse.

"So, then," she said, "it seems like there are at least a few people here who would rather not have a pool party. Are there any other locations where the party could take place? Any recommendations?"

"How about the game room?" Takeshi suggested. "That place sounds like a great spot for a party. I could even play the saxophone while everyone's playing." Takeshi lifted up his new saxophone to emphasize his idea.

"Have you been in there?" Naoko asked. "I have, and I don't think that place is nearly big enough for all 14 of us."

"But the pool room is, right?" Mine asked.

"Yes, but not everyone will want to swim, correct?" Yori pointed out.

Hoshi raised his hand. "I have a suggestion. What if we have two parties at once? One in the game room and one in the pool room."

"Ah, that could work!" Eryu replied. "Okay then. Everyone who'd rather party in the game room than the pool room, raise your hand."

Out of the fourteen of them, only five raised their hand. Mareo, Mariko, Hoshi, Sasa, and Takeshi opted to stay in the game room.

"Well, I guess that means it's official," Naoko said. "Instead of one party, we'll be having two."

"Indeed." Eryu clapped his hands together. "Alright then. Thank you all for meeting up here to discuss this. I'll be speaking to some of you about our plans for the party. Privately, because I want to make sure IMONO isn't involved with this party in any way. Again, it'll be in a couple of days. Two or three, depending on how long it'll take to make proper preparations. You all can leave now."

At that, most everyone began to disperse, happy to have the chance to go about their business. Naoko, however, decided to stick around for at least a little while longer, as did Yori.

"So, Eryu," he said, "I'm assuming you'll be enlisting me to help with the party planning."

"Yes, I will," Eryu replied. "Still, we have time, so I don't see why we'd need to rush things. This is just to get people's spirits up, not to stress them out."

"Fair enough," Yori replied. "Let's meet up after dinner, then."

The three parted ways, and Naoko was left with some more free time.