"Cheers!"

We all held our cups out high and slowly brought them down to our arm level. And we stayed there.

"So what now?" I heard Momoi ask.

"We… drink?" Kotama said, sounding quite unsure herself.

Momoi further clarified her question. "But do we chug it all down or take tiny sips?"

"If I feel like chugging, I'll do it," Maki said. She extended her arm and commented on the liquid, "I wonder what the big deal about this stuff is." She put the cup up to her face and said, "Bottoms up!"

I had no intention of following through with Maki until she took her own sip. I just wanted to gauge her reaction, that's all.

Maki tilted the cup slightly, allowing the mead to reach her lips. But she stopped before opening her mouth.

"What are you guys looking at me for?" she asked.

"Is it good?" Hare asked her.

"I didn't taste it!"

"...Well why not?" I inquired. I'm certainly not gonna be the first.

Maki yelled, "Hey! I'm not letting you all use me as a guinea pig! Either we all do it, or I'm not doing it at all! How do you like that?"

Grumbling went around the group, but in the end, everyone held their cups up high again. I sighed. I suppose it was only fair.

"Cheers."

"And this time, let's all drink, yeah?" Maki said.

Everybody brought their cup to their lips and let the liquid pour into their mouth. I took one careful look at my cup and decided the best course of action was to take a controlled sip, so as to lower the risk of overwhelming myself. I let the mead wash over my tongue and-

*COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH*

"Argh!"

Fuck! That was awful! NOT what I was expecting.

All around me were girls spitting their drink out or coughing.

Momoi wiped off her mouth with her sleeve and immediately started complaining.

"This tastes like liquid shit! I'd unironically drink my own bathwater before this again!"

Nods of agreement circled around the group. Except for one.

Hare's cup was tilted all the way up, indicating she was just about finished with her drink. She put it down and coughed a little, but otherwise seemed fine.

"Excuse me," she said nonchalantly.

"What the hell?" Maki asked her. "How did you drink that?"

"It was a little unpleasant, but it goes down a lot smoother than a can of Monster MAX," Hare said.

"You're an absolute fiend."

Hare smacked her fists together and announced, "Well, ladies, back to gaming! Everytime you die you take a sip!"

"Who are we to judge the orders of our senpai?" Midori asked the group.

"Well, she's the only one who finished it…" Utaha commented.

Everyone went back to their computer to resume the gaming session. Chihiro motioned me towards her computer. "Go ahead," she said.

Aris happily squealed, "I'm gonna play with Yuuka!"

I felt pretty cocky at that moment, so I raised my fist in the air. "This is gonna be fun," I said out loud.

One match later resulted in a loss for my team. We were playing against Hare, who true to legend, demolished us almost every round. Still, her performance was getting noticeably worse as the match went on, almost certainly due to the alcohol.

Hare stood up triumphantly and yelled with both her arms out.

"That's how ya do it! I'm the best gamer in all of Millennium!"

I retorted, "You wanna go against our eSports team right now to prove it?"

Hare lowered her arms. "Don't be such a fucking buzzsport, Yuuka. Since when did you care about eSports?"

"Buzzsport?" Kotama asked her, clearly not understanding what that word meant. It didn't mean anything, by the way.

"Yeah, it's like when you're having fun, and then somebody better comes around to kick your ass."

"Oh, like you!" Aris said to the white-haired hacker.

"What? Noooooo!"

Hare was starting to tilt. Literally.

Utaha took another sip from her cup, then addressed her. "Are you okay? Is the alcohol getting to you?"

Hare stared back at her. "Wha- no! One cup of this shit ain't enough to get me drunk. Why am I the only one who's drunk, by the way? All of your cups should be empty based off of how much I owned you."

Maki emptied her cup. "Yeah dude, I think she's gone."

I looked over at Chihiro to see her recording the scene with her phone and a big grin on her face.

"Uh, Chihiro?"

"What? It's not everyday we do something this stupid. Although they usually get pretty close most days," she said to me.

"Heh. Tell me about it. You enjoying the drink?"

"Can't say I'd drink it everyday, although I think that's a good thing. But yeah, I think I'm getting used to it."

"That's good. That's good." I smiled.

It seemed like everybody was having a good time and getting through their drinks. Well, mostly.

Which would make my ultimate plan easier to execute.

I looked down at my own cup to see it mostly full. Whatever was affecting Hare wasn't going to be my problem.

Chihiro's phone started ringing. She bought it her ear.

"Hello?... Hi, Prez. What's up?"

Chihiro looked at me.

"Yeah, she's here… Oh. Okay. One second."

Chihiro walked towards the room exit. I noticed Utaha's gaze follow her out.

At the time, I didn't think much of it, because the next game was starting…

While Hare still topped the leaderboard that match, we managed to eke out a narrow victory. Her, Maki, and Kotama's performances have all taken a noticeable hit, while Aris and Yuzu seemed to improve.

Momoi jumped up in excitement. "Yeah bitch! Take that! Woohoo!"

Hare's head collapsed on the table.

"Ooooooh. I'm starting to feel it now."

Kotama was hovering over Hare like a guardian angel. "Are you alright?" she asked her.

"I'm not used to downers," she replied. "I think I'm just gonna lie down on the floor here. Yeah."

Hare slowly lowered herself onto the floor and rested on her side, using her arms as a pillow.

"Heh, lightweight," Maki said.

"You don't look too much better yourself," Momoi said as she tried to get out of her chair. Personally, I thought Maki looked fine.

Momoi stumbled over to the side, and Midori jumped out of her seat to catch her.

Midori chastised her sister. "Oh come on! This is what you get for chugging it, you freaking monster."

"Shut up! Go big or go home as I always say!"

"What?"

"I totally kicked Hare's ass that last round!" Momoi exclaimed, seemingly forgetting about her previous outburst.

Kotama said in response, "You didn't kill her once."

"Yeah? Were you keeping track?" Momoi retorted.

"No, but you when you do get a kill, you always yell it out, and not once did I hear you say you got her."

"Will you all shut up?" Hare said from her position on the ground.

"Do you need some water?" Kotama asked her. "Make sure to stay hydrated! What's worse than having a headache than having a headache while dehydrated."

What looked like a ghost of a girl handed Hare a cup of water.

"Here, this will make you feel better."

"Thanks Noa," Hare replied.

…Noa?

Noa turned to face me and smiled her usual smile.

"I was wondering where you ran off to, but I finally found you! I have to say, it's a little rude that you didn't invite me here."

I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment. "Ah. Well."

Noa sniffed the air.

"And oh my? Is that the smell of illicit substances?" She giggled. "No wonder you don't want me here."

Aris ran up to Noa. "You're here! Perfect! We need new players to keep the party going!"

Noa replied, "Sorry, but I'm just passing by. It's been a long day at Seminar for me and I think I'm about ready to go home. Still, it's good to see you!"

Aris hung her head in mild disappointment. "Aw. Well, okay!"

Aris looked over at Hare and nervously shuffled.

Noa brought one finger to her lips. "Don't worry, I won't tell Sensei."

Aris let out a big sigh of relief. "Thank you!"

Aris ran back to her computer and started talking with her clubmates.

"So," I heard Noa whisper next to me. "I thought you were going to take care of 'it' tonight."

"Aw come on," I whispered back. "Just be patient. I have it all planned out. I get these girls blast drunk, then eventually they'll all fall asleep. That's when I'll take this…" I opened my bag to show Noa a small ball object. "...And use it to knock her out. Nobody else will notice."

"You do know when alcohol is involved, most people tend to get more aggressive and stay up longer if around other people?"

"Tch. Of course I know that. I'm not taking a lot, by the way."

Noa nodded. "Of course."

"Hare?" I suddenly heard Kotama say.

I looked over at her and saw her looking over her clubmate. Her halo was turned off and was drooling all over her arm.

"Yo!" Maki excitedly squealed. She took out her phone and crouched down in front of Hare, then snapped a picture of her face.

"Heh. Not every day we catch her passed out on the ground."

I heard Noa mumble something under her breath. Something about seconds?

"Well, at least try to have fun, huh?" Noa lightly elbowed me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Noa stood up and walked over to Utaha. They talked for a bit, then Utaha announced, "Let's get her somewhere comfortable. I'll go get some water from the lunchroom." The two of them then walked out of the room together.

Maki took it upon herself to get Hare out of the way. "Can't be too hard right?" She crouched down over Hare and tried to lift her, but gave up after one second.

"Maki?" Kotama asked her.

"Don't feel like it."

"What?"

"I said I don't feel like it. Let's go back to playing video games now that Hare's out."

"I concur!" Momoi said.

"M-Kart?" Midori said. "Might be funny now that we're all wasted."

And with that, we left Hare to sleep on the floor while we went back to playing party games.

Gehenna District

Present Day

"You look fucked," Kayoko remarked.

"It's not THAT bad. I actually feel… great! Right now! Hahahaha!" the person she was talking to replied.

"Yeah, but… you're in a wheelchair," Aru said.

"Don't worry about it! I'm drugged to hell and back! Can't feel a damn thing! You should try it too! Heheheh," she replied, slurring her words together.

"Please," the Prefect Team's health expert Chinatsu begged. "just take Mutsuki to Schale and get out of here. We don't want to deal with her, and even if we did, we don't have the resources."

The group looked at Mutsuki, who was covered head to toe in medical wrap and confined to a wheelchair.

"Can I take the… painkillers… too? Seriously, what's in them? I don't feel a single broken bone in my body! Well, I can't feel anything at all. Heheh. Except how funny! Hahaha!" Mutsuki said, smiling as bright as usual.

"You'd better hope you don't feel ANYTHING at all for the entire week," Chinatsu said to her patient. She then handed Aru a paper bag. "This contains pain-numbing serum for the next two days. Bring it to Schale. I've already contacted Sensei about this arrangement. The volunteers at the infirmary there are more suited for taking care of long-term cases like her."

Aru nodded. "So we can go right away?"

Chinatsu answered, "Yes. I'd advise you to head straight there instead of taking any detours in case of any complications."

"What? You're leaving me after only one night? One night stand!" Mutsuki said to her caretaker.

"We have new patients come in every hour, and we're at max capacity right now. You're not in critical condition, so yes, we are kicking you out."

"I don't know ma'am, not being able to move my body for a month sounds pretty critical to me." Mutsuki said.

"It's not that bad. I've seen much worse."

"L-like how much worse?" Haruka timidly asked.

"Do you know what a rat king is?" Chinatsu asked her.

"Am I supposed to know?" Haruka asked back.

"Well imagine a rat king but instead it's with people's arms. And they're bent the wrong way."

"Oh, uh, okay," Haruka sai, completely confused.

"Big deal. Last night all of my limbs were bent the wrong way too, what makes them so special?" Mutsuki asked.

Chinatsu replied, "More like what makes you so special? President Hina specifically chose to break every bone in your body. I've never seen her that angry before. She's been really stressed lately, we all have, but I guess she decided to take it all out on you."

"Oh come on! I'm too adorable to get beat up like that! She's just a hater!"

Chinatsu sighed. "We're dragging this out. Look, just stay out of trouble for the next month and you'll be back to walking like nothing happened."

One of the other nurses came into the room with a panicked expression on her face. "Chinatsu! Chinatsu! We've got a lot of casualties!"

"How many?" she asked in response.

The nurse stood at attention. "The entire fourth division and thirteen gangsters!"

"Again!?" Chinatsu clenched her fist in front of her. "Deep breaths." She took calm and collected breaths to avoid losing her temper.

She turned to Mutsuki. "You are now officially dismissed. Please clear the area as fast as possible."

"And now you're kicking me out of the house! Look at this disrespect!" Mutsuki said.

Aru nodded at Chinatsu. "You heard her. Come on Haruka, let's wheel Mutsuki out of here."

Haruka replied, "Okay." She walked behind Mutsuki and started pushing on her wheelchair's handlebars.

"Let's 'wheel' Mutsuki out of here," the impish girl repeated. "I'm not dead!"

A slight smile crept over Kayoko's face. "I'm surprised you aren't, either. Would have thought for sure you'd be a goner."

"I'm a survivor! We might be a dying breed, but I'm pretty resilient, if I do say so myself!" Mutsuki gloated.

With that, the four former members of Problem Solver 68 left the Prefect Team's field hospital to make their way to Schale.

…

"Oh right, I forgot our startup's now dead in the water," Mutsuki blurted out loud.

Aru grimaced. "Urk. It wasn't a startup! It was a legitimate business offering a legitimate service."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say."

The four completely normal students from Gehenna arrived at the bottom of Sanctum Tower.

"We're here," Aru announced.

"Hurry up and hook me up to an IV. I'm starting to feel… well, everything again," Mutsuki nonchalantly stated.

Kayoko looked at her phone and put it away. "He's here."

The massive door to Sanctum Tower opened, revealing a man with two girls flanking his sides.

Sensei skipped the pleasantries. "Mutsuki! Are you okay?" Sensei said.

"Been better. Can't move muh arms or legs, but seeing you definitely improved my mood~" the paralyzed girl replied.

Aru said, "Mutsuki had a… workplace accident. So we're taking her here. We heard there's resources here for long-term patients?"

The purple haired nurse to his left beamed in delight. "Absolutely! The hospital in Schale has special accommodations and privileges, so we're also at the bleeding edge of medical innovation! We'll have you up and running in no time!"

Mutsuki smiled at Sensei. "Sensei~ I'm defenseless right now. I'm gonna need you to watch over and protect me!"

Sensei responded with, "Of course! The nurses here will give you the best care available in Kivotos."

The nurse rushed over to Mutsuki's wheelchair and winked. "I'm Hanae! I'm the nurse on rotation today, and I'll be taking care of you for your stay here! I'm here to make you as comfortable as possible!"

"Can you give me painkillers? Like a lot of them?" Mutsuki asked her caretaker.

Hanae smiled in glee. "Of course! Anything you want! Isn't that great, Sensei? She hasn't even seen her room and she's already excited to test out my new methods!"

Sensei smiled back. "Mutsuki's in your capable hands. Don't go too overboard, okay?"

Mutsuki raised one eyebrow. "Wait, what does that mean? Is she dangerous?"

"Let's go!" Hanae said, practically sprinting off with Mutsuki.

"Hey, wait! I don't consent to any freaky experiments! Let me go!" Mutsuki complained as they went further down the lobby towards the elevator.

While this was happening, Sensei motioned to his right, towards the blond girl standing with him. "This is Midori. She's my new personal assistant."

Midori bowed to the group. "Hello."

Aru extended her hand for a hand shake. "I'm Aru."

Midori clasped Aru's hand and shook. "Aru," she said, locking the name in memory.

Midori locked eyes with the scary girl in a black hoodie. The girl stated, "Kayoko," she said with a face depicting no clear emotion. Midori tensed up, feeling on edge next to a clear delinquent.

Midori finally looked at Haruka, and was almost immediately taken aback by Haruka's gaze, which looked simultaneously filled with murderous intent and gloomy depression.

Midori looked up and down Aru and realized that her sharp dress and long fur coat were extremely suspicious.

Who the heck are these people? They're dangerous! Midori couldn't help but think.

"The girl in the wheelchair was Mutsuki. These four are Problem Solver 68. The greatest criminal group in all of Kivotos!" Sensei stated to Midori.

"Criminals?" Midori exclaimed in shock.

"Fufu," Aru chuckled. "Indeed, once upon a time, Problem Solver 68 was a name to be feared through all of the underworld, but sadly, we've had to shed our name for safety. You've seen what happened to Mutsuki." She looked at her feet, dejected.

"In other words, Problem Solver 68 is out of business and we're officially unemployed," Kayoko explained.

"Really? Do you mind telling us what happened?" Sensei asked.

Aru looked back up and prepared her explanation.

"Well, as it turns out, tying our business to an official school club led us to a bit of a pickle. I'd rather not get into specifics, confidentiality and all that, but what matters now is that I have to make a brand new company. We're still deciding on a name, if you have any suggestions."

"Problem Solver 69?" Sensei said without a moment's hesitation.

Midori half-closed her eyes and side-eyed Sensei.

"No," Aru clearly refuted. "I already had this conversation before with Mutsuki. And we are not using Problem Solver 69."

Kayoko scratched her head. "I didn't really think of a name beforehand either."

Aru shrugged her shoulders. "Just fishing for ideas. I'm not gonna make a final decision without Mutsuki's approval."

Midori spoke up. "Shouldn't we go with her to the hospital room? Hanae's a bit of a nutjob. Help get her comfortable and all."

Sensei nodded. "Yes, let's go."

The group entered the ward that Mutsuki was to be kept in for the next month. Midori led the group, explaining the place.

"This is the unofficial hospital at Schale. It's understaffed, and only volunteers work here, but we don't have very many patients. We handle longer-term stays than most of the other hospitals in Kivotos. For injuries a bit more serious than minor bullet wounds."

"Mutsuki's gonna be alright, though, right?" Haruka sheepishly asked her.

"I don't see why not. I'm no medical expert though, you'll have to ask the volunteer nurses. I say nurses, but really it's just two students from Trinity that Sensei personally knows. You've already met Hanae, she's covering a bit of double duty right now. The other, I don't know where she is. She was supposed to come in today, but she never showed up."

"Serina?" Sensei asked Midori. "I thought she was just taking today off. She would usually contact me about a change of plans."

"I tried calling her, but she's not picking up her phone either."

Turning to Problem Solver 68, Midori added, "I kind of wish Serina was here for Mutsuki's first day instead of Hanae. That girl is, uh…"

Aru raised one eye. "She's what?"

Midori kept walking towards Mutsuki's assigned room without bothering to answer Aru. Aru looked at Kayoko and shrugged.

"Don't let first impressions cloud your judgment," Sensei said to them. "Hanae's actually a really good nurse."

Kayoko remarked, "You two are being very cryptic right now."

The group arrived in front of the door to Mutsuki's new home for the next month. Midori put her hand on the doorknob and sighed. After inhaling one more time, she opened the door.

Lying inside was a person covered head to toe in wrappings. Her mouth was bound shut by a cotton rag, but she was still trying her best to yell for help when she noticed newcomers. Off in another corner of the room, Hanae was organizing a shelf filled with medicine, pill containers, and needles. She turned around and displayed a needle filled with a fluorescent red needle that appeared to be glowing.

"Oh, welcome!" she said to the arrivals. "This is Mutsuki's room. As you can see, it's very clean and kept to the top of Kivotos's health standards!"

Mutsuki, mouth gagged, made more inhuman noises.

Hanae walked over to her. "She was screaming a lot when we got here. Screaming too much is bad for your throat and hearing, so I tied a piece of cloth around her mouth! I left space for her to breathe through her nose though.

"Mmmphhh mppph!" Mutsuki tried to say.

Aru looked a little concerned for her friend, but tried to play along. "This is for her sake, right?"

Hanae enthusiastically nodded. "Yup! I'm also a medicine maestro. I made this myself!" She flicked the needle in her hand with her other hand, producing a low ding. "This should accelerate her healing process by at least twice as fast! I developed it specifically for Gehenna students like her."

Aru scrunched up her face in confusion. "Gehenna? What does being a Gehenna student have to do with medicine?"

Kayoko tilted her head downwards. "Ah, right, she's from Trinity."

Hanae continued her explanation. "Now it's going to be very important that she gets a lot of sleep and rest to allow her body to recover. So after this, I'm going to inject her with anesthesia on the shelf over there to get her to fall into a deep slumber without any pain."

The shelf in question contained a lot of needles and brightly colored vials of liquids that even Midori as a former Millennium student struggled to pronounce.

Hanae giggled with glee. "I'm very excited to see if this works!"

Hanae touched Mutsuki's shoulder, earning an audible yelp from the girl.

Midori stepped in before Hanae could continue her procedure. "Shouldn't you get permission from Mutsuki before you do anything not covered in the books with her?" Midori let out a nervous chuckle.

Hanae clasped her hands together, as if a lightbulb went off in her head. "Oh, right! That's very important. Yes."

Hanae flipped the needle between her fingers and grabbed it in reverse grip, with the needle pointed towards her. With no other regard for safety, she began to untie Mutsuki's mouth gag.

The first words that came out of Mutsuki's mouth were, "She's gonna fucking kill me! You guys have to help me! Please! There's already a fucking corpse in this room over there!" Mutsuki tilted her head over to the bed on the other side of the room.

Midori grimaced when she saw what she was referring to.

The other people in the room fell silent.

"Guys?" Mutsuki asked.

Mutsuki took a closer look at the bed and its occupant. Then she looked at Midori. Just to make sure, she took another look at the girl in the bed.

"Oh…" Mutsuki softly whispered.

Sensing the incoming awkward atmosphere in the room, Hanae started talking in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Mutsuki's going to be having a roommate for her stay here. It just helps us keep things consolidated in one spot, so we only have to take care of this room. Haha. We only have a few volunteers working here part-time, after all. Oh uh, her roommate's name is Momoi! Everyone say 'hi!'"

Everyone else in the room awkwardly said, "Hi," to the bedridden girl in as quiet of a voice as they could.

Midori rubbed the back of her head. "Um. Yeah. So, she's my sister. She got in an accident and she's been in a coma ever since."

Mutsuki locked eyes with Midori and tried to apologize. "I'm sorry about that."

Midori smiled at Mutsuki. "Actually, I think this is great! Now Momoi has a friend to talk to. Sensei and I have been talking to her every day. Something about comatose people being able to hear people around them."

Hanae added, "There's some research that says hearing conversations can stimulate the brain. Every little bit helps to jumpstart the brain."

Midori said, "Sensei and I can't be here with her all day long, same with the nurses, but now she finally has someone to talk to! I hope you two can become friends."

Mutsuki chuckled. "Well, I won't say no to more friends. I don't know if she can (is able to) warm up to me, though."

Midori chuckled back. "I know, tall order. She keeps giving us the cold shoulder, but hey, maybe meeting someone new might change her mind? Well, feel free to vent to her about life. What else. She likes video games! I don't know if you're into games, but her entire life revolves around them. She's also a writer. I'm sure you have a lot of interesting stories to tell her. She's easily inspired."

Mutsuki looked at Momoi. "Stories, huh? Well, yeah, Problem Solver 68 did end up in some pretty whacky scenarios over the time we've been operating."

Mutsuki glanced at Aru. "Speaking of, what's the plan for the future, boss? Pretty soon I'll be out of here and running on my feet again. You gonna start the company up again?"

Aru crossed her arms. "Of course I am. I loved Problem Solver 68 like it was my baby. But you know the saying, 'if you truly love something, you have to be able to let it go.'"

Midori looked at her sister and seemed lost in thought.

Aru, meanwhile, kept on going. "So yeah. I'm letting it go. We've made plenty of mistakes with the company in the past, but each time I've learned something new. I'm going to take those lessons and apply them to whatever company we make in the future."

Midori looked at Aru. For a crime boss, she seems really mature! she thought.

Mutsuki looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Speaking of, have you decided on a name yet? Still considering Problem Solver 69? I'm growing more fond of it every minute."

Aru practically exploded with embarrassment. "No! We are not using Problem Solver 69! Even Sensei suggested that!"

Sensei grinned. "Well, I think it's a great name. Doesn't deviate too much from the original. It's a greater number than 68. It just screams, bigger and better, you know?"

Sensei closed his eyes. His face slightly contorted into an evil grin.

Midori closely observed him. This guy. He knows what he's doing. Unbelievable.

"Yeah I think it's a nice name," Mutsuki commented.

"I agree with Aru on this one," Kayoko interjected. "Can we use a different name than that?"

"I like the name," Haruka quietly said.

All eyes went to her, and she looked down at the floor to avoid their gazes.

Aru said in response, "Well… I'll think about it."

Aru turned around and faced Kayoko and Haruka. "I think it's about time we headed out. We've got paperwork to fill out."

Kayoko sighed. "What a drag."

Aru faced Hanae. "Well, we'll let you do your… thing."

Hanae grinned and nodded.

Aru motioned the girls to follow. "Come. We're going."

As Aru, Haruka, and Kayoko left through the door, Kayoko turned around. "We'll visit you every day so that you and Momoi don't get too lonely, 'kay?"

Mutsuki smiled. "Thanks."

Sensei said to Midori. "I think we should head out too." Midori nodded in agreement.

The pair waved their goodbyes to the people still left in the room, leaving Mutsuki alone with Momoi and Hanae.

"So, shall we get started?" the nurse asked Mutsuki.

With no way to defend herself, Mutsuki agreed.

Soon, even Hanae left the room. There was no television running in the background, so Mutsuki was left to stir in her thoughts.

I really messed up, didn't I?

Mutsuki wasn't thinking of one specific instance where she made a mistake, not even the one that directly landed her in the hospital, but rather all of her life choices that led to this point.

Mutsuki pondered the answer. Surprisingly to herself, she found that she would have the same decisions every time. That was how much she enjoyed the company of her friends. But now she was all alone.

That is, besides one person. She looked at the unconscious twin, who was in some ways even lonelier than she was at the moment. At least Mutsuki had the hope that she would get daily visits from the nurses and her friends. But Momoi had no hope, no plan, of waking up anytime soon.

Mutsuki couldn't help but wander out loud, "So what's your story?"

Predictably, Momoi gave Mutsuki the cold shoulder.

Mutsuki groaned. "Can't even respond to my jokes. What's the point?"

Suddenly, in the corner of her eye, Mutsuki spotted something dangerous: the silhouette of a person who was clearly not supposed to be there. Adrenaline pumped through Mutsuki's veins, and she quickly and painfully turned her head towards the figure to get a better look, but saw nothing there.

"Trick of the light? No. I'm talking to myself. I'm just going crazy. Fuck me."

Something else caught her eye though. A Millennium-branded virtual reality headset, sitting atop the countertop in the room.

"Was that thing always there? Did someone leave that there? I don't remember that being there… huh."

Mutsuki attempted to pay no attention to the strange object, but it remained there, even after closing her eyes and turning away. At any rate, it seemed to be more real than the person she thought she saw.

"Hey wait, if that connects to wifi, I can watch TV on it! I think these things have accessibility features for cripples like me. Yes! Bingo! That's what I need right now!"

Mutsuki attempted to stand up and walk over to retrieve it. Then she remembered. "Oh right. I can't move. Drat."

The headset stared back at her.

Mutsuki grumbled even more.

"What a goddamn tease," she said, unaware of the cosmic irony behind her statement.