As you may notice from the chapter title, things will move pretty fast in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Monobear was not there when they arrived.

"Great! So the stupid bear calls us here instead of letting us have breakfast and he doesn't turn up?!" Arisa fumed.

"He didn't turn up for a while on the first day though, remember?" Akihito pointed out.

Arisa made an angry noise but didn't respond.

"I wonder what he wants to tell us…" Chihiro said.

"Upupupu! I'm here!" Monobear appeared suddenly, in much the same way as he had on the first day. He bounced for a moment, and then looked at the students.

"Well, I see all 16 survivors are here! How wonderful-NOT!I'd hoped that now that so-called charmer had kicked things off the killings would just continue! But, alas, it is not to be…" Monobear pretended to swoon.

"Which is a good thing!" Arisa retorted "I already said, I'm not killing anyone!"

"Or so you say…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Eirik asked guardedly.

In response, Monobear produced a pile of envelopes. He fanned them out and then let go of them, so that they flew out and fell on the floor.

Makoto was the first to notice that the envelopes had their names written on them. He picked up his one, which prompted the others to pick up theirs.

Makoto, Kyouko, Akaya and Suzu were all cautious, hesitating once the envelope was in their hands, but everyone else opened it without qualms. Soon, puzzled and annoyed cries rang out; Nanako's the loudest of all.

"What the…WHAT IS THIS?!"

"As you can see, the envelopes contain one of your secrets-something embarrassing from your past, or a dark side you don't want to reveal!" Monobear looked pleased with himself.

"How did you get ahold of these? What purpose do they serve?" Kyouko asked, pocketing her envelope.

"Ah, I was getting to that!" Monobear declared "You see, I don't want this killing game to end-it's so much fun! So I provided you all a motive-kill someone before the end of tomorrow, or THE WHOLE WORLD will know your secrets!"

With that, the bear disappeared.

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Janus broke the silence.

"Well, what use is that? I can't even read my secret! I don't know what it is!"

Emi then added to the general atmosphere of annoyance by ripping up her secret, as well as the envelope it came in.

"Well, mine wasn't really a secret….if you look at my earlier blogs, you'd find it there…..I'd show you all, but we have NO INTERNET!" She scrunched up the remains in her hands and walked out.

A few others left angrily, until there were about 10 people left in the room.

"So…" Akihito asked awkwardly "Anyone still up for breakfast?"

…

Kyouko was sitting at one of the desks in the library and staring at a sheet of paper when Makoto came in with the intention of finding something interesting to read. He paused for a moment, and watched her as she continued staring with her usual intense –yet-emotionless expression.

Curious, he went over, and took a seat next to her. She acknowledged his presence with a mere nod, and went back to scrutinizing the contents of the paper. Makoto glanced at the paper.

"A letter? Did you find it in here?"

"It was hidden in the history section." She replied. "It was sent out by the school, but I can't seem to tell much more than that." She passed him the letter, and he read it.

"The date has been ripped out, and ink was spilt over the names of both the receiver and the sender…no, wait….the letter was sent to parents…as in parents of kids attending the school…" Makoto trailed off as he continued to study the letter. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kyouko take her envelope out of her pocket and study it absently.

"This letter, its saying something about a system breakdown…do you remember anything like that happening in the past few years? Surely something that required the school to send out a handwritten letter like this would have been in the news?"

"I don't remember anything of the type. That's why I was confused." Kyouko said. She fanned herself with the envelope for a brief moment.

"Did you…did you open that?" Makoto asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Kyouko said after a long pause. "But it means nothing to me in my current state." Her eyes looked sad.

Current state…could it be?

"Kirigiri-san…are you, are you…" he couldn't finish the sentence.

Kyouko blinked, and then she comprehended.

"No, no, nothing like that." She smiled faintly. Then, with a deep breath, she told him. Not the secret her envelope contained, but another secret. A secret about empty gaps and a searching for something she couldn't name.

Makoto stared at the mystery letter, feeling humbled. She must think so highly of him, to be able to tell him something like that. To be able to consider him a friend and tell him that. Because if there was anything he knew, it was that Kyouko didn't make friends. She was kind, but not a friend.

"I, um. This isn't a big secret or anything, it's just a 5th grade story of humiliation….but keep it. It's only fair. "He handed her the envelope containing his own secret.

Kyouko stared at it for a moment, then took it and pocketed it. When she gave hers to him, he did the same. They looked at each other a moment, sealing an unworded promise, and then went back to trying to analyse the letter.

…

"Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone was in here."

Eirik looked up to see a wide-eyed Chihiro, clutching the old laptop tightly and staring at him. She was just like a little kid.

"It's no big deal. Not doing anything secret." He said gruffly.

"So, it's…"

"You can stay." Chihiro grinned at him and took a seat on the other end of the bench. Soon, the sounds of typing filled the room.

"Don't you normally do that stuff in your room?" Eirik eventually asked, the curiosity overwhelming him.

"I…yeah, but the bedrooms have cameras. And I've made a lot of progress. "

"Yeah, yeah. I get you. The idea of that creepy bear watching us all the time isn't very appealing, is it? "

"No…"

The two went back to silently working –Chihiro on the laptop, Eirik on the novel he was translating for Suzu.

Then Eirik heard the laptop talking.

He blinked, wondering if he was hallucinating or not. He stayed still, listening. And sure enough, a voice was coming from the laptop. A voice just like Chihiro's. He turned and stared for a moment, debating with himself as to whether he should ask what the hell that was about.

As if sensing his stare, Chihiro turned.

"I…uh, It's too loud, isn't it?"

Eirik gave her a confused look in response.

"Okay…erm…let me try and explain…this is Alter Ego. I created him on here to…."

After some initial stammers, once Chihiro started explaining, she didn't stop to breathe, and Eirik could barely keep up. She was using a whole lot of technical terms he couldn't even begin to understand, but she was utterly enthusiastic. It was cute.

Perhaps this is what it's like, having a little sister.

He wished he had a little sister. Or a little brother. Or even an older brother or sister.

When Chihiro finished, she looked up at him expectantly.

"That sounds good, tell me, do you think you can teach Alter Ego another language?"

Chihiro's eyes widened, and Eirik wondered if once again, he had gone too far, assumed that a bond that didn't exist had already been established. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been that stupid.

"I… sorry. "

"No, no, it's fine. Except…."

"Except what? "

Chihiro blushed and muttered something.

"Huh?"

"I…I'm not actually a girl..."

Eirik stared at her uncomprehendingly. When she went a deeper shade of red, he understood.

"Oh."

Chihiro looked down at the keys of the laptop, embarrassed.

"I'm guessing that was the secret you were given today?" he asked eventually.

Chihiro nodded, still not looking at him.

"So? So what? As far as I'm concerned, you're just like a little-sister type. So I'm still gonna call you Imouto-Chan, okay?"

Chihiro looked up at him at that, wide eyed.

"You…you don't think it's pathetic? The fact that I'm pretending like this…"

"Why should I? You have your reasons for this, I guess. That is nothing to do with me. "

Chihiro grinned happily.

"Does that mean I should call you …Onii-Chan?" she asked.

Now it was Eirik's turn to grin happily.

"That would be great!"

Chihiro's smile got bigger, and she moved down the bench so she was sitting nearer to him.

"Anyway, you were asking about teaching Alter Ego other languages…I don't actually know enough of any others to do so myself, but if I taught you how to use him…."

…

She paced her room, trapped helplessly by two small words on a piece of paper.

How could he have known? How could he have possibly known? She had taken so many measures to make sure that she had discarded that part of her life forever. It would do no good for the great Nanako Tamuro to be associated with such a place. No good at all.

Her hands feverishly played with the paper, squashing it , folding it. She barely knew what she was doing, she wasn't even looking.

And then she did.

There was a bird, an origami bird, resting in her palm. When did that happen?

You taught me this. Back then.

Nanako shook the thought from her head. She couldn't be thinking like that. Not now. She needed to get rid of this, as soon as possible. But putting it in the bin wouldn't be enough. This was a secret that needed to burn.

Burn.

There was a thingy in the garbage room, wasn't there? A thing used to burn rubbish? Yes. She would use that.

There we go. Problem solved. Except it isn't, because the damn place is locked!

She was just about to scream when she remembered that Makoto had the key. Trusting, naïve, ordinary and boring Makoto Naegi.

I'm sure that Naegi wouldn't object to giving it to me. If he did, I have plenty of ways of changing that. It'll be fine.

With a purpose, she strode out of her room, tightly clutching her dangerous secret in her hand. Clutching it, but not crumpling the bird it formed.

…

Akihito had been wandering for ages and ages. He had been messing around in the art room, trying his hand at painting a mural-type picture on one of the large canvases. He was no artist, but he hadn't done too badly.

But now, he couldn't think of anything to do. And so, he had returned to the first floor in the hopes of bumping into someone.

Briefly, he considered playing poker. He had a few sets of cards in his room, and he wasn't shabby at it. But who to play it with? In the end, he decided to just get the cards and figure out that detail later.

It was only once he'd got the cards that he remembered that nobody had any money to use in the game. And any money someone happened to have would be kept away to allow them to escape homewards once they actually managed to get out of here. He was just about to give up and resign himself to boredom until dinner time, until he remembered that there were some fake coins in the storage room. Which was better than nothing, he supposed.

He headed to the storage room, randomly humming, when he passed Mirai, who seemed to be coming from the canteen, which was in the opposite direction to where he was going.

"Hey there." He said. He would have flirted with her, but Mirai was too weird for him. It was okay talking to her from time to time, but anything else was…a bit much.

"Hi.I think Toar might be dead. He's lying in the storage room." Mirai replied neutrally.

"Okay." He continued humming lazily.

It took Akihito a few seconds to clock what Mirai had just said. He whirled around, a feeling of dread welling up in him.

"Wait! Sakamoto-san! Did you just say that Toar-kun was dead?!"

Mirai stopped and turned. Her fingers were moving, as they always did, and Akihito stared at them for a moment, wondering what to do.

"Yeah…" then she seemed to realise what she had said, her eyes going wide.

"Raise the alarm!Go, go!"He yelled, feeling very afraid.

Mirai ran off, and he sprinted to the storage room to confirm that yet another one of them had died.

…

Kosuke sat down on the chair and surveyed his infirmary. Well, okay, it wasn't his, but considering the lack of actual staff here, it might as well have been. And it was a good one. Surely form here; it'd only be a small step before he had his own hospital. Well, assuming he got out, that is.

Just got to wait for my first patients now. Not that I want anyone to actually fall ill, but if they do…

He turned back to the desk, presumably the one the school nurse would've used for making notes and filling out forms and all of that, and stared at the envelope that contained his secret. Then, in a few swift movements, he ripped it up and threw the pieces in the bin.

That's better. He wasn't about to let a damn bear have the last word.

Taking out a cigarette, he put it in his mouth without lighting it, and then reached for a medical encyclopaedia to read. He probably knew everything in there already, but there was no harm in refreshing his memory a little.

He had been poring over it for about 20 minutes when he heard someone call his name.

"Kobayashi-kun!"

Kosuke looked up from the hefty encyclopaedia. The cigarette fell out of his mouth, but he barely noticed it.

For an exhausted Kyouko was standing in the doorway, a look of panic decorating her features. She was barely managing to stand up, as she was carrying a person in her arms, holding onto him as if both their lives depended on it.

That person was Makoto Naegi.

His eyes were closed, he was pale, and there was a large amount of blood gushing from a wound on his throat, to the point that it was staining his hoodie.

But somehow, somehow, although only faintly, he was still breathing.

So…it starts again. And for the moment, Naegi isn't dead. I haven't quite decided whether he'll make it through or not, although I am leaning towards having him die. In any case, that is something which'll be decided once the trial ends-but I'd be interested to hear your opinions on what should happen to him.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave feedback!