A/N: I know I didn't post last week, like I normally do, but there was a reason for that. Some things have been happening in my life recently that really wore me out. I'm not going to get into that here, but suffice to say, it made writing really difficult for me. As much as I would've liked to touch up this chapter a bit more before posting it, I'm still trying to stay in a good headspace, so doing so still seems like a difficult matter for me.

In any case, it's good to get this out there. Hope you enjoy, and merry Christmas.

It had been an interesting day, but it was also very nearly over. That stupid announcement hadn't played just yet, but it was bound to be played as soon as it became 10PM. Before then, there was only one thing Naoko was really interested in.

That was, of course, the video that he was expecting to receive. His phone's inbox hadn't had anything added to it since last night, unsurprisingly, and at that point, he was just interested in seeing what they'd be shown that night. He ended up not having to wait very long, either, as after just a couple of minutes, he heard that familiar dinging sound that alerted him of the new message. Indeed, right at the top of his inbox was a single unread message. Of course, it wasn't a message, per se, but simply another video file. Naoko opened it up to see what piece of animation they'd been gifted.

He didn't know what to expect, but what he got still ended up surprising him.

What he saw was highly different from what he had last seen in most aspects. Instead of a cutesy purple ghost, the video starred a young girl, who was seen waking up in the morning and having to trudge to school. There was no discernable dialogue, not much unlike the first video, and the animation was impressively smooth like the first one, too, but the tone was much harsher, despite it seeming rather comically exaggerated in its presentation.

The girl arrived at school, where she trudged wearily through the looping halls, passing by students that were noticeably taller than her. Along the way, she became increasingly annoyed at those around her. She was harassed comically by what was probably supposed to be a hall monitor, pushed around by much larger students walking past her, and accosted by students playing loud music. It eventually made her so mad her face turned red, and she began to vent her anger on those around her. She tripped a nerdy-looking kid without even really seeming to notice, kicked aside another student's toy robot (which immediately fell apart), and when yet another student came up to talk to her, she immediately shoved the poor girl so hard, she flew into an open room, and the door slammed shut behind her.

Finally, the girl simmered down when she went into a classroom and got in her seat. It seemed one of the other students next to her was actually quite friendly with her, and she seemed to enjoy hanging out with him. The two had a bit of a laugh as they sneakily pulled some rather outlandish practical jokes on their teacher, and once the class was apparently over...the video ended.

Naoko had some rather conflicting feelings about what he had just seen. While there was a lot more to it than the last video he'd seen, it was also very...negative. Well, one feeling of his was actually pretty confident, that being that Kimi was going to have to be consulted about it in the morning.

The next morning, everybody met up as usual, and not only was Naoko looking to speak to Kimi, so were quite a few others. This didn't seem to bother Kimi much, though, and in fact, she looked to be rather proud of herself. Perhaps she was much happier with her work than she was last time.

"So, what'd everyone think of what we got last night, hm?" Kimi asked.

"Are we really going to be jumping into that particular discussion again?" Mareo asked back.

"I mean, if she wants to talk about it, I guess we can't stop her," Takeshi weighed in.

"Well, us talking about it seems inevitable at this point," Yori weighed in. "With that in mind, anyone who wants to talk might as well."

"Works for me," Ishi responded. "I gotta say, Kimi, it was, y'know, an interesting little cartoon."

"You, uh, liked it, Ishi?" Mine asked concernedly.

"What?" Ishi replied. "I mean, it wasn't bad, I wouldn't say. It was sorta, like, weird, though."

"Yeah, well, it's not like it's my most popular work," Kimi shrugged. "Honestly, I totally get it if you've never even heard of it before seeing it last night."

"Actually, I think I, uh, might've," Mariko admitted.

Kimi raised an eyebrow at this. "You did, huh?"

"Yeah, I really think I did," Mariko confirmed. "I think my best friend actually sent it to me after she first saw it. I didn't know that you were the one that made it."

"So, you're saying you saw it, but not my other work?" Kimi inquired rather incredulously. "Well, I guess beggars can't be choosers."

Mariko frowned at this. "Okay. Is it alright if I ask you about it?"

Kimi perked up a bit. "Totally!"

"...Why?"

"Why what?" Kimi asked confusedly.

"Why did you make it?" Mariko elaborated. "I just...I don't understand."

"Woah, woah, hang on a second here," Kimi said, putting her hands up. "Are you seriously trying to insult me right now? And you wonder why we don't get along."

"You two don't get along because you antagonize her," Naoko pointed out.

"So when it's the other way around, it's okay?" Kimi questioned.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to insult you or anything," Mariko apologized. "It's just...I never understood the cartoon. It's just so mean-spirited."

Kimi squinted. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"If I may interject, I think I know what she's trying to say," Hoshi spoke up. "She's asking about the circumstances behind you making that cartoon of yours."

"Yeah, exactly," Mariko added.

"Pfft, seriously?" Kimi responded smugly. "That's an easy one. I was in high school, and I needed to blow off steam, so I cranked out that little one-off project in-between some larger-profile stuff."

"And that girl in it is you, right?" Eryu surmised.

"That's quite an assumption," Kimi replied. "And no, she's not me. First off, her name's Yoko, not Kimi. It's in the title of the short: 'Yoko's Shitty Day at School'. Oh, and I made sure to censor the word shitty in the title, so the video would get spread around."

"Well, the name Yoko isn't that different from the name Kimi," Mareo pointed out. "They're both four letters, and their vowel placement is the same."

"That doesn't mean it's literally me," Kimi argued. "The girl may be similar to me, but it's not like I just inserted myself into it. That'd make me a hack."

"I mean, the girl was a little different, I guess," Naoko admitted. "Her hair was darker, and her clothes were different than yours. Still, that doesn't mean she couldn't be a stand-in for you."

"Exactly," Mareo agreed. "So, it's wish-fulfillment, essentially."

Kimi groaned at this claim. "Geez, what do you guys want from me here? Okay, I may have gone too far in a few places. I just did it for fun, what do you guys expect?"

"So, you're admitting you made it 'cause you, like, hated your classmates or something?" Ishi asked.

"Well, not just my classmates," Kimi corrected her. "And not even all my classmates. There was that one guy in it that Yoko liked."

"Who was that?" Naoko asked.

Kimi shrugged. "Hell if I know. I don't remember the faces of anyone I went to high school with, and neither do any of you. Coulda been anyone."

"Hmm." Yori seemed to gain a sudden interest in the conversation once that topic was broached. "That's a fair point. Actually, I'm surprised we haven't been contemplating this fact more."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Kimi asked, looking very much confused.

"The fact that none of us remember much of our time in high school," Yori explained. "It's odd, is what I'm saying."

"Well, it certainly is," Mareo agreed. "However, I'm not sure how that relates to the current topic."

"Honestly, I think I'd like it if the topic changed," Mine admitted, still looking a bit uncomfortable. "This is all getting kind of...I dunno how to say this exactly. Nasty?"

"Yeah, well, that's Kimi for ya, girl," Ishi assured her. "Best to not let her or her work get you down."

"I should clarify that I'm not trying to control the conversation," Yori spoke up again. "I'm just adding to it. Kimi, you're saying that your friend could've been anyone. Does that include any of us?"

Kimi looked like she really had to think before responding. "I mean...fuck, were any of you in my class? I think I'd remember if a golden-yellow android was in my class…" She began counting on her hand from there as she continued speaking. "...Or two aggressive hardasses...Or a wannabe anime villain...Or Mariko."

"Why'd you single Mariko out, exactly?" Naoko asked, regretting it before Kimi even replied.

"Ah, sorry," Kimi replied semi-apologetically, "I was gonna find a descriptor, but I couldn't decide on anything. There were just too many good ones, y'know?"

"Too many mean spirited ones?" Naoko surmised.

"Eh," Kimi shrugged. "Something like that."

"Before we go back to our original topic, I should point out that for every mean spirited insult or comment I've heard you say, I've added a day to your duration as trash girl," Eryu informed Kimi. "Right now, you've got about a month."

"Tch. Well, shit," Kimi swore annoyedly. "You think you could've told me that earlier?"

"Look, at this point, we know we're all in the same boat," Naoko said, redirecting the conversation. "Our memories are fuzzy, and we don't know how we got here, or why."

"What we know for certain is we're being observed," Yori continued for him. "This observer claims to be an artificial intelligence named IMONO."

"A strange name, really," Hoshi commented. "It sounds almost like the name of a line of smart devices."

"Huh. Y'know what, that actually makes sense," Mariko chuckled. "I was thinking it sounded like some sort of web show or something."

"That's fair, I suppose," Hoshi replied casually. "Still, what we know is limited. I think we should be more curious about what we are unsure of."

"So, you're saying we should be speculating on our current predicament?" Mareo asked. "I'm not sure what results that would yield, if any."

"It might not yield much, sure," Yori replied. "Even still, it could be worth considering some possibilities. For example, based on our lack of discussion on the matter, it seems nobody here has any idea why all of us are here together. What exactly connects us?"

"The fact that we all have that nifty 'Ultimate' title, probably," Ishi suggested.

"Where does the title come from, then?" Yori asked. "What does it mean for us?"

There was silence for a moment as this question was considered. Naoko himself felt like, on the surface, it probably meant something kinda obvious: Naoko, and everyone else for that matter, had a skill, general or niche, that set them apart from each other. Who decided they deserved their titles, though? That was...actually pretty hard to answer. He had an idea, though, based on something he was actually pretty sure about.

"Maybe it has to do with our time in high school," he said. "I pretty clearly remember being called the 'Ultimate Puzzle Solver' around that time."

"You do?" Yori asked. "Well, then that might be it."

"I know a lot has been said on the matter already, but maybe we did know each other, then?" Hoshi suggested. "We could've been in the same class as each other for all we know."

"I dunno about that," Takeshi replied sadly. "I watched that cartoon Kimi made, and the kids in that class didn't really look like us."

"Even if I based 'em off you guys, that doesn't mean I'd make them look like you," Kimi pointed out. "Like I said earlier, that sorta stand-in style thing is totally hacky."

"Thus, the idea still remains," Yori stated contentedly. "We might be more connected than we thought."

"Maybe," Naoko shrugged. "I guess there's no way of knowing unless-"

Naoko stopped mid-sentence as, just then, there was a light clicking noise, and Naoko could distinctly hear a familiar voice coming from closeby.

"Sup, Naoko. It's Haru."

Naoko looked down and noticed that the noise was coming from his transceiver. Quite a few people nearby seemed to hear Haru's voice as well, and Naoko looked at them apologetically.

"Sorry, hang on."

He stepped away from where he was sitting and began replying through the walkie talkie.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nah, it's fine," Haru said. "Sorry if this is inconvenient, but I'm kinda on my own here, and I was thinkin' of askin' ya for somethin' real quick. That okay?"

Naoko looked over at everyone else in the room. A couple of people were eyeing him as he and Haru spoke to each other, but it looked like most of them were content to continue speaking on the previously-established matter without him. Naoko felt a bit worried that he could potentially miss out, but ultimately decided that it was probably fine. If Haru needed his help, people could chat without him.

"Sure. What do you need?"