Sweetest Flower, Darkest Desire (Part 4)

Team Dusk

As soon as I walk through the door leading to the Dusk Wing, I'm bombarded by a certain girl who kinda really hates me right now.

Before I listen to her ramble, I quickly take a look around. We're in a very small hallway, with one door at the end and one door to my right, immediately as you enter from the main foyer.

"What took you so long?" Mari scoffs, a look of annoyance on her face. "The others are waiting for you to explore."

I look around again and realize that surely enough, my other classmates have gone on without me and it's just Mari and I in the small hallway.

I put a hand on my head, smiling sheepishly. "S-Sorry, I was caught up talking to some peeps from Team Dawn…"

"Already abandoning your teammates?" She chastises with a headshake. "To be expected from someone like you…"

I sigh. "Are you just going to hate me forever, Mari? I mean, I understand your anger, but don't you think it's better to forgive?"

"Forgive…maybe." Mari thinks. "But forget? Hell no. Now anyways, take a look at this."

I raise a brow, allowing Mari to walk me over to a door at the end of the small hallway. She jiggles the handle and…

"Oh, it's locked?" I ask, trying myself to open it.

Mari nods. "Obvi. What's the point of a locked room anyways? I thought we were allowed to explore whatever."

I shrug. "No clue. So then the only other option would be to go through this door." I say, pointing to the only other door in the room.

Mari rolls her eyes. "Again, obviously. Are you just going to stand there or are you actually going to do something useful and explore?"

I sigh. "Of course I'm going to explore."

Mari gives me a side eye look. "Good. Now let's go."

She struts away and makes her way through the last door.

Left alone, I decide to take the time to closely observe the interior of this tiny section of Dusk Wing.

The overall interior is incredibly medieval-castle-esque, with a purple damask patterned carpet strewn across the gray cobblestone floor, and the walls painted a dark navy blue and covered with various paintings of…huh?

I take a closer look at the pictures and they're…

Really fucking disturbing.

It's…dead people. And not only that, it's almost eerily similar to the ways people have died during the Killing Galactic Life.

One painting depicts a blue haired girl with a bloodied stomach laying against the wall of what looks like a bathroom.

Another one is a red haired boy battered and beaten with large welts all over his body.

And then another one is of a fat boy with a bloodied head, laying on the ground.

Their faces are scratched out, so you can't really tell who they are. But from looking at them…I can't help but get the feeling that I know these people.

I frown. Pretty tasteless decorations, Monokuma.

Overall, Dusk Wing is exactly what you'd expect a castle to look like. Now, let's see go see more.

I follow Mari to the next room, which is a neat round room, seven doors in total. The seventh door is spaced away from the others, and I get a feeling that these other six doors…

"Our dormitory." Mari says, looking at a door with her name on it. "So, this is where we'll be staying…"

The walls and floor are made of cobblestone, and the doors are made of strong brown wood and are arch-shaped. Pretty freaking cool, to be honest.

I look at the door with my name on it, deciding to investigate later. "The others must've gone on ahead."

"Probably." Mari nods. "You did take too long, after all."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I get it."

The next room is a huge common room, with multiple doors leading to different areas. There's about 4 doors in total, not counting the one I just came out of.

It's a great and grand room, with a lot of the theming consisting of darkness and the moon, befitting of us being Team Dusk. The floors are black marble and the walls are dark purple wallpaper. There's a big round medieval styled couch in a navy blue color that could probably fit everyone at once and still have room left over, with a big brown wooden coffee table in the middle.

There's also shelves along the wall with many, many books.

There are two doors to the left of me, spaced pretty close together, and two to the right, placed a little farther apart.

Koko is seated on the couch, and I decide to talk with her while Mari crosses her arms behind me.

"This room is so plain. Certainly doesn't really offer any enjoyment." The food critic sighs. "Which is something I desperately need…"

"Missing Fran?" I ask. "It sucks being away from your friends on the other team."

Koko's eyes widen. "U-Uh, yes! That's exactly why I need some enjoyment." She smiles. "How pastaervant of you, Seizo."

…

…

…

"Ok, you better tell me what's really wrong, Koko." I frown, crossing my arms. "That was an awful pun, even by your standards."

Koko gasps. "Hey! I thought that was a great pun! You're not being very rice, Mr. Dark Wizard!"

I give her a look.

The red-head sighs. "Ok, fine. I guess I can tell you." She puts her hand in her apron and hands me a letter, which I immediately recognize.

"This is your role card..are you sure you want me to read it?" I ask.

Koko nods. "Sure. It's nothing that I'll kill over, and nothing that affects you, so I think it's ok to tell you."

I unfold the card, and read its contents.

ROLE: The Comedic Cook

TASK: Must not consume any food until after the end of day three.

"Jesus!" I say. "That's gonna kill you!"

Koko shakes her head with a smile. "Kill me? No. Be really difficult? Absolutely."

"The human body can survive up to two months without food intake as long as you drink plenty of water." Mari chimes in. "Don't ask me how I know that."

Koko nods. "Mari is right. As long as I make sure to drink an excessive amount of water, I'll survive. But I can already tell it'll wreak havoc on my body, especially as a girl who is used to consuming food on the regular…"

I hand her her card back and smile. "I'm sure you can do it, Koko. All these tasks suck, but we can't let Monokuma win, right?"

"Of course!" Koko agrees. "I won't let him win, no matter what."

I smile one last time at Koko and decide to investigate further. Mari decided to 'take a beauty rest' and rest her eyes on the couch.

I enter one of the rooms to the left of me.

This room is quite the cruel cosmic joke given what I just learned about Koko.

It's a medieval style kitchen. Brick flooring and brick walls, with a gas stove, super old looking refrigerators, plenty of counter space, and all the cooking equipment you could need, just made up to look older, presumably to fit the theme.

Norikazu is looking inside the fridge, probably for something to grub on.

"Hey, Nori-"

"AHHH!" The artist immediately jumps up and scurries away from the fridge, turning towards me. He puts a hand on his heart. "Seizo! You scared the daylights out of me!"

I raise a brow. "Uh, sorry, but I just called your name at a reasonable volume…"

Norikazu frowns, but removes his hand from his heart. "...You are right. My apologies. I am just…anxious, given how many murders have happened. You never know when someone will strike next."

I nod. "You are absolutely right. Well, did you find anything of interest here?"

The blonde shakes his head, motioning around him. "It is just a regular kitchen. However, that is something of note, I suppose…just a regular kitchen."

He walks on over to the gas stove. "The first gas stove was invented in 1802 by Zachäus Winzler. As such, it is impossible to find one in any medieval kitchen given the fact that during that time all they were able to use were cooking pots, cauldrons, and campfires."

"So Castle de Monokuma isn't so accurate after all." I nod, realizing what Norikazu is saying.

"Precisely." Norikazu says. "I mean, refrigerators? Those weren't invented until 1913. Plus, they can't be powered without electricity, which wasn't discovered until 1752."

"Well, it kinda makes sense, right?" I ask. "We'd have no idea how to live in Medieval conditions. We'd all probably drop dead by day 2, not knowing how to feed or take care of ourselves."

Norikazu shrugs his shoulders. "I suppose you are correct. Now, do you mind if I go back to exploring? I'm looking for something to cook for everyone."

"Sure," I say. "I'll leave you to-Wait. Did you just say you're going to cook for everyone?"

Norikazu awkwardly smiles. "Y-yes. Is that a problem."

"No, no, not at all," I answer. "I'm just…surprised."

Norikazu softens his smile and gives me an expression I don't think I've ever seen him portray: kindness. "I am just doing my part as a member of the team."

Are pigs flying? Cause I never would've imagined Norikazu would ever smile at me like that or bring up how he's trying to be a team player. I mean, I look at his unwillingness to help us look for an escape during our first days here, as well as his…inadequate performance during our game of kickball, and it's hard to imagine a guy like that acting like this now.

Has Norikazu Kanno turned over a new leaf?

I bid adieu to Norikazu and entered the next room next to the kitchen.

BREAK

This room is more period-accurate.

It's a washroom, with three basins of hot water steaming up the room, and a shelf full of towels, buckets, and soaps.

Leonia is investigating this room, looking at the soaps.

"Anything lemon scented?" I ask as I approach her. "That's my favorite!"

Leonia shakes her head. "No, most of these do not bear any scent." She answers, picking one of the soaps up. "Most soap in the medieval times was made with a dangerous amount of lye. Meaning it was pretty harsh on the skin. Not only that, but if ingested, it could lead to death."

"Ouch, don't let Ritsu hear that," I cringe. "Maybe we should just stick to hot water to clean ourselves…it's only three days after all."

Leonia nods. "That would be best. Also, Seizo, I have a question for you."

"What's up?" I ask.

Leonia clears her throat. "Ah, well, Ritsu's name sparked some curiosity within me. I was just wondering…do you happen to know any…secret information about any of our departed classmates?"

I think for a moment.

Silver, Ritsu, Satoko, Hiiro, Sonoda, Nadia, and Evelyn…any of their secrets?

I shake my head. "Not that I can think of, sorry. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, just simple curiosity." The Photoshoot Choreographer explains. "Forget I said anything."

I nod. "Gotcha. Well, I'll leave you to it, Ms. Taylor!"

Leonia nods and waves goodbye as I exit the washroom.

The next room, which is to my right if I'm entering the common room from the dormitories, is rather interesting.

Black walls and black flooring make the room seem even eerier and unsettling than it already is.

Why, you ask? Why, because this room looks like a ritual ground.

Clara is investigating this room, though she doesn't look happy to be.

In the middle of the floor is a ritualistic symbol, if you know what I mean. Surrounding it are candles of various kinds, and a few sets of pillows, presumably for comfort while ritual members conduct their…rituals.

One side of the wall is rather strange. It's made of unstained wood rather than the other walls of the room. Strange.

Lastly, as soon as I entered, an insanely creepy tune rang out. 'DUN, DUN, DUN' it sounded like…

Monokuma is really going for the theming…

I approach Clara. "So, what's the deal with this room? Is Monokuma having us summon up a demon to help us escape the HFH Enterprise?"

Clara chuckles. "Hm, which one do you think? Baal, Morax, Barbatos…?"

I awkwardly smile. "Eh, not too sure who those guys are, sorry…us Japanese folk have a whole different set of demons."

Clara giggles. "I'm just teasing. But yeah, this room is beyond creepy. I can't imagine why on earth anyone would want to come in here."

"Well it is pretty dark in here, the perfect place to take a nap in." I joke.

"I think I'd rather just sleep in the rooms Monokuma provided us." Clara laughs. "We'll give this room to Mari."

I leave Clara in the ritual room to see what the hell the point of it is. The last room of interest is next to the ritual room, and the room closest to the door leading to the dormitories. I am left alone to investigate as the others have taken different parts of the Dusk Wing.

This last room looks kind of like a magician's laboratory, if that's what you'd call it. There's a desk with many a paper strewn across it, and shelves lined with specimens and weird looking liquids.

I take a look at most of the things, and everything looks pretty standard for Monokuma's theme except…

"What the…" I mutter, picking up a bottle off of the shell.

Despiscocide Concentrate

I frown. This is what's inside our ankle monitors and what…

…

"Poison!" Monokuma finished. Everyone turned their attention from Cotton to Monokuma, who looked the least bit bothered by the bloody mess at his feet. "To be more specific, Cotton here has been injected with a deadly dosage of Despiscocide!"

"What the fuck is Despiscocide?!" Sunrise yelled, a little more flustered than normal. My guess is that even though he wasn't Cotton's biggest fan, he didn't want to see him like this.

"Despiscocide is a favorite drug of mine!" Monokuma giggled. "Not only is the name cool, but the effects are pretty gnarly! Once injected into the bloodstream, Despiscocide travels allllll the way up to the major organs of your body, destroying them one by one in a matter of an hour! Cotton is currently having his stomach obliterated!"

Injected into the bloodstream, it's deadly. I imagine the same can be said if ingested or even if coming into contact with skin.

I wanted to take the bottle with me and throw it away or hide it, but a poster on the wall stopped me in my tracks.

MUST NOT REMOVE ANYTHING FROM THIS ROOM

I frown, but also realize this may be a good thing. If no one can remove anything from this room, then it'll be harder to use. Other than Despiscocide concentrate, there's a variety of other basic poisons and bad things, such as acid, nightshade extract, Monopods juice, and something called Radical-6?

Strange.

I can't be bothered to be in this room more than I've been in here already, so I take my leave.

When I re-enter the common room, everyone is seated at the couch, holding bowls of what looks like soup. I guess Norikazu really did come through!

I sit down next to Koko and Norikazu, the former of which is gazing at the soup with sadness.

"So, uh, anyone find anything interesting?" I ask, trying to make some conversation with my rather awkward group of teammates (seriously it feels like Team Dusk is full of the, uh, not so pleasant people, plus Koko and Clara. And me of course!).

"Well, I did an investigation of my bedroom." Leonia comments. "It appears a key is not necessary and the door will only unlock if the owner of the room opens it."

"Ooo, that'll be useful." Koko nods. "Helps avoid any…you know…"

"Yes." Leonia nods, understanding where she's getting at. "Additionally, it is rather late at night. It almost feels as if we should be asleep right now."

"Oh, that must correlate to this note I found." Clara speaks up, whipping out a random piece of paper from her dress. "It was on the ground of the…ritual room."

HEY!

You, yeah you!

The weirdo weird enough to check this room out!

You're a member of Team Dusk, so guess what that means? You little nocturnal sons of bitches operate at night!

You are only allowed outside of your rooms at nighttime, which I will announce from here on out.

You MUST be in your rooms two minutes following the daytime announcement, or risk punishment. Once inside your rooms, you will not be allowed out.

Literally, your doors will be locked.

THAT'S ALL.

Xx, Monokuma

"I guess it makes sense given our team name." Norikazu suggests.

Hm…

Norikazu is the only other male here.

"So that's all for Dusk Wing." Mari says. "It's pretty lame in here, I almost prefer the ship."

"To be honest, same here." Koko agrees. "Much more amenities and things."

I slowly move my hand across the couch towards Norikazu.

"Well at least we're only here for three days." Clara reminds us. "It should go by pretty quickly, I think."

"Who knows," Leonia starts. "Maybe we'll even get out here earlier if someone decides to commit murder."

"Leonia! How morbid!" Koko gasps.

Leonia clears her throat. "My apologies…the dead have simply been on my mind late-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Norikazu screams as I flip his bowl of hot soup onto his legs. Sorry buddy…

"Sorry!" I quickly apologize, moving to help him. Everyone looks at me suspiciously, probably seeing how I committed the vile atrocity.

"I, uh, meant to pat him on the leg." I explain.

"It's…fine." Norikazu says with a smile, surprising me. "No need to fight! We're on good terms, yes Seizo?"

I quickly nod. "Of course!"

"Good." Norikazu says, his voice indicating he's clearly in pain but his face remains cheerful. "I am going to wash this off in the washroom." He announces, standing up and slowly going to do so.

The remaining girls look at me.

"What?" I sheepishly smile.

Team Dawn

FUCK!

THAT FUCKING HURT, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT DUMBASS THINKING?!

I MEAN F-

Fuck…

I frown, glancing down at my own role card. I have a feeling this shit has to do with why the fuck D-Lister just assaulted me out of nowhere.

I had to do this as quickly as I could. I grabbed a candle off the wall and rushed up behind Taka, pressing the flame against the side of his neck with as much force as I could.

"OW! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Taka screams in pain, instantly grabbing his neck in pain.

"Sorry!" I yell, running away to my wing. "You'll understand later!"

"YOU MOTHERFUCKING - I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He continues to scream.

ROLE: The Heroic Knight

TASK: Must not let any teammate be murdered.

This fucking task man…

How the fuck can I guarantee this?

Isami tries to look over my shoulder as we walk through the doors of Dawn Wing but I put my paper away.

"The hell you think you're looking at?" I sneer.

Isami shrugs. "I am just curious. Aren't you curious as to what my task is?"

"As long as it doesn't affect me, feel free to keep it to yourself." I answer.

We enter the Dawn Wing and arrive in a small hallway with two doors. One is at the end of the hallway while the other is to my left.

The walls are a bright red-orange color, and the floor is covered in light hardwood. On the walls are these weird fucking paintings that almost look cool if it weren't for all the gory details…

I mean, look, there's a picture of a red haired chick with blood seeping from her skull. And this one has a white haired boy with multiple injuries and shit laying on the ground. Fucking tasteless.

Isami wordlessly goes towards the door at the end of the hallway and tries to open it, but…

"Locked." She says.

"Figures." I roll my eyes, trying the other door. Sure enough, this one is unlocked. "C'mon, Dory."

Isami and I walk into the next room.

Once inside, we're greeted by everyone from Team Dawn, who look annoyed.

We appear to be in a squared shape room, with seven doors, three on one side and four on the other. One door is clearly spaced out from the rest. The floor and wall are both made of light colored cobblestone, and the doors are white and square shaped.

"What's the matter?" Isami asks, going up towards Shiro. "Are you feeling ok?" She puts her hands on his cheeks.

"I, uh, um, er, ee…" The boy can't spit out any words as his face burns a bright hot red with Isami in such close proximity.

Akumu clears his throat. "Well, we're stuck." He says, gesturing to the seven doors surrounding us. "These six doors lead to our rooms for our stay here. But this seventh door is locked."

"Another locked room?" I frown. "That's really fucking annoying."

"No kidding." Fran sighs, shaking her head. "What else are we supposed to do?"

Just when we thought all hope was lost, a note suddenly drops from the ceiling. We all look at each other strangely, and Jack is the one who decides to pick it up.

"Here's what it says…" He reads.

Team Dawn! What on EARTH are you doing up?! It's nighttime and you aren't allowed out! I've locked the seventh door for now so you don't accidentally get yourselves into trouble and break the rules.

I should explain. You all are diurnal, meaning you operate during the day. During the night, I want you in bed getting some good rest!

So, during nighttime, you are to be doing just that. Meaning you are not allowed out of your rooms at all!

Literally. Your doors will be locked! I expect you in your rooms until two minutes after my daytime announcement.

Xoxo, Monokuma

"I see…" Akumu says. "Well! I guess I am kinda tired, some rest would be nice."

"Still, I was hoping we'd get the chance to explore…" Fran sighs, dejected.

Jack pats her on the back. "We'll get the chance tomorrow. For now, we should all get some rest."

"I-I am kinda tired, yeah…" Shiro nods.

"Would you like to sleep in my room?" Isami suggests.

A notecard falls from the ceiling and I pick it up. "You must be in your own room following each announcement."

Isami sighs. "Oh well…" Shiro's face has never looked redder, goddamn I didn't know the human body could produce such a red tint.

"Then I guess we have no choice." I speak up. "We'll go to sleep for now and reconvene following the daytime announcement. This isn't any different from our usual routine, to be honest, just in a different setting."

"And it fits the theming!" Akumu cheerfully adds.

With nothing else to do than to listen to Monokuma, we each find our rooms and enter them for the night…

Team Dusk

"Hear ye, hear ye! The moon has drifted off into the sky, and now the sun has come out to greet us! Welcome to a new day. Team Dusk, please proceed to your rooms to get some rest. Team Dawn, you may exit your rooms two minutes after this announcement and begin your day. Good night and good day!"

By this point we had all finished eating, so this is actually some pretty perfect timing.

"I'm beat!" Koko yawns. "I'm definitely going to get a good night's sleep."

"Ugh, I just took a nap but I guess I'll take another one." Mari rolls her eyes in annoyance.

Leonia stands up from her seat. "Let's investigate further in the morning…or in this case, I suppose it'll be evening."

"For sure." Clara agrees. "Maybe we missed something while we were investigating earlier."

"Good night ladies and gentleman." Norikazu smiles. "It has been a lovely time with you all."

What crack is he smoking?

I nod. "Yeah, time to go to bed. Good night guys."

We all exit the common room and arrive at the dormitory. Bidding one last farewell to each other, we find our rooms and enter them.

Inside, It is a fairly standard bedroom. A full sized bed with purple sheets, cobblestone flooring and walls, and various other purple decorations. There's also a small water closet for your bathroom needs.

There is one thing of interest in this room, though. Windows! Two medium sized windows that show the outside.

The forest we're in is surrounded by a ton of tall trees that block out most of the light, but it does appear to be daytime based on the few rays from the sun that are poking in.

I take a closer look outside but don't see anything of interest. Hm, maybe if I gaze a little harder-

"AH!" I yelp, leaning too close against the window as it starts to open on me. I didn't know they opened!

Phew, that was close. I take a breath, closing the window and looking around the room once more.

Hm, I should get some rest, I'll be locked in here for a few hours anyways…

…

Today was pretty hectic. Between losing Takumi to not losing Takumi, and then being locked in a strange castle forced to play one of Monokuma's games.

Yeah, I need the rest.

Team Dawn

"Hear ye, hear ye! The moon has drifted off into the sky, and now the sun has come out to greet us! Welcome to a new day. Team Dusk, please proceed to your rooms to get some rest. Team Dawn, you may exit your rooms two minutes after this announcement and begin your day. Good night and good day!"

I yawn, rising out of bed as the announcement finishes. Damn, I'm sore. Monokuma didn't give us any other clothes to change into so all I had to wear is this stupid ass knight outfit that I can't take off by myself.

A new day…hopefully this shit is better than the last. Takumi explained his plan and thought process to me and I let him go through with it cause that's what his whole talent revolves around: finding an escape no matter the cost.

But…

A small part of me has a little doubt in the little shit's plan. And that small part of me also feels kinda bad if that little shit's plan doesn't work.

Cause that would mean that that little shit…

…

Knock, knock

"TAKAHASHI, C'MON! IT'S BEEN TWO MINUTES!" I hear Fran's voice yell at me through the door.

I roll my eyes.

"I'M COMING LOSER!"

All six members of Team Dawn gather in the dormitory hallway, outside the seventh door we have yet to explore.

"Hopefully this was worth the wait." Akumu comments with an impatient tap of his foot. "I could barely sleep last night since I wasn't that tired."

"Really?" Fran asks. "I was quite exhausted!"

"I could hardly sleep either," Isami claims. "I was too busy thinking of Shiro…"

Miraculously, this time Shiro doesn't blush. He actually doesn't react at all, instead looking a little troubled.

"Shiro?" Jack calls. "Are you ok?"

Shiro jumps at the sound of his name. "H-huh? O-oh me? I'm fine…s-sorry for worrying you all…"

"Anyways," I interrupt. "Are you fuckers ready? Let's go."

I throw open the door to the next room and we all hurry inside.

We are now in what looks like a decent sizedcommon room, with doors leading to different areas. There's 4 other doors other than the one we all just came out of.

It's an impressive fucking room, with a lot of the theming consisting of daytime and the sun, which makes sense given the fact we're Team Dawn.. The floors are white marble and the walls are covered in bright orange wallpaper. There's a cool,round medieval styled couch in a bright yellow color, with a big white wooden coffee table in the middle.

There's also some shelves, lined with medieval figurines and shit.

Before I can even say anything, everyone's impatient asses scurry off into the different rooms to explore, leaving me by myself.

Do these little fuckers not remember that I'm their leader?

I decide I should probably look around, so I enter the first room on my right.

Inside reminds me a lot of the rec room on the first floor of HFH. Bookcases from floor to ceiling full of books, and two fancy leather couches facing a coffee table. In front of some of the books on the bookshelf are a few decorations, a lot of which are made with wire and thread. Overall, nothing interesting.

"I wonder if any of these books could be of use to us." Jack comments, running his hands along the bookshelf.

"I doubt it," I say. "They look just like regular books to me."

Jack stops. "Maybe. But their contents could possibly hold something pretty valuable."

I sigh. "Then go ahead and open every single book. Maybe then you'll find your value."

Jack rolls his eyes at me and walks away from the bookshelf, sitting down on the couch. "Your attitude will get the better of you one day…"

"Is that a threat?" I frown. This dumbass is starting to piss me off.

"No…" Jack answers, closing his eyes. "Just something to be careful of…"

I glare at him one last time and make my way out of the library.

The room next to the library is a fuck ton more interesting.

"Don't even think about it!" Fran smacks me in the arm as soon as she sees my eyes go wide. "We need to be alert during these three days and indulging in this will definitely not help our case!"

"Ow, you bitch!" I curse, grabbing my arm. British girl packs a strong ass punch.

But I guess she's right…

This room appears to be a little wine cellar. There are racks of alcohol bottles and even some barrels of it too. Additionally, there's a cupboard with several empty glass cups and glasses.

"I wasn't planning on it…" I mutter. "Maybe just a little…"

"I'm saving you from…a possible…" Fran suddenly drifts off and yawns, causing me to raise a brow.

"Your ass is still tired after we got like, 8 hours of sleep?" I ask.

Fran quickly shakes her head. "N-no. I just had a hard time sleeping but I'm alright. Aw, concerned for me are you?"

"Tch, yeah right." I roll my eyes.

"Anyways, we shouldn't consume any of us. It'll throw us off of our game. We need to make sure all of us survive these three days." Fran continues on.

I think about my task. Yeah, no kidding, or I'll lose…

"Fine, whatever, I guess you're right." I frown. "Now go spread your holy gospel to the others instead of singling me out."

Fran nods. "Oh, Jack is in the next room isn't he? Gr, I definitely need to make sure he isn't planning on making any more drinks like he did for our party."

The archaeologist hurries outside the wine cellar and towards the library to torment Jack.

Hm, rather him than me.

I enter the room across from the wine cellar, which is the second room on the left when you're entering from the dormitory.

Akumu, Isami, and Shiro are all fooling around in here, much to my disdain.

This room is pretty cool though. It looks like a training room, with three targets alongside a wooden wall, presumably to catch any loose arrows. On the other side of the wall are three ballista looking things, next to bins of arrows and…

"Apples!" Akumu cheers, biting into one. "This is great, I'm starving! There's no food here…"

"Shit, you're right…" I frown. "So are we supposed to just eat these fucking apples?"

Akumu hesitantly nods. "I think so…But at least there's different kinds!"

The weirdo's right, there's gala, Fuji, McIntosh, granny smith, and honey crisp apples all together in the baskets.

Bon' fucking appétit.

"But why are they here?" I ask. "Pretty weird ass thing to have in a room like this."

"Look!"

Akumu took an arrow out of the basket and stabbed it into an apple. Then he loaded the arrow into the ballista and fiddled with some controls. Then the arrow shot forward in the air towards the target, landing right in the bullseye.

"Boom!" He cheers. "It's like how they did it in medieval times."

"Interesting." I say, but not really. Just a waste of apples if you ask me.

I move towards Isami and Shiro, with Shiro…feeding her an apple?!

"Yum." Isami nods, finishing an apple out of Shiro's hand. "Very refreshing."

"What the fuck are you two doing?" I ask.

"I-Isami was hungry," Shiro answers. "S-So I fed her an apple…"

"But why?" I frown. "Can't she do it herself?"

Isami crosses her arms. "What's wrong with Shi Shi doing it for me?"

"Nothing, but…you know what? Nevermind." I leave the two lovebirds alone. That's too much, even for me.

The last room, which is the first room on my left when you're entering from the dormitories, is like some kinda mage's workshop or something. A messy ass desk with a shit ton of papers scattered across it, and shelves of notebooks. The only thing of interest in this room is a shelf of weird shit.

Frogs in jars, foxtail, and all kinds of weird things. There's also various lighters, and wax presumably to be used in connection with the lighters.

There is one last thing of interest…

I frown, picking a bottle of it up.

Despisocide Concentrate

Mother fucker…this shit can kill you if it finds its way through your bloodstream, I assume it must do the same thing if it enters your digestive tract.

I look up at a piece of paper next to the shelf and frown even harder.

MUST NOT REMOVE ANYTHING FROM THIS ROOM

Why am I not surprised? I set the bottle back and take one last look. I have a bad feeling about this room.

With all four rooms done and over with, we all gather in the common room, sitting on the couch (well Isami is sitting on Shiro but that's besides the point).

"Boring…" Akumu complains. "None of these rooms have any spice! Plus I miss the others…"

"Ha, you just miss Seizo." Jack jokes. "Your partner in crime in more ways than one…"

Akumu's face starts to turn red but he clears his throat. "W-what's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what…" Jack mumbles.

I raise a brow. The fuck's his problem?

"Boring is good." Fran interrupts. "Nothing to tempt us to commit murder. I mean geez, there's hardly any way to commit murder here anyway."

"Oh I'm sure I can think of some ways." Isami speaks.

…

…

…

"Anyway, what're we going to do now?" Akumu asks.

"Play charades." I roll my eyes.

"Really?" Akumu beams.

"NO." I groan.

"U-Um, I have an idea." Shiro speaks up. "How about we p-play Hide and Seek again?"

"Why?" I frown. "That's a dumb fucking idea."

"I dunno, it could be fun." Fran shrugs.

"Ah yes, let's play the game that ended Takumi's life." Jack cruelly comments.

"L-Let's just play, o-ok?" Shiro smiles. "Isami, you be the s-seeker."

Isami looks concerned for a moment but nods. "...Alright. Do I count to 20?"

"When did I agree to this?" I sigh heavily, but stand up. "Yes, dumbass to 20."

Isami shrugs, putting her hands over her eyes. "Ok. 1…2…"

We all quickly scramble to get up, each of us running in a different direction.

All except me. And…

…

…

…

Shiro.

Who isn't making an effort to hide at all and is reaching his hand into Isami's pocket.

A/N: Idk why but I feel obligated to post an author's note on every chapter of ootw

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