Going inside the room, it was soon made clear just why it'd been used for Bankei's "punishment". It seemed reminiscent of the medical room on the first floor, at least at the outset. However, compared to that room, the room in front of them looked more like a full-on hospital room. White walls, a white tiled floor, hospital beds, the works. Besides each bed, there seemed to be some medical equipment, including a stand for hanging IV bags, though most of the beds didn't have much else besides them. Some of them also seemed to have some semi-opaque plastic sheets hung up so that they could be cordoned off from the rest of the room. Finally, there were various boxes, cabinets, and even some first aid kits hung up on the walls, all of which more than likely contained a massive amount of medical supplies.
"Another medical room?" Mareo wondered aloud. "I suppose that makes sense."
"Really? I dunno about that," Ishi weighed in. "We already have a place for medical reasons and all that, y'know? Why would IMONO give us another one?"
"I don't think 'give us' is the right word for it," Naoko said. "It seems like most or all of what we end up finding in each floor is just there. It doesn't seem like IMONO creates these rooms from scratch."
"Are we sure about that, though?" Ishi asked, still obviously skeptical.
There was one big piece of evidence that seemed to support Naoko's claim, but it occurred to him then that Ishi probably wasn't made aware of it. After all, she wasn't there when they found it. Bringing it up seemed like it'd be a red flag to IMONO, so Naoko decided to go another route with his answer.
"Remember when we were talking about the third floor, and the room with the holding cells?" he reminded everyone. "It seemed weirdly convenient for us, yeah, but it couldn't have been made as a response to what happened between us. I think that it was just there beforehand, and IMONO left it the way it was because it was convenient."
"But there's no way of proving that IMONO didn't make it, right?" Mariko asked. She also must've been unaware, Naoko figured. "I remember that conversation, and we didn't discount the idea that IMONO made it. It would have to have just been a while ago, over the course of…however long it takes to make a holding cell."
"Fair point," Eryu supposed, "but it doesn't seem very likely at this point. If we're getting duplicate rooms, that's evidence that it wasn't planned. Not to mention the rooms we'll probably never need."
"Oh, yeah, like the distillery," Kimi chimed in. "AKA where the booze is."
"Huh?" Ishi responded. "We have booze here? That sounds…kinda cool, actually."
"It doesn't have booze," Mareo corrected them. "Not in the traditional sense, anyways. We have ethanol, but it's not exactly meant for drinking."
"Yeah," Eryu agreed. "After this, I'm gonna need to ask a couple of you to help move the ethanol somewhere else where Kimi can't get to it. I'm thinking it should be safe in my room."
"You sure about that?" Kimi questioned. "You sure you don't have some 'ulterior motive' for keeping it to yourself?"
Eryu looked legitimately offended. "No…Look, wherever we put it, it'll be there if we need it."
"Just make sure to keep your door locked," Yori advised.
"Sure, I'll try to remember that," Eryu replied.
From there, they looked about the room for a bit, and it looked like a lot of Naoko's initial observations were accurate. Looking at the machinery next to the beds, it was largely unfamiliar to him, but he at least was able to recognize a heartbeat monitor. Then there were a few beds that were surrounded by a plastic film sheet hung up on the ceiling, as he observed, though he noticed that a couple of these protective sheets were slightly more opaque than the others. That, and the beds they surrounded were a bit…different.
"What are these things here?" Ishi asked. "They look like you're supposed to put your feet on them."
"I think I've seen these," Mareo said, moving closer to inspect the bed in question. "They're there to elevate the legs. Beds in delivery rooms use these."
"Delivery rooms?" Mariko asked. "Wait, you mean where women are taken to to…give birth? Does IMONO expect us to give birth?"
"Ew, what the fuck?!" Kimi exclaimed, practically flipping out. "Dude, that is NOT fucking okay! IMONO already watches everything here, I do not want that fucking thing watching anyone give birth!"
"Calm down, Kimi," Naoko advised. "I don't think IMONO wants that. Besides, there aren't any cameras inside any of those sheets, so…it can't."
"Well then, why the fuck are these here?!" Kimi argued. "I mean, the rest of this shit…There is that lab nearby, and the distillery's full of flammable shit, so I guess an ER room nearby makes sense."
"That's actually a good point," Mareo replied thoughtfully.
"But seriously! What the fuck are these delivery room beds doing here?! There's no way a place like this would actually need these! But…why would IMONO give us these?!" Kimi asked aloud, as if challenging the others to come up with some sort of explanation.
Yori seemed like she had something in mind. "Maybe having us here for the rest of our lives isn't enough," she suggested. "Perhaps if we were to have children, IMONO won't have to worry about having to be alone in this facility."
"So, IMONO wants us to have kids, is what you're saying," Kimi responded pointedly. "First that freaky love potion bullshit, now this? What kind of fucked up, perverted shit is this?! Is IMONO just some kind of…fat, creepy dude that gets off watching teens have sex?!"
"I'm just…" Yori was starting to look a bit uncomfortable. "I'll admit, I don't like that idea very much, either. However, I have my doubts that that's what's happening here. Considering some of what IMONO has said, it seems like it doesn't enjoy the idea of being alone in this facility. What I'm saying is that if we have and raise children, IMONO won't have to worry about being alone for some time. And if they had children of their own…"
"Well, I'd say there's an inherent issue with that idea," Mareo replied. "There aren't many of us at this point. At most, we've had eight men and eight women. Even if everything worked out perfectly, with so few of us…our descendants would succumb to inbreeding before long."
"Inbreeding?" Kimi responded in disgust. "That's even worse! That's some total degenerate shit that you're talking about right now!"
"Kimi, stop being disgusting," Eryu cut in. "Look, aside from all that, there's nothing of note to talk about here. Suffice to say, we know why IMONO brought Bankei into this room in order to punish her."
"Hey, I'm just making observations here," Kimi said defensively. "It's a possibility, and I'm sticking to it. I don't even think us having kids would work out, honestly, so the whole 'making sure IMONO doesn't get lonely' thing doesn't gel with me. I mean, are any of us ready for that shit?"
"Probably not," Mareo supposed. "My parents didn't even consider having children until they were in their thirties. Then they had me."
"Good point. I'm at least gonna wait until I'm married," Takeshi weighed in. "Not sure how that'd even work in a place like this, but we could probably figure something out."
"Tch. Waiting until marriage. Of course," Kimi responded smugly.
"Well, there are more important things for us to worry about, y'know," Takeshi responded. "We have to worry about staying safe in here, among other things."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that, actually. Staying safe is definitely important," Mariko agreed. "But what about feeling safe? Do we feel like we're safe? I'm not sure about that myself."
"IMONO seems to think so," Yori pointed out.
"That means literally nothing," Kimi said. "For fuck's sake, you guys. You think just because Bankei has a thing strapped to her back, we don't have to worry about her? Seriously, what the fuck?"
"None of us have said anything about feeling safe," Eryu pointed out.
"Well, she's right," Ishi said. "Mine. She used to…y'know, keep an eye on her. Now who's gonna do that? She's just walking around, doing, like, whatever she wants."
"Well, what is she going to do?" Mareo wondered aloud. "Do we really think she's going to instigate another murder? She only claimed to have purposefully done so once, and it seemed as though that was mainly to get some sort of 'moment' that she didn't get previously."
"That wasn't the only reason," Naoko replied. "She also wanted to get rid of Haru and Kimi, because she didn't like them. Plus, there was the issue with her knowing that Mine was keeping an eye on her for us. Even if she doesn't feel the need to orchestrate something now, she might in the future."
"She seems like she'd totally come up with a reason," Ishi pointed out. "Like, c'mon. She already hates me. And Kimi…And Mariko, and…Eryu, I think."
"She has a lot of issues with us in general," Takeshi agreed. "It's only a matter of time before something bad happens again. And chances are, she'll have caused it."
"Then let's just lock her up before she gets the chance," Kimi suggested.
"Would that be 'extreme'?" Yori asked. "IMONO doesn't want us doing anything extreme."
"Should keep her from doing anything sneaky," Kimi said. "Who cares what that stupid fucking thing thinks? Fuck, let's at least try to keep tabs on her, just in general. We don't even know where she is."
"She's probably poking around on this floor," Naoko figured.
"Well, fuck, are we just gonna let her?" Kimi asked rhetorically. "Someone go make sure she's not doing something stupid."
"I guess I could do that," Naoko supposed. "Is everyone else okay here?"
"We should be fine. We'll tell you later if we find anything interesting," Eryu replied. "For now, things seem like they're alright here."
Naoko wasn't too enthusiastic about actually doing so, but if it put people's minds at ease, then he figured he may as well. She couldn't have gone far, anyways. He figured he could just pop his head into the nearby rooms and see where she was.
It turned out, though, he didn't have to go far at all. He was going to pop into the coffee room when he heard what sounded like a pained groan from the stairwell. He went there straight away and saw Bankei at the bottom of the steps, her crutches to her side, struggling to get herself upright.
"What the hell happened?" Naoko asked.
"I…decided I wanted to go upstairs, so I thought I would walk up the stairs myself," Bankei explained. "That was a mistake."
"Are you…hurt?" Naoko asked.
"A tad," Bankei replied. "Right now, I'm mostly just thankful that it's you that found me, and not someone like Kimi. Knowing her, she'd probably be mocking me right now."
"Yeah, I'm sure she would be," Naoko replied frankly.
Bankei looked at Naoko straight in the eye as she got herself into a more comfortable position. "What does that mean? Are you trying to insinuate something? Are you mocking me?"
"What? No," Naoko said annoyedly. "I think we all know each other well enough to know that that's an accurate statement. That's why I said that."
"Well, alright then. No need to be so rude about it," Bankei responded as if affronted, shakily trying to get herself into a standing position. "The least you could do is help a poor young girl in pain. Is that so hard?"
"Normally, it wouldn't be," Naoko replied coldly.
"Let me guess. I'm the exception," Bankei assumed.
"Well, yeah," Naoko replied. "It's not like it's hard to figure out."
"Look, I'm in no mood for mind games at the moment," Bankei said tiredly. "I'm still under the effects of that ridiculous truth serum, and I'm in no position to engage in any of that tripe. I'm just going to make myself as clear as possible, here and now. Alright?"
"...Okay," Naoko said, not sure where she was going.
"Alright. First of all, that room?" Bankei began, motioning to the door opposite of the stairwell.
"The room with the coffee?" Naoko asked.
"And tea," Bankei corrected him.
"Sure," Naoko replied, vexed by such a trivial concern. "What about it?"
"I'd recommend you get rid of it," Bankei explained. "It's terrible, and an insult to the senses. No living being alive should have to endure the utter drabness of instant tea."
"I'm sorry, what?" Naoko responded in utter bafflement. "Seriously? No, we're not doing that."
"Well, fine," Bankei replied resignedly. "At least don't serve me that garbage if you ever decide to forego IMONO's wishes and lock me up."
"Oh, yeah. We were just talking about that," Naoko replied.
"I had a feeling," Bankei said. "You've at least thought about it before, yes?"
"Well, yeah, of course," Naoko replied annoyedly. He was really starting to get tired of talking with her.
Bankei gave him a judgemental look. "You're mocking me, aren't you?" She broke eye contact in order to try and pick up her crutches, which looked to be a rather uncomfortable endeavor. "You may not be impressed now, but don't be fooled. I think you'll find I know you all better than you know yourselves."
"That's ridiculous," Naoko challenged. "You can't possibly know us that well. You didn't even know Mine had claustrophobia until she told you."
"I figured she may have had some sort of anxiety disorder," Bankei explained. "That, or hyperactivity. Or both. I'm not a psychologist, but those don't exactly seem mutually exclusive."
"Well, if you weren't sure about that, I doubt you know much about the rest of us," Naoko said. "Look, just don't be surprised if we decide to take additional measures against you. Just because you're a bad judge of character doesn't mean you're not dangerous."
"A bad judge of character?" Bankei replied confusedly. "I've been under the impression that everything I've said about every single one of you has been quite accurate. Well…I suppose I'm in no position to argue."
"You should go," Naoko said frankly.
"Alright," Bankei sighed. "Walk me up to the first floor?"
"If that's what it takes, fine."
Naoko did what he said he'd do, escorting her to the first floor and walking her to the dorms. She said goodbye to him before going into her room, but it wasn't a warm goodbye by any means. She wasn't in the mood for something like that, and Naoko felt similarly. He really was just glad to get that over with.
Still, after that was over, he was able to take a step back and relax. He was sure that it wasn't odd or uncalled for, acting coldly toward her after all she'd said and done, but he was also sure that he didn't need to let her get in his head. Chances are, staying in that headspace would do much more harm than good. He needed to clear his mind with something more casual. That was when he realized how long it felt since he had casual, one on one time with people. Perhaps that was what he needed? Well, he'd have to see if people were around first.