DAY ONE ; 12:05 P.M.

Hajime Hinata swore under his breath as he heard Souda's name mentioned. Sonia glanced over at him. "What's wrong?" she asked. Hinata, one hand pressed to his leg, answered as best he could.

"I was thinking that Souda and Fujisaki combined could get these stupid things off of us," he said. "But now that isn't happening."

There was a part of him that was sad for Souda just because he'd been Hinata's friend, too, if you could call it that – Souda had most certainly thought of himself as Hinata's friend, though Hinata thought that was more of a "I've never had a friend so one guy who's kind of nice to me has to be my friend" than actual friendship. But either way, it was hard to think of him as dead.

"The lighthouse isn't supposed to be a danger zone, though," Naegi said. "That's good, at least."

"Ibuki thinks the lighthouse will be fun!" Ibuki cheered, throwing her fork up into the air and catching it on her tongue. Her voice muffled around the silverware, she continued. "Hajime-chan just needs to settle down. These collars are quite fashionable."

"Is she just denying everything that's happening?" Hinata muttered to Sonia, who was sitting nearest to him. She managed a strained smile and stood up, brushing crumbs off of her skirt. They'd stopped to have lunch and mark maps. It was probably time to go again.

If he was being completely honest with himself, Hajime Hinata was not looking forward to it. His leg ached – it felt huge and swollen and hot, and he didn't even want to think about looking to see if it was actually infected or if he was just imagining it. It hurt when he was sitting down, and even if he leaned on Naegi while he walked…

He sighed, wincing a little as Ibuka grabbed his hand and yanked him up with a strength he could only wish for. He practically crumbled onto Naegi, and the four of them continued their long, slow trek through the island.

After about ten minutes, however, they ran into something unexpected.

That something was Akane Owari hanging upside-down from a tree branch, eyes closed, pistol clutched tightly to her chest.

"Owari-san?" Sonia asked, a bit hesitant, and Owari opened her eyes.

"Hey!" she said, grinning a little. She flipped down out of the tree and stretched like a cat, pistol never leaving her hand. "Biggest group I've seen so far."

"Have you been… hanging there for a while?" Naegi asked, hesitant. Owari shook her head.

"Only for a little bit," she said, running a hand through her hair. She grinned suddenly. "Would've sucked if you guys were playing, huh?"

Sonia blinked. "Well, Owari-san," she said. "If you would like to join us, you are perfectly welcome to."

Owari was trying to play the program off as something stupid and inconsequential, but the way that she was holding that gun made Hinata a little nervous. He shifted and a bolt of pain raced up from his leg. Owari zeroed in on the wound.

"Somethin' bothering you, Hinata?" she asked. Hinata grimaced.

"I was shot," he muttered.

"I'm still terribly sorry about that," Sonia said. She was studying Owari, as if she was trying to pinpoint weaknesses.

"Akane-chan!" Ibuki cheered. "Is that your weapon?"

"Huh? Yeah!" Owari said, grinning again. "I want to find old man Nidai, get some sparring on, but this is cool for now."

"We're heading for the lighthouse at C10," Sonia said. She frowned. "Where's your bag?"

"Lost it!"

Hinata decided that he was going to try and keep as close of an eye on Akane Owari as he could. There was something off about the way she was acting, on the way her fingers whitened with the force it took for her to keep her hand clutched on the gun, and the way her grin spread across her face too easily. She was easy-going, he knew that, but- this much? And with the gun…

She could snap easily.

26 STUDENTS REMAINING

Not sure if I'll be able to do all three chapters today, but I'll definitely try. Also, another character enters the fray! There are only a few more that I haven't introduced, and they should be found soon… Yamada, Twogami, Nidai, Celes, Aoi, Sakura… Nanami… Peko, though you can kind of guess where she is.

Either way, more fun stuff in the at-least-one-more-chapter today!