Already, it felt like a lot of time had passed since Naoko, Yori, and Eryu had their last conversation together. He had thus far not really been noticing anything particularly amiss in regards to the way people were acting, so perhaps, he thought, things were okay between them for the time being. Nothing amiss seemed to be happening, that was for sure. But what would happen next?

Well, the day was not yet done, so there was at least some idea as to what would be next. It was funny just how crazy things could get over the course of a single day. Hopefully, Naoko thought, the coming days would be more peaceful. But before then, there was still business to attend to. For one thing, there was dinner to be had. That wasn't a surprise, really. They'd eaten dinner together several times already, and quite a few people had been brought into the kitchen to help cook. Among them, Yasuo seemed to do so fairly frequently, but...well, he couldn't exactly do so anymore. But hey, they could handle themselves fine without him. After all, they did so just the other night.

Naoko went into the cafeteria to see what the situation was for them, and saw that there was one person that was already there. It was Mine, who was currently using some of the space between the cafeteria tables to do some rather intensive leg stretches. Her body was turned away from him when he entered, but she turned her head quickly enough.

"Naoko," she huffed. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," Naoko replied. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Nah, I'm just doing some stretches," Mine replied casually. "I gotta loosen my body up, y'know? I was gonna get in some squats before nighttime."

"So this is all exercise, then?" Naoko asked.

"Of course!" she said, practically jumping back onto her feet. "I'm a martial artist, so I gotta keep in shape. Problem is, I've been hanging out with Bankei a lot, y'know? Doesn't give me as much time to do full workouts."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Naoko replied.

"Hey, it's not your fault or anything!" she assured him. "Besides, I may not be doing much with my arms, but I can still work on cardio, y'know? That's what's really important."

"Fair enough," Naoko said. "So why are you doing this here? Aren't there other places you could be doing that?"

"Sure, I guess," Mine shrugged. "There's the pool room, but Yori's using it right now. I don't wanna use the pool room to exercise when she's in it. I feel like that'd be dangerous. Y'know, because public pools have that thing where you can't run, because you might slip?"

"You think if you exercise there, you might slip and hurt yourself?"

"I might!" Mine replied. "You can never be too careful!"

"Okay. What about, uh…" Naoko trailed off as he was going to suggest the gymnasium. After all, it seemed perfect for her needs, and she'd used it to practice her moves before, but that was before...Well, that was before the two executions. And before that big platform was built. Naoko could understand that, really. Just being there felt a bit uncomfortable to him.

"Nevermind," he eventually said.

"Cool cool," Mine replied. "So, since you're here, and we're alone this time, you probably wanna talk to me about Bankei again."

"Huh?" Naoko responded confusedly. "No, I-"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Mine apologized quickly. "I just thought that since you came in here, and we're alone, you'd want to talk about it."

"Actually, I'm more interested in the dinner situation," Naoko explained. "Some of us have got to get started on that soon. It's getting close to the evening, or I guess our equivalent."

"Ah, good point!" Mine responded. "I dunno much about the situation for tonight, sorry."

"That's okay," Naoko replied. "We'll get it sorted. For now, though...Since you brought it up, do you want to talk to me about Bankei?"

Mine looked at him bemusedly. "Huh? So, now you want to talk about her?"

"You're the one who brought her up originally," Naoko pointed out.

"Damn, you're right," Mine conceded. "Okay, so, I have some mixed feelings about her."

"You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, she's polite, she's charming, she knows a lot of interesting stuff...But I guess she's not perfect, huh?"

"It seems that way," Naoko replied.

"Yeah. To be honest, I still don't understand why she does a lot of what she does. I'm kinda nervous about asking her."

"Why's that?"

"Because!" Mine said. "If I ask her about the weird stuff she's done, she'll get suspicious. She'll ask why I'm asking, and I don't know what I'd tell her. If she found out I was keeping an eye on her for you guys…"

Mine broke eye contact and looked down a bit, clearly troubled by her own concerns. Naoko stepped forward and tried to make sure he still had her attention.

"Just tell her that you're curious," Naoko proposed. "That should do the trick."

Mine looked back up at him. "If I do that, then what should I ask about?"

"Off the top of my head," Naoko replied, "how about why she said what she said about Sasa? Or hell, what about what she did back when we got each other's secrets, and she lied about hers?"

"Oh yeah!" Mine exclaimed in apparent remembrance. "I forgot about that second thing. God, that felt like it happened forever ago now. And, I mean, that first thing, I've just been sorta thinking that the Lita-22 might've just made her not like Sasa. Something like that thing happened to me, so it's possible, right?"

"Maybe," Naoko shrugged.

Mine smiled widely. "Sounds like a plan! Thanks, Naoko! Glad I can count on you, buddy."

Naoko smiled back. "You're welcome."

Right after saying this, Naoko turned around as he heard someone else coming in. And, well, it was Yori.

She focused her gaze on the two of them and frowned a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm interrupting something, aren't I?"

"No, not really," Naoko assured her. "We basically just got finished talking, I think."

"That's good," Yori said. "So, since you're here, you're probably interested in dinner. Would you be okay with lending a hand?"

"Sure," Naoko replied.

"Good," Yori replied. "If you're going to help, you should also help cook for Haru. He's in his room still, but he needs to eat regardless."

"Anything I should know about?" Naoko asked. "I feel like if I'm going to be bringing him food, I should know what to expect."

"I don't think he'll hurt you, if that's what you're worried about," Yori replied. "Granted, he could, but realistically speaking, I don't think he'd be angry at you for any reason. In fact, I think you're in his good graces."

"I guess that's true," Naoko shrugged. "He seems grateful about me vouching for him twice now."

"Indeed," Yori concurred. "In regards to what you probably should know? Hmm...Perhaps you can make something for him that has some meat in it. He seems to be a fan of meat, and we don't want him to be in a bad mood."

"Well, him being a fan of meat checks out, I suppose. I'm sure that he likes steak," Naoko said.

"Then perhaps we can give him one as a reward for good behavior," Yori suggested. "Oh, and if you'll be delivering him his food, you'll need this."

Yori retrieved something from her pants pocket and laid her hand out flat for Naoko to take it. From what he could see at a glance, it was one of the keys they used to get inside each of their dorm rooms.

"Is that Haru's?" Naoko asked.

"Yes," Yori confirmed. "Some time after we parted ways, Eryu went to Haru's room, and told him to give him his room key. From what I understand, Haru wasn't happy about it, but he complied. Then, of course, he gave it to me. I think it's safe in your hands."

Yori gave Naoko a small smile, which Naoko himself was quite happy about. This was nice to hear, and the fact that she was giving him a smile made it seem like she really was sure about it. He graciously took it from her open palm.

"I'll hang onto it, then," Naoko said happily.

Just a little while later, Naoko was heading out of the cafeteria with Haru's dinner in hand. It wasn't exactly something that he had asked for explicitly or anything, but it was the sort of thing he seemed to like, so it made sense that Haru would probably be content with it. The only thing that really worried Naoko about giving it to him would be the uncertainty that came with them interacting. Despite what Yori surmised, Naoko had no idea what sort of mood Haru was in at the moment. The last time he saw him, he was very much unhappy, and even if he tried to interact with him afterwards, he doubted he'd even be able to. This would thus be the first time he'd interact with Haru during his confinement in his room.

Naoko unlocked the door and opened it up slowly, peeking into the room to get a look at Haru. Upon seeing him, Naoko noticed that he actually looked pretty passive, in the sense that he wasn't doing anything. He was just sort of laying down with his back on his bed, his apron off and placed to the side. He wasn't sleeping, though. It just looked like he was staring at the ceiling. It was actually a bit strange to Naoko, seeing Haru like this, but fortunately, Haru didn't stay in this state for long.

Haru got himself a bit more upright as he shifted over to a seating position on the side of his bed. "Heya, Naoko."

Naoko stepped inside Haru's room cautiously. "Hey. Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Haru asked, looking at Naoko confusedly. "Yeah, I'm good. Just thinkin', that's all. Not much else to do in this damn place. I didn't exactly plan ahead for this shit."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Naoko replied. "I got some food for you."

Naoko presented the plate to Haru, who looked at it happily. "Alright! I see there's some meat on this plate. Good to see we haven't run out yet."

"Well, there's actually a lot of meat in that pantry," Naoko replied. "Most of it's treated to last longer, too. That meat on the plate? I actually had to add water to it before I could cook it."

"Seriously?" Haru asked bemusedly. "I didn't know anythin' about that. That's weird as hell."

"Yeah," Naoko replied. "You're not put off from eating it, are you?"

"Nah, dude," Haru said, leaning forward to grab the plate from him. "It's meat, and you know I like that, so I ain't gonna complain. You even gave me some nice utensils. Good on ya."

"Well, you can't exactly eat that with your hands, can you?" Naoko pointed out.

"Ha! Yeah," Haru said amusedly. "Then I'd really be gettin' the prison experience, am I right? Speakin' of, did you just come 'ere for a quick food delivery, or are you interested in somethin' else?"

Naoko was a bit surprised when he heard this. "Huh. You know, you've got to be the second or third person today to say something like that to me."

"Somethin' like what?" Haru asked as he began eating.

"Asking me if I have some sort of ulterior motive for being somewhere," Naoko explained. "Bankei asked me about that earlier. Mine said something kind of similar, too."

Haru gritted his teeth. "Damn. Bankei, eh? What'd she get up to?"

"Well, not too long after you left," Naoko explained, "I went to check on Bankei, and she thought I wanted her to tell me what happened between you two. I tried to say no, but she basically insisted that she tell me then and there."

"Ah, fuck," Haru swore. "I fuckin' knew that would 'appen. 'Soon as i confined myself to this place, I knew I fucked up somethin' fierce."

"What?" Naoko asked. "How did you fuck up?"

"You don't get it?" Haru responded bitterly. "She got 'er story out before me. She probably spinned it the way she wanted y'all to see it, and y'all will probably trust what she says more than me, 'cause you 'eard 'er first."

"I don't know about that, actually," Naoko replied.

"Nah, I'm serious!" Haru insisted. "That's how it works. People 'ear somethin', they believe it, and they don't wanna be told different. That's just how it is."

"Well, you see, I haven't actually shared her story with anyone else yet," Naoko clarified. "The only other person who was around to hear her story was Mareo, and I don't think he's told anyone. I kind of wanted to wait until you gave your side of the story."

Haru seemed surprised by Naoko saying this, and certainly not in a bad way. He wound down significantly from the rather angry state he was in before, and actually cracked a bit of a smirk. "Well, alright then. That's not so bad. So, what'd she say?"

"A lot, actually," Naoko replied. "She really went into detail on a lot of things. Let me try and recap."

From there, Naoko organized his thoughts and did his best to give a comprehensive summary of what Bankei had told him. His version trimmed a lot of the fat that Bankei's own recollection contained, and it leaned towards broad-strokes in places, but he was mostly just interested in seeing if Haru would want him to go into further detail. However, he surprisingly didn't, and allowed Naoko to give his summary uninterrupted. That decision may have been influenced by the fact that he was eating all throughout it, but still.

"Well," Haru said after Naoko finished, "that...I mean, wow. That's actually pretty damn close to what 'appened."

"Really?" Naoko asked. "Well, that might just be because of how I told it. I kinda left some minor things out."

"Like what?"

"Minor stuff, like I said," Naoko replied. "As an example, apparently, she brought up the whole 'ravish' thing more than once."

"Yeah, she mentioned it a bit at the beginning," Haru sighed. "I still dunno what the fuck she was talkin' about."

"Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it," Naoko replied, not wanting to open up that can of worms. "But seriously though, you don't have any objections to what I've told you?"

"Nah, not really," Haru answered him. "Kinda surprisin'. I was thinkin' that if she was gonna talk first, she was gonna be able to say all manner of bullshit. Like I said, the fact she talked first could totally bias you guys. Wouldn't 'elp that she got beaten the fuck up. A girl in that sorta state, it'd be fucked up to call 'er a liar."

"I get that," Naoko replied. "Still, If she made a really bold lie while telling me her side of the story, then I'd imagine you'd be able to notice, and you two's accounts would conflict. And, well, you did attack her, but even still, she's lied before."

"Hell yeah she has," Haru agreed. "She said she didn't write that letter, but we both know she did. It's not like she could just get away with it, right?"

"You're...not going to try and justify your actions, are you?" Naoko asked nervously.

"What?" Haru asked confusedly. "No, I get it, believe me. I'm not gonna try and change your mind. If you think I was wrong, that's your opinion, and I ain't gonna take it away from ya. But still, we both know it was a selfish lie. Just 'er tryin' to weasel 'er way outta gettin' punished. Not like what you did."

"Huh?" Naoko asked.

"What you said durin' the trial," Haru replied. "Y'know, when you said you thought I loved Sasa. I know you managed to put two and two together and realized you had to lie to save my ass."

"I didn't think you did it," Naoko explained. "I wanted to help you, but I didn't know how else to do it other than by lying. Still, I don't think it's something I'll be able to get away with again."

"Why not?"

"Because if I do, it could make things worse for us," Naoko said. "If I'm not careful, I could make a lapse in judgement, and then we'd be completely off-track."

"Sounds like what you gotta do is make sure you put plenty of faith in your judgements," Haru said.

"I know," Naoko replied. "It's just something that weighs on my confidence, you know? It's risky, and I don't want to let everyone else down."

"The way I see it? You don't gotta worry about that," Haru assured him. "You're a smart kid, y'know that?"

"Thanks," Naoko said gratefully. "I don't really care much for being put on a pedestal, but...I mean, that's nice to hear."

"Well, yeah!" Haru said. "I'm tryin' to boost your confidence! I gotta try and do somethin' useful while I'm stuck in here. I'm not as useful as I'd like to be, bein' away from everyone else."

Haru then began to look a bit introspective. Slowly, he put his empty plate to his side, and looked over his shoulder briefly.

"Actually, y'know what? That's not entirely true. I got somethin' 'ere that should 'elp, even if I'm not around. You wanna see it?"

Naoko was confused, to say the least. He wasn't sure exactly what Haru would be referring to. Still, he didn't seem like he was being dishonest or anything, so he figured whatever he had in mind, it must've been something they'd consider useful.

"Sure, why not?"