You stare at Tidus, still unconscious, and then look at your hammer threatening to drip blood on the carpet. You shudder. You can't decide what to do. Miyuki's cold gray eyes are still staring straight at you, you imagine. You bend down and gently close her eyes with a shaking hand, hoping that will help spur you to action. You still feel her lingering there, screaming furiously into the silence of your mind.

Youdidthisyoudidthisyoudidthisyoudidthis—

You spring up in horror, dropping your bloody hammer, wanting to run but knowing that's impossible. Looking around the room desperately, you notice the many stacks of weights littering the room, and your panicking mind seizes on an idea.

I need to cover her up, you think, moving one of the stacks along the ground with great effort. Maybe then she'll be quiet. Filled with a level of adrenaline you have never known, moving the stacks of weights is at once the work of minutes and the most exhausting work you have ever experienced. You are careful not to touch the body, boxing it in on all sides with the large stacks of weights, and then covering the top with a few larger weights.

Miyuki's "tomb" is complete.

There is an odd pile of weights near the Leg Press now, but at least you can't see her anymore…and that is enough for now. Miyuki's spectral voice subsides, and you breathe deeply. You're exhausted, but you're beginning to calm down slightly.

You see your bloody hammer on the floor and hurriedly snatch it up, swearing under your breath. Blood gets on your hands…or was it there before? With a hurried glance at Tidus, who luckily has not opened his eyes yet, you head to the bathroom again, being careful to not get any blood on the door handle. There, you take off your bloody dress shirt, and bunch it into a ball near the sink. Your first priority is your hammer, and you spend minutes running it under the warm water, scrubbing furiously with paper towels to get every last visible trace of blood off. Eventually, you are satisfied, and dry off the now spotless hammer. Bloody, wet paper towels are in the trash, but you can't do anything about that. Your dress shirt obviously can't be seen in its current state, and you don't feel safe carrying it in the halls, so you decide to leave it hanging in the far stall for now. You tuck your hammer back into your pocket, trying to keep it hidden as much as possible. Shining with sweat, you leave the bathroom again.

Tidus is finally stirring as you approach the Leg Press, and he soon opens his eyes, groaning faintly. He squints up at you, a new black eye blooming on his face. "Agro? How long have I been out?"

You shrug, trying to remain calm and keep your voice steady. "I'm in the dark, man. I just got out of the bathroom myself."

He puts a hand to his head, wincing as he touches his black eye. "God, this hurts."

You hold out a hand to help him up. "You want to tell me what the hell happened?"

Tidus nods, taking your hand, and you pull him to his feet. You are determined to keep Tidus's back to the moved weight stacks, to the bloodstained carpet, to Miyuki's body.

"You want to talk about it somewhere else?" you ask, and to your relief he nods. Quickly, the two of you walk out the door, and it's a relief when it swings shut behind you. Miyuki's body is still hidden for now. Amazingly, Tidus, still a bit dazed, doesn't realize anything is amiss.

Maybe I really am the Ultimate Luck, you think to yourself as Tidus suggests you both head to the cafeteria. When you get there, you set him down in a chair near the kitchen, and promptly head to the freezer. You quickly find an ice pack, and Tidus sighs in relief when he applies your find to his injured eye.

His green eye peers out at you. "Thanks, Agro. I really appreciate your help, buddy."

You try to smile. "Not a problem, man. It's just a black eye, and I've had my share of them in the past." You lean back in your chair. "Edwin's not needed this time."

Tidus tries to laugh, but mostly winces from the pain. You glance at the clock: it's 8:30 in the evening. When did it happen?

"Hey," Tidus says, looking at you strangely, "what happened to your shirt?"

You laugh, but begin to break out in a cold sweat. "Oh, I don't usually wear that type of shirt when I work out. I'll go back for it later," you say, deflecting. "However, I'm the one asking the questions here." Tidus holds his free hand up in surrender.

He sighs. "You know how I suddenly wanted to work out just out of the blue?" You nod, and he continues. "The photo thief really freaked me out, man. I thought there might be a chance they might attack me, so I wanted to be ready." He suddenly looks alarmed. "Not 'ready' to kill them or anything! Just to fight them off or be strong enough to run away!"

You nod and smile, appearing to understand. Tidus, bolstered by your acceptance, continues, shifting his ice pack slightly. "Well, I was right," he says grimly, "they did come after me, right when you went into the bathroom." He chuckles softly. "I'm lucky they only gave me a black eye. They seemed about ready to kill me, as crazy as it sounds." You remember Miyuki's knife, glinting as it descended towards Tidus's defenseless chest.

It's definitely not crazy, Tidus, you think. It's not…crazy…at all…

"Who attacked you?" you ask after a slight pause.

Tidus shakes his head. "I…I'd rather not say." He grins sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry man, I'm just embarrassed, that's all." He stands up. "Besides, I think they scared themselves. I don't think I'll have to worry about them again." He pauses. "I'll talk to them tomorrow, and not alone, either."

You also stand, trying not to dwell on the impossibility of his last sentence. "Well, as long as you're sure," you say, trying to stay casual, but you are secretly relieved that Tidus is so close-mouthed. At this rate, the others won't discover what you've done for quite some time.

After this, the two of you sit in silence.

Tidus suddenly laughs to himself after a while, startling you. "That doesn't mean I want to stop working out, though!" He points at his ice pack. "This black eye is proof that I've got a long way to go."

"Tomorrow, then?"

"Sure," Tidus says, beginning to walk, "I'll rest up tonight." His pace picks up, and he sprints out the door, still holding his ice pack gingerly. "Good night, Agro!"

Good night, Tidus, you think as you watch him go. You glance again at the clock, and are shocked to find out that an entire hour has passed. The talent show will be over soon, you think, and you realize that it would help if the others saw you again, at least for a little bit. You head back to the gymnasium, heart pounding, wondering how you would react if anyone noticed anything strange…

Luckily, it's still dark when you re-enter. Toshi is nearing the end of her act. She swoops her top hat off her head, swinging it at her audience, and purple plastic balls fly out. Everyone scrambles to catch one, and you do too, in order to blend in. "You've all been a great audience!" Toshi calls out, breathing hard but smiling wide. She flips her top hat back onto her head with a swift, practiced motion. "Toshi's Magnificent Troupe of Mystique thanks you for your support, and we'll be here for the foreseeable future!" No one chuckles at her attempt at humor, but there is loud applause, and the lights go on.

Tadakatsu claps you on the back. "Nice job out there, Agro. I found your act simple, but entertaining. Plus, I now know how to make a paper airplane now!"

"Never underestimate the power of knowledge," Aika mutters to you as she passes, smirk on her face. You force a smile as well.

Dio, walking with Yosuke (but also keeping a close eye on Ichigo, who's skipping in front of them) is talking more excitedly than you've ever seen him. "I'm telling you, the way you were moving that bunny around was just great, man. And coming from the Ultimate Pinball Wizard, that's high praise!"

Edwin walks by with Tatiana in tow, complimenting her in his accented Japanese. "Your performance was…excellent, art in motion. Where did you study before Hope's Peak?" Tatiana's face reddened with every word he uttered, and she couldn't seem to stop smiling.

Kaori grins at you, and mouths, "Nice job!" Aimi nods at you, and you swear she smiles, just a little bit…

As you all begin to file out, Honzo looks a little disappointed in the lack of attention he's getting, but Toshi whacks him on the back, similar to what Tadakatsu did to you…only a lot harder.

"Cheer up, my boy!" she says as he sputters. "Toshi's Wily Wizarding Group doesn't hog credit! We all did great!"

Honzo corrects his orange glasses, muttering, "I am not 'your boy…'"

You hold your breath as the crowd passes the exercise room, but no one goes in; no one calls out that they need a late night workout session to blow off some steam. The screens in the long hallway light up, and Monokuma announces to everyone that it's ten o'clock, and nighttime has begun.

"Breakfast tomorrow, same time?" Tadakatsu calls out a few minutes later, his hand on his door handle.

"Sounds good to me!" Ichigo calls out a couple doors down from you. She waves enthusiastically. "Good night, everyone!" You all head into your separate rooms, and the moment you shut your door you lie down on your bed, utterly exhausted. Lying, acting normal, has never been so difficult. You toss the purple ball up in the air; you'd held onto yours when a few people left their prizes back on the gymnasium floor, Toshi sweeping them into her seemingly bottomless top hat.

While everyone else gets ready for bed, you keep tossing the purple ball, catching it easily. It was a light ball, but not without a bit of weight behind it. You remember your bloody dress shirt hanging in the exercise room's bathroom, and think of how you were going to dispose of it. You could always hide it in your room, but what if everyone combed through the dorms? You can't take that chance—you know you have to dispose of the shirt permanently. Its color ties you irrevocably to the crime.

And then it hit you: the trash room. Tidus had mentioned an incinerator earlier today.

As long as I get the shirt in the incinerator, I'm home free, you think to yourself, hope slightly filling up the recesses of your mind. Once you got rid of the shirt, there would be no damning evidence against you.

You wait a few hours before you set out again, although you are tempted to go sooner. The sooner you go, the faster the evidence can be destroyed, but the longer you wait, the chance is larger that everyone will be asleep. At one in the morning, no one stirs as you slink down the hallway, passing the many rooms of your fellow classmates.

You remember, with a slight shudder, that there is now one major difference between them and you. You put it out of your mind as you head away from Hotel Despair, winding quickly through the darkened hallways lit up by the different colors. You hold your Student Handbook up to the screen, and you're soon inside the exercise room again. It's exactly as you left it, weight stacks exactly where you dragged them. You pause near them, looking down, see a brief glimpse of what is hidden, and move on. It's her fault, you think to yourself as you grab your bloody dress shirt from the restroom. You try not to look at it.

I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

This thought dominates your consciousness the entire time you walk to the trash room. Thankfully, everyone is still in their dorm rooms, most likely asleep. You head down the white hallway, and open the trash room door swiftly.

One look in the room is enough to make your heart sink. There is an incinerator in the back of the room, just like Tidus said, but what he forgot to mention were the shutters that blocked your path.

These must be what his trash key unlocks, you think miserably. There was no way you'd be able to get even close to the incinerator. You look at your bloody dress shirt, mind racing of a good place to hide it in your room, when your next idea hits you: the ball. Thrown just right, you could hit the button to start the incinerator. You take it out of your pocket, where you had absentmindedly stashed it before.

You breathe deeply, holding the ball in your right hand. The button was nearly thirty feet away. It would be a very difficult throw for anyone, even someone like an Ultimate Baseball Star, let alone you.

But you had to try.

You back up, giving yourself some room. You pause, looking only at the button. You only had one shot at this. You run forward, letting the round missile go, and it sails through a gap in the shutters. You can't breathe as it sails through the air. It seems like it's in the air for an hour.

You can't believe when it hits the button dead on, and the incinerator begins to roar to life. What the hell was that? you think to yourself as you ball your bloody shirt up. Compared to the first thrown, this one was easier, but you can't help grin when the shirt lands in the incinerator perfectly. You have no way of shutting the incinerator off, but the damning evidence will soon be destroyed.

You leave the trash room, the only evidence you'd been there a small purple ball on the floor.

After the short journey back to your room and a quick change into your pajamas, you collapse victoriously on your bed. You think back over the events of the last hour. Is this what it means to be the Ultimate Luck?

You'd always thought talents were bullshit, but…

You turn on your side, trying to clear your exhausted mind of everything that had happened. Somehow, you begin to feel yourself drift off, but just before you are about to sink into the darkness of sleep's oblivion, you hear Miyuki's voice again in your head. She sounds different than before, almost playful.

Do you love me, Agro?

Her tone was one you had never heard her use during your brief stay at Hope's Peak Academy. It was a tone that makes you shoot upright in bed and your blood to freeze in your veins.

"What the hell, man?" you whisper in the darkness.

Miyuki laughs in your head, a laugh you have never heard before in your life. I thought so, she whispers.

Tears suddenly threaten to fall from your eyes. You wipe the offenders away quickly. "What the hell is going on? What's happening to me?" you ask the darkness, punching your pillow. Miyuki doesn't answer or speak again. You lie back down and begin to get comfortable, but you soon find you can't get to sleep.

It is the longest night of your life.